Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West

Wallace E. Stegner

New York: Penguin, 1954; Pages: 438

Far from a mere biography of J.W.Powell, Stegner's books is a perceptive account of the peculiar problems of the settlement of the West at the end of the 19th century. It is about the mix of typically American individualism and uncritical acceptance of popular myths that all but devastated the misguided attempts to colonize the arid and subhumid regions west of the 100th meridian using techniques inappropriate for the conditions. This is a book about the prescience of one man, his long and ultimately lost political battles to put the national land policies on a scientific basis, and the enduring legacy of his prodigious abilities, organizational skills, and dedication to public service.

The first third of the book follows Powell's growing up and his first forays into surveying, as well as his two famous expeditions down the Green and Colorado rivers. The narrative has an adventurous flavor and is captivating as a story of half-planned, half-calculated-risk, and 100% optimistic plunge into the unknown that the little group of nine began on July 6, 1869. Only six came out on August 30, three slain by Shivwit Indians on account of tragic misunderstanding. The expedition (and the following authorized Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region in 1870-1) has left an indelible mark on the region. The peaks, canyons, buttes, rivers, and mountains named by Powell and his men still stand. The author also mentions some of Powell's enduring contributions to topography (symbols) and geology (theory of how canyons are formed) that he made himself or through his assistants.

The next half of the book details the painstaking work Powell performed heading his survey, and the newly created Bureau of Ethnography, where he devoted his enormous resources to studying and systematizing the scattered knowledge of the rapidly disappearing rich Indian cultures. Then the book delves into the world of Washington politics and describes Powell's expanding powers as head of the US Geological Survey, the Irrigation Survey, and other related bureaus. Stegner exuberantly details Powell's exemplary public service, his dedication to the work entrusted to him (sometimes unwittingly) by Congress. It was a fascinating drama that put Powell squarely against the atomic and chaotic colonizing of the West which doomed to failure just about every small homesteader, led to staggering dissipation of resources and energy, and created great inefficiencies in land speculation and monopolization of access to water resources. Powell's ideas were definitely ahead of his time (and would be for another 75 years) but he saw that the lands in the West were mostly unsuitable for agriculture and definitely unsuitable for colonizing by the traditional Jeffersonian 160-acre ideal farm. He foresaw the need for irrigation and the proper use of natural resources (rivers) for the national good---i.e. the most good for the largest number. It is curious that his ideas were not picked up by the Populists. In addition, his firm belief in the basic necessity of government involvement in the advance of science was unprecedented and proved correct by history. Although some may find this part of the book slow and even boring, it is neither, especially for the one interested in how this country propelled itself to the frontiers of human knowledge given its sometimes curious anti-intellectual biases.

There are 12 illustrations and 7 maps. Although the prose is somewhat turgid at places and is definitely dated by modern standards, it is still an engrossing read. One problem is the romanticized view of Powell. There is hardly a fault Steigner finds with the Major. There are enemies and fools aplenty, like Gilpin (an ever-present contrast to the rational, dedicated to facts Powell), Samuel Adams (another contrast of a bumbling fool), the interest-driven stupid senators from the West (like Stewart), the ambitious but mediocre Hayden (of the Hayden Survey, one of Powell's chief detractors for a while), and the petty hubris-eaten professor Edward Cope of Pennsylvania. The Major is represented as a hero swimming upstream against the muddled current of unenlightened and often malicious opposition. Although it may be true in many ways, such description detracts from the balanced view that a good biography or history should have. Almost certainly it was not entirely true. In addition, the last chapter of the book that lists Powell's final word in having his reclamation and reservation ideas put into practice half-century after his death may be exaggerated. In fact, hardly any document of the era mentions Powell at all. That is, the Major may have been prophetic, but it certainly was under Cassandra's curse. It took several disasters for people to learn what he had been saying all along.

Overall, this is a book definitely worth reading. Then go to Southern Utah's lake Powell and look at the map.

July 30, 2000. BLS

@BOOK{stegner-54:powell,
    TITLE     = {Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell
				 and the Second Opening of the West},
    AUTHOR    = {Wallace E. Stegner},
    YEAR      = {1954},
    PUBLISHER = {Penguin},
    ADDRESS   = {New York},
    ISBN      = {014-01-5994-0},
    NOTE      = {Pp. 438 (1992 reprint)}
}