John Wesley Powell

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Powell with Tau-gu near the Virgin River ( ca.1871/ 72)
Rest in Marble Canyon during the second Grand Canyon Expedition in 1872

John Wesley Powell (born March 24, 1834 in Mount Morris , Livingston County , New York , † September 23, 1902 in Haven , Maine ) was an American explorer and leader of the expedition to explore the Colorado River and ultimately the Grand Canyons .

Life

Even after his school and college education, Powell went on a number of expeditions, including through Wisconsin and on the Mississippi River . He took part in the American Civil War as a member of the Union Army , lost his right forearm and ended his service as a major.

After traveling to the Rocky Mountains , he set off on May 24, 1869 with nine men on what is probably his most famous expedition. The starting point was the Green River in Wyoming , which Powell and his companions initially followed by boat to the confluence with the Grand River (at that time the Colorado River was called that above the confluence) near today's city of Moab . From the confluence, the river was called the Colorado River (Spanish for "colored") because the tributaries bring in reddish mud of the surrounding rock formations. The expedition followed the Colorado through the canyon of the Grand Canyon to the mouth of the Virgin River (sunk in what is now Lake Mead ), which was reached after almost three months and a distance of more than 1,500 km. The expedition was repeated two years later for an accurate mapping of the region and further scientific research. This expedition lasted 18 months and, in addition to numerous scientific findings, also brought the first photographs from the canyon.

John Wesley Powell achieved fame not only as a soldier, explorer, cartographer and writer. The autodidact made it to the professorship in geology and was appointed director of the United States Geological Survey in 1881 and held this position until 1894. In addition, Powell always tried to understand the culture of the indigenous people and therefore more brought to Indian languages in, which meant that he was also the director of the Federal Office of Ethnology ( Bureau of Ethnology was appointed), an institution founded in 1879 to study the language and Indian culture.

Many parts of the land he explored were named by him such as Dirty Devil, Glen Canyon, Bright Angel, Desolation Canyon, Marble Canyon, Flaming Gorge and Lava Falls. In the USA, many streets, squares and mountains, a museum on the Green River and, above all, the large reservoir, Lake Powell, commemorate the pioneer and his most important achievement, the Colorado expedition and the exploration of the Grand Canyon. In addition, Mount Powell in Antarctica is named after him.

JW Powell was a founding member of the National Geographic Society on January 13, 1888 . A year earlier he was honored with admission to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . Since 1880 he was a member of the National Academy of Sciences .

literature

  • John Wesley Powell: First Through the Grand Canyon (= Outing Adventure Library. No. 4). Outing pub. Co., New York NY 1915.
  • Charles W. Maynard: John Wesley Powell. Soldier, Scientist, and Explorer. PowerKids Press, New York NY 2003, ISBN 0-8239-6290-3 .
  • Donald Worster: A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell . New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Web links

Commons : John Wesley Powell  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. cf. z. B. Kruse-Etzbach, Dirk: USA-Südwesten, Reisehandbuch, Dormagen, 5th edition 2000, p. 501 f.