Exploring Desert Stone: John N. Macomb's 1859 Expedition to the Canyonlands of the Colorado

by Steven K. Madsen

The confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers, now in Canyonlands National Park, near popular tourist destination Moab, still cannot be reached or viewed easily. Much of the surrounding region remained remote and rarely visited for decades after settlement of other parts of the West. The first U.S. government expedition to explore the canyon country and the Four Corners area was led by John Macomb of the army's topographical engineers.

The soldiers and scientists followed in part the Old Spanish Trail, whose location they documented and verified. Seeking to find the confluence of the Colorado and the Green and looking for alternative routes into Utah, which was of particular interest in the wake of the Utah War, they produced a substantial documentary record, most of which is published for the first time in this volume. Theirs is also the first detailed map of the region, and it is published in Exploring Desert Stone , as well.

Genres: History, Science, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[LAB · Rating 4 out of 5]

After several months of preparation Army Capt John Macomb, civilian engineers and staff, and an Army escort left New Mexico on an expedition to the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. Exploring Desert Stone (Utah State University, 2010) is the factual story of Macomb's journey, formally called the San Juan Expedition. Author and historian Steven Madsen put many hours of research into this book, hiked parts of the company's trail in Utah, and traveled to other states to make first-hand use of the journals, letters, and notes from the expedition.

Told principally in the words of the cartographers and scientists, the book reads well and illustrates the difficult logistics of travel across the southwestern landscape. The first part of the book narrates the exploration and travel, while the second half publishes for the first time the long forgotten letters and diaries of the major players in this engaging account. Tucked into a pocket at the back of the book is a reprint of the expedition map, compiled by Frederick von Egloffstein in 1864 using a novel (for the time) illustrative technique to highlight the topography of the area. Good read!

[Dominic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Exploring Desert Stone is a book detailing the 1859 Expedition throughout the previously unexplored lands of the Four Corners states. Madsen takes the diaries and field notes of explorers Newcomb and Dimmock, among others, and more or less just restates what they said. There is no analysis of the expidition and very little in the way of the importance of the journey. Madsen states that there are only two major goals, to travel the route and to map the journey. He doesn't show the historical importance in detail. The book does contain over a hundred pages of primary sources and original drawings of the Canyonlands. The 116 pages of original text by Madsen is brief in its description of the journey. Half of this text is interrupted by pictures. A lot more can be done with this topic. Other than the route, the explorers themselves can be discussed in more detail.