Geological Survey Professional Paper 669 The Colorado River Region and John Wesley Powell

In preparing this account of John Wesley Powell, which emphasizes one aspect of a multifaceted career, an extensive list of publications and documents has been consulted, a list so long that, if it were reproduced in entirety, it would be almost as long as the paper itself.

For those who wish to learn more of Powell, the most complete biography is William Culp Darrah's "Powell of the Colorado" (Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1951). Wallace Stegner's "Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West" (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1954) is, Stegner says, the history of a career rather than of a personality, and as such, begins with the 1868 expedition. Other accounts are "John Wesley Powell: A Memorial to an American Explorer and Scholar," edited by G. K. Gilbert (Chicago, Open Court Publishing Co., 1903); "John Wesley Powell, 1834-1902," by W. M. Davis (U.S. National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs, volume 8, 1915); and the chapter entitled, "John Wesley Powell: The Explorer as Reformer," in William H. Goetzmann's "Exploration and Empire" (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1966). Goetzmann also has chapters on the King, Hayden, and Wheeler surveys. Richard A. Bartlett's "Great Surveys" (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1962) is an account of the field operations of the four surveys.

Much material on Powell is also included in A. Hunter Dupree's "Science in the Federal Government" (Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press, 1957) and Thomas G. Maiming's "Government in Science" (Lexington, Univ. Kentucky Press, 1968).

There are many accounts of the 1869 exploration. As mentioned in the text, Powell's own "Exploration of the Colorado River of the West" purports to be a journal of the 1869 trip but actually combines the first and second expeditions and hence is not good history. Most valuable is the Utah Historical Quarterly, volume 15, 1947, which includes biographical data on the members of the first expedition, "Major J. W. Powell's Report on his Explorations of the Rio Colorado in 1869" (from W. A. Bell, "New Tracks in North America," 2d ed., London, 1870), his letters to the Chicago Tribune, diary, and geological notes, as well as the diaries of George Bradley and Jack Sumner and letters by Walter Powell and O. G. Howland.

Material on the second expedition is more voluminous. A complete account is given in Frederick Dellenbaugh's "A Canyon Voyage" (New York, G. P. Putnam, 1908). The diary and letters of F. M. Bishop are included in the Utah Historical Quarterly, volume 15, 1947. Journals of Stephen Jones, John Steward, and Walter Clement Powell were published in volume 16-17 of the Quarterly. Almon Harris Thompson's journal, which includes entries to 1875, was published as volume 7 of the Utah Historical Quarterly.

Congressional documents provide a wealth of material. Of special interest are the reports of the Congressional hearings in 1874, found in the 43d Congress, 1st session, House of Representatives Executive Document 240 and Report 612; the testimony before the Committee on the Public Lands in March 1878 (45th Congress, 2d session, House of Representatives Miscellaneous Document 55); the documents pertaining to the consolidation of the surveys (45th Congress, 2d session, House of Representatives Executive Documents 81 and 88; 45th Congress, 3d session, House of Representatives Miscellaneous Document 5 and Senate Executive Document 21); the testimony before the Allison Commission (49th Congress, 1st session, Senate Miscellaneous Document 82); and the Irrigation Survey hearings (51st Congress, 1st session, House of Representatives Report 2407 and Senate Report 1466).

Valuable background material is found in George P. Merrill's "The First One Hundred Years of American Geology" (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1924); R. M. Robbins' "Our Landed Heritage." "The Public Domain 1776-1936" (Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1941); Stewart L. Udall's "The Quiet Crisis" (New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963); and Walter Prescott Webb's "The Great Plains" (Boston, Ginn and Company, 1931) as well as in the other works cited.

Major Powell's own bibliography is lengthy. The Warman catalog in the Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences, volume 5, 1903, lists 251 items, and although there is some duplication, the list is not complete. The principal works are the "Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries," published in 1875; "Report on the Geology of the Eastern Portion of the Uinta Mountains," published in 1876; "Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages," first edition 1877 and revised edition 1881; and the "Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States," published in 1878, all by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Specific references for quotations in the text are as follows:

p. 1. Clarence King, First Annual Report of the U.S. Geological Survey; Washington, p. 4, 1880.

p. 1. Arnold Guyot, The Earth and Man: New York, Scribner's p. 21, 1886.

p. 1. George Perkins Marsh, Letter to Spencer Baird, May 21, 1860; Man and Nature: Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1965 (The John Harvard Library reprint of 1864 ed, p. 49, 52.

p. 2. B. A. Gould, Address of the ex-president: American Association for the Advancement of Sciences 18th Annual Meeting, Salem, Mass. August 1869 Proceedings, p. 28, 29, 30, 32, 34.

p. 3. Major J. W. Powell's report on his explorations of the Rio Colorado in 1869, in W. A. Bell, New Tracks in North America (2d ed.): London, 1870; reprinted in Utah Historical Quarterly, v. 15 p. 21, 1947.

p. 3. J. W. Powell, letter to the Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1869; reprinted in Utah Historical Quarterly, v. 15, p. 74, 1947.

p. 4. John C. Sumner's Journal: Utah Historical Quarterly, v. 15, p. 116, 1947.

p. 6. J. W. Powell and G. W. Ingalls, Report of Special Commissioners on the condition of the Ute Indians of Utah; the Paiutes of Utah, northern Arizona, southern Nevada, and southeastern California; the Go-si-utes of Utah and Nevada; the northwestern Shoshones of Idaho and Utah; and the western Shoshones of Nevada; and report concerning claims of settlers in the Mo-a-pa Valley, southeastern Nevada: Washington, 1874.

p. 7. J. W. Powell, Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and its tributaries: Washington, p. 152, 1875.

p. 7. ibid., p. 203-204.

p. 8. 43d Congress, 1st session, House of Representatives Executive Document 240, p. 11 (Hayden) and p. 14, 53 (Powell).

p. 8. ibid., p. 53.

p. 9. New York Tribune, April 28, 1877, quoted in W. C. Darrah, Powell of the Colorado, p. 226.

p. 9. 45th Congress, 2d Session, House of Representatives Miscellaneous Document 55.

p. 10. 45th Congress, 3d Session, House of Representatives Miscellaneous Document 5, p. 2.

p. 11. J. W. Powell, Report on the Methods of Surveying the Public Domain to the Secretary of the Interior, at the request of the National Academy of Sciences, p. 5, 6, 10, 12.

p. 12. J. W. Powell to John D. C. Atkins, March 4, 1879.

p. 13. U.S. Geological Survey 2d Annual Report, 1880-81, p. XL, XLI, XLII, LIV, 1882.

p. 13. U.S. Geological Survey 4th Annual Report, 1882-83, p. XIII, 1884.

p. 14. 49th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Miscellaneous Document 82, p. 1.

p. 15. ibid., p. 169, 176-177, 178, 1014.

p. 16. ibid., p. 1081, 1082.

p. 16. 49th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives Report 2740, p. 52.

p. 16. U.S. Geological Survey 6th Annual Report, 1884-85, p. XVI, 1885.

p. 17. U.S. Geological Survey Tenth Annual Report, 1888-89, Part II, Irrigation (includes the resolutions and acts initiating the Irrigation Survey), 1890.

p. 17. Debates of the North Dakota Constitutional Convention 1889, p. 410-412.

p. 17. Proceedings and Debates of the Montana Constitutional Convention 1889, p. 820, 821.

p. 18. 51st Congress, 1st Session, Senate Report 1466.

p. 19. J. W. Powell, The Work of the U.S. Geological Survey: Science, v. 21. p. 15, 1893.

p. 19. J. W. Powell, Darwin's contributions to philosophy: Biological Society of Washington Proceedings, v. 1, p. 70, 66, 1880-82.

p. 20. J. W. Powell, The larger import of scientific education: Popular Science Monthly, v. 26, no. 4, p. 456, 1885.