| On May 24, 1869, John Wesley Powell and nine other men set off on a momentous expedition into unexplored territory to take scientific measurements and map the Colorado River. This year, on the sesquicentennial of Powell’s adventure, a team of academics, USGS scientists, authors, artists, cartographers, and journalists embarked on the same day, following the same path, for a 70-day journey to celebrate and advance the scientific and cultural discoveries that Powell made 150 years ago. Jessica Lucido, a civil engineer and program manager for the USGS Water Resources Mission Area, will join the expedition from July 5-10, traveling on the Colorado River from Lake Powell, Colo., to Lee’s Ferry, Ariz. (the entrance to the Grand Canyon).
John Wesley Powell served as the second director to the USGS (1881-1894) and spearheaded our streamgaging program 130 years ago. While he lost four men and two boats during his 95-day journey from Green River, Wyo., to the Virgin River near the Arizona-California border, he succeeded in recording some of the earliest known maps, data, topographic and geologic measurements, and documentation of Native American culture. The 1869 expedition greatly advanced the understanding of the “Great Unknown” of the western U.S. and its resources, climate, and community. |