Canyons of the Colorado

Canyons of the Colorado [with
accents]

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Canyons of the Colorado, by J. W.
Powell Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to
check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or
redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: Canyons of the Colorado
Author: J. W. Powell
Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8082] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on June 12, 2003]
Edition: 10

Language: English
Character set encoding: Windows-1252
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANYONS
OF THE COLORADO ***

Produced by Eric Eldred

CANYONS OF THE COLORADO
BY
J. W. POWELL, PH.D., LL.D.,
Formerly Director of the United States Geological Survey. Member of
the National Academy of Sciences, etc., etc.
WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS.
First published 1895

PREFACE.
On my return from the first exploration of the canyons of the Colorado,
I found that our journey had been the theme of much newspaper writing.
A story of disaster had been circulated, with many particulars of
hardship and tragedy, so that it was currently believed throughout the
United States that all the members of the party were lost save one. A
good friend of mine had gathered a great number of obituary notices,
and it was interesting and rather flattering to me to discover the high
esteem in which I had been held by the people of the United States. In
my supposed death I had attained to a glory which I fear my continued
life has not fully vindicated.
The exploration was not made for adventure, but purely for scientific
purposes, geographic and geologic, and I had no intention of writing an
account of it, but only of recording the scientific results. Immediately
on my return I was interviewed a number of times, and these interviews
were published in the daily press; and here I supposed all interest in the
exploration ended. But in 1874 the editors of Scribner's Monthly
requested me to publish a popular account of the Colorado exploration
in that journal. To this I acceded and prepared four short articles, which

were elaborately illustrated from photographs in my possession.
In the same year--1874--at the instance of Professor Henry of the
Smithsonian Institution, I was called before an appropriations
committee of the House of Representatives to explain certain estimates
made by the Professor for funds to continue scientific work which had
been in progress from the date of the original exploration. Mr. Garfield
was chairman of the committee, and after listening to my account of the
progress of the geographic and geologic work, he asked me why no
history of the original exploration of the canyons had been published. I
informed him that I had no interest in that work as an adventure, but
was interested only in the scientific results, and that these results had in
part been published and in part were in course of publication.
Thereupon Mr. Garfield, in a pleasant manner, insisted that the history
of the exploration should be published by the government, and that I
must understand that my scientific work would be continued by
additional appropriations only upon my promise that I would publish an
account of the exploration. I made the promise, and the task was
immediately undertaken.
My daily journal had been kept on long and narrow strips of brown
paper, which were gathered into little volumes that were bound in sole
leather in camp as they were completed. After some deliberation I
decided to publish this journal, with only such emendations and
corrections as its hasty writing in camp necessitated. It chanced that the
journal was written in the present tense, so that the first account of my
trip appeared in that tense. The journal thus published was not a
lengthy paper, constituting but a part of a report entitled "Exploration
of the Colorado River of the West and its Tributaries. Explored in 1869,
1870, 1871, and 1872, under the direction of the Secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution." The other papers published with it relate to
the geography, geology, and