The Grand Canyon

Trailboss September 30th, 2007

John Wesley Powell

A description of the Grand Canyon is not complete without mention of John Wesley Powell. John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 - September 23, 1902), a one-armed former Civil War veteran was the first American to record a journey through the Grand Canyon. The Powell Geographic Expedition spent three months traveling from the Green River to the Colorado River and journeyed through the entire Grand Canyon. The expedition traveled through the present day states of Utah and Arizona; included nine other men and four small wooden boats. The expedition was extremely difficult and dangerous. Not all of the original crew finished the trek. Many people, including the local Native Americans thought the river was not passable through the canyon.

Powell’s explorations of the American Southwest took him and his party through many of our present-day Nation Parks and National Recreation Areas including; Lake Powell National Recreation Area, Canyonlands National Park, The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, The Grand Canyon National Park, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park and Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Powell’s exploration party traveled more than 1,000 miles of river through steep winding canyons and through foaming rapids. Powell and five of the remaining men emerged months later in two boats at the mouth of the Virgin River, Arizona.

Their emotional ordeal was well expressed in Powell’s own words: “What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls rise over the river, we know not.”

Powell’s exploration of the Colorado River helped develop some of the fundamental principles of geology.

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