The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1916-01-08
POWELL MEMORIAL
At GRAND CANYON
ALTAR ERECTED ON RIM OF
CANYON TO MEMORY OF
MAJOR POWELL

WASHINGTON, d. c., Jan. d
Announcement is made that the de-
artment of the interior has COM
pleted, on the rim of the Grand
Canyon, a memorial to Maj. john
Weslay Powell, the intrepid pioneer
and celebrated scientist who first
explored the Grand Canyon. The
memorial is an altar decorated in
Indian imagery and supporting a
bronze tablet, resting upon a pyr-
amidal base of rough hewn stone.
Fifteen steps lead from the west UP
to the altar floor, from which one
may gaze into the very heart of the
glowing mile deep canyon. IL is
a structure worthy alike of the
rugged, forceful personality of tho
man and of the titanic chasm which
it overlooks.
The spot chosen for the memorial
is Sentinel Point, a promontory south
of the railway station, which COM
mands a particularly fine view of
the Granite gorge and of the river,
whose unknown terrors of whirlpo u
and cataract the powell party DraveG
in small open boats. The structure,
which is built Of weathered lime
stone from the ncighborhood. has
a rectangular base 21x28 fee. The
altar carries en- rs east side a nc
dallion portrlit. OF Major Powell N
bronze bas-relinf D, Leila Usher and
TIE following lis ii tion:
Erected ~ the congress Of
the United sta. e., to Mai. JOHN
Wesley P Dwell. iirst explorer OF
the Grand !.nrs n, who Go.
scended the river with his par
ty in rowh,a.s, t%rave.sln@
the gorge beneath this j.; rt
Aug. II, iSt9 n again Sepr.
/, 1872.
Powell's grect adventure, the
passage of tho C;1nd Canyon Jf the
Colorado, was male in the summer
Of 1869. Until t3en it wds nm.
known. YET enough had 3een to
foment rumor,' M wrote in rIs re-
port to the Smithsonian institu-
ton. 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 al were over
wheimed in the abyss of waters;
others of underground passages FOR
the great river, into which boats
had passed never to be e
again. 1t was currently believed
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 I'm
known" was made on Aug. 13. 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 watertight comparu-
ments.
Now, after three months of labor
ious battle with rapids and water
falls and the still more la%boriOus
exploration of innumerable side
canyons, they had reached, with
scant provisions, the supreme test
of strength and courage.
What falls there are says the
| diary, I'VE know not; what rocks
beset the channel, we know not;
what walls rise on the river, We
know not. All, we'll, we may con-
lecture many things. The men talk
as cheerfully as e jests are
handled about freely this morning;
but to me theh cheer is somber and
the jests are CHASTITY"
Disorders Never Returned