Although Major John Wesley Powell was not the first geologist to view
the canyon lands, his two daring boat trips down the Green and Colorado
Rivers in 1869 and 1871 made history by bringing to light the first
descriptions of the geography and geology of what was then the largest
remaining uncharted wilderness in the United States. Many landmarks
along the canyons in the park were named by Powell and his men during
those explorations. J. S. Newberry is thought to have been the first
geologist to view the canyon lands—at least he seems to have been the
first one whose observations were recorded (1861), but the more
comprehensive findings of Powell (1875) were the ones that made history.
The 100th anniversary of Major Powell’s pioneer exploration of the Green
and Colorado Rivers was commemorated in 1969 by a national centennial
sponsored jointly by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the
Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society, and many other
organizations. This touched off many magazine and newspaper articles,
several commemorative programs and dedications, and several publications
of lasting interest. Noteworthy among the latter is U.S. Geological
Survey Professional Paper 669 entitled “The Colorado River Region and
John Wesley Powell.” Of its four separate parts, two are of special
interest to our Canyonlands story: part A, “John Wesley Powell: Pioneer
Statesman of Federal Science,” by Rabbitt (1969) and part C, “Geologic
History of the Colorado River,” by Hunt (1969). An interesting history
of the National Park Service by Everhart (1972) was published as part of
the national park centennial effort. The Powell Society, Ltd., of
Denver, Colo., was founded mainly to publish four “River Runners’ Guides
to the Canyons of the Green and Colorado Rivers, with Emphasis on
Geologic Features,” covering five reaches of the two rivers from Flaming
Gorge Dam, Utah, to Grand Canyon, Ariz. One of these by Mutschler (1969)
covers Labyrinth, Stillwater, and Cataract Canyons, all in Canyonlands
National Park. Another guidebook by Baars and Molenaar (1971) covers the
Colorado River from about Potash, Utah, to the confluence with the
Green, and Cataract Canyon. It is difficult to realize that thousands of
people annually now boat down the canyons Powell dared to explore
without knowledge of the dangers that lay ahead.
During the summer of 1968 a U.S. Geological Survey expedition led by
Eugene M. Shoemaker retraced the historic 1869 and 1871 river voyages of
Major Powell, in order to reoccupy the camera stations of the 1871
voyage and rephotograph the same scenes nearly 100 years later.
Remarkably enough, about 150 camera stations were recovered, many
requiring considerable search, and official photographer Hal G. Stephens
rephotographed the scenes taken with cumbersome wet-plate cameras nearly
100 years earlier by E. O. Beaman (above the site of Lees Ferry) and by
J. K. Hillers (below the site). A report containing these remarkable
sets of before and after photographs hopefully will be published
eventually as a delayed part of the Powell centennial. A few pairs have
been published by others (Baars and Molenaar, 1971, p. 90-99), and two
pairs are shown herein as figures 62 and 67. As these photographs show,
in most places the rocks and even the vegetation remain virtually
unchanged after nearly a century, but a few other pairs not included
herein show catastrophic changes resulting from local floods or
rockfalls.
[Illustration: CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK, showing location in Utah,
Lake Powell, Dead Horse Point State Park, boundaries, streams,
roads, trails, landforms, and principal named features. There was
insufficient room to show all named features; some not shown are
related in text by distance and direction to named ones, and some
additional names are given in figures 7, 51, and 59. Hans Flat
Ranger Station near left border is in Glen Canyon National
Recreation Area. The reader is referred to road maps issued by the
State or by oil companies for the location of U.S. Highway 163
(shown as 160 on old maps) and other nearby roads and for the
locations of the towns of Green River, Crescent Junction, Moab, La
Sal Junction, and Monticello. Visitors also can obtain pamphlets at
the entrance stations to the Needles and Island in the Sky districts
of the park or at the National Park Service office in Moab; these
contain up-to-date maps of the park and the latest available
information on roads, trails, campsites, and picnic sites. (Fig. 1)]
On June 26, 1969, state and local officials met along the Green River at
the mouth of Split Mountain Canyon, in Dinosaur National Monument, to
dedicate a monument to Major Powell, commemorating the 100th anniversary
of his first river trip, and to dedicate the Powell Centennial Scenic
Drive, also known as the Powell Memorial Highway. In the absence of any
roads closely paralleling the Green and Colorado Rivers except for short
distances, this route is virtually the only means of approach to the
rivers and comprises parts of several state and federal highways
connecting Green River, Wyo., and Grand Canyon, Ariz. A segment of it,
U.S. Highway 163, connects Crescent Junction, Moab, Monticello, and
Blanding, all in Utah, and provides the principal access routes to
Canyonlands and Arches National Parks and Natural Bridges National
Monument.
The ceremonies at the mouth of Split Mountain Canyon began with the
landing of the official party flotilla of four boats similar to the ones
used 100 years earlier by Powell, who was impersonated by a bearded man
dressed to resemble the one-armed major. After the dedication, the four
boats resumed the voyage down the Green River for another ceremony.
On June 29 a second monument was dedicated at the head of Desolation
Canyon, some 50 miles southwest of Vernal, Utah, where the 1869 Powell
expedition first ventured into the then unknown wilderness. The bronze
plaque identifies Desolation Canyon, named by Powell, as a national
historic landmark that comprises 58,000 acres in an area 1 mile wide on
each side of a 95-mile reach of the Green River.
[Illustration: Petroglyph]