I am a geologist by training. Some of you probably didn't know that, eh? Well, one of my hero's in the world is a man named John Wesley Powell. On Thursday June 17th, as I was driving east on I-70 through central Utah, I stopped for gas in a town called Green River, UT and lo and behold they have an entire museum dedicated to him.
John Wesley Powell has a museum!
Anyway, why all the fuss about him? Well, he was a professor at Illinois Wesleyan University in the late 1860's and got a grant from the US government to do a study of the vast unknown (at that time) study of the area of the map that is now Utah and Arizona. Side note: he lost one of his arms below the elbow at the Battle of Shiloh and did all this exploration with one arm.
In 1869, he and a crew of men were the first to navigate the entire Colorado River. They started in Wyoming and went through what is now called "The Gates of Lodore". In 1996, during my Outward Bound leadership course, our group navigated this exact stretch, so I feel a kinship with Powell. Powell's trip was arduous and he had a couple mutinies along the way, but he and a couple of his men did make it to the through the Grand Canyon. In 1871, with more money and fewer problems, Powell navigated the river again. This time doing much more extensive scientific research and mapping. Stud!
After these huge successes, Powell became well known and powerful in Washington, DC, eventually serving as the head of the US Geological Survey.
May I suggest a couple books. To read about Powell and his adventures on the river read Beyond the 100th Meridian by Wallace Stegner. To read about the history of water resource management in the west, read Cadillac Desert by Marc Reiser. Both are excellent.
Anyway, why all the fuss about him? Well, he was a professor at Illinois Wesleyan University in the late 1860's and got a grant from the US government to do a study of the vast unknown (at that time) study of the area of the map that is now Utah and Arizona. Side note: he lost one of his arms below the elbow at the Battle of Shiloh and did all this exploration with one arm.
In 1869, he and a crew of men were the first to navigate the entire Colorado River. They started in Wyoming and went through what is now called "The Gates of Lodore". In 1996, during my Outward Bound leadership course, our group navigated this exact stretch, so I feel a kinship with Powell. Powell's trip was arduous and he had a couple mutinies along the way, but he and a couple of his men did make it to the through the Grand Canyon. In 1871, with more money and fewer problems, Powell navigated the river again. This time doing much more extensive scientific research and mapping. Stud!
After these huge successes, Powell became well known and powerful in Washington, DC, eventually serving as the head of the US Geological Survey.
May I suggest a couple books. To read about Powell and his adventures on the river read Beyond the 100th Meridian by Wallace Stegner. To read about the history of water resource management in the west, read Cadillac Desert by Marc Reiser. Both are excellent.
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