Trapper, hunter, prospector, and tattoo artist George Flavell and his passenger and partner Ramon Montez were the first men to float the distance from Green River, Wyoming, to Needles, California, primarily for the adventure. They arrived in Green River in mid-August 1896, built their own boat, the Fanthon, and launched on August 27, 1896. Far downstream in Yuma, Arizona, Flavell said the reasons for the journey were adventure, seeing what so few people had seen, hunting and trapping, and examining the perpendicular walls of rock for gold. A major river controversy that remains is whether George Flavell rather than Than Galloway was actually the first to use the facing downstream method of running rivers and to build the newer style boats better suited for river travel. In any event, Flavell's diary records running all the rapids except for 6 on the entire journey from Green River to the ocean. Regardless of who was first, a new era of river running was at hand.