NGS Adventure - Grand Canyon : The First Journal
One of the original founders of National Geographic Magazine, John Wesley Powell was a rough-and-ready explorer and visionary. On May 11, 1869, the 35-year-old set out with eight companions down the uncharted Green and Colorado Rivers. Three of his crew deserted, only to be killed by a party of Indians. But Powell persevered, and after three-and-a-half months emerged triumphant, to be cheered throughout America as would an astronaut in modern times. He would go on to shape the US Geological Survey (1879) and inspire the creation of a Bureau of Reclamation.
