John Wesley powell. 
307 
our rules admit, it would be futile to endeavor to weigh or 
enumerate Powell’s contributions to science on the personal, 
rather than the administrative, side. Something of this has 
already been done by one of his most distinguished pupils 
and co-workers,* while another, whose loss we lately mourn, 
has given a graphic picture of his fraternal relations with 
his subordinates.! 
Final judgment on the great mass of personal work ac¬ 
complished by Powell must await the test of time and the 
conclusions of specialists. Here it seems sufficient for the 
occasion to make brief reference to the temperament and 
qualities which conditioned his activity and made him the 
man and successful administrator he was. 
Major Powell’s salient characteristics were courage, sym¬ 
pathy, insight into relations of things. His was the ideal 
Western spirit. He feared nothing and recognized no intel¬ 
lectual limitations for himself; but his was the fearlessness 
of a child, without conceit. Self-advancement, except as a 
means of helping forward the scientific plans he had in 
view, was alien to his ambitions. He joined in helping his 
subordinates to wider opportunities and had the feeling of a 
father for them, which naturally was in most cases a stimu¬ 
lus to their devotion. He saw much clearly in advance of 
his time. In many matters views for which he was criti¬ 
cised, on Indian affairs, irrigation, and the like, are now 
accepted as leading principles. He enjoyed “ blazing a 
trail ” in science; but, the trail made and open, he usually 
left to others the task of permanent road-building. Thus 
his work in geology brought into clear relief certain features 
of geological mechanics in erosion, etc., which are at the 
root of the branch of geology, known as geomorphology, 
which has of late formed a school. Many of the facts had 
long been known, but their relations had never been fully 
appreciated until he turned the searchlight on them. 
* G. K. Gilbert : Open Court, xvn, April, 1903, pp. 228-239, and 
June, pp. 342-347. 
t M. Baker: Op. cit., June, 1903, pp. 348-351. 
