From US Geological Survey: The Four Great Surveys of the West
On May 24, 1869, John Wesley Powell, Professor of Geology at IllinoisS tate Normal University, and a party of nine men left Green River,Wyomi ng, in three small boats to explore the unknown canyonlands tothe sout h and west. Powell's expedition was privately sponsored--itsonly publi c support an authorization to draw Army rations--and themembers of the e xpedition were a mixed crew of nonprofessionals.
Powell, 35, was the son of an itinerant Methodist preacher. His formals chooling had ceased when he was 12, and his life thereafter had beensp ent in farming, studying, teaching, and exploring the Midwest untilthe o utbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted in the Union Army in May1861 and r emained in the service until the war was over. After thewar, Powell be came professor of geology at Illinois WesleyanUniversity and then at I llinois State Normal University. In 1867 and1868, he explored the Rock y Mountains in Colorado and eastern Utahand became convinced that the u nknown canyonlands to the southwestcould best be explored in boats. In a t rip fraught with hardships,Powell and five of the nine original member s of the crew completed ajourney down the Green River to the Colorado a nd through the GrandCanyon on August 13, 1869. In 1870, Professor Powe ll received anappropriation of $10,000 from Congress to make a second t rip down theColorado, being required only to report his results to the Smithsonian Institution. On June 10, 1872, Congress appropriatedanother $ 20,000 for completion of the survey.
The second new exploration in 1869 was led by Lieutenant GeorgeWheeler , Engineer Officer on the staff of the Commanding General ofthe Army's D epartment of California (which covered California,Nevada, and Arizona) . Wheeler, not quite 27, was a graduate of WestPoint in 1866 where he h ad ranked sixth in his class and won acommission in the elite Corps of E ngineers. By 1869, exploration ofthe Colorado River and location of no rth-south routes across theGreat Basin had become the most important p rojects of the Division ofthe Pacific, but when the Army learned of Po well's plannedexpedition, exploration of the Colorado was postponed.
In early June 1869, Lieutenant Wheeler received orders to organize ande quip a party to make a thorough and careful reconnaissance of thecount ry south and east of White Pine, Nevada, as far as the head ofnavigati on on the Colorado, to obtain data for a military map and tosurvey the p ossibility of a wagon road and select sites for militaryposts. In 1871 , the Engineers sent Lt. Wheeler to explore and map thearea south of t he Central Pacific Railroad in eastern Nevada andArizona.
On his return from the 1871 expedition, Wheeler, convinced that theday o f the pathfinder had ended, proposed a plan for mapping theUnited Stat es west of the 100th meridian on a scale of 8 miles to theinch, expect ed to cost $2.5 million and take 15 years. Congressauthorized the prog ram on June 10, 1872, the day on which funds wereappropriated for comp letion of the Powell survey. Hayden that yearwas given $75,000 for his G eological and Geographical Survey of theTerritories.
Inevitably, conflicts developed between the Hayden survey, mapping theT erritories of the United States, and the Wheeler survey, mapping thear eas west of the 100th meridian. In 1874, Congress was provoked to atho rough discussion of civilian versus military control of mapping.In the t estimony heard by the Congressional committee, much of it onthe purpos es and efficiency of the mapping, Powell credited King'sFortieth Paral lel survey with the most advanced techniques, whichHayden and he had l ater adopted. In the end Congress concluded thateach survey had been d oing excellent work for the benefit of thepeople and that there was su fficient work for both the InteriorDepartment and the War Department f or years to come. The Secretary ofthe Smithsonian Institution had requ ested an additional appropriationfor the Powell survey, which Congress g ranted but transferred thesurvey to the Department of the Interior, wh ere it was at firstcalled the second division of the Geological and Ge ographical Surveyof the Territories. Later, because of tension between P owell andHayden, the Powell survey became known as the Geographical an dGeological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region."
On John's first excurstion, brother Walter accompanied him. On thesec ond cousin Walter Clement Powell went as assistant photographer.
And from his bio at DesertUSA:
Powell had a keen and sympathetic interest in the Native Americans whoi nhabited the Southwest and made fundamental contributions to the newsc iences of anthropology and ethnology. He published the firstclassifica tion of American Indian languages and was the firstdirector of the U.S . Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian. Histalent for organization h as left its mark on many agencies andprograms for the development and c onservation of natural resources,including the U.S. Geological Survey w hich he directed for 3 years.
Military records described him:
"age 27, height 5' 6 1/2" tall, light complected, gray eyes, auburnha ir, occupation- teacher."
Residences & other events:
7/30/1860 Wheaton, DuPage Co, IL. John, 36, was still at home withhi s parents with the occupation of "Naturalist."
1867 "In May and June of 1867, the expedition, which included Mrs.Pow ell, traveled by train, wagon, and horseback across the plains toDenve r and on to a valley known as Bergens Park on the west side ofthe Ramp art Range north of Pikes Peak. After climbing Pikes Peak theytraveled w est to South Park where they camped for several weeks,exploring the mo untains and hot springs and making a variety ofnatural history collect ions."
8/9/1870 Normal Twp, McLean Co, IL. At census time his familyboarded w ith the family of Almon Thompson, age 33. John, 36, bornNY, had prope rty worth $4000/800, wife Emma was 34,also born NY, andliving with the m was John's brother Walter, 27, born OH, with $1200in real estate onl y. All three men were school teachers. Was MrsEllen Thompson, 29, Jo hn's sister?
6/5/1880 Washington, DC. That year John W, 46, was a geologist livingw ith Emma, 44, Mary, 8, and a servant, Bertha Harting, 19.
6/4/1900 Same place. John W, 65, and Emma, 63, had been married 39ye ars with only 1 child, Mary, 27, who was still single and at home.They h ad a black servant, Pinkie Dabney, 20, who had been married 3years and b irthed one child who died. John was director of theEthelogy (Ethnolog y) Bureau (at the Smithsonian). Mary had no job.
John died of a cerebral hemorrhage. His obit and bio appears in theAr lington Cemetery web site:
John Wesley Powell
Major, United States Army
From a contemporary news report:
"Haven, Maine, September 23, 1902: Major John Wesley Powell died at 6P M tonight at his Summer home here. He had been critically ill forsome d ays.
He was born at Mount Morris, New York, September 23, 1834. He studiedi n Illinois College at Jacksonville, Illinois and at Wheaton College,te aching in the common schools during the intervals of studying.
He served in the Civil War, enlisting as a Private, but promoted theLi eutenant olonel of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Artillery. At Shiloh helost a n arm. At the close of the war hebecame Professor of Geology atIllinoi s Wesleyan University at Bloomington. He was afterwardappointed Direct or of the Bureau of Ethnology at the SmithsonianInstution.
"Scientists in the Washington, D.C. area placed him in the foremostran k of geologists and anthropologists of the world. He had beenidentifie d with the scientific work, from the viewpoint of scientistshere was h is exploration of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in the1860s. His fe llow workers say that he was not only the first man whoever went throu gh the Colorado Canyon, but also the only one who sofar has ever trave led its entire length from Green River Station tothe mouth of the cany on. His trip was party undertaken in connectionwith the Smithsonian In stitution and partly by means of his ownprivate resources.
His work as the Director of the Government Geological and GeographicalS urveys in the Rocky Mountain region in the early 1870s was largelyresp onsible for his selection for executive responsibilities later inthis c ity. The Rocky Mountain District was one of the four surveys ofterrito ries which, in 1879, were combined into the present GeologicalSurvey. H e had also been Director of the Bureau of American Ethnologysince he f ounded it in 1879, and also a Director of the GeographicalSurvey for m ore than a decade."
He is buried in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery. His wife,Emm a Dean Powell, 1835-1924, is buried with him.
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MAJOR POWELL had kindly consented to write an introduction to thisvolu me wherein I have inadequately presented scenes from the greatworld dr ama connected with the Colorado River of the West, but aprolonged illn ess prevented his doing any writing whatever, and onSeptember 23, 1902 , while, indeed, the compositor was setting thelast type of the book, a f uneral knell sounded at Haven, Maine, hissummer home, and the most con spicuous figure we have seen on thisstage, the man whose name is as in separable from the marvellouscanyon-river as that of De Soto from the M ississippi, or HendrikHudson from the placid stream which took from hi m its title, startedon that final journey whence there is no returning . A distinguishedcortege bore the remains across the Potomac, laying t hem in asoldier's grave in the National Cemetery at Arlington. Thus th e bravesleeps with the brave on the banks of the river of roses, a str eam ingreat contrast to that other river far in the West where only mi ghtbe found a tomb more appropriate within sound of the raging waters h eso valiantly conquered.
In the history of the United States the place of John Wesley Powell isc lear. A great explorer, he was also foremost among men of scienceand p robably he did more than any other single individual to directGovernme ntal scientific research along proper lines. His was acharacter of str ength and fortitude. A man of action, his fame willendure as much by h is deeds as by his contributions to scientificliterature.
Never a seeker for pecuniary rewards his life was an offering toscienc e, and when other paths more remunerative were open to him heturned hi s back upon them. He believed in sticking to one's vocationand thoroug hly disapproved of wandering off in pursuit of commonprofit. The darin g feat of exploring the canyons of the Colorado wasundertaken for no s pectacular effect or pecuniary reward, but waspurely a scientific vent ure in perfect accord with the spirit of hisearly promise. As G. K. Gi lbert remarks in a recent number ofScience, it was "of phenomenal bold ness and its successfulaccomplishment a dramatic triumph. It produced a s trong impression onthe public mind and gave Powell a national reputati on which wasafterwards of great service, although based on an adventur ous episodeby no means essential to his career as an investigator." Th equalities which enabled him so splendidly to perform his many self-imposed tasks were an inheritance from his parents, who possessed moreth an ordinary intelligence. Joseph Powell, his father, had a strongwill, d eep earnestness, and indomitable courage, while his mother,Mary Dean, w ith similar traits possessed also remarkable tact andpracticality. Bot h were English born, the mother well educated, andwere always leaders i n the social and educational life of everycommunity where they dwelt. E specially were they prominent inreligious circles, the father being a l icensed. exhorter in theMethodist Episcopal Church. Both were intensel y American in theirlove and admiration of the civil institutions of th e United Statesand both were strenuously opposed to slavery, which was f lourishingin America when they arrived in 1830. For a time they remain ed in NewYork City and then removed to the village of Palmyra whence t hey wentto Mount Morris, Livingston County, New York, where, on March 2 4,1834, the fourth of their nine children, John Wesley, was born. Because of the slavery question Joseph Powell left the Methodist EpiscopalC hurch on the organisation of the Wesleyan Methodist Church andbecame a r egularly ordained preacher in the latter. It was in thisatmosphere of s ocial, educational, political, and religious fervorthat the future exp lorer grew up.
When he was four or five years old the family moved to Jackson, Ohio,a nd then, in 1846, went on westward to South Grove, Walworth County,Wis consin, where a farm was purchased. They were in prosperouscircumstanc es, and the boy was active in the management of affairs,early exhibiti ng his trait for doing things well. His ploughing,stack-building, and b usiness ability in disposing advantageously ofthe farm products and in p urchasing supplies at the lake portsreceived the commendation of the c ountryside.
His early education was such as the country schools provided. He laters tudied at Janesville, Wisconsin, earning his board by working nightsan d mornings. His parents ever held before him the importance ofachievin g the highest education possible. Thus he continually turnedto books, a nd while his oxen were eating or resting, he was absorbedin some illum inating volume. In 1851 his family removed to BonusPrairie, Boone Coun ty, Illinois, where a larger farm had beenpurchased. About 1853 the We sleyan College was established atWheaton, Illinois, and the family rem oved there in order to takeadvantage of the opportunities afforded. Th e father became one of thetrustees and Powell entered the preparatory c lasses. With intervalsof teaching and business pursuits, he continued h ere till 1855, when,largely through the influence of the late Hon. Joh n Davis, of Kansas,he entered the preparatory department of Illinois C ollege atJacksonville, Illinois. Thus far he had shown no special apti tude forthe natural sciences, though he was always a close observer of natural phenomena. His ambition at this period, which was also inaccord w ith the dearest wishes of his parents, was to complete hiscollege cour se and enter the ministry. Illinois College notpossessing a theologica l atmosphere after a year spent there hedeparted, and in 1857 began a c ourse of study at Oberlin College,Ohio. Among his studies there was bo tany, and in this class Powell atlast discovered himself and his true v ocation - the investigation ofnatural science. He became an enthusiast ic botanist and searched thewoods and swamps around Oberlin with the s ame zeal and thoroughnesswhich always characterised his work. He made a n almost completeherbarium of the flora of the county, organising the c lass into aclub to assist in its collection. In the summer of 1858, ha vingreturned to Wheaton, Illinois, where the family had settled in 185 4,he joined the Illinois State Natural History Society, then engaged i nconducting a natural history survey of the State through the voluntary labour of its members. To Powell was assigned the department ofconch ology. This work he entered upon with his usual application andmade th e most complete collection of the mollusca of Illinois everbrought tog ether by one man. Incidentally, botany, zoology, andmineralogy receive d attention, and in these lines he secured notablecollections. With th e broad mental grasp which was a pronouncedtrait, he perceived that th ese studies were but parts of the greaterscience of geology, which he t hen announced, to at least one of hisintimate friends, was to be the s cience to which he intended todevote his life. The next year was given t o study, teaching, andlecturing, usually on some topic connected with g eology.
In the spring of 1860, on a lecturing tour, he visited some of theSout hern States, and while there closely observed the sentiment ofthe peop le on the subject of slavery , with the result that heexpressed the co nviction that nothing short of war could settle thematter. In the summ er of 1860 he became principal of the publicschools of Hennepin, Illin ois. These he organised, graded, and taughtwith a vigour which was cha racteristic, yet never forgetting hisgeological investigations in the n eighbouring country, where, onSaturdays and at other times when the sc hools were not in session, hemade botanical and zoological collections .
Convinced that war was inevitable, the winter of 1860-61 found himstud ying military tactics and engineering. When the call came fortroops, h e was the first man to enroll, and largely through hisefforts Company H o f the 2Oth Regiment, Illinois Infantry , wasraised in Putnam County. W hen the regiment was organised at Joliet,Illinois, he was appointed se rgeant-major, and in this capacity wentto the front. When the force wa s sent to Cape Girardeau, Missouri,his prescience in studying military e ngineering made him invaluable.He was practically given charge of plan ning and laying out andconstructing the fortifications at that place, a w ork he executed sowell that it received the unqualified commendation o f GeneralFremont. The second lieutenant of Company H resigning, Powell w aselected to fill the vacancy. After a service of a few weeks with his company he was put in charge of the fortifications he had constructed,b eing retained in this post after the departure of his regiment. Inthe e arly winter of 1861-62 he recruited a company of artillery,largely fro m loyal Missourians. This company was mustered intoservice as Battery F , 2d Illinois Artillery, John Wesley Powell,Captain. After drilling a f ew weeks he was ordered to proceed withhis battery to Pittsburg Landin g, Tennessee, where he arrived thelatter part of March, 1862. The batt ery took part in the battle ofShiloh, April 6th of that year, and duri ng the engagement, as Powellraised his arm, a signal to fire, a rifle b all struck his hand at thewrist. glancing toward the elbow. The necess ary surgery was done sohastily that later a second operation was imper ative, which left himwith a mere stump below the elbow-joint. Never fo r long at a timeafterward was he free from pain and only a few years a go a thirdoperation was performed which brought relief.
As soon as the original wound was healed he went back to his command,a ssisting as Division Chief of Artillery in the siege of Vicksburg.Afte r the fall of this place he took part in the Meridian Raid. Thenhe ser ved on detached operations at Vicksburg, Natchez, and NewOrleans until t he summer of 1864, when he was reassigned to theformer command in the A rmy of the Tennessee. In all the operationsafter the fall of Atlanta h e bore an active part, and when Shermancommenced the march to the sea, P owell was sent back to GeneralThomas at Nashville, in command of twent y batteries of artillery. Atthe battle of Nashville he served on the s taff of Thomas andcontinued with this command till mustered out in the e arly summer of1865. As a soldier his career was marked by a thorough s tudy andmastery not only of the details of military life, but of milit aryscience. Especially was he apt in utilising material at hand to accomplish his ends - a trait that was also prominent in his civil life.B ridges he built from cotton-gin houses, mantelets for his guns fromgun ny bags and old rope, and shields for his sharpshooters from themould- boards of old ploughs found on the abandoned plantations. Allthis time w herever possible he continued his studies in naturalscience. He made a c ollection 0f fossils unearthed in the trenchesaround Vicksburg, land a nd river shells from the Mississippi swamps,and a large collection of m osses while on detached duty in Illinois.He also familiarised himself w ith the geology of regions throughwhich the armies passed to which he w as attached. Time and again hewas commended for his services and decli ned promotion to higher rankin other arms of the service. "He loved th e scarlet facings of theartillery, and there was something in the rank ing of batteries andthe power of cannon," writes Thompson, "that was a kin to the workingsof his own mind."
In 1862 he was married to his cousin, Miss Emma Dean, of Detroit, whos till lives in Washington with their daughter, an only child. Mrs.Powel l was often his companion in the army and early Westernjourneys. Upon t he return of Powell to civil life in 1865 he wastendered a nomination t o a lucrative political office in Du PageCounty, Illinois, and at the s ame time he was offered the chair ofgeology in the Wesleyan University , a struggling Methodist College atBloomington, Illinois. There was no h esitation on his part. Hedeclined the political honour and its emolume nts and accepted theprofessorship, which he retained two years. At the s ession of theIllinois Legislature in 1867 a bill was passed, largely t hrough hiseffort, creating a professorship of geology and natural hist ory inthe State Normal University at Normal, Illinois, with a salary o ffifteen hundred dollars and an appropriation of one thousand dollars annually to increase the geological and zoological collections. He wase lected to this chair and at about the same time was also chosencurator o f the Illinois State Natural History Society, whosecollections were do miciled in the museum of the Normal University.Attracted by the Far We st as a field for profitable scientificresearch, the summer of 1867 fo und him using his salary and the otheravailable funds to defray the ex pense of an expedition to the thenTerritory of Colorado for the purpos e of securing collections.
He organised and outfitted at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. All hisassistants w ere volunteers except the cook. A. H. Thompson,afterwards so closely a ssociated with him in the detailed explorationof the Colorado and in s ubsequent survey work, was the entomologistof the party. They crossed t he plains with mule teams to Denver,worked along the east slope of the F ront Range, climbed Pike's Peak,and went westerly as far as South Park . Without realising it,apparently, Powell was all these years steadily a pproaching the greatexploit of his life, as if led on and prepared by s ome unseen power.Now the project of exploring the mysterious gorges of w hich he heardsuch wonderful tales dawned upon him. It was as near an i nspirationas can be imagined. Henceforth his mind and energy were dire ctedirresistibly toward the accomplishment of this conception. Again i n1868 he was in the field with the same financial backing, to which was added a small allotment from the Illinois Industrial University atCh ampaign, Illinois, a State school. All but Mrs. Powell and hisbrother W alter, of this 1868 party, returned East on the approach ofautumn, whi le with these and several trappers and hunters, among whomwere the two H owlands, William Dunn, and William Rhodes Hawkins,afterwards of his pa rty to explore the canyons, he crossed the rangeto White River and win tered there near the camp of Chief Douglass andhis band of Utes. When s pring came in 1869 he went out to Granger, onthe Union Pacific Railway , and there disposed of his mules andoutfit, proceeding immediately to W ashington, where he inducedCongress to pass a joint resolution endorse d by General Grantauthorising him to draw rations from Western army po sts for a partyof twelve men while engaged in making collections for p ublicinstitutions. Never was assistance better deserved. Then he retur nedto Illinois and obtained from the trustees of the Normal University permission to again divert his salary and the other funds to Westernwor k. The trustees of the Illinois Industrial University allotted himfive h undred dollars, and the Chicago Academy of Sciences, throughthe influe nce of Dr. Andrews, the curator, also contributed twohundred and fifty o r five hundred dollars. In addition some personalfriends contributed s mall sums.
The object proposed was to make collections in natural history to besh ared accordingly with the contributing institutions. While thesecollec tions were one of Powell's objects, others were the examinationof the g eology, and particularly the solution of the greatestremaining geograp hical problem of the United States, the canyons ofthe Green and Colora do rivers. The Green, was known as far as theUinta Mountains, and here a nd there at widely separated points ondown to about Gunnison Valley. B ut there were long gaps, and belowGunnison Crossing as far as the Gran d Wash the knowledge of thecanyons as already pointed out was vague in t he extreme. The altitudeof Green River Station, Wyoming, was known to b e about six thousandfeet above sea level, and that of the mouth of the V irgen less thanone thousand. How the river made up this difference was n otunderstood and this problem was what Powell now confronted. His fortitude, nerve, courage, and war experience served him well in thisendea vour upon which he started, as previously described, in thespring of 1 869. The War Department and perhaps the SmithsonianInstitution, furnis hed some instruments. This expedition met with somany disasters that P owell deemed a second descent in the interest ofscience desirable, and f or a continuation of his explorations,Congress voted in 1870 an approp riation of ten thousand dollars. Thissecond expedition was successful, p erforming its work in the years1871-72-73. At the Session of 1871-72 a nother appropriation was madeby Congress for proceeding with the topog raphical and geologicalsurvey of the country adjacent to the river. Th ese appropriationswere expended under the supervision of the Smithsoni an Institutionand were continued annually for work under the titles, E XPLORATION OFTHE COLORADO RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, and SURVEY OF THE R OCKYMOUNTAIN REGION, up to 1879, when the work was consoLidated largel ythrough Powell's endeavour, with two other surveys, Hayden's and Wheeler's. The latter thought all this work ought to be done by the WarDep artment, but Powell believed otherwise and his view prevailed. Outof t hese grew by the consolidation the Geological Survey, of whichClarence K ing was made director. Powell, because of the earnestefforts he had ma de to bring about the consolidation, refusing toallow his name to be p resented. The new Geological Survey was underthe Interior Department, a nd in 1881, when King resigned thedirectorship, Powell was immediately a ppointed in his place.
The results of powell's original field work were topographic maps of al arge part of Utah, and considerable portions of Wyoming, Arizona,and N evada, constructed under the direction of Powell's colleague,Prof. A.H . Thompson. There were also many volumes of reports andmonographs, amo ng them the account of the expedition of 1869,entitled, THE EXPLORATIO N OF THE COLORADO RIVER OF THE WEST, 1869 to1872," THE GEOLOGY OF THE U INTA MOUNTAINS by Powell; LANDS OF THEARID REGION, by Powell; GEOLOGY O F THE HIGH PLATEAUS OF UTAH, by C.E. Dutton, of the Ordnance Departmen t, U.S.A.; GEOLOGY OF THE HENRYMOUNTAINS, by G. K. Gilbert; and four v olumes of CONTRIBUTIONS TONORTH AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, one of which conta ined Lewis H. Morgan'sfamous monograph on "HOUSES AND HOUSE LIFE OF TH E AMERICANABORIGINES." Early in his Western work Powell became interes ted inthe native tribes. In the winter of 1868, while on White River, h estudied language, tribal organisation, customs, and mythology of the Utes and from 1870 to 1873 he carried on studies among the Pai Utes,the M oki, etc., being adopted into one of the Moki clans. On hisjourneys du ring these periods he often took with him several of thenatives for th e purpose of investigating their myths and language.Eventually he beca me the highest authority on the Shoshonean tribes.In 1874 he was one o f the commissioners to select and locate theSouthern Pai Utes on a res ervation in south-eastern Nevada.
North American archaeology also claimed his interest and about thetime o f the consolidation of the Surveys Powell proposed theestablishment of a B ureau of Ethnology to carry on investigations inthis field as well as t he ethnologic. This was done and the Bureauwas attached to the Smithso nian Institution with Powell as director,an office that he held withou t salary till his resignation as head ofthe Geological Survey in 1894. A fter this he received a salary aschief of the Bureau of Ethnology in w hich office he remained till hisdeath. The widely known extensive seri es of valuable volumespublished by the Bureau, constituting a mine of i nformation, attestthe efficacy of his supervision. He contributed much t o these andalso wrote numerous papers on anthropological subjects and m ade manyaddresses. His labours as a pioneer in and organiser of the sc ienceof ethnology have been recognised by learned institutions and societies throughout the world. The results of his direction of theGeolog ical Survey are seen in the maps, reports, bulletins, andmonographs, c onstituting an imperishable monument to his ability asan organiser and a dministrator.
He delivered many lectures and once, when he appeared on the platforma t the University of Michigan, an incident occurred which illustrateshi s tact and his faculty for seizing means at hand to accomplish hisend. A t this time it was the habit of the students at public lecturesto guy t he speaker, even Charles Sumner having been a victim. Powellhad been w arned of this practice. As he advanced in evening dress avoice called o ut "How are your coat tails?" - a greeting which wasrepeated from all p arts of the house. During a momentary lull heexclaimed with the peculi ar squinting of the eyes and the half-laughhis friends so well remembe r: "Your greeting reminds me of DaveLarkins's reply when criticised fo r wearing a wamus (a heavy woolengarment) in July. Dave said, with his s low drawl, "If you don't likemy wamus I can take it off." The suggesti on took with the studentsand when the laughter had ceased, cries of "Y ou'll do - go on," camefrom everywhere. The incident roused Powell, an d he has often said henever talked better nor had a more attentive aud ience. He wasrewarded with enthusiastic applause. With his closing sen tence hesaid: "I have given you the finest account of the exploration o f theColorado River my command of language permits. I have been as dramatic and as eloquent as I thought this occasion demanded. If anyonewi shes a plain statement regarding the exploration, I will be happyto gi ve it to him at my hotel." There was a hush for a moment as thestudent s grasped the implication and cries of "Sold!" burst fromthem. A large n umber did call the next morning to discover whether hehad actually sta ted facts, which of course he had.
He possessed absolute independence of thought and never accepted whatw as told him unless he could demonstrate its accuracy. Often in hisexpl orations he was told he could not travel in certain places, buthe went o n just the same to find out for himself. He had a rarefaculty of induc ing enthusiasm in others, and by reposing completeconfidence in the in dividual, impelled him to do his very best. Thushe became the mainspri ng for much that was never credited to him, andwhich was really his in t he germ or original idea. Gilbert trulysays, "It is not easy to separa te the product of his personal workfrom that which he accomplished thr ough the organisation of the workof others. He was extremely fertile i n ideas, so fertile that it wasquite impossible that he should persona lly develop them all, andrealising this, he gave freely to his collabo rators. The work whichhe inspired and to which he contributed the most i mportant creativeelements, I believe to be at least as important as th at for which hisname stands directly responsible." (Oct. 10, 1902)
In the field of geology he was particularly facile in the invention ofa pt descriptive terms, and indeed he was never at a loss for words toex press new meanings, coining them readily where none had existedthat we re appropriate. Some of his ideas have been developed byyounger men, t ill they have become distinct divisions of the largerscience to which t hey belong. His greatest work in the GeologicalSurvey, that which was m ore the result of his personal effort, may besummed up under three hea ds: First, the development of a plan formaking a complete topographic m ap of the United States; second, theorganisation of a bureau for the c ollection of facts and figuresrelating to the mineral resources of the c ountry; and third, hislabours to preserve for the people the waters an d irrigable lands ofthe Arid Region. It is hard to say which of these i s greater or whichwas nearer his heart. Together they constitute a far r eachinginfluence in the development of the country such as no one man heretofore has contributed. His studies and recommendations with regardt o the arid lands of the West are of the greatest importance to thatdis trict and to the country at large and the nearer they can becarried ou t the better will it be for posterity. He perceived at oncethat the re servation of sites for storage reservoirs was of the firstimportance a nd this was one of the earliest steps he endeavoured tobring about.
Of late years when he might have relaxed his labours, he turned hisatt ention to the field of psychology and philosophy, working till hismala dy, sclerosis of the arteries, produced his last illness. Theresult wa s two treatises in this line, TRUTH AND ERROR, published in1899, or "t reating of matter, motion, and consciousness as related tothe external u niverse or the field of fact," as Gilbert describes it,and GOOD AND EV IL, running as a series of essays in the AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST, treat ing of the same factors as related to humanityor to welfare: A third v olume was planned to deal with the emotions,and he had also woven thes e ideas into a series of poems, of whichonly one has been published. F ew understand these later products ofPowell. Many condemn them; but Gi lbert expresses his usual clear,unbiassed view of things and says,(and I c an do no better than toquote him, a mail of remarkably direct thought, a nd for many yearsvery close to Powell) "His philosophic writings belon g to a field inwhich thought has ever found language inadequate, and a re for thepresent, so far as may be judged from the reviews of TRUTH A ND ERROR,largely misunderstood. Admitting myself to be of those who fa il tounderstand much of his philosophy, I do not therefore condemn it a sworthless, for in other fields of his thought events have proved thath e was not visionary, but merely in advance of his time......"
More, plus photos, may be seen at:http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jwp owell.htm
A monument erected in 1914 to honor him also bears his wife'sinformati on.
