Zane Grey’s Arizona Trips,January 1906 to April 1922

Abstract

When the Zane Grey outfit signed into the Wetherill Trading Post register in Kayenta, Arizona on April 16, 1922, Zane Grey made an unusual notation at the top of the signatures, as seen below. In his distinctive handwriting, Grey wrote “2nd trip to Nonnezoshe, 3rd trip to Kayenta, 18th trip to Arizona.” The Zane Grey outfit was in Kayenta on their way to Nonnezoshe, or Rainbow Bridge, again guided by John Wetherill. Grey made this notation in the register based on his own travel experiences; others in his party had been to Rainbow Bridge more times than he had, and some were making their first journey. Indeed, this was his 2ndtrip to Rainbow Bridge (first in 1913), and 3rdtrip to Kayenta (first in 1913, second in 1914). What surprised me when I first saw this notation is how precise Grey was with the number of Arizona trips. I wondered why he was keeping such an exact count, and could that number be accurate? It seemed like a large number given that Grey first went to Arizona on his honeymoon in 1906. I put this speculation aside for quite a few years, but recently returned to it when I began compiling what I call a “Zane Grey Travelogue.” In my writings about the geography of Grey’s Westerns, I have al-ways been curious if and / or when he completed what I would call “fieldwork” for the book. When did he go to the book’s setting, or on which trip did he gain the inspiration for the story? The travelogue covers all of Grey’s trips, from 1906 through 1939, not only the ones that relate to his Westerns.This “Zane Grey Travelogue” is still a work-in-progress, but I have compiled quite a few detailed records, with references, of dozens of Grey’s trips. I have gleaned much of the information from biographies, literary studies, and journal articles about Grey (scholarly and popular), letters between Zane and Dolly, journals kept by Grey, newspaper articles about his travels, and Grey’s own non-fiction stories published in magazines or books. There are still many archival materials (letters, journals, photo-graphs) I need to consult, and I am in the process of re-reading the journals issued by Zane Grey’s West Society.