Across The Fence: Deserters or outcasts: Three who left (Part II)

On May 24, 1869, Maj. John Wesley Powell – along with nine other adventurous men – launched four specially designed boats into the waters of the Green River and began a four-month long expedition into the unexplored Grand Canyon.

Sixteen days into the journey, the most serious mishap of the entire expedition occurred. Oramel Howland – piloting one of the four boats, "No Name" – missed Powell's command to go ashore and was caught up in a series of violent rapids that resulted in the destruction of the craft and the loss of one third of the expeditions supplies.

Naturally the disaster...