A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell by Donald Worster (PDF)

Description

If the word “hero” still belonged in the historian’s lexicon, it would certainly be applied to John Wesley Powell. Intrepid explorer, careful scientist, talented writer, and dedicated conservationist, Powell led the expedition that put the Colorado River on American maps and revealed the Grand Canyon to the world. Now comes the first biography of this towering figure in almost fifty years–a book that captures his life in all its heroism, idealism, and ambivalent, ambiguous humanity.In A River Running West, Donald Worster, one of our leading Western historians, tells the story of Powell’s great adventures and describes his historical significance with compelling clarity and skill. Worster paints a vivid portrait of how this man emerged from the early nineteenth-century world of immigrants, fervent religion, and rough-and-tumble rural culture, and barely survived the Civil War battle at Shiloh. The heart of Worster’s biography is Powell’s epic journey down the Colorado in 1869, a tale of harrowing experiences, lethal accidents, and breathtaking discoveries. After years in the region collecting rocks and fossils and learning to speak the local Native American languages, Powell returned to Washington as an eloquent advocate for the West, one of America’s first and most influential conservationists. But in the end, he fell victim to a clique of Western politicians who pushed for unfettered economic development, relegating the aging explorer to a quiet life of anthropological contemplation.John Wesley Powell embodied the energy, optimism, and westward impulse of the young United States. A River Running West is a gorgeously written, magisterial account of this great American explorer and environmental pioneer, a true story of undaunted courage in the American West.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐John Wesley Powell, a man for dry seasonsAfter many diversions, I finally finished reading A River Running West, Donald Worster’s full-scale biography of John Wesley Powell. This was my follow-up to several reads of Wallace Stegner’s classic account of Powell’s career–Beyond the Hundredth Meridian. Undoubtedly it was brave of Worster to attempt to follow in Stegner’s footsteps, and his book is far from bad, though not nearly as readable or compelling as Stegner’s.If one were to read only one account of Powell’s famous expedition down the Colorado river–which made him a national hero–Stegner’s would be the one to select for its thrilling narrative. Stegner doesn’t take all of Powell’s journals at face value. Nevertheless, he casts the break-up of Powell’s party, and its differential consequences, in lines of high drama, to etch one of the great legends of the exploration of the West. Worster, as a careful professional historian, is constrained to acknowledge the uncertainties about why Powell’s party broke up, and what became of those who left Powell’s command. The result is a somewhat mushy story, though likely more accurately reflective of what is really known about the first Powell expedition.Worster’s careful historiography pays dividends in his description of the battles between Powell and his nemesis, Senator Stewart of Nevada. Stegner portrays Powell as a tower of enlightenment in regard to the appropriate policies for settlement of the arid West, and his downfall at the hands of Stewart as the triumph of benighted boosterism in a flawed political arena. No less than Stegner, Worster acknowledges Powell’s ground-breaking work as a senior Washington bureaucrat. He also rightly praises Powell’s unmatched appreciation of the challenges raised by lack of water in the plans for development of the West. But Worster’s account also provides the insight that Powell’s policy prescription–collective planned settlement on a watershed-by-watershed basis–was hopelessly quixotic, and out of touch with the social, economic and political realities of the late 19th century in the U.S. In my mind the key question was, where would the capital have come from to finance the water management infrastructure that would have permitted Powell’s plan to come about? To put the question another way, why would the political forces provide a subsidy from the federal government for the collectives of small holders that Powell proposed?Without having read up on the long aftermath of the boosters’ triumph, I infer that what actually happened was that moneyed interests in the West influenced more-or-less corrupt Congressional representatives to provide the federal subsidy for water projects, but to the benefit of the large-holders, and not for settlement by collectives. The result was the proliferation of monopolies that Powell feared. A great many disputes over water rights also developed, and remain acute.In other words, the West was bound to be exploited, even as the Indians were bound to be pushed out and marginalized. Since exploitation of the West would require government capital, and since the vested interests had the power to control the application of government capital, the exploitation came about to the advantage of the vested interests. Not a pretty picture, but what else could possibly have happened, given the way Washington works?

⭐Very detailed story of John Wesley Powell’s triumphs and weaknesses. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this as I travelled through southern Utah and Northern Arizona.

⭐This was an excellent account of Wesley Powell’s dangerous exploration of the Colorado River. We navigated the length of the river using nothing more than wooden canoes. He also did a survey of the rainfall of the semi-arid and arid areas of the west. His surveys and his exploration of the west shed a lot of light on how early explorers lived and how dangerous were his trips. His did all of this with just one good arm!

⭐Awesome book. I bought it to read while I spent a week at Lake Powell. Altogether it made for an awesome combination. The book was much thicker than I anticipated, but I saw that as a good thing. I bought a used copy, but you really couldn’t see any reason to think it wasn’t new.

⭐Clunky, overlong and characterized by some really awkward metaphors (Powell was “hanging on to the Canyon rim and heavy boots were trying to kick him over,” when he was actually just trying to influence legislation). Powell had a fascinating and worthwhile life, but this book has some really dull stretches. Read Beyond the Hundredth Meridian instead.

⭐Fascinating book and fascinating man. Opens up the west and the late 19th century in a way that helps us make sense of our history. Puts perspective on the politics of today.

⭐I have rafted some parts of the Green River and the Colorado, and thought this would be a very interesting book, but very little of it is on the actual river trip. The author goes on and on and on about nothing and keeps interjecting his own political views into the story. I found it long and boring, and would have a hard time recommending it to anyone.

⭐A detailed look at one of our unsung military heros that pursued his passion. A good read with many revelations. It is always interesting to discover the detailed background surrounding America’s historic figures. I would recommend this book to any history lover.

⭐On a recent holiday enjoying the American National Parks around the Colorado Plateau we kept coming across the name of John Wesley Powell. He was famous for mounting the first expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The formidable book commences with Powell’s upbringing (Methodism), his elementary schooling and canyon adventures. However it goes on to explain how Powell developed a deep interest in science and became a servant of the government and the leading authority in Washington DC on the west. (Geography, geology, hydrology.and American Indians) He became the director of the nation’s Geological Survey, whilst also the founder and director of the Bureau of Ethnography. The book is long and detailed, with copious references and a fine index. It is said to be the first detailed biography for over 50 years and is a fine tribute to great pioneer. Do not be put off by the 673 pages. (100 pages are devoted to Notes, Bibliography and Index.)

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