CHAPTER VIII.
The One-armed Knight--A Bold Attack on the Canyons--Powell and His Men--The Wonderful Voyage--Mighty Walls and Roaring Rapids--Capsizes and Catastrophes.
When the Civil War was finally over, the wilds of the Far West again called in seductive voice to the adventurous and the scientific.

The fur-trade as an absorbing industry was dead, but mining, prospecting, ranching, and scientific exploring took its place.

Among the naturalists who crossed the Rocky Mountains for purposes of investigation, fascinated by the broad, inviting field, was a one-armed soldier, a former officer of volunteers in the Union Army.

His right forearm had remained on the battlefield of Shiloh, but when a strong head is on the shoulders a missing arm makes little difference, and so it was with Major Powell.

In the summer of 1867, when he was examining Middle Park, Colorado, with a small party, he happened to explore a moderate canyon on Grand River just below what was known as Middle Park Hot Springs, and became enthused with a desire to fathom the Great Mystery.