Few American explorers are better remembered than John Wesley Powell, the famous surveyor of the West.​

Mostly self-educated, he studied botany, geology, and zoology. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he enlisted and rose through the ranks to Major. He lost his right arm at the Battle of Shiloh.​

After the war, he served as Professor of Geology at Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois Normal Universities. In 1867, he explored the Rocky Mountains and provided information that laid the groundwork for irrigation and conservation projects. He explored the Green and Colorado River canyons for the Smithsonian Institution, including the enormous vastness of the Grand Canyon, a feat that brought him great renown. He extended his explorations to the Uinta Mountains and the High Plateaus of Utah. His studies of the hydrology of the arid regions, and the effects of stream erosion in concert with deformation on the shaping of the landscape contributed enormously to the geological community. He was first to classify American Indian languages and served as first director of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology.​

One of the original founders of the Geological Society of America, he personally helped influence Congress to establish the United States Geological Survey. He succeeded Clarence King in 1881 as its Director, and under his leadership the USGS became the major science-based government bureau.​

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