Martin Litton

Who is Martin Litton?

Martin Litton is a Grand Canyon river runner and a longtime environmental activist, best known as a staunch opponent of the construction of Glen Canyon Dam and other dams on the Colorado River.

Litton grew up in Gardena, California. Although not a well-known environmental activist until the 1950s, as early as October 1935 he wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Times at the age of 18, which read in part: "The people of the entire state should rise up against the destruction of Mono Lake. Mono Lake is a gem-among California's greatest scenic attractions."

He first floated the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1955, at the time becoming only the 185th person known to have made the trip down the river first pioneered by John Wesley Powell. He ran the river again in 1962 and continued to run the Colorado for decades afterward, founding Grand Canyon Dories in 1971 and running commercial river trips through the 1970s and 1980s. Litton showed a contrarian preference for using small wooden boats, known as dories, at a time when other river runners had mostly switched to inflatable rubber rafts. These boats were originally used in Oregon; it was Litton who adapted their use to the Colorado River. He sold the business in 1990.