Harvey Butchart

Who was Harvey Butchart?

John Harvey Butchart was a mathematics professor who was well known for his hiking exploits in and around the Grand Canyon. Over a period of 17 years Butchart hiked the entire length of the canyon, making him the first person known to have done so.

Butchart was born in Hefei, China, to missionary parents. His father died in 1920 and the family moved to Illinois. Butchart graduated from Eureka College in 1928 and received a masters and PhD from the University of Illinois in 1929 and 1932, respectively. Butchart began teaching mathematics at Arizona State College in 1945.

Upon moving to Flagstaff in 1945, he began exploring the Grand Canyon. After hiking most of the main routes, he began to explore unofficial routes and animal trails. He was eventually credited with discovering over 100 rim-to-river routes within the canyon. In 1963 he completed the route along the entire length of the canyon. Later that year, Colin Fletcher would heavily rely on Butchart's observations in planning his historic walk through about 1/3-length of the canyon in a single journey.

Butchart kept a detailed log of his explorations, which would eventually reach over 1000 pages. He recorded 1024 days spent in the canyon, and over 12,000 miles walked. He climbed 83 summits within the canyon, found 108 approaches to the Colorado River, and scaled the walls at 164 places, claiming 25 first-ascents. NAU has over 7000 of his photographs on file.