POWELL, John Wesley, American geol ogist: b. Mount Morris, N. Y., 24 March 1834; d. Haven, Maine, 23 Sept. 1902. He was edu cated at Illinois and Wheaton colleges, studied also at Oberlin and made researches in natural history and geology. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted as a private in the 20th Illinois volunteers. As a result of a severe wound, suffered in the battle of Shiloh, he lost his right arm. At the expiration of his term of service in the spring of 1865 he returned to civil life, after having been promoted to the rank of major. In 1865 he was appointed pro fessor of geology and curator of the museum at Illinois Wesleyan University at Blooming ton, and in 1867 lecturer and curator at the State Normal University. He conducted in 1868 a perilous exploration of the grand canyon of the Colorado, and in 1870 took charge of the newly established geological and topographical survey of the Colorado River of the West. By this survey nearly 100,000 miles of the Colorado Valley were carefully explored. The work was subsequently transferred to the Interior Depart ment. By 1874 there were four surveys in the field, and thiS led in 1879 to the establishment of the organization known as the United States Geological Survey, in the formation of which Powell was largely instrumental. From 1881 to 1894 he was director of the survey. He also
made a particular study of American ethnology and obtained the organization of the Bureau of Ethnology, of which he was the director until his death and which he trained to a high plane of scientific efficiency. His studies of the In dians are deemed of great value. As adminis trator of the survey, which included also eco nomic geology, geography and pakeontology, he was very successful. Later in his life he de voted considerable attention to philosophy and psychology. He secured valuable legislation in connection with the land laws affecting the de velopment of the arid West. In May 1918 a memorial in form of a stone altar supporting-a bronze tablet engraved with a brief account of Powell's expedition to the Grand. Canyon of Colorado was erected on the brink of the Grand Canyon in commemoration of the ex plorations accomplished by the expedition. Among his writings are of the Colorado River> (1875) ; 'Report on the Ge ology of the Uinta Mountains> (1876) ; (Intrd duction to the Study of Indian Languages' (1877) ; 'Studies in Sociology' (1887); (Indian Linguistic Families of America, North of Mex ico> 1891) ; 'Canyons of the Colorado' (1895) ; 'Truth and Error; or the Science of Intellec tion> (1898) ; and 'First Through the Grand Canyon> (1915).