JOHN WESLEY POWELL LED FIRST OFFICIAL EXPLORATION OF GRAND CANYON
Former I.C. Student; Was on Staff at ISU at Time of Expedition
By Tom Emery
In 1869, an expedition led by John Wesley Powell sailed out of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River in the first official exploration of the canyon.
At the time of his journey, Powell was on the staff of Illinois State University, which helped pay for the expedition. Prior to that, he had been a student at Illinois College during the 1855-56 academic year.
Today, Powell is considered one of the great scientific minds, as well as a foremost explorer, in American history. But his burning ambition and personal ego helped bring an end to his time in Illinois.
Born on March 24, 1834 in New Jersey, Powell studied at Wheaton College, Illinois College, and Oberlin College in Ohio before service in the 20th Illinois Infantry in the Civil War. He lost his right arm at the battle of Shiloh in April 1862, but remained in service for the rest of the war. In May 1865, he traveled to Chicago to view the funeral train of Abraham Lincoln.
In 1865, Powell joined the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University and became active in the Illinois Natural History Society, which had been established in Bloomington in 1858. The society’s museum was on the third floor of “Old Main,” the original campus building at Illinois State, and was renowned as one of the best geological collections outside of the East.
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The museum was chronically disorganized, however. Sensing an opportunity, Powell persuaded the state to supply an annual appropriation, including money for a curator position. He received the appointment to the position in March 1867.
In his time at ISU, he also taught natural history and botany, though that was not his only connection to the university. Later that year, he organized an expedition to the Rocky Mountains, with a party that included former Normal graduate T.J. Burrill.
Many at the university were excited about Powell’s plans, including President Richard Edwards, who declared that “to the Normal University will belong the credit of having been among the first to explore [the West] in the interest of science.” On his journey, Powell provided regular letters to the Bloomington Pantagraph as residents shared the excitement over the expedition.
The university provided an appropriation to partially pay for the trip, which brought large quantities of specimens back to the museum at Normal. The massive amounts of new material, though, helped to further clutter the museum, which remained in a disorganized state.
Powell eventually resigned from Illinois Wesleyan and ostensibly focused on the museum in Old Main, the main campus building at Illinois State. However, he quietly accepted a professorship at the new Illinois Industrial University (now the University of Illinois), an event that few in Normal knew of.
Meanwhile, a second, larger Western expedition was planned, and Illinois State paid for part of that one as well, supplying $600. That journey, in 1868, is considered, in the words of one reference, “a prelude to the Grand Canyon voyage of 1869.”
The Grand Canyon voyage, which was also documented in letters to the Pantagraph, made Powell into a national celebrity. Illinois State provided $400 for that trip, which is considered the first official exploration of the canyon, a harrowing journey that not only threatened the lives of the party, but also resulted in a near-mutiny.
Powell returned to Bloomington, delivered a thrilling lecture at a local music academy, and spent several months focusing on his duties as curator. The expeditions had literally resulted in tons of materials added to the museum in Old Main, but most of it was uncatalogued, and strewn about in storage crates in the museum and the hallways. Some discussion was held about constructing a new, fireproof museum for the massive collections.
But Powell clearly had other ideas. He actually resigned his position at the Industrial University before filling it, and when that development came to light, many at Normal were rankled. Powell returned to the Colorado River in 1871, building his scientific reputation even further while his support at Normal suffered.
He bought a home in the nation’s capital in early June 1872, further making his intentions clear. Powell resigned as museum curator that June 28.
Powell went on to one of the most remarkable scientific careers in American history, holding longtime positions with the U.S. Geological Survey, the Smithsonian, and others. Back at Normal, the museum was transferred to the Industrial University in 1884. Powell died on Sept. 23, 1902.
Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Ill. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.
