Glen Rollin Hyde was 29 when he and his new wife Bessie launched a self-built 20-foot wooden scow from the Green River in October 1928, aiming to run the Colorado through the Grand Canyon. They were last seen and photographed by Emery Kolb on November 18 after hiking to the South Rim to resupply; they then re-entered the canyon and boated below Hermit Rapid.

When the couple failed to arrive at Needles, California, in early December, searches began. On December 19 searchers located the Hydes’ scow near river mile 237; it was upright, intact, and still carried supplies, food, coats, Bessie’s diary and a camera whose last photo dated about November 27. Bessie’s final journal entry is dated November 30 and reports running the rapid at mile 231. No trace of Glen or Bessie has ever been found despite repeated searches and later forensic checks that excluded several discovered remains.

What new lead or reexamination of the boat’s condition would help explain how an intact scow came to be found without its occupants?