POWELL SYNOPSIS

JOHN WESLEY POWELL — Confessions, Secrets & Revelations From Beyond the Grave relates the story of one of the most extraordinary expeditions in the American West during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The basis of the narrative relates the legacy of the Civil War hero, Major John Wesley Powell, whose 1869 Green and Colorado River expedition was the first quasi-scientific expedition that surveyed the canyon country from Green River, Wyoming to present-day Lake Mead. Although this narrative has been told by many authors over many years, Powell – Confessions relates the account as a historical play and performance, featuring four performers on a stage. These actors, including the major, compare the Major’s embellished published version of the ordeal with two crew members, Jack Sumner and George Bradley. Sumner was a backup diarist, in case the Major’s diaries were lost on the expedition. Bradley, however, later became known as the secret diarist, in that none of the crew even knew he kept such an account. (Remarkably, until 1947 no one knew about Bradley’s secret diary, which was also the longer and most revealing of the three diarists.) The fourth presenter on the stage who serves as a surrogate chorus is a celebrated Grand Canyon pioneer and former prospector, William (Billy) Bass. 

The reason these performers are assembled on the stage centers on notorious flaws in the Major’s published chronicles, the first which appeared in 1875. As to this shocking accusation, he telescoped two different river expeditions. It follows there was a second expedition two years later. It was also the longer of the two, and the science was more thorough and accurate. While the diarists, along with Bass, reveal the veracity of what happened on the nearly one-thousand-mile 1869 odyssey, relevant historical background encompassing the Powell saga will be discussed by Bass because these musings provide ancillary information to the audience that explains vital details, otherwise not mentioned in the diaries as read by the three performers.

The aim of Powell –– Confessions is to re-examine aspects about a stupendous exploration coup that was pulled off by a remarkable man whose former unsullied character was ultimately stained by relating details he either omitted or added for obscure reasons. Let it also be stated how the historical significance of the Major’s partially misleading memoirs he published (and later, republished) tended to side only with his version of the story while dismissing or altogether downplaying some of the compelling remarks the two diarists noted in their respective journals. The post-expedition interviews with two of the crewmen were also casually dismissed by the Major as mere complaints without substance. 

In this faux play presentation, the substance of Powell-Confessions will give each performer a chance to tell his version of what happened. To put it another way, what the Major wrote, and compared to the two diarists, is a florid account while Sumner’s perspective is straightforward. As for Bradley, he describes the psychological aspects of the men, which the Major simply did not want to mention such intrigue in his account. Toward the end of the 1869 expedition, his command was also compromised when three of the oarsmen made a fateful decision to leave the expedition, by walking out of canyon, and, therefore, what some consider was tantamount to abandoning their posts, and worse, quitting the Major’s command. Thus, AWOL and something no commander expect from his men. These three oarsmen were also never seen again.

Because plays are a popular forum for audiences to enjoy, the format and style of Powell –– Confessions is the first of its kind to be presented in this fashion. The historical import, as writings and testimonials, has been meticulously researched, depicting every aspect of Major Powell’s intriguing background and the frontier spirit he embodied. The four critical elements of this comprehensive text, therefore, make better sense of what happened throughout both exceptions; that is, the major's version compared and contrasted with the perspective of the Sumner and Bradley, especially the latter; also, Frederick Dellenbaugh's published account of the second expedition. As the youngest crew member, Dellenbaugh proved himself as not only an outstanding member of the 1871-72 expedition, but also a talented author who later published two credible books about that expedition intended to reprise the first expedition’s scientific findings, but also collect more cartographical data. Ergo, Dellenbaugh’s writings about what happened confirm a previously flawed or misleading version as told solely by the Major’s published accounts. Consequently, missing or fabricated details that Dellenbaugh presented to his readers had revealed there were two expeditions all along while the Major’s account made it seem there was one longer expedition that began in 1869 and ended in 1872. Moreover, his embellished account never mentioned any of the oarsmen who rowed with him in the 1871-72 expedition.  

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