I06 VAN HISE 



account of his many explorations, and therefore I shall confine 

 myself to his characteristics as an explorer. These character- 

 istics are perhaps best revealed by his explorations of the arid 

 lands of the West, and especially of the Colorado canyons. 



The project to follow Green River from the crossing of the 

 Union Pacific to its junction with the Grand, and thence to 

 follow the Colorado River to the lowlands of southern Califor- 

 nia, with the knowledge that these rivers passed through many 

 dark canyons, thousands of feet in depth, through which no one 

 had before passed, was bold to the last degree. Probably no 

 one so well as Powell appreciated the dangers which he would 

 encounter in this journey. He knew that the Green River, at 

 the point at which he started, was six thousand feet above the 

 sea. He knew that where the Colorado River emerges from the 

 Grand Canyon it is but little above the sea. From the point 

 where he entered to the point where his journey was to close 

 there was a descent of more than a mile, and this, to a certainty, 

 meant numerous rapids and falls. The probability was that 

 the rapids and falls would be in the narrow, steep-walled parts 

 of the canyon. There was the full possibility that when nearing 

 some of the falls the stream would be too swift to stem, that no 

 side portage could be made, and that the expedition would re- 

 sult in death to all. 



This risk he took. The risk of possible failure and disaster 

 to his party must be taken by each leader of a difficult and dan- 

 gerous exploration. But it does not follow that all proposed 

 explorations are justifiable. Upon the leader of an expedition 

 rests the serious responsibility of deciding whether the risk is 

 too great and the plan therefore rash, or, upon the other hand, 

 the chances for success and the importance of the enterprise 

 are sufficient to warrant the attempt. This is the crucial ques- 

 tion with every leader of a bold exploration. This is the ques- 

 tion whose answer demands that the leader shall have all 

 available information as to the region in which he is to go, as to 

 the manner in which the forces and agents of nature are at work 

 in that region, in a word, to have the fullest appreciation of the 

 dangers and the character of the difficulties which are to be 

 overcome. Not only must he know all the facts obtain- 



