By ZEKE SCHER PART 1 N UNLIKELY band of 12 in­ Little did Powell realize at this time September and all returned to Illi­ house, and camped outside town for One par ty member suggested they tellectuals, following the Ore­ that his Colorado visit would lead to nois, except the Powells. two weeks while attempting to break put one of Powell's "limestone bis­ Agon Trail into Wyoming and filling in the last voids of the Ameri­ Accompanied by several "moun­ the wild mounts they bought. The cuits" in a can as an everlasting can map, revising U.S. thinking on taineers," the Powells returned to noncowboys bit a lot of dust , chased memento on the peak. Powell the prairie road south, arrived in agriculture, and eventually remak­ Denver on horseback and in mule­ the mountains that September and a lot of runaways and, if they didn't thought this below the dignity of the ing-and saving-the West. Thanks October, visiting Middle Park and know before, learned how to cuss. occasion, and offered a serious George c drawn covered wagons on July Life on the Colorado River for both humans and boats is tenuous in large part to his trip, within two for the first time observing the They came through Denver in speech. The climbers remained on t oday as it was 100 years ago this week when Powell's trip began. 6, 1867. The leader was a one­ decades P owell would be termed the headwaters of the Grand River. mid-July and went into the moun­ the peak for three hours, making armed professor who had pro­ m ost powerful man in the United (The Colorado Legislature changed tains to collect plants, animals, observations and enjoying the ex­ moted this summer field trip for States and the world's leading scien­ the name to Colorado in 1921. Before birds, insects and geologic speci­ hilarating view no man had seen be­ his geology students. tist. that the Colorado began at the junc­ mens, and to make barometric ob­ fore. The prof e s so r was 33-year­ In Denver the real western edu­ tion of the Grand and Green in Utah.) servations. Plans and prepar ations Longs Peak was incidental to Pow­ old John Wesley Powell, a self­ cation of the professor began as his The Major, as Powell was most for river exploration were still form­ ell's r eal purpose but it did give him taught midwestern farm boy, a com­ group of Illinois dudes contemplated often referred to, later wrote that ing in Powell's fertile mind. additional inspiration to follow the bat major in the Union army during • the mountains before them. The this 1867 fall trip to the Grand Lake, At Empire, west of Denver, they river canyons west. At-Hot Sulphur the Civil War, a science instructor group-Powell; his wife, E m m a Colo., area kindled his desire to ex­ met Jack Sumner, mountain man Springs Powell met a party that in­ at I 11 in o is Industrial University Dean; four educators and a minis­ plore the canyons of the Colorado and guide with whom the Powells cluded Schuyler Colfax, speaker of (now the University of Illinois at ter; and five students - decided to River. It led to the last great ex­ in 1867 had discussed future explora­ the U.S. House of Representatives Champaign). scale Pikes Peak. But to see more ploration of the American "un­ tions. Sumner, a brother-in-law of and destined to be Grant's first vice He had all the inadequacies of an of this new country, they avoided known" two years later and the William Byers, Rocky Mountain president, and Samuel Bowles of the erratic frontier education and the the beaten trail south and chose a first scientific study of the West's News founder, was anxious to ex­ Springfield, Mass., R epublican, a brashness of the half educated. But route through Bergen Park west of major river system. plore the Colorado River. He didn't prominent journalist. he also had the strengths of a border Denver. Back in Denver, the Powells think much of Powell's party, how­ Powell told Bowles of his explora­ upbringing: independence, con f i­ The gran eur of the towering sorted and packed the many speci­ ever. " They were about as fit for tion plans and the journalist \fas im­ dence and the practical ability to Maj. John Wesley PoweUJ peaks and enclosed valleys in mid­ mens collected for the Illinois mu· roughing it as Hades is for a pow­ pressed. Bowles wrote about it: accomplish things. In other words, circa 1879. summer enthralled the lowlanders. seum. He promoted free rail trans­ der house," Sumner wrote. "The whole field of observation he didn't know enough to be dis­ The back trail was arduous, delay­ portation for the specimens. The In mid-August while camped near and inquiry which Professor P owell couraged. ing but not deterring them. They Powells left Denver on Nov. 6, but the summit of Berthoud Pass, Byers has undertaken is m ore interesting An amateur naturalist with an in­ promised a military escort from Ft. reached Pikes Peak July 26. The they would be returning within joined them. An outdoors enthusiast, and important than any which lies satiable thirst for scientific knowl­ Laramie to the Badlands of Dakota, next day eight of the 12 made the eight months. Byers had failed four years before before our men of science. The won­ edge, Powell in that spring of 1867 Powell's first choice for exploration. climb, including Mrs. Powell. A In Bloomington, Ill., the State in an attempt to climb Longs P eak der is they have neglected it for so engineered a $1,000 grant from the The professor and his party rode member of the party wrote home: Board of Education was delighted (14,256 feet). No one had ever long. Here are seen the central Illinois Legislature for the Illinois into Denver that July as a second with the results of the expedition, reached the top and he wanted to forces that formed the continent." "She has uniformly borne the praised Powell for "indomitable Natural History Society museum­ choice. When they had reached Ft. hardships of the trip with a courage make it. Powell accepted the chal- . As autumn came on, most of the and then accepted the $1,500-a-year McPherson, Neb., on their westward energy and rare skill," and prompt­ lenge. Sumner, complaining that he party from Illinois returned home. and fortitude far beyond that usual­ ly appropriated $600 toward another job as museum curator. This en­ journey, Gen. William Tecumseh ly attributed to her sex." hadn't "lost" any mountain, fol­ Powell, with his wife, Sumner and couraged him to plan a summer ex­ Sherman urged Powell to head for trip in 1868 . With more time to "pro­ lowed reluctantly. some volunteers, planned to remain (Mrs. Powell was listed as the pedition to the West, and he got the peaceful Colorado Rockies rath­ mote," Powell obtained additional On Aug. 23, 1868, finding a way up in Colorado through the winter and some of the grant money to do it. er than risk stirring up the Sioux in fo urth woman to reach the summit. aid from other Illinois universities, continue preparations for explora­ The first was Mrs. Julia Archibald on the E stes P ark side of the peak, He then visited Washington, D.C., the Dakotas. Backing Sherman's the Chicago Academy of Sciences, seven of the p arty reached the sum­ tions in 1869. He began searching for Holmes of Kansas on Aug. 5, 1858.) to tap his old commander, Gen. suggestion, ironically, was Gen. the Smithsonian Institution in Wash­ mit. Someone (not identified) for an appropriate winter camp near Ulysses S. Grant, then secretary of George Custer, who would "disturb" Powell led the party up the South ington, the government and the rail­ two days struggling up the slopes the Yampa River in northwestern war, for expedition aid. The future the Sioux with fatal results nine Platte River to the headwaters, roads. had carried a bottle of wine and it Colorado. president authorized him to draw years later at the Battle of the Lit­ scaled Lincoln Mountain, and then An enlarged (20) party arrived at was now o p en e d for celebr ation. He paused to explore the rugged, army rations for the proposed 12- tle Big Horn. returned to Denver by way of Cen­ Cheyenne in late June 1868, ob­ Two (not identified) of the seven Smithsonian lnsltltu1tlorl narrow Gore Range through which The one-armed explorer's contact with Ute Indians i n northwest- man summer party. Grant also It was a fortuitous second choice. tral City. They disbanded in early tained supplies from the Army ware- were teetotalers. the Colorado cuts, climbing one of ern Color ado during t he winter of 1868 Ze d to a massive study. 8 May 18, 1969 e EMPIRE MAGAZIN E The Denver Post • May 18, 1969 Longs Peak was just a step toward Powell's bigger goal Photography by GeoTge CTouteT POWELL continued its highest pinnacles (13,534 feet). tie of Shiloh near Pittsburg Landing, A Colorado volunteer, Oramel G. Tenn., on April 6, 1862, Confederate Howland, gave the peak a name, troops surprised Grant's force. Dur­ Powell's Mountain. Located on the ing the fight, a Minie ball smashed Grand-Summit County line some 100 into the right arm of Captain Powell miles west of Denver, the peak is and three days later the arm was listed on modern maps as Mt.