Drawing on rarely examined diaries and journals, Down the Great Unknown is the first book to tell the full, dramatic story of the Powell expedition. On May 24, 1869 a one-armed Civil War veteran, John Wesley Powell and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West. The Grand Canyon, not explored before, was as mysterious as Atlantis — and as perilous. The ten men set out from Green River Station, Wyoming Territory down the Colorado in four wooden rowboats. Ninety-nine days later, six half-starved wretches came ashore near Callville, Arizona. Lewis and Clark opened the West in 1803, six decades later Powell and his scruffy band aimed to resolve the West’s last mystery. A brilliant narrative, a thrilling journey, a cast of memorable heroes — all these mark Down the Great Unknown , the true story of the last epic adventure on American soil. “...as dramatic as the adversities Conan Doyle dreamed up for Professor Challenger in The Lost World....Dolnick keeps his narrative flowing like a strong current, pioneering in prose with much of one-armed Powell’s own self-confidence.” - -- The Times (London) “Written with style and firsthand knowledge, Down the Great Unknown is terrifically readable. It flows steadily and relentlessly, like the great river itself, and will likely prove to be a lasting and worthy account of Powell’s great adventure.” - Bloomsbury Review “[Down the Great Unknown] skillfully integrates the notes and journals of expedition members with technical insight about the perils of rolling whitewater....The expedition’s embodiment of adventure and courage gives it a timelessness that Dolnick positively reinforces with well-detailed characterizations of the expedition members and their motivations and dissensions.” - Booklist 0n May 24, 1869, a one-armed Civil War veteran named John Wesley Powell and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West. No one had ever explored the fabled Grand Canyon; to adventurers of that era it was a region almost as mysterious as Atlantis -- and as perilous. The ten men set out down the mighty Colorado River in wooden rowboats. Six survived. Drawing on rarely examined diaries and journals, Down the Great Unknown is the first book to tell the full, true story. Edward Dolnick is the author of Down the Great Unknown , The Forger’s Spell , and the Edgar Award-winning The Rescue Artist . A former chief science writer at the Boston Globe , he lives with his wife near Washington, D.C. Down the Great Unknown John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon By Dolnick, Edward Perennial Copyright © 2004 Edward Dolnick All right reserved. ISBN: 0060955864 Chapter One The Challenge Noon, May 24, 1869 The few inhabitants of Green River Station, Wyoming Territory, gather at the river front to cheer off a rowdy bunch of adventurers. Ten hardy men in four wooden boats had spent the morning checking their gear and their provisions one last time -- bacon, flour, coffee, spare oars, sextants and barometers (their leader, the skinny, one-armed man in the Emma Dean, fancied himself ascientist). Their plan could hardly be simpler. They will follow the Green River downstream until it merges with the Grand to become the Colorado, and then they will stay with the Colorado wherever it takes them. They intend in particular to run the river through the fabled chasm variously called Big Canyon or Great Canyon or Grand Canyon, a region scarcely better known than Atlantis. No one has ever done it. The men hope to make their fortunes; their leader plans to emblazon his name across the heavens. They are brave, they have new boats and supplies to last ten months, they are at home in the outdoors. Most important, they are ready to risk their lives. At one o'clock, the Emma Dean, the Kitty Clyde's Sister, the Maid of the Cañon, and the No Name push themselves out into the current. A small American flag mounted on the Emma Dean flaps proudly in the breeze. Most of the crew are still a bit bleary-eyed. As a farewell to civilization, they have done their best to drink Green River Station's only saloon dry. Now they are suffering what one of them describes as "foggy ideas and snarly hair." The small crowd gives a cheer, the leader doffs his hat, and the four boats disappear around the river's first bend. John Wesley Powell, the trip leader, was a Civil War veteran who had lost his right arm at Shiloh. Thirty-five years old and unknown, Powell was a tenderfoot who barely knew the West, a geology professor at a no-name college, an amateur explorer with so little clout that he had ended up reaching into his own (nearly empty) pocket to finance this makeshift expedition. His appearance was as unimpressive as his résumé -- at 5 feet, 6 1/2 inches and 120 pounds, he was small and scrawny even by the standards of the age, a stick of beef jerky