JOHN WESLEY POWELL. II 



was a deep accumulation of drift-like material. A great valley or 

 basin had been filled and the carboniferous rocks which came near 

 the surface were here marked to the depth of about two hundred 

 feet. During the winter Powell became greatly interested in this 

 body of drift material and the peculiar characteristics of the coun- 

 try, and early in the spring he commenced a more thorough ex- 

 amination of it and the adjacent county of La Salle. He devoted 

 several weeks to this work, and then extended his examination 

 farther and farther away, up and down the valley of the Illinois, 

 and finally through the valley of the Mississippi and along the Des 

 Moines River in Iowa and thence into southern Wisconsin. 



His geological studies interested him deeply, and he continued 

 out late in the fall. On returning to Hennepin he decided to teach 

 again and postpone for another year his trip to the East. During 

 these scientific trips he had formed the acquaintance of many 

 scholars interested in natural history and geology, and was elected 

 Secretary of the Illinois Natural History Society. In this capacity, 

 and through the kindness of many devoted friends, he was enabled 

 to journey, by rail or boat, for several years, without expense ; and 

 being a good walker, his expenses as a travelling student were 

 always trivial. He could sleep at night on the ground under a 

 tree with impunity, for he had perfect health and was an athlete. 



Thus young Powell's student days were not all passed in the 

 school-room, though he had diligently applied himself to study 

 under the direction of various teachers. Much of his study was 

 made privately, as he was impelled by a desire to acquire material 

 for successful instruction. The teacher thus became the more 

 careful student. To a large extent his school-room was in the for- 

 est and the field, on the prairie and the mountain, and along the 

 river bank and the lake shore ; for he early became a student of 

 nature, and studied in the solitudes of nature. 



