Today, few people remember Clover and Jotter as the first women to successfully run the Colorado River. Even fewer people remember that they were the first people to make a botanical survey of the region. With her new book, Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon, science journalist Melissa Sevigny hopes to change that. As part of our She Was There series, Atlas Obscura chatted with Sevigny about Clover’s cacti obsession, how Jotter braved dangerous rapids to save a boat, and how botanists continue to use the pair’s work today.
What were Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter’s worlds like before the expedition?
One thing that was incredibly unusual about these two women is that Clover had a doctorate in botany and Lois Jotter was just a few years away from getting her’s when they went on this expedition. There just weren’t many women getting doctorates in anything, let alone a science field.
It was a time when botany was changing. In the 19th century, the field was very open to women because it was mostly about collecting. There was an attitude that it was appropriate for women to go collect flowers. But then in the 20th century, things started to change. Botany started to professionalize… and women got pushed out. And so, Elzada, who’s the older of the two and was 41 years old when she ran the river, was in that transition period. Her field was no longer as welcoming to her as it had been. Lois was from the younger generation. She was 24 and had to learn these very sophisticated laboratory techniques to keep her foothold in botany.
One thing that drew me into wanting to write their story was the fact that Elzada was obsessed with cacti. It’s ok for women to go collect flowers, but here’s a woman who wants to collect cacti. She’s going to go to the most remote places and get the most difficult plant she can. I think that really exemplifies her attitude toward life and her personality.