John Wesley Powell (1834–1902)

Though plain spoken in describing the portages in such canyons the immensity of the landscape and the task undertaken by Powell and his men permeated the read. Truly an awesome undertaken. And his descriptions of side canyons and Indians that inhabited these areas in the early 1870s were very interesting and unsentimental. A very enlightening though sometimes tedious read.

Classic read about the first major expedition of the Colorado river area. Great descriptions of the landscape and the adventures of the crew. Also interesting to read about the interaction of Powell and his team with local Indian tribes and description of their different cultures

This book serves as a nice companion to The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, but not as a substitute, unless you are solely interested in Powell's Diary of the First Trip Through the Grand Canyon.

This large format book is broken up into three main parts: Foreword by Don D. Fowler, Diary of the First Trip Through the Grand Canyon 1869 by John Wesley Powell, and The Canyons of the Colorado - Past and Present 1969 by Eliot Porter. Interspersed throughout the book are show more illustrations from the second expedition in 1871, both engravings and photographs. Also Porter's own color photographs from around the time of this books publication, circa 1960's.

Fowler's foreword is quite useful as a brief chronicling of exploration of the Canyon lands. He also goes at some length to explain the historical inaccuracies of Powell's own diary. Powell apparently blended events of both expeditions into one account to make more of an exciting tale to reproduce for the Scribner's readers back east at the time. His hopes were to excite the public and build momentum for Congress to fund further exploration. This fortunately worked. There is also a fair bit of negativity hinted at the creation of Lake Powell, thus flooding Glen Canyon, one of the rivers in which Powell journey through.
The Diary account is the same as can be found in the Penguin or Dover edition more commonly found in bookstores. The main exception, and a helpful one at that, are a few added footnotes in which it is pointed out where Powell supplemented the first expedition diary with events that occurred in his second expedition. There are also a few quotes taken from some of the other member's diaries, and I dare say, might be more interesting writing than Powell's. Particularly that of Bradley's, which apparently at times contradicts directly what Powell writes, but not on any points that bear importance.
Lastly, there is Porter's Epilogue, which sounds more like Edward Abbey rant than anything, but I can sympathize seeing that this is written only a few years after the damming of Glen Canyon. Porter's photo's are nice and large and focus on the close and intimate side of the canyons. No large landscapes here. show less

Quite an interesting book, seeing that its more of a collection of writings that were originally written for a magazine. The first 100 pages focused on geography and seems more like nature writing. This part was a little slow and seemed that it was designed to inform casual readers on the east coast, who may not be as familiar with the western territories. It was 1870 after all.
The second and more quickly paced section of the book is the diary of J.W. Powell, but there are some points where show more it can be somewhat confusing because one of the other party members is also named Powell. The diary covers the first trip down the Green River and then the Colorado River through Glen Canyon and Grand Canyon. The third section of the book is really more of an ethnography than exploration and seems to be written in 1890, a good deal after the actual journey. In hindsight, Powell's outlook on the natives he encounters would seem archaic compared to modern anthropology, but given the time and circumstances, it was quite surprising to read his relatively modern views on the matter.
Overall, a nice edition to any exploration literature collection. It covers a lot of subjects and might not be for everyone, especially if your looking to read a book about a rafting trip and not a book about native story telling. show less