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

On my top 10 of 10,000. No one can claim sufficient understanding of the expansion of the West in the late 19th & early 20th centuries without having read this. Stegner is a beautiful writer and you'll love this book. John Wesley Powell not only led the historic Explorations of the Grand, Green and Colorado Rivers and their Canyons, explored the blank areas of the western US, but founded the US Geological Survey & Bureau of Ethnicity. He also was a cofounder and inaugural attendee of ver [...]

This book is not an easy read. It was written in the 1950s and is a scholarly work. That said it is not difficult to read, just slow if you want to think about what is packed into this book.John Wesley Powell gained fame as the first man to run the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. He was so much more than that. His career spanned the late 1860s when he mapped the Colorado region to 1894 when some Senators finally pushed him out of his work with the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Irri [...]

So far I've read two Wallace Stegner novels and this, and this book about geography, cartography, ethnology, and American politics is by far the best of the three. I discovered my surprising weakness for geology writing after reading Basin and Range during my student days, and still regret feverishly selling it in order to buy ramen noodles.John Wesley Powell emerged one-armed from the Civil War (serving under Grant) and gathered up a motley crew in order to traverse the Colorado River. It had b [...]

At times as dry as the land it discusses this book is more a biography of John Wesley Powell, or perhaps hagiography. Powell was the one armed amateur scientist who quickly morphed into a selfless, skilled bureaucrat whose vision for the American West was denied by Congress and the settlers of the West. The first part of the book concentrates on Powell's expeditions and the latter part on his work in DC managing numerous surveys and agencies. Surprisingly the second part is very instructive and [...]

If I didn't appreciate Wallace Stegner so much I wouldn't have bought the book, and I probably wouldn't have finished it either. Stengner is an awesome writer. When describing Powell's intellect, Stegner writes, "He learned from every book, acquanintance, experience; facts stuck in his mind , and not like stray flies on fly-paper but like orderly iron filings around magnetic poles." That kind of writing made the description of Powell's expedition down the Colorado River a quick read. That kind o [...]

Essential reading for people who, like me, who feel at home in the American West. Masterfully written--it's Stegner, after all--it includes important reminders about water in the West, especially as it becomes more scarce. It also argues convincingly that this "second opening" of the West required collective action--I could say "socialism" if I wanted to be provocative--on a scale that had never been seen before in the U.S. Those are the big federal water projects, without which we could not hav [...]

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian deserves its iconic status; it is a work of both scholarship and poetry. It relates the life of a unique, talented, and farsighted man; it also portrays that man's attempt to save the Western United States from its worst myths and preconceptions about itself. One can come away saddened that then, as now, facts and science can be ignored by selfish, greedy, narrow interests. However, one can also be heartened by the way in which finally, reality tends to vindicate th [...]

The high desert, red rock canyon country of south-east Utah was the last part of the contiguous United States to be mapped, and with good reason. That country is harsh, blistering, and difficult to navigate by foot, horse, boat, or, frankly, jeep. Powell is the first (white) explorer to attempt this country and try to map the rivers and mountains and plateaus. This book is that history and follows Powell's political career for several decades as he tries to convince Congress and the public so ho [...]

I listened to this on audiobook (Blackstone audio), which I highly recommend. Since I grew up on a street named for Powell, I can hardly afford NOT to read this book. The narrative of the trip down the Colorado was dramatic, especially compared to the descriptions of failed attempts by contemporaries. I was amazed that they traveled all the way down the river with only flour, dried apples, bacon and a few other supplies for food. They were obviously better foragers than people are today. Well an [...]

At few weeks ago, I was feeling blah. But then I saw a Facebook friend's pictures of his hiking in Colorado. I remembered that I had this Wallace Stegner book Beyond the Hundredth Meridian on my to read list and plunged in to the Colorado River with John Wesley Powell and crew. However, this book is about so much more than his trips into undiscovered country. It discusses all the political wrangling in DC to get funding for these expeditions. Powell is also like Muir one of the first to realize [...]

a lot of inside baseball. you have to be very interested in water law in the west to be fully engaged here. this is not the novelist stegner.

This is an extended review of this fine, and classic, book on the American West.On the Fourth of July, 1868, Colorado Territorial Governor and veteran westerner William Gilpin addressed a gathering in Denver. In his address he painted a picture of the American West as bright as the hot sun that shone down on his listeners that day. For Gilpin, the West was a place of unlimited possibility and inexhaustible natural resources. The lands beyond the 100th meridian were not “The Great American Dese [...]

This is a masterful work of biography, "the history not of a personality but of a career," as Stegner writes in his introductory note. As such, not only does Stegner follow John Wesley Powell down the frightful canyons of the Colorado River and into the even more fearsome halls of the national capital, but the author dwells on Powell's companions and antagonists, his allies and his would-be emulators. He devotes long admiring passages to Powell's associates Capt. Clarence Dutton and Grove Karl G [...]

BEYOND THE HUNDRETH MERIDIAN: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West. (1954). Wallace Stegner. ****.This has been on my must read list for a long time, and I’ve finally gotten around to it. Stegner was one of our best writers, in general, and especially so when he was writing about the West. In addition to his great reserves of knowledge, he also was a rabid preservationist – a fact which is obvious in this work. John Wesley Powell was an ethnologist and geologist who explored [...]

I didn't end up listening to the entire book. It is actually super long. For book club we were asked to read up through Powell's first expedition down the Green River into what is now The Grand Canyon. I actually went a little bit further but with the exception of the first expedition, the book was a bit too dry for me. The book certainly was exciting as the expedition was on the river. The group had so many different types of experiences on the trip, some seemed unbelievable. It was really inte [...]

An awesome book! This book in nominally a biography of Major John Wesley Powell, one of the more influential men in the exploring and settling of the western US in the mid-1800's. However, it doesn't focus too much on dates or other trivial material, but rather gives a broad picture of the western and national issues of the day. Powell gains notoriety by being the first man to explore many of the canyons of Utah and Arizona, including the Grand Canyon. He then works his way up through the federa [...]

The story line is excellent as far as the part of the beginning trip on the Colorado River and beyond. An adventure for all time---to be the first to be challenged by this part of the west. However--it gets bogged down in the politics of the time and I skipped a lot of that part of the book. But loved the adventure of these 9 men on a river for 2 months in the late 1800's, with challenging rapids, and their unwieldy boats and equipment!! If you read this book you might also get a copy of "It Mus [...]

Very interesting account of John Wesley Powell's discoveries through the great Mountain West. Justin and I became interested in learning more about him when we visited the Grand Canyon last month, and this book is quenching my thirst. The day to day account of Powell and his team rafting through the Grand Canyon is amazing. Cool to hear mention of Powell interacting with Brigham Young and Jacob Hamblin (as in THEE Jacob Lake). It's a bit factual in the beginning, but starts flowing better.

RICH book and a slow read for me. (Perhaps that had something to do with reading it in the summertime with rivers and mountains and kids in swimming suites constantly beckoning to me.) I found this tricky to rate because if it wasn't so slow, maybe exposing a little more of the personal character--the more controversial sides of Powell instead of giving him the pedestal and hero worship that Stegner does, then I would have rated it higher (and I could've used just a tiny bit of romance somewhere [...]

A Colossal Waste of Time: "Boring" Would Be A ComplimentMr. Stegnor should have stuck to his wonderful fiction. Despite all the desperate situations the Colorado River crew lead by Powell faced, Stegnor's prose is flat and has a "ho hum, ODTAA (one darn thing after another), here-we-go-again-our-lives-are threatened" quality about it. As terrifying as drowning, or falling from a cliff to one's death is, the reader is barely moved the first time it happens. The simple fact of its repetition oddly [...]

I read the book while listening to an audio edition.I was born and raised in the SF Bay area, (San Mateo,Ca. 1947). On my mother's father's side, my ancestors came to SF in 1846, from England, to sell arms to Mexico. My dad migrated from Arkansas in the late 30's from a very rural area. So I am vested in the West. This book has so much history and educational information that it could be used as an expanded text for an undergrad degree about the West hundreds if not thousands of years ago to und [...]

Quotable:Among librarians I have yet to find a surly or unhelpful individual: I think librarians will inherit the earth. He [Powell] was an ex-officer, and the habit of command stuck with him, but he was also a learner, and one of the growing few ready to grant the right of the Indian to his own habits and attitudes. In All his work in the West from that winter on, he never went armed, and he never had trouble, and this in years and in regions where other scientific expeditions would hardly vent [...]

I feel kind of bad giving this book only 2 stars - it is obviously, painstakingly researched and presents a detailed accounting Powell's exploration of the West and political struggles in Washington (as promised). For me, it was just way too much information. I probably would not have finished the book, but I listened to it on audio so I was doing other things while listening.I did find it interesting that Powell was strongly against turning the prairies into homesteaded-farms and that he basica [...]

Heroic endeavors in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and Oregon. Early in these discoveries, the exploration carries with it an incredible need to sustain and protect these lands. Many other books have continued that concern; we live in such a beautiful and varied country. We should heed the advice of these early pioneers and explorers. Teddy Roosevelt had it right when he created all those national parks. John Wesley Powell must have grown in regard as he was able to be the first traveler. A promise ne [...]

If you want to learn the professional history of John Wesley Powell, the day-to-day bureaucratic struggles he incurred, the prescient prophecies of the great man -- this book is for you. But if you're looking for the loving lush prose of Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety Wallace Stegner, stick with the man's classic fiction. Nor will this book satisfy the geologic itch satisfied by the best works of John McPhee. This book is a labor of love, Stegner's valentine to a worthy man, but it is no [...]

I’m glad all the historians, geologists, ethnologists, etc. loved this book. Having come to it as a fan of Stegner’s fiction, I found it a little too dry, and I might as well admit it, boring for my taste. I enjoyed some of the adventures of the rank amateurs who set out to explore America’s great West. And I liked the first photos and paintings of the Grand Canyon, too large and cavernous to take in. But I could not bring myself to finish it.

I found this somewhat disappointing. Stegner makes clear he is not writing about a personality, but about a career. The first third of the book is fairly interesting as it describes how Powell explored the Grand Canyon. But the rest of the book, about Powell's career in the USGS and his crusade for a more realistic approach to settling the west, is pretty dreary, full of bureaucratic infighting.

John Wesley Powell is a hero. To understand what the world now calls the Western United States, people should take a peak at the history of what it is. This book is marvelous. Stegner writes well and this story is epic. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more of the west and the fantastic history of the old west.

I'd never more than heard his name before reading this -- I learned about his trip down the Colorado. I also learned about a civilservant that most could admire for his purpose; a politician who would fight on the side of the people. He was human, too. Recommended read that you can learn a lot from without being beaten with someone's agenda.

Outstanding biography of John Wesley Powell by a major voice in American Literature. This is the type of in-depth historical analysis that is critical for all Americans to know in order to interpret our current, seemingly ill, culture and forge a better path for the future.