Major John Wesley Powell Lecture given by Dorian DeMaio

In 1869 a company of explorers set off to survey the last uncharted territory in the American West by traveling down the Green and Colorado Rivers and becoming the first white men to brave the entirety of the Grand Canyon. The journey became a fight for survival against unpredictable rapids and near starvation. They were led by a 35-year-old naturalist/scientist, Major John Wesley Powell who had lost an arm in the Civil War. Of the ten men who challenged the river, six completed the 1,000 mile trek.