Viking Voices

It was 1869. Ten men in four boats were about to embark on a journey that would cover almost 1,000 miles through uncharted canyons, and change the west forever. They were led by John Wesley Powell, a professor who had lost his right arm as an officer during the Civil War. Three months later only seven of the original company plus their one -arm Civil War hero-leader would emerge from the depths of the Grand Canyon at the mouth of the Virgin River. Powell became a national celebrity, as famous in the United States as Neil Armstrong would become after walking on the moon – a feat that occurred, coincidentally, exactly a century later.