The First Descent of the Grand Canyon Essay -- American America Histor

washbasin Wesley Powell was unmatched of the fore close to explorers in American history, and his starting time descent down the atomic number 27 River through the Grand Canyon is one of Americas greatest adventure stories. Although he is not as well known as other explorers, his travels and his contributions to American history ar significant because they represent a spirit of discovery motivated not by self-glory or the acquisition of gold or land, but by a curiosity about and appreciation for both the natural military man and the native peoples of the West. John Wesley Powell pursued knowledge and the uncommon experience his holy life. Born in 1834 in Ohio to a Methodist minister, he became enkindle in science as a boy and was fortunate to chip in a neighbor who was both an amateur scientist and a willing instructor (Stegner 1314). In 1846, the Powell family moved to Wisconsin, where John Wesley struggled to continue his scientific genteelness against the will of his fa ther, who wanted him to become a preacher. In 1857, he stick off on his first great adventure a cancel down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in a rowboat (Stegner 16). In 1861 Powell enlisted in the Union Army and was elected captain of artillery under U. S. Grant. He was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 and lost his dear arm. Despite his debility, however, Powell returned to active duty and finished the war (Stegner 17). After the genteel War, Powell became a professor of science at Illinois Weslyan and curator of the Illinois State rude(a) History museum. In 1867 he went on his first expedition to atomic number 27 and began his life-long love affair with the American West and the native peoples who lived there. The next class he went back to Colorado and spent the winter amon... ...de him fearless and rejoicing against hardship. Because of his unfaltering dedication to knowledge and the preservation of the West, Powell is truly one of the most significant American e xplorers of the nineteenth century. Works CitedHillers, John K. Tau-gu, Chief of the Paiutes, and major(ip) John Wesley Powell. 1873. National Anthropological Archives. Washington Smithsonian Institution. Powell, John Wesley. The geographic expedition of the Colorado River. Ed. Wallace Stegner. Chicago U of Chicago P, 1957. ---. Report on the Lands of the Arid expanse of the United States. 2nd ed. Washington GPO, 1879. ---. Wreck at Disaster Falls. Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries. Washington GPO, 1875 26. Stegner, Wallace. Beyond the Hundredth Meridian John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1954.