Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons (NG Adventure Classics) | 
| Author: John Wesley Powell
Publisher: National Geographic
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 894619
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 5.6 x 0.5
ISBN: 0792266366
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.913044
EAN: 9780792266365
ASIN: 0792266366
Publication Date: June 1, 2002
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Condition: Over 600,000 Feedbacks Posted!!! Great Buy!!!*** Never Used*** May Have a Publisher's Mark~We have over 3,500,000 Books Sold!!!
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Book Description
The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, recently ranked number four on Adventure magazine's list of top 100 classics, is legendary pioneer John Wesley Powell's first-person account of his crew's unprecedented odyssey along the Green and Colorado Rivers and through the Grand Canyon. A bold foray into the heart of the American West's final frontier, the expedition was achieved without benefit of modern river-running equipment, supplies, or a firm sense of the region's perilous topography and the attitudes of the native inhabitants towards whites. What started as a scientific exploration of uncharted territory quickly turned into a harrowing quest for sustenance and survival. Shaped from Powell's original field writings, this book is as exciting today as it was when first published in 1874. This handsome new edition from National Geographic Adventure Classics also features an exclusive introduction by adventure historian Anthony Brandt that puts into perspective Powell's achievement and traces its great legacy across United States history.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Bold Explorer July 14, 2007
I got this book to read while I was rafting the Grand Canyon. It was well worth it. John Wesley Powell's description of his unbelivable expedition helped me put into words the spectacular scenes that makes up the Grand Canyon. I recommend this book to anyone who is considering traveling down the Colorado River.
 Perilous journey into a sublime landscape April 25, 2006
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Anyone who is enthralled by the beauty of the Southwest, or as Powell defines it - the Colorado River watershed, should read this book. It's not the same now as it was in his day. For one thing, Glen Canyon, which he named, is now submerged under Lake Powell (could any name be more ironic?). No one today can feel the same kind of wonder and awe as Powell and his companions did as they pushed their boats into the raging rapids of the muddy Colorado without having any idea of what was ahead. Even the part of the Colorado watershed that has not been developed, and there is a considerable extent of land under protective status, today has nothing like the remoteness that Powell experienced. Everything has been mapped and carefully scutinized.
Yet, anyone who has spent some time sizing up the immense water-carved rock canyons, can still feel something of the sublimity that Powell felt. It requires more imagination; it is true, but anyone who is determined to make more of a commitment than just standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon can still experience the really sublime features of this landscape. How much more difficult will it be in the future? Will these wilderness wonders become more degraded?
The book describes by daily journal entries the historic river run of 1868 starting at the Flaming Gorge in Wyoming and ending at the Virgin River as well as a follow-up expedition the next year. Powell does not overdo the apprehensions and hardships of himself and companions, nor does he make mention that he accomplished the physical exertion of climbing the canyon walls and navigating the boats with one arm: but largely confines himself to descriptions of the events and the incredible landforms. The extent of the journey and all the spectacular features that he finds and names is impressive. That Powell's group experienced hardships there can be no doubt.
One of the more interesting parts of the book to me was the way Powell approached the Indian tribe that killed his three companions, who decided to abandon the expedition and hike out of the Canyon. In those frontier days, it was the accepted norm to meet violence with violence. But Powell, I thought here, really showed himself to be an exceptional human being. He had a inquiring mind and a sincere desire to learn everything he could without inflicting retribution.
It is shameful that students today don't know this man! January 9, 2006
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I find it totally unexcuseable that today's young college students (especially earth and environmental science types) do not know this man; yet, they all know Edward Abbey. Powell was not a scientist by today's standards but yet he managed to do many great things. He stood in opposition to the popular belief at that time that the West was a virgin Utopian land awaiting industrial and population exploitation from eastern society. He saw a great empty space in the National maps of the West and set about to explore and understand and map this area. He was a geologist, ecologist, ethnologist, and anthropologist all wrapped up in a persona that was at one time a soldier and commander. His exploration of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River is a terrific read for anyone looking for an adventure read. Its a scientific quest turned whitewater adventure. Abbey, on the other hand, has never done anything as substantial as what Powell did for our basic knowledge and appreciation of the West. Furthermore, Powell's vision isn't clouded by the selfish, militant, eco-geek goggles through which Abbey viewed the West.
A classic, I guess September 30, 2005
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
John Wesley Powell was a fascinating guy.
John Wesley Powell was a scientist, geologist, and Civil War veteran whose right arm was shot off by a cannonball; he was the man who named Glen Canyon, and the man Lake Powell was named for. He was the first man to lead an expedition down the Colorado--the first two expeditions, actually--back when the river flowed wild, without dams.
He didn't worry about all the details like a knowledgeable crew, funds, both arms, having an experienced crew, not knowing if there was a Niagara-sized waterfall around the next bend or not, and so on--he just went. He understood you don't need experience to gain experience. He and his crew paid for their inexperience by nearly drowning, nearly starving, and by misadventure after misadventure but in the end MOST of their group emerged from the southern end of the Grand Canyon with stories, experiences, and first-hand knowledge of a part of the world that few people had ever seen before.
(Three of his crew abandoned the expedition, and their fates are uncertain.)
This is Powell's story. It's also a story of the geology of the Colorado Plateau, of the Colorado River, and of the West. It's not a perfect account, but it is a classic one. Powell's prose is at times high-falutin', he recklessly combines details from his first and second expedition, and he gives too little credit to his crew, but he is always an optimist, and always fun to read.
Take a river trip, and take this along. Or, take "Down the Great Unknown" by Edward Dolnick--that's a good account of that trip as well. (I actually prefer it.)
A great adventure story September 13, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a classic adventure tale, inspiring in that it's a true story of courage and endurance. John Wesley Powell and his companions (including a wonderful illustrator) set out on the Colorado River to chart what was the last unexplored territory of the U.S., the Grand Canyon. Powell was a Civil War veteran who, despite the loss of one of his arms, took on the mighty untamed Colorado in wooden lorries. He is the person for whom Lake Powell is named and interestingly his story is featured in a short IMAX film about the Grand Canyon. The book had originally been sold to a magazine in serial form and Powell's adventure followed avidly by "folks back East". Reading this book transports you back to a different time when the written word was the primary means of reporting stories like this.
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