A river running west the life of John Wesley Powell - Worster, Donald (Oxford University Press, 2001)
Includes bibliographical references (pages 611-644) and index
Intrepid explorer, careful scientist, talented writer, and dedicated conservationist, Powell led the expedition that put the Colorado River on American maps and revealed the Grand Canyon to the world. In A River Running West, Donald Worster tells the story of Powell's great adventures and describes his historical significance. Worster paints a vivid portrait of how this man emerged from the early nineteenth-century world of immigrants, fervent religion, and rough-and-tumble rural culture, and barely survived the Civil War battle at Shiloh. The heart of Worster's biography is Powell's epic journey down the Colorado in 1869, a tale of harrowing experiences, lethal accidents, and breathtaking discoveries. After years in the region collecting rocks and fossils and learning to speak the local Native American languages, Powell returned to Washington as an eloquent advocate for the West, one of America's first and most influential conservationists. But in the end, he fell victim to a clique of Western politicians who pushed for unfettered economic development, relegating the aging explorer to a quiet life of anthropological contemplation
Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Contents; Prologue: Green River Station, 1869; Part One: Northern Days; 1 A Mission to America; 2 Rising on the Prairie; 3 The Hornets' Nest of War; Part Two: Canyons of the Colorado; 4 Westward the Naturalistio; 5 Down the Great Unknown; 6 Surveying the High Plateaus; 7 Kapurats; 8 The Sublimest thing on Earth; 9 Democracy Encounters the Desert; Part Three: Washington, D.C.; 10 Myths and Maps; 11 Redeeming the Earth; 12 The Problem of the West; 13 Journey's End; Notes; Bibliography; Acknowledgments; Index