First Through the Grand Canyon (Expanded, Annotated)

John Wesley Powell went to war before he went to the Grand Canyon. A Union artillery officer who lost most of his right arm at Shiloh, he returned home scarred but restless-still hungry for discovery, still determined to test himself against the unknown. In 1869, he gathered nine hardened men, four wooden boats, and enough supplies to try to descend the Green and Colorado Rivers through a vast blank space on the map: the uncharted canyons culminating in the Grand Canyon. What followed was a three-month plunge into terrifying, relentless danger. Powell and his crew faced roaring rapids no one had ever named, sheer canyon walls that cut them off from escape, and long stretches where one smashed boat or one lost food box could mean starvation. They ran falls they had no way to scout, portaged heavy gear along cliffs where a single slip meant death, endured blistering heat, freezing nights, and the constant risk of mutiny and desertion. All the while, Powell-balancing on the decks of fragile boats with one arm-kept careful notes and measurements, determined to bring back more than just tales of survival. In First Through the Grand Canyon, Powell's own journal brings this legendary expedition to life. He records the thunder of the rapids, the sickening crunch of boats striking hidden rocks, the grim humor of men who have gone too far to turn back, and the breathtaking moments of silence when the river rests and the canyon walls glow in evening light. Woven through the daily crises are his sharp-eyed scientific observations and his growing understanding of the Colorado Plateau's geology, rivers, and Indigenous peoples. This edition presents one of the greatest true adventure stories in American history: a one-armed Civil War veteran leading a small band of boatmen into a world no outsider had seen, never knowing from one bend of the river to the next whether they would find a calm eddy-or the end of the line.