203- AMERICA'S HEROES #2....Major John Wesley Powell!....

He studied geology, zoology and botanny...on his own, without a teacher, and spent considerable time exploring parts of Illionois, Iowa, Wisconsin and then the Iron Mountain area of Missouri. He deveoped an indepth curiosity by collecting shells and rocks. At the age of 22, he traveled on the Mississippi River, alone for some distance.
When the Civil War broke out in 1860, he enlisted and was appointed a 2nd lt. At the Battle of Shiloh, he lost his right arm but returned to service when the wound healed. His wife, Emma Dean, was granted permisson from Gen. Grant to accompany her husband on the battlefield to take care of him. During the duration of his stay in the Army, he was promoted to the rank of major!

After the War, Powell accepted the possition of professor of geology and curator of the museum for the Illinois Weslayan U. at Bloomington, where he had previously earned a bachelor of arts and master of arts. And he spent considerable time trying to raise money on the lecture tour. In 1886, although not a college grad, he received a Ph.D from Heidelberg and a L.L.D. from Harvard.

Something about the unexplored Grand Canyon area intrigued him during various field trips out west. So, on May 24, 1869 Powell and nine recruits began their history making journey down the Green River from Green River Station, Wyoming. History says that a group of excited people cheered and clapped for them.

By then one of the four boats had been lost in a rapids, along with most of their 10-month supply of provisions. In June one man, Frank Goodman, left the expedition claiming he had already had enough adventure for a lifetime. He walked out to a nearby settlement, but history has lost track of Goodman. The rest made it to the Colorado River (Spanish for "red river").

On the Colorado River, he and his now 8 men, confronted many more rapids, and Powell concluded that he could not safely run them safely...but they did. Three of his men made a strong case for not continuing, but Powell continued. Those three left the expedition leaving Powell and five to complete the trip. Powell, however, left his boat, the "Emma Dean", in case the three changed their mind and come down.

Powell and his remaining explorers headed down the Colorado, not know that ahead would lie only two more major rapids. In the meantime, the 3 who had left the party climbed out of the canyon where the Shivwits Indians, mistaking them for miners they thought had killed a Hualapai women on the south side of the river, killed them. Powell was told that a year later when he came across the Indian group traveling with a Mormon Scout.

On August 29, 1869 and his remaining men reached the mouth of the Virgin River (now under Lake Mead). It was there that Powell met a group of settlers fishing from that river bank. For over three months, they were missing and thought dead. He had succeeded in confirming his theory about the Colorado River through what they called the Grand Canyon. Only wild rumors had been heard of that huge region of America's West. I can only image if Powell had had a Nikon along on that adventurous trip of lifetime!

Powell and his remaining explorers returned to Illinois as heroes! This time, however, when he went on his lecture tour, money flowed because he now had the detailed map and facts! Many more successes came to this all-American hero for the years to follow. You can read about them in various publicatins. When he died in September of 1902, with his honors earned during the Civil War, Johm Wesley Powell was buried in our Arlington National Cemetery. But, over and above those, our country has forever reserved a most honorable place in all of our history books as a true AMERCAN HERO! Put aside the TV one evening and READ about this heroic American's determination and original-style adventures. The Travel Channel has an EXCELLENT hour program filmed...excellent!