This Union major mapped the Grand Canyon with one arm and nine desperate men

Powell’s Fatal 1869 Grand Canyon River Expedition

In 1869, one-armed Civil War vet John Wesley Powell set out to map the last blank spot on America’s map.

He led nine men in four wooden boats down the wild Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The trip was rough from the start.

One boat crashed at Disaster Falls, taking a third of their food with it. As they pushed on, men quit, boats leaked, and food ran low.

Just two days from the end, three crew members gave up and hiked out. Powell and five others made it through, but the Grand Canyon had claimed its price.

Today, you can stand at Powell Point in Grand Canyon National Park and see where this epic journey unfolded.

One-Armed Civil War Veteran Led First Grand Canyon Expedition

John Wesley Powell left Green River Station, Wyoming on May 24, 1869, with nine men and supplies for 10 months. The 35-year-old Civil War vet lost his right arm at Shiloh but still put together this groundbreaking trip.

Powell’s team used four wooden boats: Maid of the Cañon, Kitty Clyde’s Sister, No Name, and Emma Dean (his wife’s name).

These weren’t regular boats but changed Whitehall rowboats built in Chicago for rough rivers. The crew wanted to map the Colorado River and study the area’s rocks.

The First Canyons Boosted Their Confidence

By May 30, Powell and his men safely went through their first three canyons: Flaming Gorge, Canyon of the Rapid, and Kingfisher Canyon.

The team camped in Flaming Gorge for several days to gather data and look around.

Powell started naming places during these early days, creating names still on maps today. The crew felt good about their chances after making it through their first rapids.

Disaster Falls Lived Up to Its Name

The trip hit its first big problem on June 8 when the No Name boat broke apart at Disaster Falls in Cañon Lodore.

This crash cost them badly – they lost a third of their food and all their barometers, key tools for measuring height and making good maps.

George Bradley wrote that night that the men felt “low spirrited” after the loss. Powell and his crew pulled some barometers from the water, but the damage stuck.

Food Turned Sour Under the Hot Sun

Their food started going bad by mid-June from constant wetting and hot weather. George Bradley noted they would regret not taking better care of their food before the trip ended.

The men worked hard every day, often carrying boats and supplies around dangerous rapids they couldn’t safely float through.

Things got worse on June 17 at Echo Park when a campfire spread to nearby pine trees. The crew rushed to their boats and ran risky rapids in the dark to escape the flames.

An Englishman Called It Quits

Frank Goodman, an English thrill-seeker who joined the trip, decided he’d had enough by July 6.

After losing all his stuff in the No Name wreck, Goodman told Powell he wanted to leave when they reached the Uinta River.

Powell didn’t try to change his mind. Goodman walked away from the trip and later settled in Vernal, Utah, where he got married and raised a family.

Goodman became the first crew member to quit the journey.

Powell Almost Fell to His Death

Powell nearly died on July 8 while measuring the west wall of the canyon. He slipped and got stuck on a rock face, unable to climb up or down with just one arm.

George Bradley saved him by taking off his pants and using them as a rope to pull Powell to safety. Just three days later, Powell fell from his boat while going through rapids.

He lost bedding, another barometer, and two good rifles in the accident.

The Colorado River Greeted Them with New Challenges

The team reached the meeting point with the Colorado River on July 16 at 5:30 PM, a big milestone.

George Bradley wrote in his journal: “Hurra! Grand River came upon us… here we float in upon the scene never before beheld by white men.”

The crew stopped for four days to fix their leaky boats and throw out moldy food. They took time to get exact location measurements of this historic spot.

Marble Walls Towered Above as They Entered Grand Canyon

Powell and his team entered what we now call the Grand Canyon on August 5. Powell later called the first section Marble Canyon because of its special rock types.

He wrote about walls rising 2,500 feet high, made of marble in many pretty colors, often smoothed by the waves below.

The group faced several new problems, including losing most of their remaining food to spoilage. A second boat nearly sank after hitting rocks and later had to be left behind.

Hunger and Fear Tested Their Resolve

By late August, Powell wrote that his men felt completely down. Their food supplies had gotten very low, with only spoiled rations left.

The crew started resifting flour through mosquito nets and boiling dried spoiled bacon to make it somewhat edible.

The men faced the worst rapids they had seen so far in the lower canyon.

Near the end of the Grand Canyon, they heard “the roar of giant rapids” ahead and saw what looked like impassable water.

Three Men Hiked Out Just Two Days from Safety

On August 28, brothers Seneca and Oramel Howland, along with William Dunn, decided they couldn’t go on.

Convinced the final rapids would kill them all, they chose to leave the expedition at what later became known as Separation Canyon.

Powell wrote: “The billows are huge and I fear our boats could not ride them…There is discontent in the camp tonight. ”

The three men took one set of expedition notes and hiked out of the canyon, hoping to cross the desert to civilization.

Their decision came just two days before the expedition would reach safety, a tragic miscalculation that would cost them their lives.

The River Spared Some While Others Met a Violent End

Powell and the remaining five men successfully ran the feared rapids on August 29, proving they were navigable after all.

The next day, on August 30, they emerged from the canyon and reached safety at the Mormon settlement of St. Thomas near the Virgin River. Meanwhile, the three men who abandoned the expedition were never seen alive again.

According to reports, they were killed by Shivwit Indians who mistook them for miners who had murdered a tribal woman.

Despite these losses, Powell’s expedition completed the first detailed mapping of the Colorado River system, opening the door to future exploration of the Grand Canyon.

Visiting Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Grand Canyon National Park honors John Wesley Powell’s dangerous 1869 river expedition when the one-armed Civil War veteran led ten men through the canyon’s entirety.

You can visit the South Rim year-round for $35 per vehicle at 20145 S. Entrance Road.

The visitor center shows two free films about the canyon and displays wooden dory boat replicas from Powell’s expedition.

Take the free shuttle to Powell Point from March through November.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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