372 
The Colorado River 
science, and when other paths more remunerative were open to 
him he turned his back upon them. He believed in sticking 
to one's vocation and thoroughly disapproved of wandering off 
in pursuit of common profit. The daring feat of exploring the 
canyons of the Colorado was undertaken for no spectacular 
effect or pecuniary reward, but was purely a scientific venture 
in perfect accord with the spirit of his early promise. As G. 
K, Gilbert remarks in a recent number of Science^ it was “of 
phenomenal boldness and its successful accomplishment a dra¬ 
matic triumph. It produced a strong impression on the public 
mind and gave Powell a national reputation which was after¬ 
wards of great service, although based on an adventurous epi¬ 
sode by no means essential to his career as an investigator.” 
The qualities which enabled him so splendidly to perform his 
many self-imposed tasks were an inheritance from his parents, 
who possessed more than ordinary intelligence. Joseph 
Powell, his father, had a strong will, deep earnestness, and 
indomitable courage, while his mother, Mary Dean, with 
similar traits possessed also remarkable tact and practicality. 
Both were English born, the mother well educated, and were 
always leaders in the social and educational life of every com¬ 
munity where they dwelt. Especially were they prominent in 
religious circles, the father being a-licensed exhorter in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Both were intensely American 
in their love and admiration of the civil institutions of the 
United States and both were strenuously opposed to slavery, 
which was flourishing in America when they arrived in 1830. 
For a time they remained in New York City and then removed 
to the village of Palmyra whence they went to Mount Morris, 
Livingston County, New York, where, on March 24, 1834, the 
fourth of their nine children, John Wesley, was born. Because 
of the slavery question Joseph Powell left the Methodist 
Episcopal Church on the organisation of the Wesleyan Metho¬ 
dist Church and became a regularly ordained preacher in the 
latter. It was in this atmosphere of social, educational, politi¬ 
cal, and religious fervor that the future explorer grew up. 
When he was four or five years old the family moved to Jack- 
^ October 10, 1902. 
