John Wesley Powell & The Colorado River Exploring Expedition.

It was an unlikely bunch of explorers. The leader was a small, bookish, one-armed geology professor. The crew consisted of an emotionally disturbed Civil War veteran, an Englishman whose knowledge of the west came from dime novels, and a group of free-spirited westerners who didn't take kindly to orders.

Their goal was to explore a river that flowed through hundreds of miles of inaccessible canyons and was surrounded by an inhospitable desert. A maelstrom of churning water, huge waves, jagged rocks and treacherous whirlpools, the Colorado was America's last unexplored river. Few believed John Wesley Powell and his men would change that.

In May, 1869, ten men boarded four row boats in Green River City, Wyoming. Three months and a thousand miles later, only two battered boats and six exhausted and starving men emerged from the depths of the Grand Canyon. Against all odds and expectations, the Colorado River Exploring Expedition had succeeded, but at a price.




THE READ-ALONG™ MAP
For both the explorer and the reader, the key element of any voyage of discovery is the map. While the explorer can have the map in front of him, the reader usually cannot. There's nothing more frustrating than having to flip back to read a map in the middle of reading a story. For this book, Mikaya Press has designed a Read-Along™ Map. This gatefold page makes it possible to read about an explorer's travels, and follow them on a map at the same time.

Reviews
"It was a wild ride–rowboats smashing, Powell dangling from a canyon wall by a rescuers long underwear, brutal conditions, resentment of the leader, disappearing men–and this book does it justice..."

School Library Journal

"...handsome full- and double-page paintings, ranging from stately landscapes of canyons to scenes of danger and rescue. Rich in color, strong in composition, and beautifully executed..."

Booklist