Sketch of the Mythology of the North American Indians

John Wesley Powell was a U.S. soldier, geologist, explorer of the American West, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions.

He is famous for the 1869 Powell Geographic Expedition, a three-month river trip down the Green and Colorado rivers that included the first passage of European Americans through the Grand Canyon.


Sketch of the Mythology of the North American Indians by John Wesley Powell is about the various myths in Native American culture.


Excerpt: "The wonders of the course of nature have ever challenged attention. In savagery, barbarism, and civilization alike, the mind of man has sought the explanation of things. The movements of the heavenly bodies, the change of seasons, the succession of night and day, the powers of the air, majestic mountains, ever-flowing rivers, perennial springs, the flight of birds, the gliding of serpents, the growth of trees, the blooming of flowers, the forms of storm-carved rocks, the mysteries of life and death, the institutions of society-many are the things to be explained."