john wesley powell

John Wesley PowellAn American Hero

• The Family of Joseph and Mary Powell

William Culp Darrah Collection

Utah State Historical Society Classified Photo Collection

• 1862 Battle of Shiloh

• Loses his arm when hit but Minnie ball when he was raising arm to order his artillery regiment to attack.



• Emma Dean Powell

• 1861- Powell marries first cousin Emma Dean at her family home in Detroit

• first woman to climb Pike's Peak



• 1865• Accepts a job at

Illinois Wesleyan University as a Professor of Geology.



Down the Great Unknown

• J. W. Powell In 1869• Leads first Expedition on the

Colorado River

• Recent Biographers– Edward Dolnick

• “Down the Great Unknown” (2001)

– Michael Ghiglieri• “First Through the Grand Canyon” (2003)



First camp of the John Wesley Powell in the Willows, Green River, Wyo. Terr. 1872.By E. 0. Beaman, 1871.

Walter Powell

• 1864 Confederate troops capture brother Walter in Atlanta on July 22. He escapes from a Confederate prison hospital, but is recaptured.

• He struggles to recover mentally and physically, but remains disturbed by his war experiences for the rest of his life.



• Copy of Original Map map produced by Powell 1875.

Vivid Illustrations from Scribner’s Magazine.Scribner’s Magazine – Entire Catalog digitized by Cornell University

Cornell University: Making of America Collection

Accomplishments• 2nd director of the US Geological

Survey (1881-1894)

• Smithsonian’s Director of Bureau of Ethnology. (1879-1902)

• 1888 - Powell is one of 33 men to found the National Geographic Society.

Major John Wesley Powell in his office in the Adams Building, Washington, DC. circa 1896. Photo from the Smithsonian Institution.

Jack Sumner


Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Major John Wesley Powell's boat the "Emma Dean" moored on a bank of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. 1871 or 1872.

Notice the Famous Chair Powell used to direct his expedition.

U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region (Powell Survey).

Arlington National Cemetery

Grand Canyon South Rim Trail Powell Memorial

• Memorial to Powell located on the South Rim Trail of the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Grand Canyon, viewed from Lava Pinnacle, looking downstream. The mouth of Prospect Canyon is on the left with a small cinder cone on the point beyond. Lava Falls Rapid is just below the mouth of Prospect Canyon.

http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/show_picture.cgi?ID=ID.%20Hillers,%20J.K.%20%20%2061&SIZE=medium

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Major Powell's armchair on a boat in Marble Canyon.

Photo by E.O. Beaman, August 20, 1872.U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region (Powell Survey).

http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/show_picture.cgi?ID=ID.%20Hillers,%20J.K.%20%20445&SIZE=large

• Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Sockdologer Rapid, above Bright Angel Creek. August 29, 1872.


Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Grand Canyon. August 26, 1872.


• Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Boats in the Colorado River near the upper end of the Grand Canyon. • Photo by E.0. Beaman, 1872.U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region (Powell Survey).

• Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Major Powell's famous armchair boat on the Colorado River.

• August 22, 1872.U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region (Powell Survey). Stereoscopic view.

• Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Repairing a boat at First Granite Gorge. September 1872.

• U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region (Powell Survey).

• Photos hjk0871a and hjk0871b form a stereoscopic view.

• Arizona. Boats near the mouth of the Little Colorado River. 1872.


• The famous Powell armchair in Marble Canyon. Grand Canyon National Park.

• Coconino County, Arizona. August 20, 1872.

Photo by E.O. Beaman; an enlargement of a portion of J.K. Hillers 967a, a composite) USGS

Major John Wesley Powell at his desk in the Adams Building on F Street, N.W., Washington, DC.

circa 1896.

Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Institution.

John Wesley Powell March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902

Time Life Collection

john wesley powell

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