Maj. John Wesley Powell was an explorer, writer, geologist, anthropologist, land planner, and bureaucrat. He explored the last blank spot on the map of the United States; wrote one of the great real-life adventure stories in American literature, Exploration of the Colorado River of the West (1875);

produced significant works in geology, anthropology, and land policy; and directed two federal agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Ethnology. His divergent interests resembled one of the braided streambeds in his beloved canyon country, branching out in many directions but ultimately beginning and ending in the same stream.

Powell's parents, Joseph and Mary Powell, immigrated to New York from England in 1830. His father was a Methodist preacher and a tailor. Both parents had some education and high moral principles. Joseph Powell also possessed religious zeal and a restless spirit. Gradually he pushed the family west across New York...