John Wesley Powell was an American explorer, anthropologist, geologist and a soldier. He is known for his river trip through the Green River and the Colorado River covering the Grand Canyon – a three month expedition known as the ‘Powell Geographic Expedition’. He dedicated his life in exploring and preserving natural resources of the American West including human, scientific, economic and scenic resources. He served the ‘Union Army’ as captain and was later promoted as a major. His contributions as an administrator and supporter of conservation and meticulous planning of the use of arid western lands were significant. He also taught as a professor at the ‘Illinois Wesleyan University’. He held directorship in leading cultural and scientific institutes. At the ‘U.S. Geological Survey’ he served as the second director. He was appointed by the ‘Smithsonian Institution’ as the first director of the ‘U.S. Bureau of Ethnology’. A lake at the back of the ‘Glen Canyon Dam’ which formed on the river Colorado was named ‘Lake Powell’ after him. A mountain in the ‘Kings Canyon National Park’ situated in California was named as ‘Powell Mountain’ in his honour.
