Happy Birthday Major!
Born March 24, 1834, John Weslwy Powell rambled around in his youth studying the natural sciences before joining the Union Army in the Civil War. After loosing his lower right arm in the Battle of Shilo he began his explorations of the American West in 1867 in the Rocky Mountains and along the Green and Colorado Rivers. On May 24, 1869 at the age of 35 and with a party of nine men, four boats and 10 months worth of food, they set out from Green River, Wyoming beginning his famous three month journey to explore record his findings, eventually running the Grand River (later the Colorado River) through the Grand Canyon. He made a second trip (ending the trip 144 miles into the Grand Canyon) in 1871. His work on the Geology, Ethnology and Native American languages of the region still stands as remarkable work of the day and in his paper The Arid Lands of the Southwest, his views on future water allocation in the region was visionary. He was the first director of the US Geological Survey and retired in 1894. He moved to his summer home in Haven, Maine where he died September 23, 1902. His accomplishments are still held in high esteem by river runners in the Grand Canyon and elsewhere. Join us on a trip into the Canyon to retrace his steps and experience the fun and beauty of this United Nations World Heritage Site, www.rivers-oceans.com. The picture is from the Powell Museum at Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomingdale where Powell taught. He is dressed in a shirt of the Grand Canyon River Guides.
