ne-armed Knight--A Bold Attack on the Canyons--Powell and His
Men--The Wonderful Voyage--Mighty Walls and Roaring Rapids--Capsizes and
Catastrophes.

When the Civil War was finally over, the wilds of the Far West again
called in seductive voice to the adventurous and the scientific. The
fur-trade as an absorbing industry was dead, but mining, prospecting,
ranching, and scientific exploring took its place. Among the naturalists
who crossed the Rocky Mountains for purposes of investigation,
fascinated by the broad, inviting field, was a one-armed soldier, a
former officer of volunteers in the Union Army. His right forearm had
remained on the battlefield of Shiloh, but when a strong head is on
the shoulders a missing arm makes little difference, and so it was with
Major Powell. In the summer of 1867, when he was examining Middle Park,
Colorado, with a small party, he happened to explore a moderate canyon
on Grand River just below what was known as Middle Park Hot Springs, and
became enthused with a desire to fathom the Great Mystery. Consequently,
he returned the next year, made his way to the banks of White River,
about 120 miles above its mouth, and there erected cabins, with the
intention of remaining through the snow season till the following spring
should once again unlock the frost-gates of the range. There being
now no bison trails hard-beaten into the snow, it was a more difficult
undertaking to cross, except in summer. Mrs. Powell was with the party.

During this winter of 1868-69, Powell made several important journeys
in connection with his purpose of exploring the great walled river; one
was down toward the south as far as Grand River; a second followed White
River to its junction with the Green, and a third went northward around
the eastern base of the Uinta Mountains, skirting the gorges afterward
named Lodore, Whirlpool, Red Canyon, etc. In these travels he formed his
plans for an attempt to fully explore, by means of a boat voyage, the
remarkable string of chasms which for more than three centuries had
defied examination. He decided that the starting point must be where the
Union Pacific Railway had just been thrown across Green River, and that
the only chance for success was to continue on the torrential flood till
either he should arrive at the end of the great canyons near the mouth
of the Rio Virgen or should himself be vanquished in the endeavour. It
was to be a match of human skill and muscle against