Promise of the Grand Canyon : John Wesley Powell's perilous journey and his vision for the American West
(Book)

Bibliographical references (called Notes) on pages 343-365 and Index on pages 367-381.

John Wesley Powell's first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in the history of American exploration. When the Canyon spit out the surviving memebers of his expediction, they were starving, and nearly naked. Accomplishing what other thought impossible, they completed a journey that Lewis and Clark had begun almost seventy years before: the final exploration of continental America. In a thrilling account filled with new research and fresh insight, John F. Ross recreates Powell's expedition in all its glory and terror, and he reveals how this perilous journey sparked an epiphany for the one-armed Civil War veteran and geologist. Powell was the first to ask, How should the development of the West be shaped? How much could the land support? What is the role of the government and private industry in all of this? He began a national conversation about sustainable development when nearly everyone else still viewed land as an inexhaustible resource. Although his warnings were met with fierce oppostion form entrenched powers, he correctly forecasted the 1930s Dust Bowl and the growing water scarcities of today. Powell would rewrite the role of science in federal government, confront issues on how access to water affects democracy, and become the nation's most profound visionary about the development of the American West. -- Cover flap