Sam Adams (explorer)
Encyclopedia
Sam Adams who periodically referred to himself as "Captain", was an early explorer of the American west. His survey of the Colorado River, conducted simultaneously to John Wesley Powell
's more extensive survey. He struggled for over ten years to impose his view of the Colorado River - that it was a mineral paradise shot through with veins of gold and silver - but ultimately failed. In 1878, Senator Francis Cockrell
rejected a resolution that would have compensated Adams for his spontaneous work.
Adams' survey, while wildly off the mark and generally recognized as unscientific, was a notable moment in the exploration of the West. In the words of Powell biographer Wallace Stegner
, it was a "symptom. In his resistance to fact and logic he had many allies who were neither so foolish in their folly nor so witless in their rascality as he, but whose justification and platform was the same incorrigible insistence upon a West that did not exist."
John Wesley Powell
John Wesley Powell was a U.S. soldier, geologist, explorer of the American West, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions...
's more extensive survey. He struggled for over ten years to impose his view of the Colorado River - that it was a mineral paradise shot through with veins of gold and silver - but ultimately failed. In 1878, Senator Francis Cockrell
Francis Cockrell
Francis Marion Cockrell was a Confederate military commander and American politician from the state of Missouri. He served as a United States Senator from Missouri for five terms. He was a prominent member of the famed South–Cockrell–Hargis family of Southern politicians.-Early life:Cockrell was...
rejected a resolution that would have compensated Adams for his spontaneous work.
Adams' survey, while wildly off the mark and generally recognized as unscientific, was a notable moment in the exploration of the West. In the words of Powell biographer Wallace Stegner
Wallace Stegner
Wallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, often called "The Dean of Western Writers"...
, it was a "symptom. In his resistance to fact and logic he had many allies who were neither so foolish in their folly nor so witless in their rascality as he, but whose justification and platform was the same incorrigible insistence upon a West that did not exist."