The American Indians repeatedly warned John Wesley Powell against his first trip through the Grand Canyon. The canyon once contained a trail made by the god Tavwoats for a mourning chief to go to see his wife in a heaven to the West. Then the god filled up the trail with a river and forbade anyone to go there. Powell would draw Tavwoats' wrath. 2 But Powell saw the canyon geologically. He too experienced awe, but of the erosional forces of time and the river flowing. He went on to direct the US Geological Survey, and, interestingly, to head the US.
