The Romance of the Colorado River : $b The Story of its Discovery in 1840, with an Account of the Later Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell through the Line of the Great CanyonsDellenbaugh, Frederick Samuel
History
The Romance of the Colorado River : $b The Story of its Discovery in 1840, with an Account of the Later Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell through the Line of the Great Canyons
Dellenbaugh, Frederick Samuel
Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico) -- Description and travel; Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico) -- Discovery and exploration; Colorado River Valley (Colo.-Mexico) -- Description and travel; Colorado River Valley (Colo.-Mexico) -- Discovery and exploration; Grand Canyon (Ariz.) -- Description and travel; Gran
[1] I use the title Major for the reason that he was so widely known
for so long a period by it. He was a volunteer officer during the
Civil War, holding the rank of Colonel at the end. The title Major,
then, has no military significance in this connection.
When his report to Congress was published, Major Powell, perhaps for
the sake of dramatic unity, concluded to omit mention of the personnel
of the second expedition, awarding credit, for all that was
accomplished, to the men of his first wonderful voyage of 1869. And
these men surely deserved all that could be bestowed on them. They had,
under the Major’s clear-sighted guidance and cool judgment, performed
one of the distinguished feats of history. They had faced unknown
dangers. They had determined that the forbidding torrent could be
mastered. But it has always seemed to me that the men of the second
party, who made the same journey, who mapped and explored the river and
much of the country roundabout, doing a large amount of difficult work
in the scientific line, should have been accorded some recognition. The
absence of this has sometimes been embarrassing for the reason that
when statements of members of the second party were referred to the
official report, their names were found missing from the list. This
inclined to produce an unfavourable impression concerning these
individuals. In order to provide in my own case against any unpleasant
circumstance owing to this omission, I wrote to Major Powell on the
subject and received the following highly satisfactory answer:
Washington, D. C., January 18, 1888.
My Dear Dellenbaugh:
Replying to your note of the 14th instant, it gives me great pleasure
to state that you were a member of my second party of exploration down
the Colorado, during the years 1871 and 1872, that you occupied a place
in my own boat and rendered valuable services to the expedition, and
that it was with regret on my part that your connection with the Survey
ceased.
Yours cordially, J. W. Powell.
Recently, when I informed him of my intention to publish this volume,
he very kindly wrote as follows:
Washington, January 6, 1902.
Dear Dellenbaugh:
I am pleased to hear that you are engaged in writing a book on the
Colorado Canyon. I hope that you will put on record the second trip and
the gentlemen who were members of that expedition. No other trip has
been made since that time, though many have tried to follow us. One
party, that headed by Mr. Stanton, went through the Grand Canyon on its
second attempt, but many persons have lost their lives in attempting to
follow us through the whole length of the canyons. I shall be very glad
to write a short introduction to your book.
Yours cordially, J. W. Powell.
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