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John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the
American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...
, professor at
Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856. History The in ...
, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He is famous for his 1869 geographic expedition, a three-month river trip down the
Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...
and
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
rivers, including the first official U.S. government-sponsored passage through the
Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...
. Powell was appointed by US President
James A. Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until his death in September that year after being shot two months earlier. A preacher, lawyer, and Civi ...
to serve as the second director of the
U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...
(1881–1894) and proposed, for development of the arid West, policies that were prescient for his accurate evaluation of conditions. Two years prior to his service as director of the U.S. Geological Survey, Major Powell had become the first director of the
Bureau of Ethnology The Bureau of American Ethnology (or BAE, originally, Bureau of Ethnology) was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Departme ...
at the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
where he supported
linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
and sociological research and publications.


Biography


Early life

Powell was born in
Mount Morris, New York Mount Morris is a town in Livingston County, New York, United States. The population was 4,465 at the 2010 census. The town and village were named after Robert Morris, an 18th Century slave trader and Founding Father of the United States. T ...
, in 1834, the son of Joseph and Mary Powell. His father, a poor
itinerant preacher An itinerant preacher (also known as an itinerant minister) is a Christian evangelist who preaches the basic Christian redemption message while traveling around to different groups of people within a relatively short period of time. The usage of ...
, had emigrated to the U.S. from
Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, in 1831. His family moved westward to
Jackson, Ohio Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Ohio, United States about southeast of Chillicothe. Its population was 6,252 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Jackson, Ohio micropolitan area, which consists of ...
, then to
Walworth County, Wisconsin Walworth County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 106,478. Its county seat is Elkhorn, Wisconsin, Elkhorn. The county was created in ...
, before settling in rural
Boone County, Illinois Boone County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,448. Its county seat is Belvidere. Boone County is included in the Rockford, Illinois metropolitan area. History Unlike most of Ill ...
. As a young man he undertook a series of adventures through the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
valley. In 1855, he spent four months walking across
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. During 1856, he rowed the Mississippi from St. Anthony,
Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
, to the sea. In 1857, he rowed down the
Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
from
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
to the Mississippi River, traveling north to reach
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
. In 1858, he rowed down the
Illinois River The Illinois River () is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines ...
, then up the Mississippi and the
Des Moines River The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe N ...
to central
Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
. In 1859, at age 25, he was elected to the Illinois Natural History Society.


Education

Powell studied at
Illinois College Illinois College is a private liberal arts college in Jacksonville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (USA). It was the second college founded in Illinois but the first to grant a degree (in ...
, Illinois Institute (which would later become Wheaton College), and
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
, over a period of seven years while teaching, but was unable to attain his degree. While there, he was a member of Sigma Pi Literary Society. During his studies Powell acquired a knowledge of
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
and
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
. Powell had a restless nature and a deep interest in the
natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...
s. This desire to learn about natural sciences was against the wishes of his father, yet Powell was still determined to do so. In 1861 when Powell was on a lecture tour he decided that a civil war was inevitable; he decided to study military science and engineering to prepare himself for the imminent conflict.


Civil War and aftermath

Powell's loyalties remained with the Union and the cause of abolishing
slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
. On May 8, 1861, he enlisted at
Hennepin, Illinois Hennepin is a village located on the Illinois River in Putnam County, Illinois, United States. The population was 757 in 2010, an increase of 50 since the 2000 census. It is the county seat and second largest village in Putnam County, Illinois, P ...
, as a private in the 20th Illinois Infantry. He was elected sergeant-major of the regiment, and when the 20th Illinois was mustered into the Federal service a month later, Powell was commissioned a second lieutenant. He enlisted in the Union Army as a cartographer, topographer and military engineer. While stationed at
Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, Cape Girardeau and Scott County, Missouri, Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the ...
, he recruited an artillery company that became Battery 'F' of the 2nd Illinois Light Artillery, with Powell as captain. On November 28, 1861, Powell took a brief leave to marry Emma Dean. At the
Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the American Civil War fought on April 6–7, 1862. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater of the ...
, he lost most of his right arm when struck by a
Minié ball The Minié ball, or Minie ball, is a type of hollow-based bullet designed by Claude-Étienne Minié for muzzle-loaded, rifled muskets. Invented in 1846 shortly followed by the Minié rifle, the Minié ball came to prominence during the Crime ...
while in the process of giving the order to fire. The raw nerve endings in his arm caused him pain for the rest of his life. Despite the loss of an arm, he returned to the Army and was present at the battles of
Champion Hill Champion Hill is a association football, football stadium in East Dulwich in the London Borough of Southwark. It is the home ground of Dulwich Hamlet F.C., Dulwich Hamlet. History Dulwich Hamlet began playing at the ground in 1912. 'The Hill' ...
, Big Black River Bridge, and in the
siege of Vicksburg The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed th ...
. Always the geologist, he took to studying rocks while in the trenches at Vicksburg. He was made a major and commanded an artillery brigade with the 17th Army Corps during the Atlanta campaign. After the fall of Atlanta he was transferred to George H. Thomas' army and participated in the
battle of Nashville The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 18 ...
. At the end of the war he was made a brevet lieutenant colonel but preferred to use the title of "major". After leaving the Army, Powell took the post of professor of geology at
Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856. History The in ...
. He also lectured at
Illinois State Normal University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching ...
for most of his career. Powell helped expand the collections of the Museum of the Illinois State Natural History Society, where he served as
curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...
. He declined a permanent appointment in favor of exploration of the American West.


Geologic research


Colorado expeditions

John Wesley Powell led an expedition into the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
of the
Colorado Territory The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the 38th State of Colorado. The territory was organized ...
in 1867. An expedition party of 11 men and one woman arrived in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
on July 6 of that year. Among the men were five students (or recent graduates) from Illinois. The woman was Emma Dean Powell, wife of John Wesley Powell. Eight members of the party (including both Powells) made an ascent of
Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, ...
in the summer of 1867. After further explorations, the expedition party disbanded in September but the Powells remained in the Rockies for two additional months before returning to Illinois in December. Powell organized and led a second expedition to the Colorado Territory in 1868. In that year, Powell,
William Byers William Newton Byers (February 22, 1831, in Madison County, OhioByers, William ...
, and five other men became the first white explorers to climb
Longs Peak Longs Peak is a mountain in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The fourteener is located in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness, southwest by south ( bearing 209°) of the Town of Estes Park, Colorado, ...
. By December 1868, most of the expedition party had returned to Illinois but the Powells spent the winter camped on the White River, a tributary of the Green River. During that winter, Powell made excursions down both rivers. He also traveled south to the Grand River (now known as the
Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
), north to the
Yampa River The Yampa River flows through northwestern Colorado, United States. Rising in the Rocky Mountains, it is a tributary of the Green River and a major part of the Colorado River system. The Yampa is one of the few free-flowing rivers in the weste ...
, and around the
Uinta Mountains The Uinta Mountains ( ) are an east-west trending mountain range in northeastern Utah extending a short distance into northwest Colorado and slightly into southwestern Wyoming in the United States. As a subrange of the Rocky Mountains, they are u ...
. Preparations were made for a now historic voyage through the
Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...
of the Colorado River in 1869. Emma Dean Powell did not accompany her husband down the Colorado River. In 1869, John Wesley Powell set out to explore the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. Gathering ten men, four boats and food for 10 months, he set out from
Green River, Wyoming Green River is a city in and the county seat of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 11,825 at the 2020 census. It is the 7th most populous city in Wyoming. History The townsi ...
, on May 24. Passing through dangerous rapids, the group passed down the Green River to its
confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...
with the Colorado River (then also known as the Grand River upriver from the junction), near present-day
Moab, Utah Moab () is the largest city in and the county seat of Grand County in eastern Utah in the western United States, known for its dramatic scenery. The population was 5,366 at the 2020 census. Moab attracts many tourists annually, mostly visitor ...
, and completed the journey on August 30, 1869. The members of the first Powell expedition were: * John Wesley Powell, trip organizer and leader, major in the Civil War * John Colton "Jack" Sumner, hunter, trapper, soldier in the Civil War * William H. Dunn, hunter, trapper from Colorado * Walter H. Powell, captain in the Civil War, John's brother * George Y. Bradley, lieutenant in the Civil War, expedition chronicler * Oramel G. Howland, printer, editor, hunter * Seneca Howland, soldier who was wounded in the
Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...
* Frank Goodman, Englishman, adventurer * W.R. Hawkins, cook, soldier in Civil War * Andrew Hall, Scotsman, the youngest of the expedition The expedition's route traveled through the Utah canyons of the Colorado River, which Powell described in his published diary as having Frank Goodman quit after the first month, and Dunn and the Howland brothers left at Separation Canyon in the third month. This was just two days before the group reached the mouth of the
Virgin River The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about long.Calculated with Google Maps and Google Earth It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the ...
on August 30, after traversing almost . The three disappeared; some historians have speculated they were killed by the Shivwits Band of Paiutes or by Mormons in the town of Toquerville. Powell retraced part of the 1869 route in 1871–72 with another expedition that traveled the Colorado River from Green River, Wyoming to
Kanab Creek Kanab Creek ( ) is one of the many tributaries of the Colorado River. It begins in Kane County, Utah, just south of the drainage divide, watershed to the Great Basin and flows south to the Colorado River. The stream headwaters arise at at an el ...
in the Grand Canyon. Powell used three photographers on this expedition; Elias Olcott Beaman, James Fennemore, and John K. Hillers. This trip resulted in photographs (by
John K. Hillers John Karl Hillers (1843, Hanover, Germany – 1925) was an American government photographer. Hillers came to the United States in 1852. He was a policeman and then a soldier in the American Civil War, first with the New York Naval Brigade, t ...
), an accurate map and various papers. At least one Powell scholar, Otis R. Marston, noted the maps produced from the survey were impressionistic rather than precise. In planning this expedition, he employed the services of
Jacob Hamblin Jacob Hamblin (April 2, 1819 – August 31, 1886) was a Western pioneer, a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and a diplomat to various Native American tribes of the Southwest and Great Basin. He a ...
, a Mormon missionary in southern Utah who had cultivated relationships with Native Americans. Before setting out, Powell used Hamblin as a negotiator to ensure the safety of his expedition from local Indian groups.


After the Colorado

In 1881, Powell was appointed the second director of the
U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...
, a post he held until his resignation in 1894, being replaced by Charles Walcott. In 1875, Powell published a book based on his explorations of the Colorado, originally titled ''Report of the Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries''. It was revised and reissued in 1895 as ''
The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons ''The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons'' by John Wesley Powell is a classic of American exploration literature. It is about the Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869 which was the first trip down the Colorado River by boat, inclu ...
''. In 1889, the intellectual gatherings Powell hosted in his home were formalized as the
Cosmos Club The Cosmos Club is a 501(c)(7) private social club in Washington, D.C., that was founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878 as a gentlemen's club for those interested in science. Among its stated goals is, "The advancement of its members in science, ...
. The club has continued, with members elected to the club for their contributions to scholarship and civic activism. In the early 1900s the journals of the expedition crew began to be published starting with Dellenbaugh's ''A Canyon Voyage'' in 1908, followed in 1939 by the diary of Almon Harris Thompson, who was married to Powell's sister,
Ellen Powell Thompson Ellen Louella (Nellie) Powell Thompson (1840–1911) was an American naturalist and botanist, and an active advocate for women's suffrage. Life Ellen Louella (Nellie) Powell was born in Ohio to parents of English origin. Her siblings included ...
. Bishop, Steward, W.C. Powell, and Jones' diaries were all published in 1947. These diaries made it clear Powell's writings contained some exaggerations and recounted activities that occurred on the second river trip as if they occurred on the first. They also revealed that Powell, who had only one arm, wore a life jacket, though the other men did not have them.


Anthropological research

Powell spent time among the Native Peoples of the
Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km2 (130,000 mi2) within w ...
and wrote an influential classification of North American Indian languages. He became the director of the
Bureau of Ethnology The Bureau of American Ethnology (or BAE, originally, Bureau of Ethnology) was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Departme ...
at the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
in 1879 and remained so until his death. He was also the first president of the Anthropological Society of Washington, founded in 1879. From 1894 to 1899, Powell held a post as lecturer on the History of Culture in the Political Science department at the Columbian University in Washington, D.C. He was elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
in 1898. Many of Powell's anthropological writings draw upon his interactions with Native Americans during the 1870s as director of the Powell Survey. These include his studies of Indian languages which are based in part on vocabulary lists he compiled during this period. After Powell assumed near-permanent residency in Washington, D.C. as director of the Bureau of Ethnology and the U.S. Geological Survey, his contributions to anthropology consisted increasingly of hiring others to conduct field research and abstract theorizing. Powell was a friend and follower of
Lewis Henry Morgan Lewis Henry Morgan (November 21, 1818 – December 17, 1881) was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist who worked as a railroad lawyer. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social e ...
whose 1877 book
Ancient Society ''Ancient Society'' is an 1877 book by the American anthropologist Lewis H. Morgan. Building on the data about kinship and social organization presented in his 1871 '' Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family'', Morgan develops ...
argued that all human societies progressed from "savagery" to "barbarism" and finally "civilization." These classifications were based on factors such as technology, family and social organization, property relations, and religion. Powell, like Morgan, believed that this course of development was linear and universal. As many scholars have noted, Morgan's hierarchical schema was often used to justify the dispossession of Native peoples and to support theories of racial difference. Indeed, the study of ethnology was often a way for scientists to demarcate social categories in order to justify government-sponsored programs that exploited newly appropriated land and its inhabitants. Believing that "progress" was linear and inevitable, Powell advocated for government funding to be used to 'civilize' Native American populations, pushing for the teaching of English, Christianity, and Western methods of farming and manufacture. However, Powell was not a
Social Darwinist Charles Darwin, after whom social Darwinism is named Social Darwinism is a body of pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economic ...
; his schemes for cultural assimilation and resource sharing in the Arid Region called for complex government intervention, a far cry from the libertarianism advocated by people like
Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in '' ...
. Nor did Powell consider race a more important factor than culture for explaining differences between human groups. Powell is credited with coining the word "
acculturation Acculturation refers to the psychological, social, and cultural transformation that takes place through direct contact between two cultures, wherein one or both engage in adapting to dominant cultural influences without compromising their essent ...
", first using it in an 1880 report by the U.S. Bureau of American
Ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
. In 1883, Powell defined "acculturation" as psychological changes induced by cross-cultural imitation. Powell's interest in anthropology may have begun during his apprenticeship to George Crookham, an amateur naturalist whose residence in Jackson, Ohio, coincided with that of the Powell family. Crookham maintained a "museum of natural curiosities" that included artifacts of the recently displaced
Shawnee People The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohio ...
. As an adult, Powell seems to have believed (in line with Morgan's theory of social development) that Native Americans embodied a more "primitive" phase of human society than that of their white European counterparts. For example, in ''The Exploration of the Canyons of the Colorado'', he describes the subsistence practices of a group of Indians "more nearly in their primitive condition than any others on the continent with whom I am acquainted." And in 1939, Julian Steward, an anthropologist compiling photographs from Powell's 1873 expedition, wrote, " scinated at finding Native Americans nearly untouched by civilization, he owelldeveloped a deep interest in ethnology." Although, as Wallace Stegner observes in ''Beyond the 100th Meridian'', by 1869 many Native American tribes had been pushed to extinction, and many of those who survived had experienced significant intercultural exchange. It was partially in reference to this ongoing destruction and transformation of Native societies that Powell, in an 1878 report to the Secretary of the Interior, pleaded for government investments in ethnography, while also arguing that such investments would improve the government's efforts at assimilation. Powell's contribution to anthropology and
scientific racism Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that the Human, human species is divided into biologically distinct taxa called "race (human categorization), races", and that empirical evi ...
is not well known in the geosciences, however a recent article revisited Powell's legacy in terms of his social and political impact on Native Americans.


Indian policy

In order to secure government funding for anthropological research, Powell argued that such research was necessary to support federal Indian policy. Powell's scientific work often coincided with political advocacy as he sought to advise federal agencies, Native peoples, and politicians about how best to manage the influx of white settlers to the West. In general, Powell supported the government's goal of assimilation while declaring those who expected it to occur "in the twinkling of an eye" unrealistic. In 1873, in response to tensions surrounding the
Modoc War The Modoc War, or the Modoc Campaign (also known as the Lava Beds War), was an armed conflict between the Native Americans in the United States, Native American Modoc people and the United States Army in northeastern California and southeastern ...
, Powell temporarily left his directorship of the Powell Survey to serve as a special commissioner for the Department of the Interior. He and co-commissioner George Ingalls delivered a report in December of that year recommending a program to relocate members of the
Ute Ute or UTE may refer to: * Ute people, a Native American people of the Great Basin * Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah * Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah * Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern ...
,
Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...
,
Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...
, and
Western Shoshone Western Shoshone comprise several Shoshone tribes that are indigenous to the Great Basin and have lands identified in the Treaty of Ruby Valley 1863. They resided in Idaho, Nevada, California, and Utah. The tribes are very closely related cult ...
peoples to reservations where, Powell and Ingalls hoped, they would practice Western-style agriculture and be insulated from further conflicts with white settlers. Despite their efforts, " ither the whites nor the Indians followed the commission's recommendations in the next few years." In his 1878 Report on the Methods of Surveying the Public Domain, Powell criticized previous efforts at assimilation for not recognizing the structure and complexity of Native societies. "Savagery is not inchoate civilization," he wrote; "it is a distinct status of society, with its own institutions, customs, philosophy, and religion; and all these must necessarily be overthrown before new institutions, customs, philosophy, and religion can be introduced." The report called for respecting the democratic nature of tribal decision-making and understanding Native aversion to the idea of land ownership by individuals. Some of Powell's most dismissive remarks about Native society are recorded in an 1880 letter to Senator H.M. Teller of Utah, in which Powell states that the removal of Indians from their ancestral lands "is the first step to be taken in their civilization." Attorney and historian Charles Wilkinson calls this letter "cynical" and "treacherous" and "the darkest episode" of Powell's career." Powell's descriptions of Native land-use practices were sometimes inaccurate and served to advance settler colonial goals. For example, in his 1878 Report on the Lands of the Arid Region, Powell attributes widespread forest fires to Native agency and concludes " e fires can, then, be very greatly curtailed by the removal of the Indians." William deBuys notes that Powell's claims about the extent of the fires is "surprising" and that Powell himself later blamed such fires on white settlers.


Environmentalism

In ''Cadillac Desert'', Powell is portrayed as a champion of land preservation and conservation. Powell's expeditions led to his belief that the arid West was not suitable for agricultural development, except for about 2% of the lands that were near water sources. His '' Report on the Lands of the Arid Regions of the United States'' proposed reforming the system by which the government distributed land to settlers by taking into account topography and access to water in determining the shape and size of parcels. "Irrigable lands" would be organized into self-regulating
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
districts to prevent the monopolization of water by those lucky enough to acquire riparian parcels. For the remaining lands, he proposed conservation and low-density, open grazing. The railroad companies owned – vast tracts of lands granted in return for building the railways – and did not agree with Powell's views on land conservation. They aggressively lobbied Congress to reject Powell's policy proposals and to encourage farming instead, as they wanted to cash in on their lands. The U.S. Congress went along and developed legislation that encouraged pioneer settlement of the American West based on agricultural use of land. Politicians based their decisions on a theory of Professor
Cyrus Thomas Cyrus Thomas (July 27, 1825 – June 26, 1910) was an American ethnologist and entomologist prominent in the late 19th century and noted for his studies of the natural history of the American West. Biography Thomas was born in Kingsport, ...
who was a protege of
Horace Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congres ...
. Thomas suggested that agricultural development of land would change climate and cause higher amounts of precipitations, claiming that '
rain follows the plow Rain follows the plow is the conventional name for a now-discredited theory of climatology that was popular throughout the American West and Australia during the late 19th century. The phrase was employed as a summation of the theory by Charles ...
', a theory which has since been largely discredited. At an 1893 irrigation conference, Powell would prophetically remark: "Gentlemen, you are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights, for there is not sufficient water to supply the land." Powell's recommendations for development of the West were largely ignored until after the
Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors (severe drought) and hum ...
of the 1920s and 1930s, resulting in untold suffering associated with pioneer subsistence farms that failed because of insufficient rain and irrigation water.


Legacy, honors, and namesakes

In recognition of his national service, Powell was buried in
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...
,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. The
John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...
, signed 12 March 2019, authorizes the establishment of the " John Wesley Powell National Conservation Area", consisting of approximately 29,868 acres of land in Utah. Green River, Wyoming, the embarkation site of both Powell expeditions, commissioned a statue depicting Powell holding an oar, in front of the Sweetwater County History Museum. In Powell's honor, the USGS National Center in
Reston, Virginia Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, and a principal city of both Northern Virginia and the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Reston's population was 63,226. Founded in 1964, Rest ...
, was dedicated as the "John Wesley Powell Federal Building" in 1974. In addition, the highest award presented by the USGS to persons outside the federal government is named the John Wesley Powell Award. In 1984, he was inducted into the
Hall of Great Westerners The Hall of Great Westerners was established by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1958. Located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., the Hall was created to celebrate the contributions of more than 200 men and women of the American W ...
of the
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 Western and Native American art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of Amer ...
. The following were named after Powell: * The rare mineral
powellite Powellite is a calcium molybdate mineral with formula CaMoO4. Powellite crystallizes with tetragonal – dipyramidal crystal structure as transparent adamantine blue, greenish-brown, yellow-to-grey typically anhedral forms. It exhibits distinct c ...
. *
Lake Powell Lake Powell is a reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It holds of water when full, second in the United States to only the ...
, a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River. * Mount Powell, a summit in the Sierra Nevada of California. * Powell Peak. * Powell Plateau, near Steamboat Mountain on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. *
Powell, Wyoming Powell () is a city in Park County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 6,419 at the 2020 census. Powell is an All-America City and home to Northwest College. History Powell was incorporated in 1909. Powell was named for John Wesle ...
, and the Powell Flats area. * The residential building of the Criminal Justice Services Department of Mesa County in
Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and largest city of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. Grand Junction's population was 65,560 at the 2020 United St ...
. * John Wesley Powell Middle School in
Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Stati ...
. * Powell Junior High School in
Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 504,258 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Arizona, third-most populous city in Arizona, after Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, T ...
.


Awards

An article in
Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...
notes the following awards: * 1880 – Elected to
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
* 1886 – Honorary Ph.D. from
University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...
on 500th anniversary * 1886 – Honorary LL.D. from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
on 230th anniversary * president of Anthropological Society of Washington 1879–1888 * 1884 – president of
Philosophical Society of Washington Founded in 1871, the Philosophical Society of Washington is the oldest scientific society in Washington, D.C. It continues today as PSW Science. Since 1887, the Society has met regularly in the assembly hall of the Cosmos Club. In the Club's pre ...
* 1874 – elected member and fellow of
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
(AAAS) * 1875 – vice president of AAAS Powell was also an elected member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
and the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
.


Personal life

On November 28, 1861, while serving as captain of Battery 'F' of the 2nd Illinois Light Artillery at
Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, Cape Girardeau and Scott County, Missouri, Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the ...
, he took a brief leave to marry Emma Dean. On September 10, 1871, Emma Dean gave birth to the Powells' only child, Mary Dean Powell in
Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...
. She was active in the Wimodaughsis, a national women's club in Washington, D.C., started by
Anna Howard Shaw Anna Howard Shaw (February 14, 1847 – July 2, 1919) was a leader of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She was also a physician and one of the first women to be ordained as a Methodist minister in the United States. Early li ...
and Susan B. Anthony. Emma Dean Powell died on March 13, 1924, in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
She is buried along with her husband in
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...
.


Notes


References

* Powell, J.W. (1875). ''
The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons ''The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons'' by John Wesley Powell is a classic of American exploration literature. It is about the Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869 which was the first trip down the Colorado River by boat, inclu ...
''. New York: Dover Press (reprint) . * Ross, John F. (2018). ''The Promise of the Grand Canyon: John Wesley Powell's perilous journey and his vision for the American West''. Viking. . * Aton, James M. (2010). ''John Wesley Powell: His life and legacy''. * Boas, F.; Powell, J.W. (1991) ''Introduction to Handbook of American Indian Languages'' plus ''Indian Linguistic Families of America North of Mexico''. University of Nebraska Press, (double book volume). * Darrah, William Culp, Ralph V. Chamberlin, and Charles Kelly. (2009). ''The Exploration of the Colorado River in 1869 and 1871–1872: Biographical Sketches and Original Documents of the First Powell Expedition of 1869 and the Second Powell Expedition of 1871–1872''. University of Utah Press. . * Dolnick, Edward (2002). ''Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 journey of discovery and tragedy through the Grand Canyon''. Harper Perennial (paperback) . * Dolnick, Edward (2001). ''Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 journey of discovery and tragedy through the Grand Canyon''. (hardcover) HarperCollins Publishers . * Ghiglieri, Michael P.; Bradley, George Y. (2003). ''First Through Grand Canyon: The secret journals & letters of the 1869 crew who explored the Green and Colorado Rivers''. Puma Press (paperback) . * Judd, Neil Merton (1967). ''The Bureau of American Ethnology: A partial history''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. * Marston, Otis R. (2014). ''From Powell to Power: A recounting of the first one hundred river runners through the Grand Canyon'', pp. 111–114. Flagstaff, Arizona: Vishnu Temple Press . * Heacox, Kim; Kostyal, K.M.; Walker, Paul Robert (1 September 1999). ''Exploring the Great Rivers of North America''.
National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...
(first ed.) , . * Reisner, Marc (1993). ''Cadillac Desert: The American West and its disappearing water''. Penguin Books (paperback) . * Stegner, Wallace (1954). ''Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the second opening of the West''. University of Nebraska Press (and other reprint editions) . * * * Reisner, Marc (1986). "Cadillac Desert: the American West and its Disappearing Water". * Powell, J.W. (1876). ''A Report on the Arid Regions of the United States, with a More Detailed Account of the Lands of Utah'' * * * *


External links


Biographical sketch (1903)
by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

NPS John Wesley Powell Photograph Index * * *
John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference
at
Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856. History The in ...

John Wesley Powell Collection of Pueblo Pottery
at
Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856. History The in ...
Ames Library
Powell Museum
Page, Arizona Page is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 7,247. History Page was founded in 1957 as a housing community for workers and their f ...

John Wesley Powell River History Museum
Green River, Utah Green River is a city in Emery County, Utah, United States. The population was 847 at the 2020 census. History The city of Green River is located on ancestral Ute lands, in the home locale of the Seuvarits/Sheberetch band of Ute people. The ...

"John Wesley Powell"
by James M. Aton in th
Western Writers Series Digital Editions
at Boise State University
"A Canyon Voyage, The Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition down the Green-Colorado River from Wyoming, and the Explorations on Land, in the Years 1871 and 1872"
(1908) by Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh at Project Gutenberg. *
Powell, J. W., In Fowler, D. D., & In Fowler, C. S. (1971). Anthropology of the Numa: John Wesley Powell's manuscripts on the Numic peoples of Western North America, 1868–1880. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press; for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off..

Fowler, D. D., Matley, J. F., & National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). (1979). Material culture of the Numa: The John Wesley Powell Collection, 1867–1880. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.


in the ttp://anthropology.si.edu/cm/ Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, John Wesley 1834 births 1902 deaths American explorers of North America Explorers of the United States American geologists American conservationists Smithsonian Institution people Illinois College alumni Oberlin College alumni People of Illinois in the American Civil War Union army officers Early Grand Canyon river runners People from Boone County, Illinois Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni Illinois Wesleyan University faculty Illinois State University faculty People from Mount Morris, New York American people of English descent Linguists from the United States United States Geological Survey personnel American civil servants American amputees National Geographic Society founders Burials at Arlington National Cemetery History of the Rocky Mountains Activists from New York (state) Linguists of Hokan languages Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Linguists of indigenous languages of North America American scientists with disabilities Members of the American Philosophical Society American founders