The Project Gutenberg EBook of Canyons of the Colorado, by J. W. Powell

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Title: Canyons of the Colorado

Author: J. W. Powell

Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8082]
Posting Date: August 4, 2009

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS 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 d