inemls, Lands, and Geology 

>r the Common Defence 

nd Gtnetiat Welfare

Volume 1, 

Before 1879

UNITED STATES 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Minerals, Lands, and Geology 

for the Common Defence 

and General Welfare, 

Volume 1, Before 1879

Page 18 of the Conference Report on HR 6471 of the 45th Congress, 3d 

session. When accepted by the House and Senate and approved by the 

President, it became the Organic Act of the United States Geological 

Survey.

See page x for identification of portraits.
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lie lands or mineral wealth of the region wife @M 

liliil sliall execute up sdryep Or eiraKiinatlcms tor pr 

parjleg or corporations; and the Geological an<l Oeo^rap 

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Minerals, Lands, and Geology 

for the Common Defence 

and General Welfare,

Volume 1, Before 187 9

By Mary C. Rabbitt

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

A History of Public Lands, Federal Science and 

Mapping Policy, and Development of Mineral 

Resources in the United States

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1979
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

H. William Menard, Director

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, 

U.S. Government Printing Office, 

Washington, B.C. 20402 

Stock Number 024-001-03151-5

Library of Congress catalog-card No. 76 50402
Foreword

T

he U.S. Geological Survey, established by an act of Congress in 1879 

to be responsible for the "classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the 

national domain," is about to enter its centennial year. As an organization that 

has contributed to the development of the United States and an understanding 

of the Nation's natural resources, it is appropriate that its history be set forth 

for the record. For that task, we chose, not an historian but one who has been 

for many years a member of the Survey staff and who has a knowledge of both 

science and of the internal workings of the organization Mrs. Mary C. 

Rabbitt.

Mrs. Rabbitt has chosen to relate the Survey's development and activities 

in the broader context of United States history and the role of geology and 

allied sciences therein. That decision rests as much on geology as on history. In 

1830, Charles Lyell pointed out that "Geology is the science which investigates 

the successive changes that have taken place in the organic and inorganic 

kingdoms of nature; it enquires into the causes of these changes, and the influence which they have exerted in modifying the surface and external structure 

of our planet. By these researches into the state of the earth and its inhabitants 

at former periods, we acquire a more perfect knowledge of its present condition, and more comprehensive views concerning the laws now governing its 

animate and inanimate productions. When we study history, we obtain a more 

profound insight into human nature, by instituting a comparison between the 

present and former states of society." S. F. Emmons, one of the great economic 

geologists during the early years of the Survey, whose contribution to the 

development of economic geology has been likened to that of Lyell in general 

geology, insisted that mineral deposits could only be understood in terms of 

overall geologic structure.

This volume, the first of a four-volume study, is concerned with events in 

the United States before the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, during the years in which geology evolved as a science and began to influence 

economic development and national policy. Subsequent volumes continue the 

story but focus on the Survey and its role in the events and developments of 

later years. The method of analysis demonstrates that knowledge of the Earth 

and its history, processes, and resources has provided a basis for intelligent 

economic development; also that geologists very soon realized that uncontrolled development of the land and other natural resources could not continue, that some limitations must be made on man's use of the Earth. The 

Geological Survey was established when public awareness of the need for 

balance between development and conservation of our resources was becoming 

evident. That balance is even more necessary now and in the future for the 

"general welfare" and "common defence" of the Nation. We can be grateful 

for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers in providing for publicly supported
studies in earth science and engineering by well-trained and motivated scientists and engineers. Such studies, undertaken objectively in the search for facts, 

can continue to be of great value in the formulation and execution of wise 

policies to protect our environment and to maintain that balance between 

development and conservation of the natural resources.

V. E. McKelvey,

Director, U.S. Geological Survey

1971-1978

VI
Preface

P

reparation of a history of an organization like the U.S. Geological Survey, 

whose existence has spanned so long and so exciting a period in the

development of the United States, presented many problems. In 1954, 

for the 75th anniversary of the Survey, my husband, John C. Rabbitt, and I 

prepared a brief history of the Survey which was published in Science. It was 

based entirely on secondary sources, including the Survey's own bulletin 227 

published in 1904, and the Institute of Government Research's monograph 

No. 1 of 1919. In 1947, Henry Nash Smith had published in the Mississippi 

Valley Historical Review a paper in which he attributed to John Wesley Powell 

the major influence in the establishment of the Survey. Earlier, Walter Prescott 

Webb and Bernard DeVoto had emphasized Powell's importance. In 1951, W. 

C. Darrah's biography of Powell and, in 1954, Wallace Stegner's Beyond the 

Hundredth Meridian both credited Powell with the founding of the Geological 

Survey. In 1957, however, Thurman Wilkins in his biography of Clarence King 

claimed for King the principal role in the establishment of the Survey. In 1969, 

when we celebrated the centennial of Powell's exploration of the Colorado 

River, I became acquainted with primary sources for the first time, and realized 

some of the difficulties in the interpretation of history.

With the centennial of the founding of the Survey only a decade away, 

thoughts turned to a full-scale history based on primary sources. Almost immediately there arose the problems of how to deal with the volume of material 

recounting the activities of the Survey during its century of existence. Most 

historians, I believe would have chosen to treat the material from a thematic 

point of view, and several possible themes were considered. The Survey could 

be treated as a Government agency, and its history recounted in terms of its effect on the establishment or execution of public policy. The Survey could be 

considered as a research institution, and its history told in terms of its contributions to science and engineering and its interaction with the professions. The 

Survey has played a part in the industrial development of the country, in the 

conservation of its natural resources, and in the preservation of its environment, 

but all these are only facets of one Survey.

From my own experience in the Survey's years, I know how all these phases 

interrelate and how often now one and now another factor, sometimes within 

the Survey, sometimes seemingly totally unrelated, affected the emphasis and 

direction of the Survey's work. What I have observed in my years on the Survey, 

of course, has been true throughout its history.

The development of Survey programs cannot be understood apart from 

the times of which they were part. Therefore, I have attempted to recount the 

history of the Survey, and particularly in this volume of the geological sciences 

and engineering before its establishment, in terms of public-land policy, mapping policy, science policy, and the economic development of the Nation in 

the words of the Constitution, as they contributed to the common defence and

vii
general welfare of the United States. It is a history written not for historians but 

for the general reader to help him understand the ways of science and scientists 

in a Federal bureau. For that reason it follows a chronological rather than a 

thematic pattern and does not provide a detailed analysis of development.

For the most part, this history is based on printed sources. Primary sources 

consulted include the American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, 1789-1837; the Annals of Congress, Register of Debates in Congress, 

Congressional Globe, Congressional Record, and the Senate and House Journals, Documents, and Reports; the reports of the State geological surveys and 

of the various Federal surveys; and many scientific and engineering journals. 

No exhaustive search of unpublished material has been made, but manuscript 

collections in the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Bancroft 

Library of the University of California, the Huntington Library, and the 

University of Edinburgh have been consulted. Many secondary sources of both 

the 19th and 20th centuries on history, geology and related sciences, exploration and mapping, mining and mineral resources, and the administration of 

the public lands have also been consulted.

Illustrations have been selected with two purposes in mind: to show the 

changing art of scientific illustration, and to present an impression of the 

development of the geological sciences and mapping. Nearly all the illustrations have been published before.

I am indebted to many members of the Geological Survey for help ranging 

from discussion of scientific questions to recommendations on the format of 

publication. In particular, however, I would like to acknowledge the interest, 

encouragement, and advice of the seventh Director of the Survey, Thomas B. 

Nolan; the exceptionally thorough and detailed reviews of the manuscript for 

this first volume by the former Associate Director of the Survey, Arthur A. 

Baker, by the ninth Director of the Survey, Vincent E. McKelvey, and by Clifford Nelson, the Associate Historian; and for valuable suggestions from other 

reviewers of this volume, especially R. H. Lyddan, former Chief Topographic 

Engineer, and G. D. Robinson of the Geological Division. I am grateful to 

Clifford Nelson also for locating portraits in various archives and for the great 

interest and attention of those charged with final preparation of the manuscript 

for printing, especially Anne C. Sangree, Paul F. Clarke, James Caldwell, and 

Arthur Hiltbrand.

viii
Foreword v

Preface. . . . . vii

1. The SumofthePast . 1

2. Western Pilgrims . . 7

3. Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829 . 19

4. Accession to Resources and Knowledge,

1829-1841 37

5. Man's True Interests, 1841-1849 61

6. Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855. 91

7. Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861.... 115

8. Not from our Permanent Part, 1861-1867.. 139

9. The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870 161

10. Subservient to the Interests of a Civilized

Community, 1870-1873 187

11. The Shifting Times, 1873-1874 205

12. No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877. 223

13. The Importance Which Geology Now Has,

1877-1878 245

14. Upon a Firm and Enduring Basis: The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879 - 263

Notes and Bibliography 289

Notes ... . 289

Bibliography .-..-........ .. . . 297

Index to Bibliography 313

Name Index ........ . 317

Subject Index 325

IX
Keys to portraits on end papers

Inside Front Cover:

1. Benjamin Silliman.

2. William Maclure.

3. Amos Eaton.

4. Denison Olmsted.

5. Edward Hitchcock.

6. Charles T. Jackson.

7. John C. Fremont.

8. Michael Tuomey.

9. David Dale Owen.

10. Douglass Houghton.

11. Henry Darwin Rogers.

12. James Dwight Dana.

13. James Hall.

14. Josiah Dwight Whitney.

15. Clarence King.

16. Ferdinand V. Hayden.

Inside Back Cover:

17. John Wesley Powell.

18. Lt. George M. Wheeler.

19. Othniel C. Marsh.

20. James Dwight Dana.

21. William Barton Rogers.

22. John Strong Newberry.

23. William P. Trowbridge.

24. Simon Newcomb.

25. E. D. Cope.

26. John D. C. Atkins.

27. Abram S. Hewitt.

28. James A. Garfield.

29. Aaron A. Sargent.

30. Rutherford B. Hayes.

31. Carl Schurz.

32. Clarence King.
Chapter 1.

The Sum of the Past

Whether we consider the rocky layers enveloping the Earth, the arrangement 

of the forms of life that inhabit it, the variety of civilizations to which it has given 

birth, or the structure of languages spoken upon it, we are forced to the same 

conclusion: that everything is the sum of the past and that nothing is comprehensible except through its history.

 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

On March 4, 1879, as the noon hour approached signifying the mandatory end of the last session of the 45th Congress, the Speaker of the House, 

the Honorable Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania, rose to his feet. He said,

Representatives, in a moment this Congress will expire. Its acts, whether for 

weal or woe, are indelibly inscribed on the pages of history. In this Hall party 

has been arrayed against party and interest against interest in fierce and bitter 

struggle; but it is due to truth to say that on every side there has been honest 

ambition to win popular esteem by seeking, each in his own way and according 

to his best judgment, the general welfare. Whether or not the desired end of the 

public good has been successfully attained is for time to prove.

The Speaker of the House very likely did not have in mind H.R. 6471, 

an act appropriating funds for sundry civil expenses of the Government for 

the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, which was among the several that the 

President had signed the night before. Some very controversial measures had 

come before that Congress, and some bills had failed when the Senate and 

House were unable to agree. H.R. 6471, however, included a few paragraphs establishing a new Federal bureau, the U.S. Geological Survey, to be 

responsible for "classification of the public lands, and examination of the 

geologic structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain." 

In more general terms, the new agency was to have a share in the management of the public lands and to engage in both general and economic geology, pure and applied science.

For nearly 100 years, about half the life of the United States as a nation, 

the United States Geological Survey has continued to hold these responsibilities. The emphasis and balance of the Survey programs have changed during 

the years. In 1879, the Survey undertook a few investigations of the geology 

and mineral resources of the Western States and Territories. In 1976, the 

survey mission was described as "increasing the knowledge of the extent, 

distribution, character, and origins of the Nation's natural resources and of 

the geologic processes that affect the use of the land so that man may adjust 

his activities to the constraints imposed by the environment and so that the 

Earth's resources may be managed wisely" and "classifying the Federal 

lands and supervising mineral lease development on Federal and Indian 

lands." Except for the supervision of mineral-lease development, which was 

not envisioned in 1879, the Survey program is still encompassed by the brief 

words of the authorizing legislation of 1879. Time would seem to have 

proved that the desired end of that legislation had been successfully attained.

What were the circumstances that led to the establishment of the U.S. 

Geological Survey in 1879? In the ordinary course of the development of 

science, and of the need for increasing amounts of natural resources as the

The Sum of the Past 1
industrial era began, governments have established agencies to supply the 

scientific knowledge needed for resource development. The Survey of Great 

Britain was established in 1835, that of Canada in 1842. Many of the States 

in the United States set up surveys in the 1830's. The United States Survey 

was not established until 1879, and then it was charged with a unique 

combination of responsibilities classification of the public lands as well as 

geologic investigations. The reasons must be sought in United States history 

as well as in the history of geology, and there we have a tangled web to 

unravel.

The public lands and geology as a separate science are about the same age 

as the United States. The public lands, the lands to which the Federal Government still holds title, originated in the western lands ceded to the Federal 

Government by the Eastern States that had claims to them in colonial charters. The public lands were enormously increased as a result of the Louisiana 

Purchase in 1803 and subsequent territorial acquisitions. The two problems 

that confronted the new Nation with regard to the public lands were how to 

map and how to distribute them. The mapping was entrusted to a SurveyorGeneral, at first an indepenfent agency, later'a part of the General Land 

Office. The Surveyor-General was not responsible for all Federal mapping. 

The Survey of the Coast was established in 1807, in response to pressure 

from commercial interests seeking aids to navigation. The first superintendent was a geodesist, and from the beginning the Coast Survey made a highly 

accurate survey on a geodetic base. Ths Army Engineers were charged with 

mapping for various internal improvements after passage of the General Survey bill in 1824. For the defense of the frontier, the Army engineers were 

also concerned with mapping the West, and in 1838, a separate Corps of 

Topographical Engineers was established. All used different methods, and 

the development of Federal mapping and mapping policy is entwined in the 

history of all these agencies.

This disposition of the public land was an even more thorny problem and 

as persistent an issue in national politics as the tariff. Ths government in the 

beginning chose not to manage its lands as a capital asset but to dispose of 

them, as a source of revenue and as a means of encouraging settlement and 

creating a Nation of free citizens living independently on their own land. 

Other decisions had to be made about the mode of distribution, and pressure 

groups and regional interests pushed the Government in various directions. 

The distribution progressed with time from sale by auction to preemption 

and sale at a minimum price, to graduation or lowering in the established 

minimum prices, and finally to the donation of a homestead. At the same 

time, lands were granted to veterans and to the new States in the form of 

dowries. After the preemption law was passed, the idea of using the public 

land as a source of revenue was abandoned, but large grants were made to 

aid the construction of railroads and the establishment of colleges for the 

benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. The settler in the late 1860's 

had a bewildering choice of land for sale by the railroads or State agencies, 

or free from the Federal Government.

From the beginning, however, certain lands were withheld from sale or 

distribution, and the lands therefore had to be classified. The Ordinance of 

1785 reserved to the government one-third part of all gold, silver, lead, and 

copper mines, and the land law of 1796 withheld salt springs. Classification 

was made the responsibility of the Surveyor. In 1807, Congress provided 

that the lead-bearing lands should be leased. Administration of the law was 

difficult, and beginning in 1829, the lead lands were gradually sold, then 

the copper lands. Iron lands and coal lands were ruled not mineral lands. No 

regulations were made about the lands bearing precious metals until 1866 

when they were declared free and open to exploration and purchase.

2 The Sum of the Past
Other classifications of public lands were set up during the course of the 

years as special needs arose beginning with the setting aside of live oak 

and cedar lands for the use of the Navy. By 1879, eight classes of public 

lands were recognized and each of them had separate regulations for disposition. However, except in a few instances, no special provision had been 

made for securing an accurate classification in advance of disposition, and 

the surveyors were still responsible. In actual practice, the deputy surveyors 

were unable to classify the land as well as survey it, and the classification was 

made by affidavits from the interested parties.

The role of science in the Federal Government also changed during the 

course of the first century of independence. In the beginning, the only provision for science made in the Constitution of the United States empowered 

Congress to promote its progress by securing to inventors the exclusive rights 

to their discoveries, in other words, for patents. Science and education in 

time became linked with the issue of internal improvements. Internal improvements were at first considered the prerogative or responsibility of the 

States, and an amendment to the Constitution was deemed necessary for the 

Federal Government to undertake their construction. The doctrine of implied powers of the Constitution was proposed early in the 1790's and affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1819 but remained controversial. By the 

mid-1830's, however, the attitude toward Federal science began to change 

as the needs of an expanding nation demanded scientific knowledge. It was 

not until 1862, however, that Congress, in establishing the Department of 

Agriculture, acknowledged that its power to lay and collect taxes to provide 

for the common defense and general welfare included the support of scientific 

research. The development of Federal science in general must be considered 

as part of the Survey's background.

Government use of geology began in county organizations about 1820 

and somewhat later in the States. The roots of geology and its sister science, 

geography, go far back into ancient times, but their development was especially a phenomenon of the later 18th and early 19th centuries and must be 

related to other phenomena of the same era, the beginning of industrialization and the expansion of geographic frontiers. The development of these 

sciences also had marked national characteristics. In England, sedimentation 

and stratigraphy were stressed, in France, paleontology, in Germany, mineral resources. In the United States, the development of geology was to a 

large extent practical, linked to the improvement of agriculture or the development of mineral resources, and general geology or geologic research was 

a later development. Geography evolved from a descriptive to a systematic 

science in Europe and was imported to the United States in mid-19th century, where it became engrafted on geology.

In the 1830's, nearly all the Eastern States established State geological 

surveys in connection with internal improvements and the development of 

natural resources. None was considered a permanent organization, however, 

and most lasted but a few years, although their end was hastened by a depression. The first Federal geologist was employed by the Topographical Engineers in 1803 and again in 1836. The General Land Office employed a 

geologist in 1839 to classify some of the lead lands in the upper Mississippi 

Valley. A decade later, the General Land Office employed geologists to classify the copper lands in Michigan and other lead lands in the upper Mississippi Valley. Both these surveys were more extensive and intensive than 

those in the 1830's, but neither was permanent. Ths Corps of Topographical Engineers made several explorations of the West in the 1840's, but the 

officers relied on their own scientific training or reports from eastern scientists on referred collections rather than take along a geologist or naturalist.

Public Lands and Federal Science 3
During the 1850's, however, geologists and naturalists accompanied both 

the explorations for the route of a pacific railroad and other explorations in 

the southwest and northwest and added greatly to the knowledge of the 

West. At the same time, State surveys again flourished, especially in the 

south and Midwest, in aid of agriculture or the development of mineral 

resources, and some of the States began topographic mapping.

Although Americans had been considered primarily practical scientists, 

and theories have been developed to account for that predilection, the American had always been torn by two conflicting desires, the ideal of a peaceful 

life of agrarian simplicity and the yearning for creature comforts. If such 

comforts are to be supplied at reasonable cost, some need of organized industry is implied. The industrial era began later in the United States than in 

Europe, and the development of manufactures, especially those depending 

on mineral resources, was slow and was dependent for many years on a protective tariff. The tariff laws are thus a thread in our tangled web. In the 

1830's, as the States began to make use of geology, the mineral industry 

also began to use science to explore for new resources and to make better use 

of existing resources. Both iron and coal industries made use of geologists, 

and the profession of consulting geologist was born. By 1855, the iron industry had grown sufficiently to organize an association to promote its interests, including that of improved technical education. The value of manufactured products exceeded the value of agricultural products in 1859, but the 

increasing industrialization was obscured for the next few years by the Civil 

War. Development after the Civil War was very rapid, and in 1871, the 

American Institute of Mining Engineers (AIME) was formed, as one member 

said, because scientific research was essential, and the day of reliance on a 

high tariff was gone forever. The use of geology by the mineral industry was 

also a factor in the decision to establish the U.S. Geological Survey.

From 1867 onward, the progress toward a single national survey is somewhat clearer. The first of the so-called Great Surveys was established in that 

year, under the Army Engineers but directed by a civilian, to study the 

geology and natural resources along the line of the Pacific railroad. Originally planned for 3 years, it was extended to 6 years of fieldwork and a total 

of 11 before completion of reports. A survey of the natural resources of the 

newly admitted State of Nebraska in 1867 under the General Land Office 

grew in 1870 to a Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories 

under the Department of the Interior with annual appropriations and no 

planned end. The Geographic Surveys West of the 100th Meridian begun by 

the Army Engineers for military purposes were approved in 1872, with the 

anticipation that they would continue for at least 15 years. A fourth survey, 

begun as a daring exploration of the canyons of the Colorado River, eventually became the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain 

Region. It was less permanent than the others, however, and most appropriations were made for the completion, rather than for the extension, of this 

survey. The conflicting military and civilian interests in mapping the West 

were investigated by Congress in 1874 but were not resolved.

By 1878, the surveys of the General Land Office, relentlessly imposing 

their rectangular grid on western deserts and mountains, were in disfavor in 

many quarters. Congress asked the National Academy of Sciences to consider 

all the surveys and recommend a plan for surveying and mapping the Territories of the United States to obtain the best results at the least cost.

One more factor must yet be considered the development of a movement 

for the conservation of natural resources. The United States had been blessed 

with fertile land and an abundance of resources, but Americans had abused 

and abandoned the land. The raid on land resources reached its height some4 The Sum of the Past
time in the early 1860's; then, as settlers moved onto the treeless prairies, 

where rainfall was sometimes scanty, the realization came that the lands were 

not inexhaustible. In 1864, George Perkins Marsh, often considered the 

fountainhead of the conservation movement, pointed out that man was fast 

making the Earth uninhabitable by wanton destruction, waste, and neglect; 

he expressed the hope that geologic, hydrographic, and topographic surveys 

would supply the facts from which the interaction between man and nature 

might profitably be determined. In that same year, the Federal Government 

granted to the State of California the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa 

Grove of Big Trees for public use, the first attempt to preserve a scenic area 

for the pleasure of the people. The movement for conservation of the renewable resources and for preservation of natural wonders gathered strength in 

the 1870's. A congressional commission investigated the possibilities of 

irrigation. The Department of the Interior under Carl Schurz made determined steps to preserve the forests. And in 1872, Congress established the 

first national park in the Yellowstone Valley.

The conservation of the nonrenewable mineral resources is a separate problem from that of renewable resources, although wise use is the common 

necessity. In the conservation of nonrenewable resources, however, waste is 

particularly to be deplored. European nations had long since recognized the 

special problem and had established elaborate mining codes and administrative bureaus to enforce them. European mining engineers were trained to 

extract the maximum amount of ore. In the 1840's, Michael Tuomey, State 

Geologist of South Carolina and later of Alabama, pleaded for better technical education and decried the waste prevalent in mining. One of the objectives of the American Iron Association formed in 1855 was the encouragement of the formation of schools of mining. The first school of mines in the 

United States (Columbia College, New York City) was established in 1864, 

and technical education in mining and metallurgy improved steadily thereafter. By the late 1870's, however, even those who hoped that knowledge 

and corporate responsibility would accomplish the conservation of mineral 

resources were beginning to think of Government action. Knowledge of the 

precious metals was especially important because of monetary crises. For 

several years a Commissioner of Mining Statistics under the Treasury Department regularly investigated and reported on the status of mining in the 

Western States and Territories, although he called his figures estimates 

rather than statistics. However, these reports had been discontinued about 

the time many nations adopted the gold standard, and the currency issue 

began to assume serious proportions in the United States.

Historians of the past often debated whether men make things happen or 

are molded by inexorable forces, and, depending on the examples chosen, a 

case can be made for either side. Today, history is said to consider man and 

his environment, the effects of man on his environment and of the environment on man, but that is begging the question. To write history in those 

terms means not only knowing the environment of the past but understanding the perspective of men of that past on-their environment, a perspective 

which would seem to be very different from ours. However, more than 2,000 

years ago, a wise man, foretelling in one sense Lyell's thesis that geological 

processes of the past were the same as those now in operation, said:

Generations come and generations go, while the earth endures forever. The sun 

rises and the sun goes down; back it returns to its place and rises there again. 

The wind blows south, the wind blows north, round and round it goes and returns full circle. All streams run into the sea, yet the sea never overflows; back 

to the place from which the streams ran they return to run again.***What has 

happened will happen again, and what has been done will be done again, and 

there is nothing new under the sun.

Conservation of Natural Resources 5
It has been said many times that history repeats itself. It only seems to repeat 

because there is a kind of uniformitarianism in human nature. Today we 

know more than the men of old, and we have new problems and new ways 

of solving problems, but human reactions to problems have not changed. It 

is only, as Qoheleth said, "The more a man knows, the more he has to 

suffer."

With that as a theme, let us in the following chapters examine the history 

of the United States and the development of the interaction between scientists, engineers, and statesmen and the environment, which produced public-land policy, Federal science and mapping policies, and which supported 

the economic development of the United States and increased public awareness of the importance of wise use of our natural resources.

6 The Sum of the Past
Chapter 2. 

Western Pilgrims

Americans are the western pilgrims, who are carrying along with them that 

great mass of arts, sciences, vigour, and industry, which began long since in 

the east; they will finish the great circle.

 Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecoeur

Of the two basic industries of man, agriculture is certainly the older, but 

mining, more especially of the metals, has played a fundamental role in the 

development of civilization and frequently a critical role in history. Agriculture was the means of sustaining life. Metals made life richer or easier. They 

captured the imagination, inspired acquisitiveness, even the pursuit of 

knowledge to make their acquisition easier. Of all metals, gold and silver, 

the precious metals, were most desired. The heavenly city in the Book of 

Revelations is said to be of pure gold, clear as crystal.

Metals were used first for ornamental purposes, gold perhaps as early as 

10,000 B.C., silver somewhat later. Copper was the first metal used for 

practical purposes, for tools along about 4000 B.C. and then combined with 

tin to make bronze. Phoenician and Greek traders made long voyages in 

search of tin, which was scarce in the Near East; tin mining in Spain, and 

the Bronze Age, began about 2500 B.C. Iron may have been used for tools 

as early as 2500 B.C. but its use became widespread, and the Iron Age 

began, about the 14th century B.C. Lead was used for ornamental purposes 

about 5000 B.C., and for practical purposes somewhat later, but it never 

attained the importance of copper, tin, and iron in prehistoric time. Silver 

was the first metal used for money, at least as early as 2000 B.C. in Babylon. 

The only other metal known to antiquity was mercury, used in religious 

ceremonies and for medicinal and cosmetic purposes, and also for the recovery of gold and silver. Production at Almaden, Spain, began about 400 B.C. 

These seven metals, the so-called biblical seven, were the only metals in 

common use until well along into the 19th century.

Coal, which with iron was the foundation of the industrial age, was referred to in the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastes in the 4th century 

B.C. and was used by the Romans in Britain before 400 A.D. It was first 

used for commercial purposes in China in the 13th century, but the great 

increase in its use began much later, and for centuries mining was almost 

entirely restricted to metals.

Under the Roman Empire, the precious metals, gold and silver, took on 

new importance. The only known mineral resources in the territory of the 

early Roman community were nonmetallic, primarily construction materials. As Roman dominion was extended and neighboring peoples were conquered, their territory usually became public land, to be leased to citizens of 

Rome. The mines, however, were considered prizes of war. Some yielding 

the base metals might remain in private hands for a price, but gold and 

silver mines became state property.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Western Europe became economically dependent on Eastern Europe and the Middle and Far East which were 

more advanced. The precious metals were gradually drained from Europe to

Western Pilgrims 7
the East to pay for eastern goods. When the Renaissance began in Europe, 

the demand for oriental goods increased, and the Italian port cities, midway 

between Asia Minor and Western Europe became the chief beneficiaries. The 

rising nation states to the west soon realized the disadvantage to them of the 

Italian monopoly and began to seek a more favorable basis of trade. Most of 

their effort went into a search for a direct route to the East in order to avoid 

the middlemen. The Portuguese began their work of discovery shortly after 

1400 and eventually reached the Orient by going around the coast of Africa. 

As a result, virtually a new monopoly in Eastern goods was established at 

Lisbon, and Europe's economic center of gravity began to shift from the 

Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

Spanish explorers who also sought a route to the East instead discovered a 

New World. Portugal remained in undisputed possession of the trade with 

the Orient, but Spain's disappointment was assuaged when the New World 

was found to contain vast treasures of silver and gold. The Spanish crown 

fostered the mining of these metals in the New World, and the centuriesold trend was reversed. Bullion began to flow into rather than out of Europe.

The transfer of wealth from the New World to Europe led to the development of the mercantilist philosophy that the wealth and power of a nation depended on its stock of precious metals and all enterprises were designed to enhance this wealth and power. Each nation therefore endeavored 

to create a self-sufficient economy, and in this endeavor, colonies became 

important. The colonies were presumed to exist for the benefit of the mother 

country, to produce the raw materials that the mother country would otherwise have to buy, and to buy manufactured goods from the mother country.

By the end of the 16th century, Spain had placed its mark on America 

from Cape Horn to the Rio Grande, the foundations had been laid for most 

of the present Latin American nations, and Spanish conquistadors had explored the whole southern section of the United States from South Carolina 

to California in search of treasure or the strait that would be the passage to 

India. In 1598, Spain took formal possession of the province of New Mexico, 

and in 1609, the Spanish governor founded the city of Santa Fe. Spanish 

power then, however, was already past its zenith.

The Dutch, French, and English were at first content to prey on the Spanish treasure ships; then they attempted to gain footholds in the Caribbean 

and South American areas from which the wealth was coming. As the Spanish power began to decline, the English established colonies in North America in Virginia in 1607 and in Massachusetts in 1620. The French made 

their first settlement even farther north, at Quebec in 1608, and began to 

move from there into the interior of the continent. The Dutch made their 

first settlement in New Amsterdam in 1624. In none of these areas were 

precious metals found, but there were other sources of wealth to be exploited. The French and the Dutch became interested in fur. The English 

began to reap the fruits of empire in more prosaic fashion, from the land, the 

forests, and the sea.

Only the English colonies made any real effort to exploit other mineral 

resources, and it was the English colonies that eventually placed a permanent 

mark on most of North America. Shortly after the arrival of colonists in 

Virginia, a feverish hunt was made for gold. Captain John Smith described 

it as "no talke, no hope, nor worke, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, 

load gold," but the shipload of glittering dust sent to London proved to be 

not gold at all, but mostly mica. However, in the following year, 35 tons of 

iron ore were shipped to England and yielded 17 tons of iron "as good as any 

in Europe." When the reorganized London Company in 1619 tried to set 

up an economic development program for the colony, they sent skilled work8 Western Pilgrims
men to aid the colonists, among them several ironmakers. Ironworks were 

set up at Falling Creek, a tributary of the James River about 66 miles above 

Jamestown. The Indian massacre of 1622, however, ended that venture before it was fairly started. Tobacco was in great demand in England, tobacco 

growing was suited to the land and available labor, and so tobacco became 

the principal source of revenue, and Virginia was committed to an agricultural economy.

Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay colony were the first to undertake successful mining ventures. The Pilgrims, who preceded them by several years, 

arrived in winter, and their first problem was survival. In time, the Pilgrims 

turned to the sea, and fish became their principal staple for trade, though 

they also engaged in agriculture, stock raising, and, to a degree, trading 

with the Indians for furs. The beginning of the Massachusetts Bay colony 

coincided with a period of political and religious upheaval in England, and, 

as a result, migration to that colony was much greater than to Virginia or 

Plymouth, as many as 20,000 arriving in the first 10 years. Many of the 

Massachusetts Bay colonists were from well-to-do families, paying their own 

way or pooling their resources within a church congregation. Many were 

well educated, or skilled in various trades; they had more capital and more 

business experience than did the Pilgrims. The New England soil was not 

conducive to great agricultural enterprises, so economic activity was soon 

diverted into other channels, to fishing, lumbering, and shipbuilding.

The manufacture of iron in England had made great progress during the 

15th and 16th centuries. As early as 1483, the importation of manufactured 

articles of iron or steel that would compete with domestic production was 

forbidden, and a century later the English had become so skilled in iron 

manufacture that they were exporting iron goods, even, it is said, cannon for 

the Spanish navy. Though by 1630, a growing scarcity of timber to make 

charcoal had forced many furnaces and forges to shut down, iron goods were 

still second only to textiles in England's export trade.

By mercantilist theory, the colonists should not have engaged in iron 

making in competition with the mother country. Practice, however, did not 

always conform to theory. Iron ore was discovered near Lynn, Massachusetts, 

shortly after the settlement of the colony. Specimens of the Lynn ore were 

taken to England and "The Company of Undertakers for the Iron Works" 

was organized and advanced £1,000 to establish an ironworks. One of the 

members of the company was John Winthrop, Jr., son of the governor of the 

colony, and a member of the Royal Society. The first ironworks were set up 

on the banks of the Saugus in 1643; later, other ironworks were set up at 

Braintree, Taunton, Concord, Rowley, Canton, and several other towns. 

Bog and pond ores were used, and timber was abundant for charcoal and 

waterpower. The dies for the pinetree shillings were made at one of the 

forges of the Lynn works in 1652, and Boston's first fire engine was also 

produced there; most of the iron, however, went into iron pots, nails, and 

farm tools. Colonists moving outward from the Massachusetts Bay area settled in Connecticut, where they set up ironworks at New Haven in 1658, 

and in Rhode Island, where ironworks were established at least by 1675 in 

Pawtucket, and possibly much earlier. Small lead mines were also opened up 

in Massachusetts and Connecticut to obtain lead for ammunition.

There was no mining elsewhere until New Amsterdam became an English 

colony. The Puritans assumed control of the English Parliament in 1648 

and immediately made efforts to regain the English monopoly of the colonial 

trade that had been taken over by the Dutch during the years of the Cromwellian rebellion. During the Anglo-Dutch conflict thus precipitated, the 

British captured New Amsterdam and it became an English colony. New

New World Mineral Resources 9
Englanders promptly moved southward and settled in New Jersey. The first 

ironworks were set up in Monmouth County in 1674.

William Penn had had experience with the iron furnaces in Sussex, the 

center of the English industry, and hoped to encourage mining in his "Holy 

Experiment" in Pennsylvania. In 1683, he reported the existence of iron 

in various places in his colony; in 1685, he included iron and "perhaps" 

copper among the "things that we have in prospect for staples of trade." A 

prospectus for future colonists, written in 1698 by Gabriel Thomas, stated 

that iron ore "which far exceeds that in England, being richer and less 

drossy" had been found and also coal, but it was well into the 18th century 

before any ironworks were set up or any coal mining begun.

The Anglo-Dutch rivalry for American empire came to an end in 1689, 

when William of Orange succeeded James II as King of England. Economic 

interests in England then moved to check the growing strength of France, 

and French-English rivalry for empire became an important factor in colonial 

development for the next several decades.

There were several friction points between the two powers in the New 

World. The English settlements stretched along the Atlantic seaboard from 

Maine to Carolina and had a population of about 200,000. The economy in 

the southern colonies was almost wholly based on agriculture, but in New 

England and New York, a more diversified economy had developed, including lumbering, shipbuilding, and the production of naval stores as well as 

agriculture and stock raising. The northern and middle colonies had also 

established a network of triangular trade relations in order to obtain money 

to pay for English manufactured goods. Lumber, livestock, provisions, and 

other goods were sent to intermediate ports and exchanged for coin, bills of 

exchange, or goods that were in demand in England. The most important of 

these was the trade with the Caribbean area.

Although the French had made their first settlement in Canada in 1608, 

shortly after the English arrived in Jamestown, and had moved outward over 

the interior of the continent as far west as the Rocky Mountains and south to 

the Gulf of Mexico, there were only about 12,000 people in all that vast 

area. The French were primarily interested in the fur trade, but the English 

were beginning to challenge them in the Hudson Bay region. The French 

had established themselves first in the Newfoundland fishing grounds, but 

there too, rivalry had developed. They had hoped that Canada would be able 

to supply the French West Indies with provisions and raw materials, but 

Canada had proved a disappointment on that score, and so they looked with 

covetous eyes at New England and New York.

The French had done very little to develop any mineral resources. They 

had noted the lead ore in the Mississippi Valley and had made some crude 

attempts to extract lead for ammunition. For a brief time toward the end of 

the 17th century, Nicholas Perrot operated some lead mines in the Upper 

Mississippi Valley. Coal had been observed along the Illinois River and had 

been recorded on Louis Joliet's map of 1673 and Marquette's map of 1681. 

The French knew of the masses of native copper in the Lake Superior region 

and even dutifully shipped home specimens along with glowing descriptions 

of mountains of gold and silver.

The rivalry between English and French for control of the continent 

erupted periodically into border wars. King William's War, the first phase 

of the struggle, came to an inconclusive end in 1697. At the end of Queen 

Anne's War, in 1714, the French lost Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the 

Hudson Bay area to the English.

The French then planned to exploit the resources of the Mississippi Valley 

in the hope of establishing settlements that would keep the English blocked 

off east of the mountains and confine the Spanish to the southwest. The

10 Western Pilgrims
privilege of working mines and engaging in commerce in the Territory of 

Louisiana was granted to La Compagnie de la Louisiane ou d'Occident, more 

commonly known as the Company of the West. Philippe Renault, son of a 

French ironmaker, was sent out in 1719, accompanied by miners and mineralogists, to search for precious metals and to begin mining operations. The 

hoped-for gold and silver werenot found, but in 1720, parties sent into the 

Ozark hills of Missouri discovered lead ore which Renault worked profitably 

for several years. The hostility of the Indians and the end of the wild speculation in which the Company of the West was involved brought the enterprise to an end, however, and in 1742, Renault returned to France. The 

mines were abandoned, ending the first period of lead mining in Missouri.

In the English colonies the iron industry expanded greatly during the 

early 1700's. A steady growth in manufacturing enterprises had taken place 

in the northern and middle colonies as more and more settlers arrived and 

labor shortages were overcome, and both woolen goods and iron products, 

on which England's colonial export trade depended, were being manufactured. When the woolen industry in England declined in 1699, the condition was attributed to the increase of the colonial manufacturers; Parliament 

passed the Woolens Act prohibiting the export of wool or woolen cloth from 

any colony. The intent was to permit household manufactures but to make 

commercial production impossible. The development of iron manufacturing, 

however, was allowed to continue unhindered.

About 1710, New Jersey ironmakers began to exploit the magnetic ores, 

and in 1716, the first successful ironworks was set up in Pennsylvania, on 

Manatawny Creek, near Pottstown in Berks County. Shortly afterward, another iron enterprise was set up on French Creek in Chester County, and a 

third furnace was erected 8 miles north of Pottstown in 1720. Ironworks 

were also set up in Virginia and in Maryland, and a few years later, in North 

Carolina. In 1740, the manufacture of iron was begun in New York, though 

the ore was brought from Connecticut, but a decade later, magnetite ore was 

discovered in New York. In 1750, Massachusetts began to develop the 

brown hematite ores in the western part of the State.

At mid-century, iron was being made in all the colonies except Georgia, 

and from pots and pans, tools and handmade nails, the ironmakers had gone 

on to manufacture muskets and cannon and to set up slitting mills for the 

manufacture of nail rods. Blister steel was being made in Connecticut and 

Pennsylvania. Bar iron had been exported regularly to England since 1717, 

and about 3,000 tons of bar and pig iron were being exported each year.

The iron industry was the only one that competed in any way with that of 

the mother country. Coal had been discovered in Virginia in 1701 by a 

group of French Huguenots to whom the colonial government had allotted 

a tract of land along the James River; it was used locally. A mining company 

had been chartered for the production of copper at Simsbury, Connecticut, 

in 1709, but the mines were soon abandoned and the openings used as a 

prison. Copper had been discovered in New Jersey in 1719, and small quantities were shipped to England. Small lead mines were also worked in New 

England.

The American iron industry had reached the stage of development that 

forced the British to take action. The American manufacture of iron had 

been questioned for many years, but no action had been taken because of 

conflicting interests in England. Although some wanted the entire industry 

suppressed, others, interested in a supply of cheap pig iron, wanted the 

colonial metal to be imported free of duty and all fabrication in the colonies 

suppressed. By 1750, England was unable to supply its own requirements 

for iron because of the scarcity of wood to make the charcoal used in smelting 

and refining. The annual production, which had been nearly 180,000 tons

Colonial Mineral Industry 11
in 1615, had dwindled in 1740 to only 17,000 tons. To maintain the colonial supply of bar and pig iron for the English iron and steel industry, the 

Iron Act of 1750 was passed, permitting importation of American pig and 

bar iron duty-free but forbidding the erection or continued use of slitting or 

rolling mills, forges, or furnaces in the colonies. The law was strictly enforced, and thenceforth American iron manufacture was restricted to production of pig and bar iron and castings from blast furnaces.

During this half century, the population of the English colonies had continued to grow. New settlers came not only from England, but also from 

Germany, France, Scotland, Ireland, and Switzerland. Philadelphia was the 

point of entrance for the majority, and Philadelphia became as important as 

Boston and New York. People began moving westward from the narrow 

coastal zone, into the valleys behind the Appalachian front, southwestward 

into the Virginia Piedmont, through the Shenandoah Valley, and on into 

the western Carol inas.

New mineral resources were discovered during the westward movement. 

Benjamin Winslow in his survey of the upper Potomac River in 1736 observed "cole mines" along the Savage River in western Maryland the first 

report of coal in the Appalachian region. Coal was found in the southern part 

of West Virginia in 1742, in Kentucky in 1750, and in western Pennsylvania and Ohio in 1753- Lead was also discovered in southwestern Virginia in 

1750, and the lead mines were worked by a Colonel Chiswell until shortly 

after the beginning of the American Revolution.

During the 1740's, speculators began to exploit the area beyond the 

Appalachians, and several land companies were formed. The Ohio Company 

was granted 200,000 acres by the Privy Council in 1749, and Virginia also 

made claim to the western country. Even more alarming to the French in the 

Ohio Valley were the traders who were moving freely into the area, and they 

decided to erect a series of forts, thus instigating the last of the French and 

Indian Wars. By the Peace of Paris, which was signed in 1763, France ceded 

to Great Britain all of French Canada, except two small islands in the St. 

Lawrence, and all French territory east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans. Spain, which had entered the war against the British, ceded Florida to 

Great Britain. By a secret treaty, Spain acquired from France all French 

territory west of the Mississippi as well as the port of New Orleans.

Relations between the American colonies and Great Britain then took on 

a new aspect. With the French and Spanish menace removed, American 

dependence on England was lessened, and England no longer felt the need 

to act cautiously in order not to antagonize colonial allies. At the same time, 

England found itself faced with a large national debt, heavy taxes at home, 

and the problem of administering a greatly enlarged empire. The war had 

revealed the insecurity of the western frontier against Indian raids; also, 

westward expansion was no longer needed as a defense measure. By a Royal 

Proclamation in 1763, a rigid geographic limit was set to western settlement. The crest of the Alleghenies was to be the dividing line between the 

colonies and Indian territory. Indian territory west of the line was placed 

under the control of the military commander-in-chief, and the Crown assumed the sole right to dispose of the western lands. New regulations, aimed 

at raising revenue and reasserting administrative control of the colonies were 

issued.

In the wake of a normal postwar decline in business, the British program 

seemed to the colonists calculated to ruin the colonial economy. The westward movement, despite the Royal Proclamation, continued. Protest against 

the economic regulations began in Massachusetts but soon spread to the 

other colonies. At first there was sporadic rioting. Then economic boycotts

12 Western Pilgrims
were imposed against taxed goods. (The young gentlemen at Yale College 

have been credited with starting this movement by unanimously agreeing 

not to make use of any foreign spirituous liquors.) After Bostonians threw 

the British tea in the harbor (in Charleston, they simply locked it up), Parliament closed the port of Boston and radically altered the Massachusetts 

charter. Virginia called for a continental congress. Before the Congress met, 

Parliament passed the Quebec Act, which placed the southern boundary of 

that province at the Ohio River, thus depriving four colonies, which claimed 

land west of the Allegheny crest, of their territory and adding to colonial 

grievances.

The first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on September 5,

1774. formed an association that agreed to stop all imports of English goods 

within 3 months and all exports to British ports within a year, and adopted 

a resolution approving the opposition of Massachusetts to Britain's colonial 

administration. The war then became inevitable, and it began on April 19,

1775.

The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, 

resolved to put the colonies in a state of defense and asked the people of 

Canada to join the resistance. More than a year later, on June 7, 1776, 

Richard Henry Lee of Virginia offered the resolution that the United Colonies "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states." Although 

it was decided to postpone a decision on the resolution until July 1, a committee was appointed to prepare a Declaration of Independence. On July 1, 

Congress, sitting as a committee, debated the Lee resolution, and the motion 

to adopt was carried. On the following day, Congress in formal session took 

the final vote, which was unanimous. A committee was then appointed to 

prepare a plan of confederation.

The lands west of the Allegheny Mountains claimed by some of the colonies became a source of contention in preparing the plan of confederation. 

Under the Royal Proclamation of 1763, those lands had reverted to the 

crown, and under the Quebec Act of 1774, those northwest of the Ohio 

River had been given to the Province of Quebec. The committee considered 

limiting the western boundaries of the States but abandoned that idea. Then 

in August 1777, during the debate over acceptance of the Articles of Confederation, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, whose charters gave them no western lands, proposed that Congress be empowered to limit the western boundaries of the 

States. The motion failed, and over the protests of these States a clause was 

added to the Articles providing that no State be deprived of western lands 

for the benefit of the United States. The Articles were adopted on November 

15, 1777, and sent to each State for ratification. Maryland, on December 

15, 1778, announced her refusal to ratify until the western lands were ceded 

to Congress. Maryland remained adamant, and not until Virginia yielded 

and ceded her lands on January 2, 1781, did Maryland agree to sign. March 

1, 1781, was the formal date of final ratification, and on the following day 

Congress assumed the title "The United States in Congress Assembled."

The public domain became a reality in 1783. The Revolution effectively 

ended with the British surrender at Yorktown on October 18, 1781, but 

the peace treaty was not signed until September 3, 1783. One of the problems faced by the American and British commissioners during the long negotiations was the almost total lack of accurate maps of North America upon 

which to determine the boundaries of the United States. John Mitchell's 

map on a scale of 1:2 million, published in 1755, was used. The boundaries 

between the United States and British America were finally set as the St. 

Croix River, the St. Lawrence-Atlantic watershed divide, the 45th parallel,

Origin of Public Lands 13
a line through the Great Lakes and their connecting waterways, and a line 

from Lake Superior to the Mississippi River. Because of some inadequacies 

in the Mitchell map, disputes later developed over parts of this boundary. A 

line through the middle of the Mississippi River south to the 31st parallel, 

the 31st parallel, the Apalachicola River, and the St. Mary's River divided 

the United States from Spanish territory.

To deal with the problem of disposing of the public land, the Congress 

appointed a committee with Thomas Jefferson as chairman. On May 7, 

1784, the committee reported "an ordinance for ascertaining the mode of 

locating and disposing of lands in the western territory," entirely in Jefferson's handwriting, which was modified only slightly before being adopted 

on May 20, 1785. The Ordinance of 1785 provided that these lands be 

surveyed on a rectangular system, divided into townships 6 miles square, 

each township being divided into 36 sections. Land was to be sold at public 

auction when surveyed, and the title cleared in minimum lots of one section 

at a minimum price of $1 an acre. Three commissioners were to conduct the 

public sale; an independent officer, the Geographer, was to direct surveys.

The Ordinance of 1785 embodied three new .principles that formed a basis 

for public-land policy: survey before settlement; a mathematically designed 

cadastral survey; and a standard land unit. Classification of the public lands 

into various categories was implicitly, if not explicitly, a part of the Ordinance also. The Ordinance of 1785 reserved "one third part of all gold, 

silver, lead, and copper mines to be sold or otherwise disposed of, as Congress shall hereafter direct," thus requiring classification of the lands into 

mineral and nonmineral. The clause was presumably a revenue measure, although, as no such mineral deposits were known in the area in question, it 

may simply have been carried over from the crown charters for the colonies.

The first Geographer of the United States was Thomas Hutchins, who had 

been geographer-surveyor for the Southern Army. When the war began, the 

American army had little in the way of maps, but the British had a wealth 

of material that could be distributed to their forces in the field. American 

mapmakers had relied on the English to engrave and print their maps, and 

no adequate facilities existed in the colonies for these services. After repeated 

requests from General Washington, who fully appreciated the usefulness of 

maps, the Continental Congress on July 25, 1777, authorized him to appoint a geographer and surveyor. Robert Erskine, who was appointed to the 

position 2 days later, created a corps of surveyors and assistants which became, in effect, the first central mapping agency. After Erskine's death in 

1780, Simeon DeWitt became the geographer, and in 1781, Hutchins was 

appointed. DeWitt became Surveyor-General of New York in 1784.

The public lands delayed adoption of the Articles of Confederation; the 

mineral industry helped hasten their end. When the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed, the American iron industry was the only mineral 

industry of any consequence, and it, despite the restrictions of the Iron Act, 

was greater than that of England. The iron industry prospered during the 

Revolution, as British goods could not be obtained. Virginia coal was not 

sufficient to meet all colonial demands when coal supplies from England 

were cut off at the beginning of hostilities, and some effort was made to 

develop other deposits, but with little success. An attempt was even made 

to use Pennsylvania anthracite in the arsenal at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, despite the known difficulties in its use. Copper was not in demand. Lead was 

in such short supply that lead for bullets was obtained at times by melting 

down statues, including, or perhaps even especially, those of George III.

The end of the war was followed by an economic depression that was made 

more acute by the fact that England began to treat the United States as a

14 Western Pilgrims
foreign nation. England was already on the threshold of a technological development that would soon lead her to a commanding position in manufacturing, and English goods were cheaper than those available elsewhere. During the war, for example, English ironmakers had begun to use bituminous 

coal, instead of charcoal, and the steam engine in the blowing of blast furnaces. These improvements so increased and cheapened British iron products 

that after the war British iron manufactures were able to compete successfully 

with the American product despite the cost of transportation.

Many people soon realized that the United States had to develop her own 

manufactures and become less dependent on foreign sources if she were not 

to remain a raw-material-producing nation with the attendant disadvantages. To protect infant industries, import duties were needed. Under the 

Articles of Confederation, only the States could impose duties. Ironmakers 

were among those who wanted protection, but ironmakers in Pennsylvania 

and New Jersey petitioned their legislatures in vain to impose duties on iron. 

A tariff, though for revenue rather than protection, however, was one of the 

principal reasons for the abandonment of the Articles of Confederation for a 

new instrument of government.

One of the greatest problems under the Articles of Confederation was 

taxation. Congress could requisition funds from the State governments but 

could not tax the people directly, and when the States did not honor 

Congressional requisitions, funds were insufficient to pay the expenses of the 

government, including payment of the public debt and maintenance of the 

army and navy. A movement to strengthen the central government gained 

force, based in large part on a proposal to give Congress the power to impose 

tariffs in order to raise funds. Finally, Virginia called a convention in September 1786 to which five States sent delegates. That convention adopted a 

report drafted by Alexander Hamilton and called for another convention to 

be held in Philadelphia in May 1787 "to devise such further provisions as 

shall appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union." That convention took 

unto itself the task of preparing an entirely new instrument of government, 

which it adopted on September 17 and referred to the Congress then meeting 

in New York. On September 28, Congress referred it to the States for action, 

and by June 21, 1788, nine States, sufficient to establish it as the instrument of government, had ratified the Constitution. On July 2, 1788, the 

Congress of the Confederation accepted the new constitution, and in September arranged for conduct of government under the new order to begin on 

March 4, 1789-

The Constitution of the United States contains no specific reference to the 

public lands or the development of mineral resources, and the only direct 

reference to science is in Article 1, Section 8, which says that Congress can, 

among other things, "promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by 

securing for limited times to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to 

their respective writings and discoveries." From the beginning, therefore, 

the government of the United States displayed a preference for practical science.

Colonial science was largely natural history. Only a few practiced the discipline of theoretical or pure science, then known as natural philosophy. 

Colonial scientists had early become a part of the international natural history circle which had members in England, France, Holland, Sweden, Germany, and Italy who corresponded regularly, visited each other, and exchanged specimens. The New World was a subject of intense interest, and 

most of the information about it was channeled to others through England. 

By the same token, European developments were readily transmitted to the

Colonial Science 15
New World. Although colonial interests broadened during the 18th century, colonial scientists remained colonial, that is, their activities were 

geared toward contributing to the scientific community of western Europe 

rather than toward developing an American community. Early efforts to establish local scientific societies were at best only partly successful. The colonial scientist preferred to be a member of a European society. The American Philosophical Society was formed in 1743 but failed after what seemed 

a brilliant beginning. The first permanent society, a renewed American Philosophical Society, was formed in 1767, less than a decade before the Declaration of Independence. The second was the American Academy of Arts and 

Sciences, established in 1780. American scientists were interested in minerals, volcanoes, and earthquakes as natural phenomena.

Whether the Federal or the State Governments or any one else should 

support geologic investigations was not a question at the time, for geology, 

as a science distinct from natural history or mineralogy, could be said to have 

been born while the American Revolution was in progress and to have 

reached only the age of argument when the Constitution was adopted. In 

1775, Abraham Gottlob Werner became Inspector and Teacher of Mining 

and Metallurgy at the mining academy which had been established at Freiberg in Saxony in 1767. Werner, who was primarily a mineralogist, taught 

that all rocks, with the exception of the products of modern volcanoes, had 

been deposited from water, for the most part from the sea, and believed in 

a universal, or near universal, succession of formations controlled by successive changes in the composition and extent of the ocean. Great numbers of 

students flocked to his classes from every civilized country, but not all agreed 

with his ideas. An opposing school developed at the University of Edinburgh. In 1788, James Hutton's theory of the Earth, in which the Earth 

was regarded as a machine actuated by deep-seated heat and safeguarded by 

volcanoes, was published. Hutton's presentation raised a storm of discussion, and as George Washington was being inaugurated as the first President 

of the United States, the geological world was beginning to divide into 

Neptunists and Plutonists.

The Constitutional provision was more clearly intended for the benefit of 

the practical scientists or mathematical practitioners, who were the most 

numerous. These were the surveyors and navigators, the makers of maps and 

charts, those who produced the tools for carrying on various enterprises. 

Congress soon found itself with more petitions to test new inventions than 

it could handle, and in 1790, a patent board, the Secretaries of State and 

War and the Attorney General, was set up to consider them.

The first U.S. Congress passed the first tariff law on July 4, 1789, and 

then began the organization of the executive departments of the Federal Government: the Department of Foreign Affairs on July 27 (renamed the State 

Department on September 15), the War Department on August 7, the Treasury Department on September 2, and the Office of Postmaster General on 

September 22, the court system and the Office of Attorney General were set 

up on September 26. President Washington chose as his first Secretary of 

State, Thomas Jefferson, then serving as minister to France, and as first 

Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, who had been his aide-decamp and personal secretary and who had played an active role in the preparation and ratification of the Constitution.

Hamilton and Jefferson represented opposite viewpoints on the future 

course of the United States and their views generally reflected or formed the 

basis for the two national parties that formed during the early period of the 

Republic, Hamilton's views, those of the Federalists and Jefferson's, those 

of the Anti-Federalists or Republicans. Hamilton believed in a diversified 

economic system with active encouragement of finance, industry, and com16 Western Pilgrims
merce by the government, whereas Jefferson envisioned the United States as 

a great agricultural nation, composed of innumerable individual freeholders 

and broadly diffused wealth, a nation free of industrialism, urbanism, and 

organized finance.

Hamilton had the initial advantage because of his position as Secretary of 

the Treasury; Jefferson, moreover, remained in his post as minister to France 

until March 1790. At the request of Congress, Hamilton in 1790 and 1791 

prepared three reports: on public credit, a plan for disposing of the public 

lands, and on manufactures. The Report on the Publick Credit stated that the 

United States must have credit for government, industrial development, and 

commercial activity, and that future credit would depend on how existing 

obligations were met; it proposed ways and means of funding the public 

debt, including the State debts. Despite some opposition, Hamilton's proposals were accepted by Congress, and, stimulated by these fiscal policies, a 

period of prosperity supplanted the postwar depression.

The Report on Manufactures proposed a system of tariffs to protect industry, 

bounties for agriculture, and a network of internal improvements under federal sponsorship. Iron and coal were among the industries to be encouraged. 

Hamilton said "a copious supply" of coal "would be of great consequence 

to the iron branch," predicted that the use of coal for household fuel would 

increase "in proportion to the decrease of wood, by the progress of settlement 

and cultivation," and thought it would be worthwhile to consider a bounty 

for production, or premiums for opening new mines. At the time, ironmaking was in a depressed state and had been since the end of the Revolution. 

Wood was still the principal fuel for all purposes, although Virginia coal was 

used locally, some was shipped to Atlantic ports, and settlers west of the 

Allegheny crest had begun to use coal for domestic purposes.

The proposals in the Report on Manufactures met with a notable lack of 

enthusiasm, and none were adopted at the time. They were never completely 

discarded, however, and were periodically revived; eventually some were 

passed. Hamilton was simply ahead of his time. It was not until the 1840's 

that American iron manufacturers began to make extensive use of coal. The 

equally far-sighted Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Tench Coxe, it might 

be noted, purchased extensive tracts of coal land in Pennsylvania that were 

developed more than 75 years later by his great grandson, Eckley B. Coxe, 

one of the founders of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.

The Report on a Plan for Disposing of the Public Lands provided for purchase 

of lands in both large and small units, the former for revenue, the latter to 

accommodate the inhabitants of or emigrants to the western country. Hamilton proposed that a General Land Office be established at the seat of government to handle large purchases and that offices in the Northwestern and 

Southwestern territories be established for small purchases. He recommended that land be sold at 30 cents an acre, that no credit be allowed for 

sales of less than a township 10 miles square or for longer than 2 years, that 

at least one-fourth of the price be paid at the time of sale, and that security 

be provided for the remainder. The Southwestern territory to which Hamilton referred comprised the lands that had been North Carolina's. North 

Carolina had ratified the Constitution in November 1789, when the Bill of 

Rights became a certainty, and Congress had accepted the cession of its 

western lands on April 2, 1790.

Problems very soon began to arise with both the surveying and sale of the 

public lands. The Ordinance of 1785 required that before the lands in the 

public domain could be sold, they were to be surveyed in accordance with a 

system of lines oriented to the true meridian. One of the great problems in 

surveying with the instruments then available was this determination of the 

true meridian. The surveying proceeded slowly, and settlement did not await

Problems of a New Nation 17
the completion of the survey. Many areas became populated before the Federal surveys were completed, and the land already settled frequently did not 

conform to the legal system.

In 1796, after a lengthy debate on land policy, Congress passed a new 

land act. It established the Office of Surveyor-General, and instructed the 

Surveyor General to engage a sufficient number of skillful surveyors as his 

deputies to survey and mark the land without delay. The lands were to be 

divided into townships 6 miles square, half of which, taken alternately, were 

to be further divided into 36 sections of 640 acres each. The deputy surveyors 

were to note in their fieldbooks all mines, salt licks and springs, mill seats, 

watercourses, and the quality of the lands so the Surveyor-General could have 

prepared a description of the lands for the officers supervising the sale in 

effect, the lands were to be classified before sale. All salt springs, together 

with sections 1 mile square that included the springs, and four sections in 

the center of each township were reserved to the United States. Single sections were to be sold at land offices which were established at Cincinnati and 

Pittsburgh. The undivided townships were to be offered for sale at the seat 

of government in quarter-township units, excluding the four at the center. 

The minimum price was raised to $2 an acre, with one-twentieth at the time 

of sale, a moiety within 30 days, and the balance within a year. The 1796 

Land Act thus included some of the principles, but not the details, of the 

Hamilton plan.

The Land Act was further revised in 1800. Except for a minor recession 

from 1796 to 1798, the time was one of substantial prosperity, and the 

population steadily increased. New immigrants continued to arrive from Europe, perhaps as many as 50,000 in the first decade. In 1798, the Mississippi 

Territory was organized, covering the region between Georgia's western 

border and the Mississippi River, but there was little movement into the 

area because of the hostility of the Indians and the Spanish control of West 

Florida. The Northwest Territory, however, continued to grow, and in 

1799, Congress advanced it to the second stage of territorial government in 

accordance with the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787. William Henry 

Harrison was elected territorial delegate and promptly began a campaign to 

liberalize the land system. In May 1800, Congress reduced the minimum 

unit of sale to 320 acres, extended the time for payment to 4 years, and 

established more local land offices to provide easier access by settlers. The 

new land law was an immediate success as far as disposal of the land was 

concerned. In the first 18 months under the new law, 400,000 acres were 

sold in comparison with less than 50,000 under the 1796 act. Most of the 

land, however, was purchased by speculators rather than settlers.

At the same time, however, Congress took steps to manage some of the 

natural resources of the public domain. John Adams' administration was 

troubled by the possibility of war with France, and the Department of the 

Navy was established to help "provide for the common defence." Live oak 

and red cedar were then the most suitable woods for naval vessels, so Congress in 1799 set aside for the use of the Navy the live oak and red cedar 

lands. The Navy needed "very liberal use of copper" and copper at that 

time cost "not less than half a dollar a pound" so Congress in the spring of 

1800 authorized the President to employ an agent to collect information on 

the Lake Superior copper mines and to ascertain whether the Indian title had 

been extinguished to such lands as might be required if it were deemed 

expedient for the United States to work such mines. In the Land Act of May 

1800, the Surveyor General was also given authority to lease the reserved 

saline lands.

18 Western Pilgrims
Chapter 3.

Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829

While Science will be cherished for its own sake, and with a due respect for 

its own inherent dignity; it will also be employed as the handmaid to the Arts. 

Its numerous applications to AGRICULTURE, the earliest and most important of 

them; to our MANUFACTURES both mechanical and chemical; and, to our DOMESTIC ECONOMY, will be carefully sought ought, and faithfully made.

 Benjamin Silliman

The election of 1800 was seemingly a peaceful revolution and a triumph 

of the democratic system. During the Federalist era, Americans had been 

divided on foreign policy, on an industrial versus an agrarian economy, and 

on centralized versus decentralized government. The election of Thomas Jefferson as President and resounding victories by Republican congressional 

candidates indicated that the electorate had chosen the way of simplicity and 

isolation. Time proved otherwise.

Jefferson wanted to encourage western migration and keep the United 

States an agrarian nation. Both Jefferson and his Secretary of the Treasury, 

Albert Gallatin, wanted to liquidate the public debt as soon as possible. 

These two factors largely controlled public land policy. In 1802, when the 

admission of Ohio as the first State from the Northwest Territory was being 

considered, Secretary Gallatin proposed that the Federal Government retain 

control over the public lands within the borders of the new State, that tracts 

of public land sold thereafter be exempt from all taxes for a period of time, 

that section 16 in each township be granted to the State for support of 

schools, and that the State be granted the salt springs and the use of a percentage of the net proceeds of the sale of public lands for the construction of 

roads leading to and through the State. When Ohio was admitted, most of 

these provisions were included, although in less liberal form than Gallatin 

had proposed. The salt springs and adjacent land totaling 28,320 acres were 

granted to the State, but Congress decreed that the springs were to be leased, 

not sold, and for not longer than 10 years at a time.

The purchase of Louisiana in 1803 doubled the area of the United States. 

Louisiana, comprising all the territory between the Mississippi and the 

Rockies, had been in Spanish possession since 1769, but less than 1 percent 

of it had been settled. France acquired the province by a secret treaty on 

October 1, 1800, as the French tried to replace the loss of Canada by a 

profitable base in North America. Late in 1801, Bonaparte sent an expeditionary force to Hispaniola with orders to suppress the Negro republic there 

and then to take possession of New Orleans and Louisiana. Though Jefferson 

was pro-French, the prospect of a French army in Louisiana was not a pleasant one. When the Spanish governor of Louisiana withdrew the right of 

transit at New Orleans from American traders, the West rose in wrath. 

Jefferson then commissioned James Monroe as envoy extraordinary to France 

with instructions to attempt to purchase New Orleans and the Floridas. 

Bonaparte, about to renew war with England, and unable to make headway 

in the Hispaniola campaign, decided to sell all of Louisiana, and on April 

30, 1803, the treaty of cession was signed. On November 30, Louisiana was 

formally handed over by the Spanish governor to a French prefect who, in 

turn, transferred it to the United States 3 weeks later.

Cherished for Its Own Sake, 1801-1829 19
The Louisiana Purchase involved the Federal Government in mineral-land 

problems, for lead was already being mined in Missouri under Spanish and 

French grants, but by the Ordinance of 1785, one-third part of all lead 

mines was reserved to the United States. Moses Austin, who prepared a 

report on the Missouri lead mines in 1804, estimated that 530,000 pounds 

of lead, worth $36,500, had been produced in the preceding 3 years and 

predicted that the time was not far off when the district would furnish lead 

sufficient not only for the United States but all Europe "if moderate encouragement is given by the government, and protection against the Osage Indians, who yearly plunder the inhabitants." However, no immediate action 

was taken beyond providing for determination and confirmation of the Spanish and French land grants and extending the U.S. land surveys over the new 

territory. In December 1806, John Grant, a member of the Kentucky legislature, forced the issue by requesting permission to work a lead mine that 

he had discovered in Indiana Territory. The land offices had little information on the mines, so to prevent their sale at the same price as nonmineral 

lands, the Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, suggested to the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Lands that the Government withhold all mineral lands from public or private sale. On March 3, 1807, by 

act of Congress, all lead mines in Indiana Territory were reserved from sale, 

and the President was authorized to lease lead mines for a period of not more 

than 3 years. The first leases called for a royalty of 10 percent of the processed 

lead. Attempts to put the leasing provisions into effect in Missouri as well 

ran into difficulties because of the existence side by side of land with previous 

title and public land.

By Republican principles, such matters as education, science, and internal 

improvements were State responsibilities, and the Federal Government could 

not support them without an amendment to the Constitution. However, in 

1802, the Corps of Engineers was established as a military academy at West 

Point, and West Point, a Federal institution, became the first engineering 

school in the Nation.

In 1803, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were sent on an 

exploring mission to the source of the Missouri River, ostensibly to make 

trade agreements with the Indians and find a water route to the Pacific for 

commerce. They were also prepared, however, to collect information on the 

whole range of natural history and to fix geographic positions by astronomical observations so that a map of the region could be made. Jefferson himself 

was enough of a scientist to provide detailed instructions for the expedition, 

but he also arranged to have Captain Lewis instructed in some of the finer 

points by some of his scientist friends in Philadelphia.

The first scientific agency in the Federal Government was established in 

1807. Again the stated motive was practical commercial interests had been 

demanding better charts of coastal waters and navigational aids but it was 

a proposition of the American Philosophical Society that led to the establishment of the Survey of the Coast. F. R. Hassler, a trained and experienced 

geodesist, had migrated to the United States as part of a land-speculating 

colony that collapsed. The Philosophical Society suggested to the President 

that Hassler be put to work on a general geodetic survey of the coast, and 

Congress was induced to appropriate $50,000 for the survey because of its 

commercial and military importance. The organization of the work was entrusted to the Secretary of the Treasury but was postponed because of the 

urgency of other affairs.

By 1807, a growing tension in international affairs diverted public attention from domestic problems. Great Britain and France were at war, and the 

United States was feeling the effect because of the interference with its com20 Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829
merce and the impressment of American seamen. In December 1807, President Jefferson recommended an embargo, which Congress speedily approved. The embargo prohibited the departure of any U.S. ship for a foreign 

port and required those in the coastwise trade to post a bond double the 

value of the craft and cargo as a guarantee that the goods would be relanded 

at a U.S. port. American industry was stimulated, but commerce suffered as 

both exports and imports declined.

Both iron and coal industries benefitted by the embargo. The iron industry began to expand but even with the stimulation provided by the embargo, 

there were only 153 blast furnaces in all the United States in 1810, and only 

about 54,000 gross tons of cast iron were produced. Great Britain in 1806, 

the nearest year for which statistics are available, produced more than a 

quarter of a million tons of iron. When the shipment of coal from the Virginia mines fell off as the result of the embargo, the anthracite producers in 

eastern Pennsylvania were able to establish a foothold in the coal market, 

but wood remained the principal fuel.

Opposition to the embargo, strongest in the mercantile areas of New England and New York, brought the Federalists back into power in State governments, and in Congress, a coalition of Federalists and the Republican 

faction led by John Randolph of Virginia passed the Non-Intercourse Act, 

repealing the embargo and reopening trade with all nations except France 

and Great Britain. The act also authorized the President to proclaim resumption of trade with France or Great Britain if or when either one repealed its 

decrees that were injuring American commerce. Jefferson signed the measure 

on March 1, 1809, as one of his last official acts.

The Land Act of 1800 had encouraged sales of public land, and settlement 

of the Old Northwest had proceeded rapidly during Jefferson's administration. The Northwest Territory had been divided in 1800, the western part 

becoming Indiana Territory. By 1809, the Indians had ceded some 48 million acres by treaties, and Indiana Territory was divided, its westernmost 

part being organized as Illinois Territory. Then Tecumseh and his brother, 

sons of a Shawnee chief, began to organize an Indian confederacy to stop 

alienation of their lands and resist the westward sweep of white settlers.

Although the embargo had been repealed, the commercial warfare continued. President Madison, who succeeded Jefferson on March 4, 1809, issued 

a proclamation in April legalizing trade with Great Britain, having been 

assured by the British Minister to the United States that orders in council 

would be repealed. The Non-Intercourse Act was revived in August when 

the British Foreign Secretary disavowed the Minister's action. In May 1810, 

Congress reversed that action and reopened trade with both France and Great 

Britain, promising that if either removed its restrictions before March 3, 

1811, the Non-Intercourse Act would be revived against the other. In the 

brief interlude in the commercial warfare, the Coast Survey project which 

had been in abeyance since 1807 was again taken up, and Hassler was despatched to England to obtain instruments.

In the elections of 1810, nearly half the House failed to be reelected. 

Many young Republicans from agrarian areas in the South and West, whose 

people were not affected by the maritime issues, were elected because of their 

nationalist and expansionist sentiments. Those from the West wanted to 

destroy the frontier Indian menace, which they attributed to British intrigue 

and incitement, and incidentally to annex Canada. Those from the South, 

where there was trouble with the Creek Indians, wanted to wrest Florida 

from Spain, Britain's ally. Among those elected in 1810 were Henry Clay 

of Kentucky and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.

Westward Expansion 21
When the 12th Congress assembled in November 1811, the war hawks 

assumed positions of leadership. Seniority was tossed to the wind as Henry 

Clay was elected Speaker and John C. Calhoun became floor leader and then 

head of the Foreign Relations Committee. Madison's message to Congress 

was both anti-British and anti-French and called for preparations for national 

defense. As Congress convened, an Indian battle on the northwestern frontier 

further inflamed anti-British sentiment. In the summer of 1811, Tecumseh 

had gone south to enlist the Creek Indians in his league, and General William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, was persuaded to move 

against the Indians in his absence. On November 7, the Indians attacked the 

American force while it was in camp but were beaten back after a day-long 

battle. Three weeks later, the Foreign Relations Committee called for 

50,000 volunteers, arming of all merchant ships, and the outfitting of warships. To all intents and purposes, this was an unofficial declaration of war.

Another expansionist, Senator Thomas Worthington, who had gone to 

Northwest Territory as a surveyor but stayed to become a member of the 

territorial legislature, advocate of Ohio statehood, and one of Ohio's first 

Senators, started the move to improve the disposal of public lands. On November 13, 1811, he submitted a motion that a committee be appointed to 

consider the matter with leave to report by bill or otherwise. A bill to establish a General Land Office as a bureau of the Department of the Treasury was 

eventually reported out and passed by the Senate on February 27, by the 

House in April, and approved by the President on April 25. The General 

Land Office was to be headed by a Commissioner whose duties were "to 

superintend, execute, and perform all such acts and things touching or respecting the public lands of the United States and other lands patented or 

granted by the United States, as have heretofore been directed by law to be 

done or performed in the office of the Secretary of State, of the Secretary and 

Register of the Treasury, and of the Secretary of War." The Commissioner 

was authorized to employ a sufficient number of clerks to carry on the work, 

provided that their total annual compensation did not exceed $7,000. The 

Office of the Surveyor-General was not included and was continued as a 

separate agency.

War was officially declared in June 1812. It was far from a popular one. 

New England was especially opposed and threatened to secede. In the elections in November 1812, Madison carried the South and West and was 

reelected, but DeWitt Clinton, the anti-war candidate, carried all the 

Northeastern and Middle Atlantic States except Vermont and Pennsylvania. 

Peace negotiations began almost as soon as the war did, but time was lost 

over an attempt at mediation by the Russian Emperor. By the time direct 

negotiations began, Britain was in no hurry for peace. Napoleon abdicated 

in April 1814, releasing British troops for service in America. The Treaty of 

Ghent signed on Christmas Eve 1814 said nothing about neutral rights and 

the impressment of seamen, over which the conflict had officially begun. 

When the negotiations began, the British demanded establishment of a neutral Indian buffer state in the Northwest, and territorial concessions along 

the line from Maine to west of Lake Superior, but in the end, the prewar 

territorial status was restored, and a boundary commission was proposed to 

settle the boundary between Canada and the United States.

The war had a substantial and, for the most part, adverse effect on the 

American economy. The method of war financing was inflationary, and the 

general price level substantially increased, but the price of goods ordinarily 

purchased abroad or transported by water increased over and above the general level while the price of goods customarily exported fell. The Southern

22 Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829
States, where the economy depended on exporting tobacco, rice, and cotton, 

were especially hard hit. In Virginia, where the soil was already beginning 

to show the effects of long-continued use, conditions were more serious than 

in the rest of the area. Textile and iron manufacturing enterprises in the 

Northeastern and Middle Atlantic States, however, were aided by the exclusion of imports.

The end of the war brought a renewed demand in America for European 

goods and in Europe for such American exports as wheat, flour, tobacco, 

rice, and cotton. The production and export of agricultural products soon 

restored prosperity to the agricultural segment. The industrial segment did 

not prosper correspondingly. The Hamiltonian idea of protection of infant 

manufactures through imposition of a tariff was revived and was regarded 

with more interest than when it was first proposed. The problem was complicated by the fact that the customs revenue was the primary source of the 

Government's income. A tariff that would exclude foreign goods and protect 

American manufactures would not produce revenue. A tariff act was enacted 

in 1816, but it was a compromise. Protection was extended to iron manufactures and textiles. The tariff did not solve the problem of foreign competition for iron manufacturers, however, and American production of pig iron 

was essentially stationary from 1810 to 1820. Lead mining, on the other 

hand, attained considerable importance in Missouri during the second decade 

of the 19th century. Henry Schoolcraft visited the area in 1818 and reported 

that 27 mines were in operation and 1,130 men were employed.

Once the war was over, the Coast Survey was finally able to get underway, 

but soon ran into difficulties. Hassler had been marooned in England during 

the war but returned to the United States in 1815. President Madison allowed him a salary of $3,000 and $2,000 for expenses, and measurement of 

a base line began in 1816. In 1817, critics began to question the slowness 

of the operation, and in 1818, the survey was transferred to the Navy.

Management of natural resources on the public domain was advanced to a 

second stage in 1816 when the Secretary of the Navy was instructed to 

explore the live oak and red cedar forests acquired with the purchase of Louisiana and to select tracts to satisfy the requirements of the Navy. Agents 

were appointed both to select the desired tracts and to protect them from 

trespass.

Westward migration resumed after the war and increased to enormous 

proportions. Settlers moved into the Lake Plains and also the Mississippi 

Valley, the Gulf Plains, and the Southwest. Indiana was admitted as a State 

in 1816. A series of treaties with the Indians encouraged settlement in middle Georgia, western Alabama, and Tennessee. In 1817, Mississippi was 

admitted as a State, and the Territory of Alabama was created.

As the frontier moved westward, there was a growing need for adequate 

transportation facilities to link the outlying, predominantly agricultural regions with eastern markets. Practical necessity suggested the need for change 

in Federal policy on internal improvements. In December 1816, in his last 

message to Congress, President Madison recommended construction of a network of roads and canals to be subsidized by the Federal Government, but 

said that a constitutional amendment would be necessary first. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina introduced the measure in the House to create a 

permanent fund for internal improvements but did not prepare any amendment. Although the Constitution did not specifically authorize internal improvements, he said, sanction could be drawn from the "general welfare" 

clause and from the power to establish post roads. The bill was passed, such 

opposition as there was being based on sectional rather than on constitutional

Internal Improvements 23
grounds. Madison, on his last day in office, vetoed the bill on constitutional 

grounds. The failure of the Calhoun bill did not alter the need for internal 

improvements but made it incumbent upon the States to establish their own 

programs. New York was first the State legislature in 1817 authorized 

construction of a canal from Albany to Buffalo, to link the Hudson River 

with Lake Erie; others followed with somewhat less ambitious projects.

By 1817, when James Monroe became the fifth President of the United 

States, several Jeffersonian concepts of democracy had taken on a strong 

Hamiltonian tinge. In his inaugural address, Monroe spoke in general terms 

of the need to encourage industry, trade, and commerce and to foster manufacturing in order to free the Nation from dependence on foreign imports 

and provide a market for American raw materials. He held to the need of a 

constitutional sanction, however, for construction of a system of roads and 

canals. In his first message to Congress in December 1817, he made specific 

recommendations about a protective tariff and proposed that an amendment 

to the Constitution to authorize federally sponsored internal improvements 

be submitted to the States. He also invited Congress to consider anew the 

method of disposal of the public lands. The public lands had increased in 

value, and he believed that they should be disposed of to the best advantage 

of the Nation rather than permit capitalists who could buy up large blocks 

of land to amass the profits.

There was no problem about the tariff. The bill was passed in April 1818. 

The iron industry received increased protection, and the duties on textiles, 

which had been scheduled to decrease, were extended to 1826.

The Senate and the House differed over the need for an amendment to the 

Constitution on internal improvements. A bill to amend the Constitution 

was introduced in the Senate, but the House Committee on Internal Improvements presented a report stating that Congress had the power to construct roads and canals and accusing the President of invading the privileges 

of the legislature. Speaker Henry Clay called the President to task for his 

"irregular and unconstitutional" behavior in expressing an opinion before 

any specific legislation was adopted. The House then adopted a resolution 

requesting the Secretaries of War and Treasury to prepare a report on a general plan of internal improvements and requested the Secretary of War further to advise Congress as to the extent of its authority. The Senate then 

dropped the proposed amendment.

As the Secretary of War was the same John C. Calhoun who had sponsored 

the bill on internal improvements that Madison had vetoed on his last day 

in office, the House evidently expected a restatement of his position that 

Congress had the necessary authority. However, Calhoun drew up the requested general plan but acceded to President Monroe's request that all 

passages intimating that Congress had the power to construct internal improvements be omitted. Monroe himself prepared a long essay on his interpretation of the Constitution in which he made a fine distinction between 

Congressional power to appropriate money for and its power to authorize 

construction of internal improvements. He was persuaded not to send it to 

Congress, and the question of internal improvements was temporarily put 

aside because of other problems.

The boundaries between British and American territory were peacefully 

negotiated in 1818 by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. The two 

countries agreed that the northwest boundary between the United States and 

British territory in North America would be the 49th parallel from the Lake 

of the Woods, in present-day Minnesota, to the crest of the Rocky Mountains. This line established the northern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase 

which had not been defined in 1803. West of the Rocky Mountains, no 

boundary was established, but the two powers agreed that the Oregon coun24 Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829
try would be open to both American and British citizens for 10 years and 

that the joint occupation would not be considered prejudicial to the territorial claims of either. Adams also negotiated a treaty with the Spanish government in 1819 by which the western limits of the Louisiana Purchase were 

defined as extending from the mouth of the Sabine River on the Gulf of 

Mexico in a general northwesterly direction along the Sabine, Red, and Arkansas Rivers to the 42d parallel and thence due west to the Pacific Ocean. 

In the same treaty Spain also renounced all claims to West Florida and ceded 

East Florida to the United States, and the United States in turn renounced 

all its claim to Texas.

A nationwide controversy on States' rights was touched off in the spring 

of 1819 by the Supreme Court's landmark decision in the case of M'Culloch 

versus Maryland. The case involved an act of the legislature of the State of 

Maryland taxing a branch of the Bank of the United States which the Court 

unanimously declared unconstitutional and void. In his opinion, Chief Justice Marshall gave a detailed exposition of the Constitution and its "loose" 

construction. "Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the 

Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted 

to that end, which are not prohibited,*** are constitutional." The opinion 

supported the nationalist position and so had implications far beyond the 

matter of State taxation of a Federal bank.

A major economic crisis began to develop in the spring of 1819, the result 

of overexpansion of credit during the postwar years and the collapse of the 

export market. The effect was immediate and drastic in the South, which 

was primarily agricultural, but every segment of the economy was involved 

by the end of the year. Widespread speculation in land, stimulated by the 

liberal credit provisions in the Land Act of 1800, had marked the postwar 

boom. In the fall of 1819, Secretary of the Treasury William Crawford reported that the Government had disposed of $44 million worth of land since 

1789 but had been paid only half that amount up to September 30, 1819. 

Changes in the disposal of public land were obviously necessary, and in April 

1820, Congress passed a new land act, reducing the minimum price to 

$1.25 an acre and the minimum purchase to 80 acres but requiring full 

payment in cash on the day of purchase. In theory, this was to benefit the 

individual settler and discourage the speculator. Because of the depression 

and almost universal indebtedness, however, it resulted in an almost complete cessation of land sales.

Another major crisis developed in the spring of 1819 over slavery, 

brought to the fore by Missouri's petition for statehood. When the enabling 

legislation came before Congress in February 1819, amendments were introduced to prohibit the further introduction of slaves and to provide for the 

eventual freeing of the children of slaves already in Missouri. The amendments were passed by the House but defeated in the Senate, and there was 

no compromise. The organization of Arkansas Territory came before Congress at the same time, but the proposal to forbid further slavery there was 

defeated, and the Territory was organized on March 2, 1819, with its northern boundary at 36°30' and no restriction on slavery.

In the spring of 1820, a compromise enabled Missouri to be admitted as 

a State. When the 16th Congress convened in December 1819, Maine, 

which had been a district of Massachusetts, petitioned for statehood. By 

admitting Maine as a free State and Missouri as a slave State, the number of 

slave and free States remained equal. The Missouri Compromise also provided that slavery would be prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase north of 

36°30'. Maine was admitted as a State on March 15, 1820, but Missouri 

not until August 10, 1821, the delay resulting from problems in obtaining 

approval of the Missouri State Constitution.

Crises of 1819 25
The Census of 1820 showed that the United States was still an agrarian 

nation but that the urban population (those living in communities of 2,500 

or more) was increasing. New England was the most urbanized section, and 

there manufacturing, especially of textiles, had begun to expand. The Middle Atlantic States were partly urbanized, partly agricultural. The largest 

cities in the country were New York, with 124,000 inhabitants, and Philadelphia, with 113,000, but the States of New York and Pennsylvania were 

at the same time the leading wheat-producing States. Pennsylvania was also 

the leading mining State in the Nation. Mining, however, was of only slight 

importance in the United States as a whole. Despite the protection afforded 

by the tariffs of 1816 and 1818, the value of American pig iron had not 

increased between 1810 and 1820. The coal product had increased, but even 

by the most optimistic estimates was only 330,000 tons, about two-thirds 

of which was mined in Pennsylvania. In the South, agriculture was supreme. 

The invention of the cotton gin had encouraged a tremendous expansion in 

cotton growing, tobacco production had stabilized, and production of sugarcane in Louisiana was beginning to increase. However, much farmland was 

being abandoned in Eastern and Southeastern States, and a westward shift of 

agriculture was underway.

If agriculture was to remain the basic pursuit in the American way of life 

in those eastern areas, some means must be found of restoring prosperity. 

Edmund Ruffin of Virginia was one of the pioneers in the use of the scientific 

method. Ruffin had assumed charge of a farm in Prince George County after 

the death of his father in 1813. Much of the farmland had then been abandoned, and he set out, with little practical or theoretical knowledge, to find 

why the land had lost its fertility. His first experiments were failures. Then 

he observed that sorrel and pine grew on poor lands and that calcareous 

earths were absent. He adopted a suggestion from Sir Humphrey Davy's 

Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, began experimenting with marl, and obtained favorable results. From these experiments, he concluded that soils, 

once fertile, had been reduced by harmful cultivation, had become "acid" 

and had thereby lost their power to retain manures. The condition could be 

corrected by application of calcareous earths, and fertility equal to or greater 

than the original could then be acquired by use of fertilizers, crop rotation, 

drainage, and good plowing. His theories were presented to the Prince 

George Agricultural .Society in 1818 and were published 3 years later.

By 1819, geology had made great progress as a science in the various 

centers in New England, New York, and Philadelphia. In 1802, Yale had 

established a department of science, the first in the country, by dividing the 

chair of mathematics and natural philosophy and appointing Benjamin Silliman professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and natural history. Silliman, 

then about 22, had recently been admitted to the bar and was serving as a 

tutor in law and had not even the most rudimentary knowledge of science. 

He therefore went to Philadelphia where he spent 5 months attending the 

lectures on chemistry at the Medical School of Philadelphia. He later spent 

2 years studying at the University of Edinburgh. Silliman gave his first 

lecture at Yale on April 4, 1804, and in 1806 prepared his first geologic 

report, a sketch of the mineralogy of New Haven. In 1810, he proposed to 

the Connecticut Academy of Sciences that a geological survey of the State be 

made. The Academy approved the idea but had no funds, so the project did 

not get underway. In 1812, Professor SilUman began teaching a separate 

course in geology at Yale.

Harvard established a Massachusetts Professor of Natural History in 

1805, but the incumbent of the position stressed botany. A Harvard graduate, Parker Cleaveland, was appointed professor of mathematics, natural

26 Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829
Benjamin Silliman

Silliman had a great influence on the development 

of science in the United States in the first half of the 

19th century. He was a gifted teacher and, as professor of chemistry and natural history at Yale College from 1802 to 1853, did much to establish the 

study of science on an equal footing with the traditional curriculum. As founder and first editor of the 

American Journal of Science, and as a public lecturer, 

he made the country conscious of the value of science. (Photograph of oil portrait by John Trumbull 

courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.)

philosophy, chemistry, and mineralogy at Bowdoin College in Maine in 

1805. Like Silliman, Cleaveland had no previous training in science and, 

until he became interested in mineralogy, was undecided between a career 

in the church or the law. In 1816, Professor Cleaveland published the first 

American attempt at a systematic treatise on mineralogy. The full title was 

Treatise on Mineralogy and Geology, but the geology occupied' only 50 of the 

668 pages.

In New York, the most influential scientist was Dr. S. L. Mitchill, who 

received an M.D. from Edinburgh in 1786. In 1792, Dr. Mitchill became 

professor of natural history, chemistry, and agriculture at Columbia College, 

a position he resigned in 1801 to enter the U.S. Congress. In 1797, he 

established the first strictly scientific journal in the United States, the Medical Repository. He also helped found the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures, under whose auspices he made a mineralogical investigation of the banks of the Hudson River. Dr. Mitchill was also 

the first president of the American Mineralogical Society, founded in 1799 

for "the investigation of the mineral and fossil bodies which compose the 

fabric of the globe; and more especially for the natural and chemical history 

of the minerals and fossils of the United States."

Beginning of American Geology 27
One of Dr. Mitchill's students at Columbia, Dr. Archibald Bruce, who 

had obtained an M.D. from Edinburgh, in 1800, and spent 2 years on the 

continent of Europe studying and collecting minerals, began publication of 

the American Mineralogicat Journal in 1810. This was the first American 

publication designed primarily for geologists and mineralogists, but its life 

was short.

Philadelphia science centered around the American Philosophical Society 

and the University of Pennsylvania. There William Maclure, who moved to 

the United States in 1796 after making his fortune in merchandising, became a patron of science and an active scientist. In 1809, the American 

Philosophical Society published his memoir on his observations on the geology of the United States, which included a colored geologic map of the 

region east of the Mississippi River. The classification of formations adopted 

by Maclure was largely Wernerian; he recognized four classes of rocks: Primitive, Transition, Secondary, and Alluvial. A revised edition was published 

in 1817.

In England, William Smith, a civil engineer, had discovered that each 

sedimentary rock had its own distinguishing assemblage of fossils and that 

he could recognize a specific unit even when the characteristic rock type was 

different. His first geologic map, of an area around the city of Bath, was 

published in 1799- In 1815, he produced the first geologic map of England 

and Wales. Georges Cuvier, professor of natural history at the College de 

France, using Smith's methods, worked out the detailed stratigraphic sequence of vertebrates and marine invertebrates in the Tertiary rocks of the 

Paris Basin and in 1812 showed conclusively that many fossil invertebrates

William Maclure

Maclure was born in Scotland and first visited the 

United States in 1782 at the age of 19. After acquiring a fortune in a mercantile business, he retired 

to devote his life to science and philanthropy. He 

settled in the United States, became an American 

citizen, and began an ambitious work of a geological 

survey of the country. His geological map, published in 1809, was the first of such scope in the 

history of geology. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

28 Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829
Amos Eaton

Born in the year of American Independence, Eaton 

graduated from Williams College in 1799 and entered the legal profession. He became interested in 

natural science, particularly botany, and in 1815 

adopted science as his profession and entered Yale 

to study under Silliman. He was influential in the 

establishment of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and as a member of its faculty taught many 

who became leading geologists. (Photograph of portrait courtesy of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.)

had no known living counterparts. A translation of Cuvier's essay was published in the United States in 1818 along with S. L. Mitchill's Observations 

on the Geology of North America.

It was Yale's Professor Benjamin Silliman who provided the stimulus for 

many developments in geology thereafter. In 1818, he began publication of 

the American Journal of Science and the Arts, which ever since has been a principal publishing medium for geological papers. The first issue of the Journal 

included a report by Edward Hitchcock, who had studied under Silliman, 

on the geology and mineralogy of a section of Massachusetts; the report 

contained a geological map, colored by hand. In 1818, Amos Eaton, who 

had also been a student of Silliman's, published his Index to the Geology of the 

Northern States as a text for classes in geology at Williams College and also, 

on the invitation of Governor DeWitt Clinton, delivered a course of lectures 

on the subject to the New York State Legislature. In 1819, the American 

Geological Society was organized. Although Maclure was elected president 

and Silliman only the second vice president, Silliman presided at the first 

meeting, which was held at Yale College.

Professor Silliman's influence may have extended beyond academic circles. The Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, had been one of Silliman's 

first students at Yale and had remained his good friend. Calhoun, being of 

an expansionist frame of mind, was promoting expeditions to the West. 

Under his orders, two expeditions were organized in 1819: that of Major 

Stephen H. Long to the Rocky Mountains and that of General Lewis Cass 

along the south shore of Lake Superior to the sources of the Mississippi River. 

Calhoun encouraged the acquisition of scientific information as well as inforDevelopments in American Geology 29
mation on the geography of the regions. Dr. Edwin James, a pupil of Amos 

Eaton's, was attached to the Long expedition as botanist and geologist. 

Henry Schoolcraft's book on the lead mines of Missouri had brought Schoolcraft to the attention of the Secretary, and he was attached to General Cass's 

expedition, which was to investigate the deposits of copper, lead, and gypsum supposed to exist in the Northwest. In the reorganization of the War 

Department under Calhoun, a centralized topographical unit had been 

added, and a course in military and topographical engineering was begun at 

West Point.

The States took responsibility for aid to agriculture as they had for internal 

improvements. In New York, the State legislature in 1819 provided $ 10,000 

in State funds to aid county agricultural societies, which would have as one 

of their purposes the general promotion of science, with the proviso that an 

agricultural society be formed in each county. In the summer of 1820, Stephen Van Rensselaer, president of the Agricultural Society of New York 

employed Amos Eaton to make a geological survey of Albany County, which 

was described as the "first attempt yet made in this country, to collect and 

arrange geological facts, with a direct view to the improvement of agriculture." In the following year, Eaton made a geological and agricultural survey of the adjoining Rensselaer County, and, having completed these two 

surveys, he proposed a geological survey of the district adjoining the Erie 

Canal with the idea of expanding the survey eventually to cover the entire 

State. Van Rensselaer agreed but suggested that Eaton "have the sanction of 

a scientific geologist and one known to the public." Silliman's aid was 

solicited and given; he agreed to publish reports of the survey in the American 

Journal of Snencc. During the Erie Canal survey, Eaton conceived the idea of 

a school wherein the students would learn by doing. He proposed it to Van 

Rensselaer, who again agreed, and the Rensselaer School, later the Rensselaer 

Polytechnic Institute, was established in November 1824 "for the purpose 

of instructing persons, who may choose to apply themselves, in the application of science to the common purposes of life."

In 1821, another student of Professor Silliman's, Denison Olmsted, professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology at the University of North 

Carolina, approached the North Carolina Board on internal improvements 

with the idea that he spend his vacations making a geological and mineralogical survey of that State. He asked only $ 100 to defray his expenses, but 

the Board referred his request to the General Assembly and the General 

Assembly did not act on it. In 1823, however, the North Carolina General 

Assembly authorized the Board of Agriculture to employ "some person of 

competent skill and science to make a geological and mineralogical survey," 

and Denison Olmsted began work. His first report, which was published in 

1824, included several pages on the gold mines of North Carolina. In the 

early 1800's, gold in sufficient quantity to create some excitement had been 

found in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and soon afterwards in adjacent 

Montgomery County. Washings were carried on in the small stream's for 

several years thereafter, and when Olmsted made his survey, they were still 

being carried on in three areas. Olmsted's report was thus the first report 

on geology of the precious metals in the United States.

The gold was of sufficient interest to Olmsted that he prepared a separate 

paper, "accompanied by some Geological speculations not consistent with 

the nature" of a report to the Board of Agriculture; this paper was published in the American Journal of Science in 1825. The gold, he reported, was 

found in an area of about 1,000 square miles in the southern part of the State 

in "a thin stratum of gravel enclosed in a dense mud, usually of a pale blue 

colour, but sometimes yellow" which might be at the surface or as much as 

8 feet below the surface in the bottoms where the alluvium had accumulated.

( li(^S5%Mt> ( A v . >jMflil1

Amos Eaton said in 1822 that unfortunately for geology, A. G. Werner, the father of the science, had 

never published an elementary system, and knowledge of his views depended largely on the notes of 

his students. Werner had recognized only four classes 

of rocks: Primitive, Transition, Secondary, and Superincumbent, and Eaton deplored the recent custom among geologists of cutting up and subdividing which was on the point of ruining the simplicity 

of the Wernenan arrangement, as the same custom 

among botanists had already nearly ruined the Linnean system of vegetables. In his geological profile 

from the Atlantic to Lake Erie, a portion of which 

is shown here, Eaton adhered to the Wernerian classification. (From Amos Eaton, 1824.)

30 Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829
"This auriferous stratum, and similar strata which exist in various parts of 

the world," Olmsted remarked, "are believed by Geologists to have been a 

deposit from water after having been broken up and agitated by strong currents; in short, to be standing monuments of the Deluge." It was therefore 

unlikely, he thought, that the present streams had brought down the gold 

or that the gold would be found below the mud and gravel layer. Nor did 

the facts warrant any expectation of a great gold mine in the vicinity from 

which the lumps and grains had been derived. Olmsted recognized that the 

gravel in the auriferous layer was probably derived from the great Slate Formation, but he thought it improbable that veins of gold would be found in 

the slate.

The admission of Missouri revived the problems with mineral lands because lead mining was of considerable importance in the State. The United 

States had retained title to the lead lands in Illinois when it was admitted as 

a State in 1818, but leasing there was simpler because there were no previous titles to the land except the Indian claims, and most of the miners 

came after the reform in the land laws that required cash on the day of 

purchase. The Missouri General Assembly petitioned Congress to grant the 

lead mines to the State shortly after Missouri was admitted. Congress, however, transferred management of the lead lands from the Treasury Department to the War Department, and Colonel George Bomford, head of the 

Ordnance Bureau, recommended that the post of commissioner or superintendent of the lead lands be established because of the difficulties involved 

in administering them. Neither Missouri's petition nor the Colonel's recommendation was approved.

In his annual message to Congress in December 1822, President Monroe 

said that because of the importance of the lead to the public defence, the 

lead mines should be managed "with peculiar care" and suggested that an 

agent skilled in mineralogy be appointed to superintend them. The presidential recommendation notwithstanding, in January 1823, Senator Thomas 

Hart Benton introduced a bill to authorize sale of the mineral lands, but it 

was tabled. In December 1823, his colleague, Senator David Barton, introduced a bill to authorize sale of the lead mines and salines. That also failed.

Missouri's Mineral-Land Problems 31
#-***,

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.» j ,i, k

j- £

In 1824, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, George Graham, 

recommended that the mineral lands be sold, giving two reasons: (1) as a 

source of revenue, lands containing iron ore or agricultural lands of the best 

quality were also valuable, and there was no reason to discriminate against 

lead lands; (2) as a source of national wealth, lands managed by private 

enterprise would be more productive than those managed by government. In 

1824, however, Lieutenant Martin Thomas was appointed first Superintendent of Lead Mines for Missouri and the West. The Lieutenant entered upon 

his assignment with enthusiasm. In Missouri, all earlier leases had expired, 

but several new ones were arranged. Inspection of the area then convinced 

him that a great deal of mineral land had not been reserved, and he thereupon withdrew several tens of thousands of acres more. Temporarily forestalled, Senator Benton turned his attention to a second desire of the West, 

cheap land, and introduced a bill for graduating the price of public lands.

In his 1822 annual message, Monroe rather cautiously recommended an 

increase in tariff rates to encourage manufactures. In the best of worlds, this 

would not be necessary, but in the event of war or even commercial rivalries, 

it was desirable to be strong at home. The question of internal improvements 

was still unresolved. In 1822, Congress had passed a bill for repair of the 

National Turnpike, construction of which had been halted by the panic of 

1819, and for the collection of tolls. Monroe had vetoed the bill, holding

Hitchcock also followed the Wernerian system in 

his map which covers the area from a few miles 

south of Northhampton, Massachusetts, to the 

northern boundary of Brattleboro, Vermont, and 

Chesterfield, New Hampshire. The Primitive, 

Transition, and Secondary rocks are described in 

more detail in his section, from which, Amos Eaton 

said, one could learn much more than from his map. 

(From Edward Hitchcock, 1818.)

32 Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829
In this "geological segment" published in 1830, 

Eaton showed his concept of the structure of the 

Earth beneath the North American continent, including the internal nucleus, the remaining areas of 

combustible matter giving rise to mountains, and 

the crust. Although he had earlier deplored the custom of subdividing the Wernerian classification of 

rocks, he divided the crustal rocks into four series, 

each of which he further divided, in ascending order, into carboniferous, quartzose, and calcareous 

rocks. (From Amos Eaton, 1830.)

that Congress did not have the right of jurisdiction and construction, and 

again recommended a national system of internal improvements be sanctioned by an appropriate amendment to the Constitution.

In his 1823 message, Monroe more strongly recommended a review of the 

tariff for the purpose of providing increased protection to encourage manufactures. He also suggested that Congress might consider if it might be 

advisable to authorize the employment of engineer officers to examine the 

ground for a Cumberland-Ohio canal then being discussed and report 

thereon, and Congress might also consider the advisability of having them 

extend their examination to routes through which the Ohio might be connected with Lake Erie. Congress this time needed no special urging. A new 

tariff bill increased protection for iron and textiles and added lead to the list 

of protected industries. The House of Representatives established a select 

committee to deal with the question of roads and canals under the chairmanship of Joseph Hemphill of Pennsylvania. The Committee prepared a bill 

authorizing estimates of roads and canals required for national military, commercial, or postal purposes, and authorized funds for engineering surveys to 

make the estimates. The General Survey bill was passed promptly by Congress, and as it avoided the constitutional question of construction, it was 

approved by President Monroe on April 30, 1824. Henry Clay, in defending 

the protective features of the tariff, had called the combination of the protective tariff and a national system of internal improvements an "American 

system." It had a very Hamiltonian cast.

The inauguration on March 4, 1825, of John Quincy Adams brought to 

the Presidency a man as dedicated to science as Thomas Jefferson. Unlike 

Jefferson, however, and Madison and Monroe after him, Adams did not regard a constitutional amendment as necessary for the Federal Government to 

support internal improvements, education, or science. In his first annual 

message to Congress in December 1825, he took a broad national view of 

constitutional powers and made many recommendations: construction of

The "American System" 33
Denison Olmsted

As State Geologist and Mineralogist of North Carolina from 1823 to 1825, Olmsted was mainly concerned with mineral resources and their utilization. 

In 1825 he became professor of mathematics and 

natural philosophy at Yale, and his scientific work 

thereafter was in physics and astronomy. (Courtesy 

of the Library of Congress.)

roads and canals at Federal expense, a national university, an astronomical 

observatory, standardization of weights and measures, the exploration of the 

interior of the United States and the Pacific Northwest coast, a naval academy corresponding to West Point to produce scientific and accomplished 

officers for the Navy, a Department of the Interior to relieve other departments of the multiplying burdens of home affairs, and a new executive department to supervise internal improvements and science. Many of these 

recommendations were adopted in later years but none in his term of office.

The manner in which Adams had been elected was one reason that it was 

difficult for him to achieve his objectives. The electoral vote in 1824 had 

not been decisive. Andrew Jackson had actually received the greatest number 

of electoral votes, with Adams second, but there were four candidates and 

none received a majority. The election was therefore submitted to the House 

of Representatives. Henry Clay, who had received the smallest number of 

electoral votes and who was therefore eliminated from the contest in the 

House, advised his friends to vote for Adams, and Adams was elected. Jackson's followers regarded the election as stolen and made immediate plans for 

the next election. In Congress, the Jacksonians opposed almost any Adams 

proposal, "partly from principle and partly from perversity."

Adams was believed to hold the conventional Northeast ideas on the tariff 

and the public lands, and this too made it difficult for him to get his way.

34 Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829
Silliman, who became interested in the growing 

coal industry of Pennsylvania, provided this ideal 

section of the geologic structure at Wilkesbarre. It 

was, he said, "without any pretension to accuracy in 

the proportions or number of strata." Only a generation later, J. Peter Lesley, State Geologist of 

Pennsylvania in 1875, who was noted for a somewhat barbed wit, remarked that the simplicity of 

Silliman's section affected "the weary eyes of the 

coal geologist today like a moonlit street after a hot 

and noisy 'Saturday evening.' " Another ideal section at Wilkesbarre, published in 1866, is shown 

on page 156. (From Benjamin Silliman, 1830.)

But for this, he might safely have presented the scientific and educational 

parts of the program to Congress and the people. The West, of course, 

wanted cheap land and the right of preemption. The Northeast opposed 

cheap land, for if revenue from land sales increased, there was less justification for the tariff. Senator Benton also charged that eastern "capitalists" 

wanted to keep their workers in eastern factories rather than moving westward to become independent farmers. Adams never suggested an increase in 

the price of public land and never opposed laws that would bring about 

lower prices, but the impression prevailed that he had committed himself to 

high prices for public lands as a source of revenue to pay for a Federal system 

of internal improvements and a high tariff to protect manufacturers rather 

than a tariff for revenue that could be used for internal improvements.

The lead lands continued to be an issue during the Adams administration. 

A few months after his appointment as Superintendent of Lead Mines for 

Missouri and the West, Lieutenant Thomas obtained approval for a change 

in the leasing program. Each miner had been required to pay the Government in pure lead 10 percent of all the metal obtained from his ore, and this 

was difficult unless the miner had his own smelting facilities. Thomas arranged to license smelters from which the Government would then collect 

its rent lead. Smelters were required to post a $10,000 bond. Leases which 

allowed a lessee to smelt his own ore required a $5,000 bond and the employment of 20 people. Diggers' permits allowed the holders to exploit 

specified parts of the government land but required them to sell all minerals 

to the licensed smelters. The diggers' permits became far more common 

than leases. The mining methods were primitive. Most of the miners removed only the ore that was easily accessible from the surface, and the average miner probably made less than a dollar a day. But under Lieutenant 

Thomas, the mines experienced a phenomenal growth.

Senator Benton continued to fight for sale of the mineral lands, and Lieutenant Thomas became his favorite whipping boy. By 1827, even Lieutenant 

Thomas was convinced that the Missouri lead lands should be offered for 

sale. His reason, however, was the need to concentrate attention on the more 

lucrative and less troublesome lead lands of the Upper Mississippi Valley.

Miners began to arrive in great numbers in the Illinois lead lands about 

1825, and by June 1827 there were 2,384 digging permits in force and 8 

smelters. Between April 1825 and the end of October 1826, the Government received 140,553 pounds of pure lead from the smelters as rent. By 

1827, the lead production of the Upper Mississippi region exceeded that of 

Missouri, even though the Indians resisted the movement of whites into the 

area and hindered the mining as much as possible. In 1827, Illinois petitioned for cession of the mineral lands within its borders, but the petition 

was denied.

Mineral-Land Problems 35
The tariff also became a divisive issue. The woollen interests of the Northeastern States were dissatisfied with the Tariff of 1824 because it failed to 

eliminate British competition, and they sought higher duties. A bill that 

would have made importation of woollen articles virtually prohibitive was 

passed by the House in 1827 but was defeated in the Senate. The rejection 

of the bill touched off a movement for higher duties in general. The domestic 

iron industry was meeting strong competition from English pig and rolled 

iron, which was being produced at steadily decreasing cost because of the use 

of coke, and from Swedish and Russian hammered bar iron, which was produced more cheaply than the domestic product because of cheaper labor costs 

and the availability of great forests from which to produce charcoal. The 

Harrisburg convention in the midsummer of 1827 proposed establishment 

of a minimum-valuation principle on textiles and additional duties on other 

goods, including hammered bar iron and steel.

After the elections of 1826, the Jacksonians, or Democratic Republicans 

as they were then called, took control of the Congress. The Harrisburg proposal was rejected, but the Jacksonians decided that the tariff issue could be 

used to discredit Adams in the 1828 election. The House Committee on 

Manufactures framed a bill imposing very high duties on raw materials, on 

which New England wanted duties to be low, and eliminating some of the 

protective features pertaining to woollen goods. The South was opposed to 

any form of protective tariff, and it was anticipated that New England would 

also vote against the bill, that no tariff bill would therefore be passed, and 

that the Adams men, rather than the South, would be blamed for the failure. 

However, in the final vote, New England representatives voted for the bill 

despite its deficiencies, and the bill passed both houses. Even as ardent a 

Jacksonian as Senator Benton also voted for the tariff because it included a 

duty on lead which would aid the Missouri lead mines.

The Tariff of 1828, or the Tariff of Abominations as it was later called, 

was the high point of the protective movement. Increases were made in the 

specific duties on all kinds of iron, and iron production improved to 165,000 

tons in 1830, although it continued to lag far behind that of Great Britain.

In the short session of Congress that began in December 1828, the Jacksonians succeeded in bringing about a change in the status of the Missouri 

lead lands. In January 1829, Senator Barton once more presented a memorial 

from the Missouri General Assembly requesting sale of the reserved lead 

lands, and on March 3, 1829, Congress conferred authority on the President 

"to expose to sale" as other public lands, the reserved lead mines and contiguous lands in the State of Missouri, with the proviso that at least 6 months 

public notice be given together "with a brief description of the mineral region in Missouri and the lands to be offered for sale, showing the number 

and localities of the different mines then known, the probability of discovering others, the quality of the ore, the facilities for working it, the further 

facilities, if any, for manufacture of shot, sheet lead, and paints, and the 

means and expense of transporting the whole to the principal markets of the 

United States." The Missouri lead lands were offered for sale in October 

1830 and passed from control of the United States.

36 Cherished for its Own Sake, 1801-1829
Chapter 4.

Accession to Resources and Knowledge,

1829-1841

What an accession would be made to our resources, and to a knowledge of 

our country, were a thorough examination to be instituted into our mineralogical, geological, and even botanical riches! How worthy the genius of our government to have an accurate geological map, with an accompanying report, 

accessible to all citizens!

 Edward Hitchcock

In the presidential election in 1828, Andrew Jackson was triumphantly 

elected President, and John C. Calhoun was reelected Vice President. The 

change in leadership was as profound as the change in 1800. During the 

intervening years, Congress had gradually asserted its leadership over the 

executive, especially after the election of Henry Clay as Speaker. Monroe had 

been able to maintain executive leadership in foreign policy but not in domestic affairs, and John Quincy Adams, although thoroughly committed to 

the principle of executive leadership, was unable to persuade Congress to 

enact his program. The election of Jackson brought a return of strong presidential leadership. The National Republicans, or the Whigs as they became 

known, then reversed their position and supported a strong Congress rather 

than a strong executive.

The change also marked a return to Jeffersonian simplicity and democracy. 

In his inaugural address, Jackson pledged himself to a proper regard for 

States' rights and a revamping of the Federal civil service. He made no clear 

statement of policy on the tariff or the public lands, but internal improvements and the diffusion of knowledge he said were of high importance "so 

far as they can be promoted by constitutional acts of the Federal government." In his first message to Congress, he also questioned the constitutionality of the First Bank of the United States and said that it had failed to 

establish a sound and uniform currency.

The tariff of 1828 had posed a critical issue. Although the South in general opposed the protective tariff, it was the South Carolina legislature that 

adopted a set of resolutions in December 1828 that termed the tariff unconstitutional, and it was the Vice President of the United States, John C. 

Calhoun, who had written the accompanying document which claimed that 

a single State could nullify an act of Congress until three-quarters of the 

States had justified the law through an amendment. Calhoun foresaw the 

development of a permanent division between the North, already becoming 

industrialized, and the South, remaining agricultural. South Carolina thereafter assumed a more radical position on the question of States' rights.

The public lands in turn provided the forum for discussion of the nullification issue in Congress. When the new Congress convened in December 

1829, a proposal by Senator Foot of Connecticut that Congress look into the 

possibility of slowing down the sale of public lands touched off a spectacular 

debate. It began on the public lands, then veered to the nature of the Constitution. Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina presented the case for 

nullification. It ended late in January with Senator Daniel Webster's reply

Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841 37
to Hayne, which once every school child had to memorize, and its stirring 

conclusion "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable."

President Jackson soon made his position clear; he stood with Webster, 

not Calhoun. Congress passed a measure permitting preemption on the public lands for 1 year. The tariff was unchanged.

The discovery of gold-bearing rock in place in North Carolina in 1825 

also had an effect on many policies of the Jackson administration. The first 

discovery in Montgomery County was followed shortly afterwards by a similar discovery in Mecklenberg County. General interest was excited, and the 

surrounding area was then thoroughly explored, and the search extended to 

other States. Gold was discovered in Virginia and South Carolina, and then, 

in the summer of 1829, in Habersham County, Georgia. The Georgia discovery may be one of the first based on geologic reasoning. Judge Jacob Peck 

said that a "gentleman of the name of Wilhero made researches by comparing 

the face of the country and appearance of the branches and streams with the 

gold section in North Carolina, and found deposits of gold through Habersham and Hall counties, and then discovery followed discovery." The Georgia deposits were richer than any previously found. Between 1804 and 

1827, North Carolina had deposited a total of $ 100,000 in gold at the Mint; 

Georgia's first deposit in 1830 was $212,000.

After the initial discovery in Georgia, the exploration for gold moved into 

the northwestern part of the State to which the Cherokee and Creek Indians 

still held title. Judge Peck said that "the indications of gold were not strong, 

but research caused it to be proclaimed richer than any part of the region 

hitherto explored." The problem of the southern Indians was thereby 

brought to a head.

Several years before, as the Eastern States became more crowded, plans 

had been made to move the remaining Indians. In 1825, President Monroe 

made it an official government policy, recommending to Congress that provision be made to transfer them to the plains beyond the Mississippi, which 

were thought to be uninhabitable by white men. The northern Indians, 

being few, were moved without too much trouble, but the southern tribes 

resisted. The Cherokee had been recognized since 1791 by a series of treaties 

as a nation with its own customs and laws, and during the Adams administration, their treaty rights were protected, though settlers encroached on 

their lands. In December 1828, Georgia declared the laws of the Cherokee 

nation null and void. The Cherokee sought relief in the Supreme Court after 

gold was discovered on their lands, but an injunction against the State was 

denied. In another case, a year later, however, the Chief Justice held that the 

National Government had exclusive jurisdiction in the Territory of the Cherokee Nation, but Georgia defied the Court, and President Jackson, who was 

pursuing a vigorous policy of removing the Indians, upheld the State. In 

1835, the Cherokee finally capitulated and agreed to move to Indian territory.

Almost no gold coins had been minted in the United States until this 

time, but the gold fever became so intense that there was agitation to establish a mint in the gold region itself; each State where gold had been found 

claimed that a mint was necessary for the development of its gold resources. 

Senator Benton, who was the administration's chief spokesman in the Senate, fought for the mints against strong opposition, as the constitutional 

right of the States, and eventually three were built: one at Charlotte, North 

Carolina; one at Dahlonega, Georgia; and a third at New Orleans, Louisiana.

The mints were part of the hard-money policy of the administration. Jackson disliked banks and held the Jeffersonian idea that specie was the only

 '' ..,.:; -v , 

38 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
GEOLOGICAL MAP

, ( of tin* ) * ^ 

I.Xi;- niSTUITTS

nt f/t< XI*it4 f/' HKlHHilAM'i

f'f .V. I'AIWUXA itliti m 

K. I >"/' TKX^K^fiKil 

Iiv .li

Mtm/tioul ami itl* ?"«»«,«.»«« tttrrr aim, .»>»«< « l/V '.»/«w«, 

tiftititr Mrrttt f

Jacob Peck's map of the mining districts in Georgia, western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, 

part of which is shown here, is one of the earliest mineral-resource maps. (From Jacob Peck, 1833.)

Gold in Southeastern States 39
sound form of money. An application for recharter of the Bank of the United 

States, which had come to be accepted by many Jeffersonians, was passed by 

Congress in 1832 but was vetoed by the President. The Bank became the 

principal issue in the campaign of 1832, and when Jackson was overwhelmingly reelected, he took it as a mandate to proceed. He proposed to remove 

Government deposits from the Bank of the United States and place them 

instead in selected State or local banks but had some difficulty in getting a 

Secretary of the Treasury to take the required action. Two Secretaries were 

removed from the position before Attorney General Roger B. Taney was 

appointed and issued the order at the end of September 1833. Ironically, the 

Senate later refused to confirm Taney's appointment as Secretary of the Treasury.

After this, the administration began to pursue a hard-money policy vigorously, with Senator Benton, known as Old Bullion because of his adamant 

views, again the administration's chief spokesman in the Senate. Taney and 

Benton between them worked out a twofold program to increase the metallic 

basis of the currency: a revaluation of gold, which would restore it to circulation, and the suppression of small paper money. The Second Coinage Act 

of June 28, 1834, decreased the amount of gold in the American dollar, 

established the ratio of 16 to 1 between gold and silver, and, in effect, 

overvalued gold at the American mint. The new coins, which were issued in 

August 1834, were derisively known as Benton's mint drops or Jackson 

yellow boys, but there was nonetheless an almost immediate increase in the 

amount of specie, both the total available and the amount in circulation. 

Silver coins, however, were undervalued and were driven out of circulation. 

As the silver coins were for small amounts, a problem was thereby created 

for business.

The gold discoveries, coming at a time when so many States were organizing internal development programs, provided the more practical-minded 

geologists with a better means of promoting the establishment of geological 

surveys than had the needs of agriculture or even the internal improvements. 

During the 1830's, 16 State surveys were organized, and a Federal survey 

of sorts was authorized, nearly all of them for the investigation of natural, 

chiefly mineral, resources. Benjamin Silliman and Amos Eaton were both 

more than 50 by this time and did not become personally involved in any of 

the surveys, but some of their students were conspicuously part of the effort.

Massachusetts established a State Board of Internal Improvements in 

1828, whereupon, Professor Edward Hitchcock, who had attended Professor 

Silliman's lectures and served informally as his assistant while pursuing theological studies at Yale, began a campaign to interest the State in a geological survey, part of which was a lengthy review of Olmsted's report on the 

North Carolina survey which Professor Silliman had published in his American Journal of Science in 1827. Glossing over the fact that Olmsted had not 

discovered the gold in North Carolina, Hitchcock concluded the review by 

asking "the intelligent*** whether such a development of internal resources 

as this Report exhibits, does not amply remunerate the state of North Carolina for the comparatively trifling expense of this survey; and whether so 

great success, attending the efforts of an individual, who was obliged at the 

same time to execute the duties of arduous professorship, does not strongly 

recommend that this example be followed by the other states of the Union?"

In March 1830, the Massachusetts legislature appropriated money for 

preparation of a map of the Commonwealth. Governor Levi Lincoln, Jr., 

who had organized the State's Board of Internal Improvements, asked that 

the appropriation be increased so that the geology might also be shown and 

the "presence of valuable ores, with the localities and extent of quarries, and

40 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
Edward Hitchcock

Hitchcock, professor of chemistry and natural h 

tory at Amherst College, was head of the geological 

survey of Massachusetts from 1830 to 1833, the 

first State survey to be carried to completion. His 

first report, published in the American Journal ofScience in June 1832, included a map of the mineral 

resources of the State which predates Jacob Peck's 

map by a few months. (Courtesy of the Library of 

Congress.)

Charles T. Jackson

Jackson gave up the practice of medicine for chemistry and mineralogy in 1836. In that year he became head of the geological survey of Maine, in 

1837 of Rhode Island, and in 1839 of New Hampshire. In 1847, he was appointed U.S. Geologist to 

survey the mineral lands in the Lake Superior District of Michigan. His interests were not confined 

to geology, and in 1846 he and W. T. G. Morton 

received a patent for the use of "letheon," or ether. 

(Courtesy of the Smithsonian Archives, Record Unit 

7177, George P. Merrill Collection, circa 1800- 

1930.)

of coal and lime formations, objects of enquiry so essential to internal improvements, and the advancement of domestic prosperity would be discovered, and the possession and advantage of them given to the public." The 

legislature passed the requested appropriation a week later, the first State 

geological survey came into being, and Professor Hitchcock was, naturally, 

placed in charge.

His first report, on the "economical geology" was submitted in January 

1832 and reprinted in full in the July issue of the American Journal of Science. 

Professor Hitchcock reported that the State was exceptionally well endowed 

with building stone; its coal and lignite would be more valuable in the future 

when other sources were less readily available; iron was so abundant that the 

demand for centuries to come would not exhaust it. Lead, copper, zinc, 

manganese, tin, and silver were also present, though only in small quantities. Gold, the Professor had not found, but he was able to announce the 

existence of a deposit in southern Vermont and to suggest where it might be 

sought in Massachusetts. However, as the Governor had expressed some 

doubt that gold was an unmixed blessing, he added prudently that it might 

be "doubtful whether the discovery of gold would be a public benefit, since, 

as your Excellency has well observed, it might lead to the greedy pursuit of 

this uncertain gain, and to the sure sacrifice of habits of industry and economy, and virtuous self-denial, which the ordinary pursuits and requirements 

of business induce."

The First State Geological Surveys 41
The second State survey was established in Tennessee in December 1831. 

In October, Dr. Gerard Troost, professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology at the University of Nashville, addressed the State legislature on the 

mineral resources of the State so that the members might become acquainted 

with what was known and take steps to promote future development. Troost 

had been born in Holland in 1776 and educated there and in France and 

Germany. He had come to the United States in 1810 enroute to Java on a 

scientific expedition, but had remained and become a citizen, purportedly 

because of the abdication of his patron, Louis Napoleon, as King of Holland 

and the surrender of Java to the English, but partly, no doubt, owing to the 

charms of Miss Margaret Tage of Philadelphia whom he married in January 

1811. With Maclure, Thomas Say, Charles Lesueur, and others, he had 

joined Robert Owen's Utopian society at New Harmony in 1825 but, disillusioned, had left there in 1827 for Nashville. On his own he had made 

several exploratory trips in various parts of Tennessee.

In his address, Professor Troost emphasized the varied mineral wealth of 

the State, telling the legislators that he looked forward to the time "when 

our Cumberland mountains, rich in excellent iron ore and coal, will become 

the Birmingham of the West," and that he had found "an excellent quality 

of that zinc ore of which in Europe the best brass is manufactured," as well 

as lead, "marble of as many varieties, and equal if not superior to the finest 

Italian," manganese, and magnetic iron ore; he found it polite to refer 

casually to "the gold found in several of the counties of our eastern extremity." Knowledge of geology was important not only to the miner, he said,

This illustration of gentlemen engaged in geological 

pursuits, on October 8, 1836, is taken from an atlas of plates accompanying the first report of the 

Maine survey. It was drawn by Jackson and handcolored, and the gentleman in the center, shown 

examining a rock, could well be Jackson. Jackson 

titled the plate "View of Mount Ktaadn from Butterfield's Ranch." (From C. T. Jackson, 1837.)

42 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
Hitchcock's effort to measure the height of a cliff 

was depicted by Mrs. Hitchcock. Hitchcock said, 

"On letting down a stone from this spot with string 

attached, I found it required a length of 194 feet 

before the water was reached. I have scarcely ever 

felt such a creeping and shrinking of the nerves and 

such a disposition to draw back as here. Even 

though I took hold of bushes with both hands, I 

could not comfortably keep my eye turned long into 

the frightful and yawing gulf; for it seemed as if it 

needed only a stamp of the foot, or perchance only 

my weight, to cause the rock on which I stood to 

follow the example of multitudes of the same kind 

that were strewed at its base. Still I suppose the 

actual danger to be quite small." (From Edward 

Hitchcock, 1841.)

but was necessary for the civil engineer in surveying routes for canals, railroads, and turnpikes, and of great advantage to the geographer in making 

his maps. Two months later he was rewarded with the appointment as "Geologist, Mineralogist, and Assayer for the State," a position he continued 

to hold by biennial reappointment until 1849.

Troost's reports dealt with a variety of subjects: coal, iron, marl, soils, 

timber, and waterpower, the suitability of the region for grass and stock and 

for the cultivation of cabbage and potatoes. He insisted that iron would 

become one of the principal sources of wealth in Tennessee, proposed that 

"nowhere could a foundry for a national arsenal be more judiciously situated," and promoted the development of the zinc ores. Sent by legislative 

order to make a survey of the Ocoee district where gold had been found, he 

reported "my opinion is that gold is not so abundant ... as is generally 

supposed" and then with gentle humor derided the efforts of those who 

would find gold by wondrous signs or the divining rod.

Efforts were made in 1832 to establish State surveys in Pennsylvania, 

New Jersey, and Ohio, but none was successful. The Geological Society of 

Pennsylvania was organized in the early spring with the avowed purpose of 

using its influence to bring about a geological survey of the State. The president was John B. Gibson, the distinguished Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, 

and the two vice-presidents were Nicholas Biddle, President of the Bank of 

the United States, and Colonel Stephen H. Long of the Army Engineers, 

leader of the 1819 exploration of the Rocky Mountains. A committee of 

three was appointed to memorialize the legislature, but nothing came of it. 

The Governor of New Jersey in his annual message to the legislature proposed establishment of a geological survey on the ground that it would result 

in valuable discoveries in the way of mineral wealth, but the legislature did 

not heed the plea. In Ohio, Judge Benjamin Tappan, in an address to the 

Historical and Philosophical Society, set the wheels in motion by suggesting 

that the society begin the work of a survey in Ohio in the expectation that 

the State would complete it.

Congress had revived the act of 1807 establishing the Coast Survey in 

1832. Commercial interests needed charts of the coast more urgently than 

ever, and the Navy had done very little on the problem since it had taken 

over the function in 1818. The act of 1832 authorized the employment of 

anyone considered desirable, without so stating the reinstatement of Hassler 

as Superintendent. The act also stated that "nothing in this act, or the act 

hereby revived, shall be construed to authorize the construction or maintenance of a permanent astronomical observatory." A. H. Dupree suggests 

that what Congress feared was not scientific activity as such or even the 

appropriation of money to accomplish a particular end, but the creation of a 

permanent scientific bureau with a long-term commitment of funds. The 

survey of the coast was a specific task which could be completed; an astronomical observatory was something else again.

The first move toward establishment of a Federal geological survey was 

made in July 1832, when Senator William Marcy of New York presented a 

memorial to the Senate on behalf of G. W. Featherstonhaugh. Sometime in 

1828, Featherstonhaugh, born in England but a resident of New York State 

for many years, returned from a trip to Europe where he had renewed acquaintance with English geologists and had been elected a Fellow of the 

Geological Society of London. Featherstonhaugh proposed that the office of 

State Geologist of New York be established, but Amos Eaton, who had not 

completed the reports on the Erie Canal survey, immediately protested that 

this would take credit from his efforts and proposed instead that he prepare 

a geological map of New York and adjoining parts of neighboring States.

State and Federal Surveys, 1832 43
Van Rensselaer agreed to finance the work, and Eaton lost no time in sending 

a note to Silliman's journal for publication. Featherstonhaugh soon thereafter moved to Philadelphia where he began publication of the American 

Journal of Geology as a rival to Silliman's American Journal of Science. He soon 

ran into financial problems and turned to Senator Marcy for assistance. The 

memorial "praying for the patronage of Congress, in aid of this journal and 

also in investigating the geology, mineralogy, and natural history of the 

United States" was the result.

Senator Marcy was a powerful sponsor, a member of the Albany Regency 

headed by Martin Van Buren who had just been nominated as Vice President, and the memorial was referred to Secretary of War Lewis Cass who was 

reputed to find it difficult to say no. Six months later, after some nudging 

by Congress, Secretary Cass did endorse the proposed investigation but said 

that the Military Academy was equipped to carry it out. He also, however, 

forwarded a letter from Featherstonhaugh, which stated that his plan could 

be effected without incurring great expense because it would only be necessary to add "one suitable person" to the already existing topographical service. The Committee on Ways and Means was then instructed to enquire 

into the expediency of authorizing the employment of the suitable person to 

aid the Topographical Bureau in "ascertaining the geology and mineralogy 

of each of the several States of the Union, with a view to construction of a 

mineralogical and geological map of the whole territory of the United 

States." After due deliberation, the Committee concluded that all this

44 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841

Some geological methods, however, have not 

changed in more than a century. (From C. T. Jackson, 1837.)
Both Hitchcock and Jackson took care to provide 

the general public with the real explanation of certain features of popular interest. Lusus naturae were 

pseudofossils, rocks weathered to resemble forms 

such as the boot. The devil's footmarks, near 

Wickford, Rhode Island, were also peculiar erosional forms. The local explanation was that the 

devil had tarried with a wayward squaw, and this 

was the point from which they took off for the 

nether regions, his footmark, the cloven hoof, to the 

left of hers, with the big toe pointing forward. 

(From Edward Hitchcock, 1841; C. T. Jackson, 

1840.)

could be done without any increase in the annual appropriation under the 

provision of the General Survey Act of April 30, 1824, simply adding it to 

the duties of the Topographical Bureau.

Lieutenant Colonel J. J. Abert, head of the Topographical Bureau, was 

reluctant to use funds for geologic investigations without specific authorization. However, during the summer of 1833, he assisted Joseph N. Nicollet 

in his plan to map the upper Mississippi region by loaning him instruments 

and giving him "letters of protection and hospitality" addressed to commanding officers and Indian agents in the area. Nicollet, an astronomer and 

a member of the French Academy, had come to the United States in 1832 

after disastrous financial reverses in Paris. He had landed at New Orleans 

and made his way up the Mississippi to St. Louis where he came under the 

patronage of Pierre Chouteau of the American Fur Company. His mapping 

plans are said to have been made known to the War Department by Chouteau 

and a Major Taliaferro of Fort Snelling, but the fact that he also visited F. 

R. Hassler, head of the newly revived Coast Survey, who became very fond 

of him, was not a hindrance. Colonel Abert had known Hassler since West 

Point days, had been his principal assistant on the first Coast Survey when it 

finally got under way in 1816, and was one of his staunchest supporters.

In 1833, the governors of Virginia and Missouri had also both urged upon 

their legislatures consideration of a State geological survey. Governor Lilburn 

W. Boggs of Missouri thought of the survey as part of a general system of 

internal improvements, as one might expect from a frontier area, but gold 

had been found in Virginia, and Governor John Floyd was more interested 

in the "great wealth which lies buried in the earth," needing only "the 

examination of men of science to bring before the country and make known 

its value and usefulness to capitalists, who would be induced to engage in 

fitting it for commerce thereby creating new sources of wealth." Neither 

legislature responded to the gubernatorial proposals that year, although in 

Missouri, surveys of several rivers were started, and a geological examination 

of the Osage River valley was made under the direction of Dr. Henry King, 

president of the Western Academy of Natural Sciences, at St. Louis.

In March 1833, the Maryland legislature authorized the appointment of 

a competent engineer to prepare a plan for the complete map of the State and 

an assistant to the engineer to make the necessary geological researches and 

report on the expediency and probable cost of a geological survey of the 

State. Among those who had been urging the State map upon the legislature 

was 20-year-old John Henry Alexander, a graduate of St. John's College in

State and Federal Surveys, 1833 45
Annapolis at 14, who had taken up the study of law and then, anticipating 

the importance of railroads and the development of coal and iron on the 

future of the nation, had given up the law to devote himself to applied 

science. On May 25, 1833, Alexander was appointed the engineer, and Julius T. Ducatel, professor of chemistry and geology at the University of 

Maryland, as the assistant. Ducatel, then 37, had been educated at St. 

Mary's College in Baltimore and in Paris and had been teaching for several 

years. His major interests had been in pharmacology and toxicology.

Ducatel and Alexander took a broader view of their assignment than had 

Hitchcock or even Troost. They concluded that the geological investigation 

meant "not only an inquiry into the mineral constitution of the different 

sections of the state, but a development of all its resources, in so far as these 

are dependent upon the occurrence within its territory of such substances 

belonging to the soil, as have already been, or are capable of being applied 

to useful purposes, in agriculture, manufactures, and the arts; the collection 

likewise of facts relative to its hydrology, by which they understand, besides 

an inquiry into the nature of the mineral waters that occur within its limits, 

an examination of the peculiar circumstances under which the natural flow 

of streams is determined, with a view, principally, to establish the amount 

of its water power, and, in a word, every point of information usually embraced under the head of the physical geography of a country." Together 

they made a reconnaissance of the State between May 25 and September 6, 

1833, and on December 27 presented a preliminary report and recommendations to the Governor, which was reprinted in full in the January 1834 

issue of the American Journal of Science.

On February 25, 1834, the act to "provide for making a new and complete map and a geological survey" was passed, and the offices of Topographical Engineer and Geologist for the State of Maryland were established. 

Alexander and Ducatel were appointed to these posts.

Ducatel began his investigations on the Eastern Shore and in southern 

Maryland, paying special attention to the deposits of marl. Knowledge of 

the agricultural uses of marl was then being widely spread through the efforts 

of Edmund Ruffin of Virginia whose first paper, An Essay on Calcareous Manures, published in 1821, had already been expanded to book length. Eventually, Ducatel visited almost the entire State and made special studies of 

the coal and iron deposits of the Frostburg basin.

Both Edward Hitchcock and C. T. Jackson visited 

a slate quarry in Guildford, Vermont. Hitchcock 

confessed himself at a loss to imagine what caused 

the disturbance in the slate (top). "Among the endless variety of geological hypotheses that have been 

proposed, I could not call one to mind, which 

would apply at all to this phenomenon, unless it be 

the supposition formerly advanced, that the last deluge might have been produced by the impinging of 

a comet against the earth! I confess I could not but 

inquire whether this might not have been the point 

of contact." Jackson's sketch (bottom) was made 

by the Reverend Mr. Cranch. Jackson was more 

concerned about the problems of the slate industry 

caused by the declining prices. (From Edward 

Hitchcock, 1833; C. T. Jackson, 1844.)

46 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
Alexander's work was hampered by the requirement that he make surveys 

for internal improvements, as directed by the legislature, though he did 

prepare several county maps, special maps for Ducatel's reports, and a map 

of the State at a scale of 1:200,000. Ducatel introduced Alexander to F. R. 

Hassler, the head of the Coast Survey, so the young man could get advice on 

instruments, and between the two there sprang up a lasting friendship. Hassler was a firm advocate of Federal and State cooperation in conducting surveys, and Alexander and he worked out such a plan for Maryland. Alexander 

then recommended to the Governor that the State postpone further work on 

the State map until such time as it could take advantage of the Coast Survey's more refined mapping. Eventually, a form of Federal-State cooperation 

was worked out, although not for several years. Meanwhile, Alexander had 

time to devote to iron and coal enterprises in the western part of the State.

In his annual report to the Secretary of War in October 1833, Colonel 

Abert asked that specific authorization be obtained from Congress, by joint 

resolution or otherwise, for diverting $5,000 a year of the appropriation for 

surveys to "geological investigations, and to the construction of a geological 

map of the United States." Evidently he had reconciled in his own mind 

the relevance of geological investigations to internal improvements, for he 

wrote that "few subjects connected with the duties of this bureau open so 

many and so important national advantages, or are adapted to redound more 

to internal commercial prosperity and to national scientific fame" as the 

"development of these great resources of wealth and commercial intercourse, 

which now lie inert and buried in the bowels of the earth." In fact, he said, 

"the propriety of articial roads and canals may in many cases be considered 

as entirely dependent upon them or as the mere machinery by which they are 

brought into being and activity." He further stated that efforts to date had 

been partial and limited by the means of individuals, and that "such extensive resources as we are represented to possess *** can be correctly developed 

only by national encouragement of a regular system of scientific investigation 

pursued with steadiness and intelligence, and its results fairly exposed to the 

efforts of our enterprising countrymen."

Authorization was given in the supplementary appropriations bill of June 

28, 1834, and in July, Featherstonhaugh was sent to make a geological and 

mineralogical survey of the Ozark Mountains. Colonel Abert patiently explained in his annual report:

It is not merely those questions of abstract science which are involved in his 

observations; it is not merely the additional light which will be thrown by his 

researches upon various subjects which now agitate and occupy the learned of 

the world, which are to give interest to this duty, and will place its patrons in the 

attitude of the enlightened and liberal friends of scientific truths, but it is the 

development of immense and hitherto unknown sources of wealth and active 

inland trade, the exposing of various deposits of coal, iron, lead, and the precious metals, and the encouragement these will furnish to industry and the 

profitable employment of capital.

In February 1835, he presented his report, the first 42 of its 97 pages being 

devoted to a discussion of general principles. In 1835, Featherstonhaugh, 

again under instructions from Abert, made a geological reconnaissance "from 

the seat of government by the way of Green Bay and the Wisconsin Territory 

to the Coteau de Prairie, an elevated ridge dividing the Missouri from the 

St. Peter's River." His second report again contained a great amount of 

preliminary matter but also a discussion of the geologic structure and stratigraphy. Thereafter, the first Federal geological survey was discontinued.

Geology had by then undergone a revolution. When Featherstonhaugh 

was in England, Cuvier's idea that the disappearance of characteristic faunas 

had been caused by sudden and widespread catastrophes was accepted by

First Federal Geological Survey 47
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most of those who no longer believed in deposition from the universal ocean. 

The idea of a geologic time scale, however, was still primitive. The Rev. W. 

D. Conybeare and William Phillips had used the term "Carboniferous" to 

describe a system of coal-bearing rocks in central Britain, and Jean J. 

D'Omalius d'Halloy had applied the term "Cretaceous" to the chalk beds 

of the Paris Basin, both in 1822, but the terms were descriptive only. In 

that year, Charles Lyell, a 27-year-old Oxford graduate and amateur geologist, became a barrister in London. In 1823, Lyell was elected one of the 

two secretaries of the Geological Society of London and went to Paris, then 

the scientific capital of the world, to learn French. Among the scientists he 

met was Louis Constant Prevost, who proposed that an intermixture of freshwater and marine shells that he had discovered should be explained on the 

basis of a comparison with modern conditions rather than by appealing to 

unknown causes on a catastrophic scale. Prevost paid a return visit to England in 1824, where the friendship developed. In early 1825, Lyell met 

Roderick Murchison, a former Army officer, recently a country gentleman, 

who was attending lectures in science at his wife's behest. They too became 

friends. The mixture was ready to inaugurate a new era in geology. In 1825, 

however, young Lyell's father insisted that he devote his attention to the 

law, and the revolution was postponed for a few years.

In 1827, Charles Lyell decided to write a book on geology, as there was 

a dearth of books in English on recent developments. Scrope's book on the 

volcanoes of central France raised new questions in his mind, and in March 

1828, he and Roderick Murchison decided to go to the Auvergne and see 

the volcanic country for themselves. When he left England, Lyell was mentally prepared to look for the explanations of geologic phenomena in terms 

of processes going on in modern time. From his experience on the continent, 

he concluded not only that analogies might be drawn between present and 

past conditions but that present conditions on the Earth's surface could only 

be understood in terms of historical development. He returned to London in 

February 1829 and began work in earnest on his manuscript; he completed

llituminmtx ff>a!, fitiA eftttf 

%'tMrm. faintly

The illustrations in the reports of G. W. Featherstonhaugh, the first U.S. Geologist, were simple 

and economically prepared. Counterclockwise from 

the top right, this one shows a section in western 

Maryland containing six workable veins of coal and 

two bands of iron ore; Dan's Mountain, near Frostburg, Maryland; cherty limestone on the banks of 

the Mississippi where Featherstonhaugh observed 

beds were occasionally made up of concentric circles; 

and the section from Georgetown, D.C., to Green 

Bay, Wisconsin. (From G. W. Featherstonhaugh, 

1836.)

48 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
the Principles of Geology in June 1830. Its full title was Principles of Geology, 

Being an Enquiry How Far the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface are Referable 

to Causes Now in Operation. In it, he defined geology as "the science which 

investigates the former changes that have taken place in the organic, as well 

as in the inorganic kingdoms of nature" and divided the agents of change 

into aqueous, which were "incessantly labouring to reduce the inequalities 

of the earth's surface to a level" and igneous, which were "equally active 

in restoring the uneveness of the external crust." "Our estimate," he said, 

"of the value of all geological evidence, and the interest derived from the 

investigation of the earth's history, must depend entirely on the degree of 

confidence which we feel in regard to the permanency of the laws of 

nature."

The second volume of the Principles, dealing with the organic world, was 

published in early January 1831- The third and last volume was published 

in April 1833. In the last, Lyell surveyed the whole sequence of geological 

formations, beginning with the most recent and proceeding to the successively older units. He proposed the names Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene 

for the Tertiary formations and discussed secondary formations and the principles to be used in correlating them. An unnamed reviewer, presumably 

Silliman, said in the American Journal of Science that Lyell

has done much to recall geologists from extravagant speculations, and to allure 

them back to a course of strict induction; thus placing geology, side by side, 

with the other sciences of observation. If he has repressed the excursions of 

our imaginations into unknown scenes in unknown ages, he has exalted our 

conception of the number and magnitude of great geological events which have 

happened within the historical era. ***While, therefore, he does not permit us to 

imagine that great catastrophes were, in a sense, peculiar to the earliest periods, he proves that catastrophes and great movements have been common in 

all ages, and there is an incessant onward march in physical operations.

When the third volume of Lyell's Principles was published, two young 

Americans, Henry Darwin Rogers and David Dale Owen, were in London 

for advanced study and thus had firsthand exposure to the new ideas. Rogers 

was the son of Dr. Patrick K. Rogers, late professor of natural philosophy 

and chemistry at William and Mary College, and brother of Professor William B. Rogers, who then held that position. He had been elected to the 

chair of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy in Dickinson College, Carlisle, 

Pennsylvania, in January 1830 but had remained there only a little more 

than a year. In the winter of 1831 32 he had been in New York where he 

spent much time with Robert Dale Owen, son of the founder of the New 

Harmony colony, and had met David Dale Owen, Robert's younger brother, 

who had come to the United States in 1828. Rogers left for London in May 

1832, and David Dale Owen followed a few months later. When they returned to the United States in 1833, Rogers began lecturing on geology at 

the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and Owen entered the Ohio Medical 

College in Cincinnati.

There was a favorable upturn in the national economy in 1834. Money 

was again being invested in land, mining, and manufacturing, and the overvaluation of gold in the Second Currency Act began to attract capital from 

abroad. Most of the States were burdening themselves with debt to pay for 

internal improvements, and many of them were willing to undertake geological surveys in the hope of improving their position. In New Jersey, the 

legislature provided for a geological and mineralogical survey of that State 

on February 26, 1835, and Professor H. D. Rogers was appointed to conduct it. In Virginia, Professor William B. Rogers, whose interest in geology 

had been awakened after his brother's return from England, testified before

The Lyellian Revolution in Geology 49
/,()(>/ C. / L /' h* (J F I L L' ,*; / A.<' L .-V. 1 '/)

ASE or

the select committee7 of the Assembly considering memorials from Morgan, 

Frederick, and Shenandoah Counties asking for a survey, and the committee 

found his remarks so engrossing that he was asked to address the entire 

legislature in a public session. On March 6, 1835, the Virginia Assembly 

authorized a geologic reconnaissance of the State in preparation for a more 

thorough survey.

In Connecticut, the legislature authorized the governor in the spring of 

1835 to appoint a committee of suitable persons to make a geological survey 

of the State. Governor Henry W. Edwards, graduate of Yale, great-grandson 

of a founder of Yale, and recent recipient of an LL.D. degree from his alma 

mater, had recommended the survey after consultation with Professor Silliman. In his message to the legislature, he noted, in thrifty New England 

fashion, that a systematic examination might lead to important mineralogi50 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
4^' 

y

M I O T t D C

The map and geological profile prepared by the 

Maryland survey covers in much greater detail some 

of the territory illustrated by G. W. Featherstonhaugh. (From J. T. Ducatel, 1840.)

cal discoveries, but even if it did not, the examination would aid individuals 

in future research, prevent waste of time and money in searching for minerals 

in places where they were unlikely to occur, and serve as a guide in selecting 

routes for railroads, canals, and internal improvements of all kinds.

Professor Silliman was asked to take charge of the survey but declined. 

Instead the work was divided between Charles Upham Shepard, who undertook the economic and mineralogical part, and James Gates Percival, who 

took responsibility for the general geology. Shepard had graduated from Amherst in 1824, where the only lectures he remembered were those by Professor Eaton, and had served as Silliman's assistant from 1827 to 1831 before 

becoming lecturer on natural history at Yale and professor of chemistry at 

South Carolina Medical College. Percival was a graduate of Yale in 1815 and 

had a degree in medicine.

State Geological Surveys, 1835 51
Professor William Rogers' report of his preliminary reconnaissance was 

submitted to the Virginia legislature in January 1836, and on February 29, 

a systematic geological survey of the State was authorized. The Virginia law 

was more detailed and specific than those that had preceded it, presumably 

because of Professor Rogers' influence, and it included pure as well as practical science. Whereas Professor Hitchcock had been appointed "to make a 

geological examination of the Commonwealth *** in order that the same 

may be inserted on the map," Professor Troost was charged with making a 

geological survey of the State of Tennessee "with a view, as far as practicable, 

to develop the mineralogical resources thereof," and Professor Ducatel, 

with making "a complete and minute geological survey" of the State of 

Maryland "with as much expedition and despatch as may be consistent with 

minuteness and accuracy," Virginia wanted a "complete and detailed geographical survey" and a "careful and accurate examination and analysis of 

the various soils ... as also of the principal ores, marls, saline and mineral 

waters." When the work was completed, the geologist in charge was to 

make a final report, giving "in detail, the result of all surveys, examinations, 

and discoveries which shall have been made, geological, chemical, and topographical, and all other matters connected therewith, which may be considered by him as likely to be in any manner useful to the public or interesting 

to science." He was also to "construct and prepare for engraving a complete 

geological map of the State, showing not only the general geological structure thereof, but plainly and accurately delineating the stratification of its 

principal rocks, and the position and boundary of all the mineral deposits 

which may now be known or be ascertained by the investigations which shall 

have been made, accompanying said map with such a series of sections or 

profiles as may be necessary to a proper exhibition of the geology of the 

region to which they may relate."

On March 29, 1836, the Pennsylvania legislature authorized the First 

Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania survey was organized 

on a larger scale than any of its predecessors, with an appropriation of $6,400 

a year for 5 years to pay the salaries of a geologist, two assistant geologists

Jackson's map of the town of Jackson, New Hampshire (a small town near Pinkham Notch in the eastern part of the State, now a summer and ski resort), 

is typical of the period. Note especially, however, 

the attempt to classify the land as good soil, timber, or bog. (From C. T. Jackson, 1844.)

52 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
(one of whom was to be "a scientific and practical mineralogist,") and "a 

competent, practical analytical chemist." Professor Henry D. Rogers, State 

Geologist of New Jersey, was appointed the geologist, James C. Booth and 

John F. Frazer, the assistant geologists, and Dr. Robert E. Rogers, youngest 

of the four Rogers brothers, the chemist.

The Pennsylvania law was more specific though no more comprehensive 

in the beginning than the Virginia law. The geologist and his assistants were 

"to commence and to carry on with as much expedition and dispatch as may 

be consistent with minuteness and accuracy, and in accordance with a plan 

previously submitted to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, a geological 

and mineralogical survey of the State, with a view to determine the order, 

succession, arrangement, relative position, and the dip or inclination, and 

also the comparative magnitude of the several strata or geological formations 

within the State." They were also "to discover and examine all beds and 

deposits of ores, coals, clays, marls, and such other mineral substances as 

may be deemed useful or valuable." The State Geologist was further required "to cause to be represented on the map of this Commonwealth, by 

colors and other approriate means, the various areas occupied by the different 

geological formations in the State, and to mark thereon the localities of the 

respective beds or deposits of the various mineral substances discovered, and 

on the completion of the survey to compile a memoir of the geology and 

mineralogy of the State, comprising a complete account of the leading subjects and discoveries which have been embraced in the survey." In 1838, 

as the iron and coal industries were reaching new stages of technological 

development, the following obligation was added to the State geologist's 

duties: "to make such inquiries and examinations into the present methods 

of mining coal and manufacturing iron as the governor shall deem expedient 

and proper to increase the products of the mineral resources of the State."

The survey of Maine authorized in the spring of 1836 brought another 

scientist with European training to the fore. The Maine survey was twofold. 

On March 21, the Massachusetts legislature authorized the governor to employ some suitable person or persons to make a geological survey of the 

public lands in the State of Maine held jointly by Maine and Massachusetts. 

The Maine legislature followed a week later with a resolution asking the 

Maine Board of Internal Improvements to provide for a survey of the entire 

State. Dr. Charles T. Jackson of Boston was appointed to both positions.

Jackson had received a medical degree from Harvard in 1829, but even as 

a medical student he had been interested in geology. With Francis Alger, he 

had made a geological investigation of Nova Scotia, and he had become 

acquainted with Troost, Maclure, Say, and Lesueur during geological excursions in New Jersey and New York. After graduating from Harvard, Jackson 

had gone to France for further study and, while there, combined medical 

subjects at the University of Paris with Elie de Beaumont's lectures on geology at the Ecole des Mines and lectures on science at the Sorbonne. On his 

return to the United States in 1832, he abandoned the practice of medicine 

and devoted his not inconsiderable energy and talents to scientific research. 

He opened a chemical laboratory for the instruction of students in mineral 

analysis; among his students were several who later became leading chemists. 

Jackson was particularly concerned with economic matters but found no 

mineral deposits of value, investigated reported coal beds but discounted 

them, found no marl to aid the rocky-soiled farms, but suggested other 

forms of fertilizer that might be used.

Ohio took a concrete step toward formation of a State survey with the 

appointment on March 14, 1836, of a committee to report to the next session of the legislature on the best method and the cost of a complete geologState Geological Surveys, 1836 53
ical survey of the State. The members of the committee were Samuel P. 

Hildreth of Marietta, John Locke and John Riddell of Cincinnati, and Increase Lapham of Columbus. Hildreth was one of the pioneers in science west 

of the Allegheny Mountains. A long-time contributor to Silliman's American 

Journal of Science, he had, at Professor Silliman's suggestion, just made an 

extensive study of the bituminous coals of Ohio that had been published in 

January 1836. Locke was a graduate of Yale, to which he had been attracted 

by reading Silliman's account of his travels in Europe, and was then a professor at the Medical College of Cincinnati. Riddell had been graduated from 

Rensselaer and had gone on to the Medical College at Cincinnati where he 

had just received his degree. Lapham was the youngest of the four only 

24 but he had been corresponding with Silliman on geological matters 

since he was 16.

On April 15, 1836, the New York Assembly authorized an even more 

elaborate survey of that State. Amos Eaton was evidently a prime mover in 

the affair, although he himself did not participate in the survey, being fully 

occupied in teaching. In 1835, the Albany Institute, of which Stephen Van 

Rensselaer, Eaton's patron, was president, presented a memorial to the legislature which then asked the Secretary of State to report at the next session 

the most expedient method and the cost of a survey. The Secretary proposed 

that for the survey the State be divided into four districts and that two 

geologists and a draftsman be assigned to each district. The division is said 

to have been suggested by Professor Edward Hitchcock of Amherst, who had 

made the survey of Massachusetts and who was appointed geologist of the 

first district with C. B. Adams as his assistant. Eaton recommended Ebenezer Emmons and James Hall, who were given responsibility for the second 

district. Timothy Conrad was placed in charge of the third district, and 

Lardner Vanuxem, of the fourth. Professor L. C. Beck of Rutgers College 

was appointed mineralogist of the survey. Hitchcock resigned shortly to 

work for the reactivation of the Massachusetts survey, and on the recommendation of Eaton, W. W. Mather was then given charge of the first district.

Most of the members of the survey were professionally trained in some 

form of geology. Mather was a graduate of West Point and had taught geology there for several years. Emmons, who had been closely associated with 

Eaton for several years, was a graduate of Williams College, had also studied 

at Rensselaer, and held professorships at both institutions. James Hall had 

been one of Eaton's students at Rensselaer. Vanuxem had studied at the 

School of Mines in Paris and had several years' experience in geologic work 

in South Carolina, where he had been a professor at Columbia, and in Mexico. Only Conrad had had no formal technical training, although he was very 

skilled in drawing. At the end of the first season, the work was reorganized. 

Conrad was appointed paleontologist to the entire survey; Vanuxem moved 

to the third district, the central counties which included the salt springs; 

and James Hall took over the fourth, the counties in which the continuation 

of the coal formations of Pennsylvania was to be expected.

During Jackson's second administration, speculation in public lands created a surplus in the Federal Treasury. The national debt was paid off by 

January 1835, and in the following year, Treasury receipts from the sale of 

the public lands exceeded the revenue from customs. In his annual message 

to Congress in December 1835, the President asked for a reorganization of 

the General Land Office because of its greatly expanded work, and by the 

Act of July 4, 1836, the Office was enlarged and placed directly under the 

President. The Commissioner of the General Land Office was made the supervisor of the Surveyor-General. Congress, obviously concerned about a 

growing bureaucracy, however, specified the staff of the General Land Office

54 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
Observations of the inversion of strata, with younger 

rocks appearing to be under older rocks, as, for example, between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers, puzzled geologists. Hitchcock said that the 

Professors Rogers of the Universities of Pennsylvania and Virginia had undoubtedly collected more 

facts on the subject than any of the other geologists 

in the United States but they had published little. 

To explain his observations, he suggested that perhaps that strata had been deposited as in the upper 

figure, and then, while they were still in a plastic 

state, lateral pressure had been exerted near the 

Hudson and Connecticut Rivers at the same time as 

upward pressure from gaseous or melted matter below. These forces conspired to fold the strata as in 

the lower figure, and the present surface, line AA. 

came about through erosion. (From Edward Hitchcock, 1841.)

Gra, I. & f. M. L.

F%. 123.

Gneiss, 

Haosac. 3ft*

A 

in great detail. Senator Benton again brought up his scheme of graduating 

the price of the public lands, which he said would reduce the revenue. Senator Clay instead proposed that the surplus be distributed to the States. 

Congress came up with a law to "deposit" the surplus with the States as a 

"loan" to enable them to complete their internal development programs, 

and the law was signed by President Jackson on June 23, 1836; the distribution was to begin January 1, 1837.

During the last year of the Jackson administration, there was also a 

marked change of attitude toward science and mapping by the Federal Government. A permanent Patent Office was established, and the United States 

Exploring Expedition to the Pacific was authorized, both in 1836. The first 

Commissioner of Patents, Henry L. Ellsworth, Yale 1810, saw in the patent 

law the possibilities of a great scientific bureau. He believed that the scientific activities of the Government should serve the great economic interests 

of the country and tried to make the Patent Office a depository not only of 

models of patents but of specimens of manufactures and collections of minerals as well. In his view more had been done to aid commerce and manufactures than agriculture, so he attempted to make the Patent Office serve principally the agricultural interests; by making his office a clearinghouse for 

seeds and plants, he started an agricultural service that is accounted the 

ancestor of the Department of Agriculture. The United States Exploring 

Expedition was authorized as an aid to commerce but had the backing of 

some of the country's most influential scientists, including Professor Benjamin Silliman. The work of the expedition was to include not only charting 

of islands and hydrographic studies but also magnetism, meteorology, and 

natural history. Several able young scientists were rounded up for the expedition, including 23-year-old James Dwight Dana, a former student of Professor Silliman's, who had spent some time instructing midshipmen in 

mathematics during a cruise to the Mediterranean and was then back at Yale 

working out a new system of crystallography and mineralogy. Unfortunately, the expedition ran into administrative problems and did not get underway until 1838.

The States maintained their interest in geological surveys. The Georgia 

survey, authorized in November 1836, employed another New Englander, 

educated at Harvard and Dartmouth. Dr. John Cotting was an older man, 

ordained a Congregationalist minister in 1810, who had later taken up

Federal Science and Mapping 55
chemistry. Much of his professional life had been spent in western Massachusetts, teaching at the Berkshire Medical Institute, the high schools, and at 

Amherst College. He had recently completed a geological and agricultural 

examination of Burke and Richmond Counties, made at the expense of public-spirited citizens of the counties. Georgia at the time, like other Southern 

States, was concerned with means of transportation, and the Governor in 

recommending the survey to the legislature said that a proper knowledge of 

the geological structure of the State and its mineral resources was "necessary 

to a prudent and profitable location of canals and railroads and should have 

its influence in directing their course." The Governor also remarked that 

the State, especially the part within the Cherokee circuit, was "believed to 

abound in mines of gold, marble, iron, limestone, salt, and other valuable 

minerals" and a scientific examination of "these concealed treasures" 

should no longer be delayed. The legislature authorized the survey and provided a generous $10,000 to carry it out.

Four State surveys were organized in the spring of 1837. The Indiana 

survey was first, authorized on February 6, and it provided an opportunity 

for David Dale Owen, who had graduated from Ohio Medical College in 

1836. Governor Noah Noble, who had urged the legislature to authorize a 

survey in 1835, was a strong proponent of internal improvements, and the 

Indiana law specified that the survey begin in areas near contemplated public 

works. Owen was obviously expecting the appointment and may have had a 

hand in the legislation because he knew the Governor and his brother, Robert Dale Owen, was then a member of the State legislature. He had spent 

several months with Gerard Troost in Tennessee in the fall of 1836, observing his methods and preparing for his new work.

Owen considered it his "duty while surveying a country so new as ours, 

to remember, that a State just settling, is like a young man starting in life, 

whom it behooves to secure to himself a competency, before he indulges in 

unproductive fancies." He therefore concerned himself strictly with economic geology, locating workable seams of coal, salt springs, clay and shale 

suitable for brickmaking, and iron. He was particularly impressed with the 

possibility of the manufacture of iron in the central western part of the State.

The Delaware survey was organized a week after the Indiana survey, influenced in no small measure by the Pennsylvania survey. The Delaware law 

was almost identical with that of Pennsylvania, except that no provision was 

made for assistants, and theState Geologist himself had to be "the scientific 

and practical mineralogist." James C. Booth, who had been an assistant on 

the Pennsylvania survey, was named State Geologist. The Delaware law had 

one unusual requirement: of the $3,000 appropriated, not more than $1,000 

could be spent in any one of the three counties. Booth, who was primarily a 

chemist, gave the major share of his attention to the greensand and marl and 

reported that he devoted himself to traversing the lower counties "with a 

view to imparting such knowledge relative to agriculture as lay within my 

imagination."

On February 23, 1837, less than a month after it became a State, Michigan authorized a geological survey, and Douglass Houghton was named State 

Geologist. Houghton was then a young man of 28. He had studied under 

Eaton at the Rensselaer Scientific School, had graduated at 19, and had been 

given an appointment as assistant professor of chemistry and natural history. 

In 1830, when a group of Michigan citizens was looking for someone to 

deliver a course of lectures on chemistry, botany, and geology, Eaton recommended Houghton. Houghton studied medicine on the side, and in 1831 

was admitted to practice and set up his office in Detroit. He also served as 

surgeon and botanist with Henry Schoolcraft on his 1831 expedition to dis56 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
cover the sources of the Mississippi. In the years between 1831 and 1837, 

Houghton made many friends in the area and became a close friend of Stevens 

T. Mason, Michigan's first governor. The Michigan law was similar to the 

New York law, and Houghton planned four departments: geology and mineralogy, zoology, botany, and topography, though owing to financial difficulties, all but the geology had to be abandoned.

Finally, on March 27, 1838, the Geological Survey of Ohio was authorized. The Ohio law was basically similar to the Virginia law, rather than to 

the New York law, except for the number of people to be employed and the 

date of reporting to the legislature, but the Governor appointed W. W. 

Mather of the New York Survey as the principal geologist. S. P. Hildreth 

was first assistant and paleontologist; J. P. Kirtland, second assistant in 

charge of botany and zoology; John Locke, third assistant; and C. Briggs, 

Jr., fourth assistant. Colonel Charles Whittlesey was appointed as topographic engineer. The primary object of the survey was the development of 

Ohio's natural resources, but in his first report, Mather made a strong plea 

for preparation of an accurate topographic map on which "the localities of all 

minerals, ores, rocks, &c. can be indicated in their proper position and relations to each other." An accurate map would require triangulation similar 

to that of the Coast Survey, and Mather realized that the time and expense 

might be greater than the legislature would deem appropriate. However, it 

would never have to be redone.

Before any of these surveys were fairly underway, there was a new financial 

crisis. On July 11, 1836, eighteen days after signing the Distribution Bill, 

and after Congress had adjourned, Jackson issued an Executive Order requiring that as of August 15, payment for public lands be made in specie, in 

essence the resolution introduced by Senator Benton in April and defeated 

by the Senate. Both the Specie Circular, as the executive order became 

known, and the plan for distribution of the surplus tightened the money 

market by increasing the demand for specie. Crop failures in 1835, a decline 

in agricultural exports, an unfavorable balance of trade, and the failure of 

British firms that had invested in American securities, all of which led to 

demand for specie, aggravated the financial difficulties. In May 1837, 2 

months after Martin Van Buren became President as Jackson's chosen successor, New York banks suspended specie payments, and within 10 days, 

banks throughout the country followed suit. The breakdown in the monetary 

system was followed by a general paralysis in business and widespread unemployment.

Business remained stagnant well into 1838 and then began to rally. The 

Specie Circular was repealed in May, and internal improvement ventures 

again went forward, but recovery was temporary. Commodity prices declined 

again, there was another flurry of bank failures, and toward the end of the 

year, banks again suspended specie payments. The depression settled in to 

stay until business was again stimulated by the Mexican War.

The depression had a disastrous effect on State geological surveys. Between 

1830 and 1837, fourteen surveys had been established in as many States, 

but in the seven lean years that followed, all except the Tennessee survey 

were discontinued or suspended for lack of appropriations. Two were established in 1839 but were of short duration, and in 1842, geology, with only 

a few exceptions, was again largely the province of professors.

The two surveys established in 1839 were both in New England, and 

both were directed by Dr. Charles T. Jackson. On December 26, 1838, the 

Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry resolved 

to memorialize the legislature regarding a geological and agricultural survey 

of the State and appropriated $500 for it, subject to the State's making an

Crisis of 1837 57
additional appropriation. The State appropriated $2,000 in January 1839 

and in April, contracted with Dr. Jackson for the work.

The New Hampshire legislature was more prodigal. On June 24, 1839, 

it authorized a mineralogical and geological survey of the State and appropriated $2,000 a year for 3 years to carry it out. Dr. Jackson was appointed 

State Geologist of New Hampshire, even though he would be unable to 

begin work until the following year.

Disposal of the public lands, including the mineral lands, remained a live 

issue during the depression, although overshadowed to a degree by monetary 

reform. The general preemption measure of 1830 had been for 1 year only, 

but it had been followed by similar measures in 1832 and 1834, and in June 

1838, another preemption law extended the privilege for 2 years. A bill for 

permanent prospective preemption was introduced in 1839 but was sidetracked because of the greater interest in the currency issue, and in 1840, 

the Preemption Act of 1838 was extended for another 2 years. Senator Benton continued to argue for graduation of the price of the public lands, now 

on the grounds that more people would take advantage of reduced prices 

because of the depression, so the government's revenue would be increased. 

Senator Clay again brought forth the idea of distribution of the proceeds of 

public land sales to the States and found that many of the Western States 

and some of the Southern States, which needed funds to complete internal 

improvement projects, were more receptive to the idea.

Lead mining in the Upper Mississippi Valley was now thoroughly entangled in the public land question. Lead prices dropped in 1829, and in the 

wake of the price drop, problems began in the leasing program. There had 

been some trouble earlier when the miners were required to sell only to 

licensed smelters, because the requirement, in effect, created a buyer's market, but the problem was resolved when the Superintendent issued an order 

that the smelters must pay 350 pounds of lead or a monetary equivalent for 

each 1,000 pounds of ore. At the time that the price of lead dropped, the 

cost of living was beginning to rise. Pressure began for sale of the nonmineral 

land for agricultural purposes. Then came pleas for rent reduction, the smelters began to renege on their tax payments, and the miners began to balk at 

taking out permits.

Very little mining had taken place on the western side of the Mississippi 

River until after the Indians were defeated in the Black Hawk War of 1832, 

but settlement and mining development were rapid thereafter. In June 

1834, Congress established a land district in the western half of Wisconsin 

Territory, including the lead region, "any law of Congress heretofore existing to the contrary notwithstanding." When President Jackson opened the 

Mineral Point land district, however, he specifically excluded the lead lands 

from sale. The House of Representatives that year passed a bill authorizing 

the sale of all mineral reserves, but it died in Senate Committee.

Both miners and farmers wanted the land, and one could not always tell 

where the lead lay under the rich soil. Neither the Superintendent nor the 

Register of the Land Office was in full sympathy with leasing policy, so 

intentionally or unintentionally, much mineral land was sold for agricultural 

land, and much of the Wisconsin lead land passed into private ownership. 

The Government could not collect lead rent from private owners, and by 

1836, Federal regulations were generally being ignored.

Efforts were being made during all this time to obtain authorization for 

sale of the mineral lands. In December 1838, the Senate approved a bill 

permitting sale, but the House did not act on it. Instead, in February 1839, 

the House asked the President to prepare and present to the next Congress a 

plan for the disposal of the public mineral lands, "having reference as well

58 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
to the amount of revenue to be derived from them, and their value as public 

property, as to the equitable claims of individuals upon them" and to provide as well information on the location, value, productiveness, and occupancy of the public lands. A survey was authorized to collect such information as might be needed.

The Commissioner of the General Land Office, to whom the resolution 

was referred, found no satisfactory information in his files other than that in 

the report sent to the House on March 28, 1824. David Dale Owen was 

therefore appointed Government Geologist in August and commissioned to 

make a survey of an area of about 11,000 square miles in Wisconsin, Iowa, 

and Illinois before winter set in. By engaging 139 subagents and assistants,

In his first survey of the mineral lands, Owen reported that the lead in the Upper Mississippi Valley 

was almost exclusively confined to the lower parts 

of the Cliff limestone formation. The ore was usually found in detached masses, although with a certain degree of regularity, in the fissure. The deposits 

often occurred in regularly descending steps, as represented in this sketch, drawn by Owen himself, in 

which the gangue is dark and the lead ore somewhat 

lighter. The sketch also shows the mode of drifting 

and of ascending and descending in the shaft. (From 

D. D. Owen, 1844.)

Owen's First Mineral-Lands Survey 59
whom he instructed in the elementary principles of geology, Owen was able 

to complete the assignment in a little more than 2 months and present a 

report to Congress in the following April. Owen's immediate conclusion 

was that "the district surveyed is one of the richest mineral regions, compared to extent, yet known in the world." The lead region had produced 

an estimated 30 million pounds of lead in 1839 and could produce 150 

million pounds annually and furnish employment to 10,000 miners. In addition, copper, iron, and zinc ores were present. On the basis of Owen's 

work, Commissioner James Whitcomb of the General Land Office proposed 

that "an officer skilled in the sciences of geology and mineralogy" be appointed as an agent of the Land Office to explore all the public lands and 

thus enable the Commissioner to discriminate between agricultural and mineral lands before putting them on the market. Without such an exploration 

as he had conducted, Owen said, "no one would have ventured to state, or 

would have been believed if he had stated, results showing that these lands 

possess a value not heretofore attributed to them even by the most sanguine." The survey, he felt, was not only of interest to science but of 

extreme importance "in a pecuniary point of view" to a Government owning hundreds of millions of acres of public lands doubtless containing mineral resources.

The Senate authorized the sale of the mineral lands in April 1840 and the 

House in July, but no further action was taken after the Supreme Court in 

1840 rendered its decision in a suit initiated to test the legality of leasing. 

The case involved the Gratiot brothers, who had refused to pay the Government its rent for the lead taken from the public domain. Senator Thomas 

Hart Benton, lawyer for the defendants, based his defense on a strict construction of the Constitution. There was no authority in the Constitution for 

the reservation, management, and leasing of the public lands by the Federal 

Government. The Court, however, unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the 1807 law, stating that "It has been the policy of the government, 

at all times, in disposing of the public lands, to reserve the mines for the use 

of the United States."

A special session of the 27th Congress, which convened on May 31, 1841, 

with the Whigs firmly in control of both houses, authorized permanent prospective preemption. Senator Henry Clay, who presented the Whig program, called for changes in banking laws, higher tariffs, and distribution 

among the States from the proceeds of the sale of public lands. To make the 

last palatable, he combined preemption and distribution in one bill, and 

the act was approved on September 4, 1841. It provided that an individual 

could stake a claim, to the exclusion of all others, on the public unsurveyed 

lands and purchase a maximum of 160 acres at the Government's minimum 

price, but excluded from entry all "lands on which are situated any known 

salines or mines." A geologist would not be needed to discriminate lands 

on which there were known mines, so the second Federal geological survey 

came to an end.

60 Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 1829-1841
Chapter 5.

Man's True Interests, 1841-1849

Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist schemes of 

ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to man's true interests, in 

developing his faculties and powers, and the capacity of nature to minister to 

his enjoyments.

 James K. Polk

The hard times that hit the Mississippi Valley in the wake of the panic of 

1837 spurred a movement of small planters and farmers across the formal 

boundaries of the United States into foreign or disputed territory, one across 

the Sabine into the Republic of Texas and the other moving northwest along 

the Oregon Trail toward the Pacific. The solution of the problems caused 

thereby dominated the mid-1840's.

Texas already had a large American population. Moses Austin, of leadmining fame, had run into difficulties with his lead and other business ventures in Missouri after the War of 1812, and in 1820, he secured a Spanish 

grant and permission to settle 300 families in the province of Texas. He died 

shortly thereafter, and his son, Stephen F. Austin, led the actual colonization 

in 1823- By that time, Mexico had gained its independence from Spain, and 

Texas was a Mexican province. The Texan economy was agricultural, cotton 

was the principal crop, and Texas depended heavily on slave labor. Mexico 

abolished slavery in 1831, but Mexico governed the provinces loosely, so 

Texas ignored the prohibition. In 1835, President Santa Anna of Mexico 

proclaimed a new unified constitution which abolished States' rights, and 

Texas rebelled, declared its independence, and sought annexation by the 

United States or recognition as an independent republic. The South favored 

annexation, but Northern antislavery sentiment made that impossible, and 

on Jackson's last day in office, March 3, 1837, the Republic of Texas was 

recognized. There the matter might have rested had not the movement of 

Americans into the area, coupled with British interest in Texas, kept the 

issue alive.

American interest in the Northwest had been spurred by the expedition 

of Lewis and Clark and by the fur traders who followed soon after them. The 

fur traders and trappers were followed by missionaries, and the missionaries 

by settlers, beginning in the 1830s. The pioneers passed over the treeless 

prairies, which were an unfamiliar environment and which had been labelled 

as the Great American Desert. Moreover, Congress in 1825 had established 

the area as a Permanent Indian Frontier to which the tribes from the East 

were transplanted and to which immigration was barred.

American opinion in the 1840's was shaped by three factors: this persistent advance of the frontier westward, distrust of England and France, and 

the belief that the democratic institutions of the United States must spread 

beyond its boundaries, eventually to the whole world. The mandate was 

described in the New York Morning News of December 27, 1845, as "our 

manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent 

which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment 

of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us." Manifest destiny 

became the catchword of the day.

Man's True Interests, 1841-1849 61
It was also the destiny of the United States to become a great industrial 

nation but that was not so manifest in 1840, when the population of the 

United States was 17 million, and 89 percent of that population lived in 

rural areas. In the eastern part of the country, however, science was aiding 

in new ways the development of natural resources, and scientists were finding new freedom to engage in pure research.

Great changes in the development of mineral resources and in mineral 

technology were taking place, especially in the two basic industries, iron and 

coal. American ironmaking had lagged behind that of England. During the 

latter part of the 18th century, English ironmakers had made notable advances in the manufacturing process. Coke was used instead of charcoal in 

the blast furnace, and the development of cast-iron bellows and improvements in the steam engine increased the blast and therefore the production 

of pig iron. The pig iron was then converted into wrought iron by puddling 

rather than hammering. In the puddling process, the iron is placed in a 

reverberatory furnace and stirred, without being removed from the heat, 

through ports in the furnace wall. Although the process was wasteful only 

about half the iron was recovered the amount of iron that could be produced was so greatly increased that England immediately became the leading 

ironmaking nation. American ironmakers continued to cling to the traditional technology, although experiments, largely unsuccessful, were made in 

the use of anthracite in blast furnaces.

The first major change in American practice was the use of the hot blast 

in the smelting process, for which James Neilson of Scotland obtained a 

patent in 1828. The hot blast afforded a saving in fuel costs and an increased 

production of iron in a given time, but its effect was greatest when used 

with mineral fuels rather than charcoal. The hot blast, in fact, made the use 

of anthracite practicable. The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. Geissenhainer, a 

Lutheran clergyman of New York City, succeeded in making iron with anthracite and a strong blast of heated air and obtained a patent for the process 

in 1833. Three years later, George Crane of south Wales, obtained a British 

patent for the use of hot blast with anthracite to smelt iron ore and successfully used the process at his furnaces. Dr. Geissenhainer died before he could 

test the commercial feasibility of his method, and his executors sold the 

patent in 1838 to Mr. Crane.

In 1839, David Thomas, who had been associated with Crane in his experiments in Wales, came to the United States and built a furnace for the 

Lehigh Crane Iron Company at Catasauqua on the Lehigh in Pennsylvania. 

It was put into operation on July 4, 1840, and continued in use until 1879, 

the first of the early anthracite furnaces that was completely successful from 

both the engineering and commercial standpoints. David Thomas became 

known as the father of the American anthracite industry.

The discovery that anthracite coal could be successfully used in the manufacture of pig iron gave a fresh impetus to the iron industry east of the 

Allegheny Mountains, especially in Pennsylvania and the parts of New York 

and New Jersey reached by canal. Among the pioneer users were Nicholas 

Biddle and Peter Cooper, and in 1845, Peter Cooper's son Edward and 

Abram S. Hewitt set up an iron mill at Trenton on the Delaware, which was 

an almost immediate success because of its capacity to produce superior iron 

rails for the railroads.

In the same year that the Catasauqua furnace began operations, John 

Henry Alexander, who still retained the title of Topographic Engineer of 

Maryland although he drew no salary, submitted a report to the Governor of 

the State in the hope of encouraging facilities for the cheap manufacture of 

iron with mineral coal in the western part of Maryland. The George's Creek

62 Man's True Interests, 1841 -1849
Company, whose founder and president was Alexander, had built the Lonaconing furnace in the Frostburg coal basin of western Maryland in 1837 

specifically to use coke, and in June 1839, this furnace was reported to be 

making about 70 tons a week of good foundry ore. In 1840, the Mount 

Savage Company built two furnaces near Cumberland, also to use coke. 

These three furnaces were the earliest to be successfully operated over a period of years using coke.

Alexander's report was written after he had made a careful examination 

of several establishments in Great Britain and extensive inquiries at home; it 

attained some fame as the first comprehensive treatise on the metallurgy of 

iron in the United States. Alexander covered not only the history of iron 

manufacture, materials and methods used in manufacturing, and the chemistry of the furnace, but also provided considerable information on the ores 

of iron, of which he recognized eight varieties: native and meteoric iron, 

magnetic and specular ore, fibrous brown hematite, carbonate of iron, silicated iron ore (which he said was "not worked in America nor in England 

where there is even a prejudice against it"), and titaniated iron ore.

The new techniques in ironmaking and advances in manufacturing utilizing steam engines increased the demand for coal. The improvement of navigation along streams and the construction of canals to tidewater, as well as 

the construction of railroads, had already given a boost to the industry, as 

coal, because of its bulk, was restricted to local use where cheap transportation was not available. By the 1840's, also, coal began to replace wood as 

fuel on the river boats.

Between 1820 and 1850, there was a phenomenal growth in the coal 

industry in the world, more spectacular in the United States, in the Pennsylvania anthracite region, in particular, than elsewhere. Production figures 

for these early years are scattered and incomplete. However, in 1906, the 

U.S. Geological Survey reported a total production of 3,450 short tons in 

1820 and 7,018,181 tons in 1850. Howard Eavenson, basing his estimate 

on a summation of State records, concluded that the total production in 

1820 was at least 333,765 tons and in 1850, 8,355,739 tons. For anthracite alone, for the 2 years, the Survey gives figures of 450 tons and 

4,138,164 tons, and Eavenson gives 4,065 and 4,326,969 tons. Richard C. 

Taylor (Statistics of Coal, 1848) said that 365 tons of anthracite were mined 

in 1820 and nearly 3 million, in 1847. The total production in 1847, he 

estimated as about 5 million tons.

The other mineral industries at this time were not important. Gold mining in the Southeastern States had declined to a few small operations. Lead 

production was great enough to supply domestic needs and to provide a 

surplus for export, but it totaled only a few tens of thousands of tons, mostly 

from the Upper Mississippi Valley. The demand for copper was small, although the United States was unable to supply its own needs and imported 

about 3,300 tons of raw copper and copper and brass manufactures each year.

Much scientific work on mineral resources, especially coal, was done under 

private auspices. Walter R. Johnson, professor of mechanics and natural philosophy in the Franklin Institute, was employed for geologic investigations 

by some of the Pennsylvania coal companies, as were Professor Silliman and 

Richard C. Taylor. H. D. Rogers did some fundamental work on the origin 

of coal. Professor Johnson also made a series of experiments that culminated 

in a classification of coals according to their heating powers. J. Peter Lesley 

later pinpointed the beginning of Johnson's work as the beginning of the 

new era.

Formation of a national scientific organization had been discussed by several of the leading geologists, but caution had prevailed. As the various State

Growth of Mineral industry 63
surveys were drawing to a close, several of the State geologists felt a desire to 

compare notes. The New York survey issued an invitation for a meeting in 

1840, which proved to be so useful that the organization continued, and the 

Association of American Geologists came into being.

The second annual meeting was held in Philadelphia in April 1841; Professor Silliman was chairman, and a committee of Messrs. W. R. Johnson, 

Vanuxem, H. D. Rogers, Mather, and Locke prepared the plan of meeting. 

There were few formal papers but a great deal of informal discussion, and 

much of the discussion was on practical matters. A discussion of mineral 

manures led to the formation of a committee to prepare a detailed report on 

soils and mineral manures "embodying as well the fruits of their own investigations as the results arrived at by others" for presentation at the next 

meeting. R. C. Taylor exhibited and described in some detail a model of the 

western part of the southern coal field of Pennsylvania, and H. D. Rogers 

discussed the Pennsylvania coal formations. Dr. Jackson gave his views on 

the construction of geologic maps, suggesting that uniformity in scale, coloring, and symbols among the various States was important. Others agreed, 

and a committee of Messrs. Jackson, Locke, and Mather was appointed to 

report at the next meeting. Professor Hitchcock thought a geologic map of 

the entire country could be completed in a few years.

Although so much of the discussion was practical, Professor Hitchcock in 

the anniversary address made it clear that practical geology was not the sole 

interest of American geologists. "The annual reports [of the State surveys] 

have been confined chiefly to economical geology," he said, "but it was 

understood from the commencement, that careful attention should be given 

to the scientific geology of the regions examined, and that the details should 

be given in the final reports." Hitchcock thought geology in the United 

States was 20 years ahead of what it would have been without Government 

support.

Many reasons have been adduced for American preoccupation with practical science. Alexis de Tocqueville concluded that Americans had not contributed much to basic science because of the political system in America. 

"Permanent inequality of conditions leads men to confine themselves to the 

arrogant and sterile researches of abstract truths, whilst the social condition 

and institutions of democracy prepare them to seek the immediate and useful 

practical results of the sciences." Hitchcock's assessment suggests a slight 

variation. In a democracy, practical ends justify the expenditure of money, 

and practical results justify the pursuit of pure science. David Dale Owen 

had drawn essentially the same conclusion when he said that it behooves a 

young man to secure a competency before he indulges in unproductive fancies.

At the 1842 meeting of the Association of American Geologists, paleontology and stratigraphy were the principal topics for discussion. By this 

time, Sedgwick and Murchison had defined the Cambrian and Silurian (and 

had had a falling out over the boundary), the Devonian, and the Permian; 

the Triassic and Jurassic had been defined on the continent. Lyell had visited 

the United States and had been received cordially by American geologists. 

David Dale Owen gave a paper on the geology of the Western States for 

which he had prepared two 18-feet-Iong sections, one from the Unaka 

Mountains of Tennessee to the mouth of the Wisconsin and the other from 

Chickasaw Bluff on the Mississippi to Pittsburgh. Owen tried to correlate 

the American rocks with those of Europe on the basis of paleontological 

evidence. James Hall, who followed him with a paper on the geographical 

distribution of fossils in the older rocks of the United States, exhibited a 

section from eastern New York to the Mississippi and declared "that the

The New York survey pioneered in understanding 

of American stratigraphy. Emmons proposed the 

term "New York System" as the equivalent of 

Werner's Transition System, at the base of which 

was the Potsdam sandstone. The illustration is of 

the Ausable Chasm, in northeastern New York, a 

tourist attraction even then. At Birmingham a flight 

of stairs had been constructed so visitors, like the 

elegantly dressed gentleman shown for scale, could 

descend to the bottom of the gorge to inspect the 

towering walls and the turbulent river. (From Ebenezer Emmons, 1842.)

64 Man's True Interests, 1841-1849
The Trenton limestone lies above the Potsdam sandstone, separated from it by the Calciferous sandrock. 

It was named for the falls on West Canada Creek, 

pictured above, and the falls for the town of Trenton 

in Oneida County. It is well characterized by fossils, 

several of which are peculiar to it. This woodcut, 

based on a drawing by R. C. Taylor from which 

Mrs. James Hall made the woodblock, shows the 

character of the Trenton limestone, both its horizontal layers as they appear transverse to the stream, 

and vertical joints. (From Lardner Vanuxem, 1842.)^

The Conglomerate, the representative of the Carboniferous System, is the equivalent of the Millstone grit of England, where it was considered the 

base of the Secondary System. It is of little importance in New York except as showing the remains 

of an important formation which once extended 

widely over the southern tier of counties. The drawing by E. N. Horsford, is a rather surrealistic view. 

(From James Hall, 1843.)

-^r_...«*??sm*fz ^c. -*r~ ^:--A wxv - > . ~ . S,^M*F?-v^^-^m i^crii

rocks which in England are called Silurian, and which in this state we have 

termed the New York system, are known to be of great extent in this country."

When the final reports of the New York survey were published in 1843, 

Hall wrote:

Nowhere is there known to exist so complete a series of the older fossiliferous 

rocks as those embraced within the limits of the State, and for the reason that 

in New York, where the means of investigation are best afforded and where the 

whole series is undisturbed, there is manifested the most complete and continuous succession, showing but one geological era for the deposition of the 

whole. In that era the earth first witnessed the dawn of animal life and ages of 

its greatest fecundity in marine organisms and the approach of the period when 

it became fitted to support a vegetation so luxuriant and universal, of which no 

modern era has afforded a parallel.

The New York system actually comprehended the Cambrian, Silurian, and 

Devonian systems of the English geologists, and was the equivalent of the 

Transition system of Werner. In fact, Ebenezer Emmons had proposed the 

name "New York Transition System," but Hall had dropped the "Transition." Emmons also proposed the term "Taconic System" for a series of

The New York System 65
rocks in a belt some 15 miles wide near the Massachusetts border, which he 

said were distinct from the Primary rocks but below the New York system. 

When the Association of American Geologists met in 1844, H. D. and 

W. B. Rogers proposed a system of classification and nomenclature of the 

Palaeozoic rocks of the United States. Their use of the term "Palaeozoic," 

proposed by Adam Sedgwick in 1838, immediately signalled a disagreement with Hall, and they pointed out at the beginning that their work was 

based on rocks in the Appalachian system, which were more than 30,000 

feet thick in comparison with the 6,000 feet in the New York System. The 

Rogers brothers proposed to deduce from the study of the organic remains 

and mineral characteristics in different parts of the Appalachian system, a 

classification "in harmony with the natural relationships of the different 

members throughout the region which they occupy as to time and circumstances of origin which in other words, shall express the various epochs and 

changes in their true relative importance." The primary idea, they said, 

would be that of order in time, but the language should be of such "pliancy 

as to admit of expressing by some simple adjunct all the modifications of 

type exhibited by particular divisions of the system in different or distant 

regions." Hall congratulated them on being able to do so much with fossils, but the brothers claimed he had misunderstood. They had based their 

classification on structural evidence first and had found that the paleontological evidence was in accord. The Rogerses objected strongly to any nomenclature based on an examination of local districts and thought sufficient data 

were at hand for a general classification. Hall and others, however, advocated 

a more cautious method and the adoption of a provisional nomenclature 

based mainly on that of Europe.

Primary rocks, below the New York System, were 

also observed. This woodcut of the primary rocks in 

a cut along the side of the Utica railroad near Herkimer, New York, shows the joints or fractures usually found in these ancient rocks. (From Lardner Vanuxem, 1842.)

66 Man's True Interests, 1841-1849
At about the same time that geologists of the New 

York survey were proposing the New York System, 

Issachar Cozzens, the librarian of the New York Lyceum, began to make geological sections and maps 

of his own because he found most of the elementary 

works on geology were "mere collections of hard 

names and foreign references." He hoped by adding historical facts, anecdotes, and reminiscences to 

induce people to read and become interested in "the 

greatest of all sciences." The original of this delightful section, which "has nine, and probably ten, 

distinct rocks or formations, in a stretch of 20 

miles" is hand-colored in rich greens and strong 

reds. (From Issachar Cozzens, 1843.)

Federal scientific endeavors were for the most part keyed to exploration 

and mapping, and Joel R. Poinsett of South Carolina, who became Secretary 

of War in the Van Buren cabinet in March 1837, was responsible for much 

of what was done. Poinsett, himself a naturalist in the European tradition 

and a very able man, proceeded to revitalize his department, which was 

responsible for supervision of internal improvements and administration of 

the mineral lands as well as protection of the frontier. When the Secretary of 

the Navy became ill, Poinsett was also given responsibility for management 

of the United States Exploring Expedition. Poinsett chose Lieutenant Charles 

Wilkes as commander, issued a general order that the objects of the expedition were scientific and useful, not military, and in August 1838, 27 

months after it was authorized, the expedition sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, 

around the world. Some of the scientists who had been recruited in 1836 

had become discouraged, but James Dwight Dana was one who retained 

interest, and he sailed with the expedition.

In the Army Reorganization Act of 1838, provision was made for expanding the Topographical Bureau, and its status was raised to that of an independent corps, equal in rank to the Corps of Engineers, whose duties were 

to explore and develop the continent. Colonel Abert and Secretary Poinsett 

immediately made arrangements to secure Joseph Nicollet's services. Nicollet made two expeditions in 1838 and 1839, assisted by Lieutenant John C. 

Fremont of the Topographical Engineers, a young protege of Poinsett's, and 

then settled down to prepare a map of and report on the hydrographic basin 

of the Upper Mississippi River.

The needs of the Wilkes Expedition led to the establishment of other 

institutions in the Federal Government. When Wilkes was about to sail, the 

Navy Department requested Lieutenant James H. Gilliss of the Depot of 

Charts and Instruments and William Cranch Bond of Massachusetts to make 

astronomical and magnetic observations at home for comparison with those 

made on the expedition. The Depot of Charts and Instruments was ostensibly 

a storehouse, established in 1830 to take care of all nautical instruments, 

books, and charts when they were not in actual use. The first officer in

ai.

Federal Science, 1838 67
charge had mounted a transit instrument for determination of accurate time 

in order to rate the chronometers. The second built a small observatory for 

the transit. Gilliss, who was the third, converted his storehouse into the 

Naval Observatory. He made so many and so varied observations to aid the 

Exploring Expedition that in 1841, when he asked for an adequate building, 

he was able to convince the House Committee that hydrographic, astronomic, magnetic, and meteorologic observations were needed for the practical business of the Navy, and Congress authorized the building and funds 

to construct it. (Bond, incidentally, went on to become Director of the Harvard Observatory in 1839). In 1840, Secretary Poinsett organized the National Institution for the Promotion of Science, in part to handle the collections of the Wilkes expedition. In 1841, Congress appropriated $5,000 for 

the care of the collections, a curator was appointed, and space was obtained 

in the New Patent Office building. When General Harrison became President in 1841, however, Secretary Poinsett retired to South Carolina, and 

during the next 4 years there were four Secretaries of War, none of whom 

seemed interested in science. In 1842, Congress appropriated $20,000 for 

the care and preservation of specimens that came to the National Institute 

but required that they be under the care of a person appointed by the Joint 

Committee on the Library, and in 1843 Congress took over full charge of 

the Wilkes expedition's collections and publications.

New York survey did not make any extensive 

studies of mineral resources. The Rossie lead mine 

in St. Lawrence County was discovered in 1836, 

and for the next few years there was great excitement and speculation an endemic mania, according to Ebenezer Emmons. The mine, which attained 

a certain celebrity among mineralogists for its crystals of galena and calciferous spar, was worked for 

only a few years because, according to J. D. Whitney, for lack of geologic knowledge it had been 

opened up the wrong way. (From Ebenezer Emmons, 1842.)

When James Hall came to describe the fossils of the 

New York system, he followed the order of succession of the various strata that had been determined 

by Lardner Vanuxem, Ebenezer Emmons, and W. 

W. Mather, deeming the geologic succession of 

more importance than a zoological classification. 

Only in this way, he said, could their true value for 

geologic research be determined and their relative 

chronological importance be assigned. Mrs. Hall 

drew many of his fossil plates, including those of 

the trilobites shown here and the crinoids on the 

next page. (From James Hall, 1847.)

68 Man's True Interests, 1841 -1849
/

t

Expansion of Federal Science 69
70 Man's True Interests, 1841 -1849
^Crinoids of the New York System, drawn by Mrs. 

Hall. (From James Hall, 1847.)

Nothing was known of the geology of the West until The United States Exploring Expedition (the 

Wilkes expedition) returned in April 1841 and explored the Pacific Northwest coast and the Columbia River. Several overland expeditions were sent 

out, and James Dwight Dana, who accompanied 

one of these expeditions south to California, recognized in Shasty Peak a dormant or extinct volcano, 

noted its two summits, and surmised that each had 

been a place of ejection. The smaller, he said, appeared as if it might bear the same relation to the 

larger as Vesuvius to Somma. (From J. D. Dana, 

1849.)

The appropriations for charting the coast were steadily increased. The 

principle of civilian control seemed firmly established when the Coast Survey 

was transferred to the Treasury Department in 1836, but Hassler had a 

problem in getting and training scientific personnel and had to draw most 

of his assistants from the officer corps of the Army and Navy. He supplied 

books and instructed them in the use of instruments and in the application 

of physics and mathematics to surveying problems, and when he succeeded 

in keeping officers assigned to the Coast Survey long enough, they became 

highly competent. The charting of the coast, however, did not proceed rapidly enough to satisfy the critics. In 1841 the House of Representatives 

undertook a full-scale investigation, and a serious effort was made to cut the 

appropriation, now grown to $100,000. The select committee, however, 

'had difficulty in judging the quality of the work, and in the end recommended only that the Survey be reorganized. Congress adopted a plan that 

allowed the Survey to keep its appropriation and remain under civilian control, but it set up a board, consisting of the Superintendent, his two principal assistants, two naval officers, and four topographic engineers, to pass on 

plans.

John C. Fremont became the most famous of all the Topographical Engineers. In 1842, Lt. Fremont, who had by then married Senator Benton's 

daughter, was given command of an expedition to the Rocky Mountains. 

The Wilkes Expedition had spent some time exploring the coast of the Pacific Northwest after its return from the Central Pacific in April 1841. In

1843. Lt. Fremont was ordered to connect his reconnaissance of 1842 with 

the surveys of Commander Wilkes on the Pacific Coast and to return by the 

Oregon Trail. The expedition had a political as well as a scientific motivation: it would point up the importance of the Oregon country. After completing his official objective, Fremont did not return as directed but turned 

south and explored southern California and the Southwest, which were then 

Mexican territory. The expedition eventually returned to St. Louis in August

1844.

Exploration of the West 71
Fremont prepared two reports on his expeditions which are noted for their 

comprehensiveness. Fremont was not only geographer and topographer but 

scientist as well, trained by Nicollet. He collected botanical specimens, minerals, fossils, and made geological observations. His map of the region traversed contained errors, but it was the most important of the decade and 

remained significant until the Civil War. James Hall said that his collection 

of geological materials presented "sufficient materials to form some probable 

conclusions regarding the whole region from this side of the Rocky Mountains, westward to the mouth of the Columbia River."

Alexander Dallas Bache, who became Superintendent of the Coast Survey 

after the death of Hassler in 1843, was largely responsible for expanding the 

concept of federal science. Bache was a man of high scientific attainments, 

as was Hassler, but Bache was also a man of great executive ability, and he 

possessed the personal characteristics needed for successful administration of 

a government organization. Bache was the great-grandson of Benjamin 

Franklin and the grandson of Alexander J. Dallas, Secretary of the Treasury 

when the Coast Survey began its work. He graduated from West Point in 

1825, at the head of his class although he was only 19, but after a brief 

career in the army he had been elected professor of natural philosophy and 

chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. Bache began with the practical: 

he divided the coastline into sections, in each of which a base line was measured and triangulation extended. This method of operation not only accelerated the work, it also avoided sectional jealousies and made it a matter of 

sectional pride to have the survey extended in each area so Congress then

John C. Fremont

John C. Fremont of the Topographical Engineers 

made several exploratory trips to the West beginning in 1841. His reports aroused great interest in 

that almost unknown part of the continent, and his 

maps were used as guides by those migrating to the 

West. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

72 Man's True Interests, 1841-1849
This hill on the Columbia River, near the mouth of 

the "Walahwalah" River, was observed by Fremont 

in October 1843 and sketched to show the columnar structure of the basalt of the Columbia valley. 

(From J. C. Fremont, 1845.)

more readily saw the need for appropriations. In his second year as Superintendent, new instruments were perfected and new methods introduced, and 

exploration of the Gulf Stream began. Later, Bache was able to begin observations on tides, on the magnetism of the earth, and on gravity, and the 

Coast Survey under his direction became a broadly based scientific organization.

The debates in Congress on the disposition of the Smithson bequest reflected the changing views of science in the Federal Establishment. James 

Smithson, a British chemist, had died in 1829, leaving, in the event of the 

death of his heir, all his property to the United States "to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for 

the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." In 1836, after word 

was received that the last heir had died, Congress voted to accept the bequest 

but did not decide how to use it. The early debates assumed that the Smithsonian Institution would be a national university, which had long been a 

thorny issue, but others proposed an agricultural experiment station, an institution for experiments in physical sciences, or a system for collecting meteorological observations. John Quincy Adams wanted the income used for 

an astronomical observatory, and Secretary of War Poinsett thought of a 

great museum. In 1844, when Congress again took up the question, other 

elements were introduced, a public library, cheap popular publications, or a 

normal school for the graduate instruction of teachers. Eventually a bill was 

passed in 1846 that included explicitly or implicitly a library, a museum, 

an art gallery, research, and education, with authority vested in a board of 

regents and administrative supervision in a Secretary.

Alexander Dallas Bache was a member of the first Board of Regents, along 

with his uncle, Vice-President George M. Dallas, and his brother-in-law, 

Secretary of the Treasury Robert J. Walker. The first Board of Regents 

passed a resolution that the Secretary be a man possessing eminent scientific 

acquirements, capable of advancing science and promoting letters by original

H*^VVW^>£V* * *"VV Jrf-iaf, ***£~^v > . tl ^£«i***:,%*:^-&~*-a#*^ .j»'*S?"_i** i . Av

Smithsonian Institution 73
researches and effort, and Joseph Henry, who had recommended Bache for 

the position of Superintendent of the Coast Survey, was elected as the first 

Secretary. Henry, then approaching 50, had been professor of natural philosophy at Princeton since 1832. He was an experimental physicist, one of the 

few at the time anywhere and perhaps the only one in the United States. He 

had discovered the law of electromagnetic induction and had realized the 

oscillatory nature of electric currents; his investigations of electricity and 

magnetism had anticipated many more modern developments.

To Henry, science was only pure science. He took out no patents on his 

inventions or discoveries, believing that it was the duty of the scientist to 

show what was possible and to leave to the inventor the application of the 

discovery to practical uses. Henry chose to interpret the Smithsonian's mission as a directive to support original research and the publication of its 

results, and during his long tenure of office he succeeded in making the 

Smithsonian the symbol of science in America.

Only two State surveys were formally established. In December 1842, the 

South Carolina legislature resolved that the interests and pursuits of that 

State were essentially agricultural and that a survey "for the examination of 

our soil discovery and application of marl lime, and developing all other 

resources and facilities of improvement" would prove "among the most 

efficient means of giving value to her soil, increasing her products, multiplying her population, and diffusing national and individual prosperity." 

Edmund Ruffin of Virginia was appointed as agricultural surveyor and concentrated for the following year on soil improvement and the use of marl.

Ruffin was succeeded after that one year by Michael Tuomey, Irish-born 

but educated at Rensselaer, and a man with ideas of his own. After graduation from Rensselaer, he had gone south where he served as an engineer on 

a railway in North Carolina and then as a teacher in Virginia; in the latter

Pyramid Lake was so named by Fremont, whose attention was attracted by the "very remarkable rock 

in the lake" which "presented a pretty exact outline of the great pyramid of Cheops." The lake, in 

the southern part of Washoe County, Nevada, is 

almost completely encircled by high rugged mountains and is the most picturesque sheet of water in 

the Nevada valleys. (From J. C. Fremont, 1845.)

74 Man's True Interests, 1841 -1849
Fremont's first view of "the waters of the Inland 

Sea, stretching in still and solitary grandeur far beyond the limit of our vision" was one of the "great 

points" of his exploration. "As we looked eagerly 

over the lake in the first emotions of excited pleasure," he said, "I am doubtful if the followers of 

Balboa felt more enthusiasm when, from the height 

of the Andes, they saw for the first time the great 

western ocean." Fremont later explored the lake in 

a small india-rubber boat shaped somewhat like a 

bark canoe. (From J. C. Fremont, 1845.)

post, he had come in contact with several well-known geologists. Tuomey 

set out to educate South Carolinians on the advantages of diversification. He 

pointed out that there were two forms of geology, which had a definite 

mutual relationship. The first, which he called "descriptive geology," was 

concerned with study of the crust of the Earth, the materials of which it is 

formed and the manner in which they are arranged, the organic remains 

enclosed therein, the forces presently in operation and those in the past that 

had produced the present form and appearance of the crust. The other, or 

"practical geology," was the application of the knowledge thus acquired to 

the ordinary affairs of life; it enabled the miner to discover substances useful 

in the arts such as minerals and ores; it enabled the engineer to determine 

the character of the country where his operations might be carried on and to 

anticipate the difficulties that might be encountered; it aided both engineer 

and architect in the selection of proper materials for construction; and it

South Carolina Survey 75
formed the basis for agricultural science by pointing out the origin and character of soils.

Tuomey set out first to make a general geologic reconnaissance of the State

and then to undertake certain practical geologic studies. Both his first report 

in November 1844 and the complete report that followed in 1847 dealt 

largely with these practical matters, and though the legislature proclaimed 

agriculture as South Carolina's first concern, Tuomey gave as much or more 

attention to iron ores and iron manufacturing and gold mining and the extraction of gold from its ore as to soils, lime, and manures. He recognized 

three kinds of iron ore in South Carolina, of which brown hematite was the 

most common; he called attention to the development of the hot blast and 

the use of mineral fuel elsewhere, but at the same time he pointed out that 

although there was no possibility of finding coal in the State, charcoal iron 

was premium grade and there was no reason for lack of success in South 

Carolina. The chief value of the gold mines, he said, lay in the great thickness of the beds and veins and not in their peculiar richness. No one should 

engage in the business with the hope of becoming suddenly rich, but a fair 

remuneration could be obtained by working with industry, perseverance,

and skill.

Tuomey was even a precursor of the conservationists; in his report urging

strongly the preservation of the forests in the mining districts of the State, 

and condemning waste, he wrote:

The Geologist who would close a report on the minerals and mines of the State, 

without adverting to the frightful disregard of the future everywhere evident, 

would discharge his duty but indifferently. If an individual opens a limestone 

quarry, he supplies himself from the surface of the bed, throws back the refuse 

and superincumbent earth, to be removed by some one else, or perhaps by 

himself. A gold mine is destroyed that a rich vein may be followed which offers 

immediate profit, and the surface of the beds of iron ore is skimmed over to the 

destruction of the underlying beds, because a few tons can be obtained at a 

cheaper rate. Such a course as this needs no argument to point out its ruinous 

consequences.

Tuomey did not change the course of the State, which was already wedded 

to agriculture, and when he was called to be professor of geology at the 

University of Alabama, the South Carolina Survey was suspended.

Tuomey pursued much the same course later in Alabama. He was appointed State Geologist in January 1848, but given no funds. In his first 

report to the legislature in 1849, he outlined methods of improving iron 

manufacture, warned against mining with regard for present cheapness and 

disregard for the future, but also provided considerable information on coal, 

which he had gathered by extensive travel and study. Coal had been known 

and used in Alabama for some time, and a scientific note on it had been 

published in 1834 in the American Journal of Science. In 1849, about 200 

persons were engaged in the coal trade in Alabama, but only three beds were 

worked underground and the rest was taken from river or streambeds during 

low-water stages. Tuomey reported that chemical analyses indicated that 

Alabama coal was suitable for production of gas as well as for fuel, and that 

if the heating power was related to the amount of carbon, as Walter Johnson 

had inferred from his experiments on coal, Alabama coal would do well, 

although, said Tuomey, there were discrepancies in the data that made any 

comparison somewhat less than ideal.

The only other State survey established in this decade accomplished little. 

Professor Charles B. Adams, professor of chemistry and natural history at 

Middlebury College, was appointed State Geologist of Vermont in 1844. 

Several collections of rocks and minerals were made, but no provision was 

made for a report, and in 1847, when appropriations ceased, Professor Adams accepted a professorship at Amherst College and moved to Massachusetts.

Michael Tuomey

Tuomey, Stace Geologist of Souch Carolina and later 

of Alabama, tried to interest the South in economic 

diversification. He was also one of the first to speak 

out for conservation of mineral resources. (Courtesy 

of the Smithsonian Archives, Merrill Collection.)

76 Man's True Interests, 1841-1849
Another Federal geological survey was also authorized. Douglass Houghton, State Geologist of Michigan, had explored the Upper Peninsula in the 

summer of 1840, and in February 1841, he reported to the State legislature 

the presence of resources of copper in commercial quantities. The existence 

of copper in the Lake Superior region had long been known, although no 

mining had been done. Houghton, moreover, pointed out that "the true 

resources have as yet been but little examined or developed, and even under 

the most favorable circumstances we cannot expect to see this done but by 

the most judicious and economical expenditure of capital at those points 

where the prospects of success are the most favorable." It seemed unlikely 

that anyone would get rich mining copper in northern Michigan, or even be 

interested. The Michigan legislature was not sufficiently impressed with the 

possibility to appropriate funds for continuation of the Michigan Geological 

Survey. However, prospectors did begin to move toward the area from the 

Upper Mississippi Valley lead lands.

Douglass Houghton

State Geologist of Michigan 1837-1841, professor 

of geology and mineralogy at the University of 

Michigan 1838-1845, mayor of Detroit 1842- 

1843, and U.S. Geologist 1844-1845. (Courtesy 

of the Library of Congress.)

Michigan Copper 77
The Michigan copper lands were unsurveyed public lands, and before anything could be done about mining, a settlement had to be made with the 

Chippewa Indians who lived in the area, and the land had to be surveyed. 

Congress appropriated the funds for purchase of the land, a treaty was negotiated by which the Chippewa ceded 25,000 square miles to the Federal 

Government, and the cession was ratified on March 12, 1843. The linear 

surveys were begun immediately and progressed rapidly enough for the first 

mining permits to be issued in 1844.

The Upper Peninsula also contained rich iron deposits. Houghton had 

known of them but had not mentioned iron in his 1841 report because he 

did not think that the iron was of sufficient economic value; in that he was 

right at that time. There was wood in abundance to make charcoal, but 

iron technology was already turning to coal, which was not locally available. 

Even if it had been, transportation was an almost insurmountable problem. 

In September 1844, while the linear surveying party was near the eastern 

end of Teal Lake, not far from Negaunee, W. A. Burt, the deputy surveyor, 

noticed that his compass needle was behaving erratically and giving readings 

87° from normal. Ascribing the effect to the nearness of iron, he and his 

associates searched for outcrops, found several, and, satisfied that they had 

found the source of the difficulty, continued their work. Burt had invented 

the solar compass several years before for use under just such conditions. 

Houghton, however, was able to use the iron deposits to promote Federal 

support for his geologic work. At the meeting of the Association of American 

Geologists, he had read a paper on the importance and practicability of combining the linear and geologic surveys that so impressed the Association that 

it resolved to memorialize the Government on the subject. Houghton and 

Burt presented a plan to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the 

Commissioner recommended the plan to Congress, funds were appropriated, 

and Houghton was appointed to direct the work. The work began in the 

summer of 1845, but unfortunately Houghton was drowned during an early 

snowstorm in October, and the project was then abandoned.

Leasing of the mineral lands was still controlled by the War Department 

and in Michigan, the permit holder, once he had made a location, had to 

apply to Washington for a lease, accompanying his application with a surety 

bond for $20,000. The maximum leasing period was 10 years. The leasing 

requirements favored business interests over individuals, but the restriction 

of the maximum leasing period meant that large capital investments would 

not be warranted, so speculators were favored most of all.

In the summer of 1844, David Henshaw of Massachusetts, who had been 

Tyler's Secretary of the Navy for a brief period, employed Dr. Charles T. 

Jackson to examine the area. Keeweenaw Point was then an almost unbroken 

wilderness. The Government's mineral agency office had been set up at 

Copper Harbor, and Charles Gratiot of St. Louis had a crew of explorers on 

hand, but nothing of significance had been discovered. Jackson found that 

"native copper and native silver existed there in regular veins, which could 

be advantageously wrought by mining operations," and the Pittsburg & 

Boston Company was formed to mine for copper and silver on Keeweenaw 

Point.

Dr. Jackson visited northern Michigan again in the summer of 1845, this 

time accompanied by Josiah Dwight Whitney, who had been his assistant 

on the New Hampshire survey. Whitney was a graduate of Yale in 1839, 

where he had come under the influence of Professor Silliman and discovered 

an interest in natural science. He was thus a few years younger than James 

Dwight Dana and Benjamin Silliman, Jr. Whitney had spent the winter of 

1839 studying chemistry with Dr. Robert Hare of the University of Penn78 Man's True Interests, 1841-1849
The Cliff mine on Keeweenaw Point was the first of 

the great copper mines of northern Michigan. This 

illustration is partly plan, partly landscape. The cliff 

in the background is crystalline greenstone. The 

vein traverses it in a nearly perpendicular direction. 

The mining ground is below the cliff in a belt of 

amygdaloidal trap. Poppet-heads and whims for 

raising the ore and water are at the entrance to the 

shaft. Near the center is the building used for preparing the rock and ore. The building at the extreme right contains the stamps and washing apparatus. (From J. W. Foster and J. D. Whitney, 

1850.)

sylvania and then under Jackson. When the New Hampshire survey ended, 

Whitney having determined on a career in geology, went to Europe for advanced study at Paris and Berlin. Michigan was more crowded in 1845 than 

it had been in the previous summer. Whitney said: "the shores of Keeneenaw 

Point were whitened with the tents of speculators and so-called geologists." 

No copper had been mined as yet, the miners and prospectors having contented themselves with searching for and picking up loose masses of copper 

on the surface. After examining evidence of a copper deposit in a cliff on the 

southwestern branch of the Eagle River, Jackson and Whitney recommended 

that exploration begin through the foot of the cliff. The Pittsburg & Boston's first mine had been a failure, but an adit at the recommended site 

struck a mass of metallic copper at 70 feet, the first found by underground 

mining in the Lake Superior region. In the next 8 years, the Cliff mine 

produced more than $1.3 million worth of copper.

A second "discovery" was also made in the iron district in 1845. The 

Jackson Mining Company had been organized in June 1845 to explore the 

mineral districts on the southern shore of Lake Superior. P. M. Everett, the 

president, wanted to locate a copper mine, but members of the exploration 

party were guided instead to an "iron mountain" near the site of Burt's 

discovery by an old Indian chief. The iron was rather easily mined the 

operation was more like quarrying than mining as the ore was found in knobs 

and ridges above the general level of the land but was still not economically 

practicable.

In 1845, American attention was focussed more on Texas than Michigan. 

In April 1844, President Tyler had negotiated a treaty of annexation, only 

to have it rejected by the Senate 2 months later. The Texas question had 

then become a prime issue in the presidential election campaign of 1844, 

and James K. Polk, who strongly favored the annexation, was elected. After

Michigan Iron 79
the election, President Tyler recommended to the lame duck Congress that 

Texas be admitted as a State by joint resolution, which did not require a 

two-thirds vote as did a treaty. The joint resolution was enacted on February 

28, 1845, and on his last day in office, President Tyler sent word to Texas 

President Sam Houston that the consent of the Lone Star Republic was all 

that was necessary to make Texas the 28th State.

The Democratic platform had also called for occupation of Oregon. A 

division of the Oregon territory had been discussed in 1842 during negotiations preceding the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which settled the disputed 

boundary between Maine and New Brunswick and adjusted the boundary 

between the United States and Canada from Vermont and New York westward to the Lake of the Woods, but no conclusion had been reached. In 

1843, the Western States began agitating for annexation of the whole Oregon country up to the border of Russian Alaska. President Tyler opened 

negotiations in 1844, offering to divide the territory along latitude 49° N. 

but the British insisted on the Columbia River as the dividing line, and the 

matter was dropped. Mr. Polk had other objectives in mind, including legalization of the sale of mineral lands, a revision of the tariff, and acquisition 

of California. Mexico had shown some inclination to dispose of the province, 

and Polk wanted to acquire it lest England or France get it first. The Texas 

question, however, was the most pressing.

At the end of March 1845, Mexico broke off diplomatic relations with 

the United States. After a special session of the Texas Congress voted for 

annexation on June 23, Mexico increased its armed forces to resist the annexation, and General Zachary Taylor and his Army of Observation were ordered 

to move into Texas and establish a base on the south bank of the Nueces 

River. American knowledge of southwestern geography was then singularly 

deficient, and before any campaign against Mexico could start, it was necThis topographical plan of the Cliff mine was made 

from a survey in November 1847 by S. W. Hill for 

Jackson. Jt shows several features of interest as well 

as the topography. Note the two boardinghouses 

close to the adit and an extensive garden beyond the 

stables. (From C. T. Jackson, 1849.)

80 Man's True Interests, 1841-1849
essary to acquire some accurate idea of the country in which operations would 

have to be conducted. Thus, three trans-Mississippi expeditions were launched 

in the spring of 1845. Colonel Stephen W. Kearney led a dragoon reconnaissance along the Oregon Trail to South Pass, then southward along the 

mountain front to Bent's Fort, to gather information on the Plains country, 

keep open the emigrant trail to Oregon, and impress the Indians with American military power. Lt. W. B. Franklin of the Topographical Engineers was 

the expedition's topographer and mapmaker. Captain Fremont was ordered 

to explore the Arkansas-Red River country to locate supply routes, but that 

expedition became a march from Bent's Fort through the Rocky Mountains 

and across the Great Basin to California. Lt. James W. Abert, originally 

assigned to the Fremont expedition, explored the Comanche country along 

the Canadian River and completed Fremont's original mission. Fremont, for 

his part, found that the desert country of the Great Basin was not as formidable as supposed and indicated a probable new route for overland communication.

In October 1845, the people of Texas ratified the legislature's action in 

accepting annexation, and Texas became a State on December 29- While 

most eyes were on Texas, President Polk was also making moves toward the 

acquisition of California. In October, the American consul at Monterey reDavid Dale Owen

Owen was a master of geological reconnaissance and 

also an artist of uncommon skill. Twice he was appointed U.S. Geologist to make surveys of mineral 

lands in the Upper Mississippi Valley, once in 1839 

and again in 1847. He also served as State Geologist 

of Indiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas. (Courtesy of 

the Smithsonian Archives, Merrill Collection.) |

Annexation of Texas 81
ceived a message from the Secretary of State that "Whilst the President will 

make no effort and use no influence to induce California to become one of 

the free and independent States of the Union, yet if the people should desire 

to unite their destiny with ours, they would be received as brethren, whenever this can be done without affording Mexico just cause for complaint." 

Then in November, President Polk sent a special mission to Mexico in an 

attempt to negotiate recognition of the Rio Grande as the southern boundary 

of the United States and to purchase New Mexico and California.

Secretary of the Treasury Robert Walker outlined a tariff program to Congress in December 1845 that called for variation of the tariff in accordance 

with the demand for imported goods. The highest duties would be imposed 

on goods for which the demand was most inelastic, whereas goods for which 

the demand was most elastic would be placed on the free list. The theory 

was that people will buy some goods regardless of the cost, and that these 

goods should bear the highest duties and provide revenue. The Act of July 

30, 1846, returned to the principle of ad valorem rather than specific duties 

and established several schedules in which the various articles were classed. 

Those with which the protective controversy had been most concerned, including iron and other metals and metal manufactures, were placed in Schedule C which levied a duty of 30 percent.

The tariff led to an amicable settlement of the Oregon question. The 

British at this juncture were willing to make concessions in Oregon in exchange for a lower American tariff, and the United States was willing to 

negotiate to obtain a relaxation of British import restrictions and to keep 

Britain out of the Mexican situation. The treaty ratified by the Senate on 

June 15, 1846, extended the existing British-American boundary along the 

49th parallel west to the Pacific but left Vancouver Island as British territory.

The second Owen survey in the Upper Mississippi 

Valley area was not so hurried and not confined to 

practical geology. Owen found the structure of these 

granitic rocks on the Chippewa River, in places subcolumnar like basalt and in others, schistose, of special interest because of its similarity to the granitic 

rocks of central France. The outcrop was also of scenic interest; Owen noted that the water "foams 

around piles of rock, that obstruct its passage, as it 

winds its way through the dark pine forest, and 

lends some variety and interest to the scenery of this 

part of the Chippewa, which is, for the most part, 

too same and flat to be otherwise than monotonous 

and tame." (From D. D. Owen, 1848.)

82 Man's True Interests, 1841-1849
D. D. Owen made a careful distinction between 

natural sections, such as those in cliffs and bluffs, 

and those which were drawn to show inferred relations of the rocks. In this natural section, just above 

the point where the 4th principal meridian strikes 

the southern shore of Lake Superior, superficial deposits rest unconformably on tilted strata of red 

sandstone. Geologists of experience, Owen said, 

differed widely as to the period to which these sandstones should be assigned because the most diligent 

search had not brought to light any fossils except a 

few impressions of fossil seaweeds. Douglass 

Houghton had believed them to be the equivalent 

of the New Red sandstone (Triassic) as had Owen at 

first. In his 1852 report, however, Owen concluded 

they were below the Paleozoic base, or Azoic. (From 

D. D. Owen, 1848.)

In 1845, the Supreme Court issued a second opinion on the leasing of 

mineral lands. The second case involved H. H. Gear who had occupied Federal land in 1827 and mined it without obtaining a digging permit. Congressman John Hardin, counsel for Gear, argued that the 1807 law had 

reserved the mineral land from sale for future disposal by, but not for use of, 

the Government, and that the law had been repealed by implication by several public-land acts, in particular the act of June 1834 establishing the 

Mineral Point land district. The Court found in favor of the Government, 

but the vote was divided 4 to 3, and two of the justices, in a minority 

opinion, argued that the 1834 law had in fact repealed the 1807 reservation.

In his first annual message to Congress in December 1845, President Polk 

asked for changes in the mineral land laws. The system of managing the 

mineral lands he characterized as "radically defective." In the preceding 4 

years, a total of $6,354.74 had been received in rent of the lead lands, and 

the expenses of administering the lands had been $26,111.11. He recommended that the mineral lands be placed under the superintendence and 

management of the General Land Office, as were other public lands, that 

they be brought into market and sold "reserving to the Government an equitable percentage of the gross amount of the mineral product," and that 

the preemption principle be extended to resident miners and settlers at a 

minimum price to be established by Congress. Mr. Hoge of Illinois promptly 

submitted a bill authorizing the sale of lands in Illinois, Wisconsin, and 

Iowa "supposed to contain lead ore."

Sale of the reserved mineral lands in the States of Illinois and Arkansas 

and the Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa was authorized on July 11, 1846. 

Leaseholders were permitted to buy their holdings at $2.50 an acre if they 

took the whole tract covered by their permits. Others could buy as much as 

they wished, but not less than 40 acres, at a minimum of $5.00 an acre. 

Preemption was permitted after the auction at double the minimum.

Changes in Mineral-Land Laws, 1846 83
The leasing of the copper lands in Michigan had been even less successful 

than leasing in the lead regions, and as a result of the wild speculation there, 

the issuance of permits had been suspended in May 1846. In his message to 

Congress in December 1846, President Polk asked for authorization to sell 

the public lands containing copper and other ores as well. Before adjourning 

in March, Congress by Acts of March 1 and March 3, 1847, transferred the 

custody of the mineral lands from the War Department to the Treasury 

Department (which again included the General Land Office), established the 

Lake Superior Land District in Michigan and the Chippewa Land District in 

the Territory of Wisconsin, and authorized sale of the mineral lands in these 

districts on the same terms as had been set in the legislation of the previous 

summer for the lead lands.

Before the lands in the Lake Superior and Chippewa districts could be 

sold, however, Congress decreed that geological examinations be made to 

determine which lands should be classed as mineral and which as agricultural. The General Land Office employed Dr. Charles T. Jackson, who had 

examined the area for private interests in 1844 and 1845, to make the survey 

of the Lake Superior district, and Dr. David Dale Owen, who had made the 

1839 survey of the lead region, to make the survey of the Chippewa district. 

Jackson took as his assistants John Wells Foster, who had been a member of 

the Ohio Survey, and Josiah Dwight Whitney. Owen's assistant was Dr. 

Joseph Norwood, a member of the medical faculty at St. Louis University.

The Jackson survey was beset by more than the usual number of difficulties. Michigan was a State, and its representatives in Congress, imbued with 

State pride, felt that no outsider could do justice to the work. They therefore 

proposed, unsuccessfully, that the head of the survey be required to reside in 

the State, that all the chemical work be done in Michigan, and that only 

citizens of Michigan be employed as assistants. Jackson himself was opposed 

to reservation of mineral lands, and in his report in 1849, he said:

It may be useful to the public to cause geological and mineralogical surveys to 

be made for their information, but I am satisfied that the reservation of mineral 

lands is a great evil to the country, and that the Government never can derive 

revenue from such sources, while the restriction most seriously embarrasses 

the settlement of newly acquired territory. The above remarks are applicable to 

the whole copper region, and I would not advise the reservation of any part of 

it as mineral land.

Opposition to the survey led to Jackson's resignation in 1849 and the appointment of Foster and Whitney to complete the work.

Owen, with characteristic energy, surveyed about 46,000 square miles in 

the Chippewa district of Wisconsin and northern Iowa, and in April 1848, 

he submitted a report of 134 pages and maps to Congress which, he said, 

clearly indicated "what regions are most likely to yield ores and where it 

would be a loss to search for them." He was then instructed to make a 

survey of a more extensive region in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota Territory and was engaged in this work until 1851, with the assistance of J. G. 

Norwood as Assistant Geologist, and Drs. John Evans and B. F. Shumard, 

B. C. Macy, C. Whittlesey, A. Litton, and Richard Owen as heads of subcorps. In his final report in 1852, Owen said that over the entire region, it 

would be wholly unnecessary to make further examinations with regard to 

reservation of lands. "Coal and iron, in abundance, and also other valuable 

minerals have, indeed, been found, and their localities carefully determined, 

but it has not been customary to make mineral reservations, on behalf of the 

United States, except of tracts promising profitable veins of lead, of copper, 

or of one of the precious metals."

Owen undertook scientific research as well, but in his final report he found 

it necessary to say that it had been his aim to make the strictly practical and

84 Man's True Interests, 1841-1849
In the Dalles of the St. Croix, about 30 miles from 

its confluence with the Mississippi, intrusive rock 

forms che perpendicular walls on both sides of the 

river, rising to heights of 100 to 170 feet. The illustration from the 1848 report (top), drawn by 

Owen, emphasizes the nature of the columnar 

masses. The illustration from the 1852 report (bottom), an engraving by E. P. Vollum cut on wood 

by C. E. Dopier, is clearly based on his field sketch, 

but it is a more artistic rendering of the scene. The 

St. Croix River here has been designated as a national scenic waterway. (From D. D. Owen, 1848 

and 1852.)

business part of the survey the chief end and that "scientific researches, 

which to some men seem purely speculative and curious, are essential as 

preliminaries to these practical results." Among the achievements of the 

survey was a geologic map, the most extensive yet made by an American 

geologist, of an area extending from 38°-49° N. and 89°30'-96°30' W., 

the establishment of the Palaeozoic base in the Mississippi Valley, and the 

discovery of fossil remains in rocks that had hitherto been regarded as destitute of organic remains.

J. W. Foster and J. D. Whitney completed the Lake Superior survey after 

Jackson's resignation and were able to include general geology in their 

work. They furnished the Commissioner of the General Land Office with 

four maps on which sections and quarter sections supposed to contain valuable copper and iron deposits were indicated. They then prepared elaborate 

reports on the copper and iron regions in which they discussed not only the 

physical geography, climate, geology, mining, metallurgy, and statistical 

information, but also the drift, attempted to link the New York section with 

the western section, and introduced the term "Azoic" for rocks in which 

they found no fossils and which everywhere underlaid the rocks containing 

the lowest forms of animal life.

Geological Surveys of Mineral Lands 85
The trend toward pure science was perhaps reinforced by the arrival of 

European scientists as residents rather than visitors. Louis Agassiz was one 

of the first to arrive. Abbott Lawrence gave Harvard University $50,000 to 

set up the Lawrence Scientific School, and Louis Agassiz became its professor 

of natural history in 1848. Agassiz, born in Switzerland, had moved to 

Paris, then the center of zoological research, in 1832. Through the influence 

of Baron Alexander von Humboldt, he was given a professorship at Neuchatel, where he continued his researches in zoology and paleontology and began 

a series of pioneer studies on glaciation. In 1848, Arnold Guyot, another 

Swiss scientist, arrived and also took up residence in the Boston area. Guyot 

was primarily a geographer and held a doctorate from Berlin. Geography in 

Europe had by this time been almost transformed from a descriptive and 

encyclopedic form to a quantitative and systematic science, largely through 

the work of Humboldt and Karl Ritter, both of whom stressed the interdependence of all phenomena on the Earth's surface and looked for general 

laws underlying the diversity of nature. Guyot introduced some of their ideas 

to the United States in his Lowell Institute lectures in 1852 and in his book 

The Earth and Man.

Professor Benjamin Peirce, Perkins Professor of Astronomy and Mathematics at Harvard, was then serving as consultant to the Coast Survey in its 

work on longitude at Harvard Observatory. Then, in 1849, the Nautical 

Almanac was also set up in Cambridge; Lieutenant Charles Henry Davis, 

who had spent several years with the Coast Survey, was its first head. Davis 

had become a close friend of Superintendent Bache and was related by marriage to Peirce. Peirce became adviser to the new work as well. As A. H. 

Dupree points out,

This arrangement, besides interlocking the Nautical Almanac closely with the 

Coast Survey, emphasized the role of Harvard as a center of government scientific work and the position of Peirce as scientific adviser.

At Yale, both pure and applied science were encouraged. Benjamin Silliman, Jr., who had graduated from Yale in 1835, had become his father's 

teaching assistant, then associate editor of the American Journal of Science. In 

1845 1846, he had delivered what is believed to be the first course in 

agricultural chemistry in a series of lectures in New Orleans; in 1846, he

In the geologic sections made in the Upper Mississippi Valley area by the Owen survey, each formation is designated by a number, beginning the lowest, F. 1., and subdivisions are indicated by letters, 

as F. l.a., F.l.b., and so on. The Lower Magnesian 

limestone is F.2. Owen's survey provided the first 

data on the beds below the white sandstone at the 

top of F. 1. and the first fossils in the rocks below 

the grey and blue fossiliferous beds. (From D. D. 

Owen, 1848.)

86 Man's True Interests, 1841-1849
published a textbook, First Principles of Chemistry, and in 1847, he had 

helped establish a school of applied chemistry at Yale. The brother-in-law of 

Benjamin Silliman, Jr., James Dwight Dana, who had left Yale before graduation, had been a member of the Wilkes Expedition, had become an editor 

of the American Journal of Science, and had published on mineralogy and crystallography, on the distribution and composition of corals, and on the origin 

of continents and volcanoes of the moon, was appointed professor of natural 

history at Yale in 1849.

The transformation of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists into the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 

accompanied this broadening concept of science. Although several members, 

notably Henry D. Rogers, foresaw the possibility, even urged it, it was at 

the Boston meeting in 1847 that a resolution was adopted to increase the 

scope of the organization and to become the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science. Rogers, Professor Benjamin Peirce of Harvard, and 

Louis Agassiz, who had then just arrived in the United States for his Lowell 

Institute lectures, were chosen to revise the constitution and rules. The new 

constitution, adopted at the Philadelphia meeting in 1848, opened the 

membership to members of scientific societies; to collegiate professors of 

natural history, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and political economy, 

and of the theoretical and applied sciences generally; and to civil engineers 

and architects. The goals of the organization were to "promote intercourse 

between those who are cultivating science in different parts of the country" 

and "to give a stronger and more general impulse, and a more systematic 

direction to scientific research in our country."

Toward the end of the decade, as scientists began to engage in pure research, the mineral industry, except for coal, began to experience some difficulties. Iron production reached a peak of about three-quarters million tons 

in 1847 but then declined for a short time. The decline was attributed by 

some ironmasters to the Walker Tariff which did not protect the native 

product against British iron on which the price had been lowered as the 

result of commercial disasters and the famine of 1848. Efforts to obtain an 

increase in the tariff led A. S. Hewitt, Trenton's 27-year-old ironmaster, 

into politics. In 1849, he helped arrange two State conventions, and at the 

New Jersey convention, he was made chairman of the committee on petitions 

and correspondence and drafted a memorial to Congress.

Lead production was declining. The southeastern Missouri mines had 

reached a peak in 1845; a year or so later, mining in the Upper Mississippi 

Valley became more difficult and expensive as the surface ores were depleted, 

and a steady decline set in. Lead mining began on a small scale in southwestern Missouri in 1848 and increased steadily, but production was not 

great enough to offset the decline elsewhere, and in 1849, the United States 

again became a lead-importing nation.

A native zinc industry was established in 1848, when the New Jersey 

Zinc Company was organized. Zinc was the last of the seven common metals 

to come into world use, and no commercial production of the metal took 

place anywhere much before the 19th century. The Government arsenal at 

Washington made a set of standard weights and measures of zinc in 1838, 

but the New Jersey Zinc Company's was the first attempt at commercial 

production. The first attempts to manufacture the metal were unsatisfactory 

because of the amount of iron and manganese in the ore.

Richard C. Taylor compiled, over a period of several years, a comprehensive collection of scientific and practical information on coal, the first of its 

kind, which was published in 1848. Taylor, considered by his contemporaries an outstanding economic geologist and mining engineer, was English

Mineral-Industry Problems 87
born and educated. He had been associated in business with William Smith, 

the father of English stratigraphy, and had been instructed by him in mining 

and geology; he had also been a member of the British Ordnance Survey and 

had been among the pioneers in geologic mapmaking. In 1830, he had come 

to the United States and thereafter engaged in the exploration and development of mining properties, first in Pennsylvania and then in other parts of 

the United States, Cuba, Panama, and New Brunswick.

Taylor called his book Statistics of Coal. The Geographical and Geological 

Distribution of Mineral Combustibles or Fossil Fuel, including, also, Notices and 

Localities of the Various Mineral Bituminous Substances, Employed in Arts and 

Manufactures, Illustrated by Maps and Diagrams; Embracing, from Official Reports of the Great Coal-Producing Countries, the Respective Amounts of Their Production, Consumption and Commercial Distribution, in All Parts of the World; 

Together with Their Prices, Tariffs, Duties, and International Regulations. Accompanied by nearly Four Hundred Statistical Tables, and Eleven Hundred Analyses of 

Mineral Combustibles, with Incidental Statements of the Statistics of Iron Manufactures, Derived from Authentic Authorities. The London, Edinburgh and Dublin 

Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science said that "comprehensive as the 

title of this work appears, it does not yet convey a just idea of its scope, or 

the extent of the subject matter. Did its title stand, 'Coal the civilizer; its 

natural history, productions and application,' it would perhaps convey to 

the casual reader a more just idea of the object and contents of the work."

Coal throughout the world, according to Taylor, was found in four positions in the geological column: in the upper part of the transition series; in 

the coal formation, properly speaking; in the "marnes irisees"; and in the 

Lias formation. Above the last, the vegetal debris was found most generally 

as lignite, although under exceptional conditions, the lignite of the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations had in some places been transformed to coal.

The coal he classified into fat bituminous, blazing, or coking; dry; very 

dry, semibituminous, or steam coals; and anthracite. He noted, however, 

that Professor Johnston had stated at the 19th annual meeting of the British 

Association for the Advancement of Science that the true basis of classificaJohn Evans visited the Mauvaises Terres or Bad 

Lands of Nebraska under Owen's sponsorship and 

called them "one of the most extraordinary and picturesque sights that can be found in the whole Missouri country." They appeared, he said, to have 

been formed, partly by an extensive vertical fault, 

partly by the long-continued influence of the scooping action of denudation. A midsummer visit was 

especially difficult because the rays of the sun were 

reflected back from the walls, "unmitigated by a 

breath of air, or the shelter of a solitary shrub." 

However, he added, the "drooping spirits of the 

scorched geologist" did not flag, for the fossil 

treasures were ample reward. (From D. D. Owen, 

1852.)

88 Man's True Interests, 1841-1849
The Michigan mines were the principal source of 

copper in the United States. During the war with 

Mexico, William H. Emory of the Army Topographical Engineers, who made a reconnaissance 

from Santa Fe to the junction of the Gila and Colorado Rivers, visited the Santa Rita del Cobre copper 

mine in southwestern New Mexico. It was deserted 

at the time although the Indians, the Spaniards, and 

the Mexicans had all worked the native copper there 

at various times. (From W. H. Emory, 1848.)

tion must depend on the chemical composition. The dry coal and anthracite 

appeared in general to be older than the fat or flaming coals, although anthracite might very often be the result of metamorphism. In general, however, he said that the more gas that a combustible contained, and the higher 

the amount of oxygen and hydrogen, the more modern it was.

In the United States the principal coal fields were the Allegheny, which 

was also known as the Appalachian or Endless Mountain Coal-field, and the 

Central Coal-field, usually known as the Illinois Coal-field. The Allegheny 

Coal-field, which extended through eight States including Ohio, covered an 

area of 65,300 square miles. The Central Coal-field, which included parts of 

Kentucky, Indiana, and Iowa as well as Illinois, covered an area of 56,200 

square miles. Outliers of these fields were found in the Richmond basin of 

eastern Virginia and the anthracite regions of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Coal was newly discovered in Michigan and was known to exist in 

Missouri, Texas, and scattered places along the Pacific Coast. A deposit of 

brown coal stretched along the entire eastern front of the Rocky Mountains.

Taylor did not foresee a very large market on the eastern seaboard for 

bituminous coal from the Allegheny field as long as anthracite was available, 

but he thought that there would be an extensive demand for Pennsylvania, 

Ohio, and perhaps Michigan coal in the Great Lakes area. Much coal would 

undoubtedly be needed to smelt the Lake copper ores. The Ohio coal field 

had tremendous reserves, and Ohio coal made excellent coke. The Maryland 

coal he thought was the best in the Nation. It was intermediate between the 

fat bituminous coals of the Pittsburgh area and the nonbituminous varieties 

of the anthracite area and had a deservedly high reputation as a generator of 

steam.

: " ^§3

Statistics of Coal 89
Taylor, it must be noted, said that the problem of collecting mining 

statistics in the United States was more difficult than in other parts of the 

world. "The wide distribution of property in America is unfavorable to the 

collection of such statistics. The process must, at all times, be unpopular, 

and the results extremely uncertain. This species of investigation savours too 

much of scrutiny into the private concerns of men, and is unsuited to the 

spirit of republican institutions." He pointed out, however, that the production of coal in Pennsylvania alone gave employment to more workmen 

and more capital than all other mining in the Union combined, with the 

exception of the iron industry. The importance of coal to the future of Pennsylvania, he said, "in connection with the corresponding advance of her manufacturing industry, surpasses the power of computation."

The Mexican War came to an end in 1847. Mexico City was captured by 

U.S. troops in September, and in November, a new Mexican president authorized peace negotiations. By the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico relinquished all claims to Texas above the Rio Grande and 

ceded New Mexico and California to the United States. The treaty was 

signed on February 2, 1848, ratified by the United States Senate on March 

10 and by the Mexican Congress on May 25, and proclaimed by President 

Polk on July 4, 1848.

On January 24, 1848, nine days before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 

was signed, James W. Marshall discovered gold in the tailrace of a sawmill 

he was building at Coloma, on the South Fork of the American River, in 

California. By the time the treaty was proclaimed, San Francisco was all but 

deserted, and all California seemed on the move toward the gold fields. 

Colonel R. B. Mason, commanding the Tenth Military Department and 

Military Governor of California, made a tour of the northern part of California during the summer of 1848 and reported that "upwards of 4,000 men" 

were working in the gold district and that "from $30,000 to $50,000 worth 

of gold, if not more, was daily obtained."

Colonel Mason also reported that

The entire gold district, with very few exceptions of grants made some years 

ago by the American authorities, is on iand belonging to the United States. It 

was a matter of serious reflection with me how I could secure to the Government certain rents or fees for the privilege of procuring this gold; but, upon 

considering the large extent of country, the character of the people engaged, 

and the smaii scattered force at my command, I resolved not to interfere, but to 

permit ail to work freely, unless broils and crimes should call for interference.

The discovery of gold in California altered the course of United States 

history. The mineral-land problems to which the Colonel alluded were not 

resolved for many years. The gold had an immediate effect on the economy 

and on the trend toward industrialization. Other problems resulting from 

the discovery held center stage for the next few years.

90 Man's True interests, 1839-1849
Chapter 6.

Gold is the Touchstone, 1849-1855

Gold is the touchstone whereby to trie men.

 Thomas Fuller

Slavery, not gold, was the basic issue in the organization of the territory 

newly acquired from Mexico. In July 1848, when President Polk sent a 

special message to Congress on the subject, Congress was then struggling to 

establish a Territorial government for Oregon, which had been acquired in 

1846. The provisional laws of Oregon excluded slavery, and there were those 

who questioned whether Congress had the power, under the Constitution, 

to prohibit slavery in the territories. Finally, in July 1848, the Senate validated the provisional laws of Oregon insofar as they were compatible with 

the Constitution but forbade the Territorial legislatures of New Mexico and 

California to pass laws on slavery. Oregon was clearly north of 36°30', but 

California was split by that line and New Mexico was below it. The House 

tabled the Senate bill and passed its own bill for organizing Oregon Territory 

with restrictions on slavery. The Senate adopted the House bill, and the 

President signed it on August 14. California and New Mexico remained 

unorganized.

Slavery thus became an issue in the 1848 presidential election campaign. 

Polk had pledged himself to a single term, and the Democrats nominated 

General Lewis Cass, who had indicated approval of local determination of 

the status of slavery. The Democratic platform denied that Congress had 

power to interfere with slavery in the States. The Whigs nominated General 

Zachary Taylor but took no stand on the slavery issue beyond rejecting a 

proposed resolution affirming the power of Congress to control slavery in the 

territories. A Free Soil party was formed in opposition to slavery and nominated Martin Van Buren. Taylor was elected, partly because of the splitting 

of the Democratic vote between Cass and Van Buren, but 13 Free-Soilers 

were elected to the House, and they would hold the balance of power between the 112 Democrats and 109 Whigs.

Rumors of the gold strike began to reach the East in late summer and 

were confirmed by President Polk in his December 1848 message to Congress. He repeated his recommendation regarding organization of the new 

territory and, in addition, asked that provision be made for a geological and 

mineralogical examination of the region and that measures be adopted

to preserve the mineral lands, especially such as contain the precious metals, 

for the use of the United States; or, if brought into market, to separate them 

from the farming lands and dispose of them in such manner as to secure a large 

return of money to the treasury, and at the same time lead to the development 

of their wealth by individual proprietors and purchasers.

The lameduck Congress took no action on any of these recommendations, 

but in the closing days of the session it did establish a new executive department, to which it transferred the General Land Office. Secretary of the Treasury Robert Walker drafted the legislation to separate certain functions from 

the Treasury Department to a new Home Department. It was introduced on

Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855 91
February 12, 1849, was passed quickly by both houses, and signed into law 

on March 3, 1849. In the course of the debate, the name of the new department was changed to the Department of the Interior. In addition to the 

General Land Office, the Pension Office, the Patent Office, and the Office 

of Indian Affairs were transferred to the new department, and supervision of 

the upcoming 1850 census was also lodged in the new department.

On March 4, 1849, General Zachary Taylor became President, and a 

Whig administration took over. Legend has it that on Inauguration Day, 

General Taylor told the retiring President that California and Oregon were 

too far away ever to become States. However, even as he made the observation, the long trek to California was beginning. Those who traveled by sea 

arrived in July and August; those who went overland were a little later. 

There had been about 14,000 people other than Indians in California in the 

summer of 1848. By the end of that year, there were about 20,000, and by 

the end of 1849, the population was approaching 100,000. The State Department sent a Mr. T. B. King to examine and report on the population, 

production, and resources of California. He made a rapid tour of the gold 

region in the summer of 1849 and estimated that about $40 million worth 

of gold had been extracted from the washings in 1848 and 1849 and that 

the probable yield for 1850 would be $50 million. Even Josiah Dwight 

Whitney, hard at work on the Lake Superior copper surveys, felt the lure of 

California and wrote to his brother in December 1848 that "we are already 

planning to secure the geological survey of that interesting land." In 1849, 

however, he was called on instead to succeed Jackson as co-director with 

Foster of the Michigan surveys.

California did not wait for Congress to set up a territorial organization. In 

October 1849, a convention at Monterey adopted a constitution which specifically prohibited slavery. In November, the people ratified it, and when 

President Taylor's first annual message to Congress was read on December 

24, a State government was already in operation. In his message, he recommended favorable consideration should the people of California apply for 

admission as a State, at the same time urging Congress to "abstain from the 

introduction of those exciting topics of sectional character which have hitherto produced painful apprehensions in the public mind."

Taylor also urged the establishment of a branch mint in California that 

would "afford important facilities to those engaged in mining as well as to 

the government in the disposition of the mineral lands," commissions to 

examine and decide the validity of the land titles, establishment of the offices 

of Surveyor-General in New Mexico, California, and Oregon, and a geological and mineralogical examination in connection with the linear surveys. 

Thomas Ewing, the first Secretary of the Interior, also stressed the need for 

some action on the public lands, pointing out that "the deposits of gold, 

wherever found in the Territory, are the property of the United States," 

but there was no way to protect or dispose of them until Congress acted.

Ewing added:

It is due to the nation at large that this rich deposit of mineral wealth should 

be made productive, so as to meet, in process of time, the heavy expense incurred in its acquisition. It is also due to those who become the lessees or 

purchasers of the mines that they should be furnished by the government with 

such scientific aid and directions as may enable them to conduct their operations not only to the advantage of the treasury, but also with convenience and 

profit to themselves.

On January 29, 1850, Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions in an effort to remove the slavery issue from contention. The resolutions 

called for admission of California as a free State, recognition of the right of

92 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
the territorial governments in the rest of the Mexican cession to permit or 

prohibit slavery as they chose, and relinquishment of Texan claims to parts 

of Mexico in return for U.S. assumption of the pre-annexation debt of the 

Republic of Texas. These resolutions were balanced by others guaranteeing 

the Federal Government's noninterference with slavery in the District of 

Columbia but abolition of the slave trade in the District, a stricter fugitive 

slave law, and a declaration that Congress had no right to interfere with slave 

trading among the slave States. The ensuing debate was one of the bitterest 

and most extended in congressional history. President Taylor opposed the 

Clay resolutions and was determined to have California admitted without 

trading anything for it, but Taylor died suddenly on July 9 and Millard 

Fillmore became President. Senator Clay was forced to retire because of age 

and infirmity, and Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois took over leadership. Fillmore's more conciliatory attitude toward compromise, and Douglas' efforts, resulted in the passage of five separate acts in September 1850 

that became known as the Compromise of 1850. When Fillmore signed the 

acts, however, believing that preservation of the Union was paramount, he 

committed political suicide.

On September 9, 1850, California was admitted as the 31st and a free 

State, and the Territories of New Mexico and Utah were organized and enabled to make their own decision on slavery. The Mormons who had settled 

around Great Salt Lake in 1847 had set up a provisional State of Deseret, 

comprising the greater part of southwestern United States south of the 42d 

parallel and west of the Rocky Mountains in 1849, but Congress refused to 

recognize it and created the two territories from the Mexican cession instead.

Before adjourning on September 26, Congress also made several changes 

in public land laws. On September 23, Congress ceded swamp and overflowed lands to the States in which they lay with the proviso that the proceeds of the lands be applied exclusively, so far as necessary, to the reclamation of the lands by means of levees and drains. On September 26, Congress 

ended the distinction between agricultural and mineral lands, and hence the 

need for classification, in the States of Michigan and Wisconsin. The Attorney General had already made the distinction problematical by ruling that 

"lands that contained 'iron ore' merely" were not mineral lands. Henceforth, in these two States, mineral lands were to be offered at public sale in 

the same manner and subject to the same minimum price and rights of 

preemption as other public lands. The Office of Surveyor-General for the 

Territory of Oregon was established on the same day, but the distinction 

between mineral and agricultural lands in Oregon was retained, and both 

mineral and saline lands were excluded from claims.

When Congress convened in December 1850, President Fillmore urged it 

to extend the land laws to California, Utah, and New Mexico and recommended that the mineral lands be sold. He had in the past favored leasing, 

he said, as it seemed to promise the largest revenue to the government and 

the best security against monopolies, but experience with the lead mines had 

convinced him that the mineral lands should be sold. The Commissioner of 

the General Land Office, it might be noted, ascribed many evils to the leasing system. The lessees

having only a temporary connexion with the soil and that of a character calculated to stimulate every effort for their own pecuniary advantage, *** had no 

inducement to aid in sustaining the laws or encouraging a proper moral tone in 

the community.

Congress took no action in that session, and when the new Congress convened in December 1851, Fillmore had a new recommendation. "In deference to opinions familiar with the subject," he said that the mineral lands

Changes in Public-Land Laws, 1850 93
should "be permitted to remain, as at present, a common field, open to the 

enterprise and industry of all our citizens, until further experience shall have 

developed the best policy to be ultimately adopted in regard to them." 

Senator William Gwin filed a bill on December 4, 1851, to extend the land 

laws to California; this bill was finally passed and approved on March 3, 

1853. Mineral lands were excluded from the surveys, from preemption or 

selection by the State, and obtaining the benefits of the act by settlement or 

location on mineral lands was forbidden.

Gold mining had by then become big business. By 1853, gold mining in 

California was a radically different proposition from that in 1849. The first 

arrivals, most of them, had scant knowledge of mining, but they needed 

little because the placers were so rich that the gold could be simply dug out 

or washed out by panning. Those who had had experience in other areas, the 

southeastern gold fields, Mexico, or the lead mines, introduced other techniques, such as the use of quicksilver, which amalgamated with the gold. By 

coincidence, quicksilver had been discovered at New Almaden, a few miles 

south of San Francisco, in 1845. A few began to look for the veins or lodes 

that were the source of the gold.

The stream bottoms were quickly exhausted, but in the spring of 1850, 

some of the miners near Nevada City found that they could dig into the 

riverbanks or even into the hillsides and still find gold. The rewards were 

small for all the hard work involved, so by 1852, a scheme was devised to 

tear up the ground by directing a stream of water under pressure through a 

canvas hose. At first the hose was simply laid on the ground; later a tapered 

nozzle was added so that a jet of water could be directed against the bank. 

The bank was turned into mud which could be washed into and through a 

sluice, while the heavier gold settled behind riffle boards in the bottom of 

the sluice.

The invention of hydraulic mining revolutionized gold mining. No longer 

was it possible for an individual to work on his own, or even in the informal 

partnerships that had prevailed. The enormous quantities of water needed 

meant the development of the ditch and flume systems, a large labor force, 

and capital investment.

The discovery of gold in California had given a great impetus to mining 

endeavors throughout the country. Josiah Dwight Whitney, after completing his fieldwork in Michigan, had set up a private laboratory in Brookline, 

Massachusetts, where he made the analyses and worked on the reports of the 

survey, but he soon found his services in demand because of this great burst 

of interest in mining. Whitney said that "the Atlantic States were searched 

from one end to the other; many long-abandoned mines were taken up; the 

gold region of the Southern States suddenly became the scene of an unheardof excitement; and the whole country seemed to swarm with the promoters 

of mining enterprises." Whitney became a consulting expert and soon had 

a clientele throughout eastern United States and Canada. In the winter of 

1852 1853, he set up bachelors' quarters in Cambridge with the astronomer Benjamin Apthorp Gould, who had just become head of the longitude 

department of the Coast Survey, and George Martin Lane, a classics scholar, 

and began gathering material for a book on the metallic resources of the 

United States.

The excitement over the development of mineral resources was in his opinion "the mere blowing up of a prodigious bubble"; and it seemed to him 

that the time had come for a history of American mining operations and that 

American capabilities of production should be made the subject of a more 

comprehensive and general investigation than they had yet received. He had 

visited most of the important mining regions east of the Rocky Mountains,

94 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
The hydraulic method of mining was first used in 

the California goldfields. These two engravings, the 

one at the top from a daguerreotype of a claim near 

Michigan City, California, the other an ideal section, demonstrate the method. Instead of attacking 

the bank by pickaxe and shovel, a powerful jet of 

water, delivered through the hose from the reservoir 

above, is thrown against its base. The earth is soon 

washed away, the overhanging mass falls to the 

ground, and the only labor necessary is to remove 

the stones from the foot of the bluff as rapidly as 

they are washed. (From W. P. Blake, 1856.)

and he had also visited many of the most interesting mines in Europe and so 

was able to compare the metalliferous deposits of the United States with 

those of Great Britain and the Continent. This, he said, was an important 

part of the work because it was chiefly by comparison of new mining districts 

with those that had long been worked that light could be shed on the former. 

Whitney classified ore deposits as Superficial, Stratified, and Unstratified. 

The discovery and exploitation of superficial deposits, he said, even though 

valuable metals, gold, platina, and some tin were included, did not require 

mining operations. Stratified deposits, those in sedimentary rocks formed as 

part of the sedimentary process, were not valuable unless extensive. Most of 

the metals, except some iron and manganese ores which were found in stratified deposits, were in the Unstratified class: either irregular, masses of erupMetallic Resources, 95
tive origin, disseminated in eruptive rocks, or contact deposits, or regular, 

such as segregated veins, gash veins, and true or fissure veins. The Metallic 

Wealth of the United States, a book of more than 500 pages, was published in 

1854 and was the standard reference on the ore deposits of the United States 

for many years.

Metal mining was, in general, prosperous. The decline in iron production 

which had been noted in 1848 was not prolonged. It was probably due to 

general economic conditions and to the changing technology rather than the 

tariff. There is some indication that the more cheaply produced anthracite 

pig iron did not decline as much as charcoal pig iron. By 1850, iron production was again increasing. Copper consumption also began to increase. 

Most of the copper came from the Lake Superior copper mines, and there 

were no metallurgical problems. Copper was also discovered in Tennessee by 

prospectors searching for gold. The first mine at Ducktown, which was 

opened in August 1850, inspired an examination of the whole region and 

the opening of additional mines. A solution was found for the difficulties in 

zinc metallurgy. The chemist Samuel Wetherill joined the New Jersey Zinc 

Company and in 1851 invented a process for direct production of zinc oxide 

from the ore. Within 2 years, New York and Pennsylvania zinc ores were 

also being exploited, although total production remained small.

Only the lead situation was troublesome. Since 1849, the United States 

had been forced to import lead to meet its needs. By the mid-1850's, the 

lead production of southwestern Missouri began to surpass that of southeastern Missouri, but it was not sufficient to satisfy domestic needs. The Upper 

Mississippi Valley mines were in the doldrums, and State legislatures there 

began to think of geological surveys. J. D. Whitney, however, thought the 

western lead deposits "could never again attain the importance they once 

had." The deficiency would have to be made up from mines in the Eastern 

States or from as-yet-undiscovered deposits in the West if the country were 

to remain self-sufficient. As for the possibility of zinc production, Whitney 

stated flatly that "no one acquainted with the manufacture of zinc ores into 

metal or oxide would recommend the establishment of works for this purpose 

in the western lead region."

As a result of the new prosperity after the Mexican War and the great 

interest in mining after the discovery of gold in California, several States 

again became interested in geological surveys. At the second meeting of the 

AAAS in August 1849, a committee was appointed to memorialize the State 

governments on the establishment of geological surveys. The chairman of 

the committee was Dr. Robert W. Gibbes of Columbia, South Carolina, 

whose monograph on Mosasaurus had just been published by the Smithsonian 

Institution; other members were President Edward Hitchcock of Amherst 

College; Dr. Gerard Troost, Professors Henry D. and William B. Rogers, 

and Dr. Charles T. Jackson, all former State Geologists; S. G. Morton, vice 

president of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; T. Romeyn 

and Lewis C. Beck of New York, who had been associated with Amos Eaton; 

Joseph Delafield, President of the New York Lyceum of Natural History; 

Professor Louis Agassiz of Harvard; Professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale; 

Secretary Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian Institution; and J. W. Mathews, 

Governor of the State of Mississippi.

Six months later, in March 1850, the Mississippi legislature provided a 

semiannual appropriation of $3,000 for the purchase of books and apparatus 

and payment of salaries of professors and assistant professors of agricultural 

and geological sciences in the University of Mississippi with the proviso that 

at least half the amount be spent in making a general geological and agricultural survey of the State under the direction of the principal professor.

In the 1850's four types of ore deposits were recognized :

A contact deposit consisted of ore concentrated 

between two formations of dissimilar geological and 

mineralogical character.

Segregated veins were veinlike masses which had 

a crystalline structure or a gangue differing from the 

adjacent mass but which did not seem to occupy a 

previously existing fissure The metalliferous and 

mineral substances of which they were made up 

were the result of a chemical process which gradually eliminated the component particles from the 

surrounding formation and segregated them in the

96 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
Gash veins occupied preexisting fissures of limited extent and were usually confined to a single 

member of a formation, and thus intermediate between segregated and true veins.

True veins were fissures in the solid crust of the 

Earth, of indefinite length or depth, which had been 

filled more or less perfectly with mineral substances. 

True veins, according to Whitney, were almost universally admitted by geologists to have originated 

in faults or dislocations caused by great dynamical 

agencies connected with extensive movements of the 

Earth's crust. (From J. D. Whitney, 1854.)

Henry Darwin Rogers

First State Geologist of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and the leading structural geologist of his day. 

His report on the geology of Pennsylvania was the 

most important document on American geology to 

that time with the possible exception of the New 

York survey reports. In 1855 he was appointed Regius Professor of Natural History at the University 

of Glasgow, a position which he retained until his 

death in 1866. (From G. P. Merrill, 1924.)

The University was young it had been incorporated in 1844 and opened 

its doors to students in 1848 but the principal professor, John N. Millington, was already 70 and in poor health. He was unable to begin the 

survey himself in addition to teaching, but an assistant, B. L. C. Wailes, 

spent some time traveling in the eastern and southern parts of the State, 

making collections of fossils.

The North Carolina General Assembly authorized a survey of that State in 

January 185 1 that was primarily economic, for agriculture was declining in 

the State and there was interest in the development of mineral and other 

resources. Although no scientific survey of the State had been undertaken 

since the first one was discontinued in 1828, extensive deposits of coal and 

iron were generally believed to exist in the central part of the State, and for 

several years prospectors had been searching the western part of the State for 

gold and, more recently, copper. In addition to determining the "nature, 

character, and value" of minerals, the law instructed the State Geologist to 

determine "the nature and character of its soils and the best method of improving same; the nature and kind of its productions and their position and 

relative value; its facilities for manufactories; the extent and value of its water

State Geological Surveys, 1850 97
power; the character and value of its botanical productions; the character and 

value of its timber; and all other facts connected with the subjects of geology, 

mineralogy, botany, and agriculture which may tend to a full development 

of the resources of our State." Ebenezer Emmons, formerly of the New 

York survey, was appointed State Geologist and began work in 1852. A 

report on the geology of the eastern counties and coal was published in 1852, 

but presumably most of Professor Emmons' energies were devoted to his 

major work American Geology, Containing a Statement of the Principles of the 

Science with Full Illustrations of the Characteristic American fossils, the first 

volume of which was published in 1854.

The legislature of Pennsylvania appropriated funds in the spring of 1851 

to revise and bring up to date H. D. Rogers' report of the first Geological 

Survey of Pennsylvania which had never been published. Funds were appropriated for 4 years and were sufficient for Rogers to employ a considerable 

corps of assistants. Among them was J. Peter Lesley who had left the survey 

in 1841 to enter Princeton, had been licensed as a Presbyterian minister in 

1844, and since then had been trying to combine theology and geology. The 

reactivation of the Pennsylvania survey brought him back to geology exclusively and permanently. The final report was a monumental work of 1,631 

pages, of which more than 600 were devoted to coal. Less than 75 pages 

were on paleontology, which brought forth the only unfavorable criticism 

from the American Journal of Science.

Illinois authorized its first geological survey in February 1851, modeling 

its law on that of the first Pennsylvania survey. One of the principal reasons 

for the survey was thus the search for mineral deposits. Dr. Joseph Granville 

Norwood, who had been David Dale Owen's principal assistant in the survey of the Northwest Territory from 1847 to 1851 was appointed State 

Geologist. His first report in 1853 listed as valuable resources iron ores, lead 

and zinc ore, coal, porcelain earth, fireclay, potter's clay, fuller's earth, 

building stones, mineral manures, quartz sand and possibly gypsum, and 

salt brines. Iron and coal, he said, existed in such quantity as to make them 

sources of wealth that would in time attract capital and an industrial population. Much attention was given to the lead mines of Hardin and Pope 

Counties, on which large sums of money had been spent without adequate 

returns. Norwood attributed this to the injudicious manner of working the 

mines rather than to the poverty of the deposits.

The discovery of gold had also made more urgent the development of 

better means of communication and transportation between the East and the 

western territories. The admission of California and the organization of the 

Territories of Utah and New Mexico left a vast area west of the 95th meridian 

and east of the Rocky Mountains still unorganized territory, reserved for the 

Indians. The United States had a population of more than 23 million, according to the Census of 1850, a gain of 35.9 percent over 1840. The urban 

population was 15.3 percent of the total, or twice what it had been in 1820, 

and the Northeastern States were the most urbanized. About 15.6 percent 

of the total land area, 294 million acres, was farmland. The South was almost 

wholly agricultural, but agriculture was increasingly important in the 

North-Central States, where the lands were rich and improvements in agricultural technology were making possible large-scale farming. The NorthCentral States were also beginning to industrialize to meet their own needs, 

constructing meat-slaughtering plants, flour mills, and factories to make 

farm machinery. An economic arrangement was in the making whereby these 

States disposed of their agricultural surpluses to the East, which in turn 

supplied them with manufactured goods. The entire western region, except

98 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
in California, Oregon, and around Great Salt Lake, was sparsely settled, but 

both North and South wanted easy access to western wealth and western 

markets.

There were trails and wagon roads but the construction of a railroad to the 

Pacific coast became almost inevitable. Financing such an undertaking 

would be a formidable task, and as more than one railroad was not considered 

financially possible, so the location of the railroad, particularly its terminus 

in the Mississippi Valley, had to be determined first and there was great 

competition for the route and the economic advantages that would attend it. 

Asa Whitney had proposed building a route from Lake Michigan to the 

Northwest in 1844. Senator Benton naturally favored a central route, and in

1848. he persuaded three St. Louis businessmen to finance an expedition, 

led by his son-in-law, John C. Fremont, to explore a route from St. Louis to 

San Francisco. Colonel Abert, head of the Topographical Engineers, favored 

a southern route which could be used to help police the border as well as link 

the east and west coasts. In 1849 he despatched an expedition from Fort 

Smith, Arkansas, to explore the route to Santa Fe; somewhat later, he sent 

other expeditions to explore the route from Santa Fe to Los Angeles. In

1849. he also sent Captain Howard Stansbury to make a reconnaissance 

along the Platte River trail and across the Wasatch Mountains to Salt Lake

728, Skif 5*-«sM*i4 M0ooc5tnaS

Fi«._ "33- Complex Moaoclbal Ridge.

FHJ, 787. Complex Monoclinal Valley,

Rogers correctly inferred that mountains were the 

result of erosion and not of the forcing upward of 

material by subterranean fires. With the assistance 

of his nephew, W. B. Rogers, Jr., he prepared a 

series of woodcuts showing the relation of structure 

and lithology to mountain form, some of which are 

reproduced here. Many of these diagrams were included in Dana's Manual of Geology published a few 

years later. (From H. D. Rogers, 1858.)

FIG. 73a Triple-crested Anticlinal Ridge,

.^np^iSl

FJU, 7*1. Complex Valley of Elevation.

Railroad Routes to the Pacific 99
fit;

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Jf . JTtt.f ^ ,V?.rf,e>- Toklf*-** £ 3fi*rts-*i'Ujr /,,

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City, where the Mormons led by Brigham Young had settled 2 years before. 

In California, Captain W. H. Warner began a reconnaissance from the Upper Sacramento across the Sierra to the Humboldt River but was killed by 

Indians before completing the task.

In the East, railroad building proceeded apace in an attempt to capture 

the eastern terminus with existing facilities. A company, which later became 

known as the Chicago and Rock Island, was formed in 1847 and began 

building toward the Mississippi. The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was chartered in the same year, and a railroad to link Hannibal on the Mississippi 

with St. Joseph on the Missouri was incorporated in Missouri. In 1849, the 

Pacific Railroad, which later became the Missouri Pacific, was chartered and 

began the link between St. Louis and Kansas City, and the consolidation of 

small lines in Illinois was the beginning of the Chicago, Burlington, and 

Quincy. In 1850, after completing work on the Compromise, Congress took 

an important step in financing railway construction by grants of public 

lands. Senator Douglas sought a grant for the Illinois Central Railroad and 

gained southern support for the measure by linking it with the Mobile and 

Ohio Railroad and by transferring the lands first to the States of Alabama, 

Mississippi, and Illinois and allowing them to grant alternate sections along 

the right of way to the projected railroad. As early as 1852, A. S. Hewitt 

became interested in the Illinois Central, and the Trenton Iron Company 

sold rails to it in exchange for bonds.

Finally, on March 3, 1853, Congress appropriated $150,000 for surveys 

to ascertain the most practical and economical route for a railroad from the 

Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. The Secretary of War was authorized 

"to employ such portion of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, and such 

other persons as may be deemed necessary, to make such explorations and 

surveys as he may deem advisable."

Rogers' pictorial sections relating the surface and 

subsurface structure, such as this one along the 

Schuylkill River, were a combination of art and science. (From H. D. Rogers, 1858.)

100 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
Rogers' Geology of Pennsylvania contains many excellent metal engravings by George Lehman, draftsman for the Pennsylvania survey in 1840, and Augustus A. Dalson, topographer, in the 1850's. 

These were introduced in many cases to demonstrate 

the intimate relationship between geology and topography and between orography and scenery. This 

engraving, by Dalson, of gneiss rocks near the 

mouth of the Wissahickon shows typical river scenery along the Atlantic slope. (From H. D. Rogers, 

1858.)

It had become apparent at least to a small group that the AAAS by itself 

was too unwieldy a body to be effective in promoting professionalism in 

science and furthering the cause of pure science over the practical. Alexander 

Dallas Bache, in his address as retiring president in 1851, proposed the 

establishment of "an institution of science, supplementary to existing one 

*** to guide public action in scientific matters." None of the existing 

organizations was well enough endowed, and committees could not work 

together long enough. Bache called for a council composed of members 

throughout the country rather than just in Washington who would be "engaged in researches self-directed, or desired by the body, called for by Congress or by the Executive, who would furnish the means for the inquiries."

Around Bache at the time there was already gathering the small group of 

leading scientists who became known as the Lazzaroni. Their stated purpose 

was only to "eat an outrageously good dinner together" and their association was informal, but by working together on committees and by correspondence with and visits to each other they hoped to exert influence in 

guiding public action in scientific matters, and in 1853 they had a measure 

of success. Three of the Lazzaroni, Joseph Henry, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; Alexander Dallas Bache, Superintendent of the Coast Survey; and Professor Louis Agassiz of Harvard University were members of the 

committee appointed at the Cincinnati meeting of the AAAS in May 1851 

to memorialize the legislatures of Ohio and Missouri on geological surveys. 

Serving with them were James Hall of New York, Professor Silliman, and S. 

G. Morton of the 1849 committee.

Scientific Lazzaroni 101
M®

102 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
This engraving of the Summit mine, by George 

Lehman, shows scenery that is typical of synclinal 

| mountains. It also gives some impression of the extent of coal-mining operations. (From H. D. Rogers, 1858.)

Rogers did not follow the New York System of stratigraphy but divided the Paleozoic rocks into 15 

distinct series to which he assigned names corresponding to the different natural periods into which 

the day divides itself, from earliest dawn to twilight. Indian Chief Rock, a striking scenic feature^ 

on the Juniata River near Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, consists of alternate white cherty magnesian 

and blue and grey siliceous and dark-blue massive 

limestones, which Rogers identified as low in the 

Auroral series. His term "Auroral" was later replaced by the name Shenandoah limestone. (From 

H. D. Rogers, 1858.)

Among the local scenes characteristic of the 

Appalachian chain, Rogers said, none are so impressive and picturesque as the deep notches or defiles 

in the ridges the wind gaps and the water gaps. 

The engraving of the Lehigh Water Gap, by George 

Lehman, shows also a broad mound which Rogers 

explained was formed "by whirling motion at the 

confluence of the great currents which here converged to pour through the breach in the Kittatinny 

^Mountain." (From H. D. Rogers, 1858.)

Missouri established a survey in 1853 on a somewhat different basis from 

those established in 1850 and 1851. Missouri was unique in possessing 

characteristics of the North, South, and West; it was a slave State with a 

well-developed agriculture, but it also had commercial interests, mining 

enterprises, and was actively seeking the eastern terminus of the transcontinental railroad. George C. Swallow, professor of chemistry, geology, and 

mineralogy at the University of Missouri became director. Although the 

primary motivation of the legislature in establishing the survey was practical, Swallow made general geology the first objective. He assured Missourians, however, that the geological survey could not fail

to develop the mineral resources of our State, and place our mining interests 

on a more permanent basis, by inviting capital and by securing systematic and 

profitable operations. It will increase our mechanical and manufacturing interests, by pointing out raw materials, and the facilities for converting them into 

articles of domestic and foreign trade. Agriculture will be advanced by investigating the structure and chemical properties of the soils, as the results will 

enable us to determine the modes of culture necessary to sustain and even 

increase their productive energies. Commerce will also receive a new impulse, 

from the increased products of the farm, the mines, and the work-shop.

State Geological Surveys, 1853 103
mo* ORBIRU EXPHHHTIOBS nn INSTDUI *iinm sinvtrs

HENRY O"."R"DGERS. ^

England, he told them, afforded the best illustration of wealth and power 

resulting from a scientific development of mineral resources.

Our mineral wealth is probably as great as hers. She depends mostly upon her 

iron and coal; and still, we have more and better iron, and our Coal Measures 

will prove as extensive. Yet, while England annually raises from her mines 

$100,000,000 worth of raw materials, we raise but a few thousands. This difference is not because Nature had done less for us, but that Science has done 

more for her.

The Lazzaroni had singular success in dealing with the new Secretary of 

War, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, to obtain places for scientists on the 

Pacific railroad surveys. Davis planned to use officers of the Topographical 

Corps for the assignment, but instead of placing the surveys directly under 

Colonel Abert, he established a separate Bureau of Explorations and Surveys 

under command of Major W. H. Emory, whose 1846 report had provided 

much of the basic information on the Southwest. In cooperation with Emory 

and with Captain A. A. Humphreys who succeeded him, Davis chose three 

routes to be explored. The northern survey, which was to explore the country 

between the 47th and 49th parallels (the St. Paul to Puget Sound route) was 

led by I. I. Stevens, who had just resigned his commission to become governor of the newly authorized Washington Territory. John Evans, whose 

discovery of fossils in the Dakota badlands had so excited James Hall's cuConscious of the importance of accurate maps in the 

development of mineral resources as well as for geologic purposes, Rogers had his map of the anthracite 

fields of Pennsylvania prepared in great detail and 

published at a scale of approximately 2 miles to the 

inch. The coal measures are shown in dark gray. 

The map has been reduced for this publication. 

(From H. D. Rogers, 1858.)

104 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
Westward migration increased during the 1840's, 

less than a decade after John C. Fremont visited the 

Great Salt Lake, Howard Stansbury of the Topographical Engineers was sent to make a survey of the 

region where the Mormons had recently settled. 

Stansbury mapped the area in 1850. using a system 

of triangulation. He recognized that the area was 

the prehistoric bed of a vast lake or inland sea, thus 

anticipating the work of Clarence King and G. K. 

Gilbert in later years, and also prepared a lengthy 

report on the Mormons and their way of life. (From 

Howard Stansbury, 1852.)

riosity that he had despatched F. B. Meek and F. V. Hay den to investigate 

the country, accompanied Stevens. Hall was not one of the Lazzaroni but had 

been closely tied to them in the unsuccessful attempt to establish a national 

university in Albany. At the western end of the northern route, Captain 

George B. McClellan explored the Puget Sound area and central part of 

Washington Territory. He was accompanied by George Gibbs, brother of 

Oliver Wolcott Gibbs, one of the younger Lazzaroni. An expedition under 

Captain John Williams Gunnison was sent to explore the 38th-parallel 

route. W. H. Brewer who, as a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School, 

might have been sponsored by Lazzaroni James Dwight Dana, was appointed 

to accompany the Gunnison party, but because of a delay in the mail, he 

missed connections. Most of the Gunnison party was killed by Indians, and 

Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith of the accompanying escort party completed the 

survey. Along the 35th-parallel route, from Fort Smith to Los Angeles, Lieutenant A. W. Whipple was in charge; he was accompanied by Jules Marcou, 

a protege of Louis Agassiz.

Davis did not at first consider it necessary to explore the 32d-parallel 

route, which the Topographical Engineers under Colonel Abert's orders had 

explored, or the 4Ist-parallel route, on which he said the Stansbury, Warner-Williamson, and Fremont expeditions had provided enough information. However, in 1854, he yielded to political pressure and sent two expeditions to survey the 32d-parallel route, one from the West led by Lieutenant 

J. G. Parke and the other from the East led by Captain John Pope. Thomas 

Antisell, a young man of French Huguenot parentage who had fled from 

Ireland to the United States in 1848 for political reasons, accompanied Lt.

 :.«:,." ?"Tttwz&m

^^ ^" BS-tffl

Pacific Railroad Exploration 105
Parke as geologist. Out in California, Lt. R. W. Williamson began the 

search for passes over the southern Sierra Nevada. He was accompanied by 

W. P. Blake, as geologist, a recent Yale graduate who had studied mineralogy with Dana.

In 1853, the Wisconsin legislature, concerned about the decline in the 

lead mines, authorized a geological survey, stipulating that the survey of the 

lead district be completed first. Edward Daniels, the first State Geologist, 

reported that the Wisconsin lead deposits "presented the characters of true 

veins," which would indicate that they were of permanent value, but said 

that

Mining, like manufacturing, requires for its successful prosecution, systematic, 

comprehensive, and long continued application of labor and capital. Individual 

mining can be profitable only for short periods. *** The mines are now in a 

transition state. They have passed through the period of excitement, when 

chance rewarded the fortunate with rapid gains, to a more quiet and settled 

condition, in which rude and individual attempts at mining are attended with 

frequent failure and occasional success. They now await the period of organization to which their full treasures are to be surrendered.

Daniels suggested that money be invested in Wisconsin mines rather than 

the importation of lead and recommended that a department of mines be 

established at the State University. Daniels also had the zinc ores, which 

were generally supposed to be worthless, examined and analyzed by a Boston 

chemist, Dr. August Hayes, and reported that the zinc was a source of 

wealth second only to lead. Daniels was removed from office by the Governor 

on June 30, 1854, for reasons which are not clear, but which were apparently political. He was succeeded by J. G. Percival, who had been exploring 

for lead mines in Illinois and Wisconsin for the American Mining Company.

The Railroad surveys of the 1850's added greatly 

to the knowledge of the natural history, archeology, 

and geology of the West. Some reports were lavishly 

illustrated, and the lithographs which were introduced "with no purpose of representing the beauties 

of the scenery of the country, but to illustrate its 

general character, and to exhibit on a small scale the 

character of its mountains and canones, and of its 

plains and valleys, in their respective positions and 

extents, as seen in nature" have become collector's 

items. The following six shown here are among 

those of continuing geologic interest.

At the Great Falls of the Missouri River in Montana, the river falls 160 feet in a little more than 11 

miles of cascades and rapids. Meriwether Lewis saw 

the Great Falls in 1805, and his party spent a 

month in making a portage around the falls and rapids. Jim Bridger and members of the United States 

Exploring Expedition (Wilkes expedition) also visited the area, but the Blackfeet Indians discouraged 

visitors until Governor I.I. Stevens concluded treaties with them. (From I. I. Stevens, 1859.)

106 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
The cliffs which wall the Grand Coulee in Washington are of basalt. At its northern end, the valley is 

about 10 miles wide, but it widens toward the 

south. At the northern end, the walls are about 800 

feet high. (From I. I. Stevens, 1859.)

Indiana, after trying twice without success to obtain a grant of public 

lands to pay for a geological survey of the State for the purpose of developing 

its mineral resources, finally made a small appropriation in 1853, and Dr. 

Ryland T. Brown was appointed State Geologist. The survey was shortlived. 

The legislature refused to publish Brown's report on the grounds that it 

conveyed an erroneous and exaggerated idea of the value of the coals of Indiana and then discontinued the survey.

California was also concerned about a decline in mineral resources. In 

1852, the State legislature had called on Congress for action, but when 

Congress did nothing beyond extending the public land surveys to the State, 

Dr. John B. Trask was authorized in May 1854 to make studies of the 

unoccupied mineral lands on the eastern borders of the Sacramento and San 

Joaquin valleys and an examination of the Coast Range.

The survey of New Jersey was organized for a somewhat different reason. 

The Governor's message to the legislature in January 1854 reflected the 

tenets of the Know-Nothing Party. Apparently distrustful of the growing 

numbers of immigrants who were increasing the working force and helping 

the industrialization of the area, and desirous of promoting agriculture, he 

told the legislature that

It is reported that valuable mineral deposits are frequently discovered by foreigners, and lands purchased from our landholders at nominal prices. A thorough survey of the State would doubtless discover mineral deposits to the advantage of our citizens and prevent the speculation now practiced upon them 

and increase the value of taxable property beyond the cost of the survey and 

promote the great interest of agriculture.

State Geological Surveys, 1854 107
108 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
Mount Rainier, the highest peak in the Cascade 

Range, had been discovered in 1792, but no one 

had yet climbed to its peak. Seen from a distance, 

the mountain appears isolated because its great 

height dwarfs neighboring mountains. (From I. I. 

Stevens, 1859.)

At the head of what Beckwith called the Grand 

River but which we know as the Gunnison, the 

banks on each side of the river rise rapidly toward 

precipitous sides of mesas which extend back some 

15 to 30 miles to the mountains. These elevated 

tablelands, he thought, "were formed, doubtless, 

by the upheaval of large plains at the same time, 

and the immense cracks and crevices of these convulsions have been enlarged, in time, by the elements, and now form the cariones, gorges, ravines, 

gullies, and passes, which in every direction surround us." (From E. G. Beckwirh, 1855.)

The legislature promptly authorized a survey which was organized under Dr. 

William Kitchell as State Geologist, but it lasted only 2 years. It did serve 

to provide experience for two assistants who became prominent a decade 

later, George H. Cook and Thomas B. Brooks.

The Alabama State legislature authorized funds for a State survey in 1854. 

Alabama was then second only to Mississippi in cotton production, and the 

State legislature specified that the first duty of the State Geologist was to 

make a "complete and thorough geological survey of the State, so as to determine accurately the quality and characteristics of its soils and their adaptation to agricultural purposes," and after that to determine "its mineral 

resources, their location and the best means of their development; its water 

powers and capacities; and generally everything relating to the geological 

and agricultural character of the State." The charter was broad, and Michael 

Tuomey resigned from the University to devote full time to the Survey. His 

first report to the legislature was laid aside, part of it was lost, and after 

Tuomey died in 1857, the survey was discontinued.

Tennessee revived its survey in 1854 after the Ducktown copper discoveries excited some interest in mineral resources. James Merrill Safford, who 

had studied at Yale before becoming professor of chemistry and natural history at Cumberland University, was appointed State Geologist but had to 

work under almost impossible conditions. The appropriation was too small 

to allow for purchase of equipment, and he did his fieldwork with only a 

compass and pocket level as tools. There were no maps, and the roads were 

so bad that much of his travel had to be on foot. Nevertheless, he presented 

a report in 1855 on the mineral resources of the State, which included not 

only iron, copper, lead, zinc, gold, and silver, but also aluminum, the 

"metal from clay," and a discussion of the geologic structure of the State.

When the Kentucky General Assembly established a geological and mineralogical survey in 1854, the law required the State Geologist and his assistants to make the usual "thorough geological, mineralogical, and chemical 

survey" of the State "to discover all beds or deposits of ore, coal, and such 

other mineral substances as may be useful or valuable, and to analyze 

same," after which the State Geologist was to "deliver a written or verbal 

discourse" at the courthouse of each county in which valuable deposits were 

discovered. David Dale Owen was appointed State Geologist. Kentucky had 

few outstanding mineral resources, and Owen very quickly turned his attention to the support of agriculture, the basis of the State's economy. He 

developed a technique for sampling soils, and used chemical analyses of soils, 

comparing those from fields under cultivation with those from adjacent virgin land to detect loss of minerals by long-continued farming and to determine the amounts necessary to bring the soils back to their original fertility.

Several of the State geologists had realized the necessity of adequate base 

maps for plotting geology, especially with reference to mineral deposits. H. 

D. Rogers had had prepared a new map of the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania, which was a major expense to the Pennsylvania survey. Norwood, the 

State Geologist of Illinois, arranged to have a topographic map of Hardin 

County compiled, at no expense to the State, to demonstrate the importance 

of the base map. David Dale Owen supported him, writing "It is just the 

sort of map that is required to enable the geologist to lay down minutely the 

geology of the country." The Illinois legislature was sufficiently impressed 

to add $500 to the appropriation in 1853 for "accurate topographic maps." 

Owen then pointed out to the Kentucky legislature that a map was necessary 

to locate natural resources accurately, and in 1856, he was authorized to 

organize a topographical corps. Kentucky had never been part of the public 

domain and had never been surveyed on the rectangular system. Owen

Topographic Mapping in State Surveys 109
adopted a system of traverse surveying using compass, chain, and level, with 

occasional measurement of base lines and a determination of distant objects 

by angles of observation with a transit theodolite. The maps were reasonably 

accurate with respect to distance and relative locations but did not pretend 

to show exact elevations. The Coast Survey triangulation had provided the 

basis for accurate topographic mapping in some of the Atlantic Coast States, 

and the State of New Jersey, in 1854, appropriated funds to make a complete and accurate topographic map of that State.

Interest in geography in the eastern part of the country had already led to 

the organization of the American Geographical and Statistical Society in 

New York. In 1853, both the American Association for the Advancement 

of Science and the American Geographical Society adopted resolutions favoring the establishment of a department of geography in the Library of Congress. In January 1856, a committee of the American Geographical Society, 

appointed to consider a resolution petitioning the New York legislature for 

a topographical survey, reported that probably the general Government 

would never supply a correct physical map of the United States. It was therefore incumbent upon the individual States to survey their own territories, 

and the Society should urge each of them to do so. The committee was 

particularly concerned that many States had made scientific surveys of geology and mineral resources but had failed in great measure to make the results 

of practical value for want of correct topographical maps upon which to 

delineate them.

When the railroad surveys were authorized in 1853, the southernmost, or 

32d-parallel route, seemed to have the best chance, but a small strip of land 

considered desirable was still Mexican territory. In May 1853, southern interests procured the appointment of railroad president James Gadsden of

As his expedition continued westward, Beckwith 

again noted the nearly horizontal rocks and generally level summits in the Roan, or Book, Mountains 

which he observed from a spot near the Spanish 

Trail ford on Green River. (From E. G. Beckwith, 

1855.)

110 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
The San Francisco Mountains in central Arizona had 

been shown on old Spanish maps as part of a continuous range, but Whipple found them to be a huge 

volcanic pile with several conical peaks near the center and towering at least a mile above their base. 

(From A. W. Whipple, 1856.)

South Carolina to negotiate with Mexico, and on December 30, a treaty was 

signed whereby Mexico, for $15 million, ceded to the United States a rectangular strip of territory in the Nesilla Valley, south of the Gila River. The 

line established at that time is still the boundary with Mexico.

To build any railroad to the Pacific other than on the southern routes 

required the organization of the vast Nebraska region into a territory and the 

cession of millions of acres of land from the Plains Indians who would then 

be placed on reservations. Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, chairman of 

the Senate Committee on Territories and a champion of the central route, 

countered the Gadsden success with a bill for territorial organization designed to win southern votes for his railroad project by opening the territory 

to the possibility of slavery. The Nebraska region was north of the Missouri 

Compromise line and hence supposedly closed to slavery. However, by invoking the principle of popular sovereignty, whereby local residents could 

decide for or against slavery, and by dividing the area into two territories, 

Kansas and Nebraska, it could be that southerners would control Kansas and 

northerners, Nebraska. The challenge to the Missouri Compromise encouraged the South and enraged the North. The issue was debated heatedly for 

4 months but was finally passed on May 30, 1854. It was an open invitation 

to North and South to fight it out in the Territories, and even before the bill

became law, both sides had begun marshalling their forces.

Kansas and Nebraska Territories 111
112 Gold Is the Touchstone, 1849-1855
Although David Dale Owen had at first thought the 

lead deposits were confined to the Cliff limestone, 

lead ore was later found in the Lower Magnesian 

limestone. This vertical section shows the succession 

and relative thickness of the rocks which underlie 

the Lead Region of Wisconsin. (From Edward Daniels, 1854.)

Missouri, one of the States vying for the eastern terminus of the first trans-Mississippi railroad, was the 

first trans-Mississippi State to establish a State geological survey. Its first effort was to establish the 

geological column in the State. The State Geologist, 

George Swallow, sketched here the Fourth Magnesian limestone, which is observed especially well 

along the Niangua and Osage Rivers where erosion 

produced a characteristic scenery of steep bluffs rising to rounded knobs. The Magnesian limestone is 

the equivalent of the Calciferous sandrock of New 

York and the Auroral of Pennsylvania. (From G. C. 

Swallow, 1855.)

The Missouri Survey was also concerned with mineral resources. Pilot Knob and the nearby Iron 

Mountain were developed by the Missouri Iron 

Company, organized in 1836, and its successor, the 

American Iron Company, beginning in 1845, by 

surface excavations. They were widely believed to be 

solid iron and the richest masses of iron on earth. 

Swallow said that although a "large portion" of the 

Pilot Knob was pure ore, it was not easy to estimate 

the quantity because it was interstratified with 

slates. He considered the ore inexhaustible, however, and stated that the amount above the surface 

could not be less than 13,972,773 tons. (From G. 

C. Swallow, 1855.)

Another source of copper was discovered at Ducktown, Tennessee, and led to the reestablishment of 

a State geological survey. The copper veins were all 

remarkably similar in character and the State Geologist, James Safford, noted cautiously that they 

were called segregated veins by some. The upper 

part of the vein, A, was a light porous iron ore, B, 

the mass of black copper ore, and C, a hard arsenical 

rock containing iron, sulfur, and copper, which ran 

down indefinitely. (From J. M. Safford, 1856.)

300 No. 2. Corrqliite Ktd*, of f

x**

250 £ 0. 4, Cftvy Zt'mttfoKe. f

he unlinury sarflux /vdl'j \ 

mints,

in. tt» 

uci aiul agjpi.r,

No. 5. Hint Lli

futtai't <iff rfw vf-htfj.

No. 0. Jittf fitittrc-d fJine- jf^

Proved by recent distoeenttt to 

he at littd'bc&riny rock.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act also converted the growing economic alliance 

between the Northeast and Midwest into a political alliance. Both sections 

were opposed to the extension of slavery, but it was southern opposition to 

increased Federal expenditures for internal improvements and a homestead 

law, which the Midwest greatly desired, on which the alliance developed.

House Bill No. 1 in that session of Congress was a homestead law, and it 

was debated at great length. The Public Lands Commitee proposed an 

amendment to the bill to combine the homestead provision and graduation 

of the price of lands. Instead of an amendment, however, the graduation 

proposal became a separate bill, which passed early in August 1854, some 

30 years after Senator Benton had first proposed the idea. The Act provided 

that the price of all unsold public lands on the market for 10 years or more 

would be $ 1 an acre; those on the market 15 years or more would be priced 

at 75 cents an acre; 20 years or more, at 25 cents an acre; and 30 years or 

more, at only 12 Vi cents an acre. Preemption was permitted on graduated 

land but not on mineral land, and grants for internal improvements and 

railroads were forbidden. It was a small victory for the emerging alliance.

Changes in Public-Land Laws, 1854 113
Chapter 7.

Necessary for Welfare and Progress,

1855-1861

Is it not incumbent on every country and every state of this Union, to adopt 

measures calculated, first to develop their resources in the various raw 

materials necessary for their welfare and progress, and having done so, to 

direct public attention to their stores of mineral wealth? *** What better 

method can a State adopt for this purpose than to institute and support with 

liberality a well-conducted and judiciously managed geological survey.

 David Dale Owen

Kansas was the scene of the physical confrontation between North and 

South on the slavery issue. The estrangement of the two sections increased 

because of other factors as well, although the basic difference was the availability of a cheap supply of labor in the South. Both the East and the Midwest were growing more rapidly than the South. The East, rapidly becoming 

urbanized and industrialized, needed the agricultural products of the West, 

and the West needed the manufactured products of the East. Railroads in 

the North provided a ready means of shipment between the two. Moreover, 

agricultural surpluses from the Midwest could be shipped to Europe more 

readily through Atlantic ports. As the Midwestern farms became mechanized, agricultural workers were released for industrial pursuits, and the 

availability of additional industrial workers expanded factory output. The 

economy of East and Midwest thus complemented each other. The South 

remained adamantly rural and agricultural and further alienated itself from 

other sections by its refusal to consider change. Developments in mineral 

resources and in the work of geological surveys at this time reflected these 

basic differences.

The Mississippi survey took on new direction with the arrival of E. W. 

Hilgard in the fall of 1855. When Millington retired, he had been succeeded 

by Lewis Harper, a German law student who had left his own country for 

political reasons and had then become interested in natural history. Harper 

made no attempt to go into the field until the summer of 1855 when he was 

ordered to do so. At the same time, Dr. F. A. P. Barnard, then professor of 

physics at the University, was requested to secure a competent assistant geologist during a visit to the North, which mission he accomplished at the 

Providence meeting of the AAAS by offering the position to Hilgard, a 

young Smithsonian chemist who had received a Ph.D. from Heidelberg. 

Hilgard promptly accepted, even though he received condolences from many 

of those present because there were no Paleozoic rocks in the area. Before 

going to Mississippi he conferred with David Dale Owen whose work in 

Kentucky was already more concerned with agriculture than mineral resources. By the spring of 1856, Hilgard was convinced that the Mississippi 

Survey also had to seek support on the basis of service to agriculture rather 

than mineral discoveries. He therefore began to pay more attention to surface 

features, vegetation, soils, the water supply, and the marls, and after observing a close connection between the vegetation and the underlying formations, he developed a technique of mapping by means of vegetation.

Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861 115
Emmons in North Carolina also turned his attention to agriculture, and 

in his later reports took up such matters as the availability of marls for 

fertilizing purposes. Emmons noted that North Carolina marls were of too 

low grade to be worth transporting very far; he also pointed out that the 

physical properties of soil, as well as the chemical ones, were important for 

fertility.

Oscar Lieber, who was appointed Director of the Geological Survey of 

South Carolina in 1855, was primarily interested in geognosy, which he 

defined as the science that treats of the existing constituents of the surface of 

the globe, in contradistinction to geology which seeks to explain how they 

were formed. Lieber, then only^25, was a protege of Michael Tuomey. His 

father was a political refugee from Prussia who had become professor of history and political economy at South Carolina College in 1833. As a teenager, 

Lieber had occasionally accompanied Tuomey on geological field trips. After 

studying at South Carolina College, he had gone to Berlin and Gottingen to 

study under Bernard von Cotta, and in 1854 and 1855, he had served as 

Tuomey's assistant in the Geological Survey of Alabama. Lieber did some 

pioneer work in petrography, although he also devoted some attention to 

economic geology. The South Carolina Survey was discontinued in 1860.

The Northeastern States were now largely urbanized, and State governments showed little interest in geological surveys. In 1856, Professor Edward Hitchcock, Sr., having retired as president of Amherst, was appointed 

State Geologist of Vermont. The Vermont survey had been plagued with 

misfortune. C. B. Adams, who had left Vermont in 1847 for Amherst, had 

died before completing his report. In December 1853, the legislature provided for completion of the survey and appointed Zadock Thompson. 

Thompson felt it necessary to go over much of the ground again, but he also 

died before completing the work. His successor lived only long enough to 

publish a report on the history of the survey. Then all collections were destroyed by fire. Hitchcock, assisted by his two sons, Edward, Jr., and 

Charles H., both of them Amherst graduates, and Albert Dorsey Hager, 

completed a two-volume report in I860. The report was accompanied by 

three maps, one a colored geologic map, and two showing the distribution 

of terraces and beaches. After completion of the report, Edward Hitchcock, 

Jr., became a professor of hygiene and physical education at Amherst, but 

Charles H. Hitchcock joined the Natural History Survey of Maine under 

Ezekiel Holmes.

The mining industry, other than for gold, was then concentrated in the 

northern and middle States; Pennsylvania, with its great resources in iron 

and coal, was the leading mining State. Although outranked by gold in 

value and excitement produced, iron had become the basic mineral industry. 

Iron production rose steadily in the early fifties, although it remained somewhat less than 1 million tons a year. Production of anthracite pig iron increased most rapidly, and in 1855, the tonnage of anthracite pig iron exceeded that of charcoal pig iron and, in 1856, that of all other iron combined. 

The manufacture of wrought iron also changed, and by 1856, 95 percent of 

all wrought iron was being made in rolling mills. Wrought iron replaced 

cast iron in many uses, and wrought iron rails became so important a product, as railroad building boomed, that rail production became almost an 

industry in itself.

The leading iron mill in the country was Cooper & Hewitt's Trenton 

establishment, largely because of the initiative and enterprise of A. S. Hewitt, Trenton's ironmaster. The Trenton mill continued to make superior 

iron rails, but when the lower price of British rails threatened disaster, it 

had turned to the manufacture of wire, just as telegraph lines were being

116 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
The short-lived New Jersey survey of 1854 included 

the Andover mine, which was an important factor 

in the success of A. S. Hewitt as ironmaster, in its 

investigation. The mine had been opened in 1763 

and much of the cast iron and nearly all the wrought 

iron used by the Continental Army was manufactured there. However, by 1840 the ironworks had 

been abandoned. Hewitt purchased the mine in 

1847 for just under $9,500. A mixture of the Andover ores, hematite and magnetite, known to the 

miners as red ore and blue ore, made an unusually 

tough iron from which the Cooper and Hewitt company made railroad rails and wrought-iron beams 

for buildings. (From William Kitchell, 1856.)

spread across the country. It had also pioneered in the manufacture of 

wrought iron structural beams, which made possible larger and lighter 

buildings, and had won several Federal contracts, including one for the new 

dome of the Capitol at Washington. Hewitt was optimistic about the future 

of the American iron industry. He told the American Geographical and Statistical Society in February 1856 that although the United States had in 

1855 reached only the stage of development that Great Britain had reached 

in 1836, it had been handicapped by scarcity of labor and capital. These 

difficulties had now been overcome, and he predicted that in 20 years, American production would be 3V2 million tons.

The iron industry had become important enough so that in March 1855 

the American Iron Association was formed, flamboyantly proclaiming itself 

as having "acquired an importance in this country second only to the great 

agricultural interest." The primary objectives of the association were to 

obtain statistics on the iron trade, provide for exchange of information, collect and preserve works relating to iron, and encourage the formation of 

schools of mining.

In 1856, J. Peter Lesley was appointed Secretary of the Association and 

began the collection of statistics. His Iron Manufacturer s Guide to the Furnaces, Forges, and Rolling Mills of the United States listed 1,159 iron manufacturers in 25 States 6l4 in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. His

American Iron Association 117
own opinion was that the iron region in eastern Pennsylvania and northeastern Maryland was the greatest in the Union, but at the time he compiled his 

statistics, shipments from northern Michigan had barely begun. More than 

half the volume of 772 pages was devoted to a description of iron ores and 

their distribution, a matter of scientific as well as commercial interest. Lesley 

recognized five classes of ore: primary, or specular, magnetic, and red oxide; 

brown hematitic; fossil ore of upper Silurian rocks; carbonates; and bog ores.

Coal production had continued its spectacular increase and had more than 

doubled in a decade. Coal was now being produced in 24 States and Territories, but Pennsylvania continued to dominate the field, with Ohio a distant second. Coal-mine owners and operators continued to employ consulting experts. Before joining the Iron Association, Lesley, who had been one 

of these experts, completed a Manual of Coal and Its Topography on the basis 

of his work with the Pennsylvania survey and as consulting expert. Lesley 

was one of the first, if not the first, to show topography by contours rather 

than hachures, and his map was made for one of the coal-mine operators.

It was in this northeastern area, where the mineral industry had begun to 

call on science, that scientific and technical education was most advanced.

James Dwight Dana

Professor of natural history 1849-1864 and of geology and mineralogy 1864-1890 at Yale College; 

author of a System of Mineralogy (1837), Manual of 

Geology (1862), Textbook of Geology (1864), and numerous scientific reports. Dana is generally regarded 

as the outstanding American geologist of his day. 

Dana's 1855 presidential address to the American 

Association for the Advancement of Science was a 

declaration of independence for American geology. 

(Photograph of oil portrait by Daniel Huntington 

courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery, Bequest 

of Edward Salisbury Dana.)

118 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
Brooklyn Polytechnical Institute was established in 1854. The school of 

applied chemistry established at Yale in 1847 became the Sheffield Scientific 

School in 1857. Brown, Dartmouth, and Pennsylvania all added technical 

courses during the 1850s. In Boston, Professor William B. Rogers was making plans for a great technical school, which eventually became the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For advanced training, however, many students from the East went to Europe, particularly to the German universities 

or to Paris. The Bergakademie at Freiberg and the Ecole des Mines at Paris 

had several American students.

From this northeastern area, also, came two great contributions to geologic science. In the realm of pure geology, one of the most important events 

of these years was the declaration of American independence of European 

geology by James Dwight Dana in his presidential address to the American 

Association for the Advancement of Science in 1855.

It has often been said that Geology is a history, the records of which are written 

in the rocks, and such is its highest department. But is this appreciated? If so, 

why do we find text-books, even the one highest in authority in the English 

language, written back end foremost like a History of England commencing 

with the reign of Victoria. In history, the phases of every age are deeply rooted 

in the preceding, and intimately dependent on the whole past. There is a literal 

unfolding of events as time moves on, and this is eminently true of Geology. *** 

From the progress of life, geological time derives its division into Ages as has 

been so beautifully exhibited by Agassiz. The successive phases in the progress of life are the great steps in the earth's history. What if in one country the 

rocks make a consecutive series without any marked interruption between two 

of these great ages, while there is a break or convenient starting point in another; does this alter the actuality of the ages? It is only like a book without 

chapters in one case, and with arbitrary sections in another. Again, what if the 

events characteristic of an age that is, in Geology, the races of plants or animals appear to some extent in the preceding and following ages, so that they 

thus blend with one another? It is but an illustration of the principle just stated, 

that time is one. Ages have their progressive development, flowing partly out of 

earlier time, and casting their lights and shadows into the far future. We distinguish the ages by the culmination of their grand characteristics, as we wo'uld 

mark a wave by its crest.

Divisions of time subordinate to the great ages will necessarily depend on 

revolutions in the earth's surface, marked by abrupt transitions, either in the 

organic remains of the region, or in the succession of the rocks. Such divisions 

are not universal. Each continent has its own periods and epochs, and the geologists of New York and other States have wisely recognized this fact, disregarding European stages or subdivisions. This is as true a principle for the 

Cretaceous and Tertiary, as for the Silurian and Devonian. The usurpation of 

Cromwell made an epoch in English annals, not in French or Chinese. We 

should study most carefully the records before admitting that any physical 

event in America was contemporaneous with a similar one in Europe. The unity 

in geological history is in the progress of life and in the great physical causes 

of change, not in the succession of rocks.

In setting up his time scale, Dana accepted Whitney's term "Azoic" for 

the age without animal life. He questioned the existence of the Cambrian in 

North America, and proposed Age of Mollusks for the Silurian. Agassiz's 

Age of Fishes had been equated with the Silurian and Devonian, but the Age 

of Fishes properly began with the Devonian. Agassiz's Age of Reptiles had 

extended from the Carboniferous through the Cretaceous, but Dana suggested that Age of Acrogens (or coal plants) be used for the Carboniferous 

and Permian. The ages were then further divided into periods and epochs, 

all with American names.

In 1857, the AAAS met at Montreal, and James Hall, as retiring President, addressed the assembly on the geological history of the American continent. The principle of uniformitarianism proposed by Lyell that existing 

processes acting in the same manner as at present are sufficient to explain all

Divisions of Geologic Time 119
geological changes was then widely accepted. William Thomson, better 

known today as Lord Kelvin, and regarded as the leading physicist of his 

day, was convinced that uniformitarianism was wrong, that it had ignored 

the established laws of physics, but he had had little influence on geologists. 

Hall was perhaps referring to him when he said "I must here protest against 

that narrow view which has been expressed by some, that Natural History is 

not a science, and who perhaps believe that mathematical formulae lie at the 

basis of all science and that these must be used in all their minutiae to reach 

any valuable result." Geology, said Hall, "may assume to know something 

of the structure of the earth, not less than the sciences which weigh and 

measure it; and when the vast accumulations of geological collections in our 

country shall be reduced to system, and the story of their origin told, we 

shall learn that there are laws in operation not differing from other natural 

laws, though seen and studied by different modes." His protest was an 

early manifestation of a difference of opinion that has not been completely 

resolved to this day.

Hall's major contribution to geological science at this meeting was his 

proposal that mountains were not formed by local upthrusts but that original 

deposition gave direction to mountain chains and that the amount of deposition determined their elevation; in his words, "elevation is due to deposition, and there can be no great degree of elevation without a corresponding

James Hall

His report on the fourth district of New York, regarded as the least interesting area, became a classic 

in geological literature. From 1843 until his death, 

he dominated the field of paleontology in the United 

States. The bibliography of his works is among the 

largest of the world's men of science. Hall's presidential address to the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science in 1857 was the first enunciation of what became known as the American theory of mountain-building. (Photograph of oil portrait by Daniel Huntington courtesy of the National 

Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.)

120 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
amount of previous deposition of sediments." Hall concluded that "uplifting has not produced elevation, but has rendered the strata liable to degradation, by breaking or weakening them along the line of fracture or folding." The same theory, somewhat extended, explained continent making. 

The currents of the Paleozoic ocean determined the directions of the sediments and consequently of mountain ranges and the outlines of continents. 

"The progress of the earth from the beginning of animal life to the present 

time" he equated to "the progress of an ocean bed to its final development 

as a continent." The audience was bewildered: "The idea was so entirely 

new, so utterly opposed to prevailing views, that it was incomprehensible 

even to the foremost geologists." The idea was rejected by leading geologists, but within a few decades, as developed and modified by Hall and 

others, it was proudly claimed as the American theory of mountain formation.

The North-Central States were increasingly interested in mineral resources, 

and they were the principal producers of copper and lead. Copper consumption had nearly doubled between 1845 and 1855. By the mid-fifties, 80 to 

90 percent of the domestic production was coming from the Lake Superior 

mines. There were no metallurgical problems with the Lake Superior ores, 

for the first to be exploited were pure copper. The transportation problems 

that beset the first mines were eased by the completion of the Sault Ste. 

Marie Canal in 1855. The Cornwall and Devon mines in England that had 

been the major sources of world copper began to decline, and experienced 

Cornish miners began to emigrate in great numbers to the United States. 

Lake Superior copper commanded a premium in foreign markets, and the 

United States became an exporter of copper.

In 1856, a new and greater source of copper was discovered in the Lake 

Superior region. Until that time, most of the Michigan copper had come 

from the mass copper deposits in the Eagle River and Ontonagon districts. 

There, the veins that contained the copper cut across tilted lavas and conglomerates; most of the copper occurred where these veins cut amygdaloidal 

lavas. Prospectors who had moved southward toward the Portage Lake area 

at first concentrated on searching for vein deposits, although they noted the 

films of copper around the amygdules. But when the Isle Royale lode was 

found near Houghton in 1852, more attention was drawn to the area, and 

in 1856, both the Pewabic and the Quincy Mining Companies, both largely 

financed by Boston money, discovered the new deposits.

Lead production, however, was insufficient to meet domestic needs. By 

the mid-1850's, the lead production of southwestern Missouri began to 

surpass that of southeastern Missouri, but the Upper Mississippi Valley 

mines were in the doldrums. J. D. Whitney thought that the western lead 

deposits "could never again attain the importance they once had" and that 

the deficiency would have to be made up from mines in the Eastern States or 

from as-yet-undiscovered deposits in the West if the country were to remain 

self-sufficient. State legislatures in the Upper Mississippi Valley, however, 

began to think in terms of geological surveys.

The Iowa legislature authorized a State geological survey in January 1855, 

and J. D. Whitney became the assistant to James Hall. Hall, because of 

other commitments, did not give full time to the Iowa survey, and what 

time he did give was devoted to paleontological and stratigraphic matters. 

Whitney investigated the economic geology, and for much of the time was 

the acting director. The first fieldwork was done in the coal areas. Demand 

for Iowa coal had been small because the State was newly settled and Illinois 

coal was close at hand, but expectations were that as the interior counties 

were settled, the use of coal would increase and coal mining would become

Copper and Lead Industries 121
important. A search was also made for iron ore, with the conclusion that 

there was little probability of workable ore being discovered. Whitney devoted most of his attention to the lead ores. He concluded that in character 

the Upper Mississippi Valley ores most nearly approached "gash-veins," 

although they were in some respects peculiar and unlike anything he had 

observed in other mining regions. However, it was his opinion that deep 

mining was not likely ever to prove profitable and that horizontal excavations 

or drifts were the proper means of exploration. Whether the zinc ores would 

ever be of value, he said, was a question he was "unable to answer in the 

affirmative." The Iowa report was published in two volumes (the second 

devoted entirely to paleontology) in 1858, and the survey was thereafter 

discontinued. Whitney then went on to study the lead deposits of Wisconsin 

and Illinois.

In March 1857, the Wisconsin legislature provided for a geological and 

agricultural survey of the State under the joint control of James Hall, Ezra 

S. Carr, and Edward Daniels, the first State Geologist. J. G. Percival, who 

had succeeded Daniels in 1854, had died in 1856. According to Carr, Daniels had hoped to be appointed again, but his political activities had aroused 

so much opposition that even his own party feared to make the appointment. 

Carr was at the time promoting the idea of an agricultural survey of the 

State, so the legislature compromised on a geological and agricultural survey 

under the threefold direction. Whitney was employed to make a survey of 

the lead region, and Charles Whittlesey, to explore the country between the 

Menominee and Oconto Rivers.

Whitney had flatly stated in 1854 that "no one acquainted with the manufacture of zinc ores into metal or oxide would recommend the establishment 

of works for this purpose in the western lead region, as the business cannot 

be made profitable, against the competition of the Belgian and Prussian 

manufactories, except under the most favorable circumstances or situation, 

and an abundant supply of ore which can be obtained without any considerable mining cost. The zinc deposits of the west do not satisfy these conditions, either as regard quantity or quality of the ores, or the proximity of the 

fuel." In 1858, after further study, he was less adamant but still not optimistic. Whether there was sufficient ore was a matter which he was "unable 

to answer in the affirmative." At none of the localities examined in Wisconsin had he found "ore in sufficient quantity and purity to justify the 

erection of zinc-works."

Minnesota was admitted as a State on May 11, 1858, and the first State 

legislature considered the possibility of establishing a State survey but settled 

instead for a reprint of the parts of Daniels' report on Wisconsin that covered 

areas now part of Minnesota.

Whitney was engaged to make a study of the lead deposits of Illinois by 

Amos Worthen, who succeeded Norwood as State Geologist in 1858. Worthen was recommended for the position by Dana, Agassiz, and Hall and 

from his backing might have been expected to pursue pure science more than

Iowa was the second trans-Mississippi State to establish a State geological survey, and both economic 

and general geology were investigated. The Galena 

limestone was of great importance as the source of 

the lead ore that had been extensively mined in the 

vicinity of Dubuque. One of its most characteristic 

features, according to J. D. Whitney, was its peculiar mode of weathering, which gave to the landscape where it predominated a singularly picturesque character, as shown in this sketch of an 

outcrop in Catfish Valley. (From James Hall and J. 

D. Whitney, 1858.)

122 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
James Hall's study of paleontology and stratigraphy 

showed the existence of a major unconformity with 

coal measures resting directly on strata of Lower Silurian, Upper Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous 

limestone periods. Hall noted that one might expect 

to discover evidences of ancient denudation other 

than inequalities of surface filled with coal measures 

but for the fact that the range of subjacent rocks was 

so extensive and they were so easily eroded. (From 

James Hall and J. D. Whitney, 1858.)

practical applications. Until 1855, he had been engaged in mercantile pursuits, and geology was an avocation; his professional experience was limited 

to a brief period on the Illinois survey, where he collaborated with F. B. 

Meek on stratigraphy and paleontology, and 2 years as Hall's assistant on 

the survey of Iowa. Perhaps because of his background as a businessman, 

Worthen thought it wise to undertake studies in both pure and applied 

geology, and the legislature continued to appropriate funds for the survey, 

though not always as much as he desired, until 1878.

Despite Whitney's doubts about the possibility of zinc production in the 

Upper Mississippi Valley, a zinc plant was set up at LaSalle, Illinois, by F. 

W. Matthiessen and E. C. Hegeler, who had come to the United States after 

graduating from the School of Mines at Freiberg in 1857 and had successfully demonstrated for the Lehigh Zinc Company that zinc metal could be 

produced from American zinc ores. The financial crisis delayed completion 

of an agreement with the Lehigh Company, so the two turned their attention 

to the Wisconsin deposits. They selected LaSalle as the place where the Illinois coal fields were closest to the Wisconsin mines and went into production 

in 1860.

David Dale Owen was appointed State Geologist when the State of Arkansas established a geological survey, primarily for the investigation of mineral 

resources in 1857. The State Geologist was required "to make reconnaissance 

of the State, noting the mining and mineral lands, their geological position, 

extent, character, and geographical distribution; to examine and collect specimens of the ores of lead, iron, and other metals, of the marbles, granite, 

limestones, slates, and all other rocks of economic value, as well as the saline 

and mineral waters of the State." The appointment of Owen was to take 

effect on October 1 when presumably his Kentucky work would be concluded. The first report, on the northern counties, was published in 1858. 

In 1859, the law was amended so that as soon as the reconnaissance was 

advanced enough for the State Geologist to decide which tracts demanded a 

detailed survey, such surveys were to begin, starting with those that had the 

best prospects of valuable discoveries.

In 1858, the first attempt began at a systematic survey of Texas under 

State auspices. B. F. Shumard was appointed State Geologist, but served 

only until 1860, when he was suspended for political reasons. The only 

report said that a large share of attention had been devoted to agricultural 

capabilities and that particular search had been made for minerals of economic importance, including coal and petroleum.

At the Baltimore meeting of the AAAS in 1858, a Committee on the 

Best Method of Conducting a State Geological Survey was appointed, with 

George C. Swallow of the Missouri Survey as Chairman, and Edward Hitch1 I'oul. measures. 

'2. Ka>ka»,kia limestone. 

" F"rru<rinoits sandstone. 

4. St. l^mis lin

6 7 

5. Warsaw limestone. 

G. Keokuk limestone.

7. Burlinirtnn limestone.

8. rhemuiijr group.

8 9 ID 11 12 IS 11 15

9. Hamilton and Upper Ileldcrberg groups. 13, Trenton limestone.

10. Leclaire limestone,

11. Niagara limestone.

12. Hudson-river group.

14. St. Fetors sandstone.

15. ('aleifcrows sandstone.

16. Potsdam sandstone.

The fi^ure.s 1, 1, !, 1, towards the right hand of the section, show the relations of certain small coal basins to the strata of Lower and 

Upper Silurian and Devonian age.

State Geological Surveys, 1857-1858 123
cock, James Hall, Henry D. Rogers, Philip T. Tyson, R. W. Gibbs, Charles 

T. Jackson, and Oscar M. Lieber as the other members. The committee 

never presented a report perhaps never came to an agreement on the best 

method although it included six present or former State Geologists. Their 

ages ranged, however, from 28 to 65, and their education and experience 

were as diverse as their ages. The chairman himself seemed somewhat unsure 

of the future of geology. At the 1858 meeting he had presented two papers, 

one on the rocks of Kansas, which was involved in a somewhat bitter personal 

controversy between Swallow, F. B. Meek, and Fred Hawn. The second was 

on grape culture in Missouri, which he concluded by saying that "the vineclad hills of the beautiful Niangua will vie in wealth with the leaden veins 

of Potosi and Granby, the purple vintage of Arcadia will compete in golden 

profits with the glowing furnaces of Iron Mountain."

The two State surveys established in 1859 were primarily for economic 

purposes. In Michigan, petitions were presented to the legislature in 1858 

asking for completion of the survey suspended in 1841, and on February 15, 

1859, even though the State Treasury was reported to be in dire straits, the 

survey was recreated in terms that were almost exactly the same as those of 

the original survey. Alexander Winchell, professor of physics and civil engineering at the University of Michigan, had been instrumental in securing

The geological survey of Indiana began with a general reconnaissance of the coal strata by Leo Lesquereux. He noted in Martin County a bank of very soft 

ochrous clay in the same position as the coal, overlaid by a clay iron ore which looked as it if had been 

roasted, and deduced that the clay bank was the result of destruction of the coal by fire. The mingling 

of the iron ore with the clay formed several different 

tints which were then mined for paint pigments. 

(From Richard Owen, 1862.)

124 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
The continuing search for railroad routes in the Pacific coast region by the Topographical Engineers 

shed new light on the geology of that interesting 

area. Abbot described Shasta, with its double summit towering far into the region of eternal snow, as 

the most striking topographical feature of northern 

California. It was "not only the largest and grandest 

peak of the long range which divides the sterile interior of the country from the fertile valleys of the 

Pacific slope" but also "a great centre from which 

diverge the numerous chains that render northern 

California one mass of mountains." (From H. L. 

Abbot, 1855.)

passage of the law and was appointed director. Winchell was a graduate of 

Wesleyan in Connecticut in 1847, had taught thereafter in Alabama, and 

during a brief term as president of the Masonic University at Selma had 

made geological tours and brought together large collections in natural history. He had been teaching at the University since January 1854. Winchell's first report devoted considerable attention to the salt-making industry and called attention to the gypsum, coal, iron, and other products of the 

State.

Indiana also wanted a survey, but it wanted its favorite son, David Dale 

Owen, to head it. When the legislature in 1859 provided for a geological 

survey under the supervision of the State Board of Agriculture, Owen was 

allowed to write his own terms, and he accepted the appointment as State 

Geologist with the understanding that until his Arkansas and Kentucky 

work was completed, most of the fieldwork would be done by his brother 

Richard. David Dale Owen died in I860, so that most of the work fell upon 

Richard. The principal work was a reconnaissance of Indiana coal areas.

As the population of the North-Central States increased, settlers began 

eyeing the Sioux country in the northern Great Plains region, and there was 

a threat of a general Indian uprising. In 1855, General W. H. Harney was 

sent on a campaign to stop the Sioux from uniting against the settlers. He 

was accompanied by Lt. G. K. Warren of the Topographical Engineers. In 

1856, Lt. Warren continued his exploration into the Yellowstone and Powder River country, this time accompanied by Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, a 

27-year-old geologist who had been enthusiastically exploring the northern 

Great Plains region since 1853 when James Hall had sent him along with 

Fielding Bradford Meek to study the geology and collect fossils for him.

State Geological Surveys, 1859 125
Hay den, like Newberry and many others, had obtained a scientific education through study of medicine. He was a graduate of Oberlin College in 

Ohio and had received his M.D. from Albany Medical College. Acquaintance with Hall had led to his interest in geology. Hay den did not have 

funds to carry on an independent exploration, so he obtained permission to 

travel part of the time with parties of the American Fur Company, and 

starting in the spring of 1854, he spent 2 years exploring the valley of the 

Missouri River from the western boundary of Iowa to Fort Benton, in what 

is now Montana, and the valley of the Yellowstone from its mouth to the 

mouth of the Big Horn River. In 1857, Hayden again accompanied Warren 

on an expedition to the Loup Fork-Niobrara River country of northern Nebraska and then on to the Black Hills.

In 1855, Congress appropriated funds for improvements of roads in the 

new territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Lt. F. T. Bryan was appointed to 

oversee construction of a road from Omaha to New Fort Kearney on the 

Platte River and from Fort Riley to Bridger's Pass through the Medicine 

Bow Range. Lt. Bryan surveyed the first road in 1855, and in 1856, he left 

Fort Riley on his expedition to the Rocky Mountains accompanied by Henry 

Engelmann, a young German who had just migrated to the United States 

after studying at Freiberg. Not much of the geology of the country along the 

route traveled was known, and Engelmann observed that the conclusions 

drawn by others, notably Marcou, were not altogether correct. The most 

interesting fact was the large development of the Cretaceous along the upper 

North Platte eastward to the Black Hills. The formation, he reported, contained coal.

Abbot also took a rather romantic view of Lassen's 

Butte which "with its snowy crest rose proudly 

above the surrounding mountains." The peak, 

previously known as Mount Joseph or Mount St. 

Joseph, was given the name Lassen by the Topographical Engineers for Peter Lassen, a Danish emigrant, who held a Mexican land grant in the area. 

(From H. L. Abbot, 1855.)

126 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
John S. Newberry, who accompanied H. L. Abbot 

as geologist, found that the accumulation of modern 

volcanic matter completely concealed all the underlying rocks and gave "an uninteresting monotony" 

to the geology of the region. Lassen's Butte, he 

noted, was evidently a volcanic cone whose fires had 

not long been extinguished. Its summit was distinctly crateriform, but it was capped with perpetual snow. (From J. S. Newberry, 1856.)

In 1855, the War Department issued a preliminary report on the evaluation of the Pacific railroad surveys. Secretary Davis and General A. A. Humphreys dismissed the Stevens, Gunnison, and Whipple reports in favor of the 

32d-parallel route, which the South and the Engineers had favored all along. 

In the summer of 1855, Captain John Pope was sent out to bore artesian 

wells where water was scarce on the 32d-parallel route, and Lieutenant R. S. 

Williamson began a search for a connection between California and the Far 

Northwest. Dr. George Shumard accompanied the Pope expedition as geologist, and Dr. John Strong Newberry accompanied Williamson.

Both Shumard and Newberry were primarily interested in paleontology. 

Newberry had grown up in Ohio where his father was one of the pioneer coal 

operators. He was interested in science as a youth, an interest that was 

spurred by a visit of James Hall. He had graduated from Western Reserve 

College in 1846, received an M.D. in 1848, studied 2 years in Europe, and 

then set up practice in Cleveland. This practice he willingly put aside for an 

opportunity to do geological research.

In the summer of 1855, also, a surveying party was organized under Major William H. Emory to fix the boundary with Mexico in accordance with 

the treaty of 1854. Dr. C. C. Parry accompanied the expedition as geologist 

and botanist. Dr. Parry was primarily a botanist, and the large collection of 

fossils which he made were referred to James Hall and Timothy Conrad for 

further work. On the basis of his botanical investigations, Dr. Parry concluded that lack of rainfall made most of the boundary country west of the 

Rio Grande impractical for agriculture.

The Emory report included two important maps, one of the entire transMississippi west on a scale of 1:6 million, the other a colored geologic map 

of the Mississippi Valley and the country to the west as far as the Pacific 

coast compiled by James Hall with the assistance of J. P. Lesley. The geologic map was not the first of the area. Jules Marcou had published, in 

Boston in 1853, a geological map of the United States and the British ProvPacific Railroad Surveys 127
inces of North America that extended as far west as the 106th meridian, and 

another edition in Europe in 1855, in which he included the whole country 

from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Marcou had had limited experience 

in the West, and he had adopted formation names established in Europe to 

make possible a comparison with maps of England, Germany, Russia, Scandinavia, and Bohemia. American geologists were severely critical of his 

maps.

Lt. G. K. Warren compiled a map of the trans-Mississippi West from the 

results of the Topographical Engineers' work over a period of 15 years and 

other sources that was a "milepost in American cartography." The scale of 

1:3 million was too small, as Lt. Warren admitted, to represent the topography and character of the country except in a general way. The size of some 

streams and other features had to be exaggerated in order to be shown at all. 

Many areas were still unknown and marked "unexplored" the area east of 

the Three Forks of the Missouri, the Yellowstone country, the area south of 

the Salmon River and parts of the Snake River Plateau, the Grand Canyon 

country, the Colorado Plateau region, and sections of the Great Basin and 

the Llano Estacado. The map was of uneven accuracy. Nonetheless, it has 

been said that all subsequent efforts "may properly be deemed merely the 

filling in of detail."

Politically, the years were troubled ones. When the 34th Congress assembled in the winter of 1855, Republicans claimed 108 members in the 

House, and Nathaniel Banks, Republican of Massachusetts, was elected 

Speaker. Kansas sent both a proslavery and a Free-State delegate to Washington, and each side drew up its own constitution and awaited admission 

to the Union. President Franklin Pierce gave tacit support to the South, and 

the Senate also favored the proslavery elements, but a brutal attack on Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts by a southern Congressman enraged the 

North. In Kansas, John Brown, seeking vengeance for northern lives lost, 

slaughtered proslavery settlers on Pottawatomie Creek, and thereafter, civil 

war raged in Kansas.

"Bleeding Kansas" became the chief campaign issue in the Presidential 

elections in 1856. The Republican party platform upheld Congressional authority to control slavery in the territories, favored admission of Kansas as a 

free State, and also endorsed a railroad to the Pacific. John C. Fremont was

Newberry was, however, interested by the effects of 

erosion. In the north bank of Psuc-see-que (now 

Seeseequa) Creek, a tributary of the Deschutes River 

in Oregon, heading near Mount Jefferson, a series 

of horizontal layers of tufa and conglomerate is exposed. The conglomerate is composed of pebbles of 

all varieties of volcanic rock in a matrix which Newberry said resembled Roman cement. As the "beds 

of concrete" were harder than the associated strata, 

erosion of the bank produced a series of steps, 30 or 

40 feet wide. (From J. S. Newberry, 1856.)

128 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
its candidate for President. The Democrats affirmed again the Compromise 

of 1850 and supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act. However, they deemed it 

not expedient to nominate its author, Senator Stephen Douglas but chose 

instead James Buchanan, who had been minister to Great Britain in 1854 

and thus was not identified with the Kansas-Nebraska debates. Buchanan 

was elected, carrying 14 slave and 5 free States, but he received less than a 

majority of the popular vote, which was divided between Fremont and Fillmore, the candidate of the Whig and American parties.

Buchanan had a difficult first year in office with continuing disorders in 

Kansas, new problems in Utah, and a financial crisis. Two days after his 

inauguration, the Supreme Court issued its Dred Scott decision, holding 

that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional on the ground that under the Fifth Amendment, Congress was prohibited from depriving persons 

of their property, in this case, a slave, without due process of law. The 

decision lowered the court's prestige among northerners and widened the 

sectional cleavage.

In Kansas, the Territorial Governor vetoed a plan to enact a constitution 

guaranteeing slavery without submitting it to a popular vote and resigned 

on March 4. Buchanan then appointed Robert J. Walker of Mississippi as 

Territorial Governor, and Walker pledged that any constitution adopted 

would be submitted to a fair vote.

The Mormons of Utah had been blamed for the massacre of Captain Gunnison's railroad survey party in 1853, and they were distrusted by overland 

emigrants because of the prices they charged for their supplies. The Mormon 

Church controlled the local courts in Utah, and Federal judges appointed for 

Utah found themselves with nothing to do. When they went back to Washington in 1857, the new President decided that the time had come to assert 

Federal authority. On May 26, he ordered a force of 2,500 men to march 

against the Territory of Utah, and the Mormons thereupon rallied to protect 

their homes and families.

In August, the failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company set 

off a severe financial panic, the result of overspeculation in railroads and real 

estate. Hundreds of banks and businesses were bankrupt.

Early in September, Indians attacked a group of emigrants bound for California, and a group of Mormons, who had reached the point of panic over 

the approach of the Army, helped the Indians massacre most of the emigrants. In late September, the Mormons began guerilla attacks against the 

Army itself when it was about 20 miles east of Fort Bridger, and it took until 

mid-November for the weary troops to accomplish those last 20 miles.

In October, the Territorial elections were held in Kansas, and after the 

Territorial Governor and Secretary threw out thousands of fraudulent votes, 

the Free State party was elected by a decisive majority. The constitutional 

convention, however, instead of arranging to place the constitution as a 

whole before the people, drafted a special article on slavery to be submitted 

to popular vote that guaranteed the right of property in slaves already in the 

Territory no matter which way the vote went. Governor Walker went to 

Washington to consult with the President, but he upheld the convention, 

and Walker resigned.

In December and again in January, Kansans voted on the constitution. In 

the first vote, the constitution permitting slavery won; in the second, it was 

overwhelmingly rejected.

In February, Buchanan submitted the constitution to Congress, recommending the admission of Kansas as a slave State, and Senator Stephen A. 

Douglas then led a revolt of northern Democrats against the President. The 

Senate voted to admit Kansas, but the House did not, so a compromise 

measure was finally adopted, giving Kansas the choice of accepting the constitution and becoming a State or rejecting it and remaining a territory. In

Political Struggles, 1856-1858 129
August 1858, Kansas voters rejected the constitution by an overwhelming 

vote and remained a territory.

A peace of sorts was also effected with the Mormons in April 1858. The 

Mormon leaders were offered a pardon, but Brigham Young was replaced as 

the Territorial Governor. The Army was allowed to enter Utah Territory but 

had to camp 40 miles from Salt Lake City.

After the Mormon War, several expeditions were sent out to locate trails 

into Utah over which supplies might be sent to the Army. Lt. J. C. Ives 

headed one such expedition which was to ascertain the navigability of the 

Colorado. The expedition first proceeded up the river from its mouth to 

Black Canyon. The party was then divided, and half went eastward, explored 

the canyon country, and eventually returned to Fort Leavenworth. Ives concluded that "the region explored after leaving the navigable portion of the 

Colorado though in a scientific point of view, of the highest interest, and 

presenting natural features whose strange sublimity is perhaps unparalleled 

in any part of the world is not of much value. Most of it is uninhabitable, 

and a great deal of it is impassable." John Strong Newberry, who accompanied the expedition as geologist, did not enjoy the river trip, which he 

described as "slowly crawling along up the muddy Colorado with nothing 

but the monotony of an absolute desert to feast our eyes upon," but in the 

canyon and plateau country, he saw what no geologist before him had ever 

seen. Newberry correctly inferred that the unique topography was the result 

of erosion and obtained the first geologic section of the area. F. W. von 

Egloffstein, the topographer, used a new technique of shaded relief to depict 

the area.

In the summer of 1858, Captain James H. Simpson led an expedition 

from Fort Bridger to Camp Floyd in Utah Territory, which gave Henry 

Engelmann a chance to continue his transcontinental profile into the Great 

Basin. To Engelmann, the trip was "from the western rim of the Green 

River basin, over the Washitah Mountains, to the eastern part of the Great 

Basin" and the section comprised "marine tertiary rocks; strata of the cretaceous, particularly remarkable for the coal they contain; igneous rocks of 

different periods; rocks of the carboniferous formation, and extensive quaternary deposits." Engelmann devoted some attention to Great Salt Lake, 

which had decreased in size since Stansbury's visit. The decrease he believed 

to be the result of evaporation.

In the summer of 1859, Newberry accompanied a topographic party under Captain J. N. Macomb, which traveled from Santa Fe to the junction of 

the Green and Grand Rivers, then down the Colorado River to the San Juan, 

and thence back to Santa Fe. Newberry was able to obtain a picture of the 

drainage system, to establish numerous stratigraphic columns, and to extend 

across a wide area his concept of the plateau country gained from the Ives 

expedition.

Hayden that summer accompanied an expedition led by Captain W. F. 

Raynolds across the Northern Plains and into the Wind River Mountains in 

an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the Yellowstone country. Although the 

expedition was unsuccessful in that respect, Hayden added to the knowledge 

of the geology of the Northern Plains region.

The financial panic of 1857 was followed by a depression that was sharp 

but short-lived. It had, however, an unfortunate effect on the sectional rivalries. During the depression, the bottom fell out of the cotton market, and 

southerners were strengthened in their belief that their economic problems 

were the fault of the industrial East. At the same time, midwestern farmers 

and laborers were convinced that the spread of slavery must be curbed. Both 

groups were interested in 160-acre homesteads, suitable where labor was

130 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
John S. Newberry was also a member of the expedition, under J. C. Ives of the Topographical Engineers, that made the first scientific exploration of 

the canyon of the Colorado, traveling up the river 

from its mouth in a 54-foot paddle-wheel steamboat, the Explorer. (From J. C. Ives, 1861.)

expensive and mechanization possible, but the spread of large southern plantations, based on the use of slave labor, would cut down the amount of land 

available. Labor was persuaded that the protective tariff, which made American factories profitable, was to its advantage. Thus, ties between the Northeast and Midwest were strengthened. Then within 2 years, the entire economic outlook of the country was altered by a series of remarkable discoveries. 

Colorado had been largely bypassed in the great transcontinental migration to the California gold fields in 1849. Most of those who crossed the 

country traveled along the Overland route through Wyoming or along the 

Santa Fe trail because the Colorado plains were Indian territory, and the 

routes through the mountains were not known. Among the few who did pass 

through Colorado in 1849 was a party of Georgians, some of whom had had 

experience in placer mining in the Southeastern States. They found gold 

along Cherry Creek, not far from the present site of Denver, but continued 

on their way to California where they had some success in mining near 

Downieville. In 1857, the Georgians sold out their California interests and 

returned home, but in 1858, they went back to Colorado, to the site of 

their earlier discovery, and started prospecting along the streams although 

without great success. A rumor of rich diggings swept the Missouri Valley 

about this time, and many who were searching for new enterprises because 

of the depression headed for Colorado. By fall so many converged on the area 

that townsites were laid out.

Gold in Colorado, 1859 131
<j Surface of bottom lands covered with grass and canes 

b Beds of clay and sand horizontally stratified 

f Water line of Colorado 

dd Channels eroded in b, subsequently filled with curved layers of clay and sand

a Old bank covered with small willows, receiving additions from receding channel

b New bank, or sand bar, cross stratified, being added to a

c Present channel moving from a to d, the dotted line representing the surface of the stream

d Oldest bank, being now cut away by current, covered with large cottonwood and willows

In the spring of 1859, gold was found almost simultaneously on the 

branches of Clear Creek, at what are now Idaho Springs and Black Hawk; 

soon afterwards, other veins were discovered. In May, easily worked surface 

deposits were found. In June, the pattern of mining districts and miners' 

laws were outlined and adopted, and in July, a provisional local government 

was formed. Later in the summer, gold was found in South Park, and the 

rush that followed that discovery was even bigger.

Discovery of the fabulous Comstock Lode on Sun Peak (now Mount Davidson) in western Nevada inaugurated silver mining in the Western States. 

Prospectors on their way to California in May 1849 had found gold in Carson 

Valley but not in sufficient quantity to beguile most of them to tarry. The 

few who stayed on worked their way up the gulches, but by 1857 had pretty 

well exhausted the gravel in the lower parts of the canyons and in the bars of 

the Carson River. Though some of the gold was pale in color and worth less 

than the going rate of $ 18 an ounce, apparently few thought of the possibility of silver. Among those who did were the brothers Grosch, who had made 

some assays but who died in 1857 before developing any claim.

The Comstock itself was discovered by other, more picturesque, individuals. James Finney, more commonly known as "Old Virginny," in 1858 

fancied the appearance of a ledge of rock on the northeastern slope of the 

highest peak and claimed it. Two Irishmen, Patrick McLaughlin and Peter 

O'Riley, who had been working the canyon to the north, crossed over and 

in May 1859, found gold in a waterhole they dug. Henry Comstock talked 

his way into a share of the discovery claim by claiming that the area was part 

of a 160-acre tract he had taken up for a ranch, and the deposit was named 

for him. When assays made in California in June 1859 showed the ore was 

rich in silver, the stampede was on.

Rumors of fabulous lost mines in the Southwest had persisted since the 

days of the Spanish occupation, but the warlike reputation of the Apache and 

Navajo Indians had been sufficient to keep prospectors away from the area 

until Federal forts were built in the early I850's. After Fort Yuma was built 

at the junction of the Gila and the Colorado, prospectors arrived and found

Although Newberry did not enjoy the trip upstream 

on the Explorer, he noted that the course of the Colorado "is exceedingly tortuous; and as the water 

level is subject to great oscillations the channel is 

constantly changing, and the sediment, with which 

its current is always loaded, undergoing deposition 

or removal. The sections of these alluvial deposits 

formed along the channel afforded me, at the time 

we passed the water then being at its lowest 

stage many instructive examples of the mode of 

formation of false bedding and cross stratification so 

frequently observed in older rocks." The woodcuts 

shown were based on sketches in Newberry's notebook. (From J. S. Newberry, 1861.)

132 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
Newberry also made the first geologic section of the 

canyon of the Colorado, a section which is remarkable, considering the conditions under which he 

worked and the state of general knowledge at the 

time. His Upper Carboniferous is now known to be 

Permian, the rocks he called Silurian? and Devonian? are now classed as Cambrian and Devonian, but 

the ages of his Lower Carboniferous? and Potsdam 

sandstone were correctly identified. (From J. S. 

Newberry, 1861.)

gold about 10 miles upstream on the Gila. When Fort Buchanan was built, 

20 miles east of Tubac, Arizona, prospectors swarmed in. Mines in the Santa 

Rita and Cerro Colorado Mountains were profitable enough to draw a large 

amount of eastern capital, and Raphael Pumpelly, fresh from the Bergakademie at Freiberg, was employed as a mining engineer. Army officers discovered other deposits, and Lieutenant Sylvester Mowry, who bought a mining property in the Santa Cruz Mountains from them, succeeded in producing 

silver-lead bullion, which he shipped to England. In 1859, application was 

made to organize the southern part of the Territory of New Mexico as the 

Territory of Arizona.

In August 1859, the first oil well in the United States was successfully 

drilled at Titusville, Crawford County, northwestern Pennsylvania. In the 

late 1850's, a safe, efficient, and reasonably priced illuminant was greatly 

desired. Whale oil, commonly used, was unsatisfactory unless refined, and, 

when refined, was expensive. Oil had long been known on streams in northwestern Pennsylvania and had been found when salt-water wells were drilled. 

The early settlers thought the oil a nuisance, but the Indians had valued it 

as a medicine, and of late, the oil had been bottled in small vials for use by 

country doctors and dealers in patent medicines, among them William Avery Rockefeller. In 1855, Benjamin Silliman, Jr., had prepared a report on 

the rock oil of Venango County in which he described the first analysis of 

crude oil, the method of fractional distillation into several components, and 

the superior usefulness of various components for lubrication, illumination, 

and the manufacture of paraffin. On the basis of the report, a group of investors was interested in the possibility of obtaining oil in quantity for illumination and decided to try drilling for it. The Titusville well set off a 

stampede into the area very like the stampede into mining regions. Forests 

of rickety derricks soon dotted the horizon, wildcat fires burned day and

5,5(H» R*t.

s.:soo fot-t.

with gypsHin. 

Lower Carlxmiferrms ?

jrr/fe.

Dcrdw'nn. ?

.Limefttono!, m vitjwJfn j-S-ts-1-! '1. ',, '^,. Jjr1

l.COO fict.

2.300 t*eU

First U.S. Oil Well 133
night, and teams carrying the oil to refineries clogged the roads. The drilling 

of the Titusville changed the course of world history. Gold with its promise 

of riches might retain first place in men's dreams for many years, but it now 

had a rival in "black gold."

By this time, gold mining in California had become difficult and costly. 

The value of gold produced declined from $81 million in 1852 to less than 

$46 million in 1859. River mining reached a peak in 1855 and 1856, aided 

by favorable weather, but thereafter declined, and progress in devising and 

adapting equipment to quartz mining was painfully slow. News of the Cornstock discovery provoked an immediate stampede toward the new diggings, 

and sentiment began to grow for a State-supported geological survey in California. Newspapers went on record as favoring the idea, and the North San 

Juan Hydraulic Press said,

It is generally held that a thorough geological report, from a competent person 

would place the immense resources of California in a more commanding position before the world's eye, besides resulting in a more systematic method of 

developing them.

At this critical time, J. D. Whitney, long interested in California, had 

completed his work on the lead deposits of the Iowa-Wisconsin-Illinois region and was free to undertake something new. With the support of leading 

scientists and the aid of his brother-in-law, S. Osgood Putnam, secretary of 

the California Steam Navigation Company, Judge Stephen J. Field, a family 

friend and then a powerful figure in California politics, and John Conness, 

a member of the California State legislature, a bill appointing Whitney State 

Geologist was passed on April 21, I860. The law, which Whitney drafted, 

did not stress the investigation of mineral resources but required him "to 

make an accurate and complete geological survey of the state, and to furnish 

*** proper maps, and diagrams thereof, and with a full and scientific description of its rocks, fossils, soils, and minerals, and of its botanical and 

zoological productions."

The year of the Comstock, Colorado, and the first oil well was also the 

year in which, for the first time, the value of the products of U.S. industry 

exceeded the value of agricultural products. The Middle Atlantic States 

ranked first in terms of annual value of manufactured products, followed by 

New England, and the Middle Western States. The Southern States produced less than 4 percent of the total value of manufactured products. In 

terms of gross value, flour milling was first, but it was followed by the iron 

industry.

It was also the year that Charles Darwin's Origin of Species was published 

and split the civilized world, not excluding scientists, into opposing camps. 

Agassiz promptly labelled the idea monstrous, Asa Gray defended it, and 

William Barton Rogers thought that scientific men should consider it but 

withhold judgment until all the facts had been assembled. There began then 

some 20 years of controversy, during which most scientists gradually came 

to accept at least the major parts of the thesis.

The developments following the events of the climactic year of 1859 were 

overshadowed by the Civil War and the events leading up to it. The sectional 

rivalries were very evident in the last session of the 35th Congress, and 

southern Congressmen, with the aid of the President, were able to thwart 

some of the greatest desires of the North and West. A bill providing aid to 

a Pacific railroad by a northern route was resoundingly defeated in the Senate. The President vetoed a bill to make more easily navigable the difficult 

waters connecting Lakes Huron and Erie, which would have made transportation of western farm products to the East more economical. A bill to raise 

the level of the tariff failed. The President vetoed a bill to grant public lands

134 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
East of the San Francisco Mountains, Newberry 

found "at intervals the sedimentary rock is covered 

with erupted materials, basaltic trap, scoria or ashes, 

and at several points are cones, once minor volcanic 

vents, and the sources from which these igneous 

rocks were derived." The sketch shows the most 

interesting group of these craters on their route. The 

area is now included in the Sunset Crater National 

Monument. (From J. S. Newberry, 1861.)

to the States for use in establishing colleges of agriculture and the mechanical 

arts. Southern objections were based on constitutional grounds, but the 

grants were to have been made in proportion to Congressional representation, so that more would have gone to the more populous Northern States 

than to the South. A similar succession of events took place in the first 

session of the 36th Congress which convened in December 1859. Southern 

legislatures began to talk openly of secession.

On April 23, I860, two days after California established its State survey, 

the Democrats met in a national nominating convention, but the southern 

delegates walked out, and the convention adjourned without nominating a 

candidate. The Constitutional Union party, made up of remnants of the 

Whig and Know-Nothing parties, nominated John Bell of Tennessee on a 

platform upholding the Constitution, the Union, and the enforcement of 

law. The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, generally regarded as a moderate on the slavery question. The Republican platform, 

written to appeal to both East and West and to radicals and conservatives, 

supported the principles of the Wilmot Proviso, internal improvements, a 

railroad to the Pacific coast, a homestead law, liberal immigration laws, and 

a tariff adjustment to encourage industrial development. The Democrats 

reassembled in June and nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President. Radical delegates from eight Southern States thereupon walked out again and in 

a separate convention nominated Vice President John C. Breckenridge of 

Kentucky for President. Given the division among the parties, Lincoln's 

election was almost inevitable, and in the voting he carried 18 free States 

and received 180 electoral votes.

Election of Lincoln 135
v

O

On receiving word of Lincoln's election, the South Carolina legislature 

called a special State convention to meet on December 20. President Buchanan in his annual message to Congress in December deplored disruption of 

the Union but stated, after consultation with Attorney General Jeremiah S. 

Black, that the Federal Government had no legal power to prevent it by 

force. On December 20, by unanimous vote of the special convention, South 

Carolina seceded from the Union. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, 

Louisiana, and Texas followed suit within a few weeks. Delegates from these 

seven States met in early February, and on February 8, the provisional government for the Confederate States of America was set up, and on February 

9, Senator Jefferson Davis was elected President. The Confederate Constitution differed from the 1787 Constitution in a few essential ways on matters 

other than slavery. The Confederate Congress was forbidden to grant bounF. W. von Egloffstein's map of the Colorado Plateau was drawn directly on the plates, thus avoiding 

the expense of engraving. The system in which light 

is supposed to fall at an oblique angle upon the objects represented was not new, but von Egloffstein 

modified it by drawing fine parallel lines on the 

plate with a ruling machine and exposing the plate 

to acid in order to obtain different tints by which 

relief on the light side of mountains and comparative altitudes could be shown. (From J. C. Ives, 

1861.)

136 Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861
ties, to pass protective tariffs, or to appropriate money for internal improvements.

On March 2, the United States Congress reestablished protection of industry by enacting the Morrill Tariff, which substituted specific for ad valorem duties and raised duties generally. Kansas had been admitted as a free 

State on January 29- Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada Territories were organized on March 2, 1861.

On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln became President. On the day following his inauguration, he discovered that the garrison at Fort Sumter in 

Charleston Harbor would be starved out if not provisioned and, after long 

hesitation, ordered a relief expedition. On April 12, the Confederates opened 

fire on Fort Sumter, and on the 14th it was forced to surrender. On the 

15th, Lincoln called for 75,000 militia to suppress the insurrection, and on 

the 17th, Virginia seceded. The western counties of Virginia, tied economically to the Ohio Valley and traditionally opposed to the eastern counties, 

refused to recognize the secession and formed a provisional State government 

loyal to the Union; these counties ultimately became the State of West Virginia. Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina also seceded, but the other 

border States of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri remained 

loyal to the Union. By the end of May, all had taken a stand, and the Union 

was divided.

Most of the State geological surveys were suspended shortly after the war 

began. The State Geologist of Indiana, Richard Owen, and the State Geologist of South Carolina, Oscar Lieber, joined the armed forces, and Lieber 

was killed in action. The survey of Maine, established in March 1861, continued through two brief field seasons but was then suspended. Only the 

surveys of Illinois and California (and California was too far away to become 

deeply involved in the war) continued beyond 1862.

Most of the Topographical Engineers were recalled from the West and 

reassigned to armies in the field, where they worked under great difficulties. 

Dr. Hayden joined the Army Medical Corps, and Dr. Newberry, the Sanitation Corps.

When the military left the Southwest after the beginning of the Civil 

War, prospectors and miners, with no defense against the Indians, left hastily, and all mining in that area ceased. The Colorado boom petered out 

early in the war because of difficulties in transportation and the hostile attitude of the Indians.

The Civil War Begins 137
Chapter 8.

Not From our Permanent Part,

1861-1867

Our national strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the land we 

inhabit; not from our national homestead. There is no possible severing of this 

but would multiply and not mitigate evils among us. *** Our strife pertains to 

ourselves to the passing generations of men and it can without convulsion 

be hushed forever with the passing of one generation.

 Abraham Lincoln

The belligerents were not evenly matched. The South had the greater 

commitment to the struggle and a great number of able Army officers. The 

South was also convinced that the North would not fight to maintain the 

Union and that it could afford to wait, even to lose battles, until the North 

was worn down. It also believed that the control of the mouth of the Mississippi would swing the entire Mississippi Valley to the Southern cause, although in fact, the building of the railroads had altered the importance of 

that control. Moreover, the South believed that both Great Britain and 

France, which were dependent on Southern cotton, would recognize Confederate independence and supply material aid. The North had the greater population and wealth, a balanced economy, better communications and transportation systems, a merchant marine, and a navy. In order to win, however, 

it had to invade and conquer the South. Many Northerners were convinced 

that with one good thrust, the Confederacy would be overthrown, and it 

would all be over in 90 days. A strong minority in the Northern States and 

many European observers, however, fully expected the Confederacy to win.

The South underrated the North and overrated its own advantages. British 

sentiment, for example, was actually divided. The working class and most 

of the middle class favored the North, although the upper classes and commercial interests favored the South. The British Government realized that if 

substantial aid were offered to the South, Canada might be invaded. On May 

13, 1861, therefore, Great Britain declared its neutrality, and other European states followed the British lead.

The North had an immense advantage over the South in the development 

of basic mineral resources. Pennsylvania was still the leading producer of 

iron, but the rich iron fields of Michigan were also coming into production. 

Pennsylvania dominated the coal industry and produced nearly three-fourths 

of the Nation's coal. Michigan was the largest copper producer. Lead was 

the only problem. Southwestern Missouri was contested territory, and mining there was completely halted at times. Southeastern Missouri was outside 

the zone of active hostilities, but there were raids and some of the furnaces 

were destroyed. The price of lead rose from 5.25 to 12.8 cents a pound, but 

lead production remained insufficient, and in the North, lead was in such 

short supply that the Union troops made bullets by melting lead gutters of 

roofs or pewter pots. The precious metals from the Western States and Territories also remained in Union hands, although the Confederate States attempted to gain access to California gold by occupying the southernmost 

part of the Territory of New Mexico.

Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867 139
At the start of the war, the United States was dependent on Great Britain 

for a superior iron for gun metal, for although iron ore was abundant, American iron fabrication was inferior to that of Europe. Metallurgy was not yet 

a science, and improvements were more a matter of experimentation and 

good fortune than basic knowledge. A. S. Hewitt had experimented with 

Bessemer steel after Bessemer obtained his patents in 1856 but had abandoned the project when the first attempts were unsuccessful. He had then 

become interested in the cast steel being made by the Krupp works in Essen, 

Prussia, and had been experimenting with cast steel bars, hoping to develop 

fluxing process for making steel at the Trenton mill. Hewitt realized early 

in the war that if Great Britain intervened on behalf of the South, the arms 

of the Union troops would be inferior to those of the Confederate troops and 

decided to combine his experimentation with war work by attempting to 

produce a superior American gun metal. He gave up all thoughts of steel 

and concentrated on producing a tough wrought iron similar to the English 

iron. He was encouraged in this by the War Department, but early efforts 

met with failure.

Unable to solve the problem of producing an iron equal to the British 

iron, Hewitt went to England in March 1862, armed with an order for a 

large amount of iron and a commission from Secretary of the Navy Gideon 

Welles to examine the principal iron establishments. While in England, he 

discovered most of the secret British process; just how, his biographer Allan 

Nevins says, is somewhat of a mystery whether by use of money, astute 

detective work in the plants he visited, or by conversing with workmen. 

According to family tradition, he spent much time in the local pubs making 

friends with the workmen. In any event, the experiments continued after his 

return and by fall were so successful that new orders for gun metal were no 

longer sent to England but to Cooper Hewitt, and Cooper Hewitt supplied 

all the gun metal for the Union troops for the rest of the war. Secretary 

Edwin M. Stanton in his annual report for 1863 said:

This country, until the present year, has relied upon Sweden, Norway, and England for material to make gun-barrels, bridle-bits, car-wheel tires, and other articles requiring iron of finest quality. The iron of our own production is now 

superior to that obtained abroad for all these purposes.

The problem of metal for armament also took Alexander L. Holley to 

England in 1862, and that trip led to the successful production of Bessemer

ANIMALS PLANTS

Age of Man

Age of Mammals 

Age of Reptiles

Carboniferous Age

Age of Fishes, or y 

Devonian J.

Age of Mollusks, 1 | 

or Silurian J

Azoic

, IIII 111III Ml Mil 11FU

James Dwight Dana prepared a Manual of Geology, 

issued late in 1862, which gave for the first time an 

authoritative summary of the geology of North 

America. The book was profusely illustrated with 

woodcuts from various American publications. In 

this diagram, Dana uses the progress of life as the 

basis of the subdivision into geological ages. (From 

J. D. Dana, 1864.)

140 Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867
steel in the United States a few years later. Although Holley is now accounted largely responsible for laying the foundation of the steel industry in 

the United States, until his trip to England, his chief interest had been 

railroad engineering. He was a native of Connecticut and a graduate of 

Brown College in 1853- Since 1853, he had worked for companies engaged 

in the manufacture of railroad locomotives, published Holley's Railroad Advocate, written technical material for the New York Times, and served as technical editor of the American Railway Review. While in England, Holley made 

friends with Bessemer and on his return he persuaded Messrs. John A. Griswold and John F. Winslow of Troy to join him in obtaining Bessemer's 

American patents. The Winslow, Griswold & Holley experimental plant at 

Troy began operation on February 16, 1865. It was not the first to manufacture steel in the United States. An American company had been formed 

in 1863 to make steel using patents by William Kelly in conjunction with 

Mushet's patent on recarburization, and steel was made at an experimental 

plant in Wyandotte, Michigan, in the fall of 1864. However, the Winslow, 

Griswold & Holley Company later obtained the Kelly patents, and the Troy 

plant was the first to be commercially successful.

Neither the United States nor the Confederate Government made any 

great effort to use science in the war effort, but significant advances were 

made by the Union forces in surveying and mapping. At the start of the war, 

the two most powerful men of science in Washington were Joseph Henry, 

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and Alexander Dallas Bache, Superintendent of the Coast Survey. Although both recognized the connection 

between science and war, they took their agencies in opposite directions. 

Henry tried to continue the normal operation of the Smithsonian as far as 

possible while devoting his personal attention to war-connected problems. 

Bache proposed the setting up of a military commission to condense information in the Government archives useful to blockading squadrons and to 

choose objectives for amphibious operation. By this maneuver, the Army 

and Navy were both given access to the Coast Survey's information and 

introduced at the same time to an organization that, particularly because of 

Bache's military background, was capable of aiding the formulation of military decisions. The result was a large and valuable series of maps and charts 

of rivers and harbors on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The Union Army made 

use of the camera to make multiple copies of maps for use in the field and 

accumulated a great amount of cartographic and pictorial information that 

made possible reasonably accurate small- and intermediate-scale maps.

In 1862, without the southern members to cast negative votes, the 37th 

Congress passed several measures, desired by East or West, which proved to 

be of great significance for the future of science in the Federal Government. 

On May 15, 1862, the Department of Agriculture was established, under a 

commissioner, to "acquire and diffuse *** useful information on subjects 

connected with agriculture." The law specifically authorized "practical and 

scientific experiments" as a means of obtaining this information and provided for the services of "chemists, botanists, entomologists, and other persons skilled in the natural sciences pertaining to agriculture." Five days 

later, on May 20, the Homestead Act offered to any citizen or intending 

citizen who was the head of a family and over 21 years of age, 160 acres of 

surveyed public domain after 5 years of continued residence and payment of 

a registration fee, or after 6 months' residence for $1.25 an acre. On July 1, 

the Union Pacific Railroad was authorized to build a line westward from 

Nebraska to Utah to meet the Central Pacific, which was being built eastward from California. And on July 2, the Morrill Act granted to each loyal 

State and to the Territories 30,000 acres of public land for each senator and

The Homestead Act 141
representative then in Congress to "provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts."

The Secretary of the Interior, Caleb Smith, had proposed establishment of 

a bureau of agricultural statistics, and Lincoln had endorsed the proposal. 

The Commissioner of Patents had a more elaborate proposal. Congress went 

farther than either in setting up an independent bureau which encompassed 

far more than statistics, and, as A. H. Dupree has pointed out, proceeded 

for the first time on the assumption that its power to provide for the common 

defense and general welfare warranted Federal sponsorship of scientific research.

The Homestead Act enormously increased the work and complicated the 

problems of the General Land Office. There was an immediate expansion of 

the farming frontier westward, and between 1863 and 1865 about 2Vi million acres of farmland were taken up. Most of them, however, were lands 

that the pioneers had passed over in their westward trek, unforested lands of 

the great plains where rainfall was insufficient for the familiar methods of 

farming.

The Secretary of the Interior had also asked Congress to do something 

about the mineral lands. "The valuable and extensive mineral lands owned 

by the Government in California and New Mexico have hitherto produced 

no revenue," he wrote. "All who chose to do so have been permitted to 

work them without limitation. It is believed that no other government owning valuable mineral lands has ever refused to avail itself of the opportunity 

of deriving a revenue from the privilege of mining such lands. They are the 

property of the whole people, and it would be obviously just and proper to 

require those who reap the advantage of mining them to pay a reasonable 

amount as a consideration for the advantages enjoyed." The Commissioner 

of the General Land Office, J. M. Edmunds, proposed that a small appropriation be made for exploration of the interior and western mineral regions. 

As such an appropriation was not founded on the organic act, he submitted 

it "to the enlightened judgment of Congress as to the propriety and necessity 

of affording governmental aid in the development of the mineral wealth of 

the public domain." Congress did not act on either recommendation.

The 37th Congress in its first session also abolished slavery in the District 

of Columbia and in the territories. Lincoln at first resisted the demands of 

radical Republicans for the abolition of slavery, seeking to retain the loyalty 

of the border States and appealing to them to enact statutes for gradual and 

compensated emancipation of slaves. On January 1, 1863, however, aware 

of the public shift toward the radical position on slavery and the need to 

influence European opinion, he issued a proclamation declaring all slaves in 

areas still in rebellion "then, thenceforward, and forever free."

In the second session, the 37th Congress faced up to some of the exigencies 

of war. To finance the war, a national banking system was established, and 

national banks were required to have one-third of their capital invested in 

U.S. securities and were in turn authorized to issue notes for as much as 90 

percent of such bond holdings. On March 3, the first Conscription Act was 

enacted, requiring all men between 20 and 45 to register for military service. 

On the same day, a concurrent resolution branded as "foreign intervention" 

an offer by Napoleon III to mediate the conflict.

The Secretary of the Interior had again asked for a decision on the mineral 

lands. The Commissioner of the General Land Office pointed out that an 

immense revenue could be obtained by subjecting the public mines either to 

lease under quarterly payments or to a quarterly tax as seigniorage on the 

actual product, and that such payments "would relieve the necessities of the 

Republic." Congress did not get around to doing anything about the min142 Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867
eral lands in California or New Mexico. It did, However, organize the Territory of Arizona from the western half of New Mexico on February 24, 

1863- When the Civil War began, Confederate territory reached to El Paso, 

and the Confederate Government was anxious to extend it westward to the 

Pacific coast and thereby increase its resources by access to the California 

gold mines. Confederate forces from Texas occupied Mesilla, proclaimed all 

New Mexico south of the 34th parallel as the Territory of Arizona, and the 

Confederate Congress recognized the Territory. There were several battles 

between North and South, but after the summer of 1862, the Union forces 

were in command. By setting up the Territory of Arizona as the western half 

of New Mexico, Congress provided a barrier zone between the Confederate 

States and California gold.

A week later, the Territory of Idaho was organized from parts of Washington, Dakota, Utah, and Nebraska Territories in the flush of early mining 

successes. When gold mining became difficult in California, prospectors had 

moved north in search of more easily worked deposits. Gold was discovered 

near Fort Colville on the Columbia River in 1854, but the Indians halted 

the rush that followed the discovery. The region was opened up after the 

Indians were defeated in 1858, but the deposits were soon exhausted, and 

the miners moved on into British Columbia. The Fraser River deposits in 

British Columbia were also a disappointment.

The mines at Virginia City in Nevada had also proved to be beyond the 

capabilities of the individual miner, so the restless pioneers had moved on, 

hoping to strike it rich elsewhere. Miners moving northeastward from Virginia City met those returning from British Columbia, and together they 

searched the Northern Rockies for gold. Gold was discovered on the Clearwater in 1860, on the Salmon in 1861, and on the Boise in 1862. Each 

discovery was followed by an influx of those hoping to capitalize on it, a 

period of prosperity, and then a decline, but before the decline set in, the 

Territory of Nevada was established in 1861.

Several new mining towns were also set up in Nevada by miners heading 

east from Virginia City. Silver was found at Esmeralda in 1860, and the 

town of Aurora was established. In 1862, ore was found where the overland 

mail route crossed the Reese River, and the town of Austin was built. Those 

who arrived later at Austin moved on eastward to establish mining districts 

at lone and Cortez. In 1863, Nevada applied for statehood.

During 1863, the National Academy of Sciences was established. Early in 

the year, Alexander Dallas Bache, Joseph Henry, and Charles Henry Davis, 

the head of the Navy's Bureau of Navigation, had had some discussion on 

setting up a "National Association under an act of Congress" which would 

serve as a central organization for science, but Henry had reservations about 

getting science involved with politics and politicians; they agreed instead to 

get as much of an advisory organization into the government as was possible 

without calling on Congress. On February 11, Secretary of the Navy Gideon 

Welles set up a "permanent commission to which all subjects of a scientific 

character on which the Government may require information may be referred" and appointed to this commission Bache, Henry, and Davis.

Bache and Davis, however, were still bent on their "National Association," and three of the Cambridge Lazzaroni came to their aid. On February 

19, Louis Agassiz, Benjamin Peirce, and Benjamin Apthorp Gould met with 

Bache and Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, and out of that meeting 

came the draft of a bill that established the National Academy of Sciences. 

The bill was introduced on February 21, and in the midst of debate over 

financing, conscription, and foreign intervention, and with adjournment imNational Academy of Sciences 143
minent, Congress gave it scant attention. It was passed and approved by 

President Lincoln on March 3.

In addition to naming the 50 original members and giving them power 

over their own rules and membership, the bill provided that

the Academy shall, whenever called upon by any Department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment, arid report upon any subject of science 

or art, the actual expense of such investigations, examinations, experiments, 

and reports to be paid from appropriations which may be made for the purpose, 

but the Academy shall receive no compensation whatever for any service to the 

Government of the United States.

Among the 50 incorporators were several who had been associated with 

the development of geology and mineral resources. Included, of course, was 

Benjamin Silliman, then 84, and his son, Benjamin Silliman, Jr., and sonin-law, James Dwight Dana, who, though both Yale professors, typified two 

different trends in American science. Included also were some of Professor 

Silliman's students: Edward Hitchcock, the first State Geologist of Massachusetts, and Josiah Dwight Whitney, the most recently appointed State 

Geologist (California). James Hall of the New York Survey; W. B. Rogers 

of the Virginia Survey, then President of the new Boston Institute of Technology; and John Henry Alexander of the Maryland Survey who had written 

the first American book on iron metallurgy were also among the incorporators. Among the younger men were J. S. Newberry, Joseph Leidy, and J. P. 

Lesley.

Out in California, the Whitney survey had settled down in San Francisco. 

Brewer had more and more assumed command of field parties, while Whitney divided his time between field and office. Whitney was also busy lecturing the legislature on the value of his work and conferring with State officials 

about the establishment of a new college to be dedicated to the useful sciIn Dana's Azoic map of North America, the white 

represents dry land during Precambrian time, and 

the dark areas the submerged portions of the continent. Dana thought that some other areas of dry 

land might have existed in the Appalachian and 

Rocky Mountains and that future study would bring 

them to light. The term "Azoic" used here he later 

abandoned. (From J. D. Dana, 1864.)

144 Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867
Dana's section of Paleozoic rocks in the Mississippi 

basin shows the geologic time terms on the left, 

formation names on the right. When his Manual of 

Geology was published, and for several years thereafter, Dana doubted that Cambrian rocks existed in 

North America. The term "Ordovician" was not 

proposed until 1879. (From J. D. Dana, 1864.)

ences. Charles F. Hoffmann, a young German engineer, had joined the Survey as topographer and was preparing a map of the San Francisco Bay area.

The problem of mapping in California was crucial. Whitney believed that 

a geologic map must be based on accurate topography. At the time, three 

different kinds of maps were being prepared. The Coast Survey maps were 

accurate to a few inches in a hundred miles, but they were made by elaborate 

triangulation, which sometimes involved a whole season's work at a single 

station, and were correspondingly expensive. Obviously, California could 

not afford maps prepared after the manner of the Coast Survey. The General 

Land Office prepared maps by ordinary chain and compass survey. They were 

cheaply prepared, one could not count on repeating a determination, and in 

any event they were not suitable for mountainous topography. Many of the 

western exploring expeditions used the meander method, measuring distance 

from a base more or less accurately located. Whitney found these maps least 

usable. He therefore fell back on a method with which he had experimented 

in his Lake Superior days, involving triangulation on sharp mountain peaks 

rather than special signal stations, and then mapping in the intervening 

country by eye. Hoffmann took Whitney's idea and made it practical, starting a process that revolutionized topographic mapping.

In the early days of July 1863, the tide of war turned. On July 4, the city 

of Vicksburg, after a long siege, surrendered. Five days later, when Port 

Hudson, Louisiana, was captured, the entire Mississippi was under Union 

control. And on July 4, the Confederate army under General Lee had been 

turned back at Gettysburg. The victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg also 

tipped the diplomatic balance toward the North, and by the end of the year, 

Confederate hopes for foreign recognition and intervention were shattered. 

At home, the breakdown of the railway system brought hardship and near 

starvation to some southern cities.

In his annual message to Congress on December 8, Lincoln announced his 

plan of reconstruction: amnesty, with certain exceptions, to southerners taking a prescribed loyalty oath, and executive recognition of State governments 

when 10 percent of the electorate of 1860 took the oath and the States agreed 

to emancipation. Congress had other ideas about reconstruction. Both Arkansas and Louisiana applied for restoration to the Union, but Congress refused to seat their representatives. Instead, shortly before adjourning, it 

passed the Wade-Davis bill which required a majority of the electorate in

D 

§

B

2 1

S

nS , D X 

ti

PERMIAN 

CARBONIFEROUS

. SUBCARBONIFEROUS

HAMILTON 

U. HELDERBERG 

r NIAGARA

HUDSON RIVER 

TRENTON

L POTSDAM

E| Permian

Coal Measures

Coal Conglomerate 

Subcarboniferous limestone

Waverly sandstone (=Chemung 

and Subcarboniferous) 

Black shale

Cliff limestone

c Blue limestone and shale

Trenton limestone; Galena limestone; Black River limestone

Lower magnesian limestone 

(=Cakiferous)

 ':$£ £? & Potsdam limestone

Turning Point of the War 145
each Confederate State to take an oath of past as well as future loyalty as a 

condition for restoration. Lincoln pocket vetoed the bill, thereby incurring 

the wrath of the Radical Republicans.

The Secretary of the Interior, in his report of 1863, stated:

At the time of the discovery of the great mineral wealth of portions of the public 

domain the nation was in the enjoyment of domestic tranquillity and unrivalled 

prosperity, and could well afford to throw open her rich mine of the precious 

metals to the unrestricted enterprise of the world; but having now been forced 

into a war for the preservation of our national existence, as unexampled in 

expense as in magnitude, the question whether we can, in justice to other 

branches of industry and enterprise, longer exempt this immense source of 

individual revenue from its equitable share of the public burden, becomes of 

much importance.

There were by then many more mines on the public lands, but the miners 

were running into problems. The mining frontier had continued to move 

inland. In 1863, the prospectors crossed the mountains from Idaho into 

western Montana, and in the following year, gold was found in Summit 

Valley just west of the Continental Divide. The new camp was named Butte, 

and $lVi million worth of gold would be washed out of the gravels there in 

the next 2 years. Montana was organized as a separate Territory on May 26, 

1864. Miners continued to move eastward in Nevada, and mining camps 

were set up at Eureka, Ruby, and Diamond. The Eureka ores were discovered 

in 1864 but were found to have too much lead for successful milling, so the 

prospectors continued eastward. The Third California Volunteer Infantry 

made the first discoveries in Utah. Mining had been slow to develop in Utah 

because there were no easily worked placers, and the Mormon leaders took a 

cautious view of mining. Many of the soldiers who were stationed at Camp 

Douglas overlooking Salt Lake City had seen something of gold mining in 

California, and their commanding officer, General Patrick E. Connor, encouraged them, whenever they were not busy keeping an eye on Indians or 

Mormons, in a systematic prospecting of the hillsides. Ore was found at 

Bingham Canyon in the fall of 1863 and a little later at Little Cottonwood 

Canyon. Early operations languished, however, because of the difficulty of 

mining and smelting the ores, the lack of transportation, and the high cost 

of all supplies.

Congress spent some time debating the mineral lands problems. Revenue 

was needed to pay mounting war costs. The possibility of taxing mine production was considered, but those who opposed taxation said that investment 

in expensive mining techniques was discouraged by the insecurity of land 

titles, and anyway the profits were greatly exaggerated. Some proposals were 

made that the Government appropriate the mines and operate them or supervise their operation. Some thought was given to reserving title to minerals and requiring the claim holders to pay an established tax on profits. 

None of these measures was passed.

Early in June, the Senate passed unanimously a bill for the disposal of 

townsites and coal lands on the public lands. Some small discussion took 

place when the bill reached the House, but when the Chairman of the House 

Committee on Public Lands explained that coal lands were not to be considered as mineral lands, the House also passed the bill. Sale of coal lands, 

which had been excluded from sale by the preemption act of 1841, was 

authorized to the highest bidder, but for not less than $20 an acre. Lands 

not disposed of in this way were thereafter to be subject to private entry at 

this minimum price.

By this time, enthusiasm for the California survey had dwindled. No new 

mineral resources had been discovered, and Whitney had discouraged capital 

from coming into the State by his negative reports on about half the reported

Dana's map of North America in the Cretaceous 

period shows the great extent of rocks of Cretaceous 

age believed to exist in the American West. Here 

the white is dry land, the shaded areas the submerged part of the continent where sediments of 

Cretaceous age were deposited. (From J. D. Dana, 

1864.)

146 Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867
Josiah Dwight Whitney

Whitney's work in the mineral lands of northern 

Michigan and the lead district of the Upper Mississippi Valley, together with his book, The Metallic 

Wealth of the United States, gave a powerful stimulus 

to the scientific study of ore deposits in the United 

States. In the California survey, however, he placed 

greater stress on basic research and mapping. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Archives, Merrill Collection.)

strikes he had examined. Some thought that too many easterners were on the 

Survey and wanted W. P. Blake, the geologist for the State agricultural 

department, to be made director. According to the California constitution, 

all offices created by the legislature expired automatically after 4 years. 

Whitney, therefore, spent only part of the 1863 season in the field, when 

work began on the western slope of the Sierra, and then headed back to San 

Francisco to prepare for the forthcoming legislative session. Brewer continued in the field until September and then, his funds low, started back. On 

the way he met two young men, Clarence King and James Gardner, who 

had started off on a transcontinental trip, been stranded in Virginia City by 

a fire in which they lost everything except the clothes they were wearing, 

and had worked in a quartz mill to gain funds enough to finish their trip. 

King was a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, and Brewer 

was easily persuaded to take him on as a volunteer assistant.

When the renewal of the California survey came up for consideration in 

the spring of 1864, San Francisco was in the midst of a speculative frenzy 

over Comstock stocks. Almost from the beginning, the Virginia City mines 

had proved to be beyond the capabilities of the individual miner, for most of 

those who came lacked experience in lode mining, and almost no one had

The California Survey 147
experience in silver extraction. There were, in addition, some unusual difficulties. Underground water flooded the claims, and pumps had to be installed. At somewhat greater depths, the timbers used as simple pillars began to break, and there were cave-ins. Philip Deidesheimer, a young German 

mining engineer who had previously worked in the quartz mines of California, devised a square set scheme of timbering that solved that problem. It 

was difficult to extract silver from the complex ores, but in time, the Mexican processes were mechanized into what became known as the Washoe pan 

process. Then toward the end of 1863, the mines began running out of rich 

ore and into barren rock. The best apprised stockholders tried to dispose of 

their shares quietly, but before long, selling became general.

The first report, other than brief progress reports, of the California survey 

was published in 1864, a volume on paleontology. Some clergymen considered the work blasphemous. A member of the legislature who opposed the 

survey read random extracts from it as samples of the character of the work 

being done at public expense. When the new bill was passed, the survey 

survived, but Whitney's salary and the appropriation for expenses were both 

cut in half; the agricultural, botanical, and zoological work was discontinued; and Whitney was ordered to devote his time to "a thorough and scientific examination of the gold, silver, and copper producing districts of this 

State, and to make such scientific and practical experiments as will be of 

value in the discovery of mines and the working and reduction of ores."

Whitney ignored the restrictions on his work and took King with him on 

a trip to inspect the Comstock and to help study the rock formations of 

western Nevada for comparison with those of California. He then left for the 

East. During the summer of 1864, King, Hoffmann, and Gardner worked 

under W. H. Brewer's direction in making a systematic survey of the High 

Sierra. At the end of the season, Brewer left for New Haven where he had 

been appointed to a professorship in the Sheffield Scientific School.

When King and Gardner returned to San Francisco in September, they 

were immediately engaged to run a boundary line for a new State park in the 

Yosemite Valley. On June 30, 1864, President Lincoln had signed a bill 

granting to the State of California the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa 

Grove of Big Trees with the proviso that they be held "for public use, resort, 

and recreation" and that they "be inalienable for all times." Senator John

W. H. Brewer and Clarence King, who had joined 

the California survey as a volunteer assistant, twice 

climbed to the top of Lassen Peak in September 

1863- They found that the upper part is an imperfect flattened cone with an elliptical base whose 

longer axis is at right angles to that of the Sierra. 

Thus from the valley, Lassen Peak appears to be a 

very steep cone and from the north and south it 

looks dome shaped. The sketch was made by King. 

(FromJ. D. Whitney, 1865.)

148 Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867
Conness, who introduced the bill, said the scheme had been presented to 

him by several California gentlemen whom he did not identify. One was 

certainly Israel Ward Raymond, a San Francisco businessman who had been 

inspired by the beauty of the Yosemite and dismayed by the threatened 

destruction of the Big Trees for timber; another was Frederick Law Olmstead, who had been largely responsible for the creation of Central Park in 

New York City and who had come to California in 1863 to manage the 

Mariposa Estate.

Governor Frederic F. Low appointed a Board of Commissioners, including 

Olmsted and Raymond and also J. D. Whitney and W. A. Ashburner of the 

State geological survey. Olmsted prepared a report for his fellow commissioners on the problems involved in which he stressed "the preservation and 

maintenance as exactly as is possible of the natural scenery; the restriction, 

that is to say, within the narrowest limits consistent with the necessary accommodation of visitors, of all artificial constructions markedly inharmonious with the scenery or which would unnecessarily obscure, distort or distract from the dignity of the scenery." The report elaborated the policy 

underlying reservation by the government of a scenic area and provided a 

philosophic base for the establishment of State and national parks.

In the year that Yosemite Park was created, George Perkins Marsh, then 

the American Ambassador to Italy, published a volume entitled Man and 

Nature to show that man was fast making the earth uninhabitable by his 

wanton destruction, waste, and neglect. As a young man, Marsh had seen 

the damage done in his native Vermont by misuse of the land. He was 

elected to Congress in 1842 and in Washington had come to know John 

Quincy Adams during his last years in Congress. Marsh had become an advocate of Government support for science, and Adams had praised his plea 

for a research-oriented Smithsonian Institution as one of the best speeches 

ever delivered in the House. In 1849, President Taylor had appointed Marsh 

Minister to Turkey, which gave him a firsthand opportunity to study the 

geography of the Middle East. His appointment to Italy gave him the opportunity to set down his observations and conclusions.

Marsh pointed out that there was still "an immense extent of North American soil where the industry and folly of man have as yet produced little 

appreciable change." It was to be hoped that there, "with the present inW. H. Brewer and Charles Hoffmann climbed an 

unnamed peak in 1864 and named it Mount Silliman after Yale's famous professor. This sketch was 

made by Hoffmann. (From J. D. Whitney, 1865.)

Yosemite Park 149
creased facilities for scientific observations, the future effects, direct and contingent, of man's labors can be measured and such precautions taken in the 

rural processes we call improvements, as to mitigate evils, perhaps, in some 

degree, inseparable from every attempt to control the action of natural 

laws." A more exact knowledge of the topography and climatic conditions 

of countries where the surface was yet unbroken was urgently needed, but 

the geological, hydrographical, and topographical surveys already being 

made in civilized countries were making such important contributions that 

within a short time there should be enough facts from which "to reason upon 

all the relations of of action and reaction between man and external nature."

Marsh has been called the fountainhead of the conservation movement, 

but his contribution was largely doctrinal, whereas Olmsted and Raymond 

in the same year were attempting to put conservation into practice. In the 

city of New York, in that same year of 1864, a first step in another form of 

conservation was taken when the first school of mines in the United States 

was established. Its founder was Thomas Egleston, a 32-year-old graduate of 

Yale who had had advanced training at the Ecole des Mines in Paris. Egleston had taken special work in chemistry at Yale, from which he graduated 

in 1854, and had then gone to Paris. There he attracted the attention of 

some of the faculty of the Ecole des Mines and eventually took the full course 

before returning to the United States in 1861. For a while he was employed 

in sorting and arranging geological specimens at the Smithsonian Institution, work which helped him realize the need and opportunity for schools 

like the Ecole des Mines in this, country. The existing scientific schools were 

either too general or too specialized to provide adequate training in mining 

and metallurgy. In March 1863, he published a Proposed Plan for a School of 

Mines and Metallurgy in New York City, which he submitted to the trustees 

of Columbia College. F. A. P. Barnard, another Yale graduate, who had 

very progressive ideas on education, became President of Columbia in 1864, 

and on November 15, 1864, the Columbia School of Mines was opened.

The first dean of the School of Mines was Charles F. Chandler, who had 

had intensive training in chemistry in Germany, where he received a Ph.D.

150 Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867

In 1864, Yosemite State Park was created, and 

Clarence King and his friend James T. Gardner were 

sent to map it. The two surveyors gazing at Cathedral Peak, in this sketch by Whitney. are not identified but one can imagine them to be King and 

Gardner. (From J. D. Whitney, 1865 and 1868.)
This shaded woodcut is an effort to show the grandeur of Yosemite Valley. The distance between the 

inner edges of the talus on each side was measured 

by King as a little less than one-half mile. (From J. 

D. Whitney, 1865.)

YOSRM1TJS VALtE'T.

from Gottingen when he was only 20. While he was in Germany, his 

studies of the distillation of oil from Scotch shales by German chemists led 

him to suggest that oil from the earth might be used as a substitute for 

whale oil for lighting. The editor of the Scientific American had refused, however, to publish the paper as too improbable. Chandler returned to the 

United States in 1856, to become an assistant and then professor at Union 

College, 3 years before Drake drilled his well at Titusville, Pennsylvania.

The School of Mines was an immediate success. By 1871, a writer in the 

North American Review characterized it as "already more scientific than Freiberg, more practical than Paris." Its graduates would play an important 

role in the development of mineral resources of the country in the next few 

decades. The Columbia School of Mines was, however, only the beginning. 

After the Civil War ended, technical education improved rapidly through 

the operation of the Morrill Act or through private grants. Mining and railroad interests, for example, aided in the development of several mining departments and even the establishment of some colleges.

In the last years of the war, three States took up geologic work, again 

with emphasis on development of natural resources. The New Jersey survey 

was a resumption of previous work. Kitchell had felt that his scientific reputation had been injured by the abrupt closing of the survey in 1856. In 

I860, he had offered, under the auspices of the State Agricultural Society, 

to complete and publish at his own expense a geological report and map of 

the State, obtaining his recompense from sale of the work, but he died in 

1861 before completing it. In 1863, George Cook, who had been the assistant geologist, obtained from the legislature authorization to finish the survey on the same terms as those granted Kitchell. Cook presented a report to 

the legislature in 1864, stressing that the undeveloped resources of New 

Jersey were immense and only needed to be understood to be appreciated. 

The legislature requested that the survey be completed within 4 years at a 

cost not to exceed $20,000, exclusive of publication.

The Kansas legislature in 1864 invited B. F. Mudge, a teacher in Kansas 

City, to deliver a course of lectures on the geological resources of the State.

Columbia School of Mines 151
NORTH D0MJE

w- ' ; : t .^w;,A <jy&;

^_^ ?^3^

«' 

Mudge, who had graduated from Wesleyan College in Connecticut in 1840 

and had practiced law in the East until 1859 before moving to Kansas, was 

deeply interested in natural sciences. After his lectures to the legislature, he 

was unanimously elected State Geologist. Mudge's first report devoted 10 

pages to general geology, 41 to economic geology. He did not foresee much 

in the way of metal mining in Kansas, gave attention to coal and structural 

materials, mentioned the petroleum deposits, but gave most of his attention 

to the salt deposits. Mudge was succeeded in 1865 by George C. Swallow, 

formerly of the Missouri survey, whose program for the Kansas Geological 

Survey was first, determination of what rocks occupy the State, then of the 

mineral and fossil contents of each, character and position of each mineral 

deposit that might be useful, value and uses to which each mineral deposit 

might be applied, and suggestions of improvements in mining and working 

the valuable rocks and minerals.

The State of Minnesota authorized a geological survey in 1864, and the 

Governor appointed A. Hanchett as State Geologist. Hanchett was replaced 

in 1865 by Henry Eames, who presented two reports almost wholly devoted 

to economic matters. Coal was greatly desired in Minnesota, but Eames 

found no workable coal beds. He noted the immense bodies of iron ores in

Part of the first map of Yosemite Valley made by 

James T. Gardner and Clarence King in 1864. 

(From J. D. Whitney, 1868.)

152 Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867
the northern part of the State, and Richard Fames prepared a report on the 

Mesabi iron range, which was not published. The Governor said that the 

region was so remote from transportation it could wait for another generation, and the survey was discontinued after 2 years.

In the election of November 1864, Lincoln won with an overwhelming 

electoral vote, although his popular majority was only 400,000 out of 4 

million votes. The end of the war was a matter of time, and plans were being 

made for the future. The Secretary of the Interior in his annual report in 

December 1864 announced that the initial point of the main line of railroad 

from the Missouri River westward had been fixed at Omaha, Nebraska, and 

that the definite location of the road for 100 miles west from that point had 

been approved by the President. The route of the Pacific railroad of California had been selected, and a map of the preliminary location, from Sacramento eastward to the great bend of the Truckee River in Nevada, had been 

filed in the Department. During the past year, the Secretary said, additional 

discoveries of precious metals had been made in the region east of the extended ranges of the Sierra Nevada. Because of the remote localities and the 

difficulty of transportation, little machinery for reduction of ores had been 

introduced. In the part of Nevada through which the railroad would pass, 

many rich veins had been found, and it was estimated that with the use of 

proper machinery, the yield might be $10 million a month. The Secretary 

asked for an appropriation to enable the Department to have a scientific 

examination made of the principal mining localities and of the mineral regions generally, and repeated his recommendations of 1863 on the disposition of the mineral lands. Establishment of a bureau of mines he was satisfied 

would come about in due time. President Lincoln in his annual message on 

December 4 called the attention of Congress to these recommendations.

By Inauguration Day, the war was almost over. In his very brief second 

inaugural address, Lincoln said "Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated 

that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict 

itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding" and called on all "with malice toward none, 

with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives to see the right, 

let us strive on to finish the work we are in ***"

A month later, Lee abandoned Petersburg and Richmond and headed toward Lynchburg, whence he hoped to move by rail to North Carolina to join 

forces with General Johnston. However, the Confederate forces were virtually surrounded, rations were scarce, and on April 9, Lee surrendered to 

Grant at Appomattox Court House. On April 11, Lincoln repeated his plea 

for conciliation. Three days later he was assassinated, and Andrew Johnson 

became President.

Johnson adopted Lincoln's reconstruction plan with only minor changes, 

and during the Congressional recess, he recognized the loyal governments of 

Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia, and organized provisional 

governments for the other seven. Provisional governors were empowered to 

convene conventions of delegates elected by "loyal" citizens to amend the 

State constitutions, abolish slavery, and repudiate the State war debt. By 

December 1865, every Confederate State except Texas had fulfilled these 

requirements, and in his annual message to Congress on December 6, Johnson announced that the Union was restored.

He reckoned, however, without the Radical Republicans. The 39th Congress refused to endorse Johnson's actions, and appointed a joint committee 

of six Senators and nine Representatives to examine the issues of suffrage and 

southern representation in Congress. The joint committee declared that the

End of the Civil War 153
South had no State governments and that Congress alone could restore them 

and impose such conditions for readmission as it deemed necessary. A Civil 

Rights Act was passed on April 9, and then the Fourteenth Amendment, 

formulated by the committee because of widespread doubt as to the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act, was passed on June 13 and submitted to 

the States for ratification. Ratification was made a condition for restoration 

to the Union, but only Tennessee did so. The other States rejected ratification, counting on the Congressional elections to repudiate the Radical program.

In 1865, Secretary of the Interior John P. Usher again asked for the establishment of a bureau of mining, sale of all mineral lands except those bearing 

the precious metals, and a decision by Congress on means of securing an 

income from the product of the precious metals from the public domain. 

"Individual proprietorship," he said, "it is conceded, would stimulate the 

development of coal fields, petroleum, deposits of iron, lead, and of other 

gross metals, and mineral formations. There can, therefore, be no sufficient 

reason for withholding such mineral lands from market." He estimated 

that 200,000 or 300,000 men were engaged in mining precious metals on 

the public lands, "without authority of law," paying nothing for the privilege. "The existing financial condition of the Nation obviously requires that 

all our national resources and the product of every industrial pursuit should 

contribute to the payment of the public debt, The wisdom of Congress must 

decide whether the public interest would be better promoted by a sale in fee 

of these mineral lands, or by raising a revenue from their annual product."

Western mining was in a parlous state after the War, and both houses of 

Congress established Committees on Mines and Mining. Senator Conness of 

California, who had been a gold miner for a brief time, was chairman of the 

Senate Committee; Mr. William Higby, also of California, was chairman of 

the House Committee. The best known, and perhaps the most highly qualified, member of either committee was undoubtedly Senator William Stewart, Nevada's first Senator. Stewart had entered Yale in 1848 but left in 

1850, lured to California by thoughts of gold. Like Conness, he indulged in 

mining for a time, amassed $8,000, and then abandoned mining for law, 

which, in his case, proved more profitable. He was admitted to practice in 

1852 and was elected district attorney of Nevada County in 1853, where he 

helped write the first regulations for quartz mining. After the Comstock was 

discovered, he left California for Virginia City. There he gained fame, or 

notoriety, for his legal and other tactics during 4 years litigation over Comstock claims, for which it has been reported his annual income was $200,000.

On July 26, 1866, the mineral lands were opened to appropriation and 

occupation by a bit of fast legislative footwork on the part of the new senator 

from Nevada. In April, once the Civil Rights Act had been passed, Senator 

John Sherman introduced a bill to regulate the occupation of and extend the 

right of preemption to the mineral lands. It was referred to the Committee 

on Mines and Mining, which reported it out in May with one amendment, 

and then was passed by the Senate. When the bill reached the House, it was 

referred to the Committee on Public Lands, where no action was taken on 

it, as Chairman George Julian preferred the sale of mineral lands at public 

auction.

As the end of the session approached, the House passed a bill to authorize 

a right-of-way over the public lands in California to ditch and canal owners. 

When this bill reached the Senate, it was referred to the Committee on 

Public Lands, of which, as it happened, Senator Stewart was also a member. 

The Senate Committee reported the bill out promptly, with one amendment the previously passed Senate bill on mineral lands. In the new form 

the bill was passed by the Senate and referred back to the House for consid154 Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867
Charles Hoffmann's map of San Francisco Bay region, on a scale of one-half inch to the mile, is 4 by 

3 feet. J. D. Whitney said it had "all the topography correctly represented on it, in as much detail as 

the scale will allow." (California Geological Survey, 1868.)

A, "

eration of the amendment. This time it was referred to the Committee on 

Mines and Mining, which had sponsored the right-of-way bill, was reported 

out favorably, and was passed.

The "Act granting the Right of Way to Ditch and Canal Owners over the 

Public Lands, and for other Purposes" declared the mineral lands of the 

public domain, both surveyed and unsurveyed, were free and open to exploration and occupation, subject to the local customs or rules of miners in the 

several mining districts that were not in conflict with the laws of the United 

States. Patenting of lode-mining claims containing veins bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper was authorized if the claimant had occupied the 

land and improved it according to the miners' customs and had expended 

not less than $1,000 in actual labor or improvements. The patent granted 

the mine "together with the right to follow such vein or lode with its dips, 

angles, and variations, to any depth." The price was set as $5 an acre; the 

title was to include no more than one vein or lode, and claims were limited 

to 200 feet along the vein. The uncertainty of success in mining was noted 

by a provision that if homesteads had been established and no mines discovered on any lands that had been designated as mineral lands, and therefore 

excluded from survey or sale, settlers were given the right to preemption and 

were entitled to purchase the land at $1.25 an acre.

Mineral Lands Act, 1866 155
At the beginning of the session, Senator Stewart had also introduced a bill 

to establish a national bureau of mining. No action was taken on that bill, 

but on July 28, 1866, Congress had appropriated $ 10,000 for the collection 

of "reliable statistical information concerning the gold and silver mines of 

the Western States and Territories." As it happened, J. Ross Browne, traveler and author, and one of the more colorful figures of mid- 19th century 

America, arrived in Washington in the spring of 1866 to lobby for the 

California grape growers against a bill to tax domestic wines and, incidentally, to look for a position for himself, perhaps as Indian Commissioner or 

as an ambassador. Browne had no scientific knowledge of mining or of geology, but he had had some practical experience in the mines and had written 

articles for Harper's Magazine on mining in California, Nevada, and Arizona, 

which had given him a reputation as an authority. He joined forces with 

Stewart in promoting the bureau of mining, and when the appropriation for 

gathering statistics became available, he received the appointment from the 

Secretary of the Treasury. He was to include in his report a brief historical 

review of the origin of gold and silver mining, the geological formation of 

the great mineral belts, the general character of the placer diggings and 

quartz ledges, the different systems of mining, machinery, processes of reduction, percentage of waste, net profits, population engaged in mining, 

capital and labor employed, climate, cost of living, number of banks, communications facilities available and much more. Browne left promptly for 

San Francisco and by the middle of November had compiled a preliminary 

report of 321 pages on the mines of California, Nevada, and Arizona.

The North Carolina survey was revived in April 1866. W. C. Kerr had 

been named State Geologist in 1864, but because of the disorganized conditions in the State, no work could be done. Kerr was a graduate of the State 

University at Chapel Hill in 1850 and had studied at the Lawrence Scientific 

School at Harvard while he served as a computer in the Nautical Almanac 

Office. North Carolina was one of the first of the Southern States to declare 

its secession ordinance null and void and had abolished slavery on October 

7, 1865, as a prerequisite to restoration to the Union. Congress, of course, 

decreed otherwise, and for several years the survey had to be conducted under 

unfavorable conditions. Kerr nonetheless investigated agricultural and mineral resources and attempted to advertize them, although much of his work 

was reconnaissance. Drainage and topography also received attention.

The geological survey of Iowa was reinstituted in April 1866 also, with 

Charles A. White as director "to give the people of the State the greatest 

amount of practical information in relation to its resources." White was a 

New Englander, transplanted to Iowa in 1838 at the age of 12. Opportunities for education in Iowa were almost completely lacking at that time, and 

White was a self-educated naturalist of the old school, learning by making 

large collections. His fossil collections served to introduce him to James 

Hall, F. B. Meek, and Amos Worthen. In 1860, he took up the study of 

medicine and was graduated from Rush Medical College in 1864. After his

A dozen years after Whitney's book on metallic deposits was published, S. H. Daddow and Benjamin 

Bannan published a treatise on Coal, Iron, and Oil. 

Daddow was a practical miner and engineer of 

mines, Bannan the editor and proprietor of the 

Miner's Journal, and their book was subtitled The 

Practical American Miner. A plain and popular work 

on our mines and mineral resources, and a textbook or 

guide to their economical development. The next four illustrations are from their book. I

A 

Their ideal section at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, is

of the same area as that depicted by Silliman in 

1830 (page 35). The growth of Wilkesbarre as well 

as the increased knowledge of geologic structure is 

evident by comparing the two, even though Daddow and Bannan said that their illustration "gives 

a good general impression" but "is by no means 

exact in proportion or measurement." They also 

noted certain errors "the number of basins between Wilkesbarre and the mountain is uncertain, 

but they run deeper, in all probability, than the 

section indicates," and the artist had transposed 

the seams in crossing the basin, and placed more 

veins on the south than the north side. (From S. H. 

Daddow and Benjamin Bannan, 1866.)

156 Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867
According to Daddow and Bannan, methods of 

mining in the anthracite coal fields were determined 

by geological structure. In the deep abrupt basin on 

the left, a coal seam is opened by slope a,a. and the 

seams above and below are reached by tunnels. The 

wider and more shallow basin on the right, where 

the bottom is comparatively horizontal, can be 

mined more economically by a shaft. (From S. H. 

Daddow and Benjamin Bannan, 1866.)

Iowa appointment, however, he gave up the practice of medicine. White 

began with a review of the geology of the eastern part of the State so that the 

coal-bearing strata could be studied with the greatest precision, and he made 

examinations of the coal deposits of neighboring States before beginning an 

intensive study of the western part of Iowa and its resources.

In California, funds for the State survey were again running short. In 

December 1865, King and Gardner were loaned to General McDowell's 

command in Arizona to make a survey across the Mojave Desert to the Colorado River and on to Prescott to find routes for military roads. In the summer of 1866, King and Gardner were assigned to a survey of the Upper San 

Joaquin-Merced-Mount Ritter area. During the summer, King received 

word that his stepfather had died, leaving him responsible for the welfare of 

11 people, so he decided it was time for him to strike out on his own. Ever 

since his transcontinental trip in 1863, he had been planning a survey of his 

own across the Rocky Mountains and the deserts at their widest. The possibility of making such a survey along the route of the railroads then being 

built he realized would aid him in getting congressional support. Whitney 

thought the scheme impractical and offered to put him in charge of the 

economic geology of the California survey, but he declined and submitted 

his resignation.

It is evident that in this case the pupil was shrewder than the master. As 

the result of the Army Act of 1866, the army had a force of only 45,000 

men to garrison the South and guard the western frontier where the Indians 

were on the warpath; three railroads, and several wagon roads were being 

built; and both settlers and prospectors were headed west in increasing numbers. Manpower was not available to send out expeditions as had been done 

in the decade before the war to gain the needed information. The Corps of 

Topographical Engineers had been merged with the Corps of Engineers, and 

the best the Chief of Engineers could do was assign one of his officers to each 

of the military departments in the West to make maps, mineral surveys, and 

wagon-road estimates. Reconnaissances of this sort had been made in the last 

year of the war in the Department of the Pacific where Colonel R. S. Williamson had laid out military roads in northern California and Oregon. In 

1866, he had moved into the Great Basin in an attempt to keep up with the 

prospectors. King's proposed survey would provide information needed by 

the Engineers, and they had the funds though not the manpower. When 

King left for the East, he carried with him a written endorsement from 

Colonel Williamson.

Colonel Williamson's letter interested General A. A. Humphreys, Chief 

of Engineers, in King's plan. Professor W. H. Brewer wrote to Secretary of 

War Stanton endorsing the plan and stressing the lack of reliable knowledge 

on the region to be spanned by the railroad. After Secretary Edwin M. Stanton consulted General Humphreys, the War Department endorsed the plan. 

Senator Conness then took up the cause and added an item to an appropriation bill.

Army Engineers, 1866 157
Congress was occupied during most of the short session with reconstruction legislation. In the 1866 elections, the Republicans captured two-thirds 

of each house in Congress, giving the Radicals effective control of reconstruction. As all Southern States except Tennessee had rejected the Fourteenth 

Amendment, Congress acted on the premise that there were no legal governments in the South. On March 2, the next to the last day of the session, the 

First Reconstruction Act was passed over the President's veto, dividing the 

South into five military districts subject to martial law and setting the requirements for restoration to the Union. The Command of the Army Act, 

passed on the same day, virtually deprived the President of command of the 

army by requiring that he issue all military orders through the General of 

the Army. The Tenure of Office Act, also passed on March 2, forbade the 

President to remove officials appointed by and with the advice and consent 

of the Senate without Senatorial approval.

Congress was so involved in reconstructing the South and battling the 

President that it gave only scant attention to other matters. Browne's report 

on western mining was sent to Congress on January 8. Professor G. J. Brush, 

who reviewed the volume for the American Journal of Science, said that it 

contained "a large mass of important and interesting information" but that 

"as Mr. Brown is neither a mineralogist, geologist nor miner, we can fairly 

look in this document only for such information as an industrious collector 

of facts and an experienced traveler may amass upon almost any subject to 

which he brings zeal and intelligence." Browne himself recommended that 

the work be continued but that an experienced geologist be appointed in 

each State and Territory to send annual reports to a supervising commissioner

This depiction of coal flora reflects the attempt to 

reconcile geology and theology. Daddow and Bannan suggest that toward the close of the third day in 

the Biblical account of creation, the air was full of 

vapor and dust from distant eruptions, carbonic acid 

was present in water and air, and both air and water 

were heated by the cooling lava and condensing 

earth. Such conditions were unfavorable for animal 

life but produced a vegetation "of the most vast and 

magnificent description." (From S. H. Daddow 

and Benjamin Bannan, 1866.)

158 Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867
PittsDurg seam.....

Barren measures......

Hewry oils in the coal mea->

mires. j

Level of the Great Kanawha.

Millstone grit..

Upper oils of the Great and') 

Little Knnawha and Ohio, > 

known as heavy oil. J

Level of Oil Creek..........

Gas-leaders and crevices........

felt strata and gas re«cr-' 

voirs, intended to represent the Great KaiituvliH 

region, but is also applicable to Venango Mid 

Northwestern Penneylvailia generally.

Second oils, wasting in the' 

Great Knnnwha Valley as 

gas or naphtha, and in the 

deep wells of If orthwert- 

«rn P«nnsylvania ag light 

petroleum.

Lower oils, existing as pe-" 

troleum in Canada, ag 

naphtha in Kentucky,and 

BS gas generally in West 

Virginia and Northwestern Pennsylvania. It is 

in the vicinity of the CorniferoHS limestone.

rz:

GEOLOGICAL POSITIONS OF 

ROCK-OIL.

Oil was of much more recent interest than coal but 

according to Daddow and Bannan, oil produced 

coal, and therefore oil and coal would be found in 

the same positions, lithological structures, and topographical features. They stated that both petroleum and coal were produced in and from granitic 

formations as well as volcanic regions and in the 

stratified fossiliferous rocks of the Paleozoic, but 

noted that they were, however, limited in volcanic 

regions. (From S. H. Daddow and Benjamin Bannan, 1866.)

who would visit each mining district and confer with these associates before 

preparing the report for the Secretary of the Treasury. Congress took no 

action on the recommendation, and Browne's investigation was simply continued for another year.

Several bills were rushed through in the last days of the session. In the 

Legislative, Executive, and Judicial bill, approved on March 2, 1867, the 

Secretary of War was authorized "to direct a geological and topographical 

exploration of the territory between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra 

Nevada mountains; Provided, that the same can be done out of existing 

appropriations." For the first time, geology would be the principal objective of an exploration of the West under the sponsorship of Congress. As 

Clarence King later put it,

Eighteen sixty-seven, therefore, marks, in the history of national geological 

work, a turning point, when the science ceased to be dragged in the dust of 

rapid exploration and took a commanding position in the professional work of 

the country.

In the Deficiency Appropriations bill approved the same day, Congress 

authorized "the unexpended balance of the appropriations heretofore made 

for defraying the expenses of the legislative assembly of the Territory of 

Nebraska" to be "diverted and set aside for the purpose of procuring a 

geological survey" of the natural resources of the new State of Nebraska 

under the direction of the General Land Office. The appropriation was requested by P. W. Hitchcock, the Territorial delegate, who later became 

Surveyor-General for Nebraska and Iowa.

Five days later, King received a letter naming him United States Geologist in charge of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel. He was 

told he could expect to receive $ 100,000 to finance the work for 3 years and 

was authorized to engage two assistant geologists, three topographic aides, 

two collectors, a photographer, and necessary camp"men. He was also advised by Secretary of War Stanton to leave Washington as soon as possible, 

for there were four major-generals who wanted his place.

Spencer Baird of the Smithsonian Institution told Hayden of the opportunity in Nebraska, and on April 29, Professor Hayden was appointed to 

make the geological survey. The amount of funds that would be available 

was $5,000. The beginning of these two surveys created a new chapter in 

the history of geology in the United States.

The Turning Point 159
Chapter 9.

The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867 1870

The proper development of the geological characteristics and mineral wealth 

of the country is a matter of the highest concern to our people.

 Joseph S. Wilson

By 1867, the development of the industrial era was already making radical demands on natural resources. The Commissioner of the General Land 

Office, Joseph S. Wilson, in his report in the fall of 1866, made a lengthy 

assessment of the mineral resources of the public domain, considering first, 

coal, which he called "this element of power and progress." Coal was distributed in the public domain in large quantities. It had long been known, 

and in many places mined, in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 

Iowa, and Alabama; deposits had been discovered in Arkansas, Louisiana, 

Kansas, and California; and traces had been found in Nevada and Oregon, 

and in the Territories of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, 

Dakota, New Mexico, and Nebraska. Beyond the Plains, along the base of 

the Rocky Mountains, were the Tertiary coal measures, containing many 

varieties of brown coal, useful for fuel and steam navigation. These deposits, 

Wilson said, were destined to be of immense importance in the future settlement of those extensive regions. The wealth of this country in coal was, 

in fact, beyond estimate. The aggregate of the coal fields of British North 

America, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Rhenish Prussia, Westphalia, 

Bohemia, Saxony, Spain, and Russia were reported to be 16,494 square 

miles, whereas the extent of those discovered in the United States was estimated at 200,000 square miles. Possession of such a deposit led an English 

writer to forecast a future of almost boundless enterprise and production in 

America.

Iron, "the most useful of all metals," was also the most generally distribuuc-d through the public land States and Territories, and copper was present 

in immense quantities east of the Mississippi and to a greater or lesser degree 

west of the Mississippi Valley; lead, zinc, and tin had also been found in 

several States and Territories. The precious metals, scattered over an area of 

a million square miles, now yielded an annual product in gold and silver of 

more than $100 million.

Commissioner Wilson also noted that from a semiofficial report from the 

Surveyor-General of California it appeared that the petroleum belt in that 

State extended from Humboldt county on the north to Los Angeles on the 

south, that in fact, "the sandstone and shale of the whole coast range of 

mountains in most of these counties is so strongly saturated with petroleum 

oil as to burn in a furnace." In some localities, especially in the southern 

counties, oil flowed out of the shale rocks in small rills, one of the most 

remarkable of which was under the ocean opposite San Luis Obispo and north 

of Point Concepcion; in calm weather, this rill was said to cover the surface 

of the sea with oil for 20 miles. Drilling experiments had as yet met with 

only partial success but sufficient to warrant belief that when adequate capital and machinery were available a full supply would be obtained.

The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870 161
Whitney, the State Geologist, had a different view. He had sent samples 

of oil to a New Haven chemist in 1862 and had concluded that oil was not 

present in commercial quantities. In 1864, Benjamin Silliman, Jr., began 

promoting the sale of stock in companies to develop California oil. Both 

Whitney and W. H. Brewer attacked Silliman's scheme as fraudulent, and 

an intensive study by S. F. Peckham of samples from the oil regions that 

indicated Silliman's samples had been falsified seemed to bear them out.

In the spring of 1867, the United States gained a vast new territory when 

Alaska was purchased from Russia for $7,200,000. At the time the acquisition was regarded as of little immediate value except as a step in extending 

the nation's manifest destiny northward.

It was during this highly optimistic era that the Geological Exploration 

of the Fortieth Parallel received its orders from General A. A. Humphreys. 

These orders called for a comprehensive survey of both general and economic 

geology and natural history. The Fortieth Parallel survey was "to examine 

and describe the geological structure, geographical condition and natural 

resources of a belt of country extending from the 120th meridian eastward 

to the 105th meridian, along the 40th parallel of latitude with sufficient 

expansion north and south to include the line of the Central and Union 

Pacific railroads and as much more as may be consistent with accuracy and 

proper progress, which would be not less than five degrees of longitude 

yearly." They were also to examine all rock formations, mountain ranges, 

detrital plains, coal deposits, soils, minerals, ores, saline and alkaline deposits, to collect material for a topographic map, and to make collections in 

botany and zoology with a view to preparation of a memoir illustrating the 

occurrence and distribution of plants and animals. King was reported well 

pleased with the orders, as he had written most of them himself.

The Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel was, by reason of the

Clarence King

King, only 25 and 5 years out of Yale, in 1867 led 

a small group of young men into an area almost 

unknown geologically to begin the first modern 

geological survey. (From the files of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

162 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
The King survey began its work near Pyramid Lake 

in western Nevada, which John C. Fremont had 

sketched in 1842 (page 74). This engraving of the 

lake with its tufa-encrusted island was made from a 

photograph by Timothy O'Sullivan, photographer 

of the King survey, as the halftone process was not 

yet developed. (From Arnold Hague and S. F. Emmons, 1877.)

training and to a degree experience of its members, a step in advance of any 

previous expedition or survey. Its chief, Clarence King, was only 25, but he 

had a degree from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School and 3 years' experience 

in the California survey under Whitney. As first assistant in geology, King 

chose James D. Hague, on the advice of Professor Dana. Hague had been 

graduated from Harvard and had also studied at Gottingen and at the Freiberg Academy of Mines, where he was a contemporary of Raphael Pumpelly. 

He had been superintendent of the Albany and Boston copper mine in Michigan and was currently professor of mining geology at the Boston Institute 

of Technology. The second assistant was Arnold Hague, James Hague's 

younger brother, who had been at Sheffield when King was a student and 

who had recently returned from 3 years' study at Gottingen, Heidelberg, 

and the Freiberg Academy. Arnold Hague introduced King to Samuel 

Franklin Emmons, who had become his friend at Freiberg. King had no 

authority to hire a third assistant in geology, but Emmons agreed to work 

without salary, and before long, with biblical certitude, the last became 

first. Emmons was about 9 months older than King, and his father, like 

King's father, had been engaged in the East India trade. Emmons had graduated from Harvard in 1861 and then had accompanied his mother and 

brother to Europe, still undecided on a career. He was strongly attracted to 

the outdoor life, but his father wanted him to be a professional man. While 

he was in Paris, he met Eckley B. Coxe, scion of the Coxe family which had 

extensive coal properties in Pennsylvania, and he had decided on a career in

Fortieth Parallel Exploration 163
mining engineering. Emmons had then spent 2 years at the Paris Ecole des 

Mines and another 2 years at the Freiberg Academy. James Gardner, King's 

long-time friend, who had learned the art of mapping under Hoffmann in 

the California survey, became the first assistant in topography. The second 

topographer was Henry Custer, who had worked with the Northwest Boundary Commission, and the third, F. A. Clark, who had done surveying in the 

Yosemite. The zoologist of the party was Robert Ridgway, an ornithologist 

who had been recommended by Professor Baird of the Smithsonian Institution, and the botanist, W. W. Bailey, came with the recommendation of 

Professor Asa Gray of Harvard. For photographer, King chose Timothy H. 

O'Sullivan, who had helped Mathew Brady photograph the war.

King's plan, Emmons later remarked, "contained much that was novel 

and startling, especially in consideration of the desert character of the region 

in which it was to be carried out." It included a topographic map, controlled by systems of primary and secondary triangulation with relative elevations to be determined by frequent observations of cistern barometers, as 

a base for the geologic map. The area to be surveyed, which was always to 

include the line of the projected railroad, was divided into rectangular 

blocks, each about 165 miles long by more than 100 miles wide, which were 

to be mapped on a scale of 4 miles to the inch.

During the winter of 1867-1868, the King survey 

investigated the Virginia City mines. Timothy 

O'Sullivan made the first photographs underground in a mine, burning magnesium wire as a 

source of light. (Photograph from the files of the 

U.S. Geological Survey.)

164 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
In what is now the Trinity Range, the King expedition geologists observed a series of high ridges of 

eruptive rocks exhibiting a variety of rhyolitic forms. 

To one ridge they gave the name Karnak from its 

resemblance to the ruins of the many-columned 

Egyptian temple. (From Arnold Hague and S. F. 

Emmons, 1877.)

The party began work at the east base of the Sierra Nevada in 1867 and 

spent the following winter in Virginia City in a study of the Comstock where 

the mines were then about 1,000 feet deep. O'Sullivan made the first photographs ever taken in an underground mine. In the summer of 1868, the 

work was more systematized. King divided the work among several parties, 

each consisting of a geologist and a topographer, all of whom worked an 

unusually long season, and the Survey was carried across the Great Basin to 

the western shore of Great Salt Lake. There remained the survey of the desert 

ranges of Utah, the Wasatch Range, and the western end of the Uinta Mountains to complete the work as planned. The Chief of Engineers was so pleased 

with the efforts of the first 2 years that he raised King's salary to $360 a 

month, the highest of any civilian employed by the Engineers and the equivalent of a full colonel on field duty.

During the 1869 season, the work was again divided up, and three parties 

took the field, one to study the desert area south of Great Salt Lake, one to 

make a marine survey of the lake itself, which had risen 9 feet since Stansbury's survey of 1850 and now had a completely new outline, and the third, 

led by King himself, to search the ranges north of the lake for the outlet of 

ancient Lake Bonneville. Later they moved eastward, and one party proceeded through the northern Wasatch, another by way of the Provo River to 

the canyons of the Duchesne and northward to the crest of the Uintas. King 

himself took the middle course, following the railroad route through Echo 

Canyon to study the coal measures and thence to the Bear River and along it 

to its headwaters in the Uintas, where the spectacular scenery of the glaciated 

mountains made a profound impression on him.

Fortieth Paraiiei Exploration 165
In mid-August the new fieldwork was completed, and the party moved 

back to Salt Lake City, auctioned off their surplus equipment, and continued 

westward across the Utah basin, reviewing their previous work, until at the 

end of September, the season was officially closed. Ahead of them there 

remained, or so they thought, only the preparation of reports. They settled 

in Washington to prepare the reports, which King hoped with his usual 

optimism would be completed in 2 years. The volumes on ornithology and 

on mining industry were completed that winter. Then King obtained permission to relocate the work at Yale, where laboratory and library facilities, 

missing in the Capital, would be available.

The first report to be published was that on the mining industry, first 

because its subject was "most directly applicable to the material development 

of that great extent of mountain territory opened up by the Pacific Railroad." It was a volume of more than 650 pages, with an accompanying 

atlas of maps, about half of it a description of the principal mining districts 

of the West, which James Hague had compiled with the help of his brother 

Arnold and S. F. Emmons. James Hague also prepared a long report on the 

Comstock mines and the treatment of the Comstock ores, a report which 

included a dissertation by Arnold Hague on the chemistry of the Washoe 

process. King contributed three chapters, one on the distribution of mining

In Dixie Valley (which the King survey called 

Osobb Valley), on the east slope of the Stillwater 

Range in Churchill County, Nevada, the party observed a group of hot springs, each of which had a 

rim of calcareous tufa around it. The temperature of 

the hottest spring was 160° to 185° F., but several 

were reported to have temperatures agreeable for 

bathing. Timothy O'Sullivan's photographic outfit is near the center of the picture. (From Arnold 

Hague and S. F. Emmons, 1877.)

166 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
In the Humboldt Range of northwestern Nevada, 

geologists of the King survey recognized the effects 

of glacial erosion in the steep escarpments of the 

summit, the narrow lateral ridges, and the sharp 

angular fracture with which the Archean quartzites 

that formed the summits splits. (From Arnold Hague and S. F. Emmons, 1877.)

districts and their geological mode of occurrence, one on the geology of the 

Comstock lode, and a third on the Green River coal field. The American 

Journal of Science said that the book "should be studied by every one interested in the development of our western mining regions" and called it the 

"most valuable contribution yet made to the literature on the Mining Industry in the United States." J. D. Whitney called it "a superb piece of work, 

and far in advance of anything previously done in this country in the same 

line, and we know of nothing published in Europe superior to it."

King's description of the Comstock geology was the first widely available 

report on the subject. Baron von Richthofen had written a report in 1865, 

but for distribution primarily to stockholders of the Sutro Company. His 

history of the Comstock postulated an ancient Virginia Range, formed in the 

Jurassic and then eroded, which was deluged in the late Tertiary by successive volcanic flows, first of propylite or trachytic greenstone and then andesite, which in the beginning penetrated a newly formed fissure on the contact 

plane of the ancient rocks and the propylite. The andesite period gave birth 

to solfataras which rapidly decomposed the surrounding rocks and gradually 

filled the fissures of the Comstock with metal-bearing quartz. Later, flows 

of andesite covered the propylite, but the solfataric activity continued within 

the mass. At the close of the volcanic period, the eruptions exerted pressure

Comstock Geology 167
in the veins, which crushed the quartz. King accepted the term "propylite" 

that von Richthofen had used, although he noted similarities between this 

rock and some of the andesites and thought that in the end the two might 

prove to be different forms of the same rock. He offered no theory for the 

origin of the quartz and the metals. Such a theory, he said, should come 

from a study of veins, not from the study of a single district.

In the report on the Green River coal, King noted that coal had been 

known in the region for some years but had been mined for only a few years 

because of the demand for railroad fuel. The coal was of very wide geographical extent, from New Mexico certainly as far north as Dakota, and, in all 

probability, into Canada, and from the Wasatch Mountains as far east as 

central Colorado. The report included a description of the mines and several 

analyses of the coal.

Perhaps most interesting were King's generalizations on the relation of 

mining districts to the geological history of the continent. He suggested 

that from west to east there were seven longitudinal zones of mineral deposits; these included one in the Pacific Coast ranges which carried quicksilver, 

tin, and chromic iron; two zones in the Sierra Nevada-Oregon Cascades, one 

of copper and one of gold; and a zone in New Mexico-Colorado-WyomingMontana which contained a chain of gold deposits. Two periods of mountain-making, he said, favored the formation of metalliferous deposits, the 

first culminating in the Jurassic, the other in the Tertiary.

Because of his length of experience, Professor Hayden had an advantage 

over those conducting the Fortieth Parallel Survey, but he was handicapped 

by the limited funds at his disposal. His own salary was set at $2,000 a year,

In Little Cottonwood Canyon, in the Wasatch 

Mountains, 20 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, a 

massive granite is exposed. Large masses tend to 

flake off, leaving rounded surfaces, which to members of the King survey gave the appearance of having been worn smooth by glacial action. Immense 

boulders of this granite scattered through the canyon were being quarried for the Mormon Temple in 

Sak Lake City. Soldier-prospectors had found ore in 

the canyon during the Civil War, but mining did 

not prosper until after the discovery of the vein on 

which the famous Emma mine was developed. (From 

Arnold Hague and S. F. Emmons, 1877.)

168 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
Provo Canyon is a straight, deep gorge that cuts 

into the Wasatch Mountains at nearly right angles 

to the main trend of the mountains about 40 miles 

southeast of Salt Lake City. Emmons suggested that 

the straightness of the walls and their general parallelism to the southern line of the Cottonwood 

granite body indicated that the course of the canyon 

had been determined by, and its shape was largely 

due to, fracturing of the strata. (From Arnold Hague and S. F. Emmons, 1877.)

and he was allowed an assistant at $1,000 a year and three collectors and 

laborers at a maximum of $700 a year, which left no funds for expenses. For 

this sum, he was instructed "to ascertain the order of succession, arrangement, relative position, dip, and comparative thickness of the several strata 

and geological formations in the State, to search for and examine all the 

beds, veins, and other deposits of ores, coals, clays, marls, peat, and other 

like mineral substances, as well as the fossil remains of the various formations; to obtain chemical analyses of such of those substances, and of the 

different varieties of soil, whereof it may be deemed desirable to ascertain 

the elementary constituents"; he was also required "to determine by careful 

barometrical observations the relative elevations and depressions of the different parts of the State of Nebraska, and to gather in the field of his explorations collections on geology, mineralogy, and paleontology, to illustrate

Hayden's Survey of Nebraska 169
the notes taken in the field." Fielding Bradford Meek joined Professor Hayden as the assistant, and James Stevenson, as one of the collectors. Stevenson, 

however, was really the executive officer of the Hayden survey. He had been 

associated with Professor Hayden ever since as a boy of 16 he had accompanied him on the Warren expedition, though he was more interested in the 

study of Indian customs and dialects than geology. After serving in the Civil 

War, he had resumed his interrupted studies in 1866 and had accompanied 

Hayden on his Bad Lands expedition.

Hayden's first order of business was the investigation of the coal measures. Meek, accompanied by C. A. White of the Iowa survey, made a traverse across Iowa so he might connect the geologic formations of Iowa and 

Nebraska and trace out the coal beds in their western extension. For the rest 

of the season, the work was a county-by-county examination of resources, 

agricultural as well as mineral.

170 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870

In 1869 Timothy O'Sullivan photographed the 

Canyon of Lodore on the Green River; the river here 

cuts through the main body of the Uinta Range at 

nearly right angles to its trend and exposes a section 

of the southern side of the main anticlinal fold. In 

its deepest part, the walls of the canyon are about 

3,000 feet high, and on the western side particularly, they are almost vertical. The engraving shown 

here was made from O'Sullivan's photograph. (From 

Arnold Hague and S. F. Emmons, 1877.)
This view of the canyon of the Yampa is taken from 

the northern wall of the canyon at its junction with 

the Green River. In the foreground, the Yampa is 

emerging into an opening that Powell called Echo 

Park. (From Arnold Hague and S. F. Emmons, 

1877.)

Hayden's first report was so well received that in 1868 he received a 

second appropriation, this time in the Sundry Civil bill, to extend the surveys beyond Nebraska to the new Territory of Wyoming. In general, he followed the line of the Union Pacific Railroad, beginning at Cheyenne and 

working west toward Fort Bridger.

In 1869, Hayden's appropriation was doubled; he was removed from the 

jurisdiction of the General Land Office, placed directly under the Secretary 

of the Interior, and ordered to make a survey of the Territory of Colorado. 

With the increased appropriation, he was able to organize a much larger 

party, including, in addition to Stevenson, Persifor Frazer, mining engineer; 

E. C. Carrington, zoologist; the Reverend Cyrus Thomas, entomologist; B. 

H. Cheever; and Henry W. Elliott as artist. Young Frazer was the son of 

John Fries Frazer, professor of chemistry and natural philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the original members of the National Academy of Sciences, and one of the assistants on the first Pennsylvania survey. 

Frazer was a graduate of the university at 18 and had had advanced training 

in Europe. The 1869 party set out to explore the Front Range from Fort 

Bridger through Colorado and over the Raton Pass into Santa Fe.

Professor Hayden's report for the year included not only his own observations on the geology of the region but also special reports by Persifor Frazer 

on the mines and minerals of Colorado and by Cyrus Thomas on the agriculHayden Surveys, 1868-1869 171
tural resources. Frazer complained that "Any report of the condition of mining affairs in the Territories of Colorado and New Mexico, (each of which is 

larger than all the New England States put together,) and in particular of 

the former, which counts its discovered lodes, the varieties of its minerals, 

and its mining enterprises, by thousands and in which energetic capital and 

intelligence, 'ever striving through darkness to the light,' are working such 

incessant changes, must represent things as a telescope represents the stars, 

not as they are or ever were, but this as it was last week and that as it was 

last year." Frazer reported as a general impression that valuable ores 

abounded almost everywhere in the granite and gneiss of the Rocky Mountains and the question was not to find ore but the capital and labor with 

which to work it. Speculators had ruined many mines by their greed to 

obtain profits, and thousands of dollars worth of gold had been thrown away 

in the haste to rush ore through the mill.

The concern of both King and Hayden in 1870 with western mining 

reflected changed conditions in 3 years. In the more settled parts of the 

country, the mineral industry was flourishing, for the most part with large 

capital investment and the aid of science.

The third Bessemer ironworks in the United States was started in June 

1867 and two more, in 1868. During 1867, according to the reports of the 

American Iron and Steel Association, a total of only 3,000 net tons of Bessemer steel ingots was produced.

Flaming Gorge on the Green River in Wyoming is 

at one extremity of a semicircular or bow-shaped 

ridge of Triassic sandstones. Emmons noted that the 

great variety of strikes and dips in the strata of 

which the ridge is composed illustrated how easily 

apparent nonconformities could be caused by secondary lateral flexures along the flanks of a great 

anticlinal fold. (From Arnold Hague and S. F. Emmons, 1877.)

172 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
A. S. Hewitt was one of the commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867, and he took advantage of the opportunity to study the great 

iron and steel establishments of Europe. His study of the iron and steel 

section at the Exposition indicated that Europe was still far ahead of the 

United States; this observation was confirmed in visits to the mills and furnaces. He found that the Bessemer process was making steady progress and 

that chemistry had made its quality more certain, but he became convinced 

that the open-hearth process was better. Bessemer furnaces required a pig 

iron almost completely free of sulfur and phosphorus, which was hard to 

obtain, whereas the open-hearth or crucible methods could use any kind of 

pig iron. Hewitt made two great contributions to iron technology on that 

trip. He hired a Swedish chemist, and he obtained the American rights for 

the Martin process of making steel. The first open-hearth furnace was built 

for Cooper Hewitt in 1868, and the first steel was made in December of 

that year.

The bluffs on the west bank of the Green River near 

Green River City, Wyoming, which Timothy 

O'Sullivan photographed for the King survey, are 

of the Green River formation, which Hayden named 

in 1869 after observing it a little east of Rock 

Spring Station in Wyoming. Where Hayden observed it, he noted that it contained a great amount 

of combustible, or petroleum, slates. At Green 

River City, the formation is about 2,000 feet thick 

and includes 800 to 1,200 feet of calcareous shales 

so thinly and regularly laminated that they have 

been called paper shales. (From Arnold Hague and 

S. F. Emmons, 1877.)

Iron and Steel Technology, 1868 173
In 1865, young Andrew Carnegie resigned from the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he had done notable service for the Union forces as superintendent of the eastern military and telegraph lines, to devote himself to iron, oil, 

and other businesses. In 1868, he established the Union iron mills, the first 

step along the road to concentration of power.

The copper industry had at first resorted to the protective tariff to maintain its prosperity after the war. The Michigan legislature launched a drive 

in February 1869. The immediate effect was to cut off imports of foreign 

ores and to deal a death blow to the smelting industry on the eastern seaboard. Consumption of copper began to increase during the late 1860's 

because of railroad construction and the use of copper in rifle and pistol 

cartridges, the use of bronze, and an increase in canned goods. The conglomerate deposits that had been discovered in 1864 were more difficult to work 

than the mass copper or the amygdaloid, and a large investment was needed. 

Finally, Alexander Agassiz, son of Professor Louis Agassiz, took over the 

management in 1867 and soon put the mining on a practical basis. The 

Hecla Mining Company paid its first dividend in December 1869, and the 

Calumet 6 months later. Within the next 18 months, the two paid more 

than $2.8 million in dividends.

The Missouri lead mines were in sad shape when Charles B. Parson became 

superintendent for the St. Joseph Lead Company in 1867. In 1869, a diamond drill was used to prospect at depth, and almost immediately, immense 

deposits of disseminated ore were discovered at a depth of about 120 feet. 

Although they were of low grade, the deposits were of such great extent that

Emmons pointed out that the more clayey beds in 

the badlands of the Washakie Basin in Wyoming 

disintegrate in the dry air and as the result of expansion and contraction produced by great diurnal 

changes of temperature, except where isolated remnants are preserved under a bed of coarse sandstone. 

O. C. Marsh later obtained from these beds in the 

badlands great quantities of vertebrate remains which 

were described in the last of the reports of the King 

survey. (From Arnold Hague and S. F. Emmons, 

1877.)

174 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
Ferdinand V. Hayden

Hayden, 38, had already established his reputation 

as a master of reconnaissance in the area beyond the 

Mississippi when he began his work for the General 

Land Office in 1867. Many stratigraphic units in 

the area were familiar to him and had been named 

by him in his earlier explorations. (Courtesy of the 

Smithsonian Archives, Merrill Collection.)

their total lead content completely overshadowed that of the shallow deposits. New mining and milling methods had to be devised to exploit the deposits, and these took time, but the output steadily increased.

The young petroleum industry was thriving without the aid of science. 

Oil was carried from the Pennsylvania fields to Pittsburgh and New York for 

refining, and after the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad ran its first 

trains into Cleveland, refineries also sprang up there. In 1863, young John 

D. Rockefeller became a partner in an oil-refining business of Andrews, 

Clark and Company. In 1865, he had bought out the business, and renamed 

it Rockefeller and Andrews. It soon became the largest refinery in Cleveland.

Four States had established geological surveys in 1868 and 1869, all 

concerned with mineral resources, and all conducted with a high degree of 

professionalism. The second survey of New Hampshire was directed by C. 

H. Hitchcock, who had been associated with his father in the survey of 

Vermont just before the war and had then been engaged in the short-lived 

survey of Maine. After the war, he had studied at the Royal School of Mines

State Geological Surveys, 1868-1869 175
in London and had then become an instructor at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, which had close ties with the mineral industry. Hitchcock made 

his first order of business an investigation of the Ammonoosuc gold fields 

and then of copper and zinc minerals, slate, and peat, although he also 

pressed the legislature to provide for an adequate map of the State. In 1869, 

the legislature appropriated a small sum for preparation of a map. As this 

sum was not sufficient for a program of accurate mapping, Hitchcock for the 

most part had to be content with revising existing county maps.

The second geological survey of Ohio began its work on June 1, 1869, 

with legislative instructions to make "a complete and thorough geological, 

agricultural, and mineralogical survey of each and every county in the 

state." Professor John Strong Newberry of the Columbia School of Mines 

was appointed Chief Geologist; he had three assistant geologists: E. B. Andrews, Edward Orton, and John H. Klippart. Klippart, who was secretary 

of the State Board of Agriculture, was assigned responsibility for the agricultural part of the survey. Andrews had published several papers on Ohio 

geology and had done some of the earliest work on the geological relations 

of petroleum, but for Orton, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian 

Church who had turned to teaching, this was a first assignment in geology. 

There were also several volunteer assistants, most of them recent college 

graduates. Among them were G. K. Gilbert, a graduate of the University of 

Rochester, who had been an assistant at Ward's Natural History Museum 

for several years, and Roland D. Irving, who had been one of Newberry's 

students at the Columbia School of Mines.

The coal industry was moving westward, and coal was a special interest of 

the Ohio Survey. Newberry himself became almost lyrical on the subject. 

Coal, he said, was

entitled to be considered as the mainspring of our civilization. By the power 

developed in its combustion, all the wheels of industry are kept in motion, commerce is carried with rapidity and certainty over all portions of the earth's surface, the useful metals are brought from the deep caves in which they have 

hidden themselves, and are purified and wrought to serve the purposes of man. 

By coal, night is in one sense converted into day, winter into summer, and the 

life of man, measured by its fruits, greatly prolonged. Wealth, with all the comforts, the luxuries and the triumphs it brings, is its gift. Though black, sooty and 

often repulsive in its aspects, it is the embodiment of a power more potent than 

that attributed to the genii in oriental tales. Its possession is, therefore, the 

highest material boon that can be craved by a community or nation. 

Coal was also of special interest to the State Geologist of Indiana. The 

Indiana General Assembly created the Office of State Geologist in 1869 "at 

the head of a Geological and Scientific Department, to act in connection 

with and under the control and management of the Indiana State Board of 

Agriculture for the purpose of collecting information designed to promote 

the interests of agriculture, arts, manufactures and mining." E. T. Cox, 

who had been a student of David Dale Owen's in New Harmony and had 

assisted him in the surveys of Kentucky and Arkansas, was appointed State 

Geologist. Cox had gone to Mexico in 1864 to examine some mining properties there, but he had also investigated coal deposits and had prepared a 

full report, which was published by the Government in 1865. In 1865, 

Amos Worthen invited Cox to join the Illinois survey. For the Illinois survey, Cox examined the coal measures of Gallatin County, establishing their 

place in the geological column, and later made a similar examination of the 

coals of southern Illinois. Though mining was the last purpose mentioned in 

the legislation, it became the first interest of the Indiana survey.

The geological survey of Michigan was also revived in 1869. Alexander 

Winchell, who was again made director, undertook the investigations of the 

Lower Peninsula, while T. B. Brooks began a survey of the iron regions, and 

Raphael Pumpelly, of the copper regions.

176 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
Brooks had retired from the army in the fall of 1864 and thereafter served 

for a year on the geological survey of New Jersey under Cook. Then, in 

1865, he had become vice president and general manager of the Iron Cliff 

mine in the Marquette district in Michigan.

Pumpelly had spent most of the war years in Japan and China, first as an 

expert appointed by the United States Government in response to a request 

from the Government of Japan for a geologist and mining engineer to explore 

certain lands in southern Yesso (Hokkaido) and to introduce foreign methods 

of mining and smelting. Then, after having been driven out of Japan by 

anti-foreign feeling, Pumpelly worked on his own in China. After his return, 

he had been offered the Chair of Mining at Harvard under the SturgisHooper Endowment and had accepted, although he did not do much teaching because the income of the endowment was not large enough to pay him 

a salary. In the summer of 1866, he made a trip to the Lake Superior region 

to report on a copper property and there became acquainted with Major 

Brooks. In 1867, a company headed by H. S. Welles was given two land 

grants in Michigan to build a ship canal across the peninsula of Keeweenaw 

Point to shorten the distance for shipping from the western to the eastern 

end of the lake. One grant was along the line of canal; the other sections 

were to be selected from unoccupied government land in northern Michigan. 

The company asked Pumpelly to select the lands of the second grant, and he 

convinced them that the greatest opportunity was not in finding gold or 

silver but in white pine and iron ore. Pumpelly hired men to explore for 

white pine, and he himself took on the iron project.

Both Brooks and Pumpelly were innovative in their methods. The iron 

country was still heavily wooded, and much of it was swampy. Most of the 

few outcrops were obscured by drift or undergrowth. The only maps available were those of the Land Office. Nonetheless, Brooks produced a report 

in 1873 in which he explained he had tried to produce "as complete a manual as possible of information relating to the finding, extracting, transporting, and smelting of the iron ores of the Lake Superior region." The report 

included an historical sketch of the discovery and development of the iron 

mines; the geology of the Upper Peninsula; the geology of the Marquette, 

Menominee, Lake Gogebic, and Montreal River iron regions; a chapter on 

exploration and prospecting for ore;' a chapter on the magnetism of rocks and 

the use of the magnetic needle in exploration; the method and cost of mining; and the chemical composition of the ores. Pumpelly chose to make a 

detailed study of the stratigraphy and mineralogy of selected areas rather

With the exception of a small portion of Douglas 

and Sarpy Counties, bordering on the Missouri and 

Platte Rivers, the whole State of Nebraska north of 

the Platte River is underlain by rocks of Cretaceous 

and Tertiary age. Cretaceous No. 1, or the Dakota 

formation, shown here on Little Blue River, was described by Hayden as a yellowish, reddish, and occasionally white sandstone with alternations of clay 

and lignites in places. No rock in the State, he said, 

would be so unyielding and durable for the abutments of railroad bridges, provided enough could be 

found. (From F. V. Hayden, 1871.)

State Geological Surveys, 1869 177
than a general reconnaissance of the entire copper district. Much of his work 

consisted of microscope study of hundreds of thin sections (which he ground 

himself) to determine the paragenesis of the copper, a totally new line of 

research.

Precious-metal mining in the West was far from prosperous. The Cornstock was plagued with water problems, the Idaho and Montana rushes had 

slackened off, and Colorado was in the doldrums. Then silver was discovered 

at Treasure Hill, just east of White Pine Mountain in Nevada, and the ore 

assayed as high as $27,000 a ton. The discoveries were cause for great rejoicing, and eager miners began arriving before snow was off the ground in the 

spring of 1868. An estimated $ll/2 million worth of silver was produced in 

1868. The extraordinarily rich ore was silver chloride, horn silver, but the 

nature of the deposits was uncertain. Were they a true fissure vein, and 

therefore likely to persist at depth, or were they horizontal deposits of sedimentary origin and limited extent? The State Mineralogist, after three visits, 

could not be sure, and James Hague of the 40th Parallel survey, after visiting 

the site, observed cautiously that the Eberhardt deposit was "probably the 

most remarkable occurrence of horn silver on Record," but the depth of the 

mine was not clearly established. At the end of 1868, the Mining and Scientific Press of San Francisco reported that the richness of the chloride deposits 

was "nothing very wonderful." Many capitalists who visited the mines had 

expressed the opinion that the deposits, being horizontal, could not be depended upon, and the peak soon passed.

In the West, there were only three States and no State survey. The California survey had come to an untimely end. In the summer of 1867, parties 

had mapped in the central and high Sierra, W. M. Gabb led a party halfway 

across the Nevada desert to 116° W., and Whitney himself spent the field 

season in Oregon. The legislature that winter was unimpressed and inclined 

to listen to the disappointed oil promoters, and it adjourned without providing any funds for the continuance of the survey. Whitney attributed the 

action solely to the oil issue, but the reason was probably the lack of any 

practical results and the stress on pure science as much or more than on oil.

Senator Stewart asked Congress in 1868 to establish a great mining university, patterned after the mining academies in Europe, somewhere west of 

the Rockies on the Pacific railroad line, but Congress still wanted no part in 

a national university, mining or any other kind. Although the first of the 

great western State universities was established in 1868 at Oakland, California, partly as a land-grant college, mining education remained very much 

an eastern and privately endowed affair. The Columbia School of Mines was 

flourishing, several colleges in Pennsylvania had added courses or departments of mining and metallurgy, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was beginning to expand.

Hayden described the Niobrara group, or Cretaceous No. 3 as "one of the most interesting of the 

Cretaceous divisions. It is found in some form wherever the Cretaceous beds occur, from the north line 

to New Mexico, and probably much farther. As it 

is developed on the Lower Missouri, and southwest 

through Nebraska, Kansas, into Texas and the Indian Territory, it contains thick, massive beds of 

chalky limestone * * * but along the flanks of the 

mountains, or in the far West, it never reveals its 

chalky character." (From F. V. Hayden, 1872.)

178 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
West of Bear River City, Hayden noted a series of 

freshwater beds which had been tilted and flexed in 

a most remarkable manner. The sides of the railroad 

cut in which they were exposed he described as so 

peculiarly banded that they looked like the stripes 

of a zebra. The sections were drawn for Hayden by 

H. R. Durkee, a civil engineer, who distinguished 

173 beds, ranging in thickness from 1 inch to 10 

feet, in Section 1 and 39 beds, ranging in thickness 

from 5 inches to 15 feet, in Section 2. Many of them 

were so crowded with fossil shells that they could be 

gathered by the bushel, mostly land and freshwater 

species, many of them previously undescribed. F. 

B. Meek concluded that they were all Tertiary. 

(From F. V. Hayden, 1871.)

The collection of mineral statistics, however, became a more professional 

endeavor. In 1868, J. Ross Browne achieved his goal and was appointed 

Ambassador to China, and Rossiter W. Raymond was appointed Commissioner of Mining Statistics in the Treasury Department. Raymond was a 

graduate of Brooklyn Polytechnic School and had also studied at Heidelberg, 

Munich, and Freiberg. During the Civil War, he had served as aide-de-camp 

to General Fremont. When appointed to his new position, the 28-year-old 

Raymond was employed as a consulting mining engineer and was editor and 

proprietor of the American Journal of Mining (which later became the Engineering and Mining Journal).

The Treasury was particularly concerned with mining statistics because of 

the importance of the currency issue. The war had been largely financed by 

the issue of notes, greenbacks. Specie payments had been discontinued by 

the banks, and a special gold market had been established in New York, 

where gold for transactions in which its use was required (in payment of 

international obligations, customs duties, or interest on Government bonds) 

could be bought and sold for paper money. In December 1865, Congress 

had pledged itself to withdraw the greenbacks from circulation, and in April 

1866, it passed the Funding Act, which required the Secretary of the Treasury to retire $10 million worth of greenbacks immediately and as much as 

$4 million worth each month thereafter. The program ran into difficulties, 

and in 1868, the authority to retire greenbacks was repealed. Pressure was 

immediately exerted to put the retired notes back into circulation, and pressure also came from both farmer and labor groups for payment of interest on 

government bonds in greenbacks rather than gold. Greenbacks were worth 

considerably less than gold, so payment in gold meant a very high rate of 

interest.

Reconstruction and the currency were the major platform issues in the 

presidential election campaign of 1868. The Republicans endorsed radical 

reconstruction and advocated payment of the national debt in gold. The 

Democrats attacked radical reconstruction and endorsed the Ohio Plan for 

payment of the national debt in greenbacks. In the campaign itself, however, 

the Republicans made "the bloody shirt of the rebellion" the chief issue, 

and in November, General Grant, the Republican nominee, carried 26 of 

the 34 States.

In his inaugural address, Grant took a firm stand on the payment of the 

national debt in gold, saying "It looks as though Providence had bestowed 

upon us a strong box in the precious metals locked up in the sterile mountains of the far west and which we are now forging the key to unlock, to

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Mining Statistics and Currency 179
meet the very contingency that is now upon us. Ultimately it may be necessary to insure the facilities to these riches, and it may be necessary also that 

the general government should give its aid to secure this access." The statement is somewhat ambiguous, and he did not elaborate, but presumably he 

was referring to the railroad, then nearing completion, as the key to unlock 

the western deposits.

The completion of the railroad, appropriately celebrated with the driving 

of the golden spike at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, had completely altered 

the conditions under which the civilized population came in contact with 

the Indians. Instead of a slowly advancing tide of settlers gradually pushing 

the Indians back, the very heartland of Indian country had been pierced, and 

every station along the railroad was a nucleus for settlement and a base from 

which prospectors and miners could fan out in all directions. The Indians' 

food supply was being diminished as the buffalo were killed, and as the 

Secretary of the Interior observed "If he is in want he will rob, as white men 

do in like circumstances, and robbery is but the beginning of war." By 

1869, exploration of the Colorado River and location of north-south routes 

across the Great Basin had become the most important projects of the 

Army's Department of the Pacific.

Army exploration of the Colorado was postponed when it was learned that 

Professor John W. Powell of Illinois State Normal University planned an 

expedition down the Green and Colorado Rivers by boat. Powell was 35, the 

son of an itinerant Methodist preacher, and his formal schooling had ceased 

when he was twelve. His life thereafter had been a succession of farming, 

studying, teaching, and exploring in the Midwest until the outbreak of the 

Civil War. He had enlisted in the Union Army in May 1861, been wounded 

at the Battle of Shiloh as a result of which his right forearm had been amputated, but continued to serve until 1865, achieving the rank of Major by 

the end of the war. After the war he became professor of geology at Illinois 

Wesleyan University and then at Illinois State Normal University, both in 

Bloomington. Though an excellent teacher and popular with students, Powell did not enjoy the sedentary life of a teacher. He made his first trip west 

in the summer of 1867 and explored the Colorado Rockies as far south as the 

Grand River. In 1868, he requested aid from General Grant to organize a 

larger exploration party, mentioning as one reason the value to the War 

Department of a survey of a region "inhabited *** by powerful tribes of 

Indians that will doubtless become hostile as the prospector and the pioneer 

encroach upon their hunting grounds." Grant was willing, but it took an 

act of Congress to get Army rations as Powell's only support. During the 

second expedition, Powell explored the White River to its junction with the 

Green and around the eastern base of the Uinta Mountains.

These expeditions convinced him that the unknown canyon land to the 

south and west, exceedingly difficult to explore by land, could be traversed 

in boats. Aga.in he sought support from the Government, hoping to obtain 

more now that General Grant was President, but again he received only an 

authorization to draw Army rations. Determined to make the exploration, 

he used his own salary, a grant from the Illinois Natural History Society of 

whose museum he was curator, and small contributions from Illinois Industrial University and the Chicago Academy of Sciences to finance the trip. He 

designed the boats himself and had them built by a master boatbuilder in 

Chicago. As members of the expedition, Powell chose his youngest brother; 

four mountain guides who had been with him in the summer of 1868 and 

the younger brother of one of them; an army sergeant who claimed to be 

willing to explore the river Styx in order to get out of the army; an 18-yearold veteran mule driver, bullwhacker, and Indian scout; and an Englishman

Hayden could do little mining geology with the 

funds available to him. The elaborate and elegantly 

illustrated report prepared under the direction of 

Clarence King, he remarked, covered the ground far 

more efficiently than his incidental labors could do. 

The dike in Colorado shown is the site of the Gregory lode, where gold had been discovered in 1859. 

(From F. V. Hayden, 1871.)

180 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
John Wesley Powell

In 1869, Powell, a 35-year-old professor from Illinois, made his historic trip down the Green and 

Colorado Rivers through an area until then almost 

unknown. In the spirit of the old naturalists, he 

proposed to make collections to add to the sum of 

human knowledge. (From the files of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

in search of adventure. With this crew, Powell proposed "to make collections 

in geology, natural history, antiquities, and ethnology" and "to add a mite 

to the great sum of human knowledge."

The Powell expedition left Green River, Wyoming, in three small boats 

on May 24. All went well until June 8, when one of the boats capsized and 

was dashed to pieces against the rocks in the Canyon of Lodore. The crew 

escaped, but all their clothing, one-third of the rations, half the mess kit, 

and some of the instruments were lost. Nine days later, they lost most of the 

rest of the mess kit in a mad dash to get away from a fire. One June 28, they 

reached the mouth of the Uinta, within reach of settlements, and the Englishman left. On July 6, they started down the river again and on the 16th, 

arrived at the junction of the Green and the Grand but stopped only long 

enough to make an astronomic determination of their position. By this time, 

their rations were in very poor condition, and they were short of everything 

except flour, coffee, and dried apples. The hunting and fishing had been 

poor, and rain added to their discomfort. The crew was discontented and 

grumbling, but Professor Powell seemed not to notice. The eclipse on August 7 gave them a brief rest and a chance to repair the boats while the 

Professor and his brother climbed to a summit to make observations, but at 

the last minute, clouds obscured their view. On Friday, August 13, they 

started into the Grand Canyon and almost immediately encountered long

Powell Expedition, 1869 181
and difficult rapids. After 2 weeks in the canyon, with only 5 days' rations 

left, with difficult rapids ahead of them and the end not in sight, three of 

the men refused to go on. They climbed the cliffs to go overland and try to 

reach settlements at the head of the Virgin River; they were never seen again 

and were later found to have been killed by Indians. The rest continued in 

two boats, and on Monday, August 30, a little after noon, they arrived at 

the mouth of the Virgin, where they met three Mormon fishermen and a 

small boy. The expedition officially disbanded 2 days later, and Professor 

Powell and his brother went on to Salt Lake City, where on September 16 

the Professor regaled a large and appreciative audience with an account of his 

exploration.

Professor Powell realized that the scientific results of his first exploration 

of the Colorado River were inadequate and again went to Washington seeking support for another study of the river and its canyons and plateaus. This 

time, however, he was a national hero instead of an obscure professor. Congressman Garfield sponsored a bill to appropriate $ 10,000 for a geographical 

and topographical survey of the Colorado River of the West.

Early in June 1869, Lieutenant George Wheeler received orders to organize and equip a party to make a "thorough and careful reconnaissance" of 

the country south and east of White Pine, Nevada, as far as the head of 

navigation on the Colorado River, if practicable, to obtain data for a military 

map, survey the possibility of a road, and select sites for military posts to 

protect the mining country from the Indians. In addition, he was instructed 

"as convenient" to investigate the physical geography of the country and 

its resources and the character, habits, and numbers of Indian tribes and 

their disposition toward settlers and miners. Lieutenant Wheeler was the 

Engineer Officer of the Department of the Pacific. He was not quite 27, 

born in Massachusetts, and a graduate of West Point in 1866, where he 

ranked sixth in his class and won a commission in the elite Engineer Corps.

The Wheeler survey, comprising 36 persons, 8 wagons, 48 mules, and 

31 horses, got underway in mid-July. From a camp in the White Pine district of Nevada, Wheeler planned to move eastward, then south along a 

meridian toward the Colorado, and back by a more westerly route. They left 

camp on the 31st and marched east to Steptoe Valley; then after a few days 

making observations in the Robinson district, they went south along the 

western side of the valley to Ice Creek, where they remained to observe the 

eclipse of the sun on August 7. They continued then into Cave Valley, where 

they made camp again and sent the wagons back for supplies. On September 

1, they started out again, through unfamiliar territory, for the Colorado 

River. A small detachment was sent to march through the Pahranagat Valley 

to the settlements on the Muddy River; Lieutenant Wheeler and the main 

party continued farther to the east where he believed there would be a better 

route for the wagon train. They had great difficulty, however, in finding a 

route by which the wagon train could travel, and on September 14, with the 

animals nearly exhausted and almost no water or grass available, Lieutenant 

Wheeler and one companion left the rest in camp and struck out for the 

settlements on Muddy River. About noon the next day, one of the horses 

gave out, and the two men began to walk, but at three o'clock, they came 

within sight of the other party, and another 18 miles brought them to St. 

Joseph where supplies were purchased. The reunited party then settled into 

camp near West Point, not far from where the old Los Angeles and Salt Lake 

Road crosses the Muddy. From this point, the wagons were sent directly to 

Las Vegas Ranch where the animals would have a chance to recuperate, while 

Lieutenant Wheeler and nine others, with a pack train of six animals, set out 

on the morning of September 29 for the Colorado River. In 2 days, they

182 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
reached the mouth of the Virgin, where they found two Mormon fishermen 

and learned of Professor Powell's arrival a month earlier. The Wheeler party 

continued down the river to El Dorado Canyon, from which point there was 

a road to Las Vegas Springs and then rejoined the main group. Although by 

this time almost everyone wanted to take the Salt Lake Road to Los Angeles, 

Lieutenant Wheeler stubbornly insisted on trying to carry out the original 

plan. Even though some of his men deserted and some of the animals were 

lost, they marched northward, through extreme hardship, and arrived at 

their starting point in the midst of a severe snowstorm on November 25.

There had been further developments in the currency problem during the 

year. Supporting Grant's stand on hard money, Congress had passed the 

Public Credit Act on March 18, providing for the payment of government 

obligations in gold. Then during the summer, Jay Gould and James Fisk, 

stock manipulators, attempted to corner the gold market in New York. 

They persuaded the President's brother-in-law to ask him to keep the Government from selling gold. Grant refused, but the rumor was spread that he 

opposed the sale, and Grant lent credence to the rumor by social contacts 

with the schemers. The price of gold soared, and then on September 24, the 

Secretary of the Treasury ordered the sale of $4 million of Treasury gold, the 

price dropped, and many speculators were ruined.

George M. Wheeler

In 1869, Wheeler, 27 years old and 3 years out of 

West Point, began a reconnaissance south and east 

of White Pine, Nevada, to obtain data for a military 

map and revived the interest of the Army Engineers 

in mapping. (From an article by William Rideing 

in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, May 1876, p. 

807.)

Wheeler Survey, 1869 183
In the Treasury Department at the time were many young Army officers 

who had been drawn to Washington by the opportunity for public service 

after the war. Henry Adams described them as "full of faith, greedy for 

work, eager for reform, energetic, confident, capable, quick of study, 

charmed with a fight, equally ready to defend or attack." Among them was 

Francis A. Walker, son of Amasa Walker, one of America's first political 

economists, and a protege of David Wells, the special commissioner of U.S. 

revenue. Walker had graduated from Amherst College in I860, just before 

his 20th birthday, and had then studied law. At the outbreak of the Civil 

War, he joined the Union Army and proved to be such a capable staff officer 

that when he was discharged in the spring of 1865, not yet 25, he was 

brevet brigadier general. Wells had persuaded him to come to Washington 

to take the position of Chief of the Bureau of Statistics.

When the plans were being made for the Ninth Census in 1870, an attempt was made to take the collection of technical information, including 

mineral statistics, away from the Federal marshals and place it in the hands 

of a new force under the Superintendent of the Census. Walker told a House 

committee that

The fullest examination which I have been able to give the subject inclines me 

to the belief that our mining industries, in part if not altogether, deserve a special treatment in the coming census. Coal mining and iron mining, indeed, dealing as they do with heavy products and being carried on almost exclusively 

within the limits of settlement and civiiization, are susceptible of treatment like 

any other form of industry. I do not, however, regard it as possible to make an 

enumeration of the gold and silver mining of the United States by the ordinary 

machinery *** which shall be in any way satisfactory. On the contrary, the probability is that the result under such a system would either be deceptive in the 

highest degree or else depart so manifestly from the real truth of the case as to 

become simply grotesque.

Many of the reformers soon lost their jobs, and David Wells was among 

the first banished for advocating free trade rather than the protective tariff. 

Secretary Jacob Cox rescued some of those who were dismissed from the 

Treasury, including Walker, who was appointed Superintendent of the 

Ninth Census. The bill to reform the method of census taking failed, however, and the census was conducted by the methods specified in the 1850 

law.

The census figures showed that production of pig iron had more than 

doubled in the decade between 1860 and 1870. Sixteen States now produced 

iron ore. Pennsylvania was still first, as it had been since 1750, but Michigan 

was now second, followed by New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Missouri in 

that order. The iron industry was moving westward. Coal production had 

also just about doubled. Pennsylvania's production was nearly twice what it 

had been in I860 and still dominated the industry, but percentage-wise, 

greater gains had been made in Illinois, which now ranked second, in Indiana, which now ranked seventh, and in Iowa, which now ranked eighth. The 

coal industry was also moving westward. As far as the figures on gold and 

silver were concerned, however, Walker said they were "published in conformity with what is understood to be the requirement of law; but it would 

be wholly unjustifiable were the figures to be put forth without a distinct 

and emphatic disclaimer of their validity and authority."

Walker resigned from the Federal Government in 1872 to become professor of political economy and history at Yale's Sheffield School and there 

completed the Statistical Atlas of the Ninth Census. In that volume, statistical 

data were presented for the first time in maps and charts, and this new 

method of graphic presentation won him international acclaim.

A geologic map of the United States compiled by C. H. Hitchcock and 

W. P. Blake for the Ninth Census was less well received. The map was

184 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
small, only 34 by 22 inches, and the American Journal of Science commented 

that

It is not a little discreditable to the United States for the government to publish 

so meagre a production. A general U.S. geological chart ought to be published 

by the General Government, and it should combine all that is contained in the 

maps that have been made in the course of the various State surveys, and be 

issued in the best possible style. It would be a great thing for the nation's 

industry as well as its science if the work could be soon begun and the best of 

American art and science be engaged upon it.

Rossiter Raymond, the U.S. Commissioner of Mining Statistics, also had 

difficulty in obtaining data. The figures in his annual report he described as 

"estimates rather than statistics," but because of the small appropriation, 

there was little chance of obtaining more accurate figures. In March 1870, 

Raymond submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury his second report on the 

condition of the mining industry in the several Western States and Territories. He included with it a proposed revision of the United States mining 

law, an outline of a classification of mineral deposits, which he said was 

substantially that of the late Professor Lottner of Berlin, a description of the 

mechanical appliances of mining by William Phipps Blake, and a discussion 

of metallurgical processes.

At Raymond's request, Judge E. F. Dunne of White Pine County, Nevada, "whose legal knowledge, as well as long familiarity with the conditions 

of title, etc., of mines on the public lands, entitle his views to the most 

respectful consideration," had prepared a list of objections to the present 

law and proposed remedies. Dunne's 16 objections ranged from not fixing 

the size of the tract to not providing for a national mining university; they 

included: not determining in places where two veins cross at depth, who 

shall have the ore in the space of intersection; not determining in places 

where two veins unite at depth, how the same shall be held; not providing 

some means of settling the question of whether a mineral deposit is a vein or 

only a deposit; and not extending the law to placer mines, river diggings, 

gravel claims, and cement deposits. On the basis of such of Judge Dunne's 

suggestions and a few of his own that he considered feasible, Raymond prepared the draft of a law entitled "An act to amend an act granting the rights 

of way *** passed July 26, 1866."

In the summer of 1870, Chairman George Julian of the Public Lands 

Committee of the House made an effort to bring about repeal of the Mining 

Act of 1866 and to substitute sale of the mineral lands, but instead, the 

Mining Act was extended to cover claims that had been omitted in 1866. 

When the Julian bill reached the Senate, Senator Aaron A. Sargent of California countered with an amendment to the Mining Act authorizing the 

patenting of placer claims. Most of the debate involved the amount of land 

that should be patentable under a placer claim. Senator Sargent's amendment was finally passed and approved on July 9. It defined placer claims as 

"all forms of deposit, excepting veins of quartz, and other rock in place," 

made placers subject to entry, patent, and preemption, as were vein and lode 

deposits, but limited placer locations to not more than 160 acres. It also 

extended the public land surveys to the mineral lands of California, which 

had been excluded in 1853-

The key to unlock western mineral resources was not the railroad or law 

but a solution to the metallurgical difficulties at Eureka, Nevada. Interest 

in the Eureka district was renewed after the discoveries at White Pine. The 

Eureka ore consisted of masses of oxidized silver-lead minerals embedded in 

limestone, in a form that has been described as comparable to that of a 

cuttle-fish, with a large central body and tentacles extending in many directions. The Scotch hearth or reverberatory furnaces used in the Missouri and

Mining Act of 1870 185
Wisconsin lead districts were not adapted to the treatment of the ore. As a 

last resort, a blast furnace was erected, and it was immediately successful, as 

the Eureka ores were self-fluxing. The Eureka district became a regular producer in December 1869.

Development of the Eureka district, once the smelting problem was 

solved, was rapid, and Eureka mines became the largest suppliers of domestic 

pig lead. The Eureka Consolidated Company was formed in San Francisco in 

1870, and the Richmond Mining Company of London took over another set 

of claims in 1871. Both companies secured the best metallurgical services 

available and aggressively pursued the development of the Eureka mines.

In 1870, Utah became a mining State. Successful treatment of Eureka 

ores had made mining profitable, and the Mormons ceased to discourage 

mining. The Emma mine in Little Cottonwood Canyon began to ship fabulously rich ore in its first year almost $ 1 million worth. A great influx of 

prospectors, miners, and speculators followed a year later. The Flagstaff 

mine, nearby, began to produce rich ore, and there was considerable activity 

in American Fork Canyon, Bingham Canyon, the Tintic district, and the 

Ophir and Rush Valley districts as well.

186 The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870
Chapter 10.

Subservient to the Interests of a

Civilized Community, 1870 1873

It gives me the greatest pleasure to have an opportunity of laying before you 

some statements and reflections, which I trust will satisfy you that geology and 

natural history can be made subservient to the great interests of a civilized 

community to a far greater extent than is generally admitted.

 Louis Agassiz to Benjamin Peirce

In the spring of 1870, on the basis of his 3 years' experience, Professor 

Hayden presented to the Committee on Appropriations in the House of Representatives a plan for the geological and geographical exploration of the 

Territories of the United States that looked forward to the gradual preparation of a series of geographical and geological maps of each of the Territories 

on a uniform scale.

The appropriations bills were late in 1870, delayed by the debate over the 

annexation of Santo Domingo. President Grant was anxious to annex the 

island, but in the fall of 1869 the Cabinet unanimously rejected his proposed 

treaty of annexation. He nevertheless submitted it to the Senate in January 

1870, where it was ultimately defeated on June 30.

Hayden's plan for mapping the western Territories was accepted, and 

when the appropriation bill was passed in late July, his appropriation was 

increased to $25,000. The lateness of the appropriation, however, delayed 

the start of the field season until early August. Hayden assembled his party, 

the largest yet, at Camp Carlin, near Fort D. A. Russell, and from there he 

followed the line of the Union Pacific Railroad westward from Cheyenne 

through South Pass to Fort Bridger and back along the north slope of the 

Uinta Mountains. He did not feel that his appropriation was large enough 

to hire a topographer so his maps could be improved, but he did take along, 

in addition to his usual assistants, Sanford Robinson Gifford, a landscape 

painter of the Hudson River school, and William Henry Jackson, the photographer.

With the acceptance of his plan for a geological and geographical survey 

of the Territories, Hayden was able to make long-term plans. In his report 

for 1870, he defined his position as publicist and promoter of western development as well as scientist.

Never has my faith in the grand future that awaits the entire West been so strong 

as it is at the present time and it is my earnest desire to devote the remainder of 

the working days of my life to the development of its scientific and material 

interests, until I shall see every Territory which is now organized, a State of the 

Union. Out of the portions of the continent which lie to the northward and southward of the great central mass, other Territories will, in the mean time, be 

carved, until we shall embrace within our limits the entire country from the Arctic Circle to the Isthmus of Darien.

His report for 1870 includes, in addition to the observations on geology 

of the country traversed during the field season, several special papers. Hayden explained that he thought it best to make the preliminary reports the 

vehicle of much detailed matter which he believed to be useful, upon which 

he would base many generalizations, but which could not be repeated in the

Hayden Survey, 1870 187
more elaborate final report. These special papers included F. B. Meek's 

report on paleontology, a paper on the Tertiary coals of the West by James 

T. Hodge, a paper by J. S. Newberry on ancient lakes, a paper by Joseph 

Leidy on vertebrate fossils, another by Leo Lesquereux on fossil plants, two 

by E. D. Cope on fossil reptiles and fishes, and one by R. S. Elliott on the 

industrial resources of western Kansas and eastern Colorado. Most of these 

papers were written by men of national repute, but E. D. Cope was a 

younger man, a protege of sorts of Joseph Leidy. Cope's parents were 

wealthy members of the Society of Friends, and he had been educated in part 

privately and in Europe. He had studied under both Spencer Baird at the 

Smithsonian and Leidy at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. 

This was his first venture into public service.

In 1870, Professor Powell, having received the $10,000 requested for his 

second expedition, went west to prepare for the expedition by finding ways 

to bring supplies down to the river so that he and his men would not face 

starvation as they had the first time, and also to learn what had happened to 

the three men who had been lost, so that precautions could be taken to avoid 

another such incident. With Jacob Hamblin, recommended by Brigham 

Young as a guide, he set up a base camp on the upper Kanab, from which 

he made trips in different directions. Friends were made of the Indians who 

named him Kapurats (one-arm-off) and assured him he could travel in their 

country without harm; the three men had been killed by mistake. After 

locating several supply points, Powell crossed the river and spent 2 months 

studying the Indians and their way of life and climaxed the trip in November 

by a trip to Fort Defiance, New Mexico, where he helped Hamblin conclude 

the first treaty between the Navajos and the Mormon towns.

In the summer of 1870, Professor Othniel C. Marsh of Yale University 

led an expedition of 12 Yale students to the Rocky Mountain country to 

collect fossil bones. Marsh had been professor of paleontology at Yale since 

1866. He was a graduate of Yale in I860, at the somewhat advanced age of 

29, and had then studied at the Sheffield School for 2 years and in Europe 

for 3 additional years. It was during his student days at Berlin that he first 

met E. D. Cope. Marsh had made his first trip to the West after the AAAS 

meeting in 1868. Having made a small collection of fossil bones at Antelope 

Station, Nebraska, including those of a diminutive horse, which he promptly 

described to the National Academy of Sciences and in the American Journal 

of Science, he began immediately to make plans for a systematic exploration 

of the western plains. He had been unable to take a party into the field in 

1869 because of the Indian troubles, but the expedition of 1870, the first of 

four such student expeditions, started off in June. Marsh sought and obtained aid from General William T. Sherman, then Commanding General of 

the Army, including a military escort. Three collecting trips were made in 

the Nebraska-Wyoming-Colorado area, one out of Fort McPherson, one out 

of Fort D. A. Russell, and the third out of Fort Bridger in southwestern 

Wyoming, which took them to the junction of the Green and-White Rivers 

through the Uinta Mountains. On the way home, after a trip to Salt Lake 

City and California, the group stopped in western Kansas, where giant mosasaur bones were discovered, and also a small bone from which Marsh identified the first known American pterodactyl, and a giant one at that.

The King survey had hardly settled in New Haven to continue preparation 

of reports when word was received that a new appropriation had been made 

for continuation of the work. It was too late in the season to mount a fullscale campaign, so King secured permission to study the volcanoes along the 

Pacific coast. Taking with him the topographers Clark and A. D. Wilson, 

and Arnold Hague and S. F. Emmons, he set off for the Pacific coast. On

188 Subservient to the Interests of a Civilized Community, 1870-1873
September 11, King, Emmons, and Clark climbed to the top of the lesser 

Shasta, a conical secondary crater jutting out from the main mass of Mount 

Shasta on its northwest side, and discovered, between the secondary crater 

and the main mass, a glacier, the first actual glacier discovered in the United 

States. On the following day, they climbed the main summit, and three 

glaciers were observed on its north side. Whitney, Dana, and Agassiz had 

all believed there were no true glaciers within the United States, exclusive of 

Alaska, but they had all climbed the peak from the south side where there 

was less snow. Emmons was sent on to Mount Rainier where he also discovered glaciers, and Hague found them on Mount Hood in Oregon. King 

wanted to continue and extend the study of the glaciers, but General A. A. 

Humphreys thought the proposal could "hardly be considered authorized 

under any existing act or appropriation." The Engineers were not about to 

support any such purely scientific venture.

In the more settled parts of the country, the work of the State surveys 

continued to be primarily the search for and development of mineral resources, but some of the work became a little more sophisticated. U.S. lead 

production had been close to its lowest point in 1870 the disseminated 

deposits in Missouri were not yet in production, and Eureka, which would 

soon dominate the field, was just coming into production and both Wisconsin and Missouri, where lead had been important, undertook State work 

in 1870. The Wisconsin work was completely practical and confined to a 

survey of the lead district. John Murrish was appointed commissioner and 

prepared three reports on the area. The legislature of Missouri, in reactivating its State survey, however, changed it to a mining, metallurgical, and 

geological bureau, in sharp contrast to the predecessor survey, which had 

placed its emphasis on general geology. Albert D. Hager was appointed 

State Geologist, but his term of service was short, and he was succeeded in 

1871 by Raphael Pumpelly. Pumpelly's plan of work called for study of the 

general stratigraphy and the distribution and manner of occurrence of the 

various important mineral deposits, the latter study to be made by specialists 

or those who had special qualifications for the work. The economic investigations were organized in three divisions: iron ores and metallurgy, ores 

other than iron, and fuels and construction materials. Among the several 

assistants were G. C. Broadhead, who became director of the survey in 1873, 

W. B. Potter, who later became a professor of mining geology at Washington University in St. Louis, and Regis Chauvenet, who became one of the 

leading industrial chemists in the country.

The Coast Survey also became involved in a study of a mineral resource. 

None of the Lazzaroni had been more assiduous than Benjamin Peirce in 

efforts to raise the standards of pure science, and when he became Superintendent of the Coast Survey after the death of Alexander Dallas Bache in 

1867, he consulted Louis Agassiz, who suggested a program in which geology and zoology could be applied to the purposes of the Coast Survey, both 

onshore and offshore. Peirce therefore planned to have the geology of the belt 

of country within the limits of the Coast Survey maps carefully determined 

so that they might be shaped in a way that would better serve the commercial 

interests of the country and also have a greater scientific value. In 1870, he 

sent Professor N. S. Shaler of Harvard University to examine the phosphate 

beds of South Carolina, to determine the limits of the field, and to ascertain, 

if possible, the conditions that led to the formation of the deposits. It turned 

out, however, that there were legal obstacles to onshore geologic work by 

the Coast Survey. Superintendent Peirce hoped to get the law amended but 

did not succeed in doing so. In 1870, he also asked for a small appropriation 

to extend the Coast Survey triangulation so as to form a geodetic connection

State and Federal Surveys, 1870 189
between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, calling the work "of inestimable 

importance to the scientific accomplishment of the survey" and one that 

would "give the best possible basis for all accurate surveys which may hereafter be required." That appropriation was made, with the proviso "that 

the triangulation shall determine points in each State of the Union which 

shall make requisite provisions for its own typographical [sic!] and geological 

surveys."

In 1871, the American Institute of Mining Engineers was established 

officially because "the great development of the mines and metallurgical 

works of this country during the last few years, accompanied as it has been 

by the investment of enormous sums of money in purchasing lands, and in 

the erection of improvements, requires that advantage should be taken of the 

accumulated knowledge of engineers, superintendents, and others, in mastering the problems which are constantly presenting themselves for our action." E. C. Pechin, one of the engineers, put it more bluntly:

The time has come when scientific research is to assume its true position the 

day of 'sheer force and blind stupidity,' whose only protection was a high tariff, 

has gone by forever. *** the physicist, the geologist and mineralogist, the chemist, the engineer and mechanic, are as essential to success as the furnace itself, 

or the labor that works it.

Active glaciers were first observed in the United 

States on September 11, 1870, when members of 

the King survey climbed to the top of Shastina. the 

lesser cone on Mount Shasta, and saw directly beneath them a fine glacier flowing toward them and 

curving around the circular base of the cone. In this 

photograph, King is shown examining the crevasses 

on the glacier which was named for J. D. Whitney. 

(Photograph by C. Watkins from the files of the 

U.S Geological Survey.)

190 Subservient to the Interests of a Civilized Community, 1870-1873
The surveys of those States where studies of mineral 

resources were important realized the need for careful mapping. T. B. Brooks of the Michigan survey 

said that an explorer should make a careful sketch or 

map of each section examined, at a scale of 4 inches 

to 1 mile, and on it should mark "in their proper 

places all streams, lakes, swamps, hills, etc., and all 

outcrops, with name or sign indicating the kind of 

rock." Opposite each such sketch he should write 

a full description of the rocks and minerals found, 

as well as notes on timber and soil. Brooks also remarked that surveys by the U.S. General Land Office Survey, valuable as they were "and reliable, so 

far as the section lines go," were often "considerably in error in their representation of the interior of 

the section," as evidenced by the two maps reproduced here. (From T. B Brooks, 1873.)

The initial impetus came from iron and coal operators in Pennsylvania 

(among them Eckley B. Coxe, S. F. Emmons' friend), and most of the 

members came from those industries. The initial circular had mentioned 

consideration of

more economical systems of mining in our coal and metalliferous mines, improved methods of transportation above and below ground, unwatering and 

ventilating mines, the mechanical preparation of coal and other minerals, the 

various metallurgical processes, and, in fact, every question tending to the attainment of two great objects: 1st. The more economical production of the useful minerals and metals. 2nd. The greater safety and welfare of those employed 

in these industries.

Benjamin Apthorp Gould, youngest of the Lazzaroni, viewed with alarm 

the tendency to use science for mundane purposes in his presidential address 

to the AAAS in 1869. "The omens are less favorable for science in our own 

land than elsewhere," he said, "since there are peculiar obstacles to be 

encountered. These chiefly arise, directly or indirectly, from that characteristic in our national development, which assigns an exaggerated value to 

immediate utility, and a low estimate to what real utility is. It cannot be 

denied that the attainment of riches is becoming with us more and more the 

chief aim of existence." Gould thought that matters should be arranged "so 

as to allow the ablest minds to labor in those fields for which they are best 

adapted, and to guide the most versatile, so far as possible, into such channels that their energies may promote the highest welfare of society." As the 

scientist was the man to whom indirectly the world owed its material progress, civilized communities should encourage and protect him. Instead, in 

America, institutions of science were "dependent upon subsidies and gifts 

from individuals" and the "governance and guidance of intellectual agencies" had been placed "in the hands of men who are not well fitted for their

American Institute of Mining Engineers 191
N,

exercise." He called for adequate financial support for scientific research so 

that the scientist would not be compelled "to earn his bread *** by work 

other than scientific research" and a change in public sentiment "as may 

lead to deference in scientific matters to the judgment of experts, together 

with the maintenance and encouragement of institutions which may serve to 

develop experts and indicate who they are!"

From the very beginning, the Institute did not confine itself to applied 

science. Rossiter Raymond, who was one of the founding members of the 

American Institute of Mining Engineers and secretary of the organizational 

meeting in 1871, discussed King's ideas at some length at that meeting in 

a paper on the distribution of mining districts in the United States. The 

distribution of mineral deposits east of the Rocky Mountains, he pointed 

out, followed different laws. The striking feature in the eastern region was 

the peculiar relative position of the coal and iron deposits, which Hewitt had 

described as a gigantic bowl filled with treasure and rimmed with metal. 

Although the description was geographical rather than geological, Raymond 

said, it was none the less connected with the underlying geological facts. 

Iron and coal were "the prime elements" in the "universe of industry," so 

the relation between them was of special economic significance.

The Institute served a distinct need in the growing profession, and by the 

time of its second (first annual) meeting in May 1872, it had more than 200 

members, among them Raphael Pumpelly, State geologist of Missouri; Persifor Frazer of the University of Pennsylvania; James D. Hague of the ForPumpelly's "topographical plan," made for the 

Missouri Geological Survey, shows the surface geology and three mining cuts (A, B, and C) at Pilot 

Knob, Missouri. The knob was still being actively 

mined in 1873 although there were indications that 

it was not inexhaustible as had once been believed. 

(From Raphael Pumpelly, 1873.)

192 Subservient to the Interests of a Civilized Community, 1870-1873
Ohio State Geologist John S. Newberry was particularly interested in coal. The first mineral coal to be 

used on the lake shore came from Summit County, 

and it had been sent to Cleveland by his father. 

Henry Newberry, in 1828. Mines had been worked 

actively since 1838, and all the southern part of the 

county was underlaid by productive coal measures. 

As indicated on this section of rocks in Summit 

County, however. Coal No. 1 was not as widespread 

as had been believed because extensive stream channels had been cut in it after it was deposited. (From 

J. S. Newberry, 1873.)

Ohio Coal 193
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tieth Parallel survey; Professor John S. Newberry of the Columbia School of 

Mines and State geologist of Ohio; as well as those from industry.

At the May 1872 meeting, A. S. Hewitt presented some further thoughts 

on the role of science in the mineral industry. No body of men understood 

better than the engineers, he said, that "capital is essential to the development of natural resources on the scale demanded by modern civilization, but 

capital does not always comprehend as fully that science and experience are 

essential for the profitable use of money in the vast undertakings of our 

day." Hence, there had been great waste of resources and disastrous failures. However, the growth of population and the spread of civilization meant 

that there would be an increase in comsumption and production of iron. In 

1856, Hewitt had predicted that production would reach 14 million tons in 

1875; in point of fact, that figure would be surpassed in 1872. Ultimately, 

he predicted a total annual world production of more than 70 million tons 

of iron; by 1900, it would be more than 40 million tons, and a large part of 

the increase had to come from the United States. Before the close of the 

century, the United States would be producing annually at least 10 million 

and probably 15 million tons of iron, which meant mining yearly 25 million 

to 40 million tons of iron ore and more than 100 million tons of coal, and 

investing at least $500 million and probably $1 billion in opening mines, 

erecting works, and supplying machinery. Productive results would depend 

mainly on the judgment and skill used in the expenditure of this vast sum of 

money, and that was "the common ground on which capital and science 

must meet."

Careful mapping also provided information primarily of scientific interest. G. K. Gilbert, one of the 

young assistants on the survey of Ohio, noted that 

small brooks converging northeastward toward Lake 

Erie were gathered together into streams that flowed 

along the base of two low concentric ridges in 

northwestern Ohio and then were united in the 

Maumee River which flowed lakeward through open 

gaps. Gilbert suggested that the ridges were the 

surface representation of a buried terminal moraine, 

now completely covered by lacustrine clays deposited in an expanded predecessor of Lake Erie but 

still exerting an influence on the hydrography, and 

concluded that the margin of the continental ice 

sheet, shown at two stages of its recession, was 

lobed or digitate. (From G. K. Gilbert, 1873.)

194 Subservient to the Interests of a Civilized Community, 1870-1873
Mining engineers were among the first to point out 

a mutual relationship between economic and general 

geology. John F. Blandy pointed out, for example, 

that along the Lake Superior shore, ancient lake shores are shown as terraces (on the north side from the 

middle of section 27 to the middle of section 25 and 

on the south side from Dacotah Creek eastward to 

the east side of section 31). As the terrace on the 

north side is higher than that on the south and both 

rise toward the east, the presence of structural 

changes is a possibility and these structural changes 

could be related to the location of mineral veins. 

(FromJ. F. Blandy, 1872.)

Science, however, had yet another role to reconcile capital and labor. 

Iron had been made at too low a cost in foreign countries to allow the workmen engaged in its production a fair share of the necessities and comforts of 

life. Cheap iron was a blessing to mankind; to deprive the world of it was a 

"calamity so serious that no one could contemplate it without a feeling of 

reluctance." Science could satisfy both needs by devising cheaper processes.

In the summer of 1871, the work of the Fortieth Parallel Survey was 

carried eastward toward the Great Plains. In August 1871, King led a party 

into North Park and the Elk Head Mountains of Colorado, while Emmons 

entered the Uinta Mountains near the head of Black's Fork, intending to 

work eastward to the Green River Canyon. Extensive forest fires throughout 

the entire Rocky Mountain region filled the air with such volumes of smoke 

that it was impossible for either party to do any topographic work.

Captain W. A. Jones, the engineer officer of the Department of the Platte, 

was also instructed to make surveys in the Uinta Mountains in the summer 

of 1871, and at one point Captain Jones marched his party through a burning area where the Indians had set the forest ablaze to stop them. Captain 

Jones' instructions were to ascertain the character and extent of the stream 

valleys and their adaptability to cultivation or grazing; to ascertain the character of the timber, its amount, location, and the feasibility of getting it to 

the railroad; if possible, to find a practicable wagon road from Fort Bridger 

to the Uintah Indian Agency; if possible, to examine the Green River country with reference to the large mineral deposits reported there; and generally, 

to obtain all useful information concerning the country. As far as mineral 

resources were concerned, the Captain reported:

From my own observation, as well as that of Mr. Emmons who was in charge of 

one of Mr. Clarence King's parties which made a thorough examination of the 

whole Uintah range, I am of the opinion that, except near the eastern extremity, 

there is little probability of the occurrence of metalliferous veins carrying the 

precious metals in the Uinta Mountains.

Army Engineers Surveys, 1871 195
»r PAKT or THE^

RED BANK MINI

In 1871, under orders from General A. A. Humphreys, Lieutenant 

Wheeler was sent to explore and map "those portions of the United States 

territory lying south of the Central Pacific Railroad, embracing parts of Eastern Nevada and Arizona." The main object was to obtain information for 

maps, but there were the usual admonitions to observe the physical features 

of the country, the Indians, to obtain information for selection of sites for 

military operations, facilities for roads, as well as to survey the mineral resources, geology, vegetation, weather, and suitability of the land for agriculture.

Wheeler included in this expedition two geologists, Grove Karl Gilbert, 

who had been with the Ohio survey, and his friend, Archibald Marvine; 

Timothy O'Sullivan, who had been the photographer with the King survey; 

and Frederick W. Loring, a reporter from Boston. The entire party numbered 80 to 90 persons. The survey got underway early in May, and from 

Carlin, Nevada, parties zigzagged southward across Nevada, visiting mining 

districts. In July, they converged on and explored Death Valley. Then 

Wheeler turned to his main objective, the exploration of the Colorado River 

upstream from Camp Mojave. Gilbert accompanied one of the parties establishing supply bases along the river and became acquainted with the plateau 

country. The trip up the river from Camp Mojave to Diamond Creek took 

from September 16 to October 18 and was accomplished with great hardships.

In 1871, Hayden went to the Yellowstone country which he had attempted to reach just before the beginning of the Civil War. Shortly after 

the war ended, some of the citizens of Montana began to talk of an expedition, but early efforts failed because of difficulties with the Indians. In 1869, 

however, a small party succeeded in reaching the headwaters of the Yellowstone River and then crossed over the divide to the Madison River and

Conversely, Blandy suggested, detailed economic 

studies in mining regions might yield results of scientific interest. He believed his studies at the Red 

Bank mine in Pennsylvania showed evidence of the 

stream channel of a Carboniferous stream in the 

coal. (From J. F. Blandy, 1875.)

196 Subservient to the Interests of a Civilized Community, 1870-1873
Mining engineers used much larger scales in mapping in connection with the development of mineral 

resources than did geologists. In this section showing the disseminated lead deposits of Missouri, B 

represents a 10-inch-thick limestone with small 

blotches of galena, and C, the true lead-bearing rock 

19 inches thick. (From J. R. Gage, 1874.)

reached the area that is now Yellowstone Park. A larger follow-up expedition 

was planned for 1870, and the commanding general of the Department of 

the Dakotas was asked to provide a military escort. The combined militarycivilian party left Fort Ellis on August 22 and reached Yellowstone Lake 

within a few days. At the suggestion of one member of the party, they agreed 

to work together in an effort to persuade the Federal Government to set aside 

the region as a national park. Lt. G. C. Doane, head of the escort party, 

made an official report to the Commanding General, who sent it to the 

Secretary of War, who sent it along to Congress. N. P. Langford, a member 

of the party, described the region in articles in the May and June 1871 

Scribner's Magazine.

Proposals for further scientific exploration were backed by the Speaker of 

the House, and Congress appropriated $40,000 for F. V. Hayden to undertake the work. Hayden was instructed by the Secretary of the Interior "to 

make such instrumental observations, astronomical and barometrical, as are 

necessary for the construction of an accurate geographical map of the district 

explored, upon which the different geological formations may be represented

with suitable colors." Further,

as the object of the expedition is to secure as much information as possible, 

both scientific and practical, you will give your attention to the geological, mineralogical, zoological, botanical and agricultural resources of the country. You 

will collect as ample material as possible for the illustration of your final report, 

such as sketches, sections, photographs &c. Should your route lead you in the 

vicinity of any of our Indian tribes you will secure such information in regard to 

them as will be useful to this department or the country. 

James Stevenson was made "managing director" of the expedition, and

several new men were added to the corps, among them A. C. Peale, who had

Exploration of Yellowstone Region 197
just received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, as mineralogist; 

Anton Schonborn, a topographer and artist; and Thomas Moran, the landscape painter. The party spent 38 days in the Yellowstone wonderland, during which Moran made sketches and Jackson obtained about 400 negatives. 

Schonborn committed suicide on the return trip, so some of the topographic 

material was lost, although the Coast Survey attempted to work up his notes. 

Hayden joined the enthusiasts who were promoting the idea of a national 

park. He contributed an article to Scribner's and two to the American Journal 

of Science and distributed Jackson's photographs widely. On December 18, 

1871, a bill was introduced simultaneously in the Senate and the House of 

Representatives for the establishment of a park at the headwaters of the Yellowstone River. Both bills were referred to the Committees on Public Lands. 

The Senate bill was reported back first, and on January 22, 1872, Senator 

S. C. Pomeroy said that "Professor Hayden and party have been there, and 

this bill is drawn on the recommendation of that gentleman to consecrate for 

public uses this country for a public park." The bill was passed on January 

30 with only limited floor discussion and with a comfortable margin. The 

House considered the bill on February 27; again there was little debate, and 

the bill was passed 115 to 60. President Grant signed the bill into law on 

March 1, 1872, creating the first national park. 

With his usual enthusiasm, Hayden said:

That our legislators, at a time when public opinion is so strong against appropriating the public domain for any purpose, however laudable, should reserve 

for the benefit and instruction of the people a tract of 3,575 square miles, is an 

act that should cause universal satisfaction through the land. This noble deed 

may be regarded as a tribute from our legislators to science, and the gratitude 

of a nation, and of men of science in all parts of the world, is due them for this 

munificent donation.

Cyrus Thomas prepared a 6 5-page article on the agricultural resources of 

the Territories for Hayden's annual report. Thomas called, for some plan to 

conserve timber resources and also a planned system of irrigation in dry 

regions, the Government controlling irrigation and water rights. The annual 

report included extensive papers by Lesquereux, Cope, Leidy, and Meek on 

paleontology and reports on zoology, botany, and meteorology. In one of his 

papers, Cope described a flying saurian which he claimed he had discovered 

before Marsh.

Professor Marsh had also had a small party in the field, dividing its time 

between Kansas and Wyoming. The Kansas trip was especially successful, as 

Marsh found a specimen of the great diving bird Hesperornis regalis with its 

skull, which proved the existence of teeth in this form. Later in the year, 

Marsh charged that Cope was predating some of his publications in order to 

insure priority under the rules of nomenclature, and the great Cope-Marsh 

paleontological war got underway.

Powell began his second expedition down the Colorado on May 22, 1871. 

Again, Powell ignored professional scientists in choosing his crew, and except for Jack Sumner, none of the 1869 crew was recalled. In the end, 

Sumner was unable to go, being snowbound, and Jack Hillers of Salt Lake 

City as a last-minute substitute began a long association with Major Powell. 

In addition to A. H. Thompson, F. M. Bishop, and W. H. Graves, who 

had accompanied him in 1870, the new crew included E. O. Beaman, a 

professional photographer; Fred Dellenbaugh, a young man with artistic 

abilities; S. V. Jones, a student; J. F. Steward and Andrew Hattan, Army 

friends; Walter Clement Powell, Major Powell's cousin; and Frank Richardson, a family friend.

Major Powell himself made only part of the river trip. When they reached 

the Uintah Indian Agency a message was received that it was not possible to

Hayden, who spent the seasons of 1871 and 1872 

studying the first national park, said the most formidable impediments to traveling were encountered 

around Yellowstone Lake and the mountains bordering it because fallen tall pines, destroyed in autumnal fires and laid down in every direction by 

strong winds, formed a network 6 feet high in some 

places. (From F. V. Hayden, 1872.)

198 Subservient to the Interests of a Civilized Community, 1870-1873
As Hayden's party was leaving in 1871, Old Faithfill, so named by N. P. Langford and Gustavus 

Doane because of the regularity of its eruption, gave 

them a magnificent parting display. With little or 

no preliminary warning, Hayden said, it shot a column of water about 6 feet in diameter to a height of 

100 to 150 feet and by a succession of impulses 

seemed to hold it up steadily for 15 minutes. (From 

F. V. Hayden, 1872.)

take supplies to the mouth of the Dirty Devil, so Powell took off overland 

for Salt Lake City, returned briefly to report that the river which Hamblin 

had thought was the Dirty Devil was actually the San Rafael, put Thompson 

in charge of the river party, and took off again, determined to find a route 

down the Dirty Devil. He rejoined the river party at Gunnison's Crossing 

at the end of August, his mission unaccomplished. Supplies were already 

getting short, so the party pressed on without time for observations and 

reached the Crossing of the Fathers on October 6. There Powell left them to 

make arrangements for winter camp at Kanab, and the rest went on to the 

mouth of the Paria where they cached the boats.

While they were in winter camp, Thompson began preparation for the 

topographic map of the Kaibab and Kanab Plateaus, measuring a 9-mile 

base line and setting up monuments for triangulation, which took until 

February 21. Major Powell and another party found a trail by which a pack 

train could reach the Grand Canyon at the mouth of the Kanab, thus assuring supplies for the river party of the following summer. Early in February, 

he left for the East to seek a new appropriation.

Major Powell made his first appearance at the newly formed Philosophical 

Society of Washington in the spring of 1872 and presented an elaborate 

classification of valleys into two orders and six varieties, with appropriate 

names derived from Greek, on the basis of his studies in the Colorado region. 

During this trip Powell sold his house in Illinois, purchased one in Washington, and resigned from the University. He, like Hay den 20 years earlier, 

had decided to make his life's work a study of the West.

Powell's Second River Exploration 199
While Powell was in the East, A. H. Thompson completed the preliminary map of the Grand Canyon region and had another try at finding the 

Dirty Devil route to the Colorado, which he succeeded in doing. In the 

process, he discovered a hitherto unknown river which he named the Escalante in honor of the Spanish padre who had led an expedition from New 

Mexico to Great Salt Lake in 1776.

Wheeler and his corps were delayed by snow and the loss of three members 

of the expedition, including the chief topographer, to the Apaches, but returned to Washington in late January. Wheeler was convinced that "the day 

of the path-finder has sensibly ended" and proposed a broad plan for construction of a map of the Western Territories. The mapping was to be done 

on a scale of 8 miles to the inch, and an atlas of 85 rectangles was to be 

prepared. The mapping and associated natural history observations were intended in the main as an aid to military administration and operations. The 

survey was expected to take about 15 years and to cost in all as much as $2.5 

million.

The plan for a detailed topographic survey of the entire territory of the 

United States west of the 100th meridian received the specific sanction of 

Congress in an act approved June 10, 1872. In the summer of 1872, 

Wheeler had two parties in the field; they mapped 50,000 square miles in 

western and southwestern Utah, parts of eastern and southeastern Nevada, 

and northern and northwestern Arizona. Parts of the Great Salt Lake, Sevier 

Lake, and other basins, and the valley and basin of the Colorado in and 

around the lower end of the main canyon were covered. The mapping was 

connected on the north with that of the King survey.

On March 25, 1872, Major Powell presented a brief report to Secretary 

Henry. He mentioned that he had discovered much mineral coal, which had 

been carefully examined, and other mineral deposits, which had not been 

thoroughly examined. He reported that the extent and character of such 

valleys as might be redeemed by irrigation had been noted, and that the 

forests had been examined. Ruins of ancient communal houses and some 

relics of Indian pottery had been discovered, and vocabularies of several Indian languages had been compiled. More information was promised in the 

final report. Secretary Henry sent the report to Congress with a letter saying 

"The region mentioned is one of the most interesting, in a geological point 

of view, in this or any country. The Colorado of the West, and its tributaries, traverse chasms in some places over a mile below the general surface of 

the country, presenting in many places, at one view, sections of the greater 

number of all known geological formations of America. The importance of 

the exploration, however, is not confined to the advance of science, but is 

also associated with practical results of value, such as the discovery of coal, 

salt, the metals, and other resources of the country." Congress on June 10, 

appropriated $20,000 for the completion of the survey.

Major Powell resumed the river trip early in August, but the Colorado 

was much higher than it had been the year before, and the boats were almost 

impossible to control, so at Kanab Wash, on September 7, the second expedition ended. For the rest of the season, Thompson continued the systematic mapping of the lower canyons, but Major Powell, after a brief study of 

Long Valley, went off with the new Indian agent to ride around the district. 

He had already acquired a reputation for being able to deal with the Indians.

In 1872, Hayden's appropriation was increased to $75,000, with an additional $10,000 for preparation of illustrations. The expedition was enlarged to 61 men and divided into two parties, each of which included a 

geologist, topographer, astronomer, and meteorologist. Hayden led one 

party that took the usual route from Bozeman through Fort Ellis and BoeThe Hayden party observed two eruptions of the 

Giantess in the 22 hours they remained in Yellowstone. The eruption continued for 20 minutes and 

was, said Hayden, "the most magnificent sight we 

ever witnessed." The illustration drawn by Thomas 

Moran, better known as a painter, shows the succession of impulses by which the column is held up 

apparently so steadily for so long a time. (From F. 

V. Hayden, 1873.)

200 Subservient to the Interests of a Civilized Community, 1870-1873
There were attractions for sportsmen also. Hayden 

reported that a person might stand on one of the 

siliceous mounds that extend into Yellowstone Lake 

from the shore, catch trout weighing from 1 to 2 

pounds from the lake, and cook them in the boiling 

springs without removing the fish from the hook. 

His friend, William Blackmore, repeatedly performed this experiment on the southwest shore of 

the lake. (From F. V. Hayden, 1873.)

tier's Ranch into the Yellowstone. James Stevenson led the other from Ogden, Utah, by way of Fort Hall, Idaho, and the Grand Tetons to a rendezvous in Yellowstone. The Stevenson party made a careful survey of the Snake 

River Valley and the Tetons and found that Madison Lake was the source of 

the Snake, not the Madison River. Hayden mapped the Gallatin and Madison Rivers. Together they examined the park in detail.

The Hayden party included Henry Gannett as astronomer and W. H. 

Holmes as artist. Gannett had been graduated from the Lawrence Scientific 

School at Harvard in 1869 and was one of the four students that Whitney 

and Hoffmann had taken to the Colorado Rockies to learn topographic mapping (whence Mount Harvard). Holmes was a graduate of McNeely Normal 

College in Ohio in 1870, and he had been an instructor in physical geography and drawing there and a scientific illustrator at the Smithsonian Institution for F. B. Meek and W. H. Dall. Gannett assumed charge of all 

astronomical, hypsometrical, and meteorological work. The astronomical 

position of 34 locations were determined as well as the western, southern, 

and eastern boundaries of the park. Gannett reported that he also "paid some 

attention to elevations of the water level of streams not only for getting the 

rate of fall, which may be of use for purposes of irrigation but as indicating 

what may be called the water-contour of the country, which certainly expresses the general elevation better than any other class of elevation." Gannett and Rudolf Hering, who was his counterpart in the Stevenson party, 

also considered possible routes for a railroad connection from the Central 

Pacific to the settled parts of Montana, a subject of much interest at the 

time.

Hayden in Yellowstone, 1872 201
Five small parties made special examinations in various parts of the West 

under the auspices of the Hayden survey during that summer of 1872. There 

had long been some differences of opinion on the exact age of some parts of 

the Cretaceous and Tertiary groups, so Joseph Leidy and E. D. Cope spent 

a large part of the summer studying ancient lake basins where vertebrate 

fossils abounded. F. B. Meek, accompanied by H. M. Bannister, spent about 

2 months in a reconnaissance of the coal-bearing formations along the line of 

the Union Pacific Railroad. Leo Lesquereux made a careful study of the Dakota group and the Lignitic formation to determine the age of the Lignitic.

Cyrus Thomas spent the summer examining the agricultural resources of 

Dakota Territory and adjacent parts of Minnesota and Nebraska. In his report on their physical geography and agricultural resources, Thomas said:

I may state that, although in some respects the portion of our country visited 

did not meet entirely my expectations, founded on the exaggerated and glowing 

descriptions of speculators and others interested, yet it presents a bread-producing area equaled by but few and surpassed by none on the continent. Its 

capacity as a wheat-growing section is immense; so great, in fact, that the figures stagger our belief when first presented. As a beef-producing section its 

resources are great, the grazing-excellent throughout the entire area.

In che trip up the Colorado from Mojave to Diamond Creek, Wheeler found the scenery less interesting than he had been led to expect from von 

Egloffstein's illustrations in the J. C. Ives report of 

1861. Timothy O'Sullivan's photograph looking 

south into Grand Canyon from a point high on the 

walls, which in some reproductions suggests a satellite photograph and from which this engraving 

was made, is as dramatic a view as one could wish. 

(From G. M. Wheeler, 1874.)

202 Subservient to the Interests of a Civilized Community, 1870-1873
Wheeler's special pride was in his efficiency at 

mapmaking. This map, on a scale of 1:506,880, of 

an area in Utah south of that mapped by the King 

survey, was the result of Wheeler's work in 1872. 

(From G. M. Wheeler, 1874a.)

Thomas urged, however, that climatological studies be undertaken in the 

region. The real dividing line between the eastern and western parts of the 

continent, he said, was not the Rocky Mountains, where the streams divided, but a north-south line, approximately the 100th meridian, which 

divided regions of very different climate. The two questions that deserved 

special consideration were the temperature and rainfall. A statement that the 

mean lines of summer temperature made a rapid bend northward after passing west of Lake Michigan had been used in efforts to induce emigration to 

Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Dakota. Such a flexure would have an important 

bearing on agriculture, if true. He thought there was a flexure, but nowhere 

near so pronounced as had been advertised. With regard to rainfall, Thomas 

observed that it was well known that on the east side of the plains, the 

average rainfall was sufficient to supply the moisture necessary for growing 

grains, and almost as well known that irrigation was necessary at all points 

on the plains along the east base of the Rocky Mountains. It therefore was 

very important to determine the boundary between the two. The valleys, the 

weathering of bluffs, and detritus at the base of the Rocky Mountains all 

showed that at some very recent period, in a geological sense, the amount of 

rainfall had been greater and that a profound change had taken place.

The fieldwork of the Fortieth Parallel survey was completed in 1872. 

Emmons' party, with Alien D. Wilson as chief topographer, began by mapping a belt about 30 miles wide north of the Humboldt River in Nevada as 

far as Humboldt Wells, so that geologic sections through the whole belt of 

country surveyed might be on a great circle; they then moved on to Wyoming to complete the mapping of the western half of the block of unfinished

Agriculture In the Territories 203
ground. Another party under Gardner spent the entire season east of the 

North Platte in Wyoming. Arnold Hague led a third party reexamining the 

Paleozoic and Triassic beds associated with silver deposits. Hague also made 

excursions north of the actual boundary of the survey to see if Hayden's 

discoveries of the Carboniferous were real. "I ought not to characterize his 

statements," King reported to General A. A. Humphreys, "but Mr. Hague 

saw enough to forbid our accepting any data from that source."

King himself spent most of the summer in a study of the ancient glacier 

system of the Sierra Nevada, but he also established methodically the geological connections between the work of Hague and Emmons. In late October, King, Emmons, and Wilson met and went via Brown's Hole and Vermilion Creek to Uinta Canyon, where they made sections which assured 

them that the ideas advanced by Hayden and others as to Silurian developments there were erroneous.

King and others of the 40th Parallel survey had been suspicious of rumors 

about a great diamond discovery which flooded the west in 1872 after two 

prospectors deposited some uncut diamonds for safekeeping in a San Francisco bank. William Ralston, a director of the bank, and George D. Roberts, 

a mining engineer who was associated with him, persuaded the two to take 

a representative to the site; the representative, who was blindfolded so the 

location would remain a secret, found more diamonds as well as rubies and 

other precious stones. Charles Tiffany of New York pronounced the gems 

genuine. A nationwide syndicate was then formed that bought the rights to 

the diamond fields. Henry Janin, a distinguished mining engineer, who was 

sent to confirm the value of the discovery, found more diamonds along with 

rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. Janin's report, quoted in the Engineering 

and Mining Journal for September 3, 1872, said the discovery was wonderfully rich and one that would prove extremely profitable.

However, in all their work in the West, none of the 40th Parallel men 

had ever found diamonds or had even seen a formation that looked as if it 

might contain such gems. Early in November, after their investigations in 

Uinta Canyon had been completed, King, Emmons, and Wilson went north. 

The location of the diamond fields had been variously located by rumor in 

Arizona, or Nevada, or Colorado, but King, Emmons, and Wilson had individually concluded that they must be north of Brown's Hole. They found 

the site in Wyoming, a small sandstone mesa, and they found diamonds, 

but curiously the diamonds were only on the mesa, in a fixed ratio of rubies 

to diamonds, and most of them were in anthills. The deposit was obviously 

a fraud.

King and Wilson left immediately for San Francisco, riding all day 

through the badlands to Black Butte Station where they caught the train for 

San Francisco. In San Francisco, King sought out Janin and showed him the 

evidence. Together they went to the company directors, who begged King 

to keep quiet until they could sell out. King refused but was persuaded to 

take Janin and others to the diamond fields for a final check. When they 

returned, the fraud was announced, and Ralston and his partners repaid the 

stockholders. King was the hero of the hour, but General Humphreys was 

not pleased. It was proper that King make the investigation, but he should 

have gone through channels to announce his discovery. Scientists, however, 

rejoiced at his success, and Whitney said, "Who's King of Diamonds now? 

And isn't he trumps?"

204 Subservient to the Interests of a Civilized Community, 1870-1873
Chapter 11.

The Shifting Times, 1873-1874

Thus times do shift, each thing his turn does hold; New things succeed, as 

former things grow old.

 Robert Herrick

The year 1873 divides the dozen years following the Civil War into two 

distinct parts. The financial and economic crisis in September 1873 had 

great consequences in American life. Allan Nevins describes the change as 

"on the one side lies the sunshine of buoyant commercial prosperity; on the 

other the gloom of depression, economy and poverty." Inevitably, these 

changed conditions had an effect on science and the surveys.

Hayden shifted his operations to Colorado in 1873. In late January, he 

wrote to Secretary Delano suggesting that he begin work in the Territory of 

Colorado immediately south of the area mapped by the King survey. "There 

is probably no portion of our continent, at the present time," he wrote, 

"which promises to yield more useful results, both of a practical and scientific character. This region seems to be unoccupied at this time, as far as I 

am aware, by any other survey under the Government, and the prospect of 

its rapid development within the next five years, by some of the most important railroads in the West, renders it very desirable that its resources be 

made known to the world at as early a date as possible." The northern work 

could wait until the railroads opened of that country. Besides, the Indians 

there were becoming hostile. Congress appropriated $75,000 for "continuation of the geographical and geological survey of the Territories," and Hayden planned to begin the survey of Colorado in the eastern part of the mountainous region.

James Gardner, chief topographer of the King survey, joined the Hayden 

survey as chief geographer and, apparently in his mind at least, co-director 

with responsibility for the geographical part of the survey. Gardner insisted 

that "for making maps suited to geological purposes it is necessary to carry 

over the country a systematic trigonometric and topographical survey, 

checked by astronomical observations." He himself headed the chief triangulation party, which went ahead of the others, and accomplished almost 

17,000 square miles of primary triangulation. Holmes accompanied Gardner 

and made numerous sketches from the high peaks used as primary stations.

The area to be surveyed was divided into three districts, North, Middle, 

and South, and three combined topographic and geologic parties were organized, one for each district. The party in the North district, which became 

known as Middle Park was headed by A. R. Marvine, who had transferred 

from the Wheeler survey. Both a geologic and a topographic map were prepared, and S. B. Ladd, the assistant topographer, and Marvine also prepared 

a report on means of communication, distribution or timber, grasslands, and 

population. Henry Gannett, who had been the astronomer in Yellowstone, 

was in charge of the Middle district, which became known as South Park, 

and was accompanied by A. C. Peale as geologist. Alien Wilson, who had 

been with Emmons' party of the King survey as topographer, was in charge 

of the South district, or San Luis district, with F. M. Endlich as geologist.

The Shifting Times, 1873-1874 205
The Engineers despatched a party under Captain William A. Jones to 

make a reconnaissance of the northwestern part of the Territory of Wyoming 

which Hayden had abandoned. The official orders were to make a reconnaissance of the country about the headwaters of the Snake, Green, Big Horn, 

Grey Bull, Clark's Fork, and Yellowstone Rivers, but General E. O. C. Ord 

added oral directions to find, if possible, a good route from the south, via 

the Wind River valley and Upper Yellowstone, into Montana. Both Hayden 

and N. P. Langford maintained that Yellowstone Park was accessible only 

from Montana.

A

The Triassic sandstones along the eastern base of the 

Rocky Mountains in Colorado, in every shade of 

red, have weathered into fantastic shapes, in places 

standing in walls or columns 50 to 250 feet high. 

The Cathedral Rocks in the Garden of the Gods are 

among the most celebrated scenic features in Colorado, and Hayden chose this illustration more for 

popular appeal than scientific exposition. (From F. 

V. Hayden, 1874.)

206 The Shifting Times, 1873-1874
Captain Jones' party included a young geologist, Theodore Comstock, a 

graduate of Cornell in 1870 who had been teaching natural history in private 

schools. The party was in the field from June 12 to September 19 and traversed the entire western part of the Territory from south to north and from 

108° to 111° W. Jones found a wagon route into the park from the south, 

a route that General A. A. Humphreys said "whatever may be the advantages 

of the Missouri River route, would tend to keep down rates, and would 

prove advantageous to the Government in the transportation of military and 

Indian supplies." By the following spring, Comstock produced a 100-page 

report on the geology of the area, complete with a colored geologic map.

Lieutenant Wheeler had three divisions in the field in the summer of 

1873- The main party operated out of Santa Fe and mapped in the basins of 

the Rio Grande, de Chelly, Little Colorado, Gila, San Francisco, and Salt 

Rivers. G. K. Gilbert was the geologist with this party. O'Sullivan took 

many spectacular photographs of the Indian ruins in Canyon de Chelly. A 

section under Lieutenant R. L. Hoxie operated out of Salt Lake City, mapping in the basins of Great Salt Lake, Sevier, Green, Little Colorado, and 

Colorado Rivers. E. E. Howell was geologist with the Hoxie party, and 

Gilbert Thompson accompanied it as topographer. Lieutenant Hoxie's party 

encountered considerable hardship. They were frequently without good 

water, and sometimes without any. At one time they subsisted for 7 days on 

hard corn brought along for the mules. The third section, under Lieutenant 

W. L. Marshall, set out from Denver, confining itself to the basins of the 

Arkansas, Gunnison, and Rio Grande. J. J. Stevenson, professor of geology 

at New York University and former aid with the Ohio survey, accompanied 

this party as geologist. It was almost inevitable that Lieutenant Marshall 

would run into parties of the Hayden survey.

On January 17, 1873, Major Powell had presented a brief report to Secretary Henry on his work during 1872 and asked for continuation of his 

survey. Much of the report was devoted to ethnology, for Powell had been 

interested in studying the languages, habits and customs, and the state of 

arts among the Indians. He had sent Jack Hillers and a small party to the 

seven ancient towns known to the Spaniards as the Province of Tusayan to 

make a collection of works of art and a series of photographs. The collection 

had been made, but owing to an unfortunate accident to the photographic 

apparatus, only a few pictures were obtained.

The chief reason given for continuing the work, however, was Powell's 

discovery of a series of faults and folds, which Henry called "most remarkable" in his letter to Congress. "The faulting and folding of the rocks have, 

together with erosion, produced long lines of cliffs of a magnitude that is 

believed to be elsewhere unknown," Powell reported. "These cliffs are bold 

escarpments, often hundreds or even thousands of feet high, great geographical steps, scores or hundreds of miles in length, presenting steep faces of 

rock, often quite vertical." Some of these he named: Shinarump, Vermillion, Gray, and Pink Cliffs. Transverse to them, another series of cliffs 

marked lines of a great system of faults, and these he also named: Grand 

Wash, Hurricane, Toroweap.

To complete the survey properly, he estimated would take 2 years at 

$20,000 a year, or 1 year at $45,000. If that were not approved, he suggested that a system of triangles be run from the valley of the Sevier to the 

junction of the Grand and Green in order to fix with approximate accuracy 

the head of the Colorado and to complete the survey of the valley of the San 

Rafael and of the mountains and plateaus in which it had it sources, and 

then to complete the reconnaissance of the upper country and trace his great 

system of faults to where they were lost in the mountains to the north. That

Wheeler and Powell, 1873 207
could be done in 1 year at a cost of $20,000. Secretary Henry sent the 

request to Congress but made no special request for an appropriation. Congress, on March 3, appropriated "the sum of ten thousand dollars, or as 

much thereof as may be necessary *** to enable Professor J. W. Powell to 

prepare his materials, and to present to Congress at its next session a report 

on the Colorado River of the West and its tributaries."

In the summer of 1873, Major Powell sent A. H. Thompson to continue 

mapping while he himself was engaged in a study of the Indians. He had 

been appointed a special commissioner by the Department of the Interior to 

visit the Indians of Utah and eastern Nevada and to help them get established on reservations. Between July and November, he visited all the bands 

known to live in the area, making a careful census of their numbers and 

condition and adding to his store of knowledge of their languages and customs. The report of the special commissioners disclosed the unexpected fact 

that there were only 5,500 Indians in the whole territory. Because of the 

influx of white settlers who had occupied the best areas, the Indians had had 

to split into smaller and smaller bands in order to obtain the barest subsistence, and they were on the verge of extinction.

Settlers on the Middle Western Plains and prairies were handicapped by 

lack of wood and in some places, water. The lack of trees had been one of 

the reasons why the pioneers had traveled through the area to reach the 

Oregon country 30 or 40 years earlier. Now that they were settling the

The sandstone walls of Canyon de Chelly in Arizona 

were photographed by Timothy O'Sullivan in 1873- 

The isolated shafts near the center of the canyon 

(right of the picture) were estimated to be 742 feet 

high. The Indian ruins of Canyon de Chelly, some 

of them 400 feet above the river bed, were first 

brought to notice through James H. Simpson's reconnaissance of 1849. (From G. M. Wheeler, 

1889-)

208 The Shifting Times, 1873-1874
The Hayden survey began systematic topographic 

mapping in Colorado in 1873. W. H. Holmes accompanied the triangulation party and used his artistic ability and geologic knowledge in making 

panoramic sketches from the high peaks used as primary stations. This sketch shows the eruptive rocks 

in two table mountains near Golden as viewed from 

Bear Creek Station, about 6 miles to the south, and 

also the characteristic appearance of the plains to the 

east of the mountain front. (From F. V. Hayden, 

1874.)

country, wood had to be imported for construction purposes, and precipitation was sometimes so low as to make farming without irrigation hazardous. 

Forests would obviously supply wood, and at the time many people believed 

that forests would increase rainfall, so planting trees would serve a dual 

purpose. The Commissioner of the General Land Office in 1866 had suggested that all homesteaders in localities where trees were scarce should be 

required to plant trees. Finally, on March 3, 1873, Congress passed the 

Timber Culture Act providing that any person who planted, protected, and 

kept in healthy growing condition for 10 years 20 acres of timber trees 

spaced no more than 12 feet apart on any quarter section of public lands was 

entitled to a patent for the whole quarter section.

At the same time, Congress began to look into more direct ways of solving 

the problem of irrigation. Senator Stewart for the Committee on Public lands 

brought up a bill late in the session to enable the President to appoint a 

commission to determine the best method of irrigation for the San Joaquin, 

Tulare, and Sacramento Valleys of California. Legislation was constantly 

being pressed on them, the Senator said, and the Committee on Public Lands 

wanted an investigation and report. Several Senators immediately concluded 

that the report would be accompanied or followed by a recommendation for 

the appropriation of a large sum of money but Senator Stewart insisted information was all that was sought, and the bill also became law on March 3, 

1873.

Changes were also made in the mineral land laws. The Mining Acts of 

1866 and 1870 were amended by the Mining Act of May 10, 1872. The 

mineral lands were still free and open to exploration and purchase but "under 

regulations prescribed by law, and according to the local customs or rules of 

miners, in the several mining districts, so far as the same are applicable and 

not inconsistent with the laws of the United States." Claims made after 

passage of the act were not to exceed 1,500 feet along the lode or 300 feet in 

width, and the sides were limited by vertical planes. In introducing the bill, 

Mr. Aaron A. Sargent of California said that it did not make any important 

changes in previous laws and that the changes were principally those related 

to the legal questions involved and were meant to facilitate the obtaining of 

titles. J. D. Whitney rather caustically observed that it bore "all the marks 

of having been drawn up by lawyers with an eye to their own business, rather 

than to the good of the miner or of the country in general: certainly no

Mining Act of 1872 209
competent mining engineers could have been consulted in its preparation." 

A new Coal Lands Act was enacted on March 3, 1873. Again, as in 1864, 

it was made clear that coal lands were not considered mineral lands; Section 

6 stated that the act could not be construed to authorize sale of lands valuable 

for mines of gold, silver, or copper. The Coal Lands Act provided that a 

citizen, or one who indicated an intention to become one, might enter any 

quantity of vacant and unreserved coal lands of not more than 160 acres, 

described according to the government survey. An association of individuals 

was permitted to enter a 320-acre tract. The minimum price was $ 10 an acre 

for land more than 15 miles from a completed railroad and $20 an acre for 

land within 15 miles of the railroad. An association of not less than four 

persons could obtain as much as 640 acres if not less than $5,000 had been 

expended in work and improvements.

In the Coinage Act of February 12, 1873, Congress demonetized silver. 

This was not a formal adoption of the gold standard, although several European countries were adopting the gold standard, and Great Britain, which 

dominated international monetary affairs, had been on the gold standard 

since 1821. The U.S. Congress dropped silver coins from the list of official 

coinage because the world price of silver was high, and little was being 

offered to the Mint at the official price. The act was almost unnoticed at the 

time but soon became a source of contention between the East and West.

King settled in San Francisco to complete the 40th Parallel reports and 

atlas. Several mining commissions came his way and he took advantage of 

them, combining mine inspection with a review of 40th Parallel geology. In 

May 1873, he was summoned to testify before the court as an expert witness 

in the battle between the Richmond and Consolidated Eureka Companies 

over a cavern which both had tapped. In June 1873, he was commissioned 

to examine the Emma mine in Utah which had been sold to British investors 

for nearly $5 million. The new manager retained King to make an investigation, and King told him that "The great Emma 'bonanza' *** is with 

insignificant exceptions worked out***."

During the winter, the 40th Parallel survey moved east to New York, 

where headquarters were set up not far from Cooper Union. Rossiter Raymond, the U.S. Commissioner of Mining Statistics, was then an aide to A. 

S. Hewitt in the Cooper-Hewitt enterprises, so Cooper Union was a center 

for mining and metals studies. The atlas was finished and sent to the printer, 

and on February 25, 1874, King wrote to General A. A. Humphreys:

The day has passed in Geological Science when it is either decent or tolerable 

to rush into print with undigested field observations, ignoring the methods and 

appliances in use among advanced investigators. It is my intention to give this 

work a finish which will place it on an equal footing with the best European 

productions and those few which have redeemed the wavering reputations of 

our American investigators.

One of the special studies undertaken was based on the chemistry and 

microstructure of western rocks. C. E. Wright, who had become acquainted 

with the new methods in microscopic work as a student in Germany, was 

hired on his return to the United States in 1873- Wright had already made 

some determinations for the Michigan survey, which had sent the specimens 

to Europe. Emmons was also sent to Europe to observe methods developed 

by British and Continental surveys, to collect books of reference not available 

in the United States, and to buy microscopes in Germany. Emmons did even 

more; he induced Professor Ferdinand Zirkel, one of the pioneers in microscopic petrography whose Mikroskopische Beschaffenheit der Mineralien and Gesteine had just been published, to come to New York to oversee the work.

210 The Shifting Times, 1873-1874
Five State surveys were reactivated in the early 1870's, all of them staffed 

largely or wholly by young men trained in the newer ways of science. In 

most of them, the development of mineral resources was the primary motive. 

In 1873, the Alabama legislature provided funds to continue the work left 

incomplete by the death of Michael Tuomey. Eugene A. Smith, professor of 

geology at the University of Alabama, who became the State Geologist, was 

then 32, a graduate of the University in 1862, and had a doctorate from 

Heidelberg in 1868. Whereas Tuomey had concentrated on Alabama coal, 

Smith began with a study of copper-bearing rocks and afterwards began a 

study of iron ores.

The Kentucky legislature in 1873 ordered a continuation of the Owen 

survey, left incomplete by his death in I860. Nathaniel S. Shaler, also 32, 

a native of Kentucky, but then professor of paleontology in the Lawrence 

Scientific School at Harvard, was named Chief Geologist and Director. The 

records of the previous survey had been destroyed during a fire in the State 

offices in 1867, so Shaler planned a general reconnaissance, an accurate topographic map of the State on the scale of 1 inch to the mile, and a geologic 

map. The first assistants were Dr. Robert Peter, who had been Owen's 

assistant, as chemist, and A. R. Crandell as geological assistant.

Wisconsin also reestablished its geological survey in 1873, and Increase 

A. Lapham was appointed State Geologist. Lapham was a naturalist of the 

old school, but he was assisted by three young men, all still in their twenties: 

Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, a graduate of Beloit in 1866; Roland Duer 

Irving, a graduate of the Columbia School of Mines in 1869, who had since 

served under Newberry on the Ohio survey; and Moses Strong, a graduate of 

Yale with advanced study in Europe. Irving was assigned to begin a survey 

of the iron and copper ranges of Ashland and Douglas Counties, Strong, a 

survey of the lead region, and Chamberlin, of the southwestern part of the 

State.

The Minnesota survey, established under the act of March 1, 1872, began 

in somewhat different fashion. The Minnesota law was drawn up by the 

President of the University of Minnesota, one of his prime motives being to 

make the university the center of information on natural features of the State 

and its museum the center for natural history collections. Newton Horace 

Winchell, younger brother of Alexander Winchell, who had been State Geologist of Michigan, was appointed State Geologist. N. H. Winchell had 

received an A. B. from Michigan in 1866, an A. M. in 1869, and had 

served as assistant on the Michigan and Ohio surveys. The first annual appropriation for the Minnesota survey was only $1,000, but the State Geologist gained acceptance for the survey by undertaking work on the salt-spring 

lands, on which private industry was then making inroads, as the result of 

which a new law was passed in 1873, which transferred custody of the salt 

lands to the Board of Regents of the University. Winchell shrewdly stressed 

the economic applications of the work and put the reports of the survey in 

semi scientific language so that they could be widely understood, and the 

State survey had an exceptionally long life.

The rapid development of the economic resources of Pennsylvania, particularly coal, iron, and petroleum, led to the establishment of the second 

geological survey of Pennsylvania in 1874. The immediate motive for the 

survey was probably the clamor of the oil men in 1873 for a survey of the oil 

regions, for in that year, the annual production of petroleum increased from 

6 million to 10 million barrels and the price dropped from $4 to $2 a barrel, 

throwing western Pennsylvania into a state of intense excitement and the 

stock markets of the world into confusion. The law provided for the appointment of 10 commissioners with authority to appoint a State Geologist, who,

State Geological Surveys, 1870's 211
MAP 

or

TWIN LAKES 

bowing .<tj«e«*t MORAINES 

ARKANSAS VALIDITY,

}f*r«w Ifaeeanol*ft&n*e Survey

By Henrj Gannett.

Seal*. 

3. mile to X inch

!«./te.

with competent assistants, was to make such investigations as might be required to elucidate the geology of the State and put the results of this and 

previous work into convenient form. The commissioners appointed J. Peter 

Lesley, professor of geology at the University of Pennsylvania, as State Geologist, and the legislature provided sufficient funds ($105,000 for the first 

biennium) for a large staff. Among the assistants were Charles Alien, C. A. 

Ashburner, J. F. Carll, H. M. Chance, Persifor Frazer, F. A. Genth, and F. 

Prime, Jr. Systematic work began in the northwestern part of the State the 

oil regions.

The Economic conditions were at this time changing. In the fall of 1837, 

the nation was plunged into a financial panic of disaster proportions. Unbridled railroad speculation, especially in the field of construction; overexpansion in industry, agriculture, and commerce; and a contraction of European 

demand for U.S. farm products were all underlying causes, but the panic 

itself was triggered by the failure of the powerful banking firm of Jay Cooke. 

The panic was followed by half a dozen years of as dark depression as the 

country had known to that time.

Farmers and laborers were especially hard hit, and both these groups had 

grievances against the monetary system. For some time, the Treasury had 

been retiring greenbacks issued during the war, but national'bank notes were 

allocated on the basis of population and existing bank facilities which meant 

that most of them went to the Northeastern States. Greenbacks were the 

only real bank reserves available in the West. To cope with the depression, 

several measures were tried, including a reissue of some greenbacks. In 

April, Congress passed a bill to raise the amount of greenbacks and national 

bank notes to $400 million each, but Grant vetoed the measure. In a reversal 

of form, Congress then placed a ceiling on the greenbacks at the number 

then outstanding.

Congress was bombarded with information about irrigation in the spring 

of 1874. The commissioners appointed under the act of March 3, 1873, Lt.

The Twin Lakes area in Colorado at the base of the 

Sawatch Range near the mouth of Lake Creek gorge 

shows evidence of glacial action in the valleys. Hayden pointed out that the rounded form and cover of 

grass and vegetation on the ridges indicated the deposits were of loose materials, or moraines, and suggested that the valleys had been cut through the 

detrital mass after the end of the glacial period. 

(From F. V. Hayden, 1874.)

212 The Shifting Times, 1873-1874
Col. B. S. Alexander and Major George H. Mendell of the Corps of Engineers and George Davidson of the Coast Survey, prepared a 91-page report. 

"Irrigation is but little understood in this country," the commissioners 

concluded "either by our engineers, who must design, plan, lay out, and 

execute the works for that purpose, or by the farmers who are to use the 

water when it is brought alongside their farms." They found

that the experience of other countries appears to prove that no extensive system of irrigation can ever be devised or executed by the farmers themselves, in 

consequence of the impossibility of forming proper combinations or associations for that purpose; that while small enterprises may be undertaken by farmers in particular cases, it would not be in accordance with the experience of the 

world to expect of them the means or inclination to that co-operation which 

would be necessary to construct irrigating-works, involving large expenditures; 

that enterprises of this character, if built at all, must be built by the State or by 

private capital.

No comprehensive system for irrigation could be made without a complete 

instrumental survey made for that special purpose, so that the proper location, size, and height of the dams across the different rivers and streams 

could be determined as well as the alinement, size, and slope of the canals, 

and distributing ditches, and the country divided into different irrigating 

districts which would be more or less independent of each other.

The Commissioners remarked that

all such natural districts, because they are natural, cannot be altered by legislation, and their boundaries are independent of the artificial boundaries of a 

State, county, or township unless those boundaries follow the natural lines of 

drainage, or the divisions of drainage areas into different water-sheds.

The commissioners also thought

that it is the duty of the government, both State and national, to encourage 

irrigation, and the first step in that direction ought to be to make a complete 

instrumental reconnaissance of the country to be irrigated, embracing the 

sources from whence the irrigating-canals ought to commence, gauging the 

flow of the rivers and streams, and defining the boundaries of the natural districts of irrigation into which the country is divided. Then, when it is proposed 

to irrigate any particular district, an accurate topographical survey of that district should be made, so that the canal and other necessary works for its irrigation may be designed on an intelligent and comprehensive system, and in 

harmony with the neighboring canals, and these works executed in the most 

economical manner.

The commissioners proposed that

as a matter of public policy, it is desirable that the land and water should be 

joined together, never to be cut asunder; that the farmers should enjoy in perpetuity the use of water necessary for the irrigation of their respective lands; 

that when the land is sold the right to water shall be sold with it, and that neither 

should be sold separately.

Congress had already been warned that irrigation was no panacea for the 

arid West. On February 10. 1874, the Commissioner of Agriculture had 

supplied a report by George Perkins Marsh on Irrigation: Its Evils, the Remedies, and the Compensations, and by Senate resolution, 10,000 copies had been 

printed. The report was based on Marsh's new edition of The Earth and Man. 

Irrigation, Marsh said, was not cheap or easy, and it posed problems. Irrigation required reservoirs and artificial lakes, which sometimes burst their 

barriers and flooded the country below. Irrigation often exhausted the soil, 

produced hardpan, or concentrated lethal salts at the surface. Irrigation 

might multiply yields at the expense of nutritive value and flavor. Knowledge of western climates and soils was virtually nonexistent; no one knew 

how much land was irrigable, or whether enough water was available to 

make irrigation profitable. Water used for irrigation deprived adjacent lands 

of their normal supply, thus disturbing the balance of nature. Before any 

major irrigation works were begun, a comprehensive hydrographical survey

Irrigation Commission 213
should be made, which would show how much water each river basin received from rain, melting snow, and ground water; how much would be 

needed for agricultural, industrial, and domestic purposes; how much the 

supply could be augmented by water diverted from other areas; and the 

probable effects of such diversions.

Marsh also warned them that "acquisition of the control of abundant 

sources of water by private individuals may often result in the establishment 

of vested rights and monopolies liable to great abuse." Irrigation required 

large amounts of capital and thus tended to promote the accumulation of 

large tracts of land in the hands of single proprietors and to dispossess the 

smaller landholders. "We must look to our rulers for such legislation as shall 

prevent the greatest amount of evil and secure the greatest amount of good, 

from the introduction of a system so new to us." Marsh thought that a new 

water code was necessary to protect the rights of all and that only public 

ownership could solve western water problems.

On April 10, 1874, Senator John W. Stevenson of Kentucky filed a bill 

in the Senate to provide aid for geological and other surveys in the States by 

detailing Army officers to them. The bill was referred to the Committee on 

Military Affairs, which reported it adversely on April 28. Senator John A. 

Logan said that the Committee deemed it improper for the general Government to tender aid to the States until they requested it, and in fact that it 

was not "aware" that detailing officers would in any way aid the surveys, 

"as it is not to be presumed that their education for and duties as Army 

officers prepares them to compete with or furnish any valuable aid to those 

civilians in charge of these surveys who have devoted years of patient study 

to geology and the cognate sciences." The committee considered that such 

positions would be simple sinecures which would draw a number of officers 

from duties they were required by law to perform, and it expressed its firm 

conviction that it was detrimental to the usefulness and efficiency of the 

officers of the Army to have them constantly detailed for work not in their 

line of duty. Moreover, placing them in charge of works and surveys of a 

scientific character had a tendency to deter civilians from devoting their time 

and talent to investigations which, "if left to their own control, will not only 

redound to their own honor, but will be of great benefit to the public." 

The Committee also observed that if there were too many Army officers, 

other ways could be found to solve that problem.

On April 15, Mr. Lazarus Shoemaker of Pennsylvania proposed a resolution, which the House promptly passed, asking President Grant to supply 

information about the surveys operating west of the Mississippi and the practicability of consolidating them or of defining the geographic limits to be 

embraced by each.

The President replied on May 2, sending a message with his own views as 

well as the views of officers of the War and Interior Departments. Everyone 

was in favor of some sort of consolidation, although they did not agree under 

which department. The President said that there was no question that surveys for sectioning the public lands should be under the control of the Interior Department. Where the objective was to complete the map of the country or to collect information on the unexplored parts of the country, it 

mattered little which department had control; the choice should depend first 

on which department could do the work best and then on which one could 

do it most expeditiously and economically. Exploring expeditions needed 

military escorts, the Engineer Corps was composed of scientific gentlemen 

who had to be paid whether exploring or not, and so the President thought 

that his conditions could be best fulfilled by having the Army make the 

surveys. The Secretary of War naturally concurred efficiency and economy

214 The Shifting Times, 1873-1874
The geologic map of the Central City mining district in the Gilpin County area of Colorado shows 

that gneiss is the principal rock in area, except in 

the immediate vicinity of the mines, and that there 

are two sets of lodes, the more numerous striking 

east-west. Hayden commented that the small district was limitable at a glance by the perfect bareness of the hills in which the precious metals were 

found. Every particle of timber had been stripped 

from them whereas the surrounding hills were still 

forest covered. (From F. V. Hayden, 1874.)

would be the result of consolidating all such surveys, except the surveys 

under the General Land Office, under the War Department.

General A. A. Humphreys, the Chief of Engineers, said: "By placing all 

these surveys under one Department, there would be unity of plan, greater 

economy, and greater efficiency, and, as a consequence, more useful results 

for the same expediture." His main argument was a repetition of what he 

had written to Congressman Garfield, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, in February 1873, that the War Department had "superior claims" because "it has usually been intrusted with them, and possesses 

officers skilled in the operations which form the chief labors of the party 

skilled, too, in the application of the results of all the labors of the party to 

the great practical ends had in view in making the explorations, and trained 

to the command of men and of the troops that always form a part of such 

expeditions."

In the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior, Colmbus Delano, however, "all surveys which are made for the purpose of ascertaining the geological character, natural history, climatology, and mineral, agricultural, and 

other resources of the public domain, come entirely within the province and 

should be conducted under the direction of the Department of the Interior, 

as contradistinguished from those surveys which may be found necessary for 

purely military purposes, and which, from their very nature, should properly 

be conducted under the supervision of the War Department." Secretary 

Delano included under the purview of the Interior Department "Topography, so far as the latter may be necessary for the construction of accurate 

maps, whereon the several features above enumerated could be properly illustrated for the information of the people."

Professor Hayden also agreed that 'If the language of the resolution is 

designed to include only scientific and geographical surveys, which are intended to ascertain the value of the public lands, and to determine their 

character by ascertaining their geological features, mineral and agricultural

_ > - i--v jj*

cr=

CENTRAL CITY

MIKING

Controversy of 1874 215
resources, productions, and climate, in that case, as the land department is 

under the Department of the Interior and is one of the chief objects for which 

this Department was originally created, it certainly is proper that such surveys should be placed under its control and supervision." He was not as 

sure, however, that all the surveys should be under one head, or one bureau 

of that Department.

If a geologist is placed in charge of this bureau, which must necessarily be 

done if it is to be of any value, it at once gives him a feeling of security and 

ease, and he no longer looks upon his continuance in office as depending upon 

the results of his surveys. Such a system tends very strongly to crush out and 

destroy that scientific individuality from which the greater results have always 

been derived. It also destroys that healthy emulation which produces extra exertion, gives stimulus to energy, and a proper regard for expenses. There is no 

necessity for such a system in order to prevent conflict or duplication, if all the 

surveys of this character are placed under the supervision and control of the 

Secretary of the Interior.

Major Powell, whose survey was then under the Smithsonian Institution, 

took a more detached view. "There is now left within the territory of the 

United States no great unexplored region, and exploring expeditions are no 

longer needed for general purposes; their methods do not produce results 

sufficiently accurate to warrant their continuance for economic purposes, as 

the industrial interests of the country are not greatly subserved by them; nor 

are the results for scientific purposes of an importance commensurate with 

thei- expense. A more thorough method, or a survey proper, is now demanded." Such a survey would be important in connection with the construction of railroads and in determining the mineral resources of the country, but especially for determining areas that could be redeemed by irrigation. 

He had "no hesitancy" in saying that all surveys made for these general 

purposes should be under one Department, though he carefully expressed no 

preference. However, he said that if military explorations were needed for 

special reason, "It might be well to carry them on without regard to the 

general survey." Because opinion was divided, the House Committee on 

Public Lands held hearings, which lasted the better part of 2 weeks in May. 

Lt. Wheeler, who appeared first, said that his personal opinion was that the 

surveys could be consolidated under the War Department, but that he 

doubted whether the surveys could be limited geographically. "You can say 

that certain persons shall go here, and certain persons shall go there, but 

certain persons will always be doing different, and there never will be any 

harmony between them."

Professor Hayden said: "as a matter of course, that comparing the results, 

(which ought to be taken into consideration,) the civilian organization can 

do the work far more economically than the Army organization; *** As to 

defining the limits of each, that is a matter that I have never taken into 

consideration, neither do I very much care one way or the other." Hayden 

also thought that the land surveys of the Interior Department were more in 

detail and more accurate than other maps and said that there was "not a 

single square mile of the Rocky Mountain region sufficiently accurate and in 

detail on the engineer maps that we could use for geological purposes."

General Humphreys, in his appearance, said: "The geological survey is 

based upon surveys which determine the position and form of the surface of 

the earth. That is the more exact scientific survey which precedes the geological survey, and without which the geological survey would be of comparatively little value." In General Humphreys' opinion, the War Department 

was better prepared than any other for conducting the complete surveys, and 

he included as part of the War Department, the "gentlemen from civil life 

who are engaged with it." General Humphreys insisted that "The War 

Department and the officers of the Army are not in antagonism with the

216 The Shifting Times, 1873-1874
Wheeler considered that photographs had few uses, 

chiefly to show scenic features. The material data 

gathered from photographs, he remarked, applied 

only to geology and natural history in which "as is 

well understood, we are obliged to leave the field of 

exact science." He believed, however, that it might 

be possible to refine instruments and develop methods so that values could be given to measurements 

on photographs, and so wanted a photographic 

party permanently attached to his survey. The photograph of the canyon of Kanab Wash, from which 

this engraving was made, was offered as evidence of 

what could be accomplished in securing local profiles of peculiar structures. (From G. M. Wheeler, 

1874.)

science of the country, but have always maintained friendly and intimate 

relations with it, and Army officers have always been associated with the 

various scientific societies, and are not in an attitude of hostility toward 

them or the scientific institutions of the country; and I repudiate any intimation on the part of any one that the Engineer Department holds that 

position because it may not accede to the pretensions of a few who are not 

recognized as exponents of or authorities in the branches of science they are 

engaged upon." General Humphreys thought that if Congress directed that 

geographical limits be set, the heads of the War and Interior Departments 

could make the divisions of territory.

King did not testify. General Humphreys reported that he had "telegraphed Mr. Clarence King to ascertain if he could come here at once, but 

he has been quite unwell for some months past, and is absent by authority. 

He is now in San Francisco. Will be here toward the close of the month 

***." Humphreys went on, with some enthusiasm: "I have recently examined the maps and results of Mr. King's surveys, and if he were here he 

could give you a very interesting account of them. I mean those portions that 

are in an unfinished condition, but inasmuch as they are incomplete, and as 

gentlemen engaged in scientific investigations do not like to have their unControversy of 1874 217
Powell, more than any of the other leaders of the 

territorial surveys, displayed a facility for getting 

along with the Indians, as is shown in this photograph taken by J. K. Hillers in 1872. (From the 

files of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

finished partial results made known, I prefer to abstain from any statement 

in regard to them, except that I was very much impressed by the admirable 

manner in which he has executed his duties, and that I consider his work as 

of very high order."

Major Powell was called as the hearings went into the second week, and 

he tried to remain a little aloof from the main argument. His chief concern 

was with the methods or, rather, the efficiency of mapping. He had brought 

along a blackboard on which he could draw diagrams and proceeded to instruct the committee. The meander method, used by the Army, he dismissed 

as not accurate enough for geological purposes. There were two methods 

based on triangulation from a base line. Clarence King had used a base line 

determined by astronomic methods in the early part of the Fortieth Parallel 

survey but had abandoned it as not sufficiently accurate. The better method 

was triangulation from a measured base line, which had been King's final

218 The Shifting Times, 1873-1874
method, Powell's own method in northern Arizona and southern Utah, and 

Hayden's method during the past year. When questioned about the advisability of confining these expeditions under one head and the practicability of 

limiting them geographically, Powell finally took sides. The surveys made 

for scientific and economic purposes should be under one department, "and 

it seems to me that as these surveys relate to the lands and to the mineral 

resources of the country, they should be under the management of the Interior Department. I think they should be made by civilians rather than by 

military men. Even in those under military management civilians do the 

work. I think that the history of all these explorations will show that the 

major part of the work was done by civilians, and I think that those who do 

the work and who are responsible to the scientific men of the country should 

have charge and control of the work."

Major Powell in his testimony made a special plea for determining the 

areas that could be redeemed by irrigation. "All of the country west of the 

100th or 99th meridian, except a little in California, Oregon, and Washington Territory, is arid, and no part of that country can be cultivated, with the 

exceptions that I have mentioned; no part of it can be redeemed for agriculture, except by irrigation. When every spring, and stream, and body of 

water in all that region of country is taken out and used, less than three per 

cent, of the entire area will be under cultivation, so that, under the best 

circumstances, I believe that of more than two-fifths of the whole area of the 

United States not more than three per cent, can eventually be cultivated. 

Now, the extent and position of those areas that can be redeemed should be 

known." Then he gave warning that "Already the land surveys are being 

extended over broad districts of country which can never be settled, on which 

no drop of water can be had. Over the country which I have surveyed I have 

carefully noted the extent of the streams and the extent of the valleys that 

can be redeemed, and I have the data necessary for the construction of a map 

showing these facts."

He had spelled it out in a little more detail in the report he sent to 

Secretary Henry of the Smithsonian Institution on April 25.

One-third of the entire area of the United States is so arid that agriculture is 

dependent on irrigation, and within that same area it is not possible to redeem 

for agricultural purposes more than three percent, of all this territory, probably 

much less. The deposits of precious metals, ores, and other minerals are the 

chief incentives to the settlement of this country. With a proportion of area fit 

for agricultural purposes so small that the probable demand for the products of 

the soil by those who follow other pursuits will be greater than can be supplied 

by agriculturists, it is a matter of primary importance to determine the amount 

of water which can be used for irrigation, and the extent of the several districts 

to which these waters can be applied. Impressed with the importance of this, 

we have carefully examined the facts to determine the several districts of country which can be used for agricultural purposes within the territory embraced in 

the survey. In the mountainous regions where is found the maximum precipitation of moisture in this country, there are small elevated valleys, but they are 

too cold for successful cultivation, and are only valuable for summer pasturage 

and hay-fields. On the more elevated plateaus we find extensive grass-lands; 

they are also too cold for general agricultural purposes. On the lower plateaus 

and hilly countries the lands are desert wastes, often covered with drifting 

sands or surfaces of naked rock. A few valleys nestling along the rivers can be 

made available to the farmer.

Among those he listed were Henry's Fork, Brown's Park, a broad rich 

valley on the south side of the Uinta Mountains, the valley of the Uinta and 

its branches, and Gunnison Valley.

The Committee considered all the testimony, and the many memorials 

submitted in response to Professor Hayden's request, from college faculties 

and leading scientists, all favoring civilian control of the scientific surveys,

Powell on Irrigation, 1874 219
and concluded that "each of the surveying parties has been doing very excellent work for the benefit of the people and appropriate for the particular end 

it had in view." For the time being, they decided against consolidation, 

saying "There is an abundance of work for the best talent of both the War 

and Interior Departments in these scientific examinations of the Western 

Territories for many years to come, and the committee believe that at present 

it would not be of public benefit to place the whole of the surveys under one 

Department." But they gave warning that "The time is approaching, however, when it may be proper so to consolidate them, with a view to the 

making of a grand geographical, geological, and topographical map of the 

Territories worthy of the nation because of its accuracy and minuteness of 

detail; and the committee believe that they would be conducted most to the 

public interest by being placed under the control and guidance of the Interior 

Department." Thus, they concluded "that the surveys under the War Department, so far as the same are necessary for military purposes, should be 

continued; that all other surveys for geographical, geological, topographic, 

and scientific purposes should be continued under the direction of the Department of the Interior, and that suitable appropriations should be made by 

Congress to accomplish these results."

Hayden wrote jubilantly to Sir Archibald Geikie, the Scottish geologist: 

"I have had a hard struggle to gain a foothold in our Government and finally 

had to fight the entire War Department with President Grant at the head, 

but I conquered."

Professor Hayden's jubilation was premature. True, he received an appropriation of $95,000 in the Sundry Civil bill of June 23 and was instructed 

to continue his investigations westward toward the Green and Colorado Rivers. True, the Secretary of War ascertained from the Secretary of the Interior 

that the most southern limit of Dr. Hayden's survey had been the highest 

of the Spanish Peaks in southern Colorado and had then instructed Lieutenant Wheeler to confine his surveys to the area south of an east-west line 

through that peak except when necessary to connect his triangulation points. 

On May 1, however, Secretary Henry of the Smithsonian Institution had 

submitted to Congress a report on the Survey of the Colorado River of the 

West with an accompanying letter that said: "Professor Powell in his last 

year's survey completed the work for which the appropriations by Congress 

have been made. He now suggests the propriety of a further appropriation 

for one year, to enable him to connect his surveys with those of Clarence 

King on the north, and those of Dr. Hayden on the east. I have no hesitation 

in saying that this additional work is of importance, and that an appropriation for the purpose would be well applied. But whatever may be the determination of Congress on this point, in view of the valuable results already 

obtained at a comparatively small expense, I would respectfully and earnestly 

recommend that a sufficient appropriation be made to prepare a detailed 

report of the whole work." Congress in the Sundry Civil bill approriated 

$20,000 for completion of the Powell Survey under the Department of the 

Interior.

Before transferring to the Department of the Interior, Powell completed 

and delivered to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution the manuscript 

of Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and its Tributaries Explored in 

1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872 Under the Direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The contents included what was purported to be a journal 

of the exploration of the Green and the Colorado in 1869, an account of 

Powell's land exploration of 1870, and a report by A. H. Thompson on his 

trip to the mouth of the Dirty Devil in 1872. A second part contained 

Powell's geologic descriptions and discussion. The journal of the exploration

220 The Shifting Times, 1873-1874
is actually a composite of the two river trips, and the account of the land 

exploration of 1870 includes part of his exploration in the winter of 1871 

1872 in what is now Zion National Park. Neither account can be read as 

history, but they do make a good adventure story. There have been attempts 

to explain the discrepancies that he made these composites deliberately to 

heighten the romanticism, to make it appear that he had been in the area, 

before Wheeler, or to help obtain appropriations. There is also the possibility 

that he was hurried and careless. Under the Department of the Interior he 

would have new scope for his interests.

Exploration of the Colorado River 221
Chapter 12.

No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877

Geology has ceased to be mere intellectual play, a transcendental excursion 

into the charming world of planetary genesis, and become, instead of that, the 

slave of the economy; a guide to the treasures of force; a fosterer of the comfort 

of the mass of mankind; the fee'd expert of the Iron Manufacture; and a respected friend of money-makers on 'Change.

 J. Peter Lesley

Josiah Dwight Whitney, Sturgis-Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard, 

complained in the North American Review after only one field season, that no 

good had been accomplished by the congressional investigations; the work 

was going on exactly as before. The influence of the most eminent scientific 

men throughout the country had been exerted in favor of the continuance of 

the geographic work begun by Gardner for the Hayden survey because the 

maps issued by the Engineers were so defective and so far inferior to the work 

of the Fortieth Parallel Survey that it seemed inconceivable, when public 

attention was called to the fact, that the poorer work would not be stopped. 

It was something to be thankful for that the opposition of the Engineers had 

not succeeded in wiping out the appropriation made for the extension of the 

Coast Survey triangulation through the interior. Whitney was equally critical of the surveys by the General Land Office, which were "marked by the 

most serious defects, both of plan and execution." He did not allude, he 

said, to "the defective and even fradulent character of portions of the less 

important details" but to "the principal meridians, by which the rest of the 

work is co-ordinated," parts of which were miles away from where they 

ought to be. Whitney attributed to King the improvement in topographic 

mapping and also an advance in the methods and aims of the geologic work 

of the other surveys, especially Hayden's work. Powell's work he dismissed 

as a duplication of Hayden's. With his customary acerbity, he remarked 

that "It was probably admiration of Mr. Powell's pluck and endurance, as 

manifested in his at first almost unaided exploration of the canyons of the 

Colorado, which led Congress to encourage and adopt the work, rather than 

a knowledge of his having had any scientific training or peculiar fitness to 

be at the head of a topographical or geological survey."

Moreover, Whitney observed, it was chiefly through its connection with 

mining and the development of mineral resources that geology had acquired 

importance, especially in relation to the government. "But little has ever 

been done by any government to encourage scientific research where there 

was not some pretty direct practical result to be attained." The work of a 

geological survey should never be brought to a close. New facts found and 

new discoveries made, changes in commercial and financial conditions, new 

uses for old materials, accumulated experience and knowledge that shed new 

light on what was once obscure all these circumstances indicated that the 

time would never come when everything would be known in regard to the 

geology of an area.

No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877 223
The Department of the Interior had decided that the "one great object" 

of the Interior surveys was "the construction of suitable maps of the country 

surveyed for the use of the Government and of the nation, which would 

afford full information concerning the agricultural and mineral resources and 

other characteristics of the unexplored regions of our territorial domain," 

and that, to that end, a uniform plan for mapping should be followed. On 

July 1, 1874, Secretary Columbus Delano issued instructions for construction of an atlas of the territory of the United States west of meridian 99° 30'. 

The area to be covered was thus essentially the same as that being mapped 

by the Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian. The scale of the 

mapping, however, was to be 4 miles to the inch, the same as that used by 

the Fortieth Parallel Survey rather than the 8 miles to the inch chosen by 

Wheeler.

The instructions read:

As the area mentioned embraces the greater part of the arid region of the United 

States, and has within its limits the greater number of mining districts therein, 

it is necessary that the maps composing the atlas contemplated shall be on a 

scale of sufficient magnitude to exhibit all the important geographical and geological features of the country; and in order that the several parties working 

under the direction of this department may properly connect their work, that the 

progress made in their surveys may at all times be understood, and that the 

several surveys may be conducted on a uniform system, this plan has been 

adopted.

1st. There shall be two classes of maps, one known as 'General', the other 

as 'Special' maps, and the 'General' maps shall be subdivided into two classes, 

viz., 'Topographical' and 'Geological.'

2nd. The 'General' maps shall be on a scale of four miles to an inch or 1/ 

253,440. The sheets thereof shall be 26 inches long by 37 inches wide, including 

the border, and to be folded once. The area to be represented on each sheet 

shall be two and one-half degrees in longitude and one and one-fourth degrees 

in latitude.

The one hundredth and twelfth meridian shall be taken as the standard from 

which the maps are to be projected in an easterly and westerly direction, and 

the thirty-eighth parallel as the standard from which they shall be projected in 

a northerly and southerly direction; these lines forming the division lines between the atlas sheets adjacent thereto.

3d. Maps or charts of the second of 'Special' class may be constructed on 

other scales and embracing other areas, whenever it shall be found necessary 

for the purpose of properly representing mining districts, mineral, agricultural, 

pasture, or timber lands, or for other special purposes.

The instructions were, Hayden said, confirmation of what had been agreed 

on in his survey during 1873-

Hayden and Powell were also instructed to obtain the "necessary information for preparation of charts upon which would be indicated the areas of 

grass, timber, and mineral lands, and such other portions of the country as 

might be susceptible of cultivation by means of irrigation" and to "collect 

specimens of mineralogy, Indian art, &c. in order to enlarge, as far as possible, the collections of such articles now in the Smithsonian Institution, and 

which are designed for exhibition at the Centennial Exposition of 1876." 

Powell later claimed that the classification of the public lands originated in 

his survey, but this has not been demonstrated. He had at least stated that 

he had classified lands, although he had produced no maps. Marvine's report 

for Hayden in 1873 also had the elements of classification, however. The 

idea of collecting Indian objects for the Smithsonian Institution may well 

have come from Powell.

Hayden went back to Colorado to continue his survey, as specified by the 

appropriation law, "westward toward the Green and Colorado Rivers." In 

addition to the six parties of the previous year, there was a seventh, led by 

Hayden himself, to undertake special geologic and topographic investigations in the upper Arkansas Valley, where Wheeler's party had been en224 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877
countered the year before, in the Elk Mountains, and along the mountain 

front. The party under Marvine worked in North Park and the area immediately to the west. Gannett's party was assigned to northwestern Colorado, 

south of the Eagle and Grand Rivers and west to the territorial boundary. 

Alien Wilson was in charge of the party mapping in the San Juan Mountains.

The photographic party under Jackson went first to Middle Park, then 

worked its way southward, eventually to the San Juan Mountains. Jackson 

was persuaded by Captain John Moss, an itinerant miner, to take the route 

through the Mancos River valley to the La Plata region to see the Indian 

ruins and cliff dwellings. In October, the ancient ruins of Mesa Verde were 

sighted, and Jackson hauled his equipment up the cliff with the long ropes 

used for animals and succeeded in obtaining 40 negatives.

Cyrus Thomas was now in charge of the office, superintending the printing of reports. Hayden's publication plan had now "matured." Publications were to be divided into three principal classes: annual reports or reports 

of progress; miscellaneous publications on different subjects connected with 

the West; and more technical and matured results, in quarto form, for libraries and men of science. Publication of a series of bulletins was begun "for 

the purpose of giving the world, more rapidly than through the Annual 

Reports, the vast amount of new material which was constantly accumulating under the auspices of the Survey, and, in most, instances, demanding 

prompt publication."

The first bulletin was primarily a paper by Professor E. D. Cope On the 

Stratigraphical Relations and Vertebrate Paleontology of the Formations Which Represent the Pliocene Epoch, as at Present Understood, in Northeastern Colorado. It 

was based on material collected in the summer of 1873, and Professor Cope 

disagreed, politely enough, with Professor Marsh on several identifications. 

The second bulletin made history. That contained Cope's Review of the Vertebrata of the Cretaceous Period Found West of the Mississippi River. Hayden prefaced it with a note: "The article *** is one of no ordinary value. While I 

dissent from some of his views, I regard his researches as having a direct 

bearing on the solution of the problem to which I have repeatedly called the 

attention of geologists in my annual reports as the most important one in 

the geology of the western portion of our continent, viz: the relations of the 

Cretaceous and Tertiary periods to each other. I have always expressed my 

belief in the continuity of all the great formations from the Silurian to the 

present time, and that the highest privilege of the geologist is to discover 

the evidence that bridges over all chasms and obliterates all the lines of 

demarkation." He had asked both Lesquereux and Cope to make special 

studies. Cope had described a saurian which he identified as Cretaceous; 

nearby Lesquereux had identified the flora as Tertiary. Cope had concluded: 

"There is, then, no alternative but to accept the result that a Tertiary flora 

was contemporaneous with a Cretaceous fauna, establishing an uninterrupted 

succession of life across what is generally regarded as one of the greatest 

breaks in geologic time." That conclusion provided a problem that occupied the attention of many geologists for many years.

In the summer of 1874, Major Powell went back to the Uinta Mountains 

to continue the geologic investigations he had begun several years before. 

The Fortieth Parallel survey had already mapped the area, but he felt there 

were still other aspects to be covered. He was accompanied by C. A. White 

who made a systematic collection of fossils from localities where Powell had 

previously observed them. A. H. Thompson began mapping atlas sheets in 

southern Utah and adjacent parts of Arizona, using Kanab as a base of operations. E. E. Howell joined the Powell survey and continued his study of 

central Utah which he had begun the year before for the Wheeler survey.

Interior Department Surveys, 1874 225
The Hayden survey found the structure of the Elk 

Mountains of Colorado extraordinarily complex. W. 

H. Holmes attempted to explain it by showing the 

fold in relief on an outline map (left) and a series of 

sections (right) on the base of the Cretaceous. A 

combination of movements, principally lateral, he 

suggested, had produced a fold so abrupt that the 

beds were crushed and shattered and the severed 

edges shoved past each other. (From F. V. Hayden, 

1876.)

226 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877
Elk Mountains of Colorado 227
i - m>

' ^! '^,

A l*£* &--'-

Mx£i?v

*?,&:

In 1874, the Hayden survey discovered the Indian 

ruins at Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado. W. 

H. Jackson, accomplished with pen as with camera,

1' ^?i,,i v sketched the difficult climb. (From F. V. Hayden, ifl'»f \

A< . 1", 1876.)

The main parties of the Wheeler survey were organized and operated out 

of Pueblo, Colorado, in 1874, but most of the mapping was in New Mexico. 

The work became a completely connected survey on a geodetic base, and 

23,281 square miles were mapped. No systematic geologic work was done. 

Gilbert completed his report on the geologic work of previous seasons early 

in the year, and his employment ended on September 30. E. D. Cope and 

Oscar Loew did a little geologic work in connection with their paleontologic 

and mineralogic investigations. Wheeler also began a more systematic classification of the lands being mapped, sent a special photographic party to 

the Pueblo ruins, and collected a few Indian vocabularies.

228 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877
The Army sent out another expedition in 1874, accompanied by a geologist. By 1874, prospectors searching for gold began arriving in the Black 

Hills even though this area was part of the Sioux Indian Reservation and the 

Sioux were among the most warlike of the Plains Indians. Colonel George 

Custer was sent on a reconnaissance of the region, a reconnaissance which the 

Army stoutly maintained was not for the purpose of looking for gold. However, both Custer and the Engineer officer attached to his command asked 

permission to hire a geologist, and N. H. Winchell, professor at the University of Minnesota who also served as the State Geologist of Minnesota, 

accompanied the party. In midsummer, Colonel Custer sent back a despatch 

that "gold has been found at several places, and it is the belief of those who 

are giving their attention to this subject that it will be found in paying 

quantities."

The principal concerns of the Department of the Interior in 1874 were 

not the western surveys but the public lands and the Indian affairs. In the 

summer of 1874, the grain-growing areas of the Great Plains from Texas 

northward into Canada were devastated by a plague of locusts, or Rocky 

Mountain grasshoppers, the worst in many years. Homesteaders on the 

plains were also beginning to use wire to fence their fields; cattle rangers, 

who had been accustomed to open land and free access to water, and homesteaders began their long battle over use of the rangeland.

Quite apart from these problems, the destruction of American forests was 

then becoming a matter of concern. On the public lands, timber operators 

looking for a quick cutover and early departure had been among the chief 

offenders in preemption violations, but there was no way for them to acquire 

the land legally except at auction sales, and these were increasingly infrequent after passage of the Preemption and Homestead acts. At the annual 

meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 

1873, Franklin B. Hough read a paper On the Duty of Governments in the 

Preservation of Forests, and a resolution was adopted that a committee be appointed to memorialize Congress and several State legislatures on the importance of promoting the cultivation of timber and the preservation of forests.

In 1874, the Commissioner of the General Land Office, S. S. Burdett, 

said: "I fail to find, from the beginning of the Government to the present 

time, a single enactment of Congress providing any distinctive method for 

the disposal of that vastly extensive and proverbially valuable class of lands 

known as 'pine lands.' These lands are notoriously unsuited for general agricultural purposes, but have been held subject only to preemption and 

homestead entry." The Commissioner personally favored sale of the timber 

without the land but feared that administration of such a law would be 

expensive and open to corruption, so instead he recommended appraisal and 

sale of the lands at not less than the appraised value.

Treatment of the Indians who had been placed on reservations had become 

somewhat of a national scandal. Accusations of frauds in the Indian service 

had been investigated in both the 42d and 43d Congresses. The 42d Congress expressed surprise and regret; the 43d Congress reported that it had 

been unable to discover any evidence of fraud. In the fall of 1874, Prof. O. 

C. Marsh visited a promising fossil region south of the Black Hills. When 

he reached the Red Cloud Indian Agency, a short day's ride southeast of the 

Black Hills, he found the Indians there in an ugly temper. Red Cloud had 

been complaining to the soldiers about the poor quality of the rations and 

blankets that were issued to them, and he also poured his troubles into 

Marsh's sympathetic ear. Marsh promised help, and when he went to Washington in April 1875, for the National Academy of Sciences meeting, he 

took with him representative samples of the rations that Red Cloud had

Public Lands and Indian Affairs, 1874 229
given him and called on both the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and President Grant. Marsh found willing allies in the press of the country, and after 

a long and stormy summer of hearings, charges, and denials, both Secretary 

of the Interior Delano and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs resigned.

Congress had appropriated $95,000 for the continuation of the Geological 

and Geographical Survey of the Territories in 1875: for "the first division, 

under F. V. Hayden, in Colorado and such adjacent portions of Utah and 

New Mexico as were not explored in the preceding year, $75,000"; and for 

"the second division, under J. W. Powell, in Utah, $25,000." An additional $45,000 was appropriated for preparation of illustrations, $20,000 for 

Hayden and $25,000 for Powell.

Hayden continued his work in Colorado, completing the mapping of the 

southern and southwestern parts of the Territory and a 15-mile-wide belt of 

northern New Mexico and eastern Utah in order to complete quadrangles. 

There were seven parties as in 1874: Gardner was again in charge of triangulation; A. D. Wilson, in charge of the work in southeastern Colorado; W. 

H. Holmes, that in southwestern Colorado; and Henry Gannett that in the 

western or "Grand" region. For the topographic mapping that year, Hayden observed, experience had shown that a combination of the plane-table 

system, meander surveys, and triangulation was necessary to obtain the best 

results. Considerable attention was given to ethnology. Both Jackson and 

Holmes returned to Mesa Verde and made extensive surveys of the Mancos 

Valley. Hayden reported that "The prehistoric remains in the canons and 

lowlands of the Southwest are of great interest, and the study of them by 

Mr. Holmes was as complete as possible under the circumstances." In addition, a good collection of pottery and stone implements was made, and 

models of the major ruins were prepared for exhibition at the Centennial 

Exposition.

Powell had stated in his budget estimate that two-thirds of his funds, 

would be spent on topographic mapping, and A. H. Thompson continued 

mapping the Colorado Plateau from the base at Kanab. Howell had left to 

rejoin Ward's establishment at Rochester, but G. K. Gilbert accepted Powell's offer to join the Powell survey. Captain Clarence Dutton of the Ordnance Corps was also detailed from the Army at no expense to the Powell 

survey. Major Powell had proposed to Dutton the year before that he undertake the study of the High Plateaus, but Dutton had declined, "distrusting 

his own fitness for the work." In 1875, however, Powell renewed the proposal in such a way that Dutton felt refusal would seem ungenerous. Major 

Powell took the matter up with the Secretary of War, the General of the 

Army, and the Chief of Ordnance, all of whom approved, probably somewhat to Captain Dutton's surprise. Dutton was interested in science but not 

trained as a geologist. He had graduated from Yale, at 19, in I860, where 

he was a classmate of O. C. Marsh. He had joined the army as a volunteer in 

1862, and in 1864, he was transferred to the regular army with the rank of 

captain and assigned to the Ordnance Corps. After tours of duty at the Watervliet Arsenal near Albany, New York, where he came to know James 

Hall, and the Frankford Arsenal, near Philadelphia, where he became acquainted with the scientific community, Dutton had been assigned to Washington, D.C. There he promptly became active in the Philosophical Society 

and met Major Powell. Both Gilbert and Dutton spent the field season on 

the High Plateaus of Utah, where Gilbert had already done some work in 

the summer of 1872 as a member of the Wheeler survey. Powell himself 

returned for another season in the Uinta Mountains.

There were so many prospectors in the Black Hills in the summer of 1875 

that the Interior Department also sent out an expedition to examine the

230 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877
FIG. 154. FIG. 155.

FIG, 154, Lava bntte near Covero, K. Mex.

FIG. 155. Ideal cross-section of the same. B, Ba«alt; S, Cretaceous sandstone and shale.

FIG. 156.

FIG, 156. Black butte north of Covero, N, Hex.

Flo, 157, Ideal crosvKYtiou of the same. B, Basalt; S, Cretaceous shale and sandstone, 

give a restored section of the basalt.

The dotted lines

G. K. Gilbert, geologist for the Wheeler survey, 

recognized in two lava buttes near Covero, New 

Mexico, a similarity in origin and difference in erosion. (From G. M. Wheeler, 1875.)

region so a proper basis might be secured for negotiation of new treaties with 

the Indians. W. P. Jenney was appointed to undertake the work, with Henry 

Newton as assistant. Both Jenney and Newton were products of the Columbia School of Mines. Jenney had been employed as a mining engineer and 

geologist for private industry since graduation. Newton, who was a protege 

of Newberry's, had been with the Ohio survey. The party entered the region 

on June 3, 1875, with a large military guard, and returned to Fort Laramie 

on October 14. Jenney's preliminary report on the mineral resources of the 

Black Hills, accompanied by a map by V. T. McGillycuddy, the topographer, was published in the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 

1875, and the complete report on mineral wealth, climate and rainfall, and 

natural resources was published as a congressional document in 1876.

The prospectors did not wait for formal opening of Indian land. Despite 

the efforts of the military to keep them out, some penetrated the Black Hills 

and found gold in Deadwood Gulch. By the fall of 1875, more than 15,000 

prospectors were in the area, and two main camps had been set up at Custer 

City and Deadwood before the Indian Bureau began the task of negotiating 

new treaties with the Indians.

In the summer of 1875, there were two divisions of the Geographical 

Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, one again operating out of Pueblo, 

Colorado, and mapping in Colorado and New Mexico, the other operating 

out of Los Angeles and mapping mostly in California. Jules Marcou, long at 

odds with most American geologists, had replaced Gilbert as geological observer and made some studies of the geology of southern California. A. R. 

Conkling, a graduate of Sheffield Scientific School and a nephew of Senator 

Conkling of New York, also joined the Wheeler survey. Oscar Loew, in 

addition to geologic work, made some archeological studies and continued 

collecting Indian vocabularies. The Wheeler party further systematized its 

classification studies; some of the assistants, the Lieutenant reported, began 

"laying down upon the preliminary maps and *** tabulating the areas whose

Wheeler Survey, 1875 231
natural resources permit of use for agricultural, mining, grazing, and timber 

purposes as in contradistinction to those absolutely worthless, being arid and 

barren." Tabulated data for 13 atlas sheets were included in his annual 

report. A special party under Lieutenant Eric Bergland was also sent to determine the feasibility of diversion of the Colorado River of the West for 

purposes of irrigation. Bergland concluded that it could not be diverted at 

any point along its channel in the United States.

Former Senator Zachariah Chandler, one of the richest men in the State of 

Michigan and the undisputed boss of its Republican machine for many years, 

became Secretary of the Interior in the fall of 1875. Chandler had been one 

of the most radical of Radical Republicans. He had supported the Reconstruction Acts although he considered them too lax in some aspects, and his 

aggressive Republicanism was matched by his clamorous jingoism in regard 

to Great Britain. He was elected to the Senate in 1857 and for many years 

was chairman of the Commerce Committee, which handled the Rivers and 

Harbors bill. He had lost his Senate seat, however, in the wake of the great 

Democratic landslide of 1874.

In the annual report prepared shortly after he became Secretary, Chandler 

made passing reference to the report of the Indian Commissioners, only some 

of which he agreed with. However, he said that an early solution of the 

problem of the Black Hills was necessary.

The failure of the negotiations for the relinquishment of the Black Hills necessitates the adoption of some measures to relieve the Department of the great 

embarrassment resulting from the evident determination of a large number of 

citizens to enter upon that portion of the Sioux reservation to obtain the precious metals which the official report of the geologist sent out by the Department shows to exist therein. The very measures now taken to prevent the influx 

of miners into the Black Hills, by means of a military force in that neighborhood, 

operate as the surest safeguard of the miners against the attack of Indians. The 

Army expels the miners, and, while doing so, protects them from Indians. The 

miners return as soon as the military surveillance is withdrawn and the same 

steps are taken again and again.

With regard to the problems of the public lands, the Secretary invited 

attention to the report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. 

Commissioner Burdett reported that the quantity of land disposed of under 

the homestead and timber culture laws had been much less than in the preceding year. He attributed the decline to the grasshopper plague, the 

drought, the falling off of emigration, and the general business depression. 

However, he predicted a steady diminution in the future because "in the 

localities most desirable for homestead settlement, on account of the general 

fertility of the soil and the presence of conditions necessary to the honest 

observance of the requirements of the law, the lands, to a large extent, have 

passed to private ownership." Burdett pointed out that

Legislation and executive practice have heretofore been suggested and controlled by the physical and climatic conditions prevailing between the eastern 

boundary of the State of Ohio and the central portions of the State of Kansas 

and Nebraska, covering the valleys of the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri Rivers, and extending from the eighty-first degree to the ninety-fifth degree of west longitude. This is well classified as the 'fertile belt' of the continent. To this region, agricultural in its every feature, both the exactions of the 

homestead and pre-emption laws in the matter of residence and cultivation 

upon the tract entered, and the limitation of quantity allowed to be taken by any 

one person, are of undoubted applicability. Beyond and westward of this belt, 

or in all that section lying between the one hundredth meridian on the east, and 

the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada Mountains on the west, and, within these 

limits, from the Mexican line on the south to the international boundary on the 

north, a totally different set of conditions, geographical, physical, and climatic, 

are found to exist. Within this vast area agriculture, as understood and pursued 

in the valley of the Mississippi and to the eastward, has no existence. Irrigation

H

10

Gilbert was the first to apply formal names to Grand 

Canyon rock units, saying "it was found convenient * * * to attach local names to the more important subdivisions." Units 1, 2, and 3, constituting an upper terrace, were called the Aubrey 

Group; units 4, 5, and 6, the Redwall Group; and 

7, 8, and 9, the Tonto Group. (From G. K. Gilbert, 1875.)

232 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877
is indispensable to production. That there are limited areas within which by its 

aid crops are and may be secured is true, but the proportion of land within the 

area now treated of, which, under the present system of disposal, can by this 

means be made productive is insignificant.

The Commissioner said that throughout most of the area, title could not 

be obtained honestly under the homestead laws. Vast areas were suitable for 

grazing, but such use was impracticable when only a quarter section could 

be obtained and cultivation was required. The Land Office recommended 

that the land be sold.

President Grant visited the West in the autumn of 1875, and in his 

message to Congress on the State of the Union in December, he recommended the appointment of a Joint Commission to visit the West and make 

recommendations concerning disposition of the public lands. The 44th Congress, elected in November 1874, met in December 1875 for its first session, with little prospect of accomplishing any significant lawmaking. The 

Democrats had won firm control of the House, but the Senate, elected by 

legislatures, remained Republican, and it was a presidential election year. 

The House Democrats decided upon an investigation of the Grant administration as its contribution. A. S. Hewitt, one of the new Congressmen, was, 

because of the unusual circumstances of his election, one of the House leaders. He had been urged to enter politics in New Jersey and took the unusual 

step of transferring his legal residence from Ringwood, New Jersey, to New 

York City, where he lived half the year to avoid entering New Jersey politics. 

In New York, however, Samuel J. Tilden, whom he had aided in the overthrow of the Tweed Ring in 1872, was running for Governor, and Hewitt 

found himself nominated for Congress so he could be Tilden's principal 

lieutenant in Washington, while Tilden himself, with his eye already on the 

Presidency, was in Albany.

The Democrats had counted on exposing a certain amount of laxity and 

extravagance in the Grant administration. Instead they brought to light 

scandal after scandal of a magnitude that shocked the Nation. The Whisky 

Ring which involved Grant's private secretary had already been exposed, 

but the House investigation implicated the Secretary of War, and a resolution of impeachment was passed. Hewitt himself was involved in the investigation of the Emma mine scandal in which former Senator Stewart of Nevada and the American minister to Great Britain were exposed as profiting 

from favors rendered while British investors were fleeced of about £, 2million. 

The year 1876 was the centennial of American independence, and a year 

of celebration. The Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the greatest celebration of the United States of America, opened on May 10. President 

Grant spoke at the opening-.

One hundred years ago our country was new and but partially settled. Our necessities have compelled us to chiefly expend our means and time in felling 

forests, subduing prairies, building dwellings, factories, ships, docks, warehouses, roads, canals, machinery. Most of our schools, churches, libraries, and 

asylums have been established within a hundred years. Burdened by these 

great primal works of necessity, which could not be delayed, we have yet done 

what this Exhibition will show in the direction of rivaling older and more advanced nations in law, medicine, and theology; in science, literature, philosophy, and the fine arts. Whilst proud of what we have done, we regret that we 

have not done more.

Then he pushed the lever that started the great Corliss engine in Machinery 

Hall, and soon all 13 acres were clattering and humming with the noise of 

revolving machines.

The Corliss engine was the star attraction of the Exhibition, but there 

were other marvels: a lamp that burned electricity, a typewriting machine, 

Alexander Graham Bell's telephone. Professor Francis Walker of Yale, who

The Centennial Year, 1876 233
 ,._ * *?*-^

~ ln^^-^e^'-as^^t^

234 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877
was on the jury of awards, found it a liberal education. The Smithsonian 

Institution had a colorful display of Indian objects, including some collected 

by the Interior Department surveys.

For the Centennial Year, when many foreign visitors were expected to 

attend its meetings, the AIME had chosen Congressman Hewitt as President. At a special meeting in Philadelphia during the week of June 19, he 

reviewed. "A century of mining and metallurgy in the United States." He 

had repeatedly predicted that the United States would soon wrest the leadership in production of iron and steel from Great Britain, and in his 1876 

address, he predicted that annual world production would double in the next 

17 years, and that this would come about largely through development in 

the United States. By the turn of the century, the United States would be 

producing 40 million tons of iron ore and 100 million tons of coal annually, 

which would require an investment of not less than half a billion dollars.

These statements were greeted with a certain amount of incredulity. Other 

statements received a mixed reaction. The United States had reached its 

present state of development of mineral resources, "a point at which for coal,

C

The section of the wall in the Grand Canyon in 

Powell's report is more graphic, and thus more intelligible to the layman, than J. S. Newberry's or 

G. K. Gilbert's. Powell shows only three groups,^ 

AA being the lowermost granite, BB a series of nonconformable beds which he later named the Grand 

Canyon Group, and CC, which he identified merely 

as the overlying horizontal beds. (From J. W. Powell, 1875.)

Powell's report on his exploration of the Colorado 

River was published in 1875. Aside from being the 

purported journal of the trip it was to a large extent 

a treatise on denudation of the land. The American 

4 Journal of Science said that never was the subject 

more appropriately and grandly illustrated. H. H. 

Nichols of the Smithsonian Institution prepared 

many of the illustrations, including this bird's-eye 

view of the Grand Canyon looking east from Grand 

Wash with its somewhat whimsical identifications: 

one bird, Echo Cliffs; two birds, Kaibab Plateau; 

three birds, To-ro-weap Cliffs; four birds, Hurricane Ledge; five birds, Shi-vwits Plateau. (From J. 

W. Powell, 1875.)

A Century of Mining and Metallurgy 235
An Anticlinal Valley, with section

A Diaclinal Valley

A Cataclinal Valley

iron, gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc, we are independent of the world, 

with abundant capacity to supply as well our growing wants, as to export 

these blessings of civilization to other and less favored lands" without Government control of the mining industry. This was in contrast to other nations 

with their elaborate mining codes and administrative bureaus, where one of 

the miner's commandments was "Thou shalt not waste wantonly or ignorantly the resources which, once exhausted, will never grow again." Americans had wasted as much as they liked, and no one had interfered, but there 

was a growing consciousness of the need for conservation of natural resources. 

Conservation of mineral wealth was so great an end that governmental action 

might even be proper, though Hewitt personally believed in restricting the 

functions of Government as much as possible. Before that became necessary, 

he hoped that forces already at work might combine to bring about the 

desired end. One was the spread of knowledge on the subject, especially 

through the western surveys and the reports on mining statistics. "The government," he conceded, "has not done too much in this direction; it seems

A Synclinal Valley

H. H. Nichols' drawings of valleys adds a third 

dimension to the diagrams of Henry Darwin Rogers 

(p.99-101). (FromJ. W. Powell, 1875.)

236 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877
In the Uinta Mountains, which Powell described as 

"a down-turned wrinkle, or, in the language of the 

geologist, a synclinal fold," the fold has been cut 

off, and the upturned edges of the formations exposed. The softer formations have been eroded, 

leaving irregular valleys between intervening ridges 

of harder rocks which were called hogbacks. (From 

J. W. Powell, 1875.)

to me that it should continue this most necessary and proper work in a more 

systematic and uniform way." (Hewitt's other great force was the development of corporations, of which he had a rather idealistic view derived from 

his own management experience. He envisioned it as a combination of capital derived from an unlimited number of small investors, including the 

workers themselves, managed by a few for the benefit of all. "In its perfect 

and ultimate development," he said, "it embodies the Christian idea of 

'having all things in common,' yet rendering unto Caesar the things that 

are 'Caesar's.' " The conditions that made the existence of great companies 

a necessity as well as a possibility imposed on them certain duties and responsibilities. To begin with, he proposed that the coal companies set aside 

a fixed sum for each ton of coal mined to pay for improving the social, moral, 

and intellectual conditions of the miners and their families. Hewitt himself, 

it must be noted, kept the Trenton mills open all during the depression so 

that the workers were employed although the company lost money.)

In the summer of 1876, a crisis in the money market was brought on by 

the changing market values of gold and silver. The United States had demonetized silver in 1873 when the price of silver was high, but a month 

after that law was passed, a new body of paying ore was discovered in one of 

the Comstock mines in Nevada, so rich that it became known as the Big 

Bonanza, and the price of silver began to decline. The change to the gold 

standard in Europe put pressure on the gold market, and by 1875, the 

change in the previous ratio of market values of gold and silver became

marked.

On the last day of the session, Congress passed a joint resolution establishing a special commission of three Senators, three members of the House of 

Representatives, and experts, not exceeding three in number, to be selected 

by and associated with them, to inquire into the change which had taken 

place in the relative value of gold and silver and the consequences thereof, 

the policy of the restoration of the double standard in the United States and, 

if restored, what the legal relation between silver and gold coins should be, 

and the policy of continuing legal-tender notes concurrently with the metallic standards. The commission was also to look into the best means of providing for facilitating the resumption of specie payments and to submit a 

report to Congress no later than January 15, 1877.

Monetary Crisis of 1876 237
The Comstock was regarded as the chief culprit, and even the British 

silver commission in 1876 devoted considerable attention to its probable 

output. The Congressional commission, after an extensive investigation, 

however, concluded that reports of the Comstock wealth had been exaggerated.

Similar bodies of nearly equal extent had been previously discovered and exhausted in the Spanish-American silver lodes and in the Comstock lode, without attracting universal attention or arousing universal fear that the commerce 

of the world was about to be deluged by a flood of silver, but in the present 

instance, through persistent and infectious exaggeration in respect to the extent and richness of the new ore body, the most visionary expectations and 

unwarranted fears became universally epidemic. The estimates of the value of 

the ore in sight ranged from $300,000,000 to five times that amount, all of which 

was generally believed to be in silver.

The Commission's own investigation had shown that the total product of 

the Big Bonanza in the 4 years it had been worked was not more than $52.5 

million and that 45 percent of it was gold.

A crisis of a different kind was caused by the eager miners who arrived in 

numbers at the Black Hills too large to be held back. For 10 years, the Sioux 

and Northern Cheyenne had been fighting desperately to preserve their hunting grounds on the Great Plains. The Black Hills were holy ground, which 

the Government had promised to retain for them inviolate, so the Indians,

238 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877

Powell's report on his exploration of the Colorado 

River was published in 1875. Part of it purported 

to be the journal of the trip, and for this part 

Thomas Moran prepared many illustrations, some of 

them fanciful of events he had not witnessed, some 

of them of scenery, such as this one of the Gate of 

Lodore, which may be compared with the engraving 

made from Timothy O'Sullivan's photograph on 

page 170. (FromJ. W. Powell, 1875.)
under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, prepared to strike back. Early in June 

1876, Colonel Custer was sent from Bismarck to disperse the Indians, and 

on June 25, he and his entire command were killed in a battle on the Little 

Big Horn River. At the end of October, U.S. troops finally defeated Sitting 

Bull and Crazy Horse, and the Indians were forced to give up their claims to 

the Black Hills area. The mining had proceeded irregardless of the Indians, 

and both placer and lode claims were established.

The work of the Fortieth Parallel Exploration was now almost completed. 

Zirkel's memoir on microscopic petrography was published as Volume VI 

and was followed by Volume IV on paleontology. Volume II on descriptive 

geology, by Emmons and Hague, was completed, and King's own report on 

systematic geology was well along.

King was invited by Daniel Oilman, president of the new Johns Hopkins 

University, to lecture there as a nonresident professor. This was a signal 

honor for one of his youth, for Oilman had set about gathering a faculty who 

were not only able lecturers but also researchers. King discussed the matter 

with Oilman in March but felt that he was not free to accept until other 

commitments were filled. In April, King was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, becoming its youngest member.

In May, King had a fling at politics, joining the Republican Reform Club 

of New York, along with Carl Schurz, Charles Francis Adams, and others 

who hoped to bring about an improvement in the Federal service. His enthusiasm soon flagged, however, for he was not really interested in practical 

politics.

In August, Thomas Henry Huxley, the English biologist, arrived in the 

United States to give a series of lectures on evolution and the major address 

at the formal opening of Johns Hopkins University in September. Huxley 

spent a week with Professor Marsh at Yale, engrossed "in birds with teeth, 

and reptiles without 'em, to say nothing of other palaeontological wonders." 

The collection, he wrote his wife, was "the most wonderful thing I ever 

saw." One of his lectures was to be on the genealogy of the horse, which he 

had already written about on the basis of European specimens. After seeing 

Marsh's specimens, he abandoned his own conclusions in favor of Marsh's.

Huxley also met with King, and in accordance with King's request wrote 

to him with regard to the toothed birds: "It is of the highest importance to 

the progress of biological sciences that the publication of this evidence, accompanied by illustrations of such fulness as to enable palaeontologists to 

form their own judgment as to its value, should take place without delay." 

King wrote to General A. A. Humphreys, the General agreed, and a seventh 

volume was added to the reports of the Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, 

a monograph on Odontornithes, the extinct toothed birds of North America. 

It was a triumph for all involved. General Humphreys demonstrated the 

Engineers' interest in pure science, King secured publication of important 

documentation, and Marsh, who had published innumerable short papers, 

had an opportunity for an extensive work with ample illustrations.

With all the investigations and other matters, Congress was delayed in 

passing appropriations bills in 1876, and consequently the field season was 

short. Lieutenant Wheeler again had two divisions in the field, one operating 

out of Fort Lyon in Colorado and mapping in Colorado and New Mexico, 

the other operating out of Carson, Nevada, and mapping in California and 

Nevada. A. R. Conkling with the western party mapped the geology of an 

area around Lake Tahoe and another near Carson City, but no geologic work 

was done by the eastern party.

On July 31, $65,000 was appropriated for continuation of the Hayden 

survey and $30,000, including $10,000 for preparation of illustrations, for

Clarence King's Year, 1876 239
240 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877
Completion of the final reports of the King survey 

became possible when reports were received from 

the paleontologists. "It is the misfortune of geology," King had complained, "to be more or less 

dependent on this branch of specialists. Without 

their specific determinations, the geological maps, 

even, cannot receive their ultimate color-designations, nor can reports, which, like ours, involve a 

wide range of stratigraphy, be safely written." 

Meek identified Conocoryphe kingii (now Elrathia 

kingii) as Lower Silurian, probably from the Primordial zone. King, who preferred to follow the English 

nomenclature rather than American usage at that 

time, called the Pogonip limestone, in which it was 

found, Cambrian. (From F. B. Meek, 1877.)

completion of the Powell survey. Hayden went back to Colorado, which 

became a State on August 1, to complete the work there. The area of investigation in 1876 was in the extreme northwestern part of the State, far 

remote from settlements and among hostile bands of Ute Indians who had 

attacked three of the parties the previous year. J. T. Gardner had left in the 

fall of 1875 to become Director of the New York State Museum; Alien 

Wilson became chief topographer and took over the work of primary triangulation. Henry Gannett directed the Grand River division, with A. C. 

Peale as geologist; G. B. Chittenden directed the White River division, with 

F. M. Endlich as geologist. The Yampah division worked in the district 

between the Yampa and White Rivers and between the Green River and the 

subordinate range west of and parallel to the Park Range. That party was 

directed by G. R. Bechler, and Dr. C. A. White accompanied it as geologist. All three parties extended their work beyond Colorado into Utah.

W. H. Holmes accompanied the triangulation party in a quick trip 

through Colorado, touching also parts of New Mexico and Utah, which gave 

him a splendid view of the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations. He also 

visited the Sierra Abajo, a small group of mountains in eastern Utah, where 

he found that the structure was identical with that of four other isolated 

groups in the same region. A wedgelike mass of trachyte had been forced up 

through fissures in the sedimentary rocks and caused a considerable amount 

of arching of the sedimentary rocks. Both Holmes and W. H. Jackson revisited the Indian ruins to continue their investigations.

Hayden reported that

excellent progress has been made in the report on the general geology of the 

country west of the 94th meridian. It is the intention of the survey to discuss the 

geology of the portions of the West which have been reported on either by the 

parties under my charge or by others. It is believed that there is a remarkable 

unity in the geological structure of the entire area; that although formations of 

the same age have received a great variety of local names, they will be so correlated that a single system of classification will include all.

In order to show that unity, he planned a map of the country west of the 

94th meridian on a scale of 12 miles to the inch.

The work of the season of 1876, shows very clearly the harmonious relations 

of the various groups of strata over vast areas, that although there may be a 

thickening or a thinning out of beds at different points, they can all be correlated 

from the Missouri River to the Sierra Nevada basin. The fact, also, that there is 

no physical or paleontologies! break in these groups over large areas from the 

Cretaceous to the Middle Tertiary is fully established. The transition from marine to brackish water forms of life commences at the close of 

the Cretaceous epoch, and, without any line of separation that can yet be detected, continues on upward until only pure fresh-water forms to be found. Dr. 

White, an eminent paleontologist and geologist, says that the line must be 

drawn somewhere the Cretaceous and Tertiary epochs, but that it will be strictly 

arbitrary, as there is no well-marked physical break to the summit of the Bridger 

group.

That statement posed a problem that geologists argued about for the next 

25 years.

There was little evidence in the activities of the Powell survey of any effort 

to complete the work as called for by Congress in making the appropriation. 

A. H. Thompson continued his triangulation, and the two topographic parties under J. H. Renshawe and Walter H. Graves continued their mapping. 

Clarence Dutton continued his study of the igneous rocks of southern Utah, 

and G. K. Gilbert began a detailed study of the Henry Mountains, which 

he had briefly examined the year before and which he thought contained 

some new kind of intrusion.

Gilbert had assumed the role, if not the title, of chief geologist of the 

Powell survey. For the American Journal of Science, he explained that "As a

Hayden and Powell, 1876 241
a.

a. OroMppus (Eocene);; &» MieMyypns (Miocene)) c. ffiyparion (Pliocene); d. 

I (Quaternary),

field for the studies of the geologist, the Plateau province offers valuable 

matter in an advantageous manner." Because of the climate and the drainage, 

rocks were exposed with exceptional thoroughness; there was little vegetation or glacial debris to obscure them. Thus stratigraphy, erosion, mountain 

building by displacement, and mountain building by eruption could all be 

investigated. When Powell's Uinta Mountains report was published later in 

the year, the American Journal of Science reprinted a few pages from it on 

"types of orographic structure" because, as Dana put it, "the views were 

only partly those adopted by Mr. Gilbert."

Powell himself had turned his attention wholly to ethnography. "In pursuing these ethnographic investigations," he wrote, "it has been the endeavor as far as possible to produce results that would be of practical value in 

the administration of Indian affairs, and for this purpose especial attention 

has been paid to vital statistics, to the discovery of linguistic affinities, the 

progress made by the Indians toward civilization, and the causes and remedies for the inevitable conflict that arises from the spread of civilization over

Invertebrate paleontology had been an essential part 

of stratigraphic geology, but vertebrate paleontology at this time was still a biologic science, a branch 

of morphology or comparative anatomy. Dinoceras 

mirabilis, the giant dinosaur, and Hesperornis regain, 

the bird with teeth, were curious creatures from the 

past, and "birds with teeth!" became a Congressional battle cry in later years as the symbol of useless scientific studies. Marsh was one of the first to 

appreciate the value of vertebrate paleontology for 

stratigraphic purposes, and his study of the modification of the limbs of a horse is related to the passage of geologic time. (Dinoceras, O. C. Marsh, 

1873; foot of horse, O. C. Marsh, 1874; Hesperornis 

regalis, O. C. Marsh, 1875.)

242 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877
a region previously inhabited by savages." He himself was making a classification of Indian tribes. In October 1876, he suggested to Secretary Joseph Henry that the Smithsonian Institution turn over to him for publication 

its material on Indian languages, and Secretary Henry agreed promptly "in 

accordance with the general policy of the Smithsonian Institution of doing 

nothing with its income which can be equally well done by other means."

The presidential election may have been the most exciting event of 1876. 

Both major nominating conventions were held in June. The Republicans 

met first and nominated Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio for President. Up to the final balloting, the leading candidate had been the Speaker 

of the House, James G. Blaine, but he had been accused before a House 

Committee of using his position for personal gain only a short time before 

the convention. The Democrats met later in the month and nominated Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York, who had gained a national reputation 

for his role in reforming New York City government.

In July, A. S. Hewitt was elected Chairman of the Democratic National 

Committee, which meant that he would be Tilden's campaign manager. He 

was also the favorite candidate for nomination to succeed Tilden as Governor 

of New York but was ineligible because his New York residence dated only 

from 1874. He was therefore nominated for a second term in Congress. 

Secretary of the Interior Chandler was the Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

In the November voting, Tilden received a majority of the popular vote 

and apparently of the electoral vote also. The New York Times refused to 

concede the election, although other newspapers had done so. If Hayes won 

Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana, he would win. Secretary Chandler 

was aroused from sleep, hasty telegrams were despatched to Republican 

chairmen in those three States, and on the following day the New York Times 

and Secretary Chandler announced that Hayes had been elected by one electoral vote. In December, two sets of returns were reported from these three 

States and also from Oregon, which had already been counted as a Republican victory. To resolve the problem Congress on January 26, 1877, established an Electoral Commission to consist of 15 members: 3 Republicans and 

2 Democrats from the Republican Senate, 2 Republicans and 3 Democrats 

from the Democratic House, and 5 justices of the Supreme Court (2 Republicans, 2 Democrats, and 1 Independent). On the very day that the Electoral 

Commission became law, however, the Independent judge was elected to the 

Senate by his State legislature and promptly resigned from the Supreme 

Court. His place was taken by a Republican.

With the intense interest and effort going into the decision on the presidential election, congressional attention on other matters was somewhat desultory. Commissioner James A. Williamson of the General Land Office 

stressed the problems of the arid lands in his first report in the fall of 1876. 

Williamson, who had succeeded Burdett in June 1876, was personally familiar with these problems. Formerly an Illinois lawyer, he had acquired an 

active interest in western lands after the Civil War and had preempted a 

quarter section in Utah. Williamson repeated Burdett's recommendation 

that the arid lands be offered for cash purchase, adding that all or nearly all 

the water that could be diverted for irrigating purposes by individual enterprise or by small corporate captal had already been so diverted and used. 

Large streams could be used for irrigation but only by companies with a 

large amount of capital, and neither companies nor individuals would engage 

in such enterprises when they could not acquire title to the land. A bill was 

introduced in Congress in December 1876 and passed in the closing days of

Election of 1876 243
the session, being approved on March 3, 1877. The Desert Land Act authorized individuals to acquire 640 acres at 25 cents an acre, provided the 

land was irrigated within 3 years. Commissioner Williamson said the law 

could not be put into effect.

As the depression was well into its fourth year, Congress was in a mood 

for economy. Early in January 1877, Powell wrote several letters asking help 

in getting another appropriation. Professor Newberry wrote promptly to 

Congressmen Garfield and Hewitt, suggesting that if retrenchment must 

come, it should fall on Hayden rather than Powell. The Appropriations 

Committee in reporting out the Sundry Civil Expenses bill reduced the appropriation for continuation of the Hayden survey to $50,000 and recommended only $20,000 for completion of the Powell survey, including preparation and publication of reports. When the matter first came up on the 

floor on February 21, only a few members were present. (The presidential 

election had not yet been decided. The Electoral Commission had voted on 

two sets of returns from the States; two more remained.) After a gentleman 

from California delivered his opinion that the surveys had taken some stereoscopic views that were useful for young gentlemen to amuse young ladies 

with but had accomplished nothing else for the public good, action on the 

appropriation was hastily deferred. The argument had been chiefly on the 

merits of the Hayden survey in relation to public-land surveys, and the Powell survey was not mentioned.

A few days later, the appropriation for the General Land Office came up 

for consideration, and Congressman Peter Wigginton of California proposed 

several amendments: to abolish the office of surveyor-general of the several 

States and Territories, to transfer the records and management to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and to make changes in the surveys of 

the various classes of public lands. All went out on points of order.

When the appropriation for the scientific surveys came up, Congressman 

Ames Townsend of Ohio, who had been absent from the floor on February 

21, proposed an increase to $75,000 in Hayden's appropriation, and the 

House accepted his amendment. Then Congressman Adlai Stevenson of Illinois proposed that Powell be given $50,000, and that amendment was also 

passed. The Senate accepted the House version of these appropriations.

The final vote by the Electoral Commission was taken on February 28, 

and on March 2, Hayes was declared elected. Southern Democrats had been 

induced to support the Commission's decision by Republican promises that 

Federal troops would be withdrawn from the South, that at least one Southerner would be appointed to the Cabinet, and that substantial appropriations 

would be made for internal improvements in the South. To make sure that 

Hayes honored the agreement, the House refused to pass the Army Appropriations bill. The Sundry Civil Expenses bill was passed, however, and 

signed by President Grant on March 3, 1877.

Washington was tense on the weekend of March 3 and 4, fearful of an 

armed rebellion against the decision of the Electoral Commission. Hayes 

took the oath of office privately on Saturday, March 3, and again publicly 

on March 5, and nothing untoward occurred. On March 5, he appointed 

David M. Key of Tennessee as Postmaster General, and in April he withdrew 

the last Federal troops from the South. The end of the reconstruction period 

had finally come.

244 No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877
Chapter 13.

The Importance Which Geology Now Has,

1877-1878

It is chiefly through its intimate connection with the art of mining and the 

development of the mineral resources of the country that geology has acquired 

the importance which it now has and especially in its relation to the state.

 Josiah Dwight Whitney

In accepting the nomination, Hayes had stated that, after the withdrawal 

of the troops from the South, the main object of his administration would 

be the restoration of the civil service, and at the first meeting of the Cabinet 

he asked Secretaries Evarts and Schurz to draw up rules to govern appointments in the executive departments. The appointments of William Evarts as 

Secretary of State and Carl Schurz as Secretary of the Interior had been particularly bitter pills for some of the Republican hierarchy. Senators Conkling 

and Blaine had been rival candidates for the presidential nomination in 

1876, and Blaine might have won if Senator Conkling and Secretary Chandler had not thrown support to Hayes in order to thwart his chances. Conkling was particularly outraged, therefore, by the selection of Evarts, a New 

Yorker whom he especially disliked, as Secretary of State. Chandler, among 

the most radical of Radical Republicans, was more than upset by the appointment of Carl Schurz, one of the original Liberal Republicans, to his 

own post as Secretary of the Interior. The withdrawal of troops from the 

South had not set well with some of the Senators; the active espousal of civil 

service reform was the last straw.

The new Secretary of the Interior, Carl Schurz, had been born in Germany 

in 1829 but had been forced to flee the country because of his involvement 

in the revolution of 1848. He had eventually migrated to the United States. 

In 1856, he settled in Wisconsin, where he became active in politics and 

helped organize the Republican party. During the Civil War he had served 

in the UnionArmy, with the rank of brigadier and then major general, and 

was accounted one of the better of the political generals. In 1869, he was 

elected to the Senate from Missouri and served a single term during which 

he was an outspoken critic of the Grant administration and sought the establishment of a merit-based civil service system. Although Schurz was one of 

the chief organizers of the Liberal Republicans, he had supported Hayes in 

the 1876 election, and he became the strongest voice for reform in the Hayes 

Cabinet.

The major public-lands problems facing Secretary Schurz were the protection of the timberlands, where timber trespassing was still flagrant, and the 

protection and distribution of the arid lands of the West. Congress had made 

a token response to the memorial from the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science on promoting the cultivation of timber and preservation of forests by appropriating $2,000 in July 1876 so the Commissioner 

of Agriculture could pay the salary of a "man of proven attainments" to 

undertake forestry investigations. F. B. Hough had been appointed on August 30, 1876, but he could not be expected to accomplish much without 

additional funds. Congress had made no response to the recommendations of

The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 1877-1878 245
Commissioner Burdett of the General Land Office or his successor Commissioner Williamson that the public timberlands be appraised and sold. Secretary Schurz was personally interested in forest conservation, and on May 2, 

1877, all duties connected with the timber on public lands were transferred 

from the local land officers to employees directly under the Commissioner of 

the General Land Office. They were told to ferret out when, where, and by 

whom forest depredations had been committed and to determine whether 

legal proceedings were warranted.

At the April meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, Major Powell, 

who though not a member had been invited to present a paper, delivered an 

address on the public domain, pointing out that the existing land system, 

whether land was acquired by purchase, preemption, or the homestead plan, 

was not suitable for the arid region. Land was not valuable as land in the arid 

region; what was really of value was the water privilege, and all the streams 

had been appropriated, and the owners were charging others for the use of 

water. Areas were suitable for pasturage, but the homestead plan could be 

applied only by modifying it so that more land was provided as well as 

abutment on a stream where animals could be watered.

The paper was not a new or an original contribution. Commissioner Burdett had said as much in 1874, and Commissioner Williamson had repeated 

it in 1876 in the annual reports of the General Land Office. Powell's paper, 

however, provoked a lively discussion and attracted the attention of the 

newspapers. The Neu> York Tribune, commented that "if it be true that there 

is scarcely any good land left fit for a poor man's homestead farm, the sooner 

the fact is announced the better."

Professor Newberry wrote to Secretary Schurz on March 17, asking that 

the report on the Black Hills survey of 1875 by Henry Newton, which 

Newberry was convinced Hayden had blocked, be authorized as a publication 

of the Powell survey. Newberry also wrote to Powell directly on March 18, 

asking for financial assistance in a fossil-hunting trip to Colorado. Powell, 

without waiting for authorization from Schurz, guaranteed publication of 

the Newton report and arranged to pay half of Newton's expenses to the 

Black Hills to clear up doubtful points, but he regretfully turned down 

Newberry's own request. On May 28, Secretary Schurz formally placed the 

completion of Newton's work under Powell's direction.

In May, Secretary Schurz became deeply involved in Indian affairs which 

led to the appointment of yet another board of investigation in June and 

ultimately to the dismissal of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. On May 

22, Major Powell wrote to the Secretary, formally proposing that the ancillary work of the Hayden and Powell surveys be divided, one survey to be 

responsible for natural history (paleontology, zoology, and botany) and the 

other, for ethnography, and that each survey transmit to the other appropriate collections for working up. The choice was no choice; Powell had done 

very little in the way of natural history, and with the help of Secretary 

Henry, he had made himself a leader in ethnographic work. Secretary Schurz 

did not reply to the letter immediately, but on June 13, 1877, at his request, the Secretary of War formally detailed Captain Garrick Mallery, who 

had become interested in Indian languages while serving in Dakota Territory, to work with Powell, and during the summer of 1877, Powell was 

almost wholly occupied with ethnographic work. He continued preparation 

of his manual of Indian languages, and two volumes of Contributions to American Ethnology were made ready for publication, the first 

comprising a report by W. H. Dall for the Smithsonian Institution 

on Indian tribes of Alaska and a report by George Gibbs for the 

Office of Indian Affairs on the Indian tribes of western Washington

246 The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 1877-1878
. "E X

a Mount Holmes. oint, 

/Quadrant Mouutaiu,

In 1877, the Hayden survey resumed mapping in 

Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, including a more 

intensive study of Yellowstone National Park. W. 

H. Holmes prepared this panoramic view of the East 

Gallatin Range, one of the striking topographic features of the park. The view is from the southeast, 

looking across 20 miles of igneous plateau and the 

newly discovered Gibbon Geyser Basin in the foreground. (From F. V. Hayden, 1883.)

c Vnffey of Indian Crmk. 

g Ekctrfc Peak.

<i Bell's Peak. 

A Valley of Gar-diner's River,

reat Laccolite.

and northwestern Oregon; the second was a report by Stephen Powers on the 

tribes of California.

At the start of the field season, Hayden began mapping nine atlas sheets 

in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana north of the area mapped by the Fortieth 

Parallel survey, extending from 107° to 112° W. and north to Yellowstone. 

Alien D. Wilson continued as his chief topographer, and Gannett, Chittenden, and Bechler were in charge of the three mapping parties. Holmes and 

Jackson were detached from the main survey to make a tour through northern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona to secure material on the methods 

of building by the Pueblo Indians. In August, Secretary Schurz wrote to 

Hayden, suggesting that Powell's proposal to divide the ancillary work was 

fair and directing him to make a choice. Hayden chose natural history, leaving ethnography to Powell, and in November, Acting Secretary A. Bell 

confirmed the choice and directed Hayden to turn over his collections in 

ethnography to Powell.

From the Powell survey, at the start of the field season, Gilbert went to 

northern Utah, to the area that had been mapped by the Fortieth Parallel 

survey, to classify the lands. Actually he undertook a special study of irrigation in the drainage basin of the Great Salt Lake and extended his research 

from water supply to a consideration of climatic changes. Button continued 

his work on the High Plateaus and incidentally examined the irrigable lands 

in the Sevier River valley and measured the flow of the Sevier River. Thompson, Renshawe, and Graves continued the triangulation and topographic 

mapping in Utah.

The Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian had a long field 

season in 1877 , beginning in May, and 32,744 square miles were mapped. 

The two main divisions were based in Fort Lyon, Colorado, and Carson, 

Nevada, and mapping was continued in Colorado, New Mexico, California, 

and Nevada. Lieutenant Wheeler organized and spent some time with a 

special party completing the survey of the Lake Tahoe region. He then led 

another special party from Ogden, Utah, northward to the east of Cache 

Valley in the vicinity of Bear Lake, along Twin Creeks, and then eastward 

in the Green River drainage area, among other matters, tracing the Bonneville beach, the outline of the ancient freshwater lake of the Great Basin, 

about which both Gilbert and King had written. John Adams Church, a

Western Surveys, 1877 247
graduate of the Columbia School of Mines in 1867 and later an acting 

professor there and editor of the Engineering and Mining Journal, made a special study of the Comstock, where the workings were at much greater depths 

than they had been when King and Hague had studied it nearly a decade 

earlier.

Volume II of the King survey reports, Descriptive Geology, by 

S. F. Emmons and Arnold Hague, was received favorably. The volume was 

890 pages long, divided into five chapters corresponding to the five geological maps of the Atlas. Emmons and Hague stressed that it

does not claim to be a systematic survey like those of Europe, based on accurate maps, but is rather a geological reconnaissance in an unknown and often 

unexplored region, where geology and topography had to go hand in hand, and 

that therefore, while details were often, from the necessities of the case, somewhat neglected, it was the general bearing of the leading geological facts that 

was most constantly in our minds.

The American Journal of Science did not comment critically on the volume. 

Publication of the volume was noted immediately, but the reviewer assigned 

to prepare a report on it was too slow to produce a manuscript on so important a volume, so a lengthy abstract of its contents was offered instead.

King himself upset the geological world in June 1877 with his commencement address at the Sheffield Scientific School on Catastrophism and the 

Evolution of Environment. Darwinian evolution, by natural selection, was then 

widely accepted by scientists and its principles were being extended to social 

thought. Darwinian evolution depended on uniformitarianism. In 1868, 

Kelvin, having had almost no success in diverting geologists from that principle, had declared that a great reform in geological speculation was necessary if geology were to be returned to the path of true science. Thomas Henry 

Huxley had felt obliged to answer him the following year with an attempt 

to divorce biological evolution from the uniformitarian concept of time.

King thought that he had evidence from his studies of western geology 

that catastrophes had had an effect on the development of life. He did not 

propose a return to the discredited notion of catastrophism and its destructions and new creations, but thought that

the evolution of environment has been the major cause of the evolution of life; 

that a mere Malthusian struggle was not the author and finisher of evolution; 

but that He who brought to bear that mysterious energy we call life upon primeval matter bestowed at the same time a power of development by change, 

arranging that the interaction of energy and matter which make up environment 

should, from time to time, burst In upon the current of life and sweep it onward 

and upward to ever higher and better manifestations. Moments of great catastrophe, thus translated into the language of life, become moments of creation.

King's friends were embarrassed and others were outraged. The paper was 

not published in the American Journal of Science, which would have been the 

normal outlet, but in the American Naturalist. Gilbert, for one, thought 

King had gone too far and considered writing a paper in controversion but 

apparently never did so. Marsh, however, took a strong stand in favor of 

Darwinian evolution at the August 1877 meeting of the AAAS in Nashville. 

In his vice-presidential address, he made a long summation of what was then 

known of American fossil vertebrates, opening with the statement that "to 

doubt evolution to-day is to doubt science, and science is only another name 

for truth." Marsh's address was published in the American Journal of Science 

and also in Nature, Popular Science Monthly, and the Revue Scientifique. C. S. 

Peirce, the founder of pragmatism and now considered the most original 

thinker and greatest logician of his time, thought that King's theory should 

be considered a third method of evolution, as significant as Darwin's natural 

selection and Lamarck's inheritance of acquired characteristics.

248 The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 1877-1878
W. H. Holmes also drew this section of the walls of 

Amethyst Mountain on the south side of the valley 

of the East Fork of the Yellowstone River. Petrified 

tree trunks of ancient forests are abundant, and in 

the steeper middle portion of the mountain face, 

Holmes said that the rows of upright trunks stood 

out on the ledges like columns of a ruined temple. 

(From F. V. Hayden, 1883.)

This mode of evolution, by external forces and the breaking up of habits, seems 

to be called for by some of the broadest and most important facts of biology 

and paleontology; while it certainly has been the chief factor in the historical 

evolution of institutions as in that of ideas; and cannot possible be refused a 

very prominent place in the process of evolution of the universe in general.

In his annual report in the fall of 1877, Secretary Schurz recommended 

that the timberlands be withdrawn from operation of the preemption and 

homestead laws and that timberlands fit for agriculture be sold only for cash 

and at prices to make the purchaser pay for the value of the timber thereon. 

He noted that in the mining States and Territories, timber necessary for 

mining operations and smelting works had to be obtained from the public 

lands. The Department had refrained from prosecution of such cases except 

where the quantity taken had been unduly large. Legislation should be provided, however, so that the timber could be obtained legally and so that it 

would be paid for by those who took it. Schurz also recommended that the

Public-Land Reforms Under Schurz 249
pasturage lands be leased and that the Desert Land Act be amended so that 

the desert character and quality of the land could be established before entry 

was permitted and the quantity or portion to be irrigated, cultivated, or 

improved could be specifically defined. He endorsed the recommendation of 

the Commissioner of the General Land Office that all offices of surveyorsgeneral be consolidated into one Office of Surveyor-General at Washington 

with such assistants as were needed, and that the contract system of surveying the public lands be abolished. President Hayes in his annual message at 

the opening of Congress

earnestly recommend[ed] that the measures suggested by the Secretary of the 

Interior for the suppression of depredations on the timber lands of the United 

States, for the selling of the timber from the public lands, and for the preservation of the forests be embodied in law, and that, considering the urgent necessity of enabling people of certain States and Territories to purchase timber from 

the public lands in a legal manner, which at present they cannot do, such a law 

be passed without unavoidable delay.

Accompanying the Secretary's report was one of Major Powell's rare reports, covering the field season of 1876, the office work of 1876 77, and 

the field season of 1877. He mentioned that much attention had been given 

to cartography and geological illustration and stated that "during the past 

six years one branch of our work has been considered of paramount importance, namely, the classification of lands and the subjects connected therewith. The object has been to determine the extent of irrigable lands, timber 

lands, pasturage lands, coal lands, and mineral lands." He pointed out that 

the lands that were cultivable only through irrigation were limited by the 

supply of water, but that the amount of land in the Territory of Utah that 

could be redeemed by the utilization of streams alone, without construction 

of reservoirs, was about 1,250,000 acres. The area where standing timber

G. K. Gilbert, who made a special study of the 

drainage basin of Great Salt Lake for the Powell survey, found that although popular impressions of 

fluctuations in climate are often erroneous, there 

was no doubt that the steam flow in Utah had increased since settlement of the area. The accumulation of water in Great Salt Lake, he pointed out, 

was an effective measure of the increase, for the lake 

had no outlet and its level was determined by the 

relation of evaporation to inflow. Comparison of the 

shoreline as mapped by the Howard Stansbury survey of 1850 and the King survey in 1869 indicated 

that the lake was 7 or 8 feet higher than it had been 

and its area 17 percent greater. The hypothesis that 

the rise of the lake was due to a change in climate 

he regarded as tenable but not proven. (From J. W. 

Powell, 1878.)

250 The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 1877-1878
G. K. Gilbert, who completed the report on the 

Black Hills of South Dakota for the ill-fated Henry 

Newton, stressed the nature of erosion in the area. 

Near Harney Peak, the main peaks were of massive 

granite, fissured and cracked, weathered and worn 

in every direction. South and southwest of Harney, 

granite pinnacles or slabs were weathered out and 

stood 100 or 200 feet above the mass of the range, 

dividing some of the crests into "serried pinnacles, 

which near by resemble organ pipes and in the distance saw teeth." (From Henry Newton and W. 

P. Jenney, 1880.)

was actually found was very much smaller than the area where timber should 

have been found because so much timber had been destroyed by fire, far 

more than the amount taken for economic purposes. The important problem 

to be solved was the prevention of fire. Much attention had been given also 

to the utilization of the pasturage lands and to the best methods of surveying 

the mineral lands so that owners of mines might be relieved of the burden of 

litigation to which they were then subject because of the inaccurate and 

expensive methods then in vogue. He proposed "at an early day to submit a 

report on this subject to the honorable Secretary of the Interior, presenting the results of our work in the directions above indicated."

Two bills were filed to provide for a more economic and accurate survey 

of the public lands, one by Mr. Hendrich B. Wright of Pennsylvania on 

January 28, 1878, and the other by Mr. John D. C. Atkins of Tennessee on 

March 22. Then on March 25 and 26, Mr. Atkins and Mr. Lucien C. Cause 

of Arkansas filed bills to provide for a more economic survey and disposal of 

public lands. All bills were referred to the Committee on Public Lands. The 

committee held several days hearings on a bill "to provide a more economic 

and accurate survey of the public lands" in March. Major Powell, who was 

the first witness, was credited with authorship of the bill. He told the committee that the system for parceling the public lands into townships and 

sections and the methods of measuring these parcels and determining their 

position has been devised more than 80 years before for the great valley of

Public-Land Reforms Under Schurz 251
Kki-trh from 'fMm<- 1Wk.Cni.Or

s^-jx^-s^r"- * .JM&***^'-

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the Mississippi, for which region they were well suited. In the great mountain region of the west, however, some modifications were needed. There, 

the system of surveying should be adapted to the type of land and different 

methods used for irrigable lands, timberlands, pasturage lands, and mineral 

claims. Surveying was properly a question of scientific engineering, and a 

man so qualified should have charge of the work.

Professor Hayden and Captain Wheeler testified a week later. Hay den said 

he had no ambition beyond the care and protection of his own survey, but 

he agreed with Wheeler that the rectangular system of surveying was the 

best and cheapest. In fact, "one might as well introduce a dead language and 

force people to use it as to change the process and system."

Congress was in no mood to change the land parceling system, and although Major Powell had spoken only of methods of surveying the public 

lands, one of the Atkins bills and the Cause bill, which were also before the 

committee, included changes in land parceling as well as surveying. None 

of the bills was reported out by the Committee.

On the evening of the day that he testified before the Public Lands Committee, Major Powell spoke before the Philosophical Society, giving them a 

preview of his Report on the Lands of the Arid Regions of the United States. The 

report itself was transmitted to the Commissioner of the General Land Office

Wheeler's parties continued to map vast areas west 

of the 100th meridian. His methods of mapmaking 

included preparation of a horizon sketch (a profile 

sketch of the entire horizon) (this page) at main and 

secondary triangulation stations, with marked points 

governed by measured angles, and horizontal sketches 

(opposite page) of the adjacent topography at particular stations and arbitrarily selected points to show 

the character and direction of drainage. (From G. 

M. Wheeler, 1889.)

252 The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 1877-1878
on April 1. In the preface, Powell said that he had intended to write a work 

on the public domain, including the swamps of the southeast Atlantic and 

Gulf coasts, the Everglades, the flood plains of the great southern rivers, and 

the lake swamplands of the north-central region. All these lands required 

drainage or protection from overlow. The problem of the arid lands was more 

pressing, however, as thousands were migrating there every year; he had 

therefore decided to publish first that part of the whole report that dealt 

with the arid lands.

Powell defined the Arid Region as the region in which the mean annual 

rainfall was less than 20 inches. It began about midway in the Great Plains, 

approximately at the 100th meridian, and extended across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean except for a small area in western Washington and 

Oregon and the northwest corner of California. In the Arid Region proper, 

the mean annual rainfall was insufficient for agriculture on the basis of the 

traditional patterns of the humid regions. Between the Arid Region of the 

West and the Humid Region of the East was a belt, covering approximately 

one-tenth the area of the United States exclusive of Alaska, in which 

droughts would occur, the frequency diminishing from west to east. This he 

called the Sub-humid Region.
Only a small portion of the Arid Region was irrigable the lowlands 

along the streams. In Utah Territory, with which Powell was familiar, only 

2.8 percent of the lands could be cultivated by utilizing all the available 

streams during the irrigating season. In some of the other States and Territories of the Arid Region, the percentage of irrigable land would be less than 

that in Utah, in others greater; the percentage in the entire region was probably somewhat greater than that in Utah. To a great extent, the small 

streams were already used for irrigation, and the chief future development 

must come from use of the large streams. Cooperative labor or capital would 

be necessary for such development. The irrigable area could be increased by 

storage of water, and eventually this would be important. It would be wise 

to anticipate the time by reserving sites for reservoirs.

The mountains and high plateaus were timberlands, although only in part 

covered by standing timber. Fire had destroyed much timber where it would 

normally grow. The Timber Region in Utah was about 18,500 square miles, 

or 23 percent, but only 10,000 square miles, or 12.5 percent, was covered 

with standing timber, and the area of milling timber was even less. The 

figures for Utah were probably a fair average for the Arid Region. The 

amount of timber used for economic purposes, he said, would be more than 

replaced by natural growth, but the forests should be protected from fire. 

This could be largely accomplished by removing the Indians.

Between the timberlands and the irrigable lands were the grass-covered 

lands that could be used for pasturage farms. Pasturage farms to be of any 

practicable value must be of at least 2,560 acres and in many districts, much 

larger. They should not be fenced. Pasturage farms needed small areas of 

irrigable land for raising agricultural products for local consumption. Pasturage lands should be surveyed, not in regular tracts as square miles or 

townships, but in areas conforming to the topography so as to give the greatest number of water fronts. Farm residences should be grouped to secure the 

benefits of local social organization.

Included in the report were drafts of two bills for the organization of 

irrigation and pasturage districts by homestead settlements. To dispose of 

the public lands in such a way first required that the lands be classified. 

Major Powell said: "The largest amount of land that it is possible to redeem 

by irrigation *** should be classed as irrigable lands, to give the greatest 

possible development to this industry. The limit of the timber lands should 

be clearly defined, to prevent a fraudulent acquirement of these lands as 

pasturage lands.*** All of the lands falling without these boundaries would 

be relegated to the greater class designated as pasturage lands." It would 

be difficult to draw a line between absolute desert and pasturage lands, and 

no purpose would be served thereby, as settlers would avoid the valueless 

lands.

The mineral lands were of small extent. Lode mines were in the mountains, and such lands were valueless for other purposes. Placer mines might 

be on agricultural lands, but their extent was limited. Withholding them 

from purchase and settlement as irrigable, timber, or pasturage lands would 

not materially affect the interests of the industries connected with them. The 

General Government, he said, could not reasonably engage in the research 

necessary to determine the mineral lands, but this was "practically done" 

by the miners themselves when they organized a mining district. The extensive coal fields in the Arid Region were a different problem. "These coal 

fields are inexhaustible by any population which the country can support for 

any length of time that human prevision can contemplate. To withhold from 

general settlement the entire area of the workable coal fields would be absurd. *** Only those lands should be classed as coal lands that contain beds

254 The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 1877-1878
T R U C H A S

II

West

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J. J. Stevenson's work for the Wheeler survey in 

1878 led to preparation of a geologic section along 

the 36th parallel, the southern boundary of Colorado, from the Rio Grande to San Isidro Creek, a 

distance of approximately 90 miles. (From G. M. 

Wheeler, 1881.)

of coal easily accessible, and where there is a possibility of their being used 

as such within the next generation or two." To designate the coal lands 

would require a thorough geological survey, but the work of determining 

irrigable, timber, and pasturage lands would be comparatively inexpensive. 

Commissioner Williamson sent the report on April 1 to the Secretary with 

a carefully worded disclaimer: "I have not been able, on account of more 

urgent official duties, to give Major Powell's report and proposed bills the 

careful investigation necessary, in view of their great importance, to enable 

me to express a decided opinion as to their merits. Some change is necessary 

in the survey and disposal of the lands, and I think his views are entitled to 

great weight, and would respectfully recommend that such action be taken 

as will bring his report and bills before Congress for consideration by that 

body." The Secretary acted with almost equal despatch and sent the report 

to Congress on April 3. He made no recommendation, but merely, 

"commendfed] the views set forth by Major Powell and the bills *** to the 

consideration of Congress." The report was referred to the Committee on 

Appropriations and ordered to be printed, but the first printing was not 

received until August. Major Powell, however, had found an ally in Congressman Peter Wigginton of California, who filed bills on April 22 to organize pasturage and irrigation districts. These were referred to the Public 

Lands Committee and were not heard of again.

Report on Lands of the Arid Region 255
'' ;!

MAP OF THE 

JK AH T K K X I, A.K JK *i t*l»J4 II I *» It

MAIX TO IM»GH APH 1 V A I, KKATI'HK.S 

H<ilau«J, IK Irviiij* l«7»

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On February 4, 1878, Henry Gannett had forwarded a report on the 

arable and pasture lands of Colorado for inclusion in the Tenth Annual Report of the Hayden survey. The Powell and Gannett reports make an interesting comparison, for neither author gave any indication of being aware of 

the other's work. Gannett's report included not only his own observations 

and those of all other members of the Hayden survey but also data received 

from others, including E. S. Nettleton of Peublo and Captain E. L. Berthoud 

of Golden, both civil engineers engaged in irrigation. He seemed familiar 

with and quoted from George Perkins Marsh's works and the Engineers' 

1874 report on irrigation in California. Powell's report was largely personal,

There was great economic interest in the iron and 

copper ranges of Ashland County, Wisconsin, which 

R. D. Irving of the Wisconsin survey was instructed 

to explore. As his map shows, the portion of Wisconsin that borders Lake Superior is traversed by 

two parallel belts of high and ridgy country, about 

30 miles apart, the southern belt being a westward 

continuation of the high land that forms the backbone of Keeweenaw Point in Michigan. The region 

at the time of Irving's work was a wilderness, the 

streams nearly all made too rapid a descent for canoeing, and all investigations had to be made on foot, 

so he spent a total of 6 months in the field seasons 

to accomplish the work. (From R. D. Irving, 1880.)

256 The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 1877-1878
In a study of both practical and scientific interest, 

C. E. Wright of the Wisconsin survey attempted to 

correlate the Penokee iron-bearing series of Wisconsin as nearly as possible with the iron-bearing series 

in Michigan, using magnetic measurements where 

necessary to trace the series. The numbers of the 

divisions shown in the illustration correspond to 

those of Michigan. (C. E. Wright, 1880.)

although it included the work of Gilbert, Dutton, and Thompson in Utah. 

The one reference to Marsh said that his book had been frequently quoted 

but that the statements were misleading.

Gannett pointed out that for successful agriculture, four things were necessary: a fertile soil, a level surface, a sufficiently mild temperature, and the 

proper amount of moisture. These factors were implicit in the Powell report. 

The first two of these conditions, according to Gannett, were probably found 

in two-thirds of Colorado. The third condition reduced the amount of arable 

land very considerably, as many fine mountain valleys were from their great 

altitude too cold to be useful to agriculture. The fourth condition limited 

the arable land to a comparatively small amount. The arable lands were 

chiefly in the valleys of the consequent, or second-rate, streams. The rainfall 

in Colorado was "of so variable and explosive a character that it can be depended on for little except to do damage," so agriculture was almost universally dependent on irrigation. Powell's irrigable lands were also along 

the streams.

The quantity of water applied by irrigation to various crops, Gannett said, 

varied greatly in different parts of the earth. In Colorado "an inch of water" 

to the acre was a very common allowance. An inch of water, the amount that 

would flow through an aperture 1 square inch in section, said Gannett, 

varied with the pressure from head or velocity. Powell said that the inch was 

too indefinite to use and adopted instead the second-foot, or the flow of 1 

cubic foot of water per second. In Utah, this amount would irrigate about 

100 acres. Gannett said that the measurements of the discharge of streams 

to determine their irrigating capacity amounted to very little except as very 

general indications, because the volume of water carried could vary from day 

to day. Measurements, if made, should be made at the end of July or early 

in August, about the close of the irrigating season, and preferably during a 

dry season, as the minimum supply was what should be determined. Powell 

said that the practical capacity of a stream would be determined by its flow 

when that flow was least in comparison with the demands of growing crops, 

at different times in different parts of the Arid Region, but between the 

latter part of June and the early part of August.

Gannett estimated that in all Colorado tillable land totalled 7,323 square 

miles, or 4,686,720 acres, about 7 percent of the total land area, and that

AX IDKA1. CROSS-SECTION OF PKXOKKK IKON RANCH,'

By <'has.K.Wri*M, M.F,. 

IA77.

Gannett's Report on Irrigation 257
there was water enough to irrigate all this area without the use of reservoirs. 

In addition to tillable land, 55,000 square miles (52.6 percent) was valuable 

as pasture land, 20,000 square miles (19.1 percent) was covered by spruce 

and pine timber, and 13,500 square miles (13.0 percent) was covered by 

quaking aspens, pinon pine, and scrubby cedar. Only 6,565 square miles, 

or 6.3 percent, could be classed as barren or worthless unless reclaimed by 

immense works. Such an undertaking, he thought, was too far in the future 

to worry about.

The Schurz-Williamson attack on timber trespass and the President's endorsement of legislation focused attention on the forest lands, and Congress

Glacial geology would seem to be exclusively pure 

science, but this map of New Jersey showing glacial 

drift was published in the Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. The State Geologist 

of New Jersey, George H. Cook, pointed out it had 

important practical and economic implications for 

the mining engineer. Some who did not understand 

the nature of glacial drift had undertaken expensive 

mining operations where they had found iron ore in 

boulders in the drift. (From G. H. Cook, 1877.)

258 The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 1877-1878
responded by passing the Timber Cutting and the Timber and Stone Acts on 

June 3, 1878. The Timber Cutting Act permitted bona fide settlers and 

miners to cut timber on the public mineral lands for building, agricultural, 

mining, or other domestic purposes. The Timber and Stone Act provided for 

the sale of 160 acres of unoccupied, surveyed, nonmineral lands in Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada valued chiefly for timber or stone and 

unfit for cultivation for not less than $2.50 an acre. Neither law really helped 

the situation. On June 20, Congress also appropriated $25,000 to meet the 

expenses of suppressing depredations on timber on the public lands. The 

disposition of the arid lands remained unchanged.

Money and monetary policy were the major issues in that session of Congress. The 45th Congress was called into session early, on October 15, 1877, 

because the Army Appropriations Act had not been passed. By the time 

Congress convened, there were other financial matters to consider. Part of 

the Interior Department building had been completely destroyed by fire, 

and funds were needed to replace it. The United States had been invited to 

participate in the Paris Exposition in the summer of 1878. And Congress 

itself had some matters to take up that the President did not mention in his 

special message.

There seemed to be no end to the depression that had been going on since 

1873. The resumption of specie payments, opposed by inflationist elements, 

was scheduled to begin on January 1, 1879, and Congress was deluged with 

a barrage of cheap money proposals. The agrarian and labor groups who were 

urging cheap money had found allies in the western silver interests, who 

were urging a return to bimetallism, and in one week, between October 29 

and November 5, 1877, twenty bills were filed in the House to remonetize 

silver.

In February 1878 the Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act was passed, over 

President Hayes' veto, requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to make 

monthly purchases of not less than $2 million and not more than $4 million 

worth of silver at the market price, such purchases to be converted into 

standard dollars. In May, Congress passed a law to keep the $346.7 million 

outstanding in greenbacks as a permanent part of the currency.

The Bland-Allison Act had also provided for an international monetary 

conference. Professor Francis A. Walker of Yale was one of the delegates to 

the monetary conference held in Paris. Walker's book on Money had just 

been published, and in April 1878 he was elected to the National Academy 

of Sciences. Because of his experience as Director of the Ninth Census, he 

had also been called on by Secretary Schurz for aid in drafting legislation for 

the Tenth Census. Walker left no one uncertain about the difficulties he 

envisioned in taking the Tenth Census under the "clumsy, antiquated, and 

barbarous" law of 1850, which had been passed "when statistical science 

was in its infancy and the art of collecting statistical data was yet in a rude 

and imperfect state." To take the Tenth Census under the provisions of 

that act, he said, "would be to secure the minimum of statistical result at 

almost a maximum of annoyance, delay, and expense."

Walker was especially concerned about the collection of statistics on the 

mining of metals, which "in this period of universal monetary discussion" 

he believed "must be found of interest and value." To buttress his own 

opinion, he called on Professor Josiah Dwight Whitney of Harvard. Whitney, pointing out the importance of accurate knowledge of mineral resources 

and of progress in their development said: "The mineral treasures of the earth 

*** are there once for all; and if wasted in the removal or destroyed by 

reckless or unskilled management they are gone forever. And the temptation 

to sacrifice the future to the present is in new countries often very great."

Monetary Policy and Mineral Statistics 259
L~i_iJ POST JirRASSIC 

fritMuMHM hf4« Mark tines inilit ate Sf«

_ POST

?«, dottHl

He went on to say that "in civilized countries almost without exception, the 

mineral deposits, as well as the operations of the miner and metallurgist, 

have always been under the strict control of the government" and that the 

collection of mining statistics had long been recognized by the principal 

governments of Europe as an essential part of their watchful care over the 

public interest. It would be impossible to obtain statistics in the United 

States that were as accurate as the Prussian and French results, for American 

tradition would not countenance the constant inspection of mining localities 

that would be necessary. Nonetheless, something should and could be done. 

It must be done by experts, and the best way, he thought, would be to 

follow the system that he had used in collecting his statistics for The Metallic 

Wealth of the United States:

Let some man, whose character for integrity is beyond suspicion, be placed in 

charge of the Department of Mining Statistics, and let him visit such districts as 

his time may allow, sending assistants to other districts, to collect material to 

be elaborated into one work the object of which should be set forth as clearly 

and concisely as possible the actual condition of the development of our mining 

districts, giving such statistics as may be obtainable, with estimates where 

moderately accurate statistics are wanting, and with full particulars as to how 

these statistics have been obtained, so that their comparative value may be 

judged of by the person using the material thus collected.

The assistants thus appointed must themselves be experts, and such should 

be preferred as have already some acquaintance with the regions they are to

King's volume on Systematic Geology (his treatise on 

pure geology and the summation of his work in the 

West was published in 1878. In his final chapter 

he included a series of analytical geological maps, 

the forerunner of our present-day tectonic maps, on 

which he attempted to relate structure, stratigraphy, and orogeny. However, because of "our provokingly defective knowledge of the very rudiments 

of terrestrial thermodynamics, from which alone we 

might hope to bridge the chasm still separating our 

phenomenal knowledge from the vague land of 

causes," a more complete discussion awaited the 

day when it could be done on a firmer physical foundation. (From Clarence King, 1878.)

260 The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 1877-1878
report upon. It need hardly be added that they must in all cases be men of 

scientific education, who have absolutely no pecuniary interest in the region 

they have under their charge.

The task even so would be difficult, and in order that it be successfully 

accomplished, the one in charge would have to be "a man of energy, possessing both practical and scientific knowledge of economic geology." 

Above all, he would have to be a man "who could not be bought at any 

price."

The combination of depression and an election year made it inevitable that 

Congress would be in a mood to economize on appropriations. All the surveys would face difficulties in obtaining funds. On March 8, 1878, the 

House had passed a resolution proposed by Chairman John D. C. Atkins 

asking the Secretaries of Interior and War for a statement on the cost and 

accomplishments of the various western surveys, whether there had been any 

duplication, and if so, the cost and the reasons therefor. Secretary Schurz 

replied in April, forwarding a letter from Hayden on the 18th and one from 

Powell on the 29th. Powell attached a map showing the plan for Interior's 

atlas of the territory west of 99°30'. Hayden supplied a series of documents 

pertaining to the history of his work. The Hayden survey had received appropriations amounting to $615,000 in 10 years of existence; Powell had 

received only $209,000 but had had, in addition, Army rations for 25 men 

and two Army officers, Captains Clarence Dutton and Garrick Mallery, who 

had been detailed to his survey. Of the two Army surveys, the Exploration 

of the Fortieth Parallel under Clarence King, now completed, had cost 

$383,711.85 and the Wheeler survey had cost to date $368,770.55.

Both Hayden and Wheeler disclaimed any duplication. Each was mapping 

the West but for different purposes. Their achievements they measured by 

their publications. Hayden listed 9 annual reports, 9 miscellaneous publications, 4 volumes of bulletins, 8 monographs, 31 maps, and the atlas of 

Colorado, which included 16 maps, sections, and panoramic views. Wheeler 

had 8 preliminary or annual reports, 4 monographs or quarto reports, 13 

special publications, 22 maps for the topographic atlas, 7 geologic maps, 

and 7 land classification maps.

Powell had fewer publications: four preliminary reports, his Report on the 

Exploration of the Colorado River and the Report on the Uinta Mountains, Contributions to American Ethnology, and the Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages. Gilbert's Henry Mountains report was in press, as was Powell's 

report on the Arid Region. Most of his reply was a dispassionate recital of 

the duplications among the various surveys and a reasonable explanation of 

how the Powell survey, because of its different viewpoint, could work in the 

same area as the others without duplication of work.

The Sundry Civil Expenses bill came up for consideration in mid-June. 

The Committee on Appropriations had been more specific than it had ever 

been before with regard to the two Interior surveys. For Hayden, the Committee recommended $50,000 to be used "for salaries of scientific corps; for 

employees in the field; transportation of party to and from field; office rent, 

stationery, and postage; expressage and freight, outfitting and provisions 

during field season; purchase of arms and ranching animals; purchase of and 

repairing instruments; miscellaneous expenses in the field, such as provisions, toll, and blacksmithing; and preparation of reports." Hayden was 

also limited to the area north of the 42d parallel and west of the 100th 

meridian. For Powell, the Appropriations Committee recommended $30,000 

and restricted him to the area south of the 42d parallel and west of the 100th 

meridian.

Problems of the Surveys, 1878 261
Immediately following these appropriations was a requirement that the 

National Academy of Sciences at its next meeting

take into consideration the methods and expenses of conducting the above 

surveys and the surveys of the Land Office, and report to Congress, as soon 

thereafter as may be practicable, a plan for surveying and mapping the Territories of the United States on such general system as will, in their judgment, 

secure the best possible results at the least possible cost; and also to recommend to Congress a suitable plan for the publication and distribution of reports, 

maps, and documents, and other results of said surveys.

The wording of the appropriations language and the charge to the National Academy of Sciences make it clear that more than economy was involved. The rivalries between the two Interior surveys, a growing dissatisfaction with the General Land Office surveys, and uneasiness over the large 

publication program of the Hayden survey were also at issue. It is clear from 

the later discussion on the floor of the House that A. S. Hewitt was the 

author of the request to the Academy. Hewitt had been managing the Army 

appropriations bill to which the Democratic leaders, bent on correcting 

abuses in the use of the military in civil affairs in the South, had attached a 

provision forbidding the use of the Army as a posse comitatus and had given 

the Republicans the choice of passing the bill with this provision or having 

the Army's funds cut off. The House had passed the bill on May 28, the 

Republican Senate had finally yielded on June 15, and so the Army appropriations had been passed and funds provided for the Wheeler survey.

The appropriations came up first; that for Hayden was raised to $75,000 

and that for Powell to $50,000, the same as they had received for the current 

year. When the provision for the Academy study was brought up, several 

members suggested that it should include the Wheeler survey as well. The 

amendment proposed by Representative Thomas M. Patterson of Colorado 

was adopted, by which "the above surveys" became "all surveys of a scientific character under the War or Interior Departments." There were only a 

few days before adjournment, the Senate made no objections, and the bill 

was passed and approved by the President on June 19, one day before Congress adjourned.

262 The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 1877-1878
Chapter 14.

Upon a Firm and Enduring Basis:

The Establishment of the

U.S. Geological Survey, 1879

If we can but rise to the height of this great argument, we shall place the 

work of national development and the elements of future prosperity upon the 

firm and enduring basis, of truth and knowledge, from which they cannot be 

moved so long as the Republic shall endure.

 A. S. Hewitt

Both Hayden and Wheeler had full field seasons in 1878. Hayden organized four parties. A. D. Wilson was in charge of primary triangulation. 

That party was robbed of all its animals and half its outfit by Indians so did 

not accomplish as much as had been hoped. A party under Henry Gannett 

made an especially detailed geological and geographical survey of Yellowstone National Park. Holmes was the geologist with this party, and A. C. 

Peale made a detailed study of thermal springs and geysers. A third party 

under F. A. Clark surveyed the Wind River Mountains, part of the Wyoming Range, the Gros Ventre Range, and a large area in the Snake River 

valley. Orestes St. John was the geologist in this party. Hayden himself 

traveled with the photographic party which had been reactivated after a lapse 

of 2 years.

The Wheeler parties mapped 25,550 square miles in New Mexico, Utah, 

California, Nevada, and Oregon. J. J. Stevenson made a special geological 

investigation in Colorado south of Spanish Peaks and in north-central New 

Mexico. I. C. Russell was attached to one of the other parties as assistant 

geologic observer surveying the Great Salt Lake area.

Powell did not go into the field in the summer of 1878. He was busy for 

a while with his Arid Lands report and with Contributions to American Ethnology. In August, he attended the AAAS meeting in St. Louis, where he was 

elected vice-president of the Section of Anthropology; afterwards, he led an 

excursion to Colorado. Thompson and the other topographers, however, 

mapped 10,000 square miles in Utah and northern Arizona while Gilbert 

continued his studies of the Great Salt Lake area.

At home, President Hayes continued his efforts at civil service reform and 

widened the breach between himself and the Senate oligarchy. One of the 

most flagrant examples of corrupt patronage had been the New York customhouse, where Senator Roscoe Conkling had controlled appointments. When 

Hayes became President, he asked for the resignations of Chester A. Arthur, 

port collector of customs, and Alonzo B. Cornell, port naval officer, but his 

request was ignored, and under the Tenture of Office Act he could not remove these officials. He nominated new officers in December, and the Senate 

blocked them. As soon as Congress adjourned for the summer, Hayes suspended Arthur and Cornell.

Many Americans went to Europe in the summer of 1878 to enjoy the 

great International Exposition at Paris and to inspect the new Eiffel Tower. 

The International Congress of Geologists met in conjunction with the expoUpon a Firm and Enduring Basis, 1879 263
sition for six daily sessions beginning August 29, and about 250 people were 

present. James Hall, George H. Cook, J. Peter Lesley, W. P. Blake, E. D. 

Cope, and T. C. Chamberlin attended from the United States. Plans were 

made for a second congress, to be held in Bologna, Italy, in October 1881, 

and two committees were set up, one charged with unification of colors and 

signs on geologic maps and plans, and the second, with unification of geological nomenclature, including not only classification but questions related 

to the value and significance of mineralogical, lithological, and paleontological characters. Lesley was appointed to represent the United States on the 

map committee, and James Hall, the committee on nomenclature and classification.

James Hague was sent to represent the United States as Mining Commissioner to the Exposition. Hague found the exhibit so comprehensive that he 

restricted his official investigation to one class only, ores, minerals, and 

crude products of the mining industry, and with the help of a friend, Prof. 

George F. Becker of the University of California, produced a 190-page report 

discussing the mining industry of France and the French colonies, Great 

Britain, Australia, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Austria-Hungary, 

Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and the Dutch East Indies. The United States 

exhibit included little that was new, so Hague and Becker concluded their 

report with an essay on the bullion product of the United States, a matter of 

considerable interest to monetary commissions throughout the world.

The committee of the National Academy of Sciences to consider a plan for 

surveying and mapping the Territories was appointed in late summer, when 

the Acting President, Prof. O. C. Marsh, returned from Europe in early 

August. Joseph Henry, the grand old man of American science who had 

been Secretary of the Smithsonian since 1846 and President of the National 

Academy of Sciences since 1867, had died on May 13, 1878. Professor 

Marsh, who had been elected Vice President in April, then became the Acting President. Marsh ruled out as members "any of those who had taken part 

in the controversy between the then existing government surveys" and appointed Prof. James D. Dana of Yale, William B. Rogers, president of the 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Prof. J. S. Newberry and Prof. W. 

P. Trowbridge of the Columbia School of Mines, Prof. Simon Newcomb of 

the Nautical Almanac, and Prof. Alexander Agassiz of Harvard to serve on 

the committee. He himself served as chairman, ex officio.

Clarence King was evidently a key, though unnamed, figure in these activities. The original proposal by Congressman Hewitt that the National 

Academy consider the Interior surveys very likely had been suggested to him 

by King, who was his close friend and business associate and a member of 

the Academy. King was also a friend of Secretary Schurz and Professor 

Marsh. The committee was drawn exclusively from the eastern-most urbanized and industrialized part of the country, and almost exclusively from the 

academic world. Although both pure and practical science were represented, 

Professors Rogers, Newberry, Trowbridge, and Agassiz all had strong interests in the use of science in the development of mineral resources. There was 

no one, with the possible exception of Professor Trowbridge, to present the 

military point of view, but Professor Trowbridge's experience qualified him 

equally well to present the point of view of the Coast Survey. The committee 

seemed almost to have been chosen to consider Congressman Hewitt's original proposal before Representative Thomas M. Patterson's amendment 

broadened the scope of its investigation to include the War Department 

mapping.

Marsh said that Dana's "long experience as geologist and naturalist of the 

Wilkes exploring expedition, and subsequent residence in Washington, 

while preparing his report, had especially fitted him to advise on government

264 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
The following eight illustrations are portraits of the 

members of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Scientific Surveys of the Territories.

Othniel C. Marsh

Professor of paleontology at Yale, Acting President 

of the National Academy of Sciences, Chairman. 

(Courtesy of the Prints and Photographs Division of 

the Library of Congress.)

work"; he failed to say that in the 30 years since that time, Dana had been 

a Yale professor and had numbered among his students O. C. Marsh and 

Clarence King. Professor Rogers was the "Nestor of American geology" 

and "had had long and varied experience with geological surveys"; he was 

also the founder and first president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which James Hague had left to become a member of the Fortieth 

Parallel Survey, and which already had laboratories for study of mineral resources. J. S. Newberry "was the State geologist of Ohio, who had spent 

several years in the West on government exploring expeditions under the 

War Department"; he was also the first professor of geology at the Columbia School of Mines, and had characterized the work of the Fortieth Parallel 

as "an important contribution to science," and "a high honor to those by 

whom the work has been performed, and to the government, by which it 

was organized." W. P. Trowbridge was "a graduate of West Point, who, 

while a member of the Corps of Engineers, served for several years on the 

Coast Survey"; he had also been the president of an ironworks and had been 

a member of the Yale faculty for several years, a post which he had left only 

recently to join the faculty of the Columbia School of Mines. Simon NewThe Academy Committee 265
comb's "knowledge of mathematics and astronomy rendered his advice 

most valuable"; Simon Newcomb was also one of America's most distinguished scientists, a graduate of Harvard, who at 43 had already received 

honorary degrees from Columbia, Yale, and the University of Leyden, and 

the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society; he was currently serving 

as the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Prof. Alexander Agassiz's "experience both in mining and engineering and 

biology made him a fit representative of those departments"; Professor 

Agassiz, who was the same age as Simon Newcomb, had also made enough 

money as superintendent of the fabulous Calumet and Hecla copper mines 

in Michigan to be able to devote himself to science, to establish the Museum 

of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, and to invest in mining and cattle enterprises with Clarence King as partner.

The broadening of the investigation proposed by Congressman Patterson 

may have changed Clarence King's future. When his final report, Systematic 

Geology, had been transmitted to the Corps of Engineers in March 1878, he 

had included a graceful tribute to General A. A. Humphreys: "That which 

a student of geology most earnestly longs for, I have freely received at your 

hands, and whatever value this report may possess, either as a permanent 

contribution to knowledge or as a stepping-stone worthy to be built into the 

great stairway of science, I feel that the honor belongs first to you. For those 

who are to continue the arduous labor of American field-study, I can wish 

no happier fortune than to serve within the department which you command." In March 1878, he evidently was not thinking of an independent 

agency.

King, however, was only 36; he had achieved an extraordinary position 

for so young a man, and he had no immediate commitments. His 1870 

report on the mining industry had been called "the most valuable contribution yet made" to the literature on mining when it was published, and he 

was being urged to bring out a new edition in the light of developments in 

the decade since. At the same time, his Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, 

a series of sketches which has been characterized by one critic as "probably 

the most exciting book ever written about mountain-climbing," was so 

well written that the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, William Dean Howells, 

thought it a pity that a man of such literary talent should waste his time on 

science. Moreover, King had a wide circle of friends in positions of influence 

outside scientific circles, among them F. A. P. Barnard, president of Columbia, Andrew White, president of Cornell, and Daniel Coit Oilman, president of Johns Hopkins; Peter Cooper, iron manufacturer, inventor, and 

philanthropist, as well as his son-in-law, Congressman Hewitt; John Hay, 

Assistant Secretary of State as well as Secretary Schurz; Henry Holt of the 

publishing family and E. L. Godkin, editor of the weekly Nation, as well as 

William Dean Howells; George Bancroft, the historian, John LaFarge, the 

artist, and Bret Harte, who may have suggested the mountaineering sketches; 

the Adams brothers, Henry and Charles Francis, Jr.; Alexander Agassiz, of 

Harvard University and the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company. He was 

a member of the Century Club of New York and also of a small group of 

bons vivants, the Round Table Club, that included Yale professors Francis 

Walker and William Graham Sumner, as well as Marsh, Hay, and Godkin.

In September, King went to Cambridge to see Whitney to inquire first 

whether he (Whitney) would be a candidate for directorship of a new bureau, 

if Congress established one, and secondly, if not, whether he would back 

King for the position. Whitney answered that King was the "only person to 

be thought of," and King thereafter frankly sought the position. He told 

a visiting German scientist of his hopes, and the word filtered back to Hayden.

266 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
On September 28, Professor Marsh wrote to the Secretaries of War and 

Interior for information on the plans and wishes of the departments so that 

these could be laid before the Academy at its next meeting on November 5. 

For the War Department, the Acting Chief of Engineers replied, on October 

29: "No other department of the government is so much interested in, or 

has so many uses for, a complete survey of the entire area as the War Department." The survey recommended for adoption by Congress should be 

a "trigonometrical and topographical survey of the Territories, which shall 

be founded on accurate astronomical and geodetic methods; *** which exhibits with sufficient accuracy, and with variable degrees of detail according 

to circumstances, the forms and elevation of the mountain ranges and passes, 

the roads, the trails, the lakes and ponds, the water-courses, the forests, and 

all the prominent natural features of the country, including its capacity for 

agriculture, for grazing, and for mining; which included the gauging of 

streams with reference to the irrigation of those portions of the country 

which are susceptible of occupation by a grain-growing population and

James Dwight Dana

Professor of geology and mineralogy at Yale. (Courtesy of the Prints and Photographs Division of the 

Library of Congress.)

The War Department's Views 267
which shows at a glance everything necessary to be known in connection 

with the movements of troops and supplies." If the framework of the map 

was accurate, limited areas could then be surveyed with any degree of exactitude required for special purposes connected with the geography, geology, 

or natural history.

The survey of more than 300,000 square miles already made by the Engineers was believed "to fulfill all the foregoing requirements of the War 

Department, and of the nation at the present time, and until the Territories 

are not less thickly settled than the more recent States of the Union." The 

Engineers believed also that because Army officers had been the first to use 

refined methods of topographical surveying and among the first to apply 

refined methods of geodetic surveying, because they had made most of the 

explorations since the Government had territories to explore and had borne 

the hardships and exposure of the preliminary examinations and surveys 

when the region was an unknown wilderness, and because the supervision of 

methods and the checks on expenses exercised by the Chief of Engineers were 

watchful and constant, the best interests of the Government would be served 

by continuing the surveys of the Territories under the Engineer Department. 

The Engineers also thought it would be a waste of public money to make 

surveys of any parts of the public land in order to pass title unless there was 

a probability of their sale; therefore, the War Department surveys should 

precede the selection by the Interior Department of lands for subdivision 

surveys.

The Commissioner of the General Land Office, however, said:

In arriving at results sought for by this office under the present system of surveys, the employment of methods called into service in projecting extensive 

and connected geographical and topographical surveys is regarded unnecessary. Regarding any proposed change in the method of surveying the public 

lands, I desire to say that any departure from the rectangular system or any 

change in the measurement of subdivision of the lands would, in my opinion, 

create confusion, which no advantage gained by the change could compensate 

for. I am, however, of the opinion that combining a geological and geographical 

survey with the survey of the public lands might be most beneficial and economical.

As the Engineers had spoken with a sense of pride in their own organization, so did Professor Hayden speak of the Geological and Geographical 

Survey of the Territories. "The organization under my direction consists of 

men with peculiar fitness for and a large practical experience in the special 

departments of the work assigned to them.*** The organization is complete 

in all its parts, and ready to perform any work which can be required of a 

geological and geographical survey in its most comprehensive senses. *** 

No material changes in the organization could be productive of good, but, 

on the contrary, would cause much evil and expense, and greatly retard the 

progress of our western survey." He believed that to combine the geological 

and geographical surveys and the public-land surveys under one bureau 

would prove fatal to the former and that to divorce topography from geology, 

placing the former under the War Department and the latter under the Interior Department, would be "impracticable as well as unwise." Moreover, 

the geological surveys should be directly under the Secretary of the Interior, 

and not under any other bureau officer, for if directly under the Secretary, 

"the chief of the survey receives his general instructions, and he is untrammeled by specific orders or the intermeddling of one who has little else to 

do."

Major Powell alone favored unification of all the surveys.

The prosecution of the work by a number of autonomous organizations is illogical, unscientific, and in violation of the fundamental law of political economy, 

namely, the law of the division of labor. The work should be unified or integrated

268 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
William Barton Rogers

President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Photograph of an oil portrait by Jacob H. Lazarus courtesy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Historical Collections.)

by placing it under one general management, and the division of labor should 

have a scientific basis; that is, it should be differentiated so that there shall be 

a division for the geographical work embracing all methods of mensuration in 

latitudes, longitudes, and altitudes, absolute and relative; and the representation of the results in appropriate charts. There should be a department of geology embracing all purely scientific subjects relating to geological structure and 

distribution, and practical subjects relating to mining and agricultural industries. If ethnology, botany, and zoology are to be embraced in the general scientific survey, such subject should have but a single organization, with a single 

head subordinated to the general plan. In such a way only can a proper integrated and differentiated organization be made.

The geographical work, he said, should be based on a transcontinental 

triangulation on a comprehensive plan, and transcontinental lines of levels 

should be established for the hypsometric work; if funds were divided among 

several surveys it would be impossible for either type of work to be done. A 

transcontinental triangulation was already in progress under the Coast Survey, and that triangulation should be made the basis of all future geographical work. Observations at barometric stations already established by the 

Signal Service could be used in the hypsometric work. The hypsometric work 

was of very great economic importance, because in areas where agriculture 

was dependent on irrigation, the levels of the land relative to adjacent

The Interior Department's Views 269
streams by which these levels were to be fertilized had to be determined. 

Unification would also lead to a more suitable system of cartography. 

Cartography was an important part of the total expense of the work, and 

each survey, desirous of showing the greatest results for the appropriations 

received, had tried to curtail the expense and to reproduce the maps by cheap 

methods to serve temporary purposes.

A system of cartography should be used that will best represent the characteristics of the topography and convey the greatest amount of practical information, limited only by considerations of cost. The maps thus constructed should 

be placed upon materials that are enduring, so that thereafter the plates could 

be used by the government to meet all wants that may arise from time to time.

For the proper administration of the land laws, the public lands should be 

classified. Eight classes of land were then recognized under the laws: agricultural, swamp, irrigable, timber, live-oak and cedar, mineral vein, placer, 

and coal. However, no adequate provision had been made for securing an 

accurate classification. The deputy surveyors failed to provide the facts 

needed, and, in practice, the facts were obtained, not from experts competent to perform the task, but on affidavits from the interested parties or those 

selected by them. A thorough survey was necessary, one embracing the geological and physical characteristics of the entire public domain.

John Strong Newberry

Professor of geology and paleontology at the Columbia School of Mines. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian 

Archives, Merrill Collection.)

270 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
William P. Trowbridge

Professor of engineering at the Columbia School of 

Mines. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Archives, Merrill Collection.)

Such a thorough survey would also be of importance to the industrial 

interests of the country. The greater part of the lands still in possession of 

the Federal Government required drainage or protection from overflow or 

irrigation, and the utilization of these lands depended on the solution of 

great engineering problems. Only a small part of the land in the Arid Region 

could be redeemed by irrigation. However, some land was bountifully supplied with timber, and broad stretches were valuable to some extent for 

grazing purposes. The Far West was a region of vast and inexhaustible mineral wealth, and in Arkansas and the Gulf States east of the Mississippi 

River, the mountains were great repositories of such wealth. For these regions, a geological survey was necessary, not only for proper administration 

of the land laws but also for determining the character and extent of the 

Nation's mineral resources.

To summarize, Powell said:

a proper scientific survey embracing the geography of the public domain with 

the parceling of the lands, and the geology with all the physical characteristics 

connected therewith, is necessary for the following reasons: First, to secure an 

accurate parceling of the public lands and enduring boundary lines; Second, 

for a proper administration of the laws relating to the public lands; Third, for a 

correct and full knowledge of the agricultural and mineral resources of the 

lands; and Fourth, for all purposes of abstract science.

Major Powell's View 271
He advised that in submitting a plan to Congress for the organization of 

a geographical and geological survey, the survey be "allied to the great industrial interests of the country, those relating to agriculture and mining 

being of greatest magnitude, and affecting the largest number of people." 

Such a survey would always receive ample support because the results of its 

work would increase the national wealth and beneficially affect the largest 

proportion of the people. A geographical and geological survey divorced 

from economic considerations and devoted to research chiefly for abstract 

science would have an uncertain tenure because its funds would be the first 

to be cut off in any effort to reduce expenses. "A geographical and geological 

survey, to be permanent, vigorous, and efficient, should include the survey 

of the public lands and be subsidiary thereto."

How much, if at all, the committee was influenced by the written documents is questionable for the Special Committee on Scientific Surveys of the 

Territories of the United States submitted a unanimous report to a special 

session of the Academy only a few days later, on November 6, 1878.

The committee had concluded that the field of inquiry proposed to it 

covered only surveys that pertained to the public domain and did not include 

in their recommended plan "surveys and investigations, however scientific 

in method and character," that applied only to engineering works such as 

the improvements of rivers and harbors, irrigation and drainage of public 

lands, reclamation of tidal lands, and protection of alluvial regions from 

floods. Such surveys were inseparably connected with engineering problems 

and should be conducted by the Engineer Corps of the Army. The surveys 

with which they concerned themselves were the Geographical Surveys West 

of the One Hundredth Meridian under the War Department, the Geological 

and Geographical Survey of the Territories and of the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region under the Interior Department, and the system of land surveys under the supervision of the General 

Land Office; to these four, the committee added a fifth, although it was not 

mentioned in the law, the geodetic work of the newly renamed Coast and 

Geodetic Survey. The committee then pointed out that all the work could 

be included under two heads: surveys of mensuration, and surveys of geology 

and economic resources of the soil. It proposed two surveys to encompass the 

work, the United States Coast and Interior Survey and the United States 

Geological Survey.

"To attain the desirable accuracy and economy [in the surveys of 

mensuration]," the committee said, "it is absolutely essential that there 

should be only one geodetic system, one topographical system, and one landparceling system, all conducted under the same head.*** After a careful 

consideration of the facilities at the disposal of the several existing organizations engaged in this work, the committee believe that the coast and geodetic survey is practically best prepared to execute the entire mensuration 

system required." The Coast and Geodetic Survey should be transferred 

from the Treasury Department to the Department of the Interior, where, in 

addition to its original field of operation, it would assume the entire mensuration of the public domain and be known as the United States Coast and 

Interior Survey. In addition to its former work, the new survey would undertake a geodetic survey of the whole public domain; a topographical survey 

comprising both detailed topographic work and reconnaissance; and landparceling surveys. The committee recommended that the Superintendent of 

the Coast and Interior Survey be appointed by the President and report directly to the Secretary of the Interior.

Two reasons were given for establishing a United States Geological Survey: "The best interests of the public domain require, for the purposes of 

intelligent administration, a thorough knowledge of its geological structure,

272 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
natural resources, and products" and "to meet the requirements of existing 

laws in the disposition of the agricultural, mineral, pastoral, timber, desert, 

and swamp lands, a thorough investigation and classification of the acreage 

of the public domain is imperatively demanded." The Geological Survey 

should be charged with the study of the geological structure .and economical 

resources of the public domain and should be placed under a director, to be 

appointed by the President, who would report directly to the Secretary of 

the Interior. Although the committee stressed that investigation and classification of the public domain was necessary, the Geological Survey was to be 

charged only with the study of the geologic structure and resources.

There were other specific recommendations. The director and members of 

the Geological Survey, "charged as they are with the investigation of the 

natural resources of the public domain, shall have no personal or private 

interests in the lands or mineral wealth of the region under survey, and shall 

execute no surveys or examinations for private parties of corporations." The 

Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, except those necessary for military 

purposes and local improvements, and all surveys by the Department of the 

Interior should be discontinued. The Geological Survey should be authorized

Simon Newcomb

Director of the Nautical Almanac Office, President 

of the American Association for the Advancement of 

Science. (Engraving by J. J. Cade courtesy of the 

Library of Congress.)

The Academy's Report 273
Alexander Agassiz

Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Harvard. (Photograph of oil portrait by Jules J. 

LeFebvre courtesy of the Harvard University Portrait Collection.)

to make local topographic surveys for special purposes. The publications of 

the Geological Survey should consist of an annual report of operations; geologic and economic maps, illustrating the resources and classification of the 

land; reports upon general and economic geology in all its branches; and the 

necessarily connected paleontology. All collections made by the Coast and 

Interior Survey and the Geological Survey, when no longer needed for investigations in progress, should be transferred to the National Museum. 

As its final recommendation, the committee urged

that upon the organization of the United States Coast and Interior Survey and 

the United States Geological Survey, a commission be formed, to consist of the 

Commissioner of the Land Office, Superintendent of the Coast and Interior Survey, Director of the United States Geological Survey, the Chief of Engineers of 

the Army, and three other persons to be appointed by the President, who shall 

take into consideration the codification of the present laws relating to the sur274 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
Edward D. Cope

Paleontologist, who had been a member of both the 

Hayden and Wheeler surveys, the lone dissenter to 

the report of the Academy Committee. (Photograph 

of oil portrait courtesy of the American Philosophical Society.)

vey and disposition of the public domain, and who shall report to Congress 

within one year a standard of classification and valuation of the public land, 

together with a system of land-parceling survey. The necessity of this commission is evident from the fact that by far the larger part of the public domain lies 

in the region where, from geological and climatic causes, the lands are for the 

most part not valuable for field-culture, and where the system of homestead 

pre-emption and sale in accordance with existing laws is both impracticable 

and undesirable.

Thirty-five members of the Academy attended the special session to consider the report, and all but one voted for it. The lone dissenter was Professor 

Cope, who probably found himself unable to vote for anything advocated by 

Professor Marsh. His attitude has sometimes been considered a reflection of 

Hayden's, with whose survey he had been associated, but Hayden himself 

was apparently pleased with the report, because it spoke for civilian science. 

Hayden wrote to Sir Archibald Geikie on November 24:

The report recommends the cutting off all this Interior Geodetic and geologic 

work from the Engineer Corps and the entire abolition of Wheeler & the formation of three Bureaus under the Interior Dept. 1. The Coast and Interior Survey 

to do all the Geodetic work. 2. and a bureau for Geology to be called the U.S. 

Geological Survey. 3. a Land Office for the sale of public lands and granting 

titles. The Engineers are to be confined to Rivers & Harbors, fortification & their 

legitimate work. This report was unanimous representing 80 or 90 of the best 

scientific men in America. Hence Wheeler and Humphreys have been snubbed 

again most unmercifully. He (the latter) is terribly indignant and has resigned is 

[sic] seat in the Academy. We look forward to a great struggle. The Coast Survey & the Engineer Corps will now be pitted against each other and how the 

Geological Surveys will come out I know not.

Marsh left for Washington after the Academy meeting, and by the end of 

that week secured the endorsement of Secretary of the Interior Schurz, Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman and his older brother, Chief of Staff of 

the Army William T. Sherman, Superintendent Patterson of the Coast Survey, and the President himself.

The Academy report was submitted to Congress on December 2, the opening day of the last session of the 45th Congress, and was referred to the 

Committee on Appropriations. A new Congress had been elected in November, on the very day that the Academy approved the report, but it would not 

take office until the 45th Congress expired on March 4, 1879- Among those 

who would not be returning to the new Congress was A. S. Hewitt, who 

had sponsored the resolution calling for the Academy report. Tammany had 

blocked his nomination for another term because of his friendship with Tilden. Although Southern policy, labor reform, temperance, and women's 

suffrage were all issues in the 1878 elections, also public-land policy in some 

States, the basic issue was the economic situation. There were renewed demands for free coinage of silver and a greenback currency system. Both major 

parties lost in the House, and, although the Democrats retained a majority, 

the balance of power would be with the Greenbackers and other minorityparty members.

Proponents and opponents of the measure had already begun their campaigns, and in the background, those who favored the new order began to 

build up the as-yet-unannounced candidacy of Clarence King for director. 

When General A. A. Humphreys resigned from the Academy, Superintendent Carlile P. Patterson of the Coast Survey sympathized, and both J. E. 

Hilgard, the Assistant Superintendent, who admitted he was rooting for 

King, and Major Powell immediately sent out a call for King to get in touch 

with Patterson, who did not know him.

Early in the session, Simon Newcomb thought the measure would go 

through the House without much difficulty but suggested that King come 

to Washington as his help was needed with the Senate. However, opposition

The Academy's Report 275
soon developed in the House. Although the Academy report was officially in 

the hands of the Appropriations Committee, the Committee on Public Lands 

had also taken it up. On December 19, Congressman Peter Wigginton wrote 

to Major Powell for a report, stating that he, Congressman Thomas M. Patterson of Colorado, and Congressman Goldsmith Hewitt of Alabama had 

been appointed a subcommittee to study the matter. Wigginton assumed 

that Patterson and Hewitt, who were opposed to the measure, would be 

aided by Professor Hayden and wanted Major Powell to supply him with 

help. Hayden, however, at that time approved the report as it would end the 

mapping by the Engineers.

The Engineers opened their formal attack on the proposal with a communication to the Appropriations Committees of Senate and House and the 

House Committee on Commerce on January 10, 1879- The Secretary of War 

stated that the National Academy's plan would "prevent the prompt supplying of the War Department with the maps which are requisite for its 

economic administration and for the use of its officers in the field." The 

Coast Survey maps were not sufficiently detailed for the Engineers who 

would have to do the work over. He recommended that appropriations for 

military and geographic surveys be made as heretofore. General Humphreys, 

in an accompanying document, complained that the recommendation to turn 

over the surveying and mapping to the Coast Survey was a matter on which 

the Academy had not been consulted by Congress and which was entirely 

outside their sphere of action. General Humphreys estimated that maps of 

the West on the scale recommended by the Academy and done by the Coast 

Survey would cost $876 million, whereas the Engineers could map the country for only $6l.5to $78 million. Coast Survey-style mapping was not 

warranted at that time and would not be for many years to come. Surveys on 

the scale of 1:25,000 might be proper for the East, but maps on a scale of 

1:250,000, which the War Department could make for $2.50 a square mile, 

would be sufficient for the thinly settled and unexplored areas of the country 

west of the Mississippi. Superintendent Patterson replied mildly a week later 

that the cost of all surveying varied with the character and scale of the work. 

He thought that the estimates by the War Department were exaggerated 

and suggested that "Respecting comparisons as to the several classes of surveying, it is, I think, safe to assume that the cost must be about the same by 

whatever body of skilled men of integrity the work may be performed."

Major Powell joined the argument with a letter forwarded to Congress by 

Secretary Schurz on February 7. Powell stated that in order to defeat the 

proposition, the Chief of Engineers assumed in his letter that the proposal 

was to extend the same system of surveys over the interior as that used along 

the coast, whereas the surveys necessary to properly administer the laws relating to the public domain differed radically in purposes, methods, and 

results from coast surveys. Hence, the discussion of the cost of coast surveys 

was not germane to the discussion of the cost of interior surveys. Powell 

stated flatly that the physical characteristics of more than 19/20 of the country to be surveyed were such that the geographic work, including triangulation and topography, could be executed at very small expense. He estimated that the triangulation could be done for 35 cents a square mile and 

the topography at 4 miles to the inch for $2 a square mile, giving, therefore, 

approximately the same figure as that General Humphreys had given.

King arrived in the Capital early in January, armed with letters of introduction to President Hayes, to work for passage of the plan by Congress and 

to promote his own candidacy for director. Before leaving for Washington, 

he had asked Marsh to obtain supporting letters from the Yale faculty and 

from members of the Academy Committee. Hayden had been told that King

276 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
John D. C. Atkins

Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. 

In his speech introducing the legislation, he was especially concerned about the land-parceling surveys. 

(Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

was interested but apparently did not take his candidacy too seriously until 

King arrived in Washington. In mid-January, King noted that "Hayden is 

outwardly for the bill but his soul is distracted." Hayden on January 24 

wrote an urgent appeal to Sir Archibald Geikie: "Clarence King is here and 

is my competitor.*** I think I ought to have letters from some eminent 

men abroad on the subject, stating that from long service as a pioneer and 

the builder up of the important survey under my charge, its long services 

and the struggles it has passed through, I should be the Director. As matters 

stand now, I can say confidentially that there is no doubt of my appointment, but the time for pressure has now come." And on February 4, he 

wrote again: "I write to ask you to address a letter to the President of the 

United States as a foreign scientific worker requesting my appointment] to 

the Directorship of the new Survey.*** Please write the letter and send to 

me by return mail for the whole matter will be decided by the 4th of March. 

All looks well now. My most formidable competitor is Clarence King, who 

is now rallying his forces and making headway. He has most of the New 

England and New York influence."

King was indeed a formidable competitor. His Systematic Geology had been 

published in the latter part of 1878. In its January 1879 issue, the American 

Journal of Science, in noting its publication, said: "In thus bringing together 

in a single volume the grand results of his survey, Mr. King has given much 

greater and more permanent value to the labors of himself and his associates. 

The clear and systematic manner in which both the facts observed and the 

theories advanced are presented, is worthy of high praise; Mr. King's graceful pen never showed itself to better advantage. It is perhaps unnecessary to 

add that the appearance of the volume is all that could be desired." In the 

February issue, a complete resume of the stratigraphic geology was offered, 

and Raphael Pumpelly was designated to prepared a review of the results and 

generalizations in other departments.

The Engineering and Mining Journal also published a long and highly favorable review, which editor Rossiter Raymond concluded by the observation:

There is no doubt that Mr. King adorns what he touches, and it is much to his 

credit that the adornment is kept so generally subordinate to the underlying 

fact. If weak spots shall be hereafter found in his logic, however, we think they 

will be traceable to his happy but perilous faculty of seeing things in picturesque and striking lights. But we will not prematurely commit the error of the 

lady who said of another, 'Oh! she can't be good, because she is so pretty,' by 

fancying that because Mr. King's volume is brilliant, it can not therefore be also 

sound. The gods do sometimes (most unfairly) grant both gifts at once.

The recommendations in the Academy report, with minor exceptions, 

were embodied in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Expenses bill introduced in the final session of the 45th Congress, and an appropriation for 

the expenses of the Geological Survey was included in the Sundry Civil Expenses bill. The Legislative bill was taken up first, and on February 10, the 

Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, John D. C. Atkins of Tennessee, opened the discussion with a plea for economy. "The condition at present and the estimated surplus in the Treasury at the end of the present fiscal 

year admonishes continued and renewed efforts for economy upon the part of 

the Representatives of the people in withholding appropriations that all useless and extravagant expenditures may be prevented. The most sanguine expectations of the Secretary of the Treasury compels the admission that, with 

the sinking fund satisfied, there will be a deficiency often or twelve millions 

of dollars." The Committee was also concerned about the number of employees in the Executive Departments. The Departments had asked for 4,545 

employees for fiscal year 1880, but the Committee had reduced that number

Legislative Actions 277
to 4,329- They had raised a few salaries, among them the salaries of the 

Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Commissioner of Pensions in the 

Interior Department. Those officers would now receive $4,000, the same as 

the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the three offices being in the 

Committee's estimation about equal in importance and duties.

Mr. Atkins said that there were only two propositions over which there 

was likely to be a serious contest: (1) the equalization of the number and 

salaries of the clerical staff and other employees of the House and Senate (and 

that had been a sore point for some years), and (2) the change proposed by 

the National Academy of Sciences in the mode of conducting the geological 

and geographical surveys and land-parceling surveys. He described the latter 

as "the placing of the scientific surveys and the surveys of the General Land 

Office under the control of the Coast Survey, and the transfer of that bureau 

to the Interior Department; also the abolition of the office of Surveyor-General and the creation of the office of geological director, who shall be attached 

to the Coast Survey, but who shall be especially charged with the geological, 

geographical, and other scientific surveys. It is designed to substitute the 

surveys of the geological director for the surveys now carried on by Wheeler, 

Hayden, and Powell, which it is proposed to abolish." The Academy had 

recommended two surveys, but Mr. Atkins was chiefly concerned about the 

land-parceling surveys. "The Academy," he said, "is to be commended for 

looking to the solution of the practical idea and leaving the scientific feature 

as a secondary one."

He then launched into a discussion of the land-parceling surveys. The 

practical question was whether the new plan promised the best results at the 

least cost, or whether the plan that had been in use for a century still had 

most claims to the approval of Congress. "It may be urged that in effecting 

this change in our system of land surveys we are giving up a tried and known 

for an untried and unknown system. Well, it is conceded even by the Land 

Office that the present system is a costly, clumsy, and an unsatisfactory one; 

hence there is a demand for reform and improvement." Atkins cautioned 

the House "to keep in mind that this bill does not repeal the rectangular 

method of surveys. It only provides that the commission composed of the 

Superintendent of the Coast Survey, the geological director, and the Commissioner of the Land Office, and three persons appointed from civil life by 

the President shall be empowered and required to submit in one year to 

Congress such methods of surveying the public lands as it may deem wise 

and practicable. Until that report is made changing the method, and Congress shall adopt it, the present system of rectangular surveying will remain 

undisturbed." (Again there was a slight variation from the Academy report 

which had proposed that the Chief of Engineers be a member of the public 

lands commission.) He also pointed out that very few agricultural lands were 

still unsurveyed and that much,of the remaining unsurveyed lands, mineral, 

placer, coal, and cedar lands, could not be accurately surveyed and marked 

by the usual methods of running lines from established corners or from 

standard meridians and parallels. By a system of triangulation from a base 

line, parcels of land could be accurately surveyed; moreover, part of an area 

might be surveyed and the remainder left unsurveyed until necessary. The 

bill would not deprive the new States of the sections for common-school 

purposes, as had been alleged, but it did change the present law that authorized one or more persons to have land surveyed by depositing the cost of 

surveying by requiring that five or more persons make the deposit before the 

surveyor general make the survey. If there were not enough persons living in 

a township to combine and have it surveyed, it seemed that the States were 

not likely to have immediate need of the proceeds of the school sections.

278 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
The representatives, however, were as suspicious of the proposed change 

as they had been the spring before. The attack on the changes in the public 

land surveys began promptly, led by Congressmen Horace Page of California 

and Thomas M. Patterson of Colorado. Congressman Wigginton did much 

of the rebuttal. "Gentlemen," he said, "are unnecessarily alarmed when 

they fear this measure proposes to overturn our whole land system. It does 

not. It does not interfere with the law relating to mineral land or private 

land claims or the securing of homesteads or pre-emption. It is simply to 

unify, systematize, consolidate and make efficient that which is now unsystematic, crude, unsatisfactory, chaotic in the matter of the surveys of the 

public lands. And one further thing which I deem of great importance and 

from which I confidently expect important benefits to my people and those 

of all new States and the Territories if adopted: it proposes a commission of 

able, intelligent men who are to view the whole field and report to this 

body." Mr. Martin Maginnis, the Territorial Delegate from Montana, said, 

however, that Wigginton was the only one from the Territories or the Pacific 

coast that favored the proposal, and no one contradicted him.

Mr. A. S. Hewitt then made a formal speech favoring the proposal. He 

recommended that all read the "admirable exposition" by Major Powell in 

order to learn of the advantages of the proposed changes in the land surveys. 

He too emphasized that the legislation did not propose to do away with the 

rectangular system of land-parceling or even to modify the present method 

of parceling surveys for arable land. It simply infused elasticity into the 

system. It would "sooner or later abolish sixteen needless offices held by men 

lacking the technical knowledge to adopt engineering knowledge to varying 

geographical conditions, and place the work under the control of the most 

competent, scientific, and economical surveying organization in the world, 

directing it to do this work in accordance with the existing land laws and 

such modifications thereof as may from time to time be adopted." Hewitt 

attached no significance to the controversies between military and civilian 

and the questions of relative economy. "It is obvious to every reflecting mind 

that the cost of the surveys will be in proportion to the amount of detail 

which they involve, and with equal skill and diligence, it is quite certain 

that no great difference could exist whether the surveys are executed under 

civil or military supervision." He had at first thought that surveys should 

be under the War Department but had concluded that it was "not to be 

expected that the large body of scientific men required to make these surveys 

a success" would "consent, willingly, to place themselves under the control 

of the younger officers of the Engineer Corps. Whatever may be their devotion to science, they are men of such eminence in their respective walks that 

they cannot and ought not to be reduced to the ranks."

Hewitt's greatest eloquence was reserved for the geological survey, and 

he did not restrict it to the territories but spoke of it as national in scope. 

"Nations become great and independent as they develop a genius for grasping the forces and materials of nature within their reach and converting them 

into a steady flowing stream of wealth and comfort," he said.

Without a sound knowledge of the facts of nature it is not possible to develop 

a healthy material growth. It was this conviction which gave birth to the national 

surveys, and disjoined as they have been no man can estimate the value, scientific and material, of the results already achieved.

What is there in this richly endowed land of ours which may be dug, or gathered, or harvested, and made a part of the wealth of America and of the world, 

and how and where does it lie? These are the questions which the enterprise, 

the capital, and the labor of the United States are engaged in working out with 

such signal energy, and it is to the solution of these questions, the greatest of 

all national problems, that the scientific surveys of the public domain should be

Hewitt's Speech 279
directed. For the manifold wants, for the daily and hourly need of the Government and the people, a comprehensive and accurate survey is now deemed to 

be a necessity. The need of a thorough survey for the wise organization and 

distribution of American industry is in the future as imperative as a constitution 

on which to found our laws.

Mr. Hewitt used vivid phrases to describe the "all but exhaustless beds of 

anthracite" lying "like the leaves of a crumpled book" in Pennsylvania, 

iron which was "the inseparable and indispensable ally of coal in the 

triumphs of man over nature," mountains "riven and threaded with veins 

of silver and gold," and "riverbeds of vanished streams filled with golden 

sands." Mr. Hewitt wanted the new survey directed toward a profound 

study of "these immeasurable elements of national wealth." Petty disputes 

should be cast aside. The scheme came from the highest scientific authority 

in the land. It commended itself to the judgment of the men who had been 

the most energetic and successful in the development of our resources, the 

"captains of industry." "If we can but rise 'to the height of this great 

argument'," he concluded, "we shall place the work of national development and the elements of future prosperity upon the firm and enduring 

basis, of truth and knowledge, from which they cannot be moved so long as 

the Republic shall endure. Esto perpetual" and sat down to great applause.

Abram S. Hewitt

Congressman from New York, who initiated the 

Academy study and favored adoption of its plan, but 

was most eloquent about the value of a geological 

survey. (Courtesy of Culver Pictures.)

280 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
James A. Garfield

Congressman from Ohio, who thought, for the most 

part, that the Government should not interfere in 

matters of science but supported the idea of a geological survey of the public lands. (Courtesy of the 

Library of Congress.)

Mr. Hewitt was followed by Mr. Garfield of Ohio who thought it "a 

misfortune" that so important a measure had been placed in one of the 

appropriation bills. The sections pertaining to the public lands surveys 

should have been embodied in a separate bill and "subjected to the most 

careful scrutiny." The scientific surveys, however, had been supported for 

10 or 12 years without any other place in the laws except the appropriation 

bills, and it was on the relation of the National Government to science that 

Mr. Garfield wished to speak:

We are accustomed to hear it said that the great powers of government in this 

country are divided into two classes: national powers and State powers. That is 

an incomplete classification. Our fathers carefully divided all governmental 

powers into three classes; one they gave to the States; another to the nation; 

but the third great class, comprising the most precious of all powers, they refused to confer upon the States or the nation, but reserved for themselves.***

Our fathers, though recognizing in common with Germany and other Christian nations of the earth the supreme importance of religion among men, deliberately turned to the great nation they were to establish and said: You shall 

never make any law about religion;' and to the States they virtually said "You 

shall never make any law establishing any form of religion.'***

What I have said in reference to religion, applied with almost equal force to 

science. In the main, the framers of our Government trusted science to the same 

jurisdiction to which they intrusted religion.*** This leads me to inquire what 

ought to be the relation of the National Government to science? What, if anything, ought we to do in the way of promoting science? *** Generally, the desire 

of our scientific men is to be let alone to work in free competition with all the 

scientific men of the world; to develop their own results, and get the credit of 

them each for himself; not to have the Government enter the lists as the rival of 

private enterprise.

As a general principle, therefore, the United States ought not to interfere in 

matters of science, but should leave its development to the free, voluntary action of our great third estate, the people themselves. *** To the general principle 

I have stated, there are a few obvious exceptions which should be clearly understood when we legislate on the subject. In the first place the Government should 

aid all sorts of scientific inquiry that are necessary to the intelligent exercise of 

its own functions. *** There is another exception to the general rule of leaving 

science to the voluntary action of the people. Wherever any great popular interest, affecting whole classes, possibly all classes of the community, imperatively 

need scientific investigation, and private enterprise cannot accomplish it, we 

may wisely intervene and help where the Constitution gives us authority. *** I 

might perhaps include in a third exception those inquiries which, in consequence of their great magnitude and cost, cannot be successfully made by private individuals. Outside these three classes of inquiries, the Government 

ought to keep its hands off ***.

Garfield was not, he said, attacking the geological surveys. It was "absolutely vital" that the character and quality of the public lands be determined. They should be consolidated under one head, however, and not scattered to "waste money and duplicate work and make the name of science 

ridiculous in the United States." He concluded by suggesting that

besides going too far in scientific explorations, we have greatly wronged the 

scientific publication societies of this country. *** We are printing thousands of 

volumes in competition with the private associations of the country, and thereby 

injuring and crippling them. I believe we ought simply to confine ourselves to 

our own business and not needlessly travel into their field.

Only a few objections to the geological survey were raised. Mr. John H. 

Baker of Indiana said that the idea of a geological survey was never contemplated by the 1878 resolution and only came about because five of the seven 

members of the Academy Committee were geologists. "It is marvelous that 

a Congress, given over to a system of cheese-paring economy on petty things, 

should be ready to swallow a scheme which will require a score or more of 

years and a hundred or two millions of dollars to complete it. This geological

Garfield's Speech 281
survey will cost more in my judgment than the whole of the lands to be 

surveyed are worth." Mr. D. C. Haskell of Illinois perhaps reflected a more 

common view when he said:

Now I do not object to geological surveys or to any kind of scientific surveys. I 

will continue to vote for them; they ought to be had. I do not quite agree with 

the gentleman from Ohio that we ought to leave science and religion out of this 

Hall. I think if we had a little more science and religion in this House and a little 

less of politics we would get along a great deal better. But is it necessary, in 

order to take care of these scientific gentlemen, that you should come in here 

with a proposition to burden every settler on the frontier with the cost of surveying his own land? What an idea!

The bill was amended to exclude the public land surveys from the work of 

the Coast and Interior Survey, and the entire bill was passed and sent to the 

Senate on February 25. Under a suspension of the rules, the Sundry Civil 

Expenses bill had already been read and passed without debate, including an 

item: "For the expenses of the geological survey and the classification of the 

public lands and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, 

and products of the national domain, provided for under____ section of 

the act 'making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial 

expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, and 

for other purposes,' approved March ____, 1879, to be expended by the 

Director of the Geological Survey under the direction of the Secretary of the 

Interior, $100,000."

The Senate took up the Sundry Civil bill first, and there the Committee 

on Appropriations proposed to add "of the Territories" after geological survey so that the clause began "For the expenses of the geological survey of 

the Territories and the classification of the public lands ***" There was 

some question of the intention, so Senator Aaron A. Sargent, whom Hayden 

once described as his "best friend," explained that "Congress at its last 

session improvidently authorized a body called the Academy of Sciences to 

report a plan for the consolidation of the surveys; and they with a singular 

incongruity, showing little reflection, recommended that a body whose duties are confined entirely to the coasts and which adopts very expensive methods, ciecessarily on account of the nature of its work shall be changed into an 

amphibious animal living upon land and water as well, that this Coast Survey shall be extended all through the interior, that it shall deal with geological and botanical questions, with paleontology and ethnology, and that the 

surveys, which heretofore have been made under the authority of the United 

States and which have made the name of American scientific exploration 

illustrious, shall be dispensed with and thrown over." The Senator then 

proceeded to read from a private document composed of letters from scientists endorsing the Hayden survey, including letters from Sir Joseph Hooker 

and Professor Archibald Geikie.

The Senate without further debate agreed to amend the bill, so that it 

read. "For the expenses of the Geological and Geographical Survey of the 

Territories, and the classification of the public lands, and examination of the 

geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain, 

to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, one 

hundred thousand dollars." The Senate then added three amendments, appropriating $20,000 each "for the preparation of reports, maps, and such 

other illustrations as may be necessary for completing the office-work" of 

the Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories and the Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian, and $20,000 "for the 

completion of the reports of the Geographical and Geological Survey of the 

Rocky Mountain Region with the necessary maps and illustrations." When 

the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial bill came up for consideration on

Aaron Sargent

Senator from California and good friend of F. V. 

Hayden, who derided the Academy plan at first but 

voted for the conference report. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

282 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
March 1, the Senate accepted the recommendation of its Committee on Appropriations that the entire section on the reorganization of the surveys be 

deleted. The Senate action seemed clearly to be a triumph for Hayden.

On Sunday, March 2, both bills moved to conference. There were items 

restricting jurors' oaths and the supervision of elections, holdovers from 

reconstruction days, in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial bill on which 

the Democratic House and Republican Senate simply could not agree. After 

several reports of inability to come to an agreement, and the appointment of 

new conferees who continued to disagree, it became apparent that the Legislative bill would not be passed before the mandatory end of the session. 

The conferees on the Sundry Civil bill, Messrs. Atkins, A. S. Hewitt, and 

Eugene Hale for the House and William Windom, Stephen W. Dorsey, and 

Henry G. Davis for the Senate, then agreed that the sections of the 

House version of the Legislative bill that established the Geological Survey 

and a commission on the codification of public-land laws would be placed in 

the Sundry Civil bill. References to the Coast and Interior Survey in these 

sections, except for one reference to samples which may have been overlooked, were deleted. In legislative parlance, the House receded from its 

disagreement to the amendment of the Senate and agreed to the same with 

amendment: that in lieu of the entire paragraph (the Senate's appropriation 

for the Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories), there be substituted the sections establishing and appropriating funds for the Survey and 

the public-land commission, and the Senate agreed to the same. The three 

Senate amendments providing funds for completion of office work and reports of the Hayden, Wheeler, and Powell surveys were accepted by the 

House but took on new meaning with the termination of those surveys on 

June 30, 1879.

The conference report was accepted by the House in the afternoon and the 

Senate in the evening of March 3. In both houses, the yea and nay votes were 

tallied, and the vote was decisive, 148 to 107 in the House and 33 to 24 in 

the Senate. The House debate on the report was principally on a provision 

for funding the debt of the District of Columbia, and the House was assured 

by Mr. Atkins that the provision for the Survey conformed to the legislation 

it had passed. The Senate, however, debated the Survey legislation, was told 

that the Senate Appropriations Committee had recommended the change in 

the Sundry Civil bill because it opposed the appropriation of funds for an 

unestablished agency whose purpose it knew nothing about because the Legislative bill had not been received from the House. The Senate vote was 

therefore a positive vote for the establishment of the Geological Survey, and 

Senator Sargent was among those voting "Yea." The bill became law when 

President Hayes signed it in the very late evening of March 3- 

The entire legislation is brief:

For the salary of the Director of the Geological Survey, which office is hereby 

established under the Interior Department, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, six thousand dollars; 

Provided, That this officer shall have the direction of the Geological Survey, and 

the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. And that the Director and members of the Geological Survey shall have no personal or private 

interests in the lands or mineral wealth of the region under survey, and shall 

execute no surveys or examinations for private parties or corporations; and the 

Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, and the Geographical 

and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, under the Department of 

the Interior, and the Geographical Surveys West of the One-Hundredth Meridian, under the War Department, are hereby discontinued, to take effect on the 

thirtieth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine. And all collections of 

rocks, minerals, soils, fossils, and objects of natural history, archaeology, and 

ethnology, made by the Coast and Interior Survey, the Geological Survey or by

Enactment of Legislation 283
any other parties for the Government of the United States, when no longer 

needed for investigations in progress, shall be deposited in the National Museum.

For the expense of a commission on the codification of existing iaws relating 

to the survey and disposition of the public domain, and for other purposes, 

twenty thousand dollars:

Provided, that the Commission shall consist of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the Director of the United States Geological Survey, and three 

civilians, to be appointed by the President, who shall receive a per diem compensation of ten dollars for each day while actually engaged, and their travelling 

expenses; and neither the Commissioner of the General Land Office nor the 

Director of the United States Geological Survey shall receive other compensation for their services upon said commission than their salaries, respectively, 

except their traveling expenses while engaged on said duties; and it shall be 

the duty of this commission to report to Congress within one year from the time 

of its organization; first, a codification of the present laws relating to the survey 

and disposition of the public domain; second, a system and standard of classification of public lands; as arable, irrigable, timber, pasturage, swamp, coal, 

mineral lands and such other classes as may be deemed proper, having due 

regard to humidity of climate, supply of water for irrigation, and other physical 

characteristics; third, a system of land parcelling surveys adopted to the economic uses of the several classes of lands; and, fourth, such recommendations 

as they may deem wise in relation to the best method of disposing of the public 

lands of the western portion of the United States to actual settlers.

The publications of the Geological Survey shall consist of the annual report 

of operations, geological and economic maps illustrating the resources and 

classification of the lands, and reports upon general and economic geology and 

paleontology. The annual report of the Geological Survey shall accompany the 

annual report of the Secretary of the Interior. All special memoirs and reports 

of said survey shall be issued in uniform quarto series if deemed necessary by 

the Director, but otherwise in ordinary octavos. Three thousand copies of each 

shall be published for scientific exchanges and for sale at the price of publication; and all literary and cartographic materials, received in exchange shall be 

the property of the United States and form a part of the library of the organization; and the money resulting from the sale of such publications shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States.

The Sundry Civil bill also included as additional provision regarding the 

Powell survey an appropriation of $20,000 for completing and preparing 

for publication its Contributions to American Ethnology with the proviso 

"that all the archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North 

America, collected by the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky 

Mountain Region, shall be turned over to the Smithsonian Institution, that 

the work may be completed and prepared for publication under its direction" and the added proviso that such action meet the approval of the 

Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 

Thus, Major Powell, after 5 years in the Interior Department, would be able 

to return to the Smithsonian Institution, where Spencer Baird had succeeded 

Joseph Henry as Secretary.

Exactly what was intended by the legislation was not immediately clear. 

The Washington Post reported vaguely that some surveys in the Interior Department had been reorganized. Rossiter Raymond, who, as editor of the 

Engineering and Mining Journal and aid to Hewitt in his private enterprise, 

had followed developments rather closely, missed the full significance. In 

the March 8 issue of the Journal, he commented:

From the somewhat fragmentary reports of the daily press concerning the disgracefully confused and hasty work of the closing hours of the session of Congress, we gather that the suggestion made by us, concerning the National Surveys, has turned out to be a prophecy. The geodetic and land-parceling surveys 

are left for the present as they are; but the geological surveys of the Territories 

are, by a clause appended at the eleventh hour to one of the Appropriations 

bills, consolidated under a Director, to be appointed by the President, and to be 

responsible to the Secretary of the Interior.

284 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
Rutherford B. Hayes

President of the United States. In the late evening 

of March 3, 1879, he approved HR 6471, which 

included the Organic Act of the United States Geological Survey. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

The legislation, although hastily passed, indicated that Congress had 

reached several important conclusions. It acknowledged that in the 95 years 

since the first public-land law was proposed, public-land policy had changed, 

and, moreover, that the public lands of 1879 were vastly different from 

those of 1784. In the intervening years, as policy was modified and new 

lands were added to the public domain, Congress had passed more than 

3,000 land laws, some of them in conflict with earlier laws that had not 

been repealed, some intended only as local in application or temporary in 

nature that had been extended to the entire public domain. It was time for 

a new look at public-land law, and the inclusion of the Director of the Geological Survey as one of the commission of experts conceded the usefulness of 

science in the formulation of public-land policy.

A decision on national mapping policy was postponed. Western opposition to any change in the public-land surveys that might hinder development 

precluded any immediate change in the General Land Office surveys, despite

Significance of the Legislation 285
the evidence of their unsuitability to western terrain. The hope of the Eastern 

States for Federal assistance in topographic mapping to aid in the development of mineral resources and industrial development was left unfulfilled. 

The Coast and Geodetic Survey continued to survey the coasts and to extend 

triangulation from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts; for the time being it 

was left to the States to do the mapping within their own boundaries.

Most important of all, however, Federal geologic work was given new 

status. There is no better description of what happened than that given by 

Clarence King: "During the years when the Federal geologists were following the hurried and often painful marches of the western explorers, many 

States inaugurated and brought to successful issue State surveys whose results 

are of dignity and value. Since 1867 the Government work has been equal 

to the best State work, and in some important branches has taken the lead. 

The wisdom of the legislation which placed in the field those well-organized, 

well-equipped, and ably-manned corps is apparent in the improved and enlarged results obtained. But there remained one more step necessary to give 

the highest efficiency and the most harmonious balance to the National geological work. It was the discontinuance of the several Geological Surveys 

under personal leadership, and the foundation of a permanent Bureau 

charged with the investigation and elucidation of the geological structure 

and mineral resources and productions of the United States." With the

Carl Schurz

Secretary of the Interior, whom Clarence King 

numbered among his friends and in whose Department the new bureau was placed. (Courtesy of the 

Library of Congress.)

286 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
establishment of the Department of Agriculture in 1862, Congress had acknowledged that its power to provide for the common defence and general 

welfare warranted sponsorship of scientific research in the older of the two 

basic industries. The Act of March 3, 1879, acknowledged the importance 

of the second basic industry in the national economy. It thus marked the 

culmination of one era and the inauguration of a new one.

As important as the legislation in the future course of the new Survey was 

the selection of its first director. Rossiter Raymond said in his editorial of 

March 8,

Much depends upon the action of the President in choosing the right man for 

this great enterprise. If the geological survey were an established institution, 

with its rules, methods, and traditions, there would be less danger in placing at 

its head a man of mediocre ability. But the Director now to be appointed must 

create his institution as well as administer it. The impulse now given to it will 

determine its future. The manner in which it is conducted for the next two years 

will either fix it as a recognized and esteemed branch of the public service, or 

expose it to utter overthrow, and doom the country to recurring chaos in this 

department. *** If the new Director is wise, he will understand that his primary 

object must be to ascertain and make known the resources of the public lands. 

Let him boldly put the economical problems first, and win public respect for 

scientific work by showing, even to the unscientific, what benefits it can confer 

upon the community. Let him imitate the sagacity of Clarence King, who published first of all his volume on the Mining Industry, and last of all his theoretical 

deductions in continental geology.

Dr. Hayden, as the director of the older of the Interior surveys discontinued by the legislation, was the obvious candidate, and Simon Newcomb, 

who observed events first hand, wrote in his Reminiscences of an Astronomer 

that: "At first there seemed to be but one voice on the subject. Professor 

Hayden had taken the greatest pains to make known the work of his survey, 

not only to Congress, but to every scientific society, small and great, the 

world over. Many of these had bestowed their approbation upon it by electing its director to honorary membership. Two-thirds of the members of Congress were said to have sent a recommendation to the President for the appointment of so able and successful man to the new position. However," 

Newcomb said, "the leaders in the movement considered that Mr. Clarence 

King was the better qualified for the duties of the new position," and that 

"hopeless though the contest might have seemed, an effort was made by 

three or four of the men most interested to secure Mr. King's appointment".

Major Powell took it upon himself to forestall Hayden's appointment. As 

soon as the bill was passed, he wrote to Mr. Atkins, who had stressed the 

reform of the land surveys in his speech, that "if Dr. Hayden is appointed 

all hope of further reform in the system of land surveys is at an end or 

indefinitely postponed." Three days later, in a memorandum to Mr. Garfield, he attacked Hayden on the very points that Garfield had brought out 

in his speech. Hayden had published scientific work with which he had had 

nothing to do, he had carried on work "for noise and show" and work that 

was "utterly irrelevant." Powell praised King as the "pioneer and founder 

of a whole system of survey work which was novel and original, exactly 

suited to the region and which though it may be susceptible of improvement 

will on the whole be the only practicable system for the far west." King, 

he said, had "an orderly, sagacious, logical mind which places him among 

the truly great men of science in the estimation of those who know how to 

appreciate his work."

Recommendations came from Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, New York 

University, the State Museum at Albany, and the American Museum of 

Natural History, and from every member of the Academy Committee except 

Dana. Marsh and W. H. Brewer traveled to Washington to press the case

Selection of the First Director 287
with the President, as did Professor Newberry, who had been State Geologist 

of Ohio when Hayes was Governor. President Hayes consulted Charles William Eliot, the President of Harvard, for a confidential opinion and was told 

that Dr. Hay den did not command the confidence of American men of science, and his appointment would seem to them "discreditable, discouraging, 

and unpromising."

King's appointment was announced, prematurely as it happened, on 

March 11, and in the March 15 issue of the Engineering and Mining Journal, 

Raymond confessed that "our opinion, entertained from the beginning 

[was], that Mr. King is the very best man who could have been selected. 

The general and impersonal picture which we have given in former articles 

of the ideal Director, will appear, on examination, to be little else than a 

portrait of Clarence King."

King's nomination was sent to the Senate on March 20, and he was confirmed on April 3. An unhappy Hayden wrote to Sir Archibald Geikie that 

Professor Marsh

came here in person from New Haven and centered the entire committee of the 

Academy on King's nomination except Prof. Dana. Yale & Harvard College were 

brought to bear to a great extent. There are so many graduates of these universities in power here that their influence was all powerful. The Secretary of 

Interior, Carl Schurz, a German, had great power in the matter. So when the time 

came for the appointment, Mr. King got it. *** I do not know what my fate will be 

in connection with the organization. I only know it will not be important. The 

operations, Mr. King says, will be confined to mining geology for several years 

to come.

Clarence King 

First Director of the U.S. Geological Survey.

288 The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879
Notes and Bibliography

The chapter notes identify the sources of directly quoted material and 

a few indirect statements, some incidental biographical data, and give 

the reference to the U.S. Statutes at Large for all laws mentioned in the 

text. These have been related to the relevant page and either to the first 

few words of the quotation or to a significant phrase. Complete citations 

for all material used as background, including the more extensive biographical works, and for quotation or illustration are given in the bibliography. Citations are arranged alphabetically by author, and include for 

Congressional documents (in parentheses at the end of the citation), the 

serial number of the volume in which the document appears.

Notes

To aid the reader in finding pertinent references in such a bibliography 

or in seeking additional material on a particular topic, a simple index has 

been prepared, with references identified by author and date. Primary or 

contemporary documents are listed first, with but a few exceptions in 

chronological order, followed by more recent secondary sources, alphabetically by author. Biographical data not otherwise identified were obtained from the Dictionary of American Biography, National Cyclopedia 

of American Biography, Who Was Who in America, or Who Was Who 

in American Politics by Dan and Inez Morris.

Chapter 1. The Sum of the Past

Page 

1. "Whether we consider the rocky layers * * * ": Pierre Teilhard

de Chardin, The future of man, 1964, p. 12. 

"Representatives * * * ": The remarks by Speaker Randall are

reported in the House Journal for the 45th Congress, 3d session,

p. 696. 

"increasing the knowledge * * * ": Annual Report of the U.S.

Geological Survey for Fiscal Year 1976, p. 59. 

"Generations come * * * ": Ecclesiastes 1:5-9- 

"The more a man knows * * * ": Ecclesiastes 1:18.

Chapter 2. Western Pilgrims

Page

7.

10.

11.

12.

17.

18.

"Americans are the western pilgrims * * * ": M. G.J. de Crevecoeur,

Letters from an American Farmer, 1782. 

"no talke, no hope, nor worke * * * ": Captain John Smith's

Description of Virginia and Proceedings of the Colonie, 1612, in

L. G. Tyler, ed., 1907, Narratives of early Virginia 1606-1625:

New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 136. 

The statements by William Penn and Gabriel Thomas are reported

inj. M. Swank, 1884, p. 122. 

Philippe Renault and La Compagnie de la Louisiane ou d'Occident

have been discussed by several authors, including T. A. Rickard,

1932, p. 153-154, and W. R. Ingalls, 1908, p. 95. See also H. R.

Schoolcraft, 1819. 

Benjamin Winslow's map is in the Enoch Pratt Library of Baltimore.

It has been reproduced in H. N. Eavenson, 1942. 

"a copious supply * * * ": Alexander Hamilton, 1791, p. 139. 

The Land Act of 1796 is in U.S. Statutes at Large, v. 1, p. 464 (1 Stat.

L, 464).

The Land Act of 1800 is 2 Stat. L, 73. 

An act to establish an Executive department to be denoted the

Department of the Navy, 1 Stat. L, 553, approved April 30,

1798.

Congress appropriated $200,000 for "purchase of growing or 

other timber, or of lands on which timber is growing, suitable for 

the Navy and to cause proper measures to be taken to have the 

same preserved for the future uses of the Navy" on February 25, 

1799, 1 Stat. L, 622.

The authorization to employ an agent to collect information on 

Lake Superior copper was approved April 16, 1800. The 

statements quoted were made by William Cooper of New York, 

Annals of the 6th Congress, p. 583.

Chapter 3. Cherished for Its Own Sake, 1801-1829

Page 

19-

20.

22.

23.

"While Science will be cherished * * * ": Benjamin Silliman, 

American Journal of Science, 1818, v. 1, p. v.

"if moderate encouragement is given by the government * * * ": 

Moses Austin, 1804, p. 208,

The lead lands were reserved March 3, 1807, in "An act to prevent 

settlements being made on lands ceded to the United States, until authorized by law,'' 2 Stat. L, 445. Section 2 provides "that in 

all cases where the tract of land applied for, includes either a lead 

mine or salt spring, no permission to work the same shall be 

granted without the approbation of the President of the United 

States, who is hereby authorized to cause such mines or springs to 

be leased for a term not exceeding three years, and on such conditions as he shall think proper."

The law of February 10, 1807, (2 Stat. L, 413) did not establish the 

Survey of the Coast as a Government agency. It provided ' 'that 

the President of the United States shall be, and he is hereby 

authorized and requested, to cause a survey to be taken of the 

coasts of the United States * * *," and authorized the President 

"to cause proper and intelligent persons to be employed."

"to superintend * * * ": Unlike the Survey of the Coasts, the General 

Land Office (2 Stat. L, 716) was established by law as an office in 

the Department of the Treasury and provided with a commissioner who was authorized to employ a staff.

Live oak and red cedar lands were reserved in "An act making

Notes 289
reservation of certain public lands to supply timber for naval purposes," 3 Stat. L, 347, March 1, 1817.

The Calhoun bill was debated on February 4, 1817. Calhoun's speech 

is in the Annals of the 14th Congress, 2d session, p. 851-858.

24. "irregular and unconstitutional": Henry Clay in the Annals of the 

15th Congress, 1st session, p. 1374, March 13, 1818.

25. ' 'Let the end be legitimate * * * ": M'Culloch v. Maryland is reported 

in Henry Wheaton, Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in 

the Supreme Court of the United States 1816-1827, v. 5, p. 323.

26. Edmund Ruffin's work was published in the American Farmer for 

December 28, 1821, v. 3, p. 313-324.

27. "the investigation of the mineral and fossil bodies * * * ": G. P. 

Merrill, 1924, p. 19.

30. "first attempt yet made in this country * * * ": Amos Eaton and

T. R. Beck, 1820, p. 5. 

"have the sanction * * * ": Letter (undated) from Stephen van

Rensselaer to Amos Eaton, quoted in Ethel M. McAllister, 1941,

p. 301. 

"for the purpose of instructing persons * * * ": Stephen van

Rensselaer to Dr. Blatchford, November 5, 1824, quoted in Ethel

M. McAllister, 1941, p. 368. 

"some person of competent skill and science * * * ": G. P. Merill,

1920, p. 366. 

"accompanied by some Geological speculations * * * ": Denison

Olmsted, 1824, note on p. 33. 

"a thin stratum of gravel * * * ": Denison Olmsted, 1824, p. 33,

and 1825, p. 5.

31. "This auriferous stratum * * * ": Denison Olmsted, 1824, p. 40. 

"with peculiar care": Annals of the 17th Congress, 2d session, p. 18.

33. "American system": As Clay himself used this term, the American 

system was the opposite of a colonial or foreign system. It meant 

use of the protective tariff to build up American industry which 

would serve as a source of national wealth and support an urban 

population that would in turn be a market for domestic 

agricultural products.

34. "partly from principle * * * ": Theodore Roosevelt, 1886, p. 63.

35. "without any pretension * * * ": Benjamin Silliman, 1830, p. 309. 

" the weary eyes * * * ":J. P. Lesley, 1876, p. 11.

36. An Act to authorize the President of the United States to cause the 

t reserved lead mines, in the State of Missouri, to be exposed to 

public sale, and for other purposes, 4 Stat. L, 364, approved 

March 3, 1829.

Chapter 4. Accession to Resources and Knowledge, 

1829-1841

Page

37. "What an accession * * * ": Edward Hitchcock, 1828, p. 231.

"so far as they can be promoted * * * ": Andrew Jackson's First Inaugural Address, in}. D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of 

Presidents, v. 2, p. 437.

38. "Liberty and Union * * * ": Register of Debates of the 21st Congress,

1st session, p. 80, January 29, 1830.

"gentleman of the name of Wilhero * * * " and "the indications for 

gold were not strong * * * ": Jacob Peck, 1833, p. 3.

40. An act concerning the gold coins of the United States and for other 

purposes, 4 Stat. L, 699.

"the intelligent * * * ": Edward Hitchcock, 1828, p. 250.

"presence of valuable ores * * * ": Edward Hitchcock, 1833, introductory note, and G. P. Merrill, 1920, p. 149.

41. "doubtful whether the discovery * * * ": Edward Hitchcock, 1832, p. 

65.

42. "when our Cumberland mountains * * * ": Gerard Troost, 1831, 

p. 498.

43. "On letting down a stone * * * ": Edward Hitchcock, 1841, p. 294. 

"nowhere could a foundry for a national arsenal * * * ": Gerard 

Troost, 1840, p. 28

"my opinion is that gold is not so abundant * * * ": Gerard Troost, 

1837, p. 26.

"nothing in this act * * * ": The act of July 10, 1832, reviving the 

Coast Survey (4 Stat. L, 570) is entitled "An Act to carry into effect the act to provide for a survey of the coast." It appropriated 

funds not to exceed $20,000 and authorized the President to 

employ "all persons in the land or naval service of the United 

States, and such astronomers and other persons as he shall deem 

proper." Dupree's suggestion is in A. H. Dupree, 1957, p. 53.

44. "praying for the patronage * * * ": Senator Marcy's memorial in 

behalf of G. W. Featherstonhaugh was presented to the Senate 

July 12, 1832, as recorded in the Journal of the Senate for the 22d 

Congress, 1st session, p. 454.

"one suitable person": Secretary Cass's reply of January 17, 1833, 

is in U.S. Congress, 22d, 2d session, Senate Executive Document 

35, v. 1, p. 5-7 (230).

"ascertaining the geology * * * ": The instructions to the Committee 

on Ways and Means were given on December 23, 1833, Journal 

of the House, 23d Congress, 1st session, p. 14 (253).

45. "great wealth * * * ": Governor John Floyd of Virginia, quoted in 

G. P. Merrill, 1920, p. 507.

46. Biographical data on J. T. Ducatel are from the American Journal

of Science, 2d series, v. 8, p. 146, 1849.

"Among the endless variety * * * ": Edward Hitchcock, 1833, p. 294. 

"not only an inquiry * * * ": J. T. Ducatel and J. H. Alexander,

1834, p. 2. 

"provide for making a new and complete map * * * ": G. P. Merrill,

1920, p. 128.

47. "few subjects * * * ": JohnJ. Abert, 1833, Report of the Chief of 

the Topographical Bureau, in Repor of the Secretary of War: 

U.S. Congress, 23d, 1st session, House Executive Document 1, 

p. 121 (254).

"It is not merely * * * ": JohnJ. Abert, 1834, Report of the Chief of 

the Topographical Bureau, in Report of the Secretary of War: 

U.S. Congress, 23d, 2d session, House Executive Document 2, p. 

182 (271).

"from the seat of government": Abert's instructions to Featherstonhaugh in 1835 are in JohnJ. Abert, 1835, Report of the 

Chief of the Topographical Bureau, in Report of the Secretary of 

War: U.S. Congress, 24th, 1st session, House Executive Document 2, p. 218 (286). 

49. "the science which investigates * * * ": Charles Lyell, 1830, p. 1.

"has done much to recall geologists * * * ": American Journal of 

Science, 1836, v. 29, p. 358.

The various laws inaugurating the State surveys are usually contained 

in the reports of the individual surveys but are most conveniently 

collected in C. W. Hayes, 1911, and G. P. Merrill, 1920.

54. An Act to reorganize the General Land Office, 5 Stat. L, 107, provided that "from and after the passage of this act, the executive 

duties now prescribed, or which may hereafter be prescribed by 

law, appertaining to the surveying and sale of the public lands of 

the United States * * * shall be subject to the supervision and 

control of the Commissioner of the General Land Office under 

the direction of the President of the United States."

55. For a history of the Patent Office, see G. A. Weber, 1924.

The United States Exploring Expedition is discussed in A. H. Dupree, 

1957, p. 56-81.

56. "necessary to a prudent and profitable location of canals * * * ":

C. W. Hayes, 1911, p. 36-37.

"duty while surveying a country * * * ": D. D. Owen, 1838, p. 6. 

"with a view to imparting * * * ": J. C. Booth, 1841, p. iii.

57. "the localities of all minerals * * * ": W. W. Mather, 1838, p. 21.

58. "any law of Congress * * * ": Section 4 of the Act of June 26, 1834, 

setting up new land districts in the western half of Wisconsin 

Territory, 4 Stat. L, 686. 

"having reference as well * * * ": The resolution of February 6, 1839,

290 Notes
was presented by Arphaxed Loomis of New York for the Committee on Public Lands: Congressional Globe, 25th Congress, 3d 

session, p. 175.

60. "The district surveyed * * * ": D. D. Owen, 1850, p. 8.

"an officer skilled in the sciences * * * ": Letter of transmittal from 

the Commissioner of the General Land Office, Ibid., p. 7.

"no one could have ventured * * * ": Ibid., p. 8.

"in a pecuniary point of view * * * ": Ibid., p. 8.

"It has been the policy * * * ": U.S. v. Gratiot et al, in Richard 

Peters, Reports of cases argued and adjudged in the Supreme 

Court, v. 14, p. 526, 1840.

"lands on which are situated * * * ": The Preemption Act of September 4, 1841, is 5 Stat. L, 453. The exclusion from entry of lands 

on which are situated any known salines or mines is in Section 5.

Chapter 5. Man's True Interests, 1841-1849

Page

61. "Mind, no longer tasked * * * ": James K. Folk's Inaugural Address, 

in J. D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, v. 4, 

p. 376.

63. "not worked in America * * * ": J. H. Alexander, 1840, p. 109. 

Coal production figures are taken from H. N. Eavenson, 1942, tables; 

R. C. Taylor, 1848, p. xix; and from Mineral Resources of the 

United States 1906, p. 24-26.

Johnson's work on coal is reported most fully in W. R.Johnson, 1844. 

For Rogers on the origin of coal, the most complete source is H. 

D. Rogers, 1858.

64. "embodying as well the fruits * * * ": American Journal of Science, v.

41, p. 160. 

"The annual reports have been confined * * * ": Edward Hitchcock,

184la, p. 238. 

"Permanent inequality of conditions * * * ": Alexis de Tocqueville,

1840, Democracy in America, "Why the Americans are more

concerned with the applications than with the theory of science,''

v. 2, ch. 10. 

"that the rocks which in England are called Silurian * * * ": Report

of the meeting of the American Association of Geologists, in

American Journal of Science, 1843, v. 45, p. 157.

65. "Nowhere is there known * * * ": James Hall, 1843, p. 20.

66. "in harmony with the natural relationships * * * " and "pliancy as 

to admit * * * ": H. D. Rogers and W. B. Rogers, 1844, p. 111.

67. "mere collections of hard names * * * " and "the greatest of all 

sciences": Issachar Cozzens, 1843, Preface.

"has nine, and probably ten * * * ": Ibid., p. 50.

The Army Reorganization Act of 1838, more properly "An Act 

to increase the present military establishment of the United 

States" (5 Stat. L, 256), provided for the organization of the 

corps of topographical engineers to consist of 1 colonel, 1 lieutenant colonel, 4 majors, 10 captains, 10 first lieutenants, and 10 

second lieutenants.

71. The investigation of the Coast Survey in 1841-1842 is reported in 

Florian Cajori, 1929. The conclusions of the select committee 

were reported in the House on February 25, 1843, during consideration of the appropriations. See the Congressional Globe, 

27th Congress, 3d session, p. 351-352.

72. "sufficient materials to form some probable conclusions * * * ": J. C. 

Fremont, 1845, p. 295.

73. The literature on the Smithson bequest and the establishment of 

the Smithsonian Institution is voluminous. See, for example, A. 

H. Dupree, 1957, ch. IV; G. B. Goode, 1897; and P. H. Oehser, 

1949.

74. "very remarkable rock * * * " and "presented a pretty exact outline * * * ": J. C. Fremont, 1845, p. 151. 

"for the examination of our soil * * * ": G. P. Merrill, 1920, p. 460.

75. "the waters of the Inland Sea * * * ":J. C. Fremont, 1845, p. 151. 

The definitions of descriptive and practical geology are in Michael

Tuomey, 1848, p. 1.

76. "The Geologist who would close * * * ": Michael Tuomey, 1844, 

p. 40-43.

77. "the true resources * * * ": Douglass Houghton, 1841, p. 76.

78. "native copper and native silver * * * ": C. T.Jackson, 1849, p. 387.

79. "the shores of Keeneenaw Point * * * ":J. D. Whitney, 1854, p. 249. 

82. "Whilst the President will make no effort * * * ": Secretary of State 

James Buchanan's instructions to Consul Thomas O. Larkin, October 17, 1845, have been discussed in all works relating to the 

Mexican War. See also Allan Nevins, 1939, for Fremont's 

reaction.

"foams around piles of rock * * * ": D. D. Owen, 1852, p. 56. 

83- The Supreme Court decision in 1845 in U.S. v. Gear is reported in 

B. C. Howard, Reports of cases argued and adjudged in the 

Supreme Court, 1843-1861, v. 3, p. 120.

"radically defective" and "reserving to the Government * * * ": 

James K. Polk's annual message to Congress, December 1845, 

Congressional Globe, 29th Congress, 1st session, p. 10.

The law of July 11, 1846, authorizing sale of reserved mineral lands 

is 9 Stat. L, 37.

84. An Act to establish a Land Office in the northern part of Michigan 

and to provide for the sale of mineral lands in Michigan, 

approved March 1, 1847, 9 Stat. L, 146.

An act of March 3, 1847, (9 Stat. L, 178) provided for the admission 

of Wisconsin as a State. The act providing for an additional land 

district, geological survey, and sale of the mineral lands followed 

(9 Stat. L, 179).

"It may be useful to the public * * * ": C. T.Jackson, 1849, p. 473.

"what regions are most likely * * * ": D. D. Owen, 1848, p. 6.

"Coal and iron, in abundance * * * ": D. D. Owen, 1852, p. xx.

85. "scientific researches, which to some men * * * ": D. D. Owen, 

1848, p. 7.

86. "This arrangement, besides interlocking * * * ": A. H. Dupree, 

1957, p. 108.

87. "promote intercourse * * * ": Constitution of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in the Proceedings, v. 1, p. 

8-12. See S. G. Kohlstedt, 1976, p. 80-87.

88. "comprehensive as the title * * * ": London, Edinburgh and 

Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 1849, 2d 

series, v. 34, p. 380.

"one of the most extraodinary * * * ": D. D. Owen, 1852, p. 196.

"unmitigated by a breath of air * * * " and "drooping spirits of 

the scorched geologist * * * ": Ibid., p. 197.

90. "The wide distribution of property * * * ": R. C. Taylor, 1848, p. xi. 

"in connection with the corresponding advance * * * ":Ibid.,p. 119. 

"upwards of 4,000 men * * * " and "from $30,000 to $50,000 * * *":

R. B. Mason, 1849, p. 532. 

"The entire gold district * * * ": Ibid., p. 532.

Chapter 6. Gold is the Touchstone, 1849-1855

Page

91. "Gold is the touchstone * * * ": Thomas Fuller, The Holy State 

and The Profane State, 1642.

"to preserve the mineral lands * * * ": James K. Polk's annual 

message to Congress, December 1848, in Congressional Globe, 

30th Congress, 2d session, p. 6.

An Act to establish the Home Department and to provide for the 

Treasury, an Assistant Secretary and a Commissioner of the 

Customs, 9 Stat. L., 395. Although the title says "Home Department," Section 1 provides for establishment of a Department of 

the Interior, and the latter name was adopted.

92. ' 'We are already planning * * * ": J. D. Whitney to W. D. Whitney,

December 11, 1848, in E. T. Brewster, 1909, p. 107. 

"abstain from the introduction * * * ": Zachary Taylor's annual 

message to Congress, December 1849, in Congressional Globe, 

31st Congress, 1st session, p. 71.

Notes 291
"afford important facilities * * * ": Ibid., p. 71.

"the deposits of gold * * * ": Report of the Secretary of the Interior,

U.S. Congress, 31st session, House Executive Document 5, v. 3,

pt. 2, p. 10 (570).

93. An act to enable the State of Arkansas and other States to reclaim 

the "swamp lands" within their limits, 9 Stat. L., 519.

An act to reduce the minimum price of the mineral lands in the 

Lake Superior District of Michigan and in the Chippewa District 

of Wisconsin (9 Stat. L., 472) ended the distinction between 

agricultural and mineral lands in those two land districts.

"lands that contained 'iron ore' merely * * * ": Opinions of Attorneys 

General, v. 5, p. 247, August 28, 1850.

"having only a temporary connexion with the soil * * * ": Commissioner of the General Land Office J. Butterfield, in Report of 

the General Land Office for 1850, 31st Congress, 2d session, 

Senate Executived Document 2, p. 19.

"In deference to opinions * * * ": Millard Fillmore's annual message 

to Congress, December 1851, in Congressional Globe, 32d Congress, 1st session, p. 18.

94. "the Atlantic States were searched * * * ": J. D. Whitney, 1854,

p. xxvi.

George Martin Lane, who shared bachelor's quarters with Whitney, deserves mention in a history of the Geological Survey as the 

author of' 'The Lay of the Lone Fish Ball,'' for the plaintive rendition of which several members of the Pick and Hammer Club 

of World War II vintage attained a certain fame, 

"the mere blowing up * * * ": J. D. Whitney, 1854, p. xxvii.

96. "could never again attain * * * ": Ibid., p. 424.

"no one acquainted with the manufacture * * * ": Ibid., p. 352.

97. "nature, character, and value * * * ": G. P. Merrill, 1920, p. 369.

98. H. D. Rogers' report of the first Geological Survey of Pennsylvania 

was reviewed in the American Journal of Science, 1859, 2d series, 

v. 28, p. 149-151.

100. "to employ such portion * * * ": An Act making appropriations 

for the support of the Army * * *, approved March 3, 1853, 10 

Stat. L, 219.

101. "an institution of science * * * ": A. D. Bache, 1851, p. xlviii.

"eat an outrageously good dinner * * * ": For an account of the Lazzaroni, see L. B. Miller and others, 1972.

103. "by whirling motion * * * ": H. D. Rogers, 1858, p. 489.

"to develop the mineral resources * * * ": G. C. Swallow, 1855, 

p. 37.

104. "Our mineral wealth * * * ": Ibid., p. 39.

106. "presented the characters of true veins * * * ": Edward Daniels,

1854, p. 19.

"Mining like manufacturing * * * ": Ibid., p. 43. 

"with no purpose * * * ": E. G. Beckwith, 1855, p. 126.

107. "It is reported * * * ": G. P. Merrill, 1920, p. 309.

109. "were formed, doubtless * * * ": E. G. Beckwith, 1855, p. 51.

"complete and thorough geological survey * * * ": G. P. Merrill,

1920, p. 2. 

"thorough geological, mineralogical, and chemical * * * ": Ibid.,

p. 106. 

"It is just the sort of map * * * ": D. D. Owen to J. G. Norwood,

in Norwood, 1853, note on p. 8.

110. The report on the resolution of the American Geographical and 

Statistical Society on topographic surveys is in the American 

Geographical Society Bulletin, 1856, v. 2, p. 40-42.

Chapter 7. Necessary for Welfare and Progress, 1855-1861

Page

115. "Is it not incumbent * * * ": D. D. Owen, 1858, p. 10. 

117. "acquired an importance * * * ": Constitution of the American 

Iron Association, in}. P. Lesley, 1859, p. 49.

119. "It has often been said * * * ": S. T. Dana, 1956, p. 306.

120. "I must here protest * * * ": James Hall, 1882, p. 31.

"may assume to know something * * * ": Ibid., p. 34. 

"elevation is due to deposition * * * ": Ibid., p. 55.

121. "uplifting has not produced elevation * * * ": Ibid., p. 56. 

"The progress of the earth * * * ": Ibid., p. 62. 

"The idea was so entirely new": Joseph LeConte, in "Honors to 

James Hall at Buffalo," Science, 1896, new series, v. 4, p. 699. 

"could never attain the importance they once had * * * ": J. D. 

Whitney, 1854, p. 424.

122. "unable to answer in the affirmative." James Hall and J. D.

Whitney, 1858, p. 471.

"no one acquainted * * * ": J. D. Whitney, 1854, p. 352. 

"ore in sufficient quantity * * * ": James Hall andj. D. Whitney,

1858, p. 471.

123. "to make reconnaissance of the State * * * ": G. P. Merrill, 1920, 

p. 13.

124. "the vine-clad hills of the beautiful Niangua * * * ": G. C. Swallow 

on "Grape culture in Missouri," in Proceedings of the American 

Association for the Advancement of Science, 1858, p. 282.

125. "not only the largest * * * ": H. L. Abbot, 1855, p. 36.

126. "with its snowy crest * * * ": Ibid., p. 60.

127. "an uninteresting monotony": J. S. Newberry, 1856, p. 31.

128. "beds of concrete": Ibid., p. 46.

"milepost in American cartography.": C. I. Wheat, 1954, p. 165.

"may properly be deemed * * * ": Ibid., p. 165. 

130. "the region explored * * * ": J. C. Ives, 1861, letter of transmittal.

"slowly crawling along up the muddy Colorado * * * ": J. S. 

Newberryto F. V. Hayden, in G. P. Merrill, 1924, p. 684.

"from the western rim * * * ": Henry Englemann, 1858a, p. 45.

Macomb expedition: A. A. Baker, in U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 

841, questions whether the members of the Macomb expedition 

actually reached the junction of the Green and Colorado Rivers. 

From the text and illustrations in the Newberry report, Baker 

believes that the stream referred to as "Canyon Colorado'' is now 

called "Indian Creek" and that the supposed junction of the 

Green and Colorado Rivers was actually the group of bends of the 

Colorado now known as ' 'The Loop.'' 

132. "is exceedingly tortuous * * * ": J. S. Newberry, 1861, p. 25.

134. "to make an accurate and complete geological survey * * * ": G. P. 

Merrill, 1920, p. 30.

135. "at intervals the sedimentary rock is covered * * * ": J. S. Newberry, 

1861, p. 66.

Chapter 8. Not From Our Permanent Part, 1861-1867

139. "Our national strife * * * ": Abraham Lincoln's second annual 

message to Congress, December 1862, in J. D. Richardson, 

Messages and Papers of the Presidents, v. 6, p. 135.

140. "This country, until the present year * * * ": Report of the Secretary 

of War for 1863: U.S. Congress, 38th, 1st session, House Executive Document 5, p. 11 (1184).

141. "acquire ancj diffuse * * * ": An Act to establish a Department 

of Agriculture, 12 Stat. L, 387.

An Act to secure Homestead to actual Settlers on the Public 

Domain, 12 Stat. L, 387.

An Act to aid in the Construction of a Railroad and Telegraph Line 

from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the 

Government the Use of same for Postal, Military and Other Purposes, 12 Stat. L, 489.

142. "provide colleges for the benefit * * * ": An Act donating Public 

Lands in the several States and Territories which may provide 

Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, 12 

Stat. L, 503. Mineral lands were excluded from the donation.

"The valuable and extensive mineral lands * * * ": Report of the 

Secretary of the Interior for 1862: U.S. Congress, 37th, 2d session, Senate Executive Document 1, v. 2, p. 445 (1117).

"to the enlightened judgment * * * ": Report of the Commissioner

292 Notes
of the General Land Office for 1862, U.S. Congress, 37th, 2d session, Senate Executive Document 1, v. 1, p. 33 (1117). 

"would relieve the necessities * * * ": Ibid., p. 30.

143. "permanent commission * * * ": F. W. True, 1913, p. 1-2.

144. "the Academy shall * * * ": An Act to Incorporate the National 

Academy of Sciences, 12 Stat. L, 806.

146. "At the time of the discovery * * * ": Report of the Secretary of 

the Interior for 1863: U.S. Congress, 38th, 1st session, House Executive Document 1, v. 3, p. iv (1182).

An Act for the Disposal of Coal Lands or Town Property in the 

Public Domain, 13 Stat. L, 343.

148. "a thorough and scientific examination * * * ": G. P. Merrill, 1920,

p. 32.

"for public use, resort, and recreation * * * ": An Act authorizing 

a Grant to the State of California of the "Yo-semite Valley" and 

of the Land embracing the "Mariposa Big Tree Grove," 13 Stat. 

L, 325.

149. "the preservation and maintenance * * * ": Olmsted's report is 

quoted in F. P. Farquhar, 1965, p. 124, and discussed in L. W. 

Roper, 1973, p. 283-287.

"an immense extent of North American * * * ": G. P. Marsh, 1864, 

p. 49 in Belknap Press edition of 1965.

"with the present increased facilities * * * ": Ibid., p. 11.

150. "to reason upon all the relations * * * ": Ibid., p. 52.

151. "already more scientific * * * ":J. A. Church, 1871, p. 22.

153. "Neither party expected * * * ": Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural 

Address, in J. D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the 

Presidents, v. 6, p. 277.

154. "Individual proprietorship it is conceded * * * ": Annual Report of 

the Secretary of the Interior for 1865: U.S. Congress, 39th, 1st 

session, House Executive Document 1, pt. 5, v. 2, p. iii, (1248). 

"Theexisting financial condition * * * ": Ibid., p. iii. 

The Mining Act of July 26, 1866, is 14 Stat. L, 251.

155. "all the topography * * * ": J. D. Whitney, 1865, p. xvii.

156. "reliable statistical information * * * ": In the act appropriating

funds for sundry civil expenses, 14 Stat. L, 311. 

"to give the people * * * ": G. P. Merrill, 1920, p. 91.

158. " gives a good general impression * * * " and " the num ber of basins": 

S. H. Daddow and Benjamin Bannan, 1866, p. 179.

"a large mass * * * ": G. J. Brush, in American Journal of Science, 

1866, 2d series, v. 46, p. 430-431.

"of the most vast and magnificent description.": S. H. Daddow 

and Benjamin Bannan, 1866, p. 63.

159. "to direct a geological and topographical exploration * * * ": 14 Stat.

L, 457.

"Eighteen sixty-seven, therefore * * * ": Clarence King, 1880, p. 4. 

"the unexpended balance * * * ": 14 Stat. L, 470.

Chapter 9. The Matter of Highest Concern, 1867-1870

Page

161. "The proper development * * * ": J. S. Wilson, Report of the 

Commissioner of the General Land Office, in Report of the 

Secretary of the Interior for 1868: U.S. Congress, 40th, 3d session, House Executive Document 1, pt. 3, v. 2, p. 19 (1366).

"this element of power and progress * * * ": Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, in Report of the Secretary of 

the Interior for 1866: U.S. Congress, 39th, 2d session, House Executive Document 1, pt. 4, v. 2, p. 383. (1284).

"the most useful of all metals * * * ": Ibid., p. 384.

"the sandstone and shale * * * ": Ibid., p. 385.

162. "to examine and describe * * * ": General Humphreys to Clarence 

King, March 21, 1867, King Survey Letters Received.

164. "contained much that was novel * * * ": S. F. Emmons, 1897, p. 43.

166. "most directly applicable * * * ": J. D. Hague, 1870, note following 

title page.

167. "should be studied * * * ": American Journal of Science, 3d series,

1871, v. 1, p. 219.

"a superb piece of work * * * ": J. D. Whitney, 1875, p. 297. 

169. "to ascertain the order of succession * * * ": F. V. Hayden, 1871,

p. 3- 

172. "Any report of the condition of mining affairs * * * ": F. V. Hayden,

1869, p. 201.

176. "a complete and thorough * ' * ": G. P. Merrill, 1920, p. 303-304. 

"entitled to be considered * * * ": J. S. Newberry, 1871, p. 33. 

"at the head of a Geological and Scientific Department * * * ": 

E. T. Cox, 1869, p. 5.

177. "as complete a manual as possible * * * ": T. B. Brooks, 1873, p. iii.

178. "probably the most remarkable occurrence * * * ": J. D.

Hague, 1870, p. 425. 

"nothing very wonderful": Mining and Scientific Press, Oct. 31,

1868, p. 280.

"one of the most interesting * * * ": F. V. Hayden, 1872, p. 90. 

179- "It looks as though Providence * * * ": U. S. Grant's First Inaugural 

Address, in J. D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the 

Presidents, v. 7, p. 7.

180. "If he is in want * * * ": Report of the Secretary of the Interior for 

1869: U.S. Congress, 4lst, 2d session, House Executive Document 1, v. 3, p. viii (1414).

"inhabited * * * by powerful tribes of Indians * " * ":J. W. Powell 

to U. S. Grant, April 2, 1868, quoted in W. C. Darrah, 1951, 

p. 92.

181. "to make collections in geology ***"-. Letter from J. W. Powell to 

the Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1869, reprinted in Utah Historical 

Quarterly, 1947, v. 15, p. 73-74.

182. "thorough and careful reconnaissance * * * ": G. M. Wheeler, 

1870, p. 7.

184. "full of faith *** ': Henry Adams, 1918, p. 248.

"The fullest examination * * * ": F. A. Walker, 1878, p. 847. 

"published in conformity * * * ": F. A. Walker, 9th Census Report.

185. "It is not a little discreditable * * * ": American Journal of Science,

1874, 3d series, v. 6, p. 65. 

"estimates rather than statistics * * * ": R. W. Raymond, 1870,

p. 16.

"whose legal knowledge * * * ": R. W. Raymond, 1870, p. 421. 

"all forms of deposit * * * ": An Act to promote the Development

of the mining Resources of the United States, 17 Stat. L, 91.

Chapter 10. Subservient to the Interests 

of a Civilized Community, 1870-1873

Page

187. "It gives me the greatest pleasure * * * ": Louis Agassiz to Benjamin 

Pierce, in Report of the United States Coast Survey for 1867: 

U.S. Congress, 40th, 2d session, House Executive Document 

275, p. 183 (1344). 

"Never has my faith * * * ": F. V. Hayden, 1871a, p. 6-7.

189. "hardly be considered authorized * * * ": General A. A. Humphreys 

to Clarence King, March 28, 1871, King Survey Letters Received.

190. "of inestimable importance * * * ": Report of the Superintendent 

of the United States Coast Survey, showing the progress of the 

survey during the year 1870: U.S. Congress, 4lst, 3d session, 

House Executive Document 112, p. 4 (1459).

"that the triangulation shall determine * * * ": 16 Stat. L, 508.

"the great development of mines * * * ": Report of the Wilkes Barre 

meeting, Transactions of the American Institute of Mining 

Engineers, 1871-1873, v. 1, p. 3-

"The time has come * * * ": E. C. Pechin, 1872, p. 297.

191. "more economical systems of mining * * * ": Report of the Wilkes 

Barre meeting, Transactions of the American Institute of Mining 

Engineers, 1871-1873, v. 1, p. 3.

"in their proper places all streams * * * " and "and reliable, so far as 

section lines go": T. B. Brooks, 1893, p. 196.

Notes 293
"The omens are less favorable * * * ": B. A. Gould, 1869, p. 28. 

"dependent upon subsidies * * * ": Ibid., p. 29. 

192. "to earn his bread * * * ": Ibid., p. 30.

"the prime elements": R. W. Raymond, 1873, p. 39.

194. "capital is essential * * * ": A. S. Hewitt, 1872, p. 328. 

"the common ground * * * ": Ibid., p. 328.

195. "calamity so serious * * * ": A. S. Hewitt, 1872, p. 328.

"From my own observation * * * ": W. A.Jones, 1872, p. 1117.

196. "those portions of the United States territory * * * ": G. M. Wheeler, 

1872, p. 3.

197. "to make such instrumental observations * * * ": F. V. Hayden, 

1878, p. 12.

198. "Professor Hayden and party * * * ": Congressional Globe, 42d

Congress, 2d session, p. 484. 

An Act to set apart a certain Tract of Land lying near the Head-waters

of the Yellowstone River as a public Park, 17 Stat. L, 32. 

"That our legislators * * * ": F. V. Hayden, 1872a, p. 295. 

199- The Philosophical Society of Washington was established on March 

13, 1871. J. W. Powell's appearance on March 9, 1872, is 

recorded in volume 1 of the Proceedings of the Society.

200. "the day of the path-finder has sensibly ended": G. M. Wheeler, 

1872, p. 55.

The Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian 

were established by the appropriation of $75,000 "for the 

establishment of an astronomical base, and continuance of 

military and geographical surveys and explorations west of the 

one hundredth meridian of longitude, under the direction of the 

Secretary of War," 17 Stat. L, 367.

"The region mer*;oned * * * ": Joseph Henry, letter of transmittal, 

in]. W. Pr .-11, 1872.

"the most magnificent sight * * " ": F. V. Hayden, 1872a, p. 123.

201. "paid some attention to elevations of water level * * * ": F. V. 

Hayden,1873, p. 797.

202. "I may state * * * ": F. V. Hayden 1873, p. 276.

204. "I ought not to characterize * * * ": Clarence King 1873, p. 1206. 

"Who's King of Diamonds now * * * ": J. D. Whitney to W. H. 

Brewer, December 5, 1872, Farquhar Collection, Bancroft 

Library, University of California.

Chapter 11. The Shifting Times, 1873-1874

Page

205. "Thus times do shift * * * ": Robert Herrick, Hesperides, 1648. 

"on the one side * * * ": Allan Nevins, 1927, p. 290. 

"There is probably no portion * * * ": F. V. Hayden to Secretary

Columbus Delano, January 27, 1873. 

"continuation of the geographical * * * ": 17 Stat. L, 513. 

"for making maps * * * ": J. T. Gardner, 1873, p. 297.

207. "whatever may be the advantages * * * ": General A. A. Humphreys,

letter of transmittal, in W. A. Jones, 1874. 

"most remarkable * * * ": Joseph Henry, letter of transmittal, in

J. W. Powell, 1873. 

"The faulting and folding * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1873, p. 9.

208. "the sum often thousand dollars * * * ": 17 Stat. L, 513.

The report of the special commissioners on the Indians is in the 

Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1873, 

p. 409-434.

209- An Act to encourage the Growth of Timber of western Prairies, 17

Stat. L, 606. 

An Act to provide for a Board of Commissioners to report a System

of Irrigation for the San Joaquin, Sacramento, and Tulare in

California, 17 Stat. L, 622. 

"under regulations prescribed by law * * * ": An Act to promote

the Development of the mining Resources of the United

States, 17 Stat. L, 91. 

"all the marks * * * ": J. D. Whitney, 1875, p. 288.

210. An Act to provide for the Sale of the Lands of the United States 

containing Coal, 17 Stat. L, 607.

An Act revising and amending the Laws relative to the Mints, Assayoffices, and Coinages of the United States, 17 Stat. L, 424.

"The great Emma 'bonanza' * * * ": Clarence King's report to the 

Emma Silver Mine Company is in the Report of the Committee 

of Foreign Affairs on the Emma Mine investigation: U.S. Congress, 44th, 1st session, House Report 579, p. 632-634 (1711).

"The day has passed * * * ": Clarence King to General A. A. 

Humphreys, February 25, 1874, King Survey Letter Book.

213. "Irrigation is but little understood * * * ": B. S. Alexander and

others, 1874, p. 34.

"that it is the duty of the government * * * ": Ibid., p. 78. 

"as a matter of public policy * * * ": Ibid., p. 79.

214. "acquisition of the control * * * ": G. P. Marsh, 1874, p. 4. 

"We must look to our rulers * * * ": Ibid., p. 15. 

"as it is not to be presumed * * * ": U.S. Congress, 43d, 1st session,

Senate Report 311. 

The Shoemaker resolution of April 15, 1874, is in the Congressional

Record of the 43d Congress, 1st session, p. 3095. 

The replies of the President, Secretaries of War and Interior, and

heads of the surveys, together with the transcript of the hearings,

are in House Report 612 of the 43d Congress, 1st session (1626).

215. "By placing all these surveys * * * ": Ibid., p. 6. 

"all surveys which are made * * * ": Ibid., p. 9.

216. "If a geologist is placed in charge * * * ": Ibid., p. 11.

"There is now left within the territory * * * ": Ibid., p. 14.

"It might be well * * * ": Ibid., p. 15.

"You can say that certain persons * * * ": Ibid., p. 25.

"as a matter of course * * * ": Ibid., p. 39.

"The geological survey is based * * * ": Ibid., p. 42.

217. "As is well understood * * * ": G. M. Wheeler, 1874, p.

"telegraphed Mr. Clarence King * * * ": U.S. Congress, 43d, 1st 

session, House Document 612, p. 43 (1626).

219. "and it seems to me * * * ": Ibid., p. 53-

"All of the country west of the 100th * * * ": Ibid., p. 53. 

"One-third of the entire area * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1874, p. 10.

220. "each of the surveying parties * * * ": U.S. Congress, 43d, 1st 

session, House Document 612, p. 16 (1626).

"There is an abundance * * * ": Ibid., p. 16.

"The time is approaching * * * ": Ibid., p. 16.

"I have had a hard struggle * * * ": F. V. Hayden to Sir Archibald 

Geikie, September 20, 1874, Geikie Letters, University of Edinburgh Library.

"Professor Powell in his last year's survey * * * ": Joseph Henry, 

Letter of transmittal, in]. W. Powell, 1874.

Chapter 12. No Mere Intellectual Play, 1874-1877

Page

223. "Geology has ceased to be * * * ": J. P. Lesley, 1876, p. 27.

"marked by most serious defects * * * ":J. D. Whitney, 1875, p. 69. 

"It was probably admiration * * * ": Ibid., p. 82. 

"But little has ever been done * * * ": Ibid., p. 274.

224. "one great object * * * ": Report of the Secretary of the Interior for 

1874: U.S. Congress, 43d, 2d session, House Executive Document 1, pt. 5, v. 6, p. xxvii (1639).

The instructions to the Interior Department surveys are summarized 

in the Secretary's report and are printed verbatim in J. W. 

Powell, 1878, p. 2.

"westward toward the Green and Colorado .": 18 Stat. L, 207.

225. "for the purpose of giving the world * * * ": F. V. Hayden, 1874,

Prefatory note to Bulletin 1. 

"The article * * * ": F. V. Hayden, Prefatory note to E. D. Cope,

1874. 

"There is, then, no alternative * * * ": Ibid., p. 16.

294 Notes
229. "gold has been found * * * ": Custer's official dispatch of August 2,

1874, reported in Donald Jackson, 1966, p. 87. 

"I fail to find * * * ": Report of the Commissioner of the General 

Land Office, in Report of the Secretary of the Interior for 1874: 

U.S. Congress, 43d, 2d session, House Executive Document 1, 

pt. 5, v. 6, p. 6 (1639).

230. "The prehistoric remains in the canons * * * ": F. V. Hayden, 1877,

p. 7-8.

"distrusting his own fitness * * * ": Clarence Dutton, 1880, Report 

on the geology of the High Plateaus of Utah: Washington, 

preface.

231. "laying down upon the preliminary maps * * * ": G. M. Wheeler, 

1876, p. 260.

232. "The failure of the negotiations * * * ": Report of Secretary of the

Interior for 1875: 44th Congress, 1st session, House Executive

Document 1, pt. 5, v. 4, p. vi (1680). 

"in the localities most desirable": Report of the Commissioner of the

General Land Office in Report of the Secretary of the Interior for

1875: Ibid., p. 6.

"Legislation and executive practice * * * ": Ibid, p. 6. 

"it was found convenient * * * ": G. K. Gilbert, 1875, p. 158.

233. "One hundred years ago * * * ": Reports of the U.S. Centennial 

Commission, v. 2, p. 37-38, Washington, 1880.

235. "a point at which for coal * * * ": A. S. Hewitt, 1876, p. 176.

236. "The government * * * ": Ibid., p. 184.

237. "In its perfect and ultimate development * * * ": Ibid., p. 188. 

"a down-turned wrinkle * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1875, p. 158. 

The special monetary commission was established by a concurrent 

resolution adopted in the House on August 5, 1876, and concurred in by the Senate on August 15: Congressional Record, 

44th Congress, 1st session, p. 5218 and 5240.

238. "Similar bodies of nearly equal extent * * * ": U.S. Congress, Joint 

Monetary Commission, 1877, p. 2.

239. "in birds with teeth * * * ": T. H. Huxley to his wife, quoted in

Leonard Huxley, 1900, Life and Letters of Thomas H. Huxley, v.

1, p. 496.

"the most wonderful thing I ever saw.": Ibid. 

"It is of the highest importance * * * ": T. H. Huxley to Clarence

King, quoted in Charles Schuchert and Clara Levene, 1940,

p. 238.

241. "It is the misfortune of geology * * * ": Clarence King, 1876, p. 919- 

"excellent progress has been made * * * ": F. V. Hayden, 1878,

p. xxiv.

"The work of the season of 1876 * * * ": Ibid., p. xxiii. 

"As a field for the studies * * * ": G. K. Gilbert, 1876, p. 18.

242. "types of orographic structure * * * ": American Journal of Science,

1876. 3d series, v. 12, p. 306. 

"In pursuing these ethnographic investigations * * * ":J. W. Powell,

1877. p. 297-298.

243. "in accordance with the general policy * * * ": Joseph Henry to 

J. W. Powell, October 10, 1876, reprinted in Contributions to 

North American Ethnology, v. 1, p. vii.

An act to provide for the sale of desert lands in certain States and 

Territories, 19 Star. L, 377. Desert lands were defined as "all 

lands exclusive of timber lands and mineral lands which will not, 

without irrigation, produce some agricultural crop."

244. Professor Newberry's letter to Congressman Garfield has been reprinted in W. C. Darrah, 1951, p. 240-241. The letter to 

Congressman Hewitt is identical. In these letters Newberry said 

that Hayden had become so much of a fraud that he had lost the 

sympathy and respect of the scientific men of the country, and 

that he had become simply the political manager of his expeditions whereas Powell and Gilbert had done the work in the field 

themselves.

The discussion in the House on February 21, 1877, is in the Congressional Record, 44th Congress, 2d session, p. 1793. Congressman Peter Wigginton's amendments were proposed on 

February 26; see Congressional Record, p. 1949. 

The motions by Congressman Townsend and Congressman Stevenson 

to increase the appropriations for Hayden and Powell are 

reported on page 1950 and 1952 of the Congressional Record.

Chapter 13. The Importance Which Geology Now Has, 

1877-1878

Page

245. "It is chiefly through * * * ": J. D. Whitney, 1875, p. 274.

246. "if it be true * * * ": New York Tribune, April 28, 1877, quoted

in W. C. Darrah, 1951, p. 226-227.

Professor John S. Newberry to Secretary Carl Schurz, March 17, 1877. 

Professor John S. Newberry to J. W. Powell, March 18, 1877. 

J. W. Powell to Secretary Carl Schurz, May 22, 1877, in J. W. Powell, 

1878, p. 8-11.

247. Acting Secretary A. Bell's letter of November 9, 1877: Ibid., p. 

11-12. The division of labor was to Powell's benefit in that his 

paleontological collections, which could be of importance in his 

geologic work, would be turned over to Hayden to be worked up, 

whereas the ethnologic collections, which were independent of 

geology, of both parties would be his to work up.

248. "does not claim to be * * * ": Arnold Hague and S. F. Emmons,

1877. letter of transmittal.

"the evolution of environment * * * ": Clarence King, 1877a, p. 470. 

"to doubt evolution * * * ": O. C. Marsh, 1877, p. 338.

249. "This mode of evolution * * * ": C. S. Peirce, Collected Papers, 

v. 6, p. 17.

250. "earnestly recommend * * * ": Rutherford B. Hayes' annual message 

to Congress, December 1877: Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2d session, p. 6. 

"during the past six years * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1877, p. 805.

251. "serried pinnacles * * * ": Henry Newton and W. P. Jenney, 1880,

p. 71.

"at an early date to submit a report * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1877, 

p. 805.

252. "one might as well introduce a dead language * * * ": Testimony 

before the Committee on Public Lands, U.S. Congress, 45th, 2d 

session, House Miscellaneous Document 55, p. 17 (1818).

254. "The largest amount of land * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1878, p. 43-44. 

"These coal fields * * * ": Ibid., p. 45.

255. "I have not been able * * * ": J. A. Williamson to Carl Schurz, in

J. W. Powell, 1878.

"commend the views * * * ": Carl Schurz, Letter of transmittal 

to Congress, in}. W. Powell, 1878.

257. "of so variable and explosive * * * ": Henry Gannett 1878, p. 315.

258. The Timber Cutting Act is actually "An Act authorizing the citizens 

of Colorado, Nevada and the Territories to fell and remove 

timber on the public domain for mining and domestic 

purposes," 20 Stat. L, 88. The Timber and Stone Act is "An act 

for the sale of timber lands in the States of California, Oregon, 

Nevada, and Washington Territory." Lands valuable for stone 

are not mentioned in the title but are included in Section 1.

259. "when statistical science was in its infancy * * * ": F. A. Walker,

1878. p. 839.

"The mineral treasures of the earth * * * ": J. D. Whitney, in 

F. A. Walker, 1878, p. 851.

260. "Let some man * * * ": J. D. Whitney in F. A. Walker, 1878,

p. 856.

"Our provokingly defective knowledge * * * ": Clarence King, 

1878, p. 727.

261. The House resolutions of March 8, 1878, one directed to the Secretary 

of the Interior and the other to the Secretary of War, are in the 

Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2d session, p. 1593. 

The replies to the House resolutions are in House Executive DocuNotes 295
ments 80 (Powcll), 81 (Hayden), and 88 (War Department) of 

the 45th Congress, 2d session, Serial 1809.

The discussion of the appropriations for the Hayden and Powell 

surveys and the request to the National Academy are on p. 

4559-4560, Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2d session. 

The bill passed by both houses on June 19 was approved June 20, 

1878. The proviso for the National Academy of Sciences study is 

20 Stat. L, 230.

Chapter 14. Upon a Firm and Enduring Basis:

The Establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879

Page

263- "if we can but rise * * * ": A. S. Hewitt, in Congressional Record,

45th Congress, 3d session, p. 1207. 

264. "any of those * * * ": Report of the National Academy of Sciences,

U.S. Congress, 46th, 1st session, House Miscellaneous Document

7, p. 7. 

266. "That which a student * * * ": Clarence King, 1878, letter of

transmittal. 

"probably the most exciting book * * * ": Franklin Walker, 1932,

San Francisco Literary Frontier, New York, Alfred A. Knopf,

p. 287. 

"only person to be thought of: Clarence King to W. H. Brewer,

January 15, 1879, Farquhar Collection in the Bancroft Library,

University of California. 

267- "No other department * * * ": Acting Chief of Engineers, in U.S.

Congress, 45th, 3d session, House Miscellaneous Document 5,

p. 7.

"trigonometrical and topographical survey * * * ": Ibid., p. 7. 

268. "to fulfill all the foregoing * * * ": Ibid., p. 7.

' 'In arriving at results * * * ": Acting Commissioner of General Land

Office, in U.S. Congress, 45th, 3d session, House Miscellaneous

Document 5, p. 10. 

"The organization under my direction * * * ": F. V. Hayden, in

U.S. Congress, 45th, 3d session, House Miscellaneous Document

5, p. 11.

"the chief of the survey * * * ": Ibid., p. 12. 

"The prosecution of the work * * * ":J. W. Powell, in U.S. Congress,

45th, 3d session, House Miscellaneous Document 5, p. 16.

270. "A system of cartography * * * ": Ibid., p. 16.

271. "a proper scientific survey * * * ": Ibid., p. 21.

272. "allied to great industrial interests * * * ": Ibid., p. 23.

"surveys and investigations * * * ": Report of the National Academy

of Sciences, in U.S. Congress, 45th, 3d session, House

Miscellaneous Document 5, p. 2. 

"To attain the desirable accuracy * * * ": Ibid., p. 3. 

"The best interests of the public domain * * * ": Ibid., p. 3.

273. "charged as they are * * * ": Ibid., p. 4.

274. "that upon the organization * * * ": Ibid., p. 4.

275. "The report recommends * * * ": F. V. Hayden to Archibald Geikie,

November 24, 1878.

Henry Nash Smith and Wallace Stegner writing on the establishment 

of the Survey confused Goldsmith Hewitt of Alabama with A. S. 

Hewitt of New York.

276. "prevent the prompt supplying * * * ": U.S. Congress, 45th, 3d

session, Senate Executive Document 21, p. 2. 

"Respecting comparisons * * * ": C. P. Patterson, in U.S. Congress,

45th, 3d session, House Executive Document 29, p. 4. 

Powell's letter of February 7, 1879: U.S. Congress, 45th, 3d session,

House Executive Document 72.

277. "Hayden is outwardly for the bill * * * ": Clarence King to O. C. 

Marsh, January 18 [1879].

"Clarence King is here * * * ": F. V. Hayden to Archibald Geikie, 

January 24, 1879.

"I write to ask you * * * ": F. V. Hayden to Archibald Geikie, 

February 4, 1879.

"In thus bringing together * * * ": American Journal of Science, 

1879, 3d series, v. 17, p. 67.

"There is no doubt * * * ": Engineering and Mining Journal, January 

11, 1879, v. 27, no. 2, p. 22.

"The condition at present * * * ": John D. C. Atkins, in Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 3d session, p. 1169.

278. "the placing of the scientific surveys * * * ": Ibid., p. 1169. 

"The Academy is to be commended * * * ": Ibid., p. 1171. 

"It may be urged * * * ": Ibid., p. 1171. 

"keep in mind * * * ": Ibid., p. 1171.

279. "Gentlemen are unnecessarily alarmed * * * ": Peter Wigginton, in 

Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 3d session, p. 1200.

"admirable exposition": A. S. Hewitt, in Congressional Record, 

45th Congress, 3d session, p. 1203.

"sooner or later abolish * * * ": Ibid, p. 1206.

"It is obvious to every reflecting mind * * * ": Ibid., p. 1204.

"not to be expected * * * ": Ibid., p. 1204.

280. "If we can but rise * * * ": Ibid., p. 1207.

281. "a misfortune * * * ": James A. Garfield, in Congressional Record,

45th Congress, 3d session, p. 1209-

"subjected to the most careful scrutiny * * * ": Ibid., p. 1209. 

"We are accustomed * * * ": Ibid., p. 1209. 

"absolutely vital * * * ": Ibid., p. 1210. 

"waste money and duplicate work * * * ": Ibid., p. 1210. 

"besides going too far * * * ": Ibid., p. 1210. 

"It is marvelous * * * ": John H. Baker, Ibid., p. 1564.

282. "Now I do not object * * * ": Dudley C. Haskell, Ibid., p. 1211. 

"Congress at its last session * * * ": Senator A. A. Sargent, in Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 3d session, p. 2084.

283. Conference report: Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 3d session,

p. 2298, and House Journal, p. 635-636. 

Debate in the House: Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 3d

session, p. 2357.

Debate in the Senate: Ibid., p. 2301-2302. 

"For the salary * * * ": 20 Stat. L, 394.

284. "that all the archives * * * ": 20 Stat. L, 397.

"From the somewhat fragmentary * * * ": Engineering and Mining 

Journal, 1879, v. 27, no. 10, p. 159.

286. "During the years * * * ": Clarence King, 1880, p. 4.

287. "Much depends * * * ": Engineering and Mining Journal, 1879, 

v. 27, no. 10, p. 159.

"At first there seemed to be * * * ": Simon Newcomb, 1903, p. 259.

"if Dr. Hayden * * * ": J. W. Powell to John D. C. Atkins, March 4, 

1879, Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region Letters sent.

"for noise and show * * * ": J. W. Powell to James A. Garfield, 

March 7, 1879, Ibid.

288. "discreditable, discouraging, and unpromising": Charles W. Eliot 

to President Rutherford B. Hayes, February 28, 1879.

"our opinion * * * ": Engineering and Mining Journal, 1879, v. 27, 

no. 11, p. 179.

"came here in person * * * ": F. V. Hayden to Archibald Geikie, 

May 31, 1879.

296 Notes
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Index to Bibliography

Biography

Adams, Henry: Henry Adams, 1918.

Adams, John Quincy: S. F. Bemis, 1956.

Agassiz, Alexander: G. L. Goodale, 1912; B. W. and S. E. Epstein, 

1963.

Agassiz, Louis: E. C. Agassiz, 1885.

Alexander, John Henry: J. E. Hilgard, 1877.

Bache, Alexander Dallas: B. A. Gould, 1868; Joseph Henry, 1877. M. 

M. Odgers, 1947.

Benton, Thomas Hart: Theodore Roosevelt, 1886.

Booth, James Curtis: Paterson DuBois, 1888.

Browne, J. Ross: L. F. Browne, 1969; D. M. Goodman, 1966.

Burt, William Austin: A. S. Brown, 1962.

Calhoun, John C.: M. L. Coit, 1950; Richard Hofstadter, 1948, p. 

68-92.

Chamberlin, Thomas Chrowder: R. T. Chamberlin, 1934; Bailey Willis, 1930.

Conrad, Timothy: W. J. Youmans, 1896, p. 385-393.

Cook, George H.: G. K. Gilbert, 1902.

Cope, Edward D.: H. F. Osborn, 1931.

Dana, James Dwight: E. S. Dana, 1895; Joseph LeConte, 1896; J. W. 

Powell, 1896; D. C. Gilman, 1899.

Dutton, C. E.: J. S. Diller, 19L3.

Eaton, Amos: E. M. McAllister, 1941.

Emmons, Ebenezer: W. J. Youmans, 1896, p. 347 353.

Emmons, S. F.: G. F. Becker, 1912; Arnold Hague, 1912.

Featherstonhaugh, G. W.: J. D. Featherstonhaugh, 1889.

Frazer, Persifor, Jr.: R. A. F. Penrose, 1910.

Fremont, John C.: Allan Nevins, 1939.

Gannett, Henry: N. H. Darton, 1917.

Gilbert, G. K.: W. M. Davis, 1926.

Grant, U. S.: W. E. Woodward, 1928.

Gray, Asa: A. H. Dupree, 1959.

Hague, Arnold: J. P. Iddings, 1919.

Hague, James D.: R. W. Raymond, 1909.

Hall, James: B. K. Emerson and others, 1896; J. J. Stevenson, 1900. J.

M. Clarke, 1921.

Hassler, Ferdinand Rudolph: Florian Cajori, 1929. 

Hayden, F. V.: J. W. Powell, 1889; C. A. White, 1893. 

Hayes, Rutherford B.: K. E. Davison, 1972. 

Henry, Joseph: Simon Newcomb, 1905; Thomas Coulson, 1950. 

Hewitt, Abram S.: Allan Nevins, 1935.

Hilgard, Eugene W.: E. A. Smith, 1917; Frederick Slate, 1919- 

Hitchcock, Charles H.: Warren Upham, 1920. 

Hitchcock, Edward: J. P. Lesley, 1874. W. J. Youmans, 1896, p.

290-299.

Holmes, William H.: J. R. Swanton, 1935. 

Houghton, Douglass: Alva Bradish, 1889; E. K. Rintala, 1954.

Humphreys, Andrew A.: H. L. Carson, 1885.

Jackson, Andrew: Richard Hofstadter, 1948, p. 45-67; Marquis James,

1938.

Jackson, Charles T.: J. B. Woodworth, 1897. 

Jackson, William H.: H. M. Miller, 1966. 

Jefferson, Thomas: Richard Hofstadter, 1948, p. 18^44. 

Johnson, Andrew: E. L. McKitrick, I960.

King, Clarence: Century Association, 1904. Thurman Wilkins, 1958. 

Lesley, J. Peter: M. L. Ames, 1909; W. M. Davis, 1915. 

Lyell, Charles: L. G. Wilson, 1972. 

Marsh, George Perkins: David Lowenthal, 1958. 

Marsh, Othniel C.: Charles Schuchert and C. M. Levene, 1940. 

Mather, William W.: C. H. Hitchcock, 1897; W. J. Youmans, 1896,

p. 402^09.

Meek, Fielding Bradford: C. A. White, 1902. 

Monroe, James: Harry Ammon, 1971. 

Mitchill, S. L.: C. R. Hall, 1934. 

Moran, Thomas: Thurman Wilkins, 1966. 

Mudge, Benjamin: J. D. Parker, 1881.

Newberry, John Strong: J. J. Stevenson, 1893; C. A. White, 1906. 

Newcomb, Simon: Simon Newcomb, 1903- 

Norwood, Joseph G.: G. C. Broadhead, 1895. 

Olmsted, Denison: C. S. Lyman, 1859. W. J. Youmans, 1896, p.

250-259-

Olmsted, Frederick Law: L. W. Roper, 1973- 

O'Sullivan, Timothy: J. D. Horan, 1966. 

Owen, David Dale: W. B. Hendrickson, 1943; W. J. Youmans, 1896,

p. 500-508.

Owen, Richard: N. H. Winchell, 1890. 

Percival, James G.: C. U. Shepard, 1859. 

Powell, John Wesley: G. K. Gilbert, 1903; C. D. Walcott and others,

1903; W. M. Davis, 1915. W. C. Darrah, 1951; M. C. Rabbitt,

1969; W. E. Stegner, 1954.

Pumpelly, Raphael: Raphael Pumpelly, 1918; Bailey Willis, 1925. 

Raymond, Rossiter W.: T. A. Rickard, 1920. 

Rogers, Henry Darwin: J. J. H. Gregory, 1916. 

Rogers, William Barton: F. A. Walker, 1895; Mrs. W. B. Rogers, 1896;

W. J. Youmans, 1896, p. 410-418. 

Saffbrd, James Merril: J. J. Stevenson, 1909. 

Schurz, Carl: C. M. Fuess, 1932.

Shaler, Nathaniel S.: J. E. WolfT, 1908; N. S. Shaler, 1909- 

Shepard, Charles U.: W. J. Youmans, 1896, p. 419-427. 

Silliman, Benjamin: G. P. Fisher, 1866. J. F. Fulton and E. H. Thomson, 1947.

Silliman, Benjamin, Jr.: A. W. Weight, 1911. 

Smith, Eugene A.: Charles Butts, 1928. 

Swallow, George C.: G. C. Broadhead, 1899- 

Troost, Gerard: L. C. Glenn, 1905; W. J. Youmans, 1896, p. 119-

127. 

Tuomey, Michael: W. B. Rogers, 1857. E. A. Smith, 1897.

Index to Bibliography 313
Vanuxem, Lardner: W. J. Youmans, 1896, p. 270-278. 

Walker, Francis A.: J. P. Munroe, 1923. 

White, Charles A.: W. H. Dall, 1911. 

Whitney, Josiah Dwight: E. T. Brewster, 1909. 

Winchell, Alexander: N. H. Winchell, 1892. 

Winchell, Newton Horace: Warren Upham, 1915. 

Worthen, Amos H.: C. A. White, 1895.

Geological and geographical sciences

Colorado Plateau as field for: G. K. Gilbert, 1876.

Contributions of America to: W. M. Rice, 1907.

Contributions of Lyell to geology of North America: F. D. Adams,

1933. 

Darwin's effect on: B. J. Loewenberg, 1933; C. E. Russett, 1976; J. J.

Stevenson, 1909. (See also A. H. Dupree's biography of Asa Gray,

1959.)

Early American: G. W. White, 1953. 

Economic geology in ancient time: C. L. Sagui, 1933- 

Emergence as public function: William Back, 1959. 

Founders: Archibald Geikie, 1897. 

Geologic history of North America: J. D. Dana, 1856; James Hall,

1882. 

History: F. D. Adams, 1938; H. L. Fairchild, 1924; H. E. Gregory,

1921, 1923; G. P. Merrill, 1906, 1924; K. A. Zittel, 1899. 

Glacial geology: H. L. Fairchild, 1898; D. S. Martin, 1899. 

Interpretation of land forms: H. E. Gregory, 1918. 

Manual: J. D. Dana, 1864.

Maps: Jules Marcou and J. B. Marcou, 1884; H. A. Ireland, 1943. 

Methods in early days: J. J. Stevenson, 1915. 

Mineralogy, pioneers in: S. G. Gordon, 1919.

1780-1821: J. C. Greene, 1969.

1818-1918: W. E. Ford, 1918. 

Petrology, rise as science: L. V. Pirsson, 1918. 

Principles: Charles Lyell, 1830-32. 

Progress: Edward Hitchcock, 1841a; Benjamin Silliman, 1842; H. D.

Rogers, 1844. T. C. Chamberlin, 1924; Joseph LeConte, 1900. 

Related to mining: F. L. Ransome, 1933.

Stratigraphy: Amos Eaton, 1818; Charles Lyell, 1830-32; H. D. Rogers and W. B. Rogers, 1844; J. D. Dana, 1856, 1864. (See also

the various surveys.) 

Textbook: Amos Eaton, 1830. 

Vertebrate paleontology: R. S. Lull, 1918.

Geological and geographical surveys

Alabama: Michael Tuomey, 1850, 1858; E. A. Smith, 1873.

Arkansas: D. D. Owen, 1858.

Black Hills: W. P. Jenney, 1875, 1876; William Ludlow, 1875; Henry

Newton and W. P. Jenney, 1880. Donald Jackson, 1966; C. C.

O'Harra, 1900. 

California: G. H. Derby, 1850; J. D. Whitney, 1865, 1868. Gerald

Nash, 1963; A. W. Vogdes, 1893. 

Coast Survey: N. S. Shaler, 1870.

Colorado: F. V. Hayden, 1869a, 1874, 1876, 1877, 1878a. 

Colorado River of the West: J. C. Ives, 1861; J. S. Newberry, 1861,

1876; J. W. Powell, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875. R. A. Bartlett,

1962; W. C. Darrah, 1951; F. S. Dellenbaugh, 1908; W. H.

Goetzmann, 1959, 1966; W. E. Stegner, 1954.

Connecticut: C. U. Shepard, 1837.

Dakota: G. K. Warren, 1856.

Delaware: J. C. Booth, 1841.

First Federal: G. W. Featherstonhaugh, 1835, 1836. E. H. Finch,

1938; H. L. Geisse, 1962. 

Fortieth Parallel: J. D. Hague, 1870; Clarence King, 1871, 187 la,

1873. 1873a, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1878a; Arnold 

Hague and S. F. Emmons, 1877; F. B. Meek, 1877. R. A. Bartlett, 1962; W. H. Goetzmann, 1966; Thurman Wilkins, 1958.

General: J. D. Whitney, 1875.

General Land Office: D. D. Owen, 1840, 1844, 1847, 1848, 1852; 

C. T. Jackson, 1849; J. W. Foster and J. D. Whitney, 1850, 

1851; F. V. Hayden, 1867, 1868.

Great Western, 1867-1879: U.S. House Committee on Public Lands,

1874. R. A. Bartlett, 1962; S. F. Emmons, 1897; W. H. Goetzmann, 1959, 1966.

(See also the individual surveys.) 

Idaho: F. V. Hayden, 1879, 1883. 

Illinois: D. D. Owen, 1844; J. G. Norwood, 1853, 1857. H. F. Bain,

1931. 

Indiana: D. D. Owen, 1838; Richard Owen, 1862. W. S. Blatchley,

1917. 

Interior Department: All General Land Office surveys except D. D.

Owen, 1840 1848; all Rocky Mountain Region and Territories;

W. P. Jenney, 1875, 1876; Henry Newton and W. P. Jenney,

1880. 

Iowa: D. D. Owen, 1844, 1847, 1852; James Hall and J. D. Whitney,

1858. 

Kansas: Henry Engelmann, 1858; B. F. Mudge, 1866; G. C. Swallow,

1866. Robert Hay and A. H. Thompson, 1887. 

Kentucky: D. D. Owen, 1856, 1857; N. S. Shaler, 1874. H. F. Bain,

1910, 1916; W. R. Jillson, 1921, 1923, 1932, 1964. 

Maine: C. T. Jackson, 1837, 1837a; C. H. Hitchcock, 1861. 

Maryland: J. T. Ducatel and J. H. Alexander, 1834. 

Massachusetts: Edward Hitchcock, 1832, 1833, 1841. 

Michigan: Douglass Houghton, 1838, 1841; W. A. Burt, 1846; W.

A. Burt and Bela Hubbard, 1849; C. T. Jackson, 1849; J. W.

Foster and J. D. Whitney, 1850, 1851; Alexander Winchell,

1871; T. B. Brooks, 1873; Raphael Pumpelly, 1873. R. C. Alien,

1922; H. M. Martin, 1937. 

Minnesota: D. D. Owen, 1852; N. H. Winchell, 1873, 1876. G. M.

Schwartz and P. K. Sims, 1964; N. H. Winchell, 1889. 

Mississippi: B. L. C. Wailes, 1854; E. W. Hilgard 1858. E. W. Hilgard, 1901. 

Missouri: G. C. Swallow, 1855; Raphael Pumpelly, 1873a. G. C.

Broadhead, 1886.

Montana: F. V. Hayden, 1872.

Nebraska: D. D. Owen, 1852; G. K. Warren, 1858; F. V. Hayden,

1867, 1871. 

New Hampshire: C. T. Jackson, 1841, 1844; C. H. Hitchcock, 1869,

1870. 

New Jersey: H. D. Rogers, 1836; William Kitchell, 1856; E. L. Viele,

1856; G. H. Cook, 1864, 1865. 

New Mexico: F. V. Hayden, 1869a. 

New York: Amos Eaton and T. R. Beck, 1820; Amos Eaton, 1822,

1824; Ebenezer Emmons, 1842; Lardner Vanuxem, 1842; W. W.

Mather, 1843; James Hall, 1843, 1847; Issachar Cozzens, Jr.,

1843. 

North Carolina: Denison Olmsted, 1824: Edward Hitchcock, 1828;

Ebenezer Emmons, 1852. J. L. Stuckey, 1965.

314 Index to Bibliography
Ohio: S. P. Hildreth, 1836; W. W. Mather, 1838; J. S. Newberry,

1871, 1873. T. C. Mendenhall, 1922. 

Old South: C. S. Sydnor, 1940. 

Pacific Railroad: A. A. Humphreys and G. K. Warren, 1855; E. G.

Beckwith, 1855; J. G. Parke, 1855; John Pope, 1855; Jules Marcou, 1855; W. P. Blake, 1856, 1856a, 1857; A. W. Whipple,

1856; J. S. Newberry, 1856; I. I. Stevens, 1859.

Pennsylvania: H. D. Rogers, 1836a, 1858; J. P. Lesley, 1875, 1876. 

Rhode Island: C. T. Jackson, 1840.

Rocky Mountain Region: J. W. Powell, 1876, 1877, 1878. 

South Carolina: Michael Tuomey, 1844, 1848; O. M. Lieber, 1856. 

State: A. R. Leeds, 1873; J. P. Lesley, 1876. C. W. Hayes, 1911; W.

B. Hendrickson, 1961; G. P. Merrill, 1920, 1924. 

Territories: F. V. Hayden, 1867, 1868, 1869a, 1871, 187la, 1872,

1873, 1874, 1876, 1877, 1877a, 1878a, 1879, 1883; J. T.

Gardner, 1873; J. W. Powell, 1876. R. A. Bartlett, 1962; W.

H. Goetzmann, 1966. 

Texas: W. K. Ferguson, 1969.

United States: Clarence King, 1880. Institute for Government Research, 1918; T. G. Manning, 1947, 1967; J. C. Rabbitt and M.

C. Rabbitt, 1954; H. N. Smith, 1947; William Thurston, 1971. 

Utah: Howard Stansbury, 1852; Henry Engelmann, 1858a; W. A.

Jones, 1872.

(See also Fortieth Parallel, Rocky Mountain Region, and West of

the 100th Meridian.) 

Vermont: G. H. Perkins, 1923.

Virginia: W. B. Rogers, 1836. Jedediah Hotchkiss, 1882. 

War Department: G. W. Featherstonhaugh, 1835, 1836; J. C. Fremont, 1845; W. H. Emory, 1848; Howard Stansbury, 1852;

Henry Engelmann, 1858, 1858a; G. K. Warren, 1856, 1858; J.

C. Ives, 1861; J. S. Newberry, 1861, 1876; G. M. Wheeler,

1870, 1872; W. A. Jones, 1872, 1874; William Ludlow, 1875;

A. A. Humphreys, 1878, 1878a. W. H. Goetzmann, 1959,

1966.

(See also Fortieth Parallel, Pacific Railroad, and West of the 100th

Meridian.) 

West of the 100th Meridian: G. M. Wheeler, 1872a, 1873, 1874,

1875, 1875a, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879- 

Wisconsin: Edward Daniels, 1854; D. D. Owen, 1844, 1847, 1848,

1852; I. A. Lapham, 1877; R. D. Irving, 1880; C. E. Wright,

1880. E. F. Bean, 1937. 

Wyoming: F. V. Hayden, 1868, 1871, 1879, 1883; W. A. Jones,

1874.

History of the United States

General: S. E. Morison, 1965; R. B. Morris, 1961; Allan Nevins and

H. S. Commager, 1966. 

Periods: to 1865: Michael Kraus, 1959.

1776-1787: G. S. Wood, 1969-

1789-1801: J. C. Miller, I960.

1815-1828: George Dangerfield, 1965.

1828-1848: G. G. Van Deusen, 1959-

age of Jackson: A. M. Schlesinger, 1945.

1846: Bernard DeVoto, 1943.

since 1865: F. R. Dulles, 1959.

1865-1877: P. H. Buck, 1937; Allan Nevins, 1927; K. M. 

Stampp, 1965.

1876: Dee Brown, 1966.

1877-1890: J. A. Garraty, 1968.

Topics: Anti-intellectualism: Richard Hofstadter, 1963-

Census: C. D. Wright and W. C. Hunt, 1900.

Compromise of 1877: C. V. Woodward, 1951.

Conservatism: R. G. McCloskey, 1951.

Darwinism-: B. J. Loewenberg, 1941.

Economic: H. R. Smith, 1955.

House of Representatives: G. B. Galloway, 1976.

Industry: E. C. Kirkland, 1961.

Law: L. M. Friedman, 1973.

Mexican War: K. J. Bauer, 1974.

Northern Plains and Rocky Mountains: Everett Dick, 1941.

Political tradition: Richard Hofstadter, 1948.

Politics of conservation: F. E. Smith, 1966.

Presidency: Clinton Rossiter, I960.

Radicalism: C. M. Destler, 1966.

Reform movements: G. M. Fredrickson, 1965.

Sections, 1830-1860: F. J. Turner, 1935.

Social Darwinism: Richard Hofstadter, 1944.

Society and culture: T. C. Cochran and William Miller, 1961 ; R. 

B. Nye, I960, 1974.

Tariff: F. W. Taussig, 1931.

West as symbol: H. N. Smith, 1950.

Western exploration: Bernard DeVoto, 1947, 1952; W. H. Goetzmann, 1959, 1966.

Western frontier: R. A. Billington, 1956.

Land use

G. P. Marsh, 1864; J. W. Powell, 1878.

Roderick Nash, 1973; H. W. Ottoson, 1963; S. L. Udall, 1963.

Mapping and mapping policy

D. B. Clement, 1958; H. R. Friis, 1958; W. H. Goetzmann, 1959, 

1966; H. A. Ireland, 1943; R. H. Randall, 1958; C. I. Wheat, 1954. 

(Additional material will be found in references under Geological and 

geographical surveys; Public lands and public-land policy; and Science.)

Mining and mineral resources:

Black Hills gold rush: H. E. Briggs, 1931.

California: R. B. Mason, 1849; T. B. King, 1850. J. W. Caughey,

1975; Rodman Paul, 1947. 

Coal: H. D. Rogers, 1842; W. R. Johnson, 1844; R. C. Taylor, 1848;

J. P. Lesley, 1856; S. H. Daddow and Benjamin Bannan, 1866;

Clarence King, 1870b. H. N. Eavenson, 1942. 

Comstock: Clarence King, 1870a; Dan DeQuille, 1876; Arnold Hague,

1870; Eliot Lord, 1883- G. H. Smith, 1943. 

General: J. D. Hague, 1880. T. A. Rickard, 1932a. 

History: A. S. Hewitt, 1876. T. A. Rickard, 1932; A. B. Parsons,

1947. 

Iron: J. H. Alexander, 1840; J. P. Lesley, 1859; A. S. Hewitt, 1856,

1868; S. H. Daddow and Benjamin Bannan, 1866; E. C. Pechin,

1872. A. C. Bining, 1933; John Birkinbine, 1911; R- W. Fogel

and S. L. Engermann, 1969; J. P. Ronda, 1968; J. M. Swank,

1884; Peter Temin, 1964. 

Lake Superior region: H. R. Schoolcraft, 1822; C. T. Jackson, 1849; J.

W. Foster and J. D. Whitney, 1850, 1851. J. Fisher, 1929; W.

B. Gates, Jr., 1951; Angus Murdoch, 1943; T. A. Richard, 1905;

H. V. Winchell, 1895.

Index to Bibliography 315
Lead: W. R. Ingalls, 1907, 1908. (See also Missouri and Upper Mississippi Valley.)

Metals: J. D. Whitney, 1854.

Mining districts, geographical distribution: Clarence King, 1870; R. 

W. Raymond, 1873.

Missouri: Moses Austin, 1804; George Bomford, 1822; H. R. Schoolcraft, 1819; J. R. Gage, 1874. A. M. Gibson, 1959, 1959a; Brad 

Luckingham, 1965.

Nevada: Molinelli, Lambert & Co., 1879. F. C. Lincoln, 1924; C. H. 

Shinn, 1896.

Petroleum: S. H. Daddow and Benjamin Bannan, 1866. H. B. Goodrich, 1932; P. H. Giddens, 1938; H. F. Williamson and A. R. 

Daum, 1959.

Precious metals: Denison Olmsted, 1825; Jacob Peck, 1833; J. R. 

Browne, 1867, 1868; J. W. Taylor, 1867, 1868; R. W. Raymond, 1869, 1870, 1875, 1875a, 1876; U.S. Congress Joint 

Monetary Commission, 1877.

Quicksilver: H. W. Splitter, 1957.

Science in mineral industry: A. S. Hewitt, 1872.

Statistics: R. C. Taylor, 1848; J. R. Browne, 1867, 1868; J. W. Taylor, 1867, 1868; R. W. Raymond, 1869, 1870; F. A. Walker, 

1878.

Treasure Hill: W. T. Jackson, 1963-

Upper Mississippi Valley: D. D. Owen, 1840, 1844, 1847, 1848, 

1852. J. E. Wright, 1966.

Utah: Utah State Historical Society, 1963.

West: J. D. Hague, 1870; Clarence King, I870a. W. S. Greever, 1963; 

Rodman Paul, 1947,1963; C. W. Henderson, 1933; C. C. Spence, 

1970; W. J. Trimble, 1914.

Zinc: W. R. Ingalls, 1908; E.A. Smith, 1918.

Public lands and public-land policy

Administration and settlement, 1789 1837: M. J. Rohrbough, 1968.

Administration 1875-1891: H. H. Dunham, 1941.

Arid lands: J. W. Powell, 1878.

Disposal: Alexander Hamilton, 1790.

Desert Land Act: J. T. Ganoe, 1937.

Forest lands: S. T. Dana, 1956; W. B. Greeley, 1951, 1953; John Ise,

1920; J. S. Peyton, 1920. 

Galena lead district: J. E. Wright, 1966. 

General Land Office: Milton Conover, 1923-

History: Thomas Donaldson, 1880. V. R. Carstensen, 1963; B. H.

Hibbard, 1924; R. M. Robbins, 1942. 

Law development: P. W. Gates and R. W. Swenson, 1968. 

Mineral lands in California 1840 1866: Joseph Ellison, 1926. 

Missouri: D. J. Abramoske, 1959, 1959a. 

Policy 1830-1841: Magdalen Eichert, 1949. 

Political history 1840-1867: G. M. Stephenson, 1967. 

Use and management: Marion Clawson and Burnell Held, 1957; H. W.

Ottoson, 1963. 

Yellowstone National Park: F. V. Hayden, 1872a; W. T. Jackson,

1942.

Science (sometimes including but not exclusively on 

geology)

Agriculture: A. C. True, 1927.

American Association for the Advancement of Science: A. H. Clark and 

L. F. Clark, 1934; S. G. Kohlstedt, 1976; B. E. Livingston, 1935.

Coast and Geodetic Survey: G. A. Weber, 1923; A. J. Wraight and E. 

B. Roberts, 1957.

Colonial or 18th century: S. A. Bedini, 1975; W. J. Bell, 1948; Brooke 

Hindle, 1956.

Federal: A. H. Dupree, 1957.

Forestry: Gilbert Chenard, 1945; W. B. Greeley, 1951; H. A. Smith, 

1938.

National Academy of Sciences: A. H. Dupree, 1957a; F. W. True, 

1913.

Nineteenth-century: age of Jackson, G. H. Daniels, 1968; age of Jefferson, J. C. Greene, 1958; comes of age, J. C. Greene, 1968; documents, Nathan Reingold, 1964; formation of scientific community, S. G. Kohlstedt, 1976; geologists' model for, S. G. Kohlstedt, 

1974; Lazzaroni, L. B. Miller, Frederick Voss, and J. M. Hussey, 

1972; New Harmony movement, C. A. Browne, 1936; patrons of 

research, H. S. Miller, 1970; professionalism, G. H. Daniels, 

1968; research, Edward Lurie, 1962; since 1820, Nathan Reingold, 1976; state of, A. D. Bache, 1851, B. A. Gould, 1869, I. 

B. Cohen, 1959, 1963; with special reference to the American 

Journal of science, E. S. Dana, 1918.

Patent Office: G. A. Weber, 1924.

Smithsonian Institution: G. B. Goode, 1897; P. H. Oehser, 1949.

Water resources, including irrigation: B. S. Alexander and others, 1874; 

G. P. Marsh, 1874; J. W. Powell, 1878; Henry Gannett, 1878.

316 Index to Bibliography
Name Index

Abbot, H. L .......................................................... 125, 126, 127

AbertJ.J..................................................... 45, 47, 67, 99, 105

Abert, James W.................................................................... 81

Adams, Charles B ...................................................... 54, 76, 116

Adams, Charles Francis, Jr ................................................ 239, 266

Adams, Henry .............................................................. 184, 266

Adams, John ........._..............._........................................ 18

Adams, John Quincy ............................................... 24, 33, 37, 73

Agassiz, Alexander ........................................... 174, 264, 266, 274

Agassiz, Louis:

American Association for the Advancement of Science ..._.... 87, 96

Harvard professor............................................................ 86

National Academy of Sciences.........___............___......... 143

on geologic time ............___.......................................... 119

on glaciers in U.S. ..........__................._...................... 189

recommends Worthen _...._._........ _..__.... .__..._- ....._. .. 122

rejects Darwinian evolution ______________________ 134

Scientific Lazzaroni................................................... 101, 143

sponsors Jules Marcou ....................................................... 105

Alexander, B. S .................................................................... 213

Alexander, John Henry ................................................ 45, 62, 144

Alger, Francis ..._................_............................................ 53

Alien, Charles ...................................................................... 212

Andrews, E. B ...................................................................... 176

Antisell, Thomas ...._.._............._..........._._............._.. 105

Arthur, Chester A ................................................................. 263

Ashburner, C. A ................................................................... 212

Ashburner, W. A .................................................................. 149

Atkins, John D.C..................................... 251, 261, 277, 283, 287

Austin, Moses .................................................................. 20, 61

Austin, Stephen F ................................................................. 61

B

Bache, Alexander Dallas .................... 72, 73, 86, 101, 141, 143, 189

Bailey, W. W ....................................................................... 164

Baird, Spencer ................................................ 159, 164, 188, 284

Baker, John H ...................................................................... 281

Bancroft, George ..............................__................._._..... 266

Banks, Nathaniel .................................................................. 128

Bannon, Benjamin ........................................... 156, 157, 158, 159

Bannister, H. M .................................................................... 202

Barnard, F. A. P ..................................................... 115, 150, 266

Barton, David ............_..............._..............__.............. 31, 36

Beaman, E. O ...................................................................... 198

Beaumont, Elie de ................................................................. 53

Bechler, G. R ................................................................ 241, 247

Beck, Lewis C ................................................................... 54, 96

Becker, George F .................................................................. 264

Beckwith, E. G _...................................................... 105, 109, 110

Bell, A ............................................................................... 247

Bell, Alexander Graham ......................................................... 233

Bell, John ........................................................................... 135

Benton, Thomas Hart:

on mineral lands ................................................... 31, 35, 60

on money and currency ................................................. 38, 40

on public lands ................................................ 32, 35, 57, 58

on railroad route _.__.............__................................. 99

Bergland, Eric ............................................................... 231, 232

Bessemer, Henry ............................................................ 140, 141

Berthoud, E. L ..................................................................... 256

Biddle, Nicholas ............................................................... 43, 62

Bishop, F. M ........................................................................ 198

Black, Jeremiah S .................................................................. 136

Blaine, James G ............................................................. 243, 245

Blake, William Phipps....................................... 106, 184, 185, 264

Blandy, John F .............................................................. 195, 196

Boggs, Lilburn W.................................................................. 45

Bomford, George ......................................_____...._...___ 31

Bond, William Cranch ....................................................... 67, 68

Booth, James C ................................................................ 53, 56

Breckenridge, John C ......__.__...._____.........____........... 135

Brewer, W. H .......................................... 105, 148, 157, 162, 287

Briggs, C., Jr ....................................................................... 57

Broadhead, G. C .................................................................. 189

Brooks, Thomas B ................................................... 109, 177, 191

Brown, John ........................................................................ 128

Brown, Ryland T ....................................................................107

BrowneJ. Ross ...................................................... 156, 158, 179

Bruce, Archibald .................................................................. 28

Brush, G. J .......................................................................... 158

Bryan, F. T.......................................................................... 126

Buchanan, James ........................................................... 129, 136

Burdett.S.S................................................... 229, 232, 243, 246

Burt, W. A ..................................................................... 78, 79

Calhoun, John C.............................. 21, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 37, 38

Carll, J. F ............................................................................ 212

Carnegie, Andrew _................._.......................................... 174

Carr, Ezra S ......................................................................... 122

Carrington, E. C ................................................................... 171

Cass, Lewis ................................................................ 29, 44, 91

Name Index 317
Chamberlin, Thomas Chrowder .....______.__................ 211, 264

Chance, H. M ...._.._.____..............................-........................- 212

Chandler, Charles F ........................................................ 150, 151

Chandler, Zachariah ................................................ 232, 243, 245

Chauvenet, Regis .................................................................. 189

Cheever, B. H ...................................................................... 171

Chittenden, G. B ........................................................... 241, 247

Chouteau, Pierre ..._.__..........._______.......................... 45

Church, John Adams ...._..........______.._.......___.___ 247

Clark, F. A ..................................................... 164, 188, 189, 263

Clark, William ..................................................................... 20

Clay, Henry:

and American system __.......______.._..................._ 33

calls President to task ....................................................... 24

Compromise of 1850 ........................................................ 92

elected Speaker .............................................................. 22

elected to Congress ..____....__....______.................... 21

election of 1824 .............................................................. 34

presents Whig program ..................................................... 60

proposes distribution of proceeds of public land sales ....__........ 58

proposes distribution of surplus.............__......._.___..... 55

Cleaveland, Parker ................................................................ 26

Clinton, DeWitt............................................................... 22, 29

Comstock, Henry ...____.__.....____...........____.____ 132

Comstock, Theodore.............................................................. 207

Conkling, A. R .............................................................. 231, 239

Conkling, Roscoe .................................................... 231, 245, 263

Conness, John ................................................. 134, 148, 154, 157

Conrad, Timothy __.______.__.__.______.......__ 54, 127

Conybeare, W. D .................................................................. 48

Cook, George H ....................................... 109, 151, 177, 258, 264

Cooke, Jay .......................................................................... 212

Cooper, Edward ................................................................... 62

Cooper, Peter ................................................................. 62, 266

Cope, E. D ................................ 188, 198, 202, 225, 228, 264, 275

Cornell, Alonzo B ................................................................. 263

Cotta, Bernhard von .............................................................. 116

Cotting, John ...................................................................... 55

Cox, E. T............................................................................ 176

Cox, Jacob .......................................................................... 184

Coxe, Eckley B .............................................................. 163, 191

Coxe, Tench ......................___.....__._____..................... 17

Cozzens, Issachar ........................................__..................... 67

Crandell, A. R ..................................................................... 211

Crane, George .............................................._........_....... 62

Crawford, William ................................................................ 25

Crazy Horse .................................................................. 238, 239

Custer, George .............................................................. 229, 238

Custer, Henry ...................................................................... 164

Cuvier, Georges .......................................................... 28, 29, 47

D

Daddow, S. H................................................. 156, 157, 158, 159

Ball, W. H .................................................................. 201, 246

Dallas, George M .................................................................. 73

Dalson, Augustus A ...______....._..................._...__....._ 101

Dana, James Dwight:

advises King ..____._........_..................___.__..__ 163

committee on western surveys...___..............___._......... 264

does not support King for Director ....................................... 287

Manual of Geology ................___..............______..._ 145

National Academy of Sciences .....___...........___.__ 144, 264

on geologic time ................................. 119, 140, 144, 145, 146

on glaciers in U.S ............................................................ 189

on Powell's Uinta Mountains report...................................... 242

on Shasta ._____....________.___.________........ 71

portrait ................................................................. 118, 267

recommends Worthen ...................................................... 122

Scientific Lazzaroni..........................................._......._ 105

Textbook of Geology ..............__......................___.___ 140

Wilkes expedition .................................................. 55, 67, 71

Yale professor .__...___._.......______.......____....... 87

Daniels, Edward ............................................................ 106, 122

Darwin, Charles ............................................................ 134, 248

Davidson, George ................................................................. 213

Davis, Charles Henry ........................................................ 86, 143

Davis, Henry G .................................................................... 283

Davis, Jefferson ...................................................... 104, 127, 136

Deidesheimer, Philip ............................................................. 148

Delafield, Joseph .................................................................. 96

Delano, Columbus ........................................... 205, 215, 224, 230

Dellenbaugh, Fred ................................................................ 198

DeWitt, Simeon ................................................................... 14

d'Halloy, JeanJ. D'Omalius .................................................... 48

Doane, C. D........................................................................ 197

Dorsey, Stephen W ............................................................... 283

Douglas, Stephen A .................................... 93, 100, 111, 129, 135

Ducatel, Julius T............................................................... 46, 52

Dunne, E. F ........................................................................ 185

Durkee, H. R ....................................................................... 179

Dutton, Clarence ...................................... 230, 241, 247, 256, 261

Eames, Henry ...................................................................... 152

Eames, Richard ...............___.......________._............... 153

Eaton, Amos ........................................ 29, 30, 40, 43, 54, 56, 96

Edwards, Henry W ................................................................ 50

Edmunds, J. M ..................................................................... 142

Egleston, Thomas ................______.......______._.......... 150

Egloffstein, F. W. von .......................................................130, 136

Eliot, Charles William ............................................................ 288

Elliot, Henry W .................................................................... 171

Elliot, R. S .......................................................................... 188

Ellsworth, Henry L ................................................................ 55

Emmons, Ebenezer .................................... 54, 64, 65, 68, 98, 116

Emmons, Samuel Franklin:

becomes member of King survey __...._.______............... 163

Descriptive Geology..________.........._____............... 248

diamond hoax ..............__._____....______............... 204

fieldworkin 1872 ............................................................ 203

on badlands ____...........................................___...._ 174

on glaciers in Cascades ...................................................... 188

on structure in Provo Canyon _......._________.____.... 169

on structure of Flaming Gorge ____....__.___................ 172

sent to Europe .................._____......._______............ 210

Emory, William H .................................................... 89, 104, 127

Endlich, F. M ................................................................ 206, 241

Englemann, Henry ..........._...................................___ 126, 130

Erskine, Robert .................................................................... 14

Evans, John .................__...................................__ 84, 88, 104

Evarts, William ............____............____................____ 245

Everett, P. M ....................................................................... 79

Ewing, Thomas ...................___...__._______.............. 92

Featherstonhaugh, G. W ..................................................... 43, 47

Field, StephenJ .................................................................... 134

Fillmore, Millard ............................................................. 93, 129

Finney, James .............................__..........__._..._.......... 132

318 Name Index
Fisk, James ... . . .. .. ...... .... .. .. ... .... . . 183

Floyd, John ... . .. .... . . . ... ...... .. . ...... .. 45

Foot, Samuel A ....................................._........................... 37

Foster, John Wells ....................................................... 84, 85, 92

Franklin, W. B ................................................................... 81

Frazer, John Fries....................________......................__ 53

Frazer, Persifor................................................ 171, 172, 194, 212

Fremont, John C.:

assists Nicollet ___...............................____.___....... 67

expeditions of 1842-1843 .............................................. 71, 72

expedition of 1845 .......................................................... 81

expedition of 1848 .......................................................... 99

names Pyramid Lake .............______............................. 74

observes Columbia River basalt ___.......__.___.............. 73

observes Great Salt Lake _........................_______......... 75

portrait ........................................................................ 72

Presidential candidate ............................................... 128, 129

Gabb, W M ........................................................................ 178

Gadsden, James................................_..._.......................... 110

Gallatin, Albert................................................................ 19, 20

Gannett, Henry................... 201, 205, 225, 230, 241, 247, 255, 263

Gardner, James T.:

California survey................................. 147, 148, 150, 152, 157

Fortieth Parallel survey .....__................_________ 164, 204

Hayden survey ................................................. 205, 223, 230

New York State Museum ........................___................... 241

Garfield, James A ..................................... 182, 215, 244, 281, 287

Gause, Lucien C ......._____................................................. 251

Gear, H. H ......................................................................... 83

Geikie, Archibald ..................................... 220, 275, 277, 282, 288

Geissenhainer, Frederick W ..................................................... 62

Genth, F. A ........................................................................ 212

Gibbes, Robert W ................................................................. 96

Gibbs, George .............................................................. 105, 246

Gibbs, Oliver Wolcott............................................................ 105

Gibbs, R. W ........................................................................ 124

Gibson, John B .___......................__.._........................... 43

Gifford, Sanford Robinson ...................................................... 187

Gilbert, Grove Karl:

Ohio survey ............................................................ 176, 194

on Colorado Plateau as field for geologic study..._______..... 241

on erosion in Black Hills ....___.__..._..........___............ 251

on glaciation in Ohio ......._..........__._____.___........ 194

on Grand Canyon stratigraphy ................._........._........... 232

on Great Salt Lake ........................................................... 250

on King's Catastrophism ........................._..................._ 249

Powell survey ....................... 230, 232, 241, 247, 250, 251, 263

Gilliss, James H .................................................................... 67

Gilman, Daniel Coit....................................................... 239, 266

Godkin, E. L ....................................................................... 266

Gould, Benjamin Apthorp .......................................... 94, 143, 191

Gould, Jay .......................................................................... 183

Graham, George...................__........._.._................__.. 32

Grant, John......................................................................... 20

Grant, U. S.:

Civil War general.................................___...........__.... 153

elected President............................................................. 179

investigations of 1874 ....................................................... 214

Marsh calls on ................................................................ 229

on annexation of Santo Domingo ......................................_ 187

on money and currency ._................................... 179, 183, 213

recommends public lands commission ................................... 223

signs Yellowstone Park bill................................................. 198

Gratiot, Charles.................................................................... 78

Graves, Walter H .................................................... 198, 241, 247

Gray, Asa ................................._._._..._..........__ 134, 164

Griswold, John A ........................................_............___... 141

Gunnison, John Williams .......................................... 105, 127, 129

Guyot, Arnold ___...........................__.___...............__ 86

Gwin, William ..................................................................... 94

H

Hager, Albert Dorsey ...................................................... 116, 189

Hague, Arnold........................... 163, 166, 188, 189, 204, 239, 248

Hague, James D ....................................... 163, 166, 178, 194, 264

Hale, Eugene....................................................................... 283

Hall, James:

AAAS Committees ................................................... 101, 124

address to AAAS 1857 ................................................ 119-121

elected to National Academy of Sciences.............__.............. 144

geologic map of western U.S ............................................... 127

influences Hayden..__..........__.....................______.. 127

influences Newberry ...........__........................_____._ 127

International Congress of Geologists._.................______.. 264

Iowa Survey .................................................................. 121

New York Survey ............................................................ 54

New York System ................................................... 64-65, 68

on Fremont's collections ..........._.__......._..................... 72

on mountain-building .............____......._._.......... 119-121

portrait ........................................................................ 120

sends Meek and Hayden to badlands ..................................... 104

Wisconsin survey __........__.........._.._...................... 122

Hall, Mrs. James............................................................... 65, 71

Hamblin, Jacob .................................................................... 188

Hamilton, Alexander.................................................... 15, 16, 17

Hanchett, A ........................................................................ 152

Hardin, John ....................................................................... 83

Hare, Robert ....................................................................... 78

Harney, W. H ...................................................................... 125

Harper, Lewis ...................................................................... 115

Harrison, William Henry ............................................... 18, 22, 68

Harte, Bret.......................................................................... 266

Haskell, Dudley C ................................................................. 282

Hassler, F. R ................................... 20, 21, 23, 43, 45, 47, 71, 72

Hattan, Andrew ................................................................... 198

Hawn, Fred ......................................................................... 124

Hay, John ........................................................................... 266

Hayden, Ferdinand Vandeveer:

accompanies Raynolds expedition .........____..................... 130

accompanies Warren expedition .......................................... 125

Colorado surveys.............. 172, 205-206, 224-225, 230, 239, 241

early years ..................................................................... 126

explores Missouri River region ....____...........__.______ 126

investigation of western surveys in 1874...____.............. 216, 220

joins Army Medical Corps __............................................. 137

names Green River formation ............................................. 173

Nebraska survey................................................. 159, 168-170

on Bear River City section .................................................. 179

on consolidation of surveys ................................................. 268

on Cretaceous ......................................................... 177, 178

on glacial action .............................................................. 212

on mining geology ................................................... 180, 215

on National Academy of Sciences recommendations .................. 275

on surveying public lands .................................................. 252

plan for mapping Western Territories ........_.................. 187-188

portrait ____.................._.......................................... 175

report for 1870 ............................................................... 187

seeks U.S.G.S. directorship .................................. 282, 287, 288

Name Index 319
summarizes work of survey ................................................. 261

visits Dakota badlands ...................................................... 105

Wyoming survey ...___........______........____.__..... 172

Yellowstone country ....... 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 247, 263

Hayes, August _...________..________._...__.____ 106 

Hayes, Rutherford B.:

annual message 1877 ........................................................ 250

at odds with Senate ..............._....................................... 263

attempts civil service reform __.......................................... 245

election of 1876 ....................................................... 243, 244

portrait .........................__................__..................... 285

selects Director of Geological Survey ..................................... 288

signs organic act of Geological Survey _................................. 283

vetoes Bland-Allison Act................................................... 259

Hayne, Robert ..................................................................... 37

Hegeler, E. C ....................................................................... 123

Hemphill, Joseph.................................................................. 33

Henry, Joseph:

AAAS Committee on Geological Surveys _................__.__. 73

Civil War activities.......................................................... 141

death .......................................................................... 264

first Secretary of Smithsonian .............................................. 74

in relation to J. W. Powell............................ 200, 207, 219, 242

National Academy of Sciences............................................. 143

Scientific Lazzaroni...............__.___........______........ 101

views on science .______......._____........._________ 74

Henshaw, David _...___.___...._.___........._.__.__._ 78

Hering, Rudolph .................................................................. 201

Hewitt, Abram S.:

addresses AIME ....................................................... 194, 235

builds open-hearth furnace .__.............___..................... 173

Civil War work ............................................................... 140

election of 1876 .............................................................. 243

election of 1878 .............................................................. 275

enters politics................................................................. 87

experiments in iron metallurgy .................._....................... 140

interested in railroads ....................................................... 100

investigates Emma mine scandal.......................................... 233

ironmaster at Trenton .____.............____ 62, 100, 116, 140

observes steel making in Europe ______.............__.____ 173

on distribution of coal and iron ....__....____..................... 192

on future of iron industry ..___...........__._..................... 117

on role of science on mineral industry .................................... 194

on state of mineral industry in 1876 ...................................... 235

portrait ........................................................................ 280

role in establishment of U.S. Geological Survey .......... 262, 279, 283

Hewitt, Goldsmith ......................................................... 276, 283

Higby, William .................................................................... 154

Hildreth, Samuel P ................................................................ 54

Hilgard, E. W ...................................................................... 115

Hilgard, J. E ........................................................................ 275

Hill, S. W ........................................................................... 80

Hillers, Jack........................................................... 198, 207, 218

Hitchcock, Charles H ........................................ 116, 175, 176, 184

Hitchcock, Edward, Jr ............................................................ 116

Hitchcock, Edward, Sr.:

AAAS Committee on Geological Surveys.......................... 96, 124

address to Association of American Geologists......................... 64

first State Geologist of Massachusetts ..........__..................... 41

Massachusetts survey ........................................................ 43

National Academy of Sciences _................__..................... 144

New York Survey ......._____.............___..................... 54

observes inversion of strata ___.......................................... 55

on lusus naturae ........__.__.............__........................ 46

on slate quarry ............................................................. 46

report on Connecticut Valley _.............___..................... 29

reviews Olmsted's report ................................................... 40

Vermont survey .._.............___._.__...................._.... 116

Hitchcock, P. W ................................................................... 159

Hodge, James T .................................................................... 188

Hoffmann, Charles F .......................... 144, 145, 148, 155, 164, 201

Hoge, J. P ._......_.................... . 83

Holley, Alexander L ............................................................... 140

Holmes, Ezekiel . . ... ..-. . .... .. ........ . .. 116

Holmes, William Henry:

fieldwork for Hayden survey ............ 201, 205, 230, 241, 247, 263

sketches ......................................................... 209, 247, 249

Holt, Henry ........................................................................ 266

Hooker, Joseph .................................................................. 282

Horsford, E. N ..................................................................... 65

Hough, Franklin B ......................................................... 229, 245

Houghton, Douglass .................................................... 56, 77, 78

Houston, Sam ................................................................... 80

Howell, E.E.......................................................... 207, 225, 230

Howells, William Dean .......................................................... 266

Hoxie, R. L......................................................................... 207

Humboldt, Alexander von ..........__........__..................___. 86

Humphreys, A. A.:

in relation to Fortieth Parallel survey ......... 157, 162, 189, 204, 217

Jones' survey of Wyoming ........................................... 207

Pacific Railroad surveys ...................................... 104, 127

Wheeler survey........................................................ 196

investigation of 1874.......................................... 215, 216, 217

role in establishment of U.S. Geological Survey ................. 275, 276

Hutchins, Thomas................................................................. 14

Hutton, James ...........................-............................ . 16

Huxley, Thomas Henry .................................................... 239, 248

Irving, Roland Duer ................................................. 176, 211, 256

Ives, J. C ............................................................................ 130

Jackson, Andrew ................................... 34, 37, 54, 55, 57, 58, 61

Jackson, Charles T.:

AAAS Committee on Geological Surveys .......................... 96, 124

biographical data ......................................_................... 41

examines Michigan copper deposits ................................... 78-79

map of Jackson, New Hampshire ................................._.... 52

on construction of geologic maps ..................................._... 64

on lusus naturae ..........__.................................______ 45

on slate quarry in Vermont.............___............................ 46

survey of Lake Superior district __....................................... 84

survey of Maine .......................................................... 42, 53

survey of New Hampshire .................................................. 58

survey of Rhode Island ...................................................... 57

Jackson, William Henry ................ 187, 198, 225, 228, 230, 241, 247

James, Edwin ....................................................................... 30

Janin, Henry ........_................._..............__.................... 204

Jefferson, Thomas ....................................... 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, 33

Jenney, W. P................................................................ 230, 231

Johnson, Andrew ...................._......._.....__...................... 153

Johnson, Walter R ............................................................. 63, 64

Jones, William A .................................................... 195, 206, 207

Jones, S. V .......................................................................... 198

Joliet, Louis _..............___...................................._._.... 10

Julian, George .............................................................. 154, 185

320 Name Index
K

Kearney, Stephen W .............................................................. 81

Kelly, William ..................................................................... 141

Kelvin, Lord. See Thomson, William.

Kerr, W. C .......................................................................... 156

Key, David M ...................................................................... 244

King, Clarence:

California State survey................... 147, 148, 150, 151, 152, 157

diamond hoax ....__......_......................._.____...._ 204

discovers glaciers on Shasta ................................... 188, 189, 190

elected to National Academy of Sciences.._....__................. 239

Fortieth Parallel fieldwork . 159, 162-168, 188, 189, 190, 195, 204 

investigation of 1874 .................................................. 217-218

mining commissions ...................____......___.............. 210

on catastrophism ..................__.__.......__.................... 248

on Comstock geology ....................................................... 167

on geophysics............._......__._........_..................... 260

on Green River coal ...................._._....__.................... 168

on paleontologists .........._....._...........__.................... 241

on status of federal geology ...........___....___................. 286

pays tribute to Humphreys ._.........__.....__.................... 264

role in establishment of U.S. Geological Survey _.................... 264

seeks directorship ................................ 266, 275, 276, 287, 288

King, Henry ........................................................................ 45

King, T. B .......................................................................... 92

Kirtland, J. P ....................................................................... 57

Kitchell, William ........................................................... 109, 151

Klippart, John H .................................................................. 176

Ladd, S. B ........................................................................... 205

Lafarge, John ...____....................__________................ 266

Lamarck, Jean Baptiste Pierre de ................................................ 248

Lane, George Martin ....._____.___..................................... 94

Langford, N. P.............................................................. 197, 207

Lapham, Increase A ............................__.....___............. 54, 211

Lassen, Peter........................................................................ 126

Lawrence, Abbott ........_......_..........................__............ 86

Lee, Richard Henry ................................................................ 13

Lee, Robert E ................................................................ 145, 153

Lehman, George ............................................................ 101, 103

Leidy, Joseph .................................................. 144, 188, 198, 202

Lesley, J. Peter .............................. 63, 98, 117, 128, 212, 223, 264

Lesquereux, Leo........................................ 124, 188, 198, 202, 225

Lewis, Meriwether ..........................__.......___.................. 20

Lieber, Oscar ......................................................... 116, 124, 137

Lincoln, Levi, Jr ..............................._.......__..................... 40

Lincoln, Abraham....................... 135, 137, 139, 142, 145, 148, 153

Litton, A ............................................................................ 84

Locke, John ............................................................... 54, 57, 64

Loew, Oscar.................................................................. 228, 231

Logan, John A ..................._....._____....___................... 214

Long, Stephen H .............................................................. 29, 43

Loring, Frederick W............................................................... 196

Low, Frederic F ..................................................................... 149

Lyell, Charles ...................................................... 48, 49, 64, 119

M

Maclure, William ................................................... 28, 29, 42, 53

Macomb, J. N ...................................................................... 130

Macy, B. C .......................................................................... 84

Madison, James ..................................................... 21, 22, 23, 33

Maginnis, Martin .................................................................. 279

Mallery, Garrick ............................................................ 246, 261

Marcoujules.................................................. 105, 126, 127, 231

Marcy, William _.......___....................................___.. 43, 44

Marquette, Jacques..........._..........................__................... 10

Marsh, George Perkins....................................... 149, 213, 214, 256

Marsh, Othniel C.:

biographical data ________.._..._____________._..__._....____._._...._.... 188

disagrees with Cope ....__......._................... ........__. 198

on Darwinian evolution ._........_................................... 248

portrait ....................................................................... 265

role in establishment of U.S. Geological Survey ........... 264-267, 275

role in uncovering Indian scandals............._.._....__.......... 229

supports King for director ..................................._.... 287, 288

Western collecting expeditions _..._........................... 174, 188

value of vertebrate paleontology in stratigraphy ........................ 242

visited by Huxley ............................................................ 239

Marshall, James W ................................................................ 90

Marshall, John ..................................................................... 25

Marshall, W. L ..................................................................... 207

Marvine, Archibald R ............................................... 196, 205, 224

Mason, R. B ........................................................................ 90

Mason, Stevens T ..............._.........___............................... 57

Mather.W.W............................................................ 54, 57, 64

Mathews, J. W ..................................................................... 96

Matthiessen, F. W ................................................................. 123

McClellan, George B .............................................................. 105

McGillycuddy, V. T .............................................................. 231

McLaughlin, Patrick............................................................... 132

Meek, Fielding B.:

associated with Hayden .................. 105, 170, 179, 188, 198, 202

identifies fossils for King ................................................... 241

Illinois survey......................................___.______..... 123

Kansas controversy ............._.....__.............................. 124

visits badlands..........._...................._....._....._._..... 105

Mendell, George H ................................................................ 213

MillingtonJohnN .......................................................... 97, 115

Mitchell, John ...................................................................... 13

Mitchill, S. L ................................................................... 27, 29

Monroe, James ........................................... 19, 24, 31, 32, 37, 38

Moran, Thomas .............................................................. 198, 238

Morton, S. G.................................................................. 96, 101

Moss, John .......................................................................... 225

Mowry, Sylvester................................................................... 133

Mudge, B. F ........................................................................ 152

Murchison, Roderick .....___.........................._.....__...... 48, 64

Murrish, John ...................................................................... 189

N

Neilson, James .._........__........................._........_........ 62

Nettleton, E. S ............................................. ........ . ...... 256

Newberry, John Strong:

Civil War...................................................................... 137

Ives expedition ........................................................ 130, 131

joins AIME.................................................................... 194

Macomb expedition ................................__._......_...... 131

member of Academy Committee ........._.....................__. 264

Ohio state survey ...................._.................................._ 176

on ancient lakes...___..........................__._.-...__...... 188

on canyon of the Colorado ..__......................................._ 133

on coal..........................__......................................._ 176

on Colorado River ......_.........._................................_. 132

on erosion ...._........_._.._..____.....__...-.._..- .......... .._ 128

on Lassen Peak _....___..........................................__ 127

on San Francisco Mountains ..........................................._ 135

Pacific Railroad surveys .........................._................_... 127

portrait ........................................................................ 270

Name Index 321
seeks help from Powell _______________.-_-- .-..-___.._..-_-..__-_.________ 246

supports appropriation for Powell ________..___.____._._____ --_._-.___. 243

supports King for Director ............._................................. 288

Newcomb, Simon ............................................ 264, 273, 275, 287

Newton, Henry ............................................................. 230, 246

Nichols, H. H ............................................................... 235, 236

Nicollet, Joseph N ._...._.__.____ ._..__.................._............. 45, 67, 72

Noble, Noah ....................................................................... 56

Norwood, Joseph Granville .................................... 84, 98, 109, 122

O

Olmstead, Frederick Law .................................................. 149, 150

Olmsted, Denison ....................................................... 30, 34, 40

Ord, E. O. C....................................................................... 206

O'Riley, Peter ...................................................................... 132

Orton, Edward ..................................................................... 176

O'Sullivan, Timothy H......................... 163-174, 196, 202, 207, 208

Owen, David Dale:

Arkansas survey .............................................................. 123

biographical data ............................................................ 49

consulted by Hilgard ........................................................ 115

Indiana survey .......................................................... 56, 125

Kentucky survey ............................................................. 109

on geologic sections ___________________________ 83 

on geology of Western States............................................. 64

on lead deposits _________________....___._____.. 81

on rock structure ......................................................... 82, 83

on stratigraphy ___.__________________________ 83 

on topography maps .................... .........................._.... 109

portrait ........................................................................ 81

survey of Chippewa district ............................................. 84-85

survey of upper Mississippi Valley ............................... 59, 81, 86

Owen, Richard ........................................................ 84, 125, 137

Owen, Robert Dale ............................................................ 49, 56

Owen, Robert ..................................................................... 42

Page, Horace ....................................................................... 279

Parke, J. G .......................................................................... 105

Parry, C. C .......................................................................... 127

Parson, Charles B .................................................................. 174

Patterson, Carlile P ......................................................... 275, 276

Patterson, Thomas M ........................................ 262, 264, 266, 279

Peale, A. C .................................................... 197, 205, 241, 263

Pechin, E. C ........................................................................ 190

Peck, Jacob ......................................................................... 38

Peckham, S. F ...................................................................... 162

Peirce, Benjamin ................................................ 86, 87, 143, 189

Peirce, C. S .................................................................. 248, 249

Penn, William ..................................................................... 10

Percival, James Gates................................................. 51, 106, 122

Perrot, Nicholas .................................................................... 10

Peter, Robert ....................................................................... 211

Phillips, William .................................................................. 48

Pierce, Franklin .................................................................... 128

Poinsett, Joel R ........................................................... 67, 68, 73

Polk, James K ................................. 61, 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 90, 91

Pomeroy, Samuel C .. __.____.______._______ - ________-_ - .__.__.__._ 198

Pope, John ................................................................... 105, 127

Potter, W. B ........................................................................ 189

Powell, John Wesley:

biographical data ............................................................ 180

classifies valleys .............................................................. 199

commissioner to Indians _________________________ 208

ethnologic work .............................................................. 242

exploration of Colorado River .......180-182, 188, 198-200, 207, 230

favors unification of surveys __._..__..________.__.. ...... . . 268-272

Interior Department instructions to ..............-.....-...........- . 224

investigation of 1874.......................................... 216, 218, 219

on irrigation .............................................. 219, 246, 252-255

on mapping methods ......................................._............ 218

on surveying public lands ..................................._........... 276

portrait ........................................................................ 181

proposes division of ancillary work __________________ 246

receives appropriation for ethnology ..................................... 284

recruits Gilbert and Dutton ................................................ 230

Report on Arid Lands ...................... ...... ................ 252-255

Uinta Mountains work ........................................ 225, 237, 242

Whitney's opinion of...................................................... 223

works for King's nomination ___.______________.____________..________- -. 284

Powell, Walter Clement.......................................................... 198

Powers, Stephen ................................................................... 247

Prevost, Louis Constant ........................................................ 48

Prime, F., Jr ........................................................................ 212

Pumpelly, Raphael ............................. 133, 163, 177, 189, 192, 277

Putnam, S. Osgood .___._______._______.__.__________.__.---___--...-_ ._- - 134

R

Ralston, William .................................................................. 204

Randall, Samuel J ................................................................. 1

Randolph, John .................................................................... 21

Raymond, Israel Ward ..................................................... 149, 150

Raymond, Rossiter W............ 179, 185, 192, 210, 277, 284, 287, 288

Raymond, W. F .................................................................... 130

Red Cloud .......................................................................... 229

Renault, Philippe .................................................................. 11

Renshawe,J. H .............................................................. 241, 247

Richardson, Frank ................................................................. 198

Richthofen, Ferdinand von ................................................ 167, 168

Riddell, John ....................................................................... 54

Ridgway, Robert................................................................... 164

Ritter, Karl ......................................................................... 86

Roberts, George D ................................................................ 204

Rockefeller, John D ............................................................... 175

Rogers, Henry Darwin:

AAAS Committee ...................................................... 96, 124

AAG meeting 1841 ......................................................... 64

biographical data ............................................................ 49

on mapping for mineral resources __________________ 104

on mountain forms.......................................................... 99

on origin of coal.............................................................. 63

on stratigraphy ......................................................... 66, 103

on water gaps................................................................. 103

portrait ........................................................................ 97

survey of New Jersey ......................................................... 49

survey of Pennsylvania ......... 53, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 104, 109

Rogers, Robert E ................................................................... 53

Rogers, William Barton:

AAAS Committee ........_................................................ 96

elected to National Academy of Sciences................................ 144

National Academy Committee ............................................ 264

on Darwinian evolution .................................................... 134

on Paleozoic stratigraphy ................................................... 66

plans great technical school ................................................ 119

portrait ........................................................................ 269

Virginia survey ........................................................... 49, 52

Rogers, William Barton, Jr ....................................................... 99

Romeyn, T.......................................................................... 96

Ruffin, Edmund ......................................................... 26, 46, 74

322 Name Index
Russell, I. C ..._._._..._.._.___.... .... - 263

Safford, James Merrill...................................................... 109, 113

St. John, Orestes................................................................... 263

Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez de ................................................. 61

Sargent, Aaron A............................................. 185, 210, 282, 283

Schonborn, Anton ................................................................ 198

Schoolcraft, Henry ....................................................... 23, 30, 57

Schurz, Carl:

biographical data ............................................................ 245

endorses Academy report................................................... 275

on Indian affairs ............................................................. 246

on public lands........................................................ 249, 250

plans census .................................................................. 259

portrait ........................................................................ 286

relations with Hayden and Powell ........................................ 247

selects King as Director ..................................................... 288

Sedgwick, Adam ...____.......______________...._...... 64, 66

Shaler, Nathaniel S ......................................................... 189, 211

Shepard, Charles Upham ........................................................ 51

Sherman, John ..............___._____........_____________ 275

Sherman, William T ....................................................... 188, 275

Shoemaker, Lazarus ............................................................... 214

Shumard, B. F ................................................................ 84, 123

Shumard, George ................................................................. 127

Silliman, Benjamin,Jr................................... 86, 87, 133, 144, 162

Silliman, Benjamin, Sr.:

AAAS committees ..................................................... 96, 101

aids Eaton ..................................................................... 30

American Geological Society .............................................. 29

appointed Yale professor ................................................... 26

Association of American Geologists ...................................... 64

backs Wilkes expedition .................................................... 55

biographical data ............................................................ 26

consultant to coal companies .............................................. 63

elected to National Academy of Sciences __....___________ 144

establishes American Journal of Science ................................. 29

influence on Connecticut survey ...................................... 50, 51

influence on Ohio survey ................................................... 54

influence on Whitney ....................................................... 78

publishes report of North Carolina survey ............................... 40

reviews Lyell's work ......................................................... 49

stimulates development of geology ....................................... 29

Simpson, James H ................................................................. 130

Sitting Bull .................................................................. 238, 239

Smith, Caleb ....................................................................... 142

Smith, Eugene A .................................................................. 211

Smith, John ........................................................................ 8

Smith, William .................................................................... 28

Smithson, James ................................................................... 73

Stansbury, Howard ............................................ 99, 105, 130, 165

Stanton, Edwin M ................................................... 140, 157, 159

Stevens, I. I.................................................................. 104, 127

Stevenson, Adlai................................................................... 244

Stevenson, James ............................................. 170, 171, 197, 201

Stevenson, John James.............................................. 207, 255, 263

Stevenson, John W .................................................... ... 214

Steward, J. F ..._._..__.__....._____..__.........._.............. ......... - 198

Stewart, William ...................................... 154, 156, 178, 209, 233

Strong, Moses .............................-.....--.................. .------ 211

Summer, Charles ........... ............. .......... ... ... . 128

Sumner, Jack ___..__._____.__........__............................. . 198

Sumner, William Graham ______.________..___.__._ ..-. . .- 266

Swallow, George C ........................................... 103, 113, 124, 152

Taney, Roger B ..................................................................... 40

Tappan, Benjamin ................................................................ 43

Taylor, Richard C ............................................. 63, 64, 65, 87, 88

Taylor, Zachary ..................................................... 80, 91, 92, 93

Tecumseh ....................................................................... 21, 22

Thomas, Cyrus ................................................ 171, 198, 202, 225

Thomas, David __.______________.__________.___ 62 

Thomas, Gabriel................................................................... 10

Thomas, Martin ................................................................ 32, 35

Thompson, A. H ... 198, 199, 200, 208, 221, 225, 230, 241, 247, 263 

Thompson, Gilbert ............................................................... 207

Thompson, Zadock ............................................................... 116

Thomson, William (Lord Kelvin)........................................ 120, 248

Tiffany, Charles.................................................................... 204

Tilden, Samuel J .................................................... 233, 243, 275

Tocqueville, Alexis de ............................................................ 64

Townsend, Amos .................................................................. 244

Troost, Gerard ................................................. 42, 52, 53, 56, 96

Trowbridge, W. P ................................................... 264, 265, 271

Tuomey, Michael ..................................... 5, 74, 76, 109, 116, 211

Tyler, John ................................................................ 78, 79, 80

Tyson, Philip T .................................................................... 124

U, V

Usher, John P ...................................................................... 154

Van Buren, Martin ....................................................... 44, 57, 91

Van Rensselaer, Stephen ................................................ 30, 43, 54

Vanuxem, Lardner ............................................................ 54, 64

W

Wailes, B. L. C ..................................................................... 97

Walker, Francis A ..................................... 184, 233, 259, 260, 266

Walker, RobertJ .................................................. 73, 82, 91, 129

Warner, W. H ..................................................................... 100

Warren, G. K ........................................................ 125, 126, 128

Washington, George .......................................................... 14, 16

Watkins, C.......................................................................... 190

Webster, Daniel ............................................................... 37, 38

Welles, Gideon ............................................................. 140, 143

Welles, H. S ........................................................................ 177

Wells, David ....................................................................... 184

Werner, Abraham G .......................................................... 16, 65

Wetherill, Samuel ................................................................. 96

Wheeler, George Montague:

Colorado River expedition ................................................. 202

fieldwork ............... 182-183, 196, 202, 207, 220, 239, 247, 263

investigation of 1874 ........................................................ 216

on photographs .............................................................. 217

on surveying public lands .................................................. 252

portrait ........................................................................ 183

recommends new mapping program ..................................... 200

reconnaissance of 1869 ................................................ 182-183

reconnaissance of 1871 ...................................................... 196

summarizes work ............................................................ 261

Whipple, A. W...................................................... 105, 111, 127

Whitcomb, James ................................................................. 60

White, Andrew .................................................................... 266

White, Charles A ............................................. 156, 170, 225, 241

Whitney, Asa ...................................................................... 99

Whitney, Josiah Dwight:

California survey ............. 92, 134, 147, 149, 150, 155, 157, 178

elected to National Academy of Sciences................................ 144

Name Index 323
endorses King as Director .................................................. 266

Illinois survey ....................._..........................................122

Iowa survey ._............................................................... 121

Lake Superior survey .................................................... 84, 85

Metallic Wealth of the United States............................... 96, 147

on classification of ore deposits...___......................___. 95-96

on geologic and geographic surveys........_......................._. 223

on glaciers in U.S ............................................................ 189

on King's work ................................................. 167, 204, 223

on lead ................................................................. 121, 122

on mineral statistics ......._......._.............................. 259-260

on Mining Act of 1872 ...................................................... 210

on zinc ___________________________________ 122 

portrait .._..__.......................................................... 147

Wisconsin survey ............................................................ 122

Whittlesey, Charles .................................................... 57, 84, 122

Wigginton, Peter ............................................. 244, 255, 276, 279

Wilkes, Charles .................................................................... 67

Williamson, James A ........................................ 243, 246, 255, 258

Williamson, R. S .................................................... 106, 127, 157

Wilson, Alien D .................. 188, 203, 204, 205, 225, 230, 241, 263

Wilson, Henry ..................................................................... 143

Wilsonjoseph S................................................................... 161

Winchell, Alexander................................................ 124, 176, 211

Winchell, Newton Horace ................................................ 211, 229

Windom, William ................................................................ 283

Winslow, Benjamin ............................................................... 12

Winslow, John F ................................................................... 141

Winthrop,John,Jr................................................................ 8

Worthen, Amos .............................................. 122, 123, 156, 176

Worthington, Thomas ................................___._..........._. 22

Wright, C. E ................................................................ 210, 257

Wright, Hendrich B ............................................................... 251

Y, Z

Young, Brigham ..................................................... 100, 130, 188

Zirkel, Ferdinand ........................................................... 211, 239

324 Name Index
Subject Index

Agriculture:

Department of____________________________ 3,141 

in relation to financial crises ___________________ 26, 57 

in relation to War of 1812 _______________________ 23 

land grant colleges to aid ______________________ 142 

mechanization_____________________________ 115 

mineral fertilizers ___________________ 26,46, 56, 116 

oldest industry _______________________________ 7 

Patent Office service to ________________________ 55 

requirements for successful _____________________ 257 

resources in Territories ____________________ 198, 202 

State aid to ________________________________ 30 

State geological surveys and _________ 56, 74, 98, 109, 116 

westward shift _________________ 26, 61, 98, 203, 209 

Alabama:

coal ____________________________________ 76 

geological survey _____________________ 76, 109, 211 

Alaska_____________________________________ 162 

Aluminum ___________________________________ 109 

American Academy of Arts and Sciences _________________ 16 

American Association for the Advancement of Science __ 87, 96, 101 

American Geographical Society ___________________ 110, 117 

American Geological Society ________________________ 29 

American Institute of Mining Engineers ____ 4, 190, 191, 192, 235 

American Iron Association __________________________ 117 

American Iron and Steel Association ___________________ 172 

American Journal of Geology _______________________ 44 

American Journal of Science ________ 29, 30, 40, 41, 46, 98, 277 

American Mineralogical Journal ______________________ 28 

American Philosophical Society ________________ 16, 20, 28 

Arid lands ___________ 5, 203, 243, 245, 256, 253-256, 271 

Arizona:

Canyon de Chelly ___________________________ 208 

exploration and mapping 130, 131, 132, 180-182, 196, 202,

232

Grand Canyon _____________________ See Colorado River 

history _________________________________ 143 

mineral resources ____________________________ 133 

San Francisco Mountains ________________________ 135 

Arkansas:

geological survey ____________________________ 123 

history __________________________________ 25 

mineral lands ____________________________ 83 

Army Engineers:

established________________________________ 20 

Exploration of Fortieth Parallel: See Fortieth Parallel, Exploration 

exploration of Rocky Mountains ___________________ 43

mapping for internal improvements __________ 2, 126, 272 

oppose consolidation ______________ 215, 223, 267, 276 

post-Civil War problems _______________________ 157 

publish Marsh report _________________________ 239 

survey of northwest Wyoming ___________________ 206 

survey of Uinta Mountains ______________________ 195 

surveys west of 199th meridian. See Geographical Surveys West of

100th Meridian

See also Topographical Bureau and Topographical Engineers. 

Articles of Confederation ________________________ 13, 16 

Association of American Geologists (and Naturalists) _ 64, 66, 78, 87

B

Bad lands ________________________________ 88, 174 

Banking _________________________________ 40, 142 

Black Hills ___________________ 228, 230, 238, 246, 251 

Boundaries_________________________ 24, 82, 111, 127

California:

geological survey ___ 107, 134, 144, 146, 147, 148, 157, 178

history ______________________ 81, 82, 91, 92, 93

irrigation ________________________________ 209

LassenPeak_______________________ 126, 127, 148

map of San Francisco Bay ______________________ 155

mapped by Wheeler survey __________________ 231, 263

mineral lands___________________________ 94, 107

mineral resources ____________ 90, 92, 94, 134, 161, 162

Mount Shasta_______________________ 71, 125, 190

Mount Silliman ____________________________ 148

YosemitePark______________ 148, 150, 151, 152, 164

Cartography ______________________________ 250, 270

Census, U.S. ____________________ 26, 92, 98, 184, 259

Centennial Exposition____________________________ 233

Civil service ___________________________ 37, 245, 263

Civil War ____________________ 134, 136, 139, 145, 153

Classification of rocks __________________________ 30, 33

Climatological studies needed _______________________ 203

Coal:

Alabama_________________________________ 76 

along Union Pacific __________________________ 202 

distribution of deposits ________________________ 192 

early use __________________________________ 7 

effect of embargo ____________________________ 21 

Green River ______________________________ 168 

in iron making________________________ 15, 62, 63 

Iowa ___________________________________ 157

Subject Index 325
King on ______________________________ 168 

Lesley's Manualon _________________________ 118 

Maryland _________________________________ 12 

mining methods ____________________________ 157 

Ohio ___________________________________ 176 

operators and AIME __________________________ 190 

Pennsylvania____________________________ 10, 53 

production _____________________ 26, 118, 139, 184 

public-domain resources _______________________ 161 

scientific studies _____________________________ 63 

Taylor's Statistics on ______________________ 87 90 

Virginia _________________________________ 11

Coal flora __________________________________ 158

Coal, iron, and oil ____________________________________________ 156

Coal-lands laws ____________________________ 146, 210

Coast [and Geodetic] Survey:

administrative history __________________ 3, 20, 43, 71 

cooperation with Maryland ______________________ 47 

cost of mapping attacked _________ 276 

first operations ________ 23 

geologic studies ______________ 189 

longitude work ______________ __ 86 

problems under Hassler __________ 71 

transfer to Interior proposed _____________________ 272 

triangulation in interior authorized ________________ 190 

under Bache_____________________________ 72

Coast and Interior Survey __________________________ 272, 274

Coinage. See Money and currency.

Colonies, mineral resource development ___________ 7, 8, 9, 10

Colorado:

Central City mining district ______________________________ 215

Elk Mountains _______________ 226 

Garden of the Gods ____________ 206 

Gregory lode ________________ 180 

Gunnison River ______________ _ ________ 109

Hayden Survey 171, 172, 180, 205, 206, 215, 224, 225, 226,

__ 230, 239, 241

irrigation ____________________________ 256-257 

King survey _______________________________ 195

land classification _______________________ 257 258 

Mesa Verde ______________________________ 228 

mineral resources _____________ 131, 137, 172, 178, 180 

Table Mountain ____________________________ 209 

Twin Lakes _______________________________ 212 

Wheeler survey _________________________ 231, 239

Colorado Plateau region ________________ 130, 136,207,241

Colorado River:

Ives' exploration ____________________ 130, 131, 132 

Macomb's exploration ________________________ 130 

Newberryon_______________________ 131, 132, 133 

Powell's exploration __________ 180-182, 220, 221, 238 

Wheeler's exploration ______________ 182, 196, 202, 232

Columbia River ________________________________ 73

Columbia School of Mines _____________________ 150, 178

Comstock mines ___ 132, 143, 147, 164, 167, 178, 237, 238, 248

Congress, U.S.

12th ____________________________________ 22 

27th ____________________________________ 60 

34th ________________________________ 128 

35th _________________________________ 134

36th ________________________________ 135 

37th ________________________________ 141 

39th ________________________________ 153 

42nd_________________________________ 229 

43rd _________________________________ 229 

44th _________________________________ 233 

45th_________________________ 1, 259, 275, 277 

Connecticut:

geological survey ____________________________ 50 

mineral resources ____________________________ 11 

Conservation ___________ 4, 76, 149, 150, 191, 229, 236, 246 

Constitution of the U.S. _____________________ 15, 25, 60 

Continental Congress _______________._____________ 13 

Copper:

consumption _________________ 63, 96, 121, 139, 174 

first use __________________________________ 7 

in Centennial year ___________________________ 235 

in colonies ________________________________ 11 

Lake Superior _______________ 18, 77, 79, 80, 121, 174 

New Mexico _______________________________ 89 

reserved in Ordinance of 1785 __________________ 2, 14 

Tennessee_____________________________ 96, 113 

Copper lands. See Mineral lands.

D

Dakota Territory ______________ 137, 202. See also Black Hills 

Delaware____________________________________ 56 

Desert Land Act ____________________________ 243, 250 

Diamond hoax ________________________________ 204

Earth, internal structure___________________________ 33 

Economy, national _ 12, 14, 22, 25, 49, 57, 129, 130, 205, 212, 259 

Education, scientific and technical 3, 20, 26, 27, 86, 87, 117, 119,

142, 150, 178, 239

Erosion__________________ 128, 231, 235, 236, 237, 251 

Ethnology _______ 207, 208, 224, 230, 242, 246, 247, 263, 284 

Evolution ____________________________ 134, 239, 248 

Exploration ________________ 2, 4, 20, 29, 34, 43, 67, 71, 81

Forests and forest lands_______________ 4, 23, 205, 209, 229,

245, 246, 249, 254 

Fortieth Parallel, Exploration 4, 157, 159, 162-168, 178, 188, 195

203, 204, 210, 239, 248, 277 

French and Indian Wars ________________________ 10, 12

Gadsden Purchase______________________________ 111

General Land Office:

administrative history ___________ 17, 22, 54, 83, 84, 91 

geological surveys under _______ 59, 60, 77, 84, 159, 168-171

mineral lands ______________________ 32, 59, 83, 84 

land-parceling surveys _____ 4, 223, 244, 250, 268, 272, 278 

report on arid lands __________________________ 232

Geographer, Office of ____________________________ 14

326 Subject Index
Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region __ 

4, 241, 244, 247, 272, 282

Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian 4, 200, 207, 225, 

231, 239, 247, 263

Geography __________________________ 3, 86, 110, 149

Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories ____ 187, 196, 

200, 201, 202, 205, 223, 224, 225, 230, 239, 244, 

247, 263, 282

Geologic maps and sections:

37th parallel ______________________________ 255 

Atlantic to Lake Erie __________________________ 33 

Featherstonhaugh ____________________________ 48 

Fortieth Parallel ________________________ 248, 260 

Hayden_________________________________ 261 

Maryland _________________________________ 51 

Massachusetts ______________________________ 32 

mineral resources _______ 39, 191, 192, 193, 195, 196, 197 

New Jersey ______________________________ 258 

Pennsylvania _______________________________ 35 

Rogers, H. D. _______________________ 100, 104 

standard format __________________________ 35, 263 

U.S. ___________________________ 28, 127, 184 

Wisconsin ____________________________ 256, 257

Geologic structure_____________________ 55, 100, 123, 226

Geologic time scale 48, 64, 65, 66, 85, 119, 140, 144, 145, 225, 

241

Geological Society of Pennsylvania _____________________ 43

Geological Survey, U.S. 1, 2, 263, 272-274, 277, 279, 281, 283, 

284, 287, 288

Geological and geographical surveys, federal _______________ 4 

Black Hills ____________________ 228, 230, 246, 251 

consolidation ______________ 214-220, 261, 264-284 

Featherstonhaugh ______________________ 43, 47, 48 

Foster-Whitney _____________________________ 84 

Hayden__ 159, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 187, 196, 200, 201, 

202, 205, 225, 230, 239, 244, 247, 263

Houghton _________________________________ 77 

investigation in 1874 _____________________ 214 220 

Jackson __________________________________ 84 

King___ 157, 159, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 178, 

188, 195, 203, 204, 210, 239, 248

Owen ______________________________ 59, 84

Powell ____ 180, 181, 182, 188, 198, 199, 200, 207, 219,

225, 230, 239, 241, 244, 247, 263

Wheeler_ 182, 183, 196, 200, 207, 225, 231, 239, 247, 263

Geological surveys, State ___________________________ 3 

AAAS Committee on ______________________ 96, 123 

Alabama__________________________ 76, 109,211 

Arkansas_________________________________ 123 

Army aid proposed ___________________________ 2 14 

California________ 107, 134, 144, 146, 147, 148, 157, 178 

Connecticut_______________________________ 50 

Delaware __________________________________ 56 

effect of Civil War ___________________________ 137 

Georgia ________________________ _ 55 

Illinois _______________________________ 98, 122 

Indiana________________________56, 107, 125, 176 

Iowa_______________________________ 121, 156 

Kansas _____________________ 152 

Kentucky _____________________________ 109, 211

Maine, ____________________________ 42, 53, 137 

Maryland ____________________________46, 51, 52 

Massachusetts _________________________ 40, 41, 53 

Michigan__________________________ 56, 124, 176 

Minnesota________________________ 122, 152,211 

Mississippi____________________________ 96, 115 

Missouri _________________________ 45, 103, 189 

New Hampshire _________________________ 58, 175 

New Jersey _____________________ 43,49, 107, 151 

New York ___________________________ 54, 65 

North Carolina ____________________ 30,97, 116, 156 

Ohio_________________________ 43, 53, 57, 176 

Pennsylvania______________________43, 52, 98, 211 

Rhode Island _______________________________ 57 

South Carolina __________________________ 74, 116 

Tennessee________________________ 42, 52, 57, 109 

Texas __________________________________ 123 

Vermont______________________________ 76, 116 

Virginia____________________________45, 49, 52 

Wisconsin _____________________ 106, 122, 189, 211

Geology:

beginning ______________________________ 2, 16 

descriptive and practical ________________________ 75 

economic vs. practical _________________________ 64 

in 1841 _______________________________ 64 

in relation to mineral-resource development ___________ 223 

progress by 1819 ____________________________ 26 

vis-a-vis physics _____________________________ 120

Georgia:

geological survey ____________________________ 55 

gold ____________________________________ 38 

Indian lands _______________________________ 38 

mining districts ____________________________ 39

Glaciers ______________________ 189, 190, 194, 204, 258

Gold:

ancient world _______________________________ 7 

Arizona__________________________________ 133 

Black Hills ___________________________ 229, 231 

California____________________ 90, 91, 92, 94, 134 

coins ____________________________________ 40 

Colorado_____________________________ 131, 132 

Georgia _________________________________ 38 

Idaho ________________________________ 143 

Massachusetts ______________________________ 41 

New World ________________________________ 8 

North Carolina _______________________ 30, 31, 38 

relation to silver ____________________________ 237 

reserved to Federal Government _________________ 2, 14 

resources 1876 _____________________________ 235 

South Carolina _____________________________ 76 

Southeastern States ___________________________ 63 

speculation ________________________________ 183 

standard __________________________________ 210 

State surveys aided by ______________________ 40, 45 

Tennessee_________________________________ 42 

Vermont_________________________________ 41 

Virginia _________________________________ 45 

Washington_______________________________ 143 

See also Money and currency.

Graduation Act _______________________________ 113

Subject Index 327
Great Basin _____________ 81, 130, 157, 165, 166, 180, 182

See also the States and Territories of the region 

Great Plains _____________________ 61, 81, 125, 130, 202.

See also the States and Territories of the region. 

Great Salt Lake _____________________ 75, 165, 250, 263

H

Harvard University ___________________________ 26, 86 

Homestead Act ____________________________ 141, 142 

Hydraulic mining ________________________________ 94

I

Idaho_____________________________ 143, 178,247

Illinois:

geological survey _________________________ 98, 122 

history ___________________________________ 21 

mineral lands _______________________________ 83 

mineral resources ________________ 35, 89, 98, 122, 123

Indiana:

geological survey __________________ 56, 107, 125, 176 

history __________________________________ 23 

mineral resources ________________________ 125, 176

Indians ________________________ 38, 78, 228, 229, 246

Industrialization ________________ 4, 98, 134, 161, 192, 212

Interior, Department of _______ 34, 92, 215, 223, 229, 232, 259 

See also Interior bureaus and surveys: General Land Office, Census, 

Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region.

Internal improvements:

constitutional issue_____________________________ 3

Federal position under Madison ____________________ 23

under Monroe________________________ 24, 32

under Adams ____________________________ 33

under Jackson ____________________________ 37

General Survey Act _____ ___________________ 33

North-South issue ___________________________ 113

State programs ___________________ 40, 47, 49, 55, 57

International Congress of Geologists ___________________ 263

Iowa:

geological surveys _____________________ 84, 121, 156 

mineral lands ________________________________ 83 

mineral resources ______________ 89, 121, 122, 161, 184

Iron:

colonies___________________________ 8,9, 10, 11 

Connecticut_________________________________ 9 

earliest use __ __ __ ___ ________ 7 

industry future ______________________ 117, 194,235 

Maryland __________________________________ 11 

Massachusetts ____________________________ 9,11 

metallurgy _______________ 9, 15, 62, 63, 140, 172, 173 

Michigan _____________________ 78, 79, 139, 257 

Missouri_____________________________ 113, 189 

New Jersey _____ ____ ___________________ 11 

New York ________________________________ 11 

ores _________________________________ 63, 118 

Pennsylvania_____________________________ 10, 53 

production ______________ 21, 23, 16, 87, 96, 116, 184 

resources__________________________ 139, 161,235

Rhode Island _______________________________ 9 

South Carolina ______________ _ __________ _ ___ 76 

statistics ______ ___ 1 17 

tariff _______________________________ 15, 36 

Tennessee _________________ _ ____ ___ _ 42 

Virginia ________________________ ___ _ 8, 11 

Wisconsin _______________________________ 257

Iron Manufacturer's Guide ________________ ___ _ 117

Irrigation:

California _______________________ 209, 213, 214 

Colorado ____________________________ 256-257 

Commission on, 1873 _________________ 209, 213, 214 

Engineers' views ____________ ___ _ 232, 267 

Gannett on _______________________ 201, 256-257 

Marsh on ____________________________ 213-214 

Powell on ________ 200, 219, 246, 250, 252-255, 269, 271 

Thomas on ____________________________ 198, 203 

Utah _______________________________ 247, 250 

Williamson on ________ ____ __ _ 243

Johns Hopkins University __ 239

Kansas:

geological survey _______ _ _____ _ 152, 161 

history ____________________ 111, 115, 128, 129, 137 

mineral resources ____________ __ 152, 161

Kentucky:

geological survey _ _ _____ 109, 211 

mineral resources _______ _ _____ - 12

Lake Superior region:

exploration____ ____ 29 

mineral resources ___________ 10, 18, 77, 79, 96, 121, 177

LassenPeak___________________________ 126, 127, 148

Lead:

disseminated ore _ _____ 174, 197 

Illinois_______________________________ 35, 122 

Iowa _______________ ____ 121 

mining methods _____________ _ 35, 81 

Missouri ___ 11, 20, 23, 35, 87, 96, 121, 139, 174, 189, 197 

Nevada _____________________________ 185-186 

New England ____________________ __ 9 

production _______________ 63, 87, 96, 139, 189, 235 

reserved to Federal Government __________ __ 2, 14 

Upper Mississippi Valley __ 58, 60, 63, 81, 87, 96, 121, 122 

Utah __________________________________ 186 

Wisconsin __________________ 58, 106, 113, 122, 189

Lead lands. See Mineral lands.

Library of Congress __ ____ 110

Louisiana Purchase ______________ __ _ 2, 19, 20

Lusus naturae 45

M

Maine _________________________________ 25, 42, 53 

Manifest destiny __________ 61, 162 

Manual of Coal and its Topography _______________________ 118

328 Subject Index
Manual of Geology _____________________________________________ 99

Mapping. See Surveying and mapping. 

Maps:

Azoic North America __________________________ 141 

bases for geology __________________________ 57, 109 

Colorado__________________________________ 205 

Colorado Plateau ________________________ 130, 136 

Cretaceous North America ______________________ 146 

Fortieth Parallel _________________________ 248, 260 

geologic, uniformity in _____________________ 49, 263 

Georgia mining districts ________________________ 39 

Grand Canyon ______________________________ 200 

Hayden survey ______________________________ 261 

Illinois ___________________________________ 109 

Interior Department atlas __________________ 224, 261 

Kentucky_________________________________ 110 

Lake Superior ______________________________ 195 

Maryland _____________________________45, 47, 51 

Massachusetts ___________________________ 32, 40 

New Hampshire ______________________________ 52 

New Jersey ________________________________ 110 

North Carolina mining districts __________________ 30 

Ohio ____________________________________ 194 

Pennsylvania________________________ 104, 109, 196 

San Francisco Bay ____________________________ 155 

Tennessee mining districts _______________________ 39 

trans-Mississippi West _____________________ 127, 128 

U.S. Geological Survey ________________________ 256 

upper Mississippi basin ______________________ 45, 67 

Vermont__________________________________ 116 

Wisconsin ________________________________ 256 

Wyoming ________________________________ 207 

Yosemite Valley _____________________________ 152 

Maryland:

geological survey _______________________46, 51, 52 

mineral resources ______________ 11, 12, 46, 63, 89, 117 

Massachusetts:

geological survey __________________________ 40, 41 

mineral resources _______________________ 11, 41, 89 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology___________ 114, 119, 178 

Mercantilism _________________________________ 7, 8 

Mercury____________________________________ 7, 94 

Metallic Wealth of the United States _____________________ 96 

Metallurgy ____________ 62, 63, 96, 140, 144, 148, 173, 185 

Mexican War ________________________________ 57, 90 

Michigan:

geological survey _____________________ 56, 124, 176 

mineral lands _____________________________ 78, 84 

mineral resources: ___ 77, 78, 79, 80, 85, 89, 118, 121, 139,

161, 174, 177, 184

Mineral fertilizers ________________ 26, 46, 56, 64, 116, 189 

Mineral industry (general) ____ 4, 21, 87, 116, 166, 172, 194, 236,

264, 287

See also the various mineral commodities. 

Mineral lands:

coal lands excluded ___________________________ 146 

copper ____________________________ 2, 14, 78, 84 

excluded from preemption _______________________ 60 

>ic examination ______ 58, 59, 60, 78, 84, 85, 92, 142, 

153, 215, 216, 223, 255

iron lands excluded _____________ _ 93

lead __________ 2, 14, 20, 31, 32, 35, 36, 58, 59, 60, 83

mining acts ________________________ 155, 185, 210

Powellon_____________________________ 251, 254

precious metals _ 2, 14, 90, 92, 93, 94, 142, 143, 146, 154, 155

sale authorized ___________ __ _ 

salt spring __________________________ __ 18, 19

Supreme Court decisions ___________ _ 60, 83

Mineral statistics _ 5, 88, 118, 156, 158, 179, 184, 185, 259, 260

Mines and mining, bureau proposed _ __ _ 154, 156

Congressional committees on __ __ _ 154

Mining Act of 1866 ______________________________ 155

1870 __________________________________ 185

1872___________________________________ 2 10

Mining districts ___________________ 39, 166, 168, 192, 224

Mining methods __________________________ 81, 94, 157

Minnesota___________________ 84, 122, 152, 153, 202, 211

Mints ____________________________________ 38, 92

Mississippi______________________________ 96,97, 115

Mississippi River ___________ _ 67

Missouri:

geological survey _____________________ 45, 103, 189 

history ________________ ___ _ 25 

mineral lands ___________________________ 20, 31, 36 

mineral resources _____ 11, 20, 23, 31, 35, 36, 96, 113, 121,

174, 189, 192, 197 

Money and currency ____ 30, 40, 49, 58, 142, 179, 183, 210, 212

237, 259

Montana __________________________ 106, 146, 178, 247 

Mormons ___________________ 93, 100, 129, 130, 186, 188 

Mountain-making_____________________99, 103, 120,242

N

National Academy of Sciences__ 143, 144, 246, 261, 264, 272, 275 

National Institution for the Promotion of Science ___ 68 

National parks ___________________ _ 148 

National university ____________________ 34, 105, 178 

Natural history ______________________ 15, 181, 246, 247 

Nautical Almanac _____________________________ 86 

Naval Observatory ________________________ __ 68 

Navy, U.S. _____________________________ 55, 68, 71 

Nebraska__________________________ 88, 111, 169, 177 

Nevada:

geology ____________ 159, 165, 166, 167, 168, 196, 263

history______________________________ 137, 143

mineral resources _________ 132, 143, 153, 178, 185, 186

New Hampshire _____________________ 52, 58, 175, 176

New Jersey:

geological survey ___________________ 43,49, 107, 151 

mineral resources __________ 11, 62, 87, 96, 117, 151, 184 

topographic map ________________ _ 110 

New Mexico:

geology______________ _ 23 1 

history __________________________ 91,93, 143 

mapped by Wheeler survey ___________ 225, 230, 231, 263 

mineral resources ________________-__ 89 

New York:

geology _________________ 30, 54, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68 

map_______________________ _ 96

Subject Index 329
mineral resources ________________ 11, 62, 84, 96, 117 

New York System ____________________________ 64, 65 

North American Review _______________________ 151, 223 

North Carolina:

geological survey ___________________ 30,97, 116, 156

mineral resources ___________ 11, 30, 37, 38, 39, 97, 116

Northwest_____________________________________ 61

Northwest Territory __________________________ 18, 98

O

Ohio:

geological survey ____________ 43, 53, 57, 176, 193, 194 

history ___ ______ 19 

mineral resources __ 12, 54, 89, 118, 161, 175, 176, 184, 193 

Oil. See Petroleum

Ordinance of 1785 ___________________________ 2, 14, 17 

Ordinance of 1787 _______________________________ 18 

Ore deposits, classification of _________ 63, 95, 96, 97, 118, 185 

Oregon __________________________ 80, 82, 91, 92, 263 

Origin of Species _________________ ________________ 134

Pacific Railroad Surveys _______ 4, 100, 104, 105, 110, 127, 157 

Paint pigments _ ___ 124 

Paleontology _________64, 68, 69, 70, 71, 169, 188, 198, 202,

225, 239, 241, 242

Patents ____________________________________ 3, 55 

Pennsylvania:

geological survey _____________ 35, 43, 52, 98, 156, 211 

mineral resources __ 10, 11, 12, 21, 26, 53, 54, 62, 64, 89, 96,

116, 117, 118, 133, 139, 175, 184, 211

Petrography __________________________ 116, 210, 239 

Petroleum ________ 133, 151, 159, 161, 162, 175, 176, 211, 212 

Phosphates __________________________________ 189 

Photographs, Wheeler's comments on __________________ 217 

Physical geography ________ ______________ 199 

Precious metals _________________ 7,8, 139, 178, 179, 184

See also Gold and Silver.

Preemption _____________________ 38, 58, 60, 229 

Principles of Geology 49

Public lands:

classification ________ 1, 2, 3, 93, 224, 231, 247, 250, 251,

254, 269, 270, 273, 274

disposal _____ 2, 3, 14, 17, 19, 21, 22, 25, 31, 32, 34, 35, 

36, 37, 38, 54, 57, 58, 60, 83, 84, 93, 94, 113, 

141, 142, 146, 153, 154, 155, 185, 209, 210, 

229, 232, 243, 245, 246, 249, 250, 251, 254, 

255, 258

geological examination of ___ 58, 59, 60, 78, 84, 85, 92, 142, 

153, 215, 216, 223, 255.

See also specific surveys under Geological and geographical surveys, 

management of resources on ___ 2, 18, 20, 23, 31, 35, 58, 78,

84, 90, 92, 142, 143, 146, 154, 161

not mentioned in Constitution 15 

origin ____ 13 

parks ___________________________ 148, 198 

reservation ___________________ 2, 14, 18, 20, 94, 249 

Supreme Court decisions _____ 60, 183

surveying ______ 14, 17, 18, 78, 92, 93, 94, 214, 216, 219, 

223, 244, 250, 251-2, 261-2, 267, 268, 269, 

272, 276, 278, 279, 282 

See also the various classes of public lands.

Public lands commission ___________________ 233, 274, 285 

Pyramid Lake _______________________________ 74, 163

R

Railroads __ 99, 100, 104, 110, 127, l4l, 153, 162, 164, 180, 201 

Rangeland____________________________________ 229 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute _______________________ 30 

Rhode Island _______________________________ 57, 89 

Rock structure ______________________________ 82, 85

Salt springs __________________________________ 2, 19 

Science (general):

American views of ________________ 64, 73, 74, 86, 191 

central organization for ________________________ 143 

colonial___________________________________ 15 

federal _______ 3, 20, 33, 43, 47, 55, 72, 73, 141, 142, 281 

in Civil War _______________________________ 141 

in mineral industry _________________ 62, 192, 294, 295 

See also the individual sciences.

Scientific Lazzaroni ____________ 101, 104, 105, 143, 189, 191 

Shasta, Mount __________________________ 71, 125, 190 

Silver _________2, 7, 8, 40, 132, 143, 178, 210, 235, 237, 259 

Soil studies ___________________ 26, 64, 74, 109, 115, 116 

Smithsonian Institution _______ 73, 96, 141, 150, 159, 233, 284 

South Carolina:

geological survey ______________________ 74,76, 116

mineral resources ______________________ 38, 76, 189

Statistics of Coal _________________________________________ 87-90

Steel_______________________________ 141, 173,235 

Stratigraphic nomenclature ___ 64, 65, 66, 103, 128, 232, 235, 264 

Stratigraphy __ 64, 65, 66, 83, 86, 103, 113, 130, 133, 177, 178,

193, 235, 257 

Surveying and mapping:

Army Engineers ________ 2, 30, 33, 45, 67, 157, 182, 196,

200, 267, 276

Bureau of Explorations and Surveys _________________ 104 

California_________________________________ 145 

Civil War ________________________________ 141 

Coast __________________________ 2, 20, 23, 71, 72 

combination linear-geologic ___________________ 78, 92 

early difficulties ______________________________ 17 

Federal-State cooperation ________________________ 47 

first central agency ____________________________ 14 

for geology and mineral resource plotting 57, 109, 110, 118,211 

General Land Office _________________________ 4, 78 

general plan for __ 4, 261, 267, 268, 269, 271, 272, 275, 276,

278-9, 285-6

geology in _____ ______ 43 

Haydenon ________________________ 187, 205, 230 

Interior Department instructions ___________________ 224 

internal improvements________________________ 2, 33 

investigation of 1874 ____________________ 214-220 

King survey ________________________________ 164 

Lewis and Clark exploration ______________________ 20

330 Subject Index
methods_________________ 110, 145, 164,218,223 

Mexican boundary __________________________ 127 

Powellon _____________________________ 199, 251 

public lands ______ 2, 4, 14, 17, 78, 251, 252, 278-9, 282 

Revolution________________________________ 14 

Surveyor-General ______________ 18, 22, 54, 93, 94, 250 

Topographical Engineers _____________ 2, 67, 71, 81, 100 

trans-Mississippi railroad ___________________ 100, 104 

Swamplands ___________________________________ 93

Tariff_________________ 4, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24, 32, 33, 35,

36, 37, 82, 87, 137 

Tennessee:

geological survey _____________________ 42, 52, 109 

mineral resources _______________ 39, 42, 96, 109, 113 

Texas:

geological survey ___________________________ 123

history __________________________ 61, 79, 80, 81

mineral resources ____________________________ 89

Textbook of Geology ___________________________________________ 140

Timber and Stone Act __________________________ 258 

Timber Culture Act _____________________________ 209 

Timber Cutting Act ____________________________ 258 

Tin_________________________________________ 7 

Topographical Bureau _____________________ 3, 45, 46, 67 

Topographical Engineers _______ 2, 3, 67, 71, 81, 99, 100, 105, 

125, 130, 137

U

Unconformities _____________________________ 83, 123 

United States Exploring Expedition ____________ 55, 67, 68, 71 

United States Geological Survey ____ __ See Geological Survey, U.S. 

Utah:

geology and geography __ 110, 168, 169, 170, 171, 179, 200,

225, 230, 241, 263

history _______________________________ 93, 129 

irrigation _________________________ 130, 250, 254 

mineral resources ________________________ 146, 148

V

Vermont:

geological survey _____________________ 46,76, 116 

mineral resources _________________________ 41, 46

Virginia:

geological survey _______________________45, 49, 52 

mineral resources _________ 11, 12, 14, 17, 21, 38, 45, 89

Volcanoes_________________________ 71, 127, 135, 188

W

War Department ________________________ 16, 217, 267 

War of 1812 _________________________________ 22 

Washington____________________ 104, 105, 107, 109, 161 

Water:

arid region ______________________ 219, 243, 253-4 

California ________________________________ 209 

Colorado_________________________ _____ 257

Comstock problems with ______ _______________ 147 8

Great Plains resources ________ ____________ 202, 209

measurements______________________ 201, 257, 267 

mining methods with ________________ ________ 94

rights_________________________ 213, 214, 246 

State survey interest in _________________ 46, 109, 123 

Weights and measures ____ _ 34 

West Point ________________________________ 20, 30 

West Virginia ________________________ ___ 12 

Wisconsin:

geological survey __________ 47, 106, 113, 122, 189,211 

history ________________________ 84

mineral lands ____________________ _ 83, 84

mineral resources _____________________ 58, 106, 189

Wyoming ___________ 171, 172, 173, 174, 204, 206, 207, 237

Y, Z

Yale University __________________________ 26, 86, 119 

Yellowstone National Park _ 5, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 207,

247, 249, 263

Yosemite State Park _____________ 5, 148, 150, 151, 152, 164 

Zinc ______________________ 42, 87, 96, 122, 123, 235

Subject Index 331
See page x for identification of portraits

As the Nation's principal conservation agency, the Department 

of the Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned 

public lands and natural resources. This includes fostering the 

wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish and 

wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our 

national parks and historical places, and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The Department assesses 

our energy and mineral resources and works to assure that their 

development is in the best interest of all our people. The Department also has a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who live in Island Territories 

under U S. Administration.