The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons

by Powell, John Wesley (Author); Stegner, Wallace (Introduction by)

• ISBN13: 9780142437520
• ISBN10: 0142437522
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-06-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

What started as a scientific expedition turned into a harrowing adventure through some of the roughest and most beautiful country in America. It was May of 1869 when a Civil War veteran and nine other men descended with four boats into a branch of the Colorado River for what they believed would be a ten-month excursion through the last unmapped territory of the continental United States. Three months and one thousand miles later, six emaciated men in two boats emerged in the open waters of the Virgin River. They had survived famine, attacks, mutiny, and some of the most dangerous rapids known to man. Their story, recounted by John Wesley Powell in his journals, remains as fresh and exciting today as it did in 1874 when it first appeared in serial form in Scribner's magazine. Book jacket.

Author Biography

John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) was a professor of geology and director of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) was the author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, including the National Book Award-winning The Spectator Bird and Angle of Repose, which won the Pulitzer Prize.

Table of Contents

The Valley of the Colorado	p. 17
Mesas and Buttes	p. 39
Mountains and Plateaus	p. 67
Cliffs and Terraces	p. 89
From Green River City to Flaming Gorge	p. 117
From Flaming Gorge to the Gate of Lodore	p. 133
The Canyon of Lodore	p. 151
From Echo Park to the Mouth of the Uinta River	p. 167
From the Mouth of the Uinta River to the Junction of the Grand and Green	p. 189
From the Junction of the Grand and Green to the Mouth of the Little Colorado	p. 211
From the Little Colorado to the Foot of the Grand Canyon	p. 247
The Rio Virgen and the Uinkaret Mountains	p. 289
Over the River	p. 327
To Zuni	p. 351
The Grand Canyon	p. 379
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