Let’s Go - A John Wesley Powell Story

05/05/2026

Act 1 Scene 1, depicts this very moment in time for Powell and our Country’s future water crisis.

In 1883, geologist John Wesley Powell was on stage at a western Irrigation Conference when he declared: “Gentlemen, you are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights, for there is not sufficient water to supply the land.” JWP advocated for understanding water resources as a basis for development based on watershed boundaries instead of simplistic grid systems.

1890 map by John Wesley Powell

03/25/2026

John Wesley Powell was born on this day in 1834. Powell was a Civil War veteran, geologist, and famous explorer. He also only had one arm, losing it in the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. In 1869, he was the first to conduct a scientific expedition down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. He was a pioneer of western watershed-based land planning and was the second director of the United States Geological Survey. He led several geological and ethnological explorations of Utah and Arizona, publishing books on Native languages, among other works. He was later appointed as the first Director of the United States Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian. He is widely regarded as one of the leading scientists of his age.

Interested in learning more? Stop by our museum store!

03/25/2026

Happy 192nd Birthday!

03/21/2026

1776, 93 years before the first Powell expedition, the Domínguez-Escalante expedition explored the Uinta Basin. While the colonies along the Atlantic were in the throes of independence, Spain was working on mapping its northern holdings, contemporaneous with established territories and disputes between native tribes

03/10/2026

01/12/2026

David Gale and Aaron Wood were not really John Powell. They just imagined it and acted that way every night.

Fascinating stuff.

12/23/2025

Should we listen to Powell now?

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/visionary-john-wesley-powell-had-plan-developing-west-nobody-listened-180969182/

The current rules that divvy up water from the Colorado River among 40 million people in seven states expire next year.

By October, Lake Powell could drop to the point where its hydroelectric plant could no longer produce power, risking the flow of water to states such as Arizona and California. https://wapo.st/4qs0w9L

08/11/2025

Where it all begins (the Green River, that is). The Green River begins in the Wind River Range, WY and continues to the Gulf of California. Truly one of the most spectacular rivers in North America.

08/03/2025

Tiana, the official mascot of Let’s Go, approves of spending the day at Little Hole.

06/28/2025

New views of Desolation Canyon. The Green River is a comfort.