I highly recommend this as a reference book, a history book of the area, an adventure story, and an art portfolio.

21 of 22 found the following review helpful:


Better than "In Thin Air".  Nov 05, 1997
One of the most enthralling and astonishing adventure books I've ever read. Powell was an ace geologist, a pretty good naturalist, a fearless explorer, and a very good writer. Add the unexplored waters of the Grand Canyon -- they truly didn't know what they were getting into when they started down the Canyon -- and you have a great book. The illustrations are first-rate as well.

16 of 16 found the following review helpful:


Exploration of the Last Unmapped Part of Continental U.S.  Jan 30, 2002
On May 24, 1869, Major John W. Powell, a one-armed veteran of the Civil War, along with nine others (geologists, geographers, scouts and adventurers), set out from Green River, Wyoming to explore the last great unmapped and unknown portion of the continental U.S. No man had ever descended the Colorado river as it cut its way through 1,000 miles of incredibly rugged badlands. However, Powell and his band of men completed a remarkable journey of exploration through this country.

A passage from Powell's narrative of the expedition, after they had been on the river nearly two months, conveys very well a perspective of the challenge Powell and his men faced, the courage they demonstrated and Powell's matter of fact, but powerful writing style.

"We are now ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown. Our boats, tied to a common stake, chafe each other as they are tossed by the fretful river. They ride high and buoyant, for their loads are lighter than we could desire. We have but a month's rations remaining. The flour has been resifted through the mosquito-net sieve; the spoiled bacon has been dried and the worst of it boiled; the few pounds of dried apples have been spread in the sun and reshrunken to their normal bulk. The sugar has all melted and gone on its way down the river. But we have a large sack of coffee. The lightening of the boats has this advantage--they will ride the waves better; and we shall have but little to carry when we make a portage. We are three quarters of a mile in the depths of the earth and the great river shrinks into insignificance as it dashes its angry waves against the walls and cliffs that rise to the world above. The waves are but puny ripples. We are but pigmies, running up and down among the sands or lost among the boulders. We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not. What rocks beset the channel, we know not. What walls rise over the river, we know not. Ah, well! We may conjecture many things. The men talk as cheerfully as ever. To me, the cheer is somber and the jests ghastly."

This book is a classic tale of exploration and discovery!

12 of 12 found the following review helpful:


Perilous journey into a sublime landscape  Apr 25, 2006 By K.S.Ziegler
Anyone who is enthralled by the beauty of the Southwest, or as Powell defines it - the Colorado River watershed, should read this book. It's not the same now as it was in his day. For one thing, Glen Canyon, which he named, is now submerged under Lake Powell (could any name be more ironic?). No one today can feel the same kind of wonder and awe as Powell and his companions did as they pushed their boats into the raging rapids of the muddy Colorado without having any idea of what was ahead. Even the part of the Colorado watershed that has not been developed, and there is a considerable extent of land under protective status, today has nothing like the remoteness that Powell experienced. Everything has been mapped and carefully scutinized.

Yet, anyone who has spent some time sizing up the immense water-carved rock canyons, can still feel something of the sublimity that Powell felt. It requires more imagination; it is true, but anyone who is determined to make more of a commitment than just standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon can still experience the really sublime features of this landscape. How much more difficult will it be in the future? Will these wilderness wonders become more degraded?

The book describes by daily journal entries the historic river run of 1868 starting at the Flaming Gorge in Wyoming and ending at the Virgin River as well as a follow-up expedition the next year. Powell does not overdo the apprehensions and hardships of himself and companions, nor does he make mention that he accomplished the physical exertion of climbing the canyon walls and navigating the boats with one arm: but largely confines himself to descriptions of the events and the incredible landforms. The extent of the journey and all the spectacular features that he finds and names is impressive. That Powell's group experienced hardships there can be no doubt.

One of the more interesting parts of the book to me was the way Powell approached the Indian tribe that killed his three companions, who decided to abandon the expedition and hike out of the Canyon. In those frontier days, it was the accepted norm to meet violence with violence. But Powell, I thought here, really showed himself to be an exceptional human being. He had a inquiring mind and a sincere desire to learn everything he could without inflicting retribution.

28 of 35 found the following review helpful:


An epic narrative by an epochal figure  Mar 15, 2002 By Jerald R Lovell
John Wesley Powell, for better or worse, made the American West what it is today. He was the primary founder of the Bureau of Reclamation, the agency that has vandalized the West, and of the United States Geological Service. He also completed the last great feat of exploration on American soil when he and his cohorts undertook the voyage that is the main subject of this book. That the book combines two voyages into one epic adventure is not widely known, but it does not detract from the narrative to any meaningful extent.

Powell's narrative of the so-called Grand Canyon voyage is simply, yet powerfully, written, even carrying touches of the poetic. It is easy to sense his feelings of awe and wonder, particularly in exploring the canyons themselves. Powell never put his main function, scientific discovery, out of mind until the race through the Grand Canyon became one against the calendar as well as the power of the river. Even then, his writing evidences a sense of charity and concern toward his men.

Powell's narrative evokes many vivid memories of the beauty and timelessness of the country he explored, particularly his writings on the now-vanished Glen Canyon. It seems a pity, somehow, that much of what he saw is buried under stagnant, polluted reservoirs, the worst of which ironically carries his name. Would this brilliant, feeling man approve? I do not think so.

The growing recognition of the role native Americans have played in our country's history and development would find a more sympathetic vein with Powell, and his studies of ethnography and acclimatation to the arid habitat by native Americans may prove a more lasting memoir. These parts of the book should be read with equal care.

As to the canyons themselves, Powell would be the first to tell you that the artificial plug of stone at Page, Arizona, is only temporary, and that, as with the volcanic debris at Lava Falls, the river will soon have its way again.

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