author
John Wesley Powell
1834–1902
Best known for leading the 1869 expedition through the Green and Colorado rivers and into the Grand Canyon, this one-armed Civil War veteran helped change how Americans understood the West. He later became an influential scientist and organizer of research on geology, geography, and Native American cultures.
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 Mount Morris, New York, on March 24, 1834, John Wesley Powell grew up in Ohio and Wisconsin and developed an early love of natural history and long field journeys. During the Civil War he fought for the Union, and after losing part of his right arm at the Battle of Shiloh, he returned to scientific work rather than stepping away from it.
Powell became famous for leading the 1869 river expedition that traveled down the Green and Colorado rivers, including a dramatic passage through the Grand Canyon. The journey made him one of the best-known explorers of the American West, and he later wrote about it in Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries.
His importance went far beyond exploration. Powell served as the second director of the U.S. Geological Survey and also led the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian, where he supported research on Native American languages and cultures. He died on September 23, 1902, in Haven, Maine, leaving behind a legacy as both an adventurer and a builder of American science.