Certainly in the two-years, continuous work on the river and in the
adjacent country I had some opportunity to develop this desirable
quality. I shall never cease to feel grateful to him for the
confidence reposed in me. It gave me one of the unique experiences of
my life,--an experience which, on exactly the same lines, can never
be repeated within our borders. Now, these thirty years after, I
review that experience with satisfaction and pleasure, recalling,
with deep affection, the kind and generous companions of that wild
and memorable journey. No party of men thrown together, without
external contact for months at a time, could have been more
harmonious; and never once did any member of that party show the
white feather. I desire to acknowledge here, also, my indebtedness to
Prof. A. H. Thompson, Major Powell's associate in his second
expedition, for many kindnesses.

* I use the title Major for the reason that he was so widely known
for so long a period by it. He was a volunteer officer during the
Civil War, holding the rank of Colonel at the end. The title Major,
then, has no military significance in this connection.


When his report to Congress was published, Major Powell, perhaps for
the sake of dramatic unity, concluded to omit mention of the
personnel of the second expedition, awarding credit, for all that was
accomplished, to the men of his first wonderful voyage of 1869. And
these men surely deserved all that could be bestowed on them. They
had, under the Major's clear-sighted guidance and cool judgment,
performed one of the distinguished feats of history. They had faced
unknown dangers. They had determined that the forbidding torrent
could be mastered. But it has always seemed to me that the men of the