Powell, JOHN WESLEY

Powell, JOHN WESLEY, geologist, was born at Mount Morris, New York, 24th March 1834, and became major in the civil war. He was afterwards professor of Geology in Illinois; in 1868 explored the cañon of the Colorado; in 1879 he was made director of the new Bureau of Ethnology; and in 1881 he was appointed also director of the United States Geological Survey. His works include Exploration of the Colorado River (1875), The Arid Region of the United States (1879), and Contributions to North American Ethnology.