John Wesley Powell And An Understanding of the West BY WILLIAM C. DARRAH
T
H E CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION of Major John Wesley Powell (18341902) pays tribute to a public servant who influenced the course of American government and the development of the West. Powell's influence, far-reaching indeed, was recognized only slowly by historians. It is fitting that this celebration coincides with the anniversary of Powell's daring exploration of the Colorado River because this feat raised him to a position of prominence and marked the turning point in his career. There was little in the youth and early manhood of John Wesley Powell that might presage the future. He was born in Mt. Morris, New York, of English parents, his father a tailor and Methodist circuit rider. Powell's formal education was haphazard, in part because the family had moved frequently and took up farming in Wisconsin and Illinois. He did have a propensity for natural history and turned to public school teaching as a vocation. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Powell enlisted in the infantry but organized an artillery battery while stationed at Cape Girardeau. At Shiloh he suffered a wound that necessitated amputation of his right forearm. Nevertheless he remained in combat service until 1865. Powell, forever after known as "the Major," returned to college teaching. He Mr. Darrah, professor of botany at Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, is an authority on John Wesley Powell. He is the author of several books among which is Powell of the Colorado, which appeared in 1951, and he has contributed material on Powell that has appeared in Volumes XV, X V I - X V I I , and X X V I I I of the Utah Historical Quarterly.
