Zane Grey's 1922 Rainbow Bridge Trip: Who was Zane Grey?
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Who Was Zane Grey?
Zane Grey faces Rainbow Bridge.
[click on the image to enlarge]
[Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Zane Grey Rainbow Bridge photograph collection, P0672, Box 1, Image 001]
Zane Grey was a prolific author of the early 20th century, who primarily wrote Western novels set in the landscapes of Arizona and Southern Utah. Before he became a writer, Grey was a semi-professional baseball player and took up a career in dentistry. Grey began pursuing a career in writing in 1902, two years after he met his wife, Lina Roth whom he called “Dolly.” Lina Roth saw promise in Grey’s writing and acted as Grey’s manager and primary reviewer. Her efforts were key to Grey’s success as she was able to provide him with thorough critiques of his writing and introduce him to editors. Grey published several books before his first major breakthrough in 1910 with The Heritage of Desert. Grey’s most famous works include Riders of the Purple Sage in 1912 which became his top selling book.[1]
Zane Grey overlooks a smooth rock formation on the return journey.
[Click the image to enlarge]
[Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Zane Grey Rainbow Bridge photograph collection, P0672, Box 1, Image 362]
Zane Grey was most popular for of his vivid and eloquent depictions of natural landscapes. Grey was a lover of nature: the high walls of desert plateaus and great vastness of the desert sand fueled his writings. In several of his books, he uses pseudonyms to refer to real locations in several of his novels. For example, in The Vanishing American Grey uses “Flagerstown” to refer to Flagstaff, Arizona and Kaidab to refer to Kayenta.[2]