The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons (Penguin Classics)

I got the audio book version and it's a great account of the perilous and adventurous trip to explore the Grand Canyon and the West straight from John Wesley Powell himself. Note if you get the audio book, the speaker is a bit annoying and reads it as if it's a Christmas story being told to a 5 year old, but besides that minor nuisance, if you have any interest in the subject this is well worth a listen or a read!

This is one of my Books of the Year, about a trip of exploration down the Colorado in the summer 1869, by a group of 10 hardy men in 4 (then 3) boats, going with the water's flow, rowing, making portages or letting the boats down waterfalls with ropes. The writing is very straightforward, the opposite of anything sensationalist, but the stories range from the bucolic to the terrifying. Beautiful descriptions of the varying landscapes. Lots of maps and illustrations -- etchings, photos, etc. The few treatments of Native Americans are sympathetic ethnography, including lots of quotations from the people themselves. I bought this basically because I felt like reading something new to me and out of the ordinary, and it satisfied me many times over.

I ordered this for myself to read this winter, when the snow in on the ground and I'm curled up on my couch. My husband & I went to AZ and UT in 2010 for our 50th Anniv. and while there we went to many parks that were formed by the Colorado River, during Noah's Flood, and I learned just a little about Powell and his party, who were the first to go down the Colorado River in the 1880s. I was interested in learning more about the very dangerous trip they took while Powell mapped out the area for the first time. The area is beautiful and worth seeing and wondering how it looked to someone in the 1880s has been intriguing to me. I now have the chance to find out.

When Powell published his original account in the 19th century he included a number of illustrations. I guess the product description doesn't make any claims regarding this, but I had kind of hoped or expected they would be included and was disappointed. Otherwise it's a fairly ok edition. It's a paperback, just plain text.

This is interesting as an historical record, and it is pretty amazing what Powell accomplished, particularly with a handicap. This is really three stories. The first part is geology and geography, describing the terrain in the western U.S.; the middle is a diary of the trip down the river. It is amazing that they made it at all. The narrative is repetitive, but this isn't literature. The third part is about native Americans in the area. I am glad I read it. Not a page turner, however.

I read this through like a novel, it was a great book. I admire Powell quite a bit, so I'm biased, but his narrative flows well and you can really feel the difficulty and adventure that they went through. You really feel the loss when the party splits up, and you feel the accomplishment when they finally reach another human being. I also enjoy the illustrations, especially the cover. For anyone who wants to read the inspiring, honest account of this adventure of exploration firsthand, don't be afraid of the fact that this is a journal. I think it is much easier to read than the journals of Lewis and Clark, and any other book explaining Powell's trip is just going to be a rewording of this, and not likely to do it justice.

Historic account of Maj. Powell's initial trip down the Green and Colorado River. Something no one had done before. Love his discussion of the Native American's he encountered and information about their culture as well as his experiences on the trip. What a hero he and the men with him were to take on such a journey and what they had to endure to get to the end. A real witness to the strength of the human character and what can be done while enduring hardship.Sadly, three lost their lives after they prematurely left the journey. Had they stayed, a much better chance of staying alive.Highly recommend the book. Good insight to a bygone era in time.

It always amazes me to think that the Southwest of our Country, while explored, had not been explored and mapped by our government until 1869. As you read through Powell’s notes, it is easy to imagine being there. He had an incredible explorer’s spirit and left a great history of Native Americans, then part of the landscape.

John Wesley Powell's 1869 expedition down the Colorado River was the last great exploration of the American West. It's usual to qualify 19th Century books of discovery by saying `he was the first *European* who ...' but Powell and his handful of men in four wooden boats were true pioneers, as they undertook a one thousand mile journey that no-one had done before.Powell's journal was not thought `exciting' by many of the reading public and it sometimes receives similar criticism today. Those 19th Century readers must have led very thrilling lives not to be excited by Powell's descriptions of dramatic cliff rescues, churning rapids, floods and capsizes on an untamed and unknown river cutting through baking deserts. As befits a veteran of the Civil War, who lost an arm but returned to fight again on the front line, Powell does not over-dramatise these events or use the florid language often found in `adventure' books of his era.Instead we have a tale of scientific adventure, filled with incident on the river and in the canyons, the topography and geology of the American southwest and Powell's respectful contacts with the Native Americans who had lived in the canyon country for millennia. The 98-day epic journey from Green River down through the Grand Canyon is only half of the book. The first quarter comprises a description of the landscapes of the country; its plateaux, mountains, buttes, climatic zones and Native American cultures, clearly conveying Powell's sense of wonder at the lands he travelled. The final quarter of the book describes later expeditions Powell led to the canyon country of southern Utah.The book is extensively illustrated with evocative pen-and-ink drawings, but a modern map will be useful to follow the journey - it's easy to match the names of features along the river on such a map; Powell and his crew named most of them.In 2013 I watched a fascinating programme about a modern `re-creation' of just the Grand Canyon section of Powell's journey; with similar wooden boats and of course with modern backup in case of emergency. That looked more than courageous enough, on a river partly tamed by dams and where the rapids are well known. Imagine Powell and his men, with no guides and no possibility of rescue, "ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown."

Just starting to read this interesting account of an 1869 adventure. Riveting up to now. These early pioneers were so brave. We'll written,scientific and descriptive account of an incredible journy

a beautifully illustrated book and a terrific account of Powell's journey, makes an excellent gift as the reproduction and type faces are of high quality

If you have an interest in original exploration and adventure and/or the Colorado River, Green Rivers or Grand Canyon then you will be greatly rewarded by taking the time to read this book.Powell sets out to explore and document an area that many thought unexplorable; the explorations spanned years and involved significant risk for Powell and his team. The end of the exploration involved both triumph and tragedy (so you'll want to read to the end).The chapters fall into two groups: those involved with the descriptions of the journey and those that describe the geological and geographical features of the region. The geological descriptions are best read with a map (or Google Earth) to hand but these sections can be skipped by those interested only in the unfolding adventure.There are numerous images throughout the book; some illustrate the features being described in the text, some give visual cues to the ability of the explorers to find there way up from the canyon floors into side canyons and cliff faces, others show the treacherous conditions faced on the rivers themselves.If you trace the journey using modern maps/images/tools you will see just how different a modern version of the journey would be - many of the canyons described by Powell are no under, and where he risked his life in search of knowledge people now zip around in speed boats. Many of the places/features still exists and are so clearly described in the book that you can precisely identify them.

Great book, delivered on time and in the condition stipulated, very satisfied with my purchase.