perished from thirst, they built a raft fashioned after James White's, who had allegedly been the first to float the Grand Canyon in 1867. But they were unable to launch it into the raging torrent, running the same volume as the previous year. They opted instead to use a one-man U.S. Army Air Corps rescue raft that they had packed in. So on June 26, they began an epic journey down to Lake Mead, unimaginable by modern river runners. White was the first woman to row the full length of Marble and Grand Canyons in 1952. She made her name when, in the early 1950s, she lashed three rafts together to achieve better stability in big rapids and began taking paying customers to "share the expense" of running the river. Her methods were controversial, as those who ran the river in wooden rowboats such as dories disdained the rubber rafts. She shrugged off her detractors and kept her river-guiding business going for 45 years. Her "Royal River Rats" achieved some fame, being featured in Life Magazine, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and countless newspapers. At the age of 73, she could be seen holding her motor rig's tiller with one hand and a beer with the other, wearing a full-length leopard-pattern leotard. Her last Grand Canyon trip took place in September 1991 as she was approaching her 80th birthday. She died of cancer in 1992 at age 81. Following her death, those who examined her personal effects found artifacts which led some to speculate that White had, in fact, been Bessie Hyde, the woman who had vanished with her husband during a honeymoon float of the Grand Canyon in 1928. Rumors had floated that Bessie had killed her abusive husband and hiked out of the Canyon. Among White's personal effects were a copy of the Hydes' marriage license and a pistol in her lingerie drawer. However, river historian Brad Dimock and White's biographer Richard Westwood have discounted the rumor that White and Hyde were the same person. The renaming of Mile 24 Rapid in her honor was controversial. Georgie's detractors were many; in addition, her friends would have liked to see a bigger, more prominent rapid named for her. Rapids such as Crystal and Granite were unlikely to be renamed, and on October 11, 2001, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names followed the Arizona State Boards on Geographic and