author
John Wesley Powell
1834–1902
Best known for leading the 1869 expedition through the Grand Canyon, he was a one-armed Civil War veteran who became one of the great explorers of the American West. His work went far beyond adventure, shaping early geology, mapping, and the study of Native cultures in the United States.
9 Audiobooks
Canyons of the Colorado
by John Wesley Powell
Wyandot Government: A Short Study of Tribal Society Bureau of American Ethnology
by John Wesley Powell
On the Evolution of Language First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1879-80, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1881, pages 1-16
by John Wesley Powell
Titan of Chasms: The Grand Canyon of Arizona
by C. A. (Charles A.) Higgins, Charles Fletcher Lummis, John Wesley Powell
Report on the lands of the arid region of the United States, with a more detailed account of the lands of Utah
by John Wesley Powell, Willis Drummond, Clarence E. (Clarence Edward) Dutton, Grove Karl Gilbert, A. H. (Almon Harris) Thompson
On Limitations to the Use of Some Anthropologic Data
by John Wesley Powell
About the author
Born in New York in 1834 and raised in the Midwest, John Wesley Powell developed an early love of science and the outdoors. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War and lost his right arm at the Battle of Shiloh, an injury that never stopped him from pursuing demanding fieldwork.
Powell became famous after leading an 1869 river expedition down the Green and Colorado rivers, including a historic journey through the Grand Canyon. The trip helped make him a national figure, and he later led more expeditions in the West while building a career as a geologist, explorer, and teacher.
He went on to direct the U.S. Geological Survey and also led the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology. Powell is remembered not only for his dramatic expeditions, but also for his serious thinking about the American West, especially his warnings about water, land use, and settlement in arid regions.