Powell, John Wesley

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Powell, John Wesley

John Wesley Powell (1834–1902), American geologist and anthropologist, was born in Mount Morris, New York. The son of a Methodist preacher who moved first to Ohio, then to Wisconsin, and then to Illinois, Powell received a casual education. Although he attended Oberlin and Wheaton colleges, he did not earn a degree. He taught in several common schools until the outbreak of the Civil War. He joined the Union army, serving more than three years in the artillery, and lost his right arm in the battle of Shiloh. Although promoted to colonel, Powell resigned as major and used this title the remainder of his life.

Following the war Powell taught at Illinois State Normal University, and during this period he organized student field trips to Colorado to study geology and biology. He led two expeditions, one in 1869 and one in 1871/1872, down the Colorado River. This spectacular feat of exploration was the turning point in Powell’s career. In traversing the plateau country, he recognized the intimate relation between the land, the climate, and the people who occupied the land. His study of th semiarid lands and of the adjustments made by the Indians and Mormons who lived there emphasized the essential character of the region: although the land is potentially irrigable, there is an insufficient supply of water. Powell believed that the aboriginal Indians and the Mormons had developed social institutions and practices to adapt themselves to their environment. Because these lands were part of the public domain, Powell called upon the federal government to start land-utilization projects. His Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States (1878) is considered one of the landmarks in conservation.

From 1871 to 1879, Powell headed one of the four federal geological and geographical surveys of land in the public domain. These were replaced in 1879 by the U.S. Geological Survey. The Bureau of Ethnology was organized at the same time, and Powell became its first director, a position he held until his death. As an anthropologist, Powell is best known for An Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages (1877), in which he attempted a linguistic classification and set forth an interesting grouping of words by use, emotion, and purpose.

Powell’s greatest reputation as a scientist resulted from his studies of land forms and erosion. He advanced many original ideas in geology but was content to see them pursued by others. He was strongly influenced by the writings of Darwin but believed that effective evolution does not apply to man, who by his intellect is able to divert or control it. He wrote passionately about the misuse of man’s capacity to control his own destiny.

In 1881 Powell became director of the Geological Survey, and he remained in this position until 1892. This was an extremely influential post at a time when Congress was moving rapidly into the regulatory field. Powell was successful in establishing, under the Geological Survey, an irrigation survey which was intended to initiate the construction of extensive irrigation works. Congress curtailed the activities of the Irrigation Survey in 1885, but Powell continued with the mapping of water resources, and he trained specialists who later, in 1902, staffed the Bureau of Reclamation.

Powell lobbied diligently for the creation of a federal department of science with Cabinet rank and for concepts remarkably similar to those incorporated eventually in the National Science Foundation. He believed that the federal government should be involved in the scientific and technological interests of the nation and patronize its institutions of research. He also believed in the social function of science and would not divorce it from the development of pure science. This was consistent with his belief that there is an inevitable and gradual process of concentration or centralization of authority and powers in all social institutions. He thought that in modern society there should be a continuing combination of similar institutions (“corporations”), whether they be governmental, industrial, religious, or scientific. Paradoxically, he believed in extreme individualism.

Late in life Powell assembled his diversified thoughts into a trilogy, only the first volume of which, Truth and Error (1898), was published. It contained a strange mixture of material and fared badly at the hands of reviewers, although it embodied many of Powell’s keen observations on man and evolution.

It is difficult to assess Powell’s influence. He was a man of action, a skillful organizer and administrator. Many regard him as one of the most successful of the government servants who have determined the role of government in science. His personal influence upon his associates, for example on Lester Ward and especially on those in the Geological Survey, was remarkable.

Many academic and professional honors were showered upon Powell, although he cared little for them. He died at his summer home at Haven, Maine, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

William C. Darrah

[Other relevant material may be found in Conservation; Indians, North American; Science, article Onscience-government relations.]

WORKS BY POWELL

(1875) 1964 Canyons of the Colorado. New York: Argosy Antiquarian ? First published as The Exploration of the Colorado River of the West.

(1877) 1880 An Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages. 2d ed. Washington: Government Printing Office.

(1878) 1962 U.S. Geographical and Geological SurVey of The Rocky Mountain RegionReport on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States, by John Wesley Powell. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press.

1898 Truth and Error. La Salle, III.: Open Court