JOHN WESLEY POWELL March 24 1834 September 23

JOHN WESLEY POWELL March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902

Early Life � � He was born in Mount Morris, New York in 1834. He was born to Joseph Powell, a poor preacher, and Mary Powell His family moved a lot when he was young. They moved from Ohio to Wisconsin to Illinois He attended Illinois College , Wheaton College, and Oberlin College, acquiring the knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin but he never graduated. He had a deeper interest in the natural sciences.

Life Powell enrolled in the army and fought in the civil war in 1861 A few months later, he married his first cousin, Emma Dean In war, he hurt is arm bad and it was amputated. Because of this he resigned from the army After leaving the Army, Powell accepted a short -lived appointment at Illinois Wesleyan University as a professor of geology

First Exploration � � � In May of 1869, Powell led his first exploration of the Green and Colorado Rivers (the areas now known as the Grand Canyon). In 1870, Powell published the first account of the Colorado River expedition entitled “New Tracks in North America. “ He also led series of expeditions into the Rocky Mountains and around the Green and Colorado rivers

Literary Works The Most Sublime Spectacle On Earth -This poem describes all the things that he saw in the Grand Canyon that were beautiful The Canyons of the Colorado -a somewhat romanticized account of the first expedition through the Grand Canyon He also wrote a book called The Exploration of the Colorado River and its Canyons -he wrote this book describing all of his accounts during his journeys

Death Powell died from a cerebral hemorrhage at his summer home in Haven, Maine, Sept. 23, 1902 Powell is buried in the Arlington Cemetery