The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-01-06


partment of the Interior hiss completed,
on the rim of the great conyon, in
Arizona, a memorial to Major John
Weslay Powell, the intrepid pioneer
and celebrated scientist who first ex-
plored the Great Canyon. The me-
mortal IS an alter decorated in Indian
imagery and supporting a bronze tab
let, resting upon a pyramidal base of
rouga-,lewn s. one. Fifteen steps lead
+ from the west up to the altar foe
from which one may gaze into tie very
heart Of the glowing mile-dee can
yon. 1t is structure worthy alike of
the rugged, foreeful personality of the
man and of the titanic chasm which
+ it oVerlooks.
This memorial, embodying to a re-
markable degree the essential spirit of
the grand canyon, is planned to be-
come the scene of perhaps daily cere-
monials of a most interesting charac-
ter reviving the spirit and to some ex-
tent the practice of the ancient relig-
ious forms in vogue among the orig
inal Indian tribes of the neighborhood.
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
entered as a private and came out of
as lieutenant colonel But he was al
ways called major"
He lost his right arm at the battle
/ of Shiloh.
/ At the close of the war Major Pow
/ ell became professor of geology in the
Illinois normal university. An habit
ual Wanderer in wild places, he led
small party of students and natural
lists in 1867 into the mountains of
Colorado. His incidental exploration
of two small canyons of the Grand
river kindled the purpose which shap
ed his after career, namely to explore
the canyons of the Grand and Green
rivers and Of the then mysterious Col
orado river which their union forms.
The following summer he organized
mis- expedition, proceeded down the
Grand river, where from his winter
camp he made extensive studies of the
rivers and their canyons and perfect
ed plans for his dangerous passage of
the unknown Colorado.
His great adventure the passage of
the grand canyon of the Colorado,
was made in the summer of 1869. I'm
til then it was unknown. yet enough
had been seen to foment rumor" he
wrote in his report to the Smithson-
ian Institute, and many wonderful
stories have been told in the hunters
cabin and prospector's camp Stories
were related of parties entering the
gorge in boats and being carried doWn
with fearful velocity into whirlpools,
where all We're overwhelmed in the
abyss of waters; others of under
ground passages for the great river,
into which boats had passed never to
be seen again. 1t was currently be-
lieyed 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 distant mountain sum-
mits."
Into the Great Unknown.
The START into the great unknown"
was made on August 10. The party,
consisting 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 compartments.
Now. after three months of labori-
GUS battle with rapids and waterfalls
and the still more laborious eXplora-
ton of innumerable side canyons, they
had reached, with scant provisions
the supreme test of strength and cour-
age.
, "What falls there are" says his
, diary 1--WE know not what rocks be-
, set the channel, we know not; what
walls rise on the river, we know not
! All we'll we may conjecture many
, things. The men talk as cheerfully as
, ever: tests are banded about freely
, this morning; but to me the cheer Is
: somber and the jests are CHASTITY.
' The following day comes the first OF
: many tests. The diary goes on:
: First of Many UPsets.
about IL o'clock we hear grea
= roar ahead and approach it very eau
tiously. The sound grows louder ant
louder as we run, and at last we f1nt
! ourselves above a long, broken fall
= with lodges and pinnacles of rock OBJ
: structing the river There is de
t scent of perhaps rs or so feet in thir'
e of a mile, and the rushing waters breal
t into great waves on the rocks and lasi
= themselves into mad, white foam
We can land Just above, but there j
c no foothold on either side by when w
= can make a portage
.Tt Is nearly thousand feet to tn
, ton of the granite, so it Will be lmpos
. slble to carry our boats around
a though we can climb to the summit u
q a side gulch and, passing along mil
! mr. two can descend to the river TIL
q we find on examination; but such
4 1, Inv Fp n