“If that report be reliable,” he says, “it is evident that in the high or middle stage of the river a strongly built boat can come down the canon with safety.  Before reading that report I had an idea that it would be a very dangerous experiment to attempt to go down this canon in a boat of any kind, because I feared there were falls, in going down, in which a boat might be upset or even dashed to pieces.  As it is, now I believe there are no falls, and I am inclined to think the best way is to start above and descend.”

During these efforts of the regular army officers to secure information as to the possibility of exploring the great canyons, Powell approached the problem from an entirely different direction, and his quick and accurate perception told him that to go down with the tide was the one and only way.  He was not a rich man; and expeditions require funds, but this was no more of a bar to his purpose than the lack of an arm.  His father was a Methodist clergyman of good old stock, vigorous of mind and body, clear-sighted, and never daunted.  My immediate impression in meeting the father, even in his old age, was of immense mental and moral strength, resolution, and fortitude.  These qualities he bequeathed to his children, and it was a fine inheritance.  Major Powell, therefore, had his ancestry largely to thank for the intellect and the courage with which he approached this difficult problem.

Funds for the proposed expedition were furnished by the State Institutions of Illinois and the Chicago Academy of Science; none by the general Government, so that this was in no way a Government matter, except that Congress passed a joint-resolution authorising him to draw rations for twelve men from western army posts.  Early in the spring of 1869, after returning from the rambles along Green River of the previous winter, Powell went to Chicago and engaged a competent builder to construct four strong boats after his suggestions.  Three of these were of oak, twenty-one feet long, and one of light pine, sixteen feet long, the latter intended as an advance boat, to be quickly handled in the face of sudden danger.  At the bow and stern of each was a water-tight compartment, in which supplies and instruments could be packed, and they would yet give buoyancy to the boats when they would be filled with water by the breaking waves of the rapids.  Amidships the boats were open, and here also goods, guns, etc., were stowed away.  Each had a long rope, to use in lowering past the most dangerous places.  Unlike all the explorations on the lower course of the river, this expedition would require no lines for towing.  These four little craft, which were to be the main reliance of the daring men composing the party, were transported free of charge, together with the men who were from the country east of the mountains, to Green River Station, Wyoming, by the courtesy of the officials of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy, and the Union