378 John Wesley Powell. 



He made excursions and collected specimens which found 

 tlieir way into the museums of the several colleges and soci- 

 eties with which he had been connected. Some of these 

 excursions are noteworthy. He journeyed to St. Paul on the 

 Mississippi and across Wisconsin to Mackinaw. In 1856 he 

 descended the Mississippi alone in a row-boat from the falls of 

 St. Anthony to its mouth, making collections on the way. In 

 1857 he rowed the whole length of the Ohio River, from 

 Pittsburg to its mouth, and in the fall of that year studied the 

 geology and mineralogy of the Iron Mountain Region in Mis- 

 souri. In 1858 he made a trip down the Illinois River to its 

 mouth, and up theDes Moines River, returning, as usual, laden 

 with specimens. 



Meanwhile he had become a member of several local 

 scientific societies as well as colleges. These institutions had 

 given him much encouragement and some facilities in the pros- 

 ecution of journeys, but this encouragement was moral rather 

 than pecuniary and the necessary funds for the excursions — 

 explorations we may call them— he was obliged to earn for 

 himself by teaching during a portion of each year. 



All this brought him into acquaintance with a great variety 

 of people, scientific and otherwise, and the experience was rich 

 in incident and adventure. I have some most pleasing recol- 

 lections of the charming way in which he recounted some of 

 these experiences to his intimate friends ; of the enthusiasm 

 and humor with which the stories were told, and the touches 

 of philosophy with which they were embellished. 



Such was the great university where he was educated. 

 What a training it was for his future career ! It often required 

 as delicate tact, as careful diplomacy, as ingenious planning 

 and skillful management, as enthusiastic argument and as per- 

 sistent effort to carry out his plans to success, as it did later to 

 deal with politicians in and out of congress and to successfully 

 carry out the great works with which his name will be asso- 

 ciated so long as science shall be studied. Those row-boat 

 excursions on the gentler currents of the Ohio, Mississippi, and 

 Illinois, were the forerunners of the daring one through the 

 madly rushing waters in the great canyon, and the plans of 

 the great Geographical and Geological Survey of the nation 

 had their elements in these earlier trips. 



His school changed when the great rebellion broke out. He 

 enlisted as a private in the army and rose through the successive 

 steps of lieutenant, captain, and major, in which ofiSce he 

 lost his right jirm at the battle of Shiloh. As soon as he 

 recovered he returned to his post and continued in the service 

 until the very end. He was made lieutenant-colonel and in 

 the last days of the war received the commission of colonel. 



