JOHN WESLEY POWELL DAVIS 



developing his capacity to carry through whatever he under- 

 took. 



VISIT TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 1867-1868. 



The war over, Powell returned to his home in Illinois and 

 was nominated clerk of Du Page County, Illinois, at a good 

 salary; but at the same time he was offered an appointment 

 more to his liking, though at a lower salary, as professor of 

 geology in Illinois Wesleyan College, at Bloomington; this he 

 accepted. A later appointment was that of lecturer and curator 

 of the museum at the Illinois Normal University at Normal, 

 near Bloomington. The young professor took his classes into 

 the field, had an active part in public discussions in favor of 

 introducing more science in college programs, and influenced 

 the State legislature to advance science teaching in the Normal 

 University. 



In the summer of 1867 Powell, at the age of thirty-three, 

 struck out on a new path that led to all his later work. Aided 

 by the Illinois Society of Natural History, with which he was 

 still connected, he conducted a party of sixteen "naturalists, 

 students, and amateurs" across the plains to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains of Colorado, then known more as a field for adventure 

 than for research. His wife accompanied him. Through the 

 aid of General Grant, it was arranged that the army posts 

 should f urnish his party with supplies at government rates ; 

 railroads gave him passes. A contemplated passage through 

 the Bad Lands under military escort was given up on account 

 of hostile Indians. The expedition visited South and Middle 

 Parks, climbed Pikes Peak and other mountains, and gathered a 

 great store of specimens that were shipped back to the colleges 

 at Bloomington, Normal, and elsewhere. Powell was thus the 

 first college professor to combine field teaching with 'western 

 exploration, and this enterprise deservedly opened his larger 

 scientific career. He remained in the mountains for a time 

 after his students went home, and in the following winter pub- 

 lished a preliminary report, a small affair of four pages, ad- 

 dressed to the Illinois State Board of Education and signed as 

 curator of the Illinois Natural History Society; the only known 

 copy is in the library of the^ United States Geological Survey. 



15 



