This book provided me with an extremely comprehensive education regarding the figure of John Wesley Powell. It detailed how crucial he was in his efforts to influence policy concerning settlement in the West.

I found myself continuously sharing facts about him with others and will likely continue to do so in the future. Powell's attempt to utilize science and history as a means to settle the West, rather than being driven by corporate interests and blind patriotism, was truly admirable.

If he had been permitted to establish the guidelines for the settlement of the West, that region would be a very different place today. This book significantly assisted me in comprehending the foundation of many of the current issues in the West.

Powell was indeed far ahead of his era, and unfortunately, he would still be ahead of our time today. This is because we still often consider money as the most important factor when making decisions, rather than relying on scientific or historical facts.

This is a biography of John Wesley Powell, a pioneering scientist and naturalist who, although relatively unknown, played a crucial role in the exploration and development of the western United States. Wallace Stegner's portrayal of Powell in this book, however, is marred by his unbridled admiration, which leads to a significant bias. He credits Powell with every positive achievement, such as accurate maps and descriptions, and the passage of land use policies by Congress related to the region. At the same time, he vilifies those who opposed Powell politically or scientifically, especially William Gilpin.

Powell can indeed be regarded as one of the first American environmentalists. However, he was also actively involved in lobbying in Washington, held various positions there, and had associations with the Smithsonian Institution and federal departments. Stegner is a talented writer, and in that regard, I have no complaints. But as someone who is not a history enthusiast, I cannot say that I enjoyed the book. I read it solely because it was a selection of my book club. Another aspect that put me off was the vituperative descriptions of the politics of the day. We already have enough of that in our modern society.

"Beyond the Hundredth Meridian" is an outstanding biography that delves deep into the life of Major John Wesley Powell. I, just like perhaps nearly everyone who has a passion for history flowing through their veins, am acquainted with Powell as the first recorded leader of a group that triumphantly navigated the rapids of the Green and Colorado Rivers. However, there is a vast wealth of other aspects to his remarkable life. And Wallace Stegner, with his trademark excellent prose, narrates it with great enthusiasm and vigor. Powell was a crucial figure in the opening up of the west. He was a visionary, far ahead of his era.

He had ideas and concepts that were revolutionary for the time. His work and contributions had a profound impact on the development and settlement of the western regions of America. If you have even the slightest interest in American history, especially the story of the opening of the west, then you should most definitely add this book to your list of "must reads". It offers a fascinating and in-depth look into the life and times of a truly remarkable individual.

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West by Wallace Stegner is a captivating work.

The first part vividly describes Powell's famous 1869 trip down the Colorado River. It's an exciting adventure story, reaching a dramatic climax at Separation Rapid when three in the party leave the perilous river to hike out of the canyon, hoping to reach Mormon settlements 75 miles north. Sadly, it doesn't end well for them.

This adventure is just the start of the narrative about Powell's extensive work in the plateau region of Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. He advocated for scientific surveys and lobbied in Washington for funds. He played a crucial role in the formation of the USGS in 1879 and led it from 1881 to 1894.

However, this book is more than just a biography of Powell. Stegner reveals many issues related to the development of the west and the different policies needed to manage the expansion into an area with limited rainfall and prone to drought. Powell predicted many of the water supply problems that the southwest still faces today.

The narrative covers a wide range of topics, from aesthetic appreciation and wonder to raw adventure, geology, Native American cultures, and the struggles between fencers and free rangers. It provides a comprehensive survey of the development of the plateau region in the second half of the 19th century. It is especially valuable for historians who want to understand the creation of the southwest region of the US. Stegner's exhaustive research in describing Powell's work in this area is commendable.

The last part of the book focuses on Powell's political struggles to maintain funding for his agencies. From our 21st-century perspective, this reading can be challenging, and it might have been more relevant in the 1950s when some of the personalities of Powell's era were better remembered.

In conclusion, while the book is engaging and informative, I can't help but feel that Stegner is somewhat biased in Powell's favor, portraying him as a near-perfect hero. He also makes little mention of Powell's philosophical musings after his retirement, which reveal some rather eclectic thinking.

My first encounter with Wallace Stegner's work was this book.

Despite the fact that the content was at times rather dry, I found myself breezing through it. I had read and was aware of Major Powell's journey along the Colorado and Green Rivers, but I had no inkling of how inexperienced he and his crew were when it came to this expedition. In a similar vein, I had no idea to what extent Powell influenced the American perception of the West following his adventure.

This book not only detailed Powell's difficulties in maneuvering the political landscape of Washington but also vividly depicted how we arrived at our current situation and how our relationship with arid regions originated.

Although I didn't rate this book a 4/5 star or higher, it did make me reevaluate my rating system.

A 5/5 rating implies an amazing book that I would read again, gift to others, and that has been instrumental in shaping my perspective. A 4/5 rating indicates a great book that I would recommend and thoroughly enjoyed, but perhaps not one that I would place on a pedestal. A 3.5/5 rating means that I thoroughly enjoyed it, but maybe there were parts that were slow or too long. A 3/5 rating suggests that I'm glad I read it, it had great information and was entertaining, but there was nothing overly remarkable about it. A 2/5 rating indicates that I probably could have used my time more effectively by reading something else. And a 1/5 rating makes me wonder how I managed to get through it.

Overall, this book by Wallace Stegner was an interesting read that made me think about both the subject matter and my own rating criteria.

First of all, this book did an outstanding job of detailing what an extraordinary man John Wesley Powell was. It didn't just focus on his remarkable feat of leading a team through The Grand Canyon.

This incredibly well-researched and well-footnoted book also brought to light the long list of successes that Powell achieved after the event that made him famous.

It delved into his contributions in various fields such as geology, anthropology, and exploration. Powell's work had a profound impact on our understanding of the American West and its natural and cultural history.

The book painted a vivid picture of Powell's determination, courage, and intellectual curiosity. It showed how he overcame numerous obstacles and challenges to pursue his goals and make significant contributions to science and society.

Overall, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in the life and work of John Wesley Powell and the history of the American West.

This text seems rather concise and perhaps a bit cryptic. It appears to be making a comment about a particular topic that involves a lot of detailed and perhaps somewhat esoteric information, described as "a lot of inside baseball." It emphasizes that one really has to have a great interest in water law in the west in order to be fully engaged with whatever is being discussed. It then makes a contrast with the novelist Stegner, perhaps suggesting that this is not the kind of thing that Stegner would write about in his novels.

Expanding on this, we could say that the subject matter at hand delves deep into the specific and often complex world of water law in the western region. It requires a certain level of dedication and passion for this particular area of law to truly understand and appreciate all the nuances and details. It's not something that would likely appeal to a wide audience, but rather to those who have a specific interest in this niche field.

Unlike the works of the novelist Stegner, which may explore a broader range of themes and topics, this discussion is firmly rooted in the practical and legal aspects of water law. It may involve analyzing regulations, case studies, and the various factors that influence water management and rights in the west. For those who are passionate about this subject, it can be a fascinating and intellectually stimulating area of study. However, for others, it may seem dry and overly technical.

In conclusion, while this topic may not have the broad appeal of a novel by Stegner, it holds great significance for those who are interested in water law in the west. It offers a unique opportunity to explore a complex and important area of legal and environmental study.

RICH book and a slow read for me.

(Perhaps that had something to do with reading it in the summertime with rivers and mountains and kids in swimming suites constantly beckoning to me.) I found this tricky to rate because if it wasn't so slow, maybe exposing a little more of the personal character--the more controversial sides of Powell instead of giving him the pedestal and hero worship that Stegner does, then I would have rated it higher (and I could've used just a tiny bit of romance somewhere...I mean the West is romantic but, c'mon). Part of the reason the book was so slow was that it gave me a lot to think about and I loved that too. Still, John Wesley Powell is quite amazing, as is the opening of this West, and the political and scientific contributions of Powell are unparalleled.

The last five pages of this text are stunning and make me want to read Powell's Truth and Error to better understand the philosophies that someone who led a life such as Powell's would conclude near the end of his life. I can't help but wonder what Powell and Adams-with all their relating physics to philosophy, would have made of Albert Einstein's E=mc2 basically stating that matter is concentrated energy (or energy is dissipated matter).

Some lines of Wallace's in this book that I'd like to remember:

"he demonstrated the fundamental affinity between Democracy and Science that made America after the Civil War"

"I think librarians will inherit the earth."

"you had to have the West bred in your bones, you needed it facing you like a dare."

"Losing one's right arm is a misfortune; to some it would be a disaster, to others an excuse. It affected Wes Powell's life about as much as a stone fallen into a swift stream affects the course of the river. With a velocity like his, he simply foamed over it."

"he was also a learner, and one of the growing few ready to grant the right of the Indian to his own habits and attitudes....he never went armed, and he never had trouble"

"in the fast water above had left them feeling, as Sumner said, "like sparking a black-eyed girl--just dangerous enough to be exciting."

"The deeper they went, the fiercer and wilder the river became, the more remote and lost they felt, like bugs swept helplessly along the bottom of a flooded ditch."

I love that Stegner placed the work of early artists in this text, though I don't agree with his evaluations. For example, he says of Thomas Moran's work "it is realistic only in details where it chooses to be" and "The rattlesnake is ecologically improbable on the rims." The first statement I think actually accentuates the fact that Moran IS an artist, choosing what to bring to light and what to leave to the imagination. The second shows that Stegner may know a little about science but he is not a desert ecologist. Rattlesnakes live on the rim.

"they are waves of a peculiar ferocity, for they are not ocean waves, where the water remains in place and only the form passes on. Here the form remains and the water passes on, and it goes like fire engines, with a roar that trembles the rocks, and in flood the water itself is heavy with red silt."

"in Washington, after the Civil War, there grew up a tough-minded group of men hard to fool, intent upon verification, and with unprecedented government support. At their backs they had the whole new West for a laboratory. Of that group and in that West John Wesley Powell was one of the first."

"The boundary between ignorance and knowledge, between speculation and certainty, is often no more than a line of ancient fracture almost obliterated, or an enigmatic unconformity between two layers of rock, or a slight but significant change from salt water to brackish water fossils."

"They had even given it a rudimentary aesthetics, used it as a starting point for a curious and provocative inquiry into the sublime and beautiful, and strengthened the affinity that Turner and Ruskin had established between geology and art."

"Jacob respected Indians and was respected by them because he granted them souls..."

"his chief qualification for dealing with the tribes was his conviction that a naked Paiute shivering under a tree on the Place of Pines belonged as surely on the map of mankind as a patroon sitting down to dinner in his house..... he arrived at this conviction without effort and without the sentimentality of many Indian advocates and without in any way regarding his attitude as remarkable."

Of the second trip down the Grand: "what rendered it scientifically important rendered it dramatically second-hand. Exploration like seduction puts a premium upon the virgin."

"realists and even factualists, might on occasion be led to follow Twain's own advice to Kipling: "Young man, first get your facts and then do with them what you will." In literature, if not in science, an unintentional lie is worse than a deliberate one."

"the fantastic erosional remains that simply by their shapes and their positions on a denuded plain told of the forces that had created them."

Of Dutton "He was a student of form, as of color....What shall we make, he asks, of the Temples of the Virgin?" (speaking of Zion?)

Section 9. Pictures of a New World: Moran, Holmes, Hillers (love this)

Of the West: "it took in both desert and garden, sterile and wilderness and happy hunting ground, danger and adventure and opportunity, sanctuary and exile. In any of its phases it was big, grandiose, fabulous." ... "This West too was a fable."

"In the popular mind the West stayed fabulous, partly because many of its very facts were fabulous. Who could resist..." "What convert yearning toward Zion could contravene the evidence of the desert blossoming as the rose? Fantasy won also because ideas are like dye thrown into moving water, ...." "It won because what people wanted was not facts at all, but corroboration of legendry and lore."

"magazine illustration was still by lithograph or wood engraving made from an artist's sketch, or double transfer from photograph to drawing to woodcut. Even a good painter like Moran was at the mercy of the craftsmen who interpreted him on woodblock or stone."

Says Adams of Washington: "Wealth, office, power are at auction. Who bids highest: who hates with most venom? who intrigues with most skill? who has done the dirtiest, the meanest, the darkest, and the most, political work? He shall have his reward."

Of Holmes' panoramas "he captured the plastic qualities of rock. Look at his sketches: the architecture of his sedimentaries is instantly recognizable, his granite could be nothing else, his lava is frozen motion." Reminds me of wave-particle duality and the theory of relativity somehow...in terms of geologic time the crust IS plastic when we challenge our time reference, I can almost believe a wave can become a particle if we slow time down just enough.

"some native placenames are said to be too obscene for translation onto any polite map."

"Primitive cosmologies and mythologies, Powell said, persisted in more advanced stages of society in the same way that vestigial organs persisted in the body. Evolution worked upon institutions as it worked upon the physical organism, but it worked irregularly and slowly. "more people believe in mascots than believe in telephones, and those who believe in mascots believe that telephones are magical." (I think they're both magical, the more I learn about science the more magical telephones and other technologies become and a little less so for mascots.)

"Quite honestly. For however sympathetically or even sentimentally a white American viewed the Indian, the industrial culture was certain to eat away the tribal cultures like lye." "What destroyed the Indian was not primarily political greed, land hunger, or military power, not the white man's germs or the white man's rum. What destroyed him was the manufactured products of a culture, iron and steel, guns, needles, wollen cloth, things that once possessed could not be done without."

Of Agassiz: "Was knowledge the private possession of an elite, or was it something broader?" ..."shall inspire a hundred millionaires to engage in like good works? Before that time comes scientific research will be will endowed by the people of the United States in the exercise of their wisdom and in the confident belief that knowledge is for the welfare of all the people." "The learning of one man does not subtract from the learning of another, as if there were a limited quantity to be divided into exclusive holdings; so discovery by one man does not inhibit discovery by another....That which one gains by discovery is a gain of other men. And these multiple gains become invested capital, the interest on which is all paid to every owner, and the revenue of new discovery is boundless. It may be wrong to take another man's purse, but it is always right to take another man's knowledge, and it is the highest virtue to promote another man's investigation...." --I love that.

"Water was the key to life, particularly in the West; water from heaven could fail, and continue to fail for years on end..."

"But Major Powell, confronted with an opportunity for which he had waited a full decade, rose to the Secretary's letter like a starving cat to a sardine."

Of irrigating the West "the only truly agricultural American Indians were desert Indians."

"His vision of contented farmers controlling their own timber, grass, and water clear to the drainage divides, and settling their problems by an extension of the town meeting is touched with a prophetic, perhaps a pathetic piety. Science and Reason have always been on the side of Utopia; only the cussedness of the human race has not."

"aimed at the vilification of Major Powell. That first action had come at the very start of the new year, when the spies and whisperers, sensing another opportunity and seeing formidable forces attacking Powell from the front, came out from behind the arras with their knives in their hands."

"the myth-bound West which insisted on running into the future like a streetcar on a gravel road."

"Herbert said with horror what Powell would have said with pride: that the United States government spent more in promoting science than any other nation in the world."

Powell to Congress "I tell you gentlemen," he said into their heckling and the rising clamor of their indignation, "you are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights for there is not sufficient water to supply the land." He told them and they booed him."

Of the ending of the Geological survey: "had had more than esprit. It had had brilliance. "In this severance of our relations," said Powell's last report, "...I cannot refrain from an expression of profound gratitude for the loyal and loving aid which they have given me, ever working together with zeal and wisdom to add to the sum of human knowledge. The roster of those honored men is found in ten-score volumes of contributions to knowledge and fifty-score maps familiar to scholars of the world."

Of Gilbert's take on Powell's philosophical writings "his difficulty was not in the complexity of the ideas in Truth and Error, but their dazzling simplicity."

"When he died he had a bet on with W J McGee that his brain was bigger and heavier than McGee's. For whatever it mattered, it was."

"Ah, says Don Juan, without the mind you only enjoy yourself. You do not know the fun you are having."

Speculating on Powell's thoughts for the future: "He would have said there is a difference between using a resource and mining it. He would have said the future has a claim on us." (--by the way from here to the end of the book is so golden I can't choose one phase above another and I don't want to type the entire last 4 or 5 pages so that's it.)

This is classic Stegner! What a salubrious read.

His writing has a unique charm that draws you in from the very first page. The vivid descriptions of the landscapes and the characters bring the story to life in your mind.

You can almost feel the gentle breeze blowing through the prairie, or smell the fresh earth after a rainstorm.

Stegner's ability to capture the essence of the human experience is truly remarkable.

His characters are complex and multi-dimensional, with their own hopes, dreams, and flaws.

You find yourself rooting for them, empathizing with their struggles, and celebrating their victories.

Reading a Stegner novel is like taking a journey through time and space, experiencing different cultures and ways of life.

It is a truly enriching and rewarding experience that leaves you with a deeper understanding of the world and of yourself.

If you haven't read any of Stegner's works yet, I highly recommend that you do. You won't be disappointed!

Arguably, this is the definitive biography of John Wesley Powell.

It is written by one of America's greatest writers, whose talent and expertise shine through every page.

Donald Worster's book on Powell may have its merits, but it simply cannot compare to this remarkable work.

This biography delves deep into the life and times of Powell, exploring his adventures, his scientific achievements, and his impact on American history.

The author has painstakingly researched every aspect of Powell's life, presenting a vivid and detailed portrait of this fascinating figure.

From his early days as a soldier in the Civil War to his famous exploration of the Grand Canyon, Powell's story is one of courage, determination, and innovation.

This biography is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, science, or adventure.

It is a masterful work that will surely stand the test of time.

An acquaintance with books and learning was not a given for a frontier boy like John Wesley Powell. He had to take every opportunity to acquire knowledge.

Abe Lincoln's words summed it up perfectly for every such boy with intelligence and aspirations: "The things I desire to know are within the pages of books; my dearest friend is the one who can obtain for me a book that I have not yet read."

In the harsh environment of the frontier, access to books was limited. But for boys like Powell and Lincoln, the thirst for knowledge was unquenchable. They understood that books were a gateway to a world of ideas and possibilities.

Despite the challenges, they were determined to educate themselves. Powell, for example, would study by the light of a campfire after a long day of work. He knew that learning was the key to a better future.

These boys' love for books and learning would shape their lives and have a profound impact on the nation. Their stories serve as an inspiration to us all, reminding us of the power of education and the importance of never giving up on our dreams.

This is a truly masterful work of biography. As Stegner aptly writes in his introductory note, it is "the history not of a personality but of a career."

Not only does Stegner take us on a thrilling journey following John Wesley Powell down the frightful canyons of the Colorado River and into the even more fearsome halls of the national capital, but he also delves deeply into Powell's companions and antagonists, his allies and his would-be emulators.

He devotes long and admiring passages to Powell's associates like Capt. Clarence Dutton and Grove Karl Gilbert. He is almost rhapsodic about William Henry Holmes, who provided meticulous grand-scale scientific illustrations for Dutton's geological writings.

Stegner vividly explains the dry, hard-rock conditions that Powell encountered in the west and makes the crucial connections to Powell's scientific report of 1877, which argued for a pattern of settlement arranged by geology and watersheds and governed communally.

Stegner is also wittily cutting when it comes to Capt. Samuel Adams, the failed explorer of the same Plateau Province. Adams was convinced that the Colorado offered a navigable passage from the ocean to the Rocky Mountains. The author's description of him as "a preposterous, twelve-gauge, hundred-proof, kiln-dried, officially notarized fool, or else he was one of the most wildly incompetent scoundrels who ever lived" is both humorous and scathing.

Moreover, the account of the feud between Powell and Othniel C. Marsh on one hand and Edward D. Cope on the other is truly an eye-opener.

Stegner, being a writer of fiction as well, brings a novelist's command of language to this work. The conceit of human geological understanding being directly reflected in the rocks of the Province is particularly fine.

New Mexico's tagline is "Land of Enchantment." There's not much to separate enchantment from delusion, and part of the history of the west is the story of that delusion. Powell's virtue lay in seeing clearly through the enchantment. Although much of his work was truncated, at least in his lifetime, "the only thing clearer than the failure of his grandiose schemes of study is the compelling weight of their partial accomplishment."