Oxford Democrat., 1916-01-25
Memorial At Grand Canyon.
ALTAR ERECTED BY INTERIOR DEPART
: MENr TO MEMORY OF MAJOR POWELL.

partment of the Interior has completed
on the rim of the Grand Canyon, In Ari
zona, q memorial to Maj. John Wesley
Powell, the intrepid pioneer and .cele
brated scientist who first explored tht
Grand Canyon. The memorial 10 an altal
decorated in Indian imagery and sup
porting bronze tablet, resting upon {
pyramidal base of rough-hewn stone
Fifteen steps lead from the west up te
the altar floor, from which one may gaze
| into the very heart of the glowing mile
deep canyon. 1t is structure worthy
alike of the rugged, forceful personality
OF the man and of the titanic chasn
which it Overlooks.
The spot chosen for the memorial Ii
Sentinel Point, promontory south oi
the railway station, which commands q
particularly fine view OF the Granite
Gorge and of the river, whose unknown
terrors of whirlpool and cataract the
Powell party braved in small open boats
The structure, which is built of wealth
cred limestone from the neighborhood
has rectangular base 81 by % feet. The
altar carries on its east side a medallion
portrait of Maj. Powell in bronze bas.
relief by Leila Usher and the following
Inscription:
"Erected by the Congress Of the Unit
ed States to Maj. John Wesley Powell,
first explorer of the Grand Canyon, who
descended the river with his party In
rowboats, traversing the gorge beneath
this point August II, 1869, and again
September 1, 1872"
THE DEDICATION CEREMONIES.
The general effect is unobtrusive, nat
ural, and appropriate. A few small,
gnarled trees grow close by, but do not
obstruct the view. The structure stands
back from the edge sufficiently to permit
visitors In considerable numbers to group
themselves In front.
The memorial which Secretary Lane
has now realized was planned at the In
ternational Geological Congress Of 1904
in recognition of Maj. Powell's distin'
guished services as Director Of the
United States Geological Survey. In
March, 1909, Congress appropriated
$5 900 for the purpose, sin recognition
of his distinguished public services as q
soldier, explorer, and administrator OF
Government scientific work." DR..
Holmes chose the site.
The original purpose was to make the
memorial Roman chair facing the can
yon. Last spring Secretary Lane substi.
tuted an altar for the chair, and Mark
Daniels, then general superintendent
and landscape engineer of National
Parks, designed the structure as 1t stands
today.
It was then late in July, and Mr.. Wal.
ter Ward, engineer of the Reclamation
Service, had difficult task before him
to find and hew the rock and build the
structure within the slender appropria-
tion. The Riverside Portland Cement
Co. helped by donating half the cement.
This memorial, so expressive of the
life work it celebrates, and 30 admirably
located, will be formally dedicated early
next summer. Secretary Lanes purpose
Ia to make the event one of impressive
Importance. If, as is expected, Congress
meantime makes the Grand Canyon q
national park tit Is national monument
now), the two dedications will take place
together, making celebration altogether
notable in the history of national parks.
DEVOTIONAL FIRES ON THE ALTAR.
This memorial, embodying to a re-
markable degree the essential spirit of
the Grand Canyon, Is planned to become
the scene of perhaps daily ceremonials
of most interesting character, reviving
the spirit and to some extent the practice
of the ancient religious forms in vogue
among the original Indian tribes of the
ueighborhood. Devotional fires will
blaze upon this altar.
John Wesley Powell was born at
Mount Morris, N. Y, March "a, 1884, of
English parents. He taught school In
Illinois till the Civil War, which he en-
tered as private and came out of az
lieutenant colonel. But he was always
called "major."
He lost his right arm at the Battle of
Shiloh.
At the close of the war Maj. Powell
became professor of geology in the Illi-
uois Normal University. An babitual
wanderer in wild places, be led small
party of students and naturalists in 1867
into the mountains Of Colorado. His in
cidental exploration of two small can
yons of the Grand River kindled the
purpose which shaped bis after career,
namely, to explore the canyons of the
Grand and Green Rivers and of the then
mysterious Colorado River which their
union forms.
The following summer he organized
his expedition, proceeded down the
Grand River and across the mountains to
the White River, where from his winter
camp be made extensive studies of the
rivers and their canyons, and perfected
plans for his dangerous passage of the
unknown Colorado.
His great adventure, the passage Of
the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, was
made 10 the summer of 1869. Until then
1t was unknown. "Yet enough had been
seen to foment rumor," he wrote In his
report to the Smithsonian Institution,
"and many wonderful stories have been
told In the hunters cabin and prospect
or's camp. Stories we're related of par
ties entering the gorge In boats and
being carried down with fearful velocity
into whirlpools, where all were over
whslmed in the abyss of waters; others,
of underground passages for the great
river, into which boats had passed never
TO be seen again: It was currently be-
lieved that the river was lost under the
rocks for several hundred miles. There
were other accounts of great falls, whose
roaring music could be heard on the dis
tant mountain SUBMITS"
INTO THE GREAT UNKNOWN.
The start into "tbe Great Unknown"
was made on August 13. The party,
Fconsisting of 10 men In four boats, had
been afloat since their start from Green
River City on May "a. Two OF the boats
were decked, forming water-tight COM
partments.
Now, after three months Of laborioua
battle with rapids and waterfalls and the
still more laborious exploration Of In
Vulnerable side canyons, they bad
reached, with scant provisions, the
supreme test ofstrength and courage.
"What falls there afe," says his diary,
"we know not; what rocks beset the
channel, We know not; what walls rise
on the river, we know not. Ah, we'll,
We may conjecture many things. The
men talk as oheerfully % ever; jests are
baudied about freely this morning; but
to me the cheer is somber and the jests
are ghsstly."
The following day comes the flrst Of
many tests. The diary goes on: