The Yuma Zone Blog

On January 18, 2007 friends and family gathered at The Other Place at Fisher’s Landing to celebrate the 70th birthday of Smokey Knowlton, a legend of sorts on the lower Colorado River. Officially Robert V. Knowlton, “Smokey” is well known in the Yuma area from over 50 years of boating activities on the Colorado River. Many “Smokey” stories were told on this memorable afternoon stretching into the night. 

Smokey first came to the Lower Colorado River in the 1950’s starting a love affair with “The River” that continues to this day. Smokey’s knowledge of the river and its history is rivaled by very few. Anyone that has spent any serious time on the river probably knows Smokey, and most have benefited from his willingness to help others in need. 

Many old timers know Smokey as the former operator of the marina at Martinez Lake, while others know him as a former Captain of the craft operated by Yuma River Tours. Recently, Smokey has been one of the driving forces behind the Reverse River Run and the associated river cleanup by the Amigos del Rio. Smokey with his sons Ron and Randy have actually traveled the entire 1450 course of the Colorado River from the headwaters in Colorado State to the mouth of the river where it once entered the Sea of Cortez. The amazing part of this adventure is that they did this in three “Sport-Yaks” which are only 6 feet long. This trip is documented in Smokey’s book “River Love”. 

Smokey’s adventures boating adventures are not limited to the Colorado River. Among some the wildest adventures, Smokey once skippered a ”Sport Yak” from the California coast to Catalina Island, a distance of 28 miles in open ocean.  Not content with limiting his boating experience to the west, Smokey then decided to expand his journeys to other locals! While others would journey in large yachts and motor craft, Smokey embarked on a mission to circumnavigate the United States in an 18-foot long ski boat. This trip included legs in the dangerous waters of the Alaskan coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and Idaho’s Snake River. 

I would like to thank Smokey not only for his public contributions to boating and the Colorado River, but also for his support to the extended Knowlton family throughout the years. What ever the crisis or problem might be, we have always counted on the fact that Smokey would be there helping out. For Smokey, helping others is a way of life, for which many can be thankful.

Smokey has a new website! At http://riverlore.com you can find out more about Smokey and his adventures. 

This entry was posted on Friday, January 19th, 2007 at 8:39 am and is filed under Life in Yuma, Yuma Business, Yuma Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.