Minerals, Lands, and Geology 

for the Common Defence 

and General Welfare

Volume 3, 

1904-1939

UNITED STATES 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Minerals, Lands, and Geology 

for the Common Defence 

and General Welfare, 

Volume 3, 1904-1939

U.S. Geological Survey topographic engineers, accompanied by hydraulic 

engineer W. G. Hoyt, traveled by boat through the spectacular canyon 

of the Snake River from Huntington, Oregon, to Lewiston, Idaho, in ^ 

1920 to make a plane-table survey and assess the water-power potential. 

(Photograph by Hoyt from the files of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

See page x for identificacion of porcraics.
mmm
Minerals, Lands, and Geology 

for the Common Defence 

and General Welfare 

Volume 3, 1904-1939

By Mary C. Rabbitt

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

A History of Geology in Relation to the Development of 

Public-Land, Federal-Science, and Mapping Policies and the 

Development of Mineral Resources in the United States 

From the 25th to the 60th Year of the U.S. Geological Survey

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1986
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

DONALD PAUL HODEL, Secretary 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

Dallas L. Peck, Director
Foreword

I

n March 1986, the U.S. Geological Survey observed the 107th anniversary 

of its establishment by Congress with its name intact and its principal 

missions essentially unchanged. That continuity, in itself, might be sufficient justification for a history of the organization, but an evaluation of the 

Survey's response to the challenges and opportunities of its many assignments 

during those years also offers a useful perspective for evaluating the Survey's 

current work and for planning its future programs.

Mary C. Rabbitt's four-volume history deals with the role of the geosciences 

in general and the Geological Survey in particular in the development of publicland, Federal-science, and mapping policies and the use of natural resources. 

In the first two volumes, she analyzed the predecessor surveys and the first 25 

years of the U.S. Geological Survey. When the Survey was founded, the Nation 

was in the early stages of industrialization. In an effort to aid that development 

by providing needed information on the Nation's mineral resources, the first 

Director devised the mission orientation of the Survey programs. Later Directors extended the programs to include investigations to aid all material industries 

affected by a greater understanding of the processes and history of the Earth. 

From the beginning, Survey programs were never wholly practical in nature but 

contributed to the advancement of science by seeking knowledge needed to solve 

particular practical problems. Perhaps the most notable achievement of the first 

2 5 years was the development of economic geology as a science distinct from 

applied geology, but there were advances in such other fields as petrography, 

petrology, and glacial geology, and in geologic mapping, geophysics, and 

geochemistry as well. Topographic mapping expanded beyond the needs of the 

geologists alone to serve great engineering works, and efforts toward the conservation of water led to the establishment of the Reclamation Service, initially 

under the Survey's aegis.

Mrs. Rabbitt's third volume covers the years 1904 to 1939, from the beginning of the conservation movement under Theodore Roosevelt to the beginning 

of World War II. From a national perspective, these were years of great development and change in the use of energy, trouble in the coal industry, and a great 

expansion in the oil industry. They were also years in which the public perceived 

for the first time that the Nation's mineral resources are not infinite, and the 

mineral industry realized its dependence on international trade. In these years, 

water became an increasingly valuable commodity, and the need for a national 

mapping program became abundantly evident. These were also the years when 

the Federal Government for the most part practiced stringent economy in funding science, but State and municipal agencies increasingly sought the services 

of the Survey's topographic and water specialists to aid in the solution of local 

problems. The balance maintained between fundamental and practical research
during the first 25 years was more than once upset during the next 25 years, 

but the successful struggle to maintain a significant level of research laid the 

groundwork for the tremendous expansion in the Survey in the subsequent years.

 £~ -cL-^». X . -

Dallas L. Peck, Director 

U.S. Geological Survey

VI
Preface

A

lthough several historians have considered Federal conservation policies 

and Federal science during the period covered in this volume, the relation 

of geology and the history of the U.S. Geological Survey to these matters 

has gone almost unexplored. At first glance, the subject does not present a very 

appealing prospect. The growth of the geological sciences in the Survey's first 

quarter-century had been spectacular, but the excitement began to subside in 

the middle of the first decade of the twentieth century. Seemingly, the Survey 

passed beyond youth and settled down to a quiet middle age, struggling to make 

ends meet as it continued its work. By 1912, the Survey was accused of having 

become nothing more than a department of practical geology, and in the late 

1920's of having outlived its usefulness.

Outward appearances, however, are often deceiving, and so it is with the U.S. 

Geological Survey and geology in general during the period covered by this 

volume. More detailed study revealed an almost dramatic story that might be 

summed up as the eclipse of basic research as the result of demands for practical 

research brought on by its early success and its renaissance through the persistence 

of a few individuals. At one time, history was considered simply the biography 

of great men, but more recently, history has been viewed as a process of evolution, a series of inevitable results proceeding from clear causes, in which individuals are merely the expression of the great social, economic, or other forces 

of the times. Most historians acknowledge, however, that at times during the 

history of the world, commanding figures such as Caesar, Napoleon, Christ, 

Mohammed have appeared who become great forces in themselves. Something 

similar undoubtedly occurs in history on a much smaller scale, and it may well 

be surmised that the great forces of history originate not in outer space but in 

the minds of certain lesser known but charismatic individuals. Such indeed happened in the history of geology and of the U.S. Geological Survey from 1904 

to 1939. A few individuals, notably David White, Chief Geologist, 1912-1922, 

and Chairman of the Division of Geology and Geography of the National 

Research Council, 1924-1927, and Walter C. Mendenhall, Chief Geologist, 

1922-1930, and Director, 1930-1943, nurtured and encouraged fundamental 

research, even prodded it on until it eventually almost exploded with new vitality. 

I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to many members of the Geological 

Survey for their aid in the preparation of this volume. In particular, I wish to 

thank Thomas B. Nolan, Assistant Director and Director, 1944-1965, for his 

interest, encouragement, advice, and many useful discussions and Arthur A. 

Baker, Administrative Geologist and Associate Director, 1953-1969, for a 

thorough and detailed review of the manuscript. Both Mr. Nolan and Mr. Baker 

joined the Survey during the latter part of the period under discussion and both 

have extraordinary recollection of events in their early Survey years. I also thank

vii
Clifford M. Nelson, Staff Geologist, not only for reviewing the manuscript 

critically and shepherding it through the publication process but for listening 

and asking questions about my versions of history as they developed and for 

keeping me straight on matters paleontological.

A final word of caution to readers. Although we are entering the "modern" 

period of geology in this volume, no effort has been made to anticipate future 

developments beyond what the geologists of the era themselves suggested, and 

stratigraphic and other terminology is not present-day usage but the usage at 

the time of publication of the matters discussed.

viii
Foreword v

Preface vii

1. The Third Stage 1

2. National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-

i Ly\J any I ______________________________ ^ 71^

3. Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909 59

4. Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority,

1909-1911 91

5. The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914 121

6. National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917 149

7. Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919 179

8. The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-

1922 207

9. The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925 237

10. The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928 259

11. Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930 289

12. Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-

1933 317

13. The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936 - 345

14. Astatic World, 1936-1939 379

Notes and Bibliography 413

Notes 413

Bibliography 425

Index to Bibliography 443

Name Index 449

Subject Index 465

ix
Keys to portraits on end papers

10

12

18

16

23

17

19

21

j

24

Inside Front Cover

1. George Otis Smith

2. James R. Garfield

3. Joseph A. Holmes

4. Robert B. Marshall

5. Marshall Ora Leighton

6. William Howard Taft

7. Gifford Pinchot

8. Richard A. Ballinger

9. Walter L. Fisher

10. Waldemar Lindgren

11. David White

12. Woodrow Wilson

13. Franklin K. Lane

Inside Back Cover

14. Nathan Clifford Grover

15. Alfred Hulse Brooks

16. Glenn Shepard Smith

17. Claude Hale Birdseye

18. Herman Stabler

19. Herbert Clark Hoover

20. Ray Lyman Wilbur

21. Oscar E. Meinzer

22. Walter Curran Mendenhall

23. Franklin D. Roosevelt

24. Harold LeClair Ickes

25. C. K. Leith
Chapter 1. 

The Third Stage

In the growth of the country and gradual development of the natural 

resources there have been three noteworthy stages. * * * In the first 

stage the resources received little thought. In the second they were 

wastefully used. In the third stage which we are now entering wise and 

beneficial uses are essential, and the checking of waste is absolutely 

demanded.

 National Conservation Commission, 1909

In 1904, the U.S. Geological Survey celebrated the 25th anniversary of its 

establishment by act of Congress on March 3, 1879- Its field at that time had 

been defined as "classification of the public lands and examination of the 

geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain," 

but in later years it had been given additional duties. In 1882, it had been 

given responsibility for preparation of the geologic map of the United States, 

and beginning in 1887, its topographic mapping, paleontological research, and 

physical and chemical research had been authorized by annual appropriations. 

In 1894, the Survey was given responsibility for gaging the streams and determining the water supply of the United States, and in 1897, for examining and 

surveying the forest reserves. Then in 1902, when Congress passed the 

Newlands Act establishing a fund to be used for planning, construction, and 

maintenance of dams and other irrigation works in 16 Western States and Territories, the agency to carry out the work was by presidential order set up as an 

adjunct to the Geological Survey.

In its first 25 years the Survey had grown from an organization that had 38 

employees at the end of its first year to one with 678 employees (187 of them in 

the Reclamation Service) in 1904. Congress had appropriated $106,000 for its 

first year and $1.4 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1904. The 

Survey had also become the leading geologic institution in the the United 

States American Men of Science said that "In geology the U.S. Survey overshadows the universities among which Yale, Harvard, Chicago, and Wisconsin 

are in the lead." Of the 100 geologists whose work was considered most significant by a group of their peers and whose names were starred in the 1903 edition, the first five, arranged in order of merit, were all associated with the 

Survey: T. C. Chamberlin, Professor of Geology at the University of Chicago 

and Geologist-in-charge of the Survey's Section of Glacial Geology, whose 

planetesimal hypothesis of the origin of the earth was then widely discussed; 

G. K. Gilbert, whose studies of the Great Basin region had become classics; 

C. D. Walcott, Director of the Survey and paleontologist-stratigrapher extraordinary; C. R. Van Hise, who had been Geologist-in-charge of the Survey's Section of Metamorphic Geology before leaving in 1903 to become President of 

the University of Wisconsin; and S. F. Emmons, Geologist-in-charge of the 

Survey's Section of the Economic Geology of Metalliferous Ores. C. W. Hayes, 

the Geologist-in-charge of the Division of Geology and Paleontology and of the 

Section of the Economic Geology of Nonmetalliferous Ores, and G. F. Becker, 

the Geologist-in-charge of the Division of Chemical and Physical Research,

The Third Stage 1
were 12th and 13th on the list, and of all those who had been given scientific 

control of the work in the organization of 1900, only David T. Day, of the Division of Mining and Mineral Resources, was missing. At least one-third of the 

staff of the Geologic Branch was on the list, among them three future Chief 

Geologists, Waldemar Lindgren, David White, and T. W. Stanton.

The Survey itself, in a bulletin describing its organization and operations 

during these 25 years, reported that it had finished mapping, on more or less 

detailed scales, 26 percent of the area of the country, including Alaska, and 

that its topographic maps had "greatly expedited investigations by cities of 

their water supply," and had "been of the highest value to railway companies 

and State highway bureaus in designing and planning their projects." The 

geologic mapping of about 171,000 square miles had been completed. Laboratory investigations had been made of the physical characteristics of rocks in 

various processes of formation, of volcanic and geyser action, and rock composition and structure. Paleontologists had also aided in solving stratigraphic and 

structural problems. The hydrographers had recorded the maximum, 

minimum, and mean discharges of all the more important rivers for 15 years 

and of lesser streams for shorter periods of time. The physical characteristics of 

river basins had been studied in order to estimate the volume or runoff of 

streams. Data had been accumulated to aid the development of the water 

powers of the country, and on the irrigable lands of the public domain. Some 

reservoir and irrigation projects had been studied in detail and construction by 

the Reclamation Service had been approved. Some 110,000 square miles had 

been examined in detail and classified as forested, grazing, desert, or 

cultivable.

The Survey concluded, however, that

Perhaps the immediate value to the people of the work of the Geological 

Survey is best shown by the aid it extends in developing the mineral 

resources and in forwarding important engineering projects in which the 

people, as well as the State and Federal Governments, are interested.

The aid the Survey extended in developing the mineral resources stemmed 

from the foresight exercised by its first Director, Clarence King, in laying out 

the program in 1879. To establish the value of the new organization, he chose 

to direct its work toward the production of immediate results of practical import. The United States was then in the early stages of industrial expansion, a 

time in which King observed

Our real industrial problem is to utilize with the highest technical skill and 

with the utmost scientific economy, all elements of national wealth.

King therefore proposed that the Survey aid industrial development by 

providing information that would permit the mineral resources of the Nation 

to be used "with the highest technical skill and with the utmost scientific 

economy." He planned a two-fold program of mineral-resource investigations: 

geologic and technical studies of mining districts and the collection of mineral 

statistics, not just production figures but geographic, geologic, chemical, and 

other data as well. Although the immediate aim was practical, King's ultimate 

goal was scientific: the accumulation of data could in time be used to make 

possible a scientific classification of ore deposits and permit a determination of 

their origin. The program was in no sense merely applied geology but rather involved the concept of a mission to provide a service or aid a cause.

King remained as Director for less than 2 years and was succeeded in 1881 

by John Wesley Powell, who abandoned the mission approach. Powell believed 

that practical geology was the highest form of the science but before practical 

geology became possible all the basic facts had to be determined. Under 

Charles D. Walcott, the Survey's third Director, the mission approach was 

revived, broadened, and more explicitly stated. The Survey would conduct

2 The Third Stage
scientific investigations to aid in every possible manner the development of all 

material industries affected by knowledge of the earth, and these investigations 

would include the acquisition of scientific or technical knowledge needed to 

solve geologic problems. Under Walcott, not only were the mineral-resource investigations extended from the metallic ores of the earliest studies to 

nonmetalliferous deposits and construction materials but also to water, which 

is, although seldom thought of as, a mineral.

During the Survey's first 25 years, the United States become the world's 

leading industrial nation, a transformation accelerated by the great wealth of its 

mineral resources. Mineral production during these 25 years nearly quadrupled. In 1880, the first year for which figures are available, the annual value 

of the mineral production was $367,463,000; in 1904 it was $1,359,181,000. 

Industrial supremacy belonged to the nation that could produce the cheapest 

steel. The United States had enormous resources of coal and iron although it 

seemed to lack the low-phosphorus iron needed for the Bessemer process, and 

one of the infant Survey's first projects had been a survey of American iron 

ores, including their chemical analysis. The introduction of the open-hearth 

process, which used all types of iron, greatly increased American steel-making 

capacity, and thereafter the United States rapidly overtook Old World nations 

in the production of cheap steel. With the use of bituminous coal for smelting 

and the development of cheap transportation, the Lake Superior iron ores could 

be shipped to Pennsylvania for smelting, and western Pennsylvania became the 

center of American steel production. In 1904, the Survey noted with satisfaction that its investigation of the origin and geologic relations of the Lake 

Superior iron ores had ' 'so effectively directed the prospector in the discovery of 

the deposits and the miner in economical methods of development that this 

region now leads the world in the production of iron ore."

Undoubtedly the most influential mineral-resource investigation of the 

25-year period, however, was S. F. Emmons' study of the geology and mining 

industry of Leadville, Colorado, which became known as the "miners' Bible." 

That study had not only "guided exploration and secured economical mining 

in a district that had produced between $200,000,000 and $400,000,000" but 

had been "of even more beneficial results in teaching the mining engineer and 

the miner the practical importance of geologic study in carrying out their work; 

in other words, it has greatly improved mining methods throughout the whole 

country.''

The Survey made no claim for anything more than educational influence 

on the mining industry. S. F. Emmons, who was president of the Geological 

Society of America and vice-president of the American Institute of Mining 

Engineers in 1903, in his presidential addresss to GSA in late December 1903, 

merely noted that since 1853, when the United States completed its occupation 

of all the territory now encompassed in the 48 contiguous States, "the unexampled rapidity with which * * * civilization and industry have spread over 

the mountainous regions of the West has been due to the development of the 

mineral resources a development to which geological science has in no small 

part contributed."

Emmons' modest claim for a geological contribution, however, included 

the development, largely influenced by the Survey's investigations, of an entirely new field of specialization within geology, that of economic geology, 

which may be traced back to the dual purpose of Clarence King's mineralresource program. In 1879, the study of ore deposits was lagging behind other 

branches of geology and the most advanced opinion of the time was not very 

different from that in J. D. Whitney's textbook of 1854. In 1904, the origin of 

ore deposits was a hotly debated issue and tentative attempts at a genetic 

classification of ore deposits were widely reported in both Science and the Engineering and Mining Journal. None of the Survey investigations had been

The Survey's First 25 Years 3
devoted solely to the description of deposits or the application of geologic principles to mining. Petrographers, petrologists, mineralogists, and chemists had 

been called on to aid the mining geology studies and their sciences had 

developed at the same time, not only contributing to but being advanced by 

the development of economic geology. By 1904, the community of economic 

geologists was well enough established to plan the launching of a new journal 

for papers on both the description of mineral deposits and the application of 

geology to mining but also the genesis of ore deposits. On the latter score, most 

economic geologists agreed: future progress demanded new methods of investigation, and experimental research of the most fundamental character was 

needed.

There was no thought at the time of establishing a separate society. The 

geological community in the early years of the 20th century was relatively small 

and simple. Most geologists belonged to the Geological Society of America and 

the American Association for the Advancement of Science, most economic 

geologists to the American Institute of Mining Engineers as well. The meeting 

of the Geological Society of America in December 1903, held in St. Louis 

where a World's Fair to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase was in preparation, attracted 51 fellows. Sessions were held in a high 

school classroom and 39 papers were read or presented by title on subjects that 

ranged from "Geology under the planetesimal hypothesis of earth origin" to 

"System of keeping the records of a State geological survey." Most, however, 

were regional studies. William Morris Davis, President of the Section of 

Geology and Geography of the A A AS, which met in St. Louis at the same 

time, thought geology was dominating geography and deemed the formation 

of a society of geographers analogous to the Geological Society of America 

necessary for the future of geography in the United States. (Within a year he 

became the first president of the Association of American Geographers.) Ira 

Remsen, in his address as retiring president of the AAAS, foresaw a great future 

for American science. Great progress had been made in the preceding 25 years, 

but

No matter in what direction we may look we are aware of great unexplored 

territories, and even in those regions in which the greatest advances have 

been made it is evident that the knowledge gained is almost insignificant 

as compared with that which remains to be learned.

The progress in the preceding quarter century Remsen attributed to the development of American universities and the support given by the Government to 

its different scientific bureaus such as the Geological Survey, the Department 

of Agriculture, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the National Bureau of 

Standards. If as much progress could be made in the next quarter century, he 

believed the United States could compete with the foremost nations of the 

world in scientific investigation. G. F. Becker and C. R. Van Hise at the International Congress of Arts and Sciences in St. Louis in 1904 looked forward to 

immense opportunities and challenges in geology and geophysics involving experimental and theoretical work of the most fundamental kind.

In 1904, the United States was in the early stages of a period of change, 

just as it had been when the Survey began in 1879- This new period was one of 

reform in which national policies that had prevailed in the late 19th century 

were abandoned, social and economic reforms were enacted, and the role of the 

Federal Government was transformed. Beyond that, in the words of Samuel 

Eliot Morison, the American people underwent "profound changes in their environment, their racial composition, their mental processes, and their moral 

climate." It would be interrupted by World War I and the revival of laissez 

faire in the 1920's, then resumed in the 1930's, only to be more profoundly interrupted by the outbreak of World War II in 1939-

4 The Third Stage
More than one historian has noted the correlation between this period of 

change and changes in the use of energy; Morison went so far as to pinpoint the 

change as the effect of the invention of the internal combusion engine and its 

multifarious applications to transport and power. Changes in the use of energy 

in turn affected the development of natural resources, especially the fossil fuels 

and water, and these in turn resulted in changes in the geological sciences.

The Survey had to some extent anticipated the changes in the use of 

energy resources for it had been reporting for some years that an increasing proportion of the value of the annual mineral production of the United States was 

being contributed by the nonmetalliferous resources. In 1898, when problems 

had begun to develop in the coal industry, causing consumers to turn to other 

kinds of fuel, Director Walcott had suggested to Congress a thorough investigation of the coals and cokes of the United States, including complete chemical 

investigations, determinations of calorific values, and practical tests so the coals 

might be used to the best advantage, thus echoing King's thought that the 

mineral resources should be used with the utmost scientific economy. In the 

organization of the Geologic Branch in 1900, the economic geology of 

metalliferous ores and of nonmetalliferous deposits were given equal status, 

although not equal budgets, and both sections contributed to the annual Contributions to Economic Geology, which was inaugurated in 1902 to meet the 

growing demand from the mineral industry for prompt publication of Survey 

work. By 1904, the detailed areal mapping and subsurface structural studies of 

Appalachian coal areas were "placing the development of its coal, petroleum, 

and gas resources upon a scientific basis and relieving these branches of the 

mineral industry of a large part of the hazard and uncertainty which has always 

hitherto been associated with them. * Some investigations of petroleum were 

made elsewhere as well, especially after the discovery of Spindletop in 1901, 

and the investigations, according to E. L. DeGolyer, laid the "foundation for 

the more general acceptance of the geologist by the oil industry."

In 1904, the Survey took advantage of the opportunity presented by the 

Louisiana Purchase Exposition to make a practical demonstration of the value of 

the more comprehensive investigations of coal and coke that had been recommended in 1898 but not funded, and obtained an appropriation for an exhibit 

showing the analysis and testing of coal to determine fuel values and the most 

economic method of utilization for different purposes. The exhibit was an immediate success, so successful that the coal industry demanded additional work, 

and Congress appropriated funds for a continuation of the coal testing and also 

for the structural-materials testing that had been begun at the exposition by the 

American Portland Cement Manufacturers.

These testing programs were unlike the Survey's other geologic programs, 

being far more in the nature of applied science, and thereby posed a possible 

threat to basic research. Congress by and large preferred practical or applied 

science, and Federal science depended on annual appropriations of funds by 

Congress. Under Walcott's direction, the Survey's research, like the minerals 

being studied in its laboratories, was seldom one of the end members, neither 

pure basic or pure applied, but like the intermediate members of a eutectic 

series, ranged from research with remote applications to practical problems to 

research with immediate applications to practical problems. The administrator 

of Federal science, however, has to make adjustments, or, as Walcott put it, 

had to aim at the nearest attainable approximation to the desired object; later 

developments made it evident that Walcott aimed at the gradual introduction 

of basic research into the testing programs. Under George Otis Smith, who succeeded Walcott as Director on May 1, 1907, however, they became purely practical and, despite his opposition, in 1910 were transferred from the Survey. The 

coal-testing program became the nucleus of the newly established Bureau of

The Coal-Testing Program 5
Mines and the structural-materials testing became part of the National Bureau 

of Standards.

The conservation program, which Theodore Roosevelt considered one of 

the greatest achievements of his administration, also became a stumbling block 

to Survey research. That resources should be used without waste was an accepted idea in Europe, and American scientists had long argued against their 

wasteful use. Until late in the 19th century, however, the American public had 

commonly regarded all resources as inexhaustible, some of them even an 

obstruction to the development of the country. In this belief, forests were 

destroyed, every man was granted a farm for the asking, and only the richest 

ores were mined, and these wastefully. Customs and laws were based on this 

public perception rather than on scientific facts.

Serious efforts to prevent the wholesale destruction of forests and to 

develop a rational forest policy began in the 1870's. In 1877, Congress 

established a division of forestry in the Department of Agriculture and in 1891 

authorized the creation of national forest reserves. The Division of Forestry, 

however, was given neither the funds nor the authority to deal with forest problems, and after authorizing the forest reserves in 1891 Congress took another 6 

years to pass the Forest Management Act. The lack of sufficient water for ordinary agriculture in the arid and semiarid regions of the West was also given 

attention in the late 1870's with a Congressionally authorized investigation of 

the possibility of irrigation, George Perkins Marsh's report on irrigation, and 

John Wesley Powell's "Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United 

States." In 1888, Congress authorized the Geological Survey to investigate the 

extent to which the arid region of the United States could be redeemed by irrigation and the Secretary of the Interior to withdraw from private entry 

specified areas for this purpose. The Irrigation Survey was discontinued after 2 

years because of its slow progress and because the public domain was closed to 

entry until it was completed.

Private citizens also began tentative efforts at conservation during the late 

1870's, primarily the preservation of the forests and of big game, and their efforts were instrumental in obtaining passage of the bill creating forest reserves 

and in establishing the forest commission of 1896. As the East became more 

and more urbanized, there also developed a movement to preserve some of the 

remaining untouched natural areas. Several of the large forest reserves and 

Yosemite, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, and Crater Lake National Parks were 

created to fulfill this need. Preservationists were disappointed in 1897, 

however, when Congress passed the Forest Management Act, giving the 

Geological Survey responsibility for surveying and classifying the forest reserves 

but at the same time opening the existing reserves to mining and grazing. In 

the late 1890's, the drive for a permanent irrigation service gathered strength, 

stressing the positive aspect of reclamation of land rather than conservation of 

water, and Congress passed the Reclamation Act in 1902. When the Reclamation Service became an adjunct of the Geological Survey, much of the administration's conservation efforts were thus associated with the Survey and its 

sister agency in Interior, the General Land Office.

Once the Reclamation Service was successfully launched, Secretary of the 

Interior Hitchcock, having received information that frauds of a serious nature 

in the acquisition of public lands had been and were being perpetrated under 

the Forest Lieu Land Act, began a thorough investigation of public-land 

management. President Roosevelt urged Congress to undertake a thorough 

revision of the public-land laws, setting up, if necessary, a commission of experts to advise it. When Congress did not respond, Roosevelt set up his own 

commission composed of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, W. A. 

Richards, the Chief Forester, Gifford Pinchot, and the Chief Engineer of the 

Reclamation Service and Chief Hydrographer of the Geological Survey, F. H.

6 The Third Stage
Newell. The commission, as might perhaps be expected from its composition, 

concerned itself chiefly with the control, use, and disposal of forest lands and 

the control of water. It made no recommendations about changes in mineralland laws, which had been a major concern of the Public Lands Commission of 

1879, although it conceded that changes were necessary. In the spring of 1905, 

Congress repealed the Forest Lieu Land Act and transferred the management of 

the forest reserves from the Department of the Interior to the Department of 

Agriculture. The classification of the forest reserves was then transferred from 

the Geological Survey to the newly renamed Forest Service. The Reclamation 

Service was already becoming less dependent on the Geological Survey, 

although it did not become a fully independent agency until 1907, so that by 

the middle of 1905, most of the conservation responsibilities had been shifted 

from the Geological Survey.

There was at this time no organized effort to promote the conservation of 

other resources. The disappearance of forests and the consequences of a lack of 

water were readily apparent. Moreover, it was conceivable that the measures 

planned would be effective, that forests could be managed so that the annual 

yield balanced annual consumption, that great engineering works could trap 

every drop of water and permit its redistribution to better purpose than nature 

did. The need for conservation of soil was apparent in many areas but was 

regarded as next to impossible to achieve because the use of the soil had to be 

balanced against depletion of its nutrients and loss through erosion. The 

necessity of conserving mineral resources was simply beyond the comprehension 

of most people. Scientists knew that in the use of metals, some part is necessarily consumed and the total supply of the world's available metals was thereby 

being steadily diminished, and that in the use of mineral fuels, the mineral 

resources are destroyed and the total supply even more rapidly diminished, but 

the average American had experienced no deprivation or even inconvenience.

The conservation of mineral resources, moreover, is complicated by the 

fact that they are for the most part hidden resources, and without extensive and 

intensive investigations, the total available supply cannot even be approximated. Experience has also shown that some resources that might be of too low 

a grade to be economically exploited at a given time or in a given place might 

be used under different conditions, and minerals considered of minor value 

might in time become important or might become a substitute or replacement 

for another.

Already there was some concern about the known supplies of coal and 

iron, the staples of industry, so the Survey in 1905 obtained an additional appropriation to increase its investigations of these deposits. Some considered coal 

the more important of the two. Ira Remsen, in his AAAS speech, had said that

Unless by means of scientific investigation man is taught new methods of 

rendering the world's store of energy for the production of heat and motion, 

the age of the human race is measured by the extent of the supply of coal 

and other forms of fuel.

He discounted the importance of oil, although noting that existing knowledge 

was insufficient to make any predictions of value, but noted that if the theory 

that petroleum is constantly being formed by the action of water on carbides in 

the interior of the Earth should prove correct, a supply of oil was assured and 

the problem was one of transportation. M. R. Campbell of the Survey also considered oil of lesser importance, although used extensively in some parts of the 

country, because of its limited occurrence. "Coal," he said, "is the fuel of the 

present, and, so far as can be seen, will continue to lead in this particular for a 

long time to come," but "although the amount of coal in the various fields 

seems to be so great as to be well-nigh inexhaustible, the consumption is increasing so rapidly that already the question of a future supply of fuel is a 

serious one." To John Stewart, Professor of Economics and History at Lehigh

The Conservation of Mineral Resources 7
University, however, "The serious problem from the economic side is expressed 

in the fear of an early exhaustion of iron ore. Thus we have the frank recognition of our dependence on the economic geologist."

The Roosevelt administration embarked on the conservation of mineral 

resources in dramatic fashion in June 1906 when the President ordered the 

Secretary of the Interior "to report as soon as possible the coal lands where the 

Department considered the coal deposits of such value that we ought to 

withdraw lands from entry." The suggestion had come from the former Governor, then Senator from Wisconsin, Robert M. LaFollette, as evidence began to 

mount of fraud in the acquisition of public and Indian coal lands. The Attorney General did not believe the President had the authority to withdraw the 

land by Executive order, but when the Senate failed to act on measures to 

reserve the land or to make a thorough investigation of the coal resources of the 

public lands, the President took matters into his own hands. Within a month, 

the Secretary began the withdrawal of lands on the basis of recommendations 

from the Geological Survey and the Forest Service that by December amounted 

to nearly 67 million acres.

From that point on, the Roosevelt conservation program began to develop 

rapidly. In March 1907, an Inland Waterways Commission was appointed to 

prepare a compfehensiveLplan for use of inland waters. From the Inland Waterways Commission came the inspiration for a Conference of Governors at the 

White House to dramatize the need for conservation, which the President had 

declared in his December 1907 State-of-the-Union address to be "the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national 

life." From the Governors Conference came the National Conservation 

Commission that in the record time of 5 months, with the aid of Government 

scientific agencies, prepared an inventory of natural resources that the President 

sent to Congress in January 1909. The Commission report contained not only 

estimates of the various mineral resources but predictions of the time of exhaustion. It also emphasized the need for surveys and investigations of mineral and 

water resources, for topographic surveys of catchment sites and sites available 

for the control of waters, and a thorough study and revision of the public-land 

laws. Conservation thus came to take on an entirely new look.

In its original meaning conservation referred primarily to the prevention of 

waste and destruction of resources and was considered a scientific or 

technological matter. Gifford Pinchot, the Chief Forester and architect of much 

of the Roosevelt conservation policy, insisted that what was new was only the 

integration of the conservation of all resources into a single policy. To Professor 

Richard T. Ely, Director of the School of Economics, Political Science, and 

History at the University of Wisconsin, however, what came to be called conservation in the United States was in Germany political economy, of which conservation in its original sense was a part. In Germany it was considered necessary to 

use the natural resources with the utmost care and to improve them where 

possible in order to provide for a rapidly growing population, and it was natural 

for the Government to exert some controls. American economists, especially 

those who, like Ely, had studied in Germany in recent years, also considered 

"conservation" part of economics, and many of them had been involved in 

promoting the conservation of forest resources. Like Ely, they believed that the 

state should play a positive role in the economy, and that governmental functions should be extended to conservation measures. Ely himself had proposed 

the socialization of mineral deposits in his "Socialism and Social Reform" 

published in 1894 and in a course of lectures at the University of Wisconsin in 

1898 had discussed measures that he claimed were those that were later generally recommended. Ely admitted, however, that in the United States, even if the 

economists had helped prepare the way, it was "under the leadership of President Roosevelt and such men as President Van Hise and Gifford Pinchot, the

8 The Third Stage
public first became conscious of the real import of conservation policies" and 

called Van Hise's book "The Conservation of Natural Resources in the United 

States" epoch-making.

The most striking difference between the Roosevelt conservation program 

and German conservation was the virtual restriction of Roosevelt conservation 

to the public domain, and the consequent withdrawal from entry and locking 

up of resources of millions of acres for the second time in less than 20 years. The 

extension of the meaning of conservation immediately made it a controversial 

issue. Politically, it arrayed East against West and progressive against conservative. Economists recognized that in the industrial evolution of a community or 

nation there are different stages in each of which the interrelation of natural 

resources, labor, and capital is different. In the earliest stages of development, 

some waste of natural resources can be tolerated in order not to delay the 

natural expansion of the population and development of industrial resources. 

Thus, as Clarence King pointed out in the Tenth Census report, when transportation and wages were considered, American methods of mining were not as 

crude and wasteful as Europeans believed. In the later stages of industrial 

development and maturity, however, economic progress depends on the 

maintenance of productive stability, and then wisdom would suggest that 

natural resources should be reserved for their highest use, that partially exhausted resources should be restored where possible, and that nonrenewable 

resources be used prudently. Clearly these objectives could be more easily 

achieved by government regulation than private initiative. Just as clearly, the 

regulations should be based on a thorough knowledge of the resources involved. When the first mineral lands were withdrawn from entry in 1906, 

however, the different sections of the United States were in different stages of 

industrial development, and knowledge of the resources of the withdrawn 

lands could best be described as meager. Thus what was looked upon as wisdom 

in the East was to the West an attempt to enslave it by locking up its resources 

and denying it an opportunity for growth.

Most of the progressive reform movements were based on the premise that 

economic individualism and political democracy had once existed in the United 

States but had somehow been destroyed by the rise of the great corporations 

and political machines, and their aim was to restore that individualism and 

democracy. The most zealous reformers saw only evil in large corporations, and 

thus regarded any large corporation as a foe of conservation even if, on the basis 

of the profit motive alone, it might be most economical in its development of 

mineral resources, or even if, in areas such as Alaska, private capital offered the 

only hope of immediate development. When the Government withheld lands 

from development, that was conservation and good; when a corporation acquired lands for future development, that was monopoly and bad. To the extremely conservative, on the other hand, the word "conservation" became 

anathema, and as Congress was controlled by the conservative element, programs associated with the conservation program, including the Survey's waterresources investigations, experienced difficulties in obtaining appropriations.

The new conservation policy even created divisions among scientists and 

conservationists. To those who equated conservation with preservation, the idea 

of development, even prudent development, was wrong. Among scientists 

there was a special problem. Some clung to the original meaning of the word, 

some adopted the new meaning. Thus we had the strange spectacle at the 

White House Conference in 1908 of industrialist Andrew Carnegie arguing for 

scientific research to achieve conservation while scientist C. R. Van Hise called 

for government control. In 1910, T. C. Chamberlin pointed out in the Journal 

of Geology that the protection of natural values against wastage and the possession of those values were two separate things, and the best ownership might not 

be correlated with the best conservation. Ownership was a political and

The Roosevelt Conservation Policy 9
sociological matter, conservation a scientific and technical matter, and 

geologists he thought, would do well to stick to the scientific and technical. A 

clearly exasperated C. W. Hayes defined conservation in the Mining and Scientific Press as "utilization with a maximum efficiency and minimum waste," 

and espoused the "heretical" view that the "soulless trust" was probably the 

best agency of conservation as it had to provide for its continued existence far 

beyond the lifetime of an individual.

The new conservation policy had an immediate effect on the Geological 

Survey program, causing a decline in research that took years to reverse. 

Although the Organic Act of the Geological Survey charged it with responsibility for classification of the public lands, until 1906 the interpretation of 

Clarence King and the Public Lands Commission of 1879 that the Survey's 

classification was meant to be a scientific classification rather than classification 

in advance of and as the basis for disposition of the public lands had prevailed 

with only a few exceptions. When millions of acres of supposed coal lands were 

withdrawn from entry, however, classification of public lands in advance of 

disposition became a major activity of the Survey.

In the spring of 1907, the new Secretary of the Interior, James R. Garfield, 

chose George Otis Smith to succeed Charles D. Walcott, newly elected 

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as the fourth Director of the 

Geological Survey. Smith remained as Director, with the exception of one year 

in which he served as Coal Commissioner, until December 22, 1930, or 

thoughout nearly all the Survey's second quarter-century. Smith's views on the 

nature and purpose of Survey work were radically different from those of his 

predecessors. He had come to Garfield's attention as a member of a subcommittee of a presidential commission set up in 1906 to introduce modern 

business methods into the Federal Government and had become interested in 

developing a business policy for the management of the public domain. Unlike 

King, Powell, and Walcott, all members of the National Academy of Sciences, 

who emphasized that the Survey was a bureau of research even though they 

adoped different stances with regard to the relation of Survey research to practical results, Smith, who was never elected to the Academy, held that the 

Survey's work was primarily although not exclusively practical, a view more in 

accord with the prevalent political opinion of the day. Unlike King, Powell, 

and Walcott, who had all maintained that the Survey must be national in 

scope, Smith also insisted for several years on the primacy of the work on the 

public domain. In time, Smith came to adopt many of the viewpoints of his 

predecessors, sometimes citing the wisdom of the first Director as he did so. 

During the first 20 years of his directorate, Federal appropriations for the 

Survey were essentially static, the appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 

30, 1927, only six percent more than the appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907. Total funds available to the Survey during the same period 

increased by 53 percent but as the percentage of outside funds steadily increased from 8 to more than 36 percent so did the influence of outside agencies 

on Survey programs.

At the time the coal lands were withdrawn from entry in 1906, the Coal 

Lands Act of 1873 permitted entry and patenting of a limited number of acres 

of coal land by individuals or groups at minimum prices that varied according 

to the distance from a completed railroad. It became the Survey's task not only 

to classify the lands as coal or non-coal but to place a value on the coal lands so 

they could be sold at more than the minimum price. The President and his 

Secretary of the Interior, both of whom were loose constructionists of the law, 

withdrew from private entry new classes of land whenever new needs for conservation were perceived. Oil lands near Coalinga in California were withdrawn to 

prevent their fraudulent acquisition, lands near the Caddo oil field in Louisiana 

were withdrawn from entry pending an investigation by the Survey to prevent

10 The Third Stage
waste of natural gas, millions of acres of supposed phosphate lands in Idaho, 

Wyoming, and Utah were withdrawn pending new legislation for their 

disposal, and shortly before the end of the Roosevelt administration, millions 

of acres controlling water-power sites on 16 Western rivers were withdrawn 

from entry. In the fall of 1909, millions of acres of Western oil lands were 

withdrawn from all forms of location and entry. Despite presidential prodding, 

Congress made only a minor change in mineral-land laws during the Roosevelt 

administration. The stalemate continued through the Taft administration except for the grudging agreement in 1910 that the President did have the power 

to withdraw lands from private entry and reserve them for public purposes, including classification. During the Wilson administration, Congress authorized 

the leasing of coal lands in Alaska and of potassium lands but did not act on the 

overall problem of the disposal of the mineral lands until 1920. Congress appropriated no funds for the classification program so it had to be carried out 

with funds appropriated for research and mapping. In the Survey, a Land 

Classification Board was established in 1908 to carry on the administrative work 

associated with the program, and in 1912 the Board was raised to Branch status, 

on a par with the Geologic, Topographic, and Water Resources Branches. With 

no funds of its own, it had to exist on assessments of the funds appropriated for 

those branches.

Loss of personnel also contributed to the decline of basic research in the 

Geological Survey. Both industry and academia turned to the Survey for scientists and engineers to staff their programs and classrooms, and the exodus of 

scientists and engineers from the Survey for higher paying or more rewarding 

positions elsewhere accelerated as the public-lands work increased. That basic 

research survived at all in the agency was owing to the persistent endeavors of a 

few individuals, especially in the Geologic Branch. In the Water Resources 

Branch, which was saddled with an immense volume of classification work even 

though its funds had been severely cut, the title of the head of the branch was 

changed when M. O. Leighton resigned in 1913 from Chief Hydrographer to 

Chief Hydraulic Engineer; the function of the branch became chiefly one of 

gathering data, without much opportunity for generalizations.

World War I reoriented conventional views on mineral resources. In 

August 1914, when the war began in Europe, the Survey was inundated with 

requests from industry for information on sources of mineral raw materials. In 

response, George Otis Smith, exhibiting a cheery optimism but a certain 

amount of naivete as well, issued a bulletin entitled "Our Mineral 

Reserves How to Make America Industrially Independent," according to 

which there were only five essential minerals of first rank of which the United 

States had no known supply commensurate with its needs although some minor 

minerals might cause problems because the United States had hitherto depended on foreign sources; on the other hand, the reserves of mineral fuels and 

iron were so enormous that no problems would arise. Within 2 years, however, 

difficulties in obtaining some mineral raw materials developed, and the Survey 

reoriented its work to aid the search for both metals and fuels. In 1917, when 

the United States entered the war, there were a dozen minerals that were inadequate in quantity or quality or both, and another half dozen for which 

domestic supplies were adequate for peacetime needs but not for war. The 

discovery of new supplies of iron ores and the development of methods for 

making low-grade ores available were considered vital. Coal had become high 

priced and hard to get. The production of petroleum barely met the Nation's 

normal demand and was much too small for the abnormal demands of war so 

that strict economy of use was imperative. The petroleum situation sparked a 

Congressional inquiry and a symposium on the geology of petroleum at the 

meeting of the Geological Society of America in 1916. In Feburary 1917, a 

gathering of geologists in Tulsa organized the Southwestern Association of

Mineral Resources in World War I 11
Petroleum Geologists, which became the American Association of Petroleum 

Geologists in 1918.

The war presented Congress with the opportunity as well as the necessity 

to exert some controls over mineral resources. In August 1917, Congress passed 

the Lever Act empowering the President to make regulations and issue orders to 

stimulate and conserve the production and control the distribution of fuels 

necessary to the war effort. A similar bill for the control of other mineral commodities, drawn up by a War Minerals Committee, was passed shortly before 

the war ended but never put into effect.

The war also altered the world movement of minerals and the United 

States mineral industry rather abruptly realized its dependence on international 

trade. When the war began, about two-thirds of the minerals produced in the 

world were used in the countries of origin and the other third was exported. 

However, most of the demands for mineral imports were met by drawing heavily on sources of limited geographic extent and the minerals tended to move 

toward a few consuming centers where there were favorable conditions for 

smelting and a high development of industry. During the war, the character 

and distribution of the demand changed, some customary sources of supply 

were cut off, and financial disturbances and ship shortages modified the movement of materials. Again, governmental controls had to be exercised in order to 

prosecute the war most effectively.

The Geological Survey proved to be an invaluable source of information 

for the various war boards because of the statistics on mineral resources it had 

been accumulating since 1880, and it also carried on an intensive search for new 

sources of needed minerals at home and in Latin America. The Survey, 

however, was largely overlooked when the National Research Council was 

established in 1916 to encourage "every form of investigation, whether for 

military and industrial application or for the advancement of knowledge 

without regard to its immediate practical bearing." The Director of the Bureau 

of Mines represented the Department of the Interior on the National Research 

Council, and the Geological Society of America, asked to form a committee on 

geology, named only geologists from universities and a few State geologists.

After the war was over, those who had been most closely associated with 

wartime mineral problems hoped for the adoption of a national policy for the 

use of mineral resources that would take into consideration world distribution 

and trade as well as tariffs, taxes, and conservation. A centralized international 

control was proposed that would further the aims of the League of Nations and 

serve the interests of conservation by allowing the minerals to be drawn from 

their natural sources of supply, but as C. K. Leith, mineral adviser to the War 

Industries and Shipping Boards and the Peace Commission, pointed out, international control would entail difficulties that were particularly burdensome on 

the United States because the few minerals for which the United States was 

dependent on foreign countries were more than offset by the many in which 

the United States was dominant and on which there might be export limitations. In any event, the United States became dominantly isolationist in sentiment after the war ended. Leith pleaded for "recognition of the necessity of a 

systematic study of the world's mineral resources from the world's standpoint 

to supplement the studies made of the domestic resources, both by the mineral 

industry itself and by governmental and other agencies." Leith served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign and Domestic Mining Policy established by 

the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America and worked in cooperation 

with the Committee on Industrial Preparedness of the American Institute of 

Mining Engineers in making studies of strategic and critical minerals.

The war had a pronounced effect on American science in general. 'Industry 

became convinced of the value of research, scientists also became accustomed to 

working together for the quick solution of an immediate problem, as Govern12 The Third Stage
ment scientists had been doing for many years, and scientists in both the public 

and private sectors became acquainted with other disciplines than their own. 

The National Research Council was made a permanent part of the National 

Academy of Sciences as the war was drawing to a dose and given the task of 

stimulating research "in the mathematical, physical, and biological sciences, 

and in the application of these sciences to engineering, agriculture, medicine, 

and other useful arts, with the object of increasing knowledge, of strengthening 

national defense, and of contributing in other ways to the public welfare." 

Unlike the wartime Council, the new National Research Council, organized in 

February 1919, included several members of the U.S. Geological Survey. Director George Otis Smith was a member of the Division of Government Relations, 

which included representatives of each of the scientific bureaus of the Government. A. H. Brooks, Whitman Cross, T. Wayland Vaughan, and Chief 

Geologist David White were all members of the Division of Geology and 

Geography composed of representatives of the Association of American 

Geographers, the American Geographical Society, the Geological Society of 

America, the Paleontological Society (formed in 1909 as an affiliate of the 

Geological Society of America), the National Geographic Society, and 

members at large chosen by the Division. To facilitate the international exchange of information, representatives of the sciences in the Allied and 

associated nations met in Brussels in July 1919 to complete the organization of 

an International Research Council and to form international unions, affiliated 

with the Council, representing the individual sciences. The American 

Geophysical Union was set up at this time as an arm of the National Research 

Council and the American representative of the International Union of 

Geodesy and Geophysics. Within the American geological community, two 

new societies were formed, the Mineralogical Society "for the advancement of 

mineralogy, crystallography, and allied sciences," and the Society of Economic 

Geologists, for the "advancement of the science of geology in its application to 

mining and other industries."

Federal science, however, at this time suffered for lack of support. So great 

was the demand for economy in the Federal Government that only one percent 

of the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1919, was used for education 

and scientific research and development, and even that small amount was 

carefully scrutinized. Many scientists left the Government at this time to accept 

more remunerative positions in industry. The oil industry, which had become 

increasingly aware of the value of science in the search for oil recruited 

geologists from the Geological Survey with such success that Director Smith 

remarked ruefully that he felt like the head of a high-class employment agency. 

The oil industry was followed by the universities, and between them they 

raided the Survey staff so successfully that in some sections of the Geologic 

Branch too few scientists were left to train newcomers, so the slow process of 

rebuilding the geologic staff had to begin again.

In the immediate aftermath of the war, all the mineral industries were in 

some state of disarray but few of their problems lent themselves to a scientific 

solution. The search for domestic sources of metals had been so successful that 

the metals industries had an oversupply for peacetime uses and demanded from 

the Government relief measures ranging from financial assistance to mineral 

embargoes. The coal industry was badly overextended as the result of the expansion to cope with wartime demands. Because employment in the coal mines 

was intermittent at best, the postwar contraction created unusual hardships for 

the miners so in 1919 they went on the first of several strikes seeking increased 

wages. Production from known American oil fields was becoming increasingly 

difficult because of the much greater depths to which it was necessary to drill to 

obtain oil. In 1919, there was a shortfall in petroleum production and oil had 

to be drawn from storage or imported to meet the demand.

Postwar Science 13
The combination of the coal strike and petroleum shortage brought on an 

energy crisis that forced Congress to come to a decision on the disposition of the 

reserved mineral lands and water-power sites. On February 25, 1920, the 

Mineral Leasing Act was approved. The Coal Lands Acts of 1873 and the Placer 

Act as it applied to oil and gas, phosphate, and oil shale were repealed, and the 

mineral lands were made available for lease by competitive bidding. On June 

10, 1920, the Federal Water Power Act was approved, and the Federal Power 

Commission was established to issue licenses for the development of water 

power.

Leases and licenses were only a superficial solution to the energy problem. 

Although the United States was well endowed with natural sources of energy 

and was the largest producer of energy in the world, it was also the world's 

largest consumer of energy. Moreover, fuel was cheap because of the competition among the different energy sources and there had been little interest in 

developing more efficiency in the use of energy. Research had brought about 

an increase in the amount of useful energy that could be secured from a ton of 

coal, but coal, which had been the Nation's chief source of energy at the turn of 

the century, had been losing ground since 1913 to other sources of energy. The 

postwar shortage of petroleum caused some concern about the long-term supply of petroleum, and led some to consider conservation. Others, however, 

preferred tax incentives to encourage exploration, and still others, among them 

Director Smith of the Geological Survey, the acquisition of foreign oil reserves. 

Chief Geologist David White, on the other hand, called for more basic 

research. Petroleum geologists, he believed, could find new domestic fields, 

but fundamental research was even more vital because the geologic principles 

controlling the distribution of oil and gas were still known only in part.

In the decade following World War I, engineering was considered more 

important than science. The expanding population and increasing urbanization of the United States after the war, the development of the automobile industry and the consequent need for good roads, and the demand for hydroelectric power all created problems that the engineering skills of the Survey's 

topographic and hydraulic engineers could help solve. Other Federal, State, 

and municipal agencies were willing to pay for these services, and so both the 

Topographic and Water Resources Branches of the Geological Survey gradually 

surpassed the Geologic Branch in size of staff and available funds. Both 

branches became so deeply involved in these cooperative investigations, however, that they were unable to formulate or adhere to any national plan of 

investigations or surveys. In 1925, Congress passed the Temple Act calling for 

the completion of the topographic map of the United states in 20 years, but 

then made it impossible to achieve by forcing the Survey to rely on cooperative 

funds for the major part of the program. The Water Resources Branch was so 

burdened with outside demands for its services that it could not undertake major investigations, as of great floods, when opportunities arose. Both branches 

endeavored to continue some research. The Topographic and the Alaskan 

Branches both investigated the use of aerial photographs in mapping. In the 

Water Resources Branch, a small group of ground-water geologists headed by 

O. E. Meinzer continued the fundamental work that W. C. Mendenhall had 

begun in the early part of the century and by the end of the 1920's significant 

results were presented to the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the 

Society of Economic Geologists. The Section of Hydrology was established in 

the American Geophysical Union as the American representative of the International Association of Scientific Hydrology.

Although its research effort was circumscribed by limited funds and loss of 

personnel, the Geologic Branch resumed its long-range investigations as far as 

possible once the wartime investigations were completed. David White retired 

as Chief Geologist in 1922 but his successor, Walter C. Mendenhall, had the

14 The Third Stage
same view of the necessity of basic research. His was the task of rebuilding the 

staff after the raids by the oil industry and the universities but his also the opportunity to rebuild it on the basis of his frequently expressed adage that 

without science to apply there can be no applied science. Much time was given 

to the compilation of State geologic maps, leading finally to the preparation of 

the geologic map of the United States. Broad regional stratigraphic studies were 

carried out, basic research investigations were made in the laboratories, and, 

after the middle of the decade, mining district studies were increased with the 

aid of cooperative funds.

By 1922, the mineral industry had begun to readjust to a peacetime basis. 

Large stocks of metals were reduced, and an increase in iron and steel production created a demand for manganese and other steel-hardening metals. 

Petroleum production reached a record high although the year had begun with 

a pessimistic USGS AAPG statement about the amount of the Nation's 

reserves. Petroleum production continued to soar and in 1929 exceeded 1 

billion barrels. The coal industry, however, experienced the greatest and 

longest strike in its history in 1922. The coal industry was troubled not only by 

competition from other forms of energy but also by competition within the industry itself because of striking differences in salaries in southern and northern 

fields. To end the strike in 1922, Congress established a Coal Commission to 

investigate the coal industry and study its problems, but once the strike was 

over took little interest in the commission's findings and recommendations.

By the middle of the decade, the conservation of oil acquired renewed importance. In 1925, the Geological Survey was given a new responsibility for 

supervision of mineral-leasing activities on the public lands, and its Land 

Classification Branch was renamed the Conservation Branch. Supervision of 

mineral-leasing activities had been assigned to the Bureau of Mines after the 

Mineral Leasing Act became law in 1920. When Herbert Hoover became 

Secretary of Commerce in 1921, however, he took seriously the responsibility of 

his department, as expressed in its Organic Act, to help "foster, promote, and 

develop" commerce and industry and therefore cast a covetous eye on the 

Bureau of Mines and the Survey's Division of Mineral Resources to help foster, 

promote, and develop the mining industry. In 1925, he succeeded in obtaining 

their transfer from Interior to Commerce. Because the public-lands activities 

had to remain in Interior, the Survey took on a new assignment. At the time of 

the transfer, there were new requirements in the supervision of leasing activities. In the wake of the Teapot Dome scandal, the Coolidge administration 

had adopted conservation measures, and Coolidge had established a Federal 

Oil Conservation Board, with George Otis Smith as chairman of its advisory 

committee, in December 1924. At the time, however, the rapid increase in oil 

supply was beginning to weaken the price structure so it may be that the administration's motive for adopting conservation measures was not unmixed.

The postwar expansion of the oil industry from oil famine in 1920 to oil 

glut in 1930 contributed to a striking development in the geological sciences. 

David White complained in 1920 that petroleum geology amounted to little 

more than the application of the methods of stratigraphy, with specialization in 

structural study, to the discovery of oil pools. Within a few years, however, 

petroleum geology became a complex science. Micropaleontology and 

microlithology became adjuncts of petroleum geology, and after core-drilling 

was introduced for mapping shallow underground structure and for sampling 

oil sands, subsurface geology became a major element of petroleum geology. 

The introduction of geophysical methods of exploration in the 1920's was also 

an important factor in increasing the finding rate of new oil fields. The coming 

of age of these specializations was marked by the formation of two new professional societies. In 1926, the first steps were taken toward the formation of a 

Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, which became a

Expansion of the Oil Industry 15
technical division of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in 

1930. The Society of Exploration Geophysicists was formed in 1931. Neither 

society was devoted entirely to applied science. In fact, in the first issue of the 

Journal of Sedimentary Petrology in 1931, an editorialist proclaimed subsurface 

geology to the ' 'one of the most fascinating fields of investigation of all times.'' 

Even though it was "pursued with an obvious economic motive, every scrap of 

the work involved is fundamental geology which gains slowly, but surely, in 

some place or other from the continued effort to unravel its secrets."

David White seems to have had a hand in many if not all these 

developments in petroleum geology. As Chief Geologist of the Geological 

Survey he had initiated some of the Survey's first studies in micropaleontology, 

and had obtained the assistance of the Coast and Geodetic Survey in making 

gravity measurements over Damon Mound in Texas, which anticipated the 

gravity method of exploration. He had also supported efforts to determine a 

relationship between subsurface temperatures and oil pools and continued to 

facilitate them as a member and later chairman of the Division of Geology and 

Geography of the National Research Council. In another unusual investigation 

for a paleobotanist, he considered the possible use of radioactivity in oil-field 

location. He was also one of the small group that planned the formation of the 

Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists. White was also largely 

responsible for obtaining grants from John D. Rockefeller and the Universal Oil 

Products Company for a 5-year cooperative program of geological, paleontological, chemical, and physical research on the origin of oil, administered by 

a Central Petroleum Committee of the National Research Council. White 

himself supervised several of the 38 projects funded by this grant.

Basic research, rather than petroleum geology, was White's greatest interest. Mendenhall, who had known him since 1893 when they had spent their 

first field season in the Appalachian region in M. R. Campbell's party, called 

him an "intellectual imperialist, engaged in constantly extending the domain 

of the human mind." When White became chairman of the Division of 

Geology and Geography of the National Research Council in 1924, several new 

research committees were set up, among them Committees on the Improvement of Methods in Gravity Measurements, the Measurement of Geologic 

Time by Atomic Disintegration, the Testing of Isostasy in the Great Basin, 

Securing Quantitative Data of Geological Processes, Shoreline Investigations, 

and Obtaining Scientific Data from Commercial Examinations and Explorations, as well as Studies in Petroleum Geology. The Council had no funds to 

support the research its committees proposed but the U.S. Geological Survey as 

well as State surveys, universities, and private research institutions began such 

research whenever their means and staff permitted.

Basic research also came to the fore as metals geologists experienced a sort 

of renascence in the mid-1920's. Publication of the reports of the Committee 

on Industrial Preparedness of the American Institute of Mining and 

Metallurgical Engineers and the Leith Committee on Foreign and Domestic 

Mining Policy of the Mining and Metallurgical Society in 1925 precipitated new 

debates on the meaning of "economic" in economic geology. Many held that 

the lack of progress in economic geology was due to the paucity of basic 

research, and under White's successor as chairman of the Division of Geology 

and Geography, Waldemar Lindgren, a Committee on Processes of Ore 

Deposition was set up.

The National Academy of Sciences also developed a plan to support and 

promote basic research through a National Research Endowment. A Board of 

Trustees set up in 1925 under the chairmanship of Secretary of Commerce 

Herbert Hoover, who had been a member of the Academy since 1922, was 

unable to secure the needed funds. The plan, however, did bring Hoover to 

public attention as a proponent of pure science. Three years later, in 1928,

16 The Third Stage
Hoover was elected President of the United States. As Secretary of Commerce, 

he had been involved in the conservation of both water and oil as well as fostering the development of the mineral industry, and so his inauguration on March 

4, 1929, one day after the Survey's 50th anniversary, promised new hope for 

both conservation and Federal science.

Hoover was hardly in office before beginning to take action on conservation. He recognized three urgent problems in the conservation of the public 

lands: overgrazing, which diminished the value of the lands and imperiled the 

water supply through the destruction of the natural cover; the best method of 

reclamation to gain real conservation of water; and the conservation of oil and 

gas resources. On March 12, 1929, he announced the most complete conservation of Federal oil and followed that with a proposal for an interstate oil compact to regulate production of oil from Government and non-Government 

lands. In a major piece of conservation legislation, which finally recognized 

that oil is a migratory mineral that cannot be forced to take heed of the legal 

divisions and subdivisions of public-land surveys, Congress in 1930 authorized 

the Government to participate in unit operation and development of single oil 

pools involving public lands, thus permitting their development with a 

minimum waste of gas and oil and the elimination of overproduction as the 

result of offsetting. He ordered planning for river-basin development to begin 

along the lines of the Colorado River Compact, and appointed a Public Lands 

Commission to study the problems of the public domain. The Conservation 

Branch of the Geological Survey, which had been studying the problems of the 

agricultural lands in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture, was 

called on to assist the Public Lands Commission. In his first annual address to 

Congress in December 1929, Hoover called for reorganization of the conservation work of the Federal Government so there could be "proper development 

and adherence to broad national policies" and a "central point where the 

searchlight of public opinion may concentrate itself.''

Hoover's first budget proposed increased funds for scientific agencies, including $100,000 earmarked for fundamental research in the geological 

sciences, the first substantial increase in Federal funds for geologic investigations since 1915. In December 1930, he appointed George Otis Smith to the 

newly reorganized Federal Power Commission and then appointed Walter C. 

Mendenhall to succeed Smith as Director of the Geological Survey, honoring 

not only a commitment to appoint the heads of scientific agencies from within 

the civil service but also a commitment to support basic research.

The depression robbed the Hoover administration of the opportunity to 

accomplish many of its conservation objectives. Some goals, however, were 

achieved during the next administration even if by somewhat different 

methods and with different results than Hoover envisioned. Eventually there 

was an Interstate Oil Compact to control production, and, in 1937, after a 

quarter-century of Congressional and Executive investigations, the Bituminous 

Coal Act finally brought the coal industry under public regulation. The grazing 

lands were placed under control, although of the Federal Government rather 

than the States, and part of the Survey's Conservation Branch was spun off to 

form the nucleus of the Grazing Service. Great darns were built on Western 

rivers although the power they generated was public rather than private. The 

conservation work of the Federal Government, however, remained divided, 

and both the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior 

jockeyed to become the central point for conservation.

For a time, because of the long process of preparing budgets and appropriating funds, Federal expenditures for scientific research continued to increase despite the depression. The Geological Survey received its largest-ever 

appropriation for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1931, some 63 percent more 

than the appropriation during the last year of the Coolidge administration.

Science and Conservation Under Hoover 17
Thereafter, however, Federal funds declined precipitously and continued to 

decline with but few exceptions during Roosevelt's first and much of his second 

administration.

The new Roosevelt administration was pro-conservation but took no strong 

stand on science. Science had become somewhat of a political issue in the waning days of the 1932 presidential election campaign after Hoover declared that 

progress in the last generation had been due to scientific research and that if the 

American system was not destroyed and if scientific research was stimulated, 

future generations would enjoy the same advantages. Some people interpreted 

the election of Roosevelt as a repudiation of Hoover's scientific policies as well 

as his economic policies, and even some who realized the importance of scientific research thought research could be postponed and priority given to the 

economic crisis. Although the administration gave first priority to the state of 

the national economy, conservation benefited from the legislation of the first 

100 days. The Civilian Conservation Corps was established, the Tennessee 

Valley Authority was set up, and the National Industrial Recovery Act, which 

included the conservation and development of natural resources among public 

works, provided $3.3 billion to revive business and industrial activity and 

reduce unemployment. In July 1933, Secretary of the Interior Ickes was 

designated Public Works Administrator and promptly set up a National Planning Board to aid in formulating a comprehensive plan for public works. 

Beginning in mid-August, the Public Works Administration made grants to 

the Survey for stream-gaging stations, topographic surveys, investigations of 

ground-water problems, and safety measures on the public lands that by 

November 1 amounted to more than $3.7 million. By the end of the fiscal year, 

the total of outside funds from PWA and other agencies as well as cooperative 

funds amounted to four times the Federal appropriation. Unlike the 

cooperative and repay funds, the grants from PWA and TVA could be and were 

used in part to extend the Survey programs of water- and mineral-resources investigations and topographic mapping into new areas and to support research 

studies such as those of the relation of rainfall to runoff, flood frequency, and 

photogrammetric methods in mapping. The Federal appropriation for the 

Geological Survey was not restored to its former level until the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1938, but except for a short period of austerity in 1932 and 1933, 

Survey work continued to be well funded.

For a time, a Science Advisory Board, set up by President Roosevelt at the 

end of July 1933 and placed under the jurisdiction of the National Academy of 

Sciences and the National Research Council, attempted to deal with the problems of Federal science. One of its first efforts was the preparation of a report on 

science progress that was submitted to Secretary Ickes in mid-September with 

the declaration that

scientific research is an essential element of any far-sighted comprehensive program for planning and improving the national prosperity.

The Board proposed a $16 million program to be funded by PWA to support 

research in the natural sciences and their applications. Ickes, however, indicated that although he was personally convinced of the importance of science, 

PWA funds were available only for construction. That was but the first of many 

rebuffs of the Science Advisory Board by Secretary Ickes or of conflicts between 

that Board and the National Planning Board and its variously named successors 

as they prepared reports with divergent views on programs dealing with the use 

of natural resources and science. In 1936, the Science Advisory Board was 

reduced to the status of part of the reorganized Division of Government Relations of the National Research Council. Undoubtedly, part of the friction had 

developed as the result of the Science Advisory Board's conscientious attempt 

to present an outside point of view by only rarely including Government scien18 The Third Stage
tists, even on subcommittees, whereas the National Resources Board/Committee relied to a great extent on Government experts and declared in a 1939 

report that

Most well conceived Governmental action, if traced back to its source, will 

be found to spring from the work of one or many research workers, 

distributed among the Government offices and laboratories. They must 

supply the answers which are the tools and the material used in the formulation of sound policies.

Scientists in the mid-1930's, despite the depression, were living in exciting 

times. Basic research had regained the standing that some had thought lost 

forever after World War I. Science in general had awakened to the fact that 

knowledge cannot be segregated into compartments but is continuous and that 

the most fruitful fields for research are often in the borderlands, the "no man's 

land" of science. Geology, which originated as a borderland science, had for 

some time been actively plowing its borderland fields of chemistry, physics, 

and biology, but a National Research Council poll in 1936 uncovered so many 

desirable lines of research that Remsen's statement of 1904 that "no matter in 

what direction we may look we are aware of great unexplored territories" and 

Walcott's 1901 statement that "the geologic Alexander will never lack worlds 

to conquer" were still palpably true. Even the mineral industry, more especially the oil industry, acknowledged that the future lay in "speculative geology" 

which required "more exact knowledge of geologic history, geologic processes, 

of stratigraphy and sedimentation."

Government geologists, as always, had basic obligations to the Nation in addition to the pursuit of knowledge. As tensions began to develop in Europe and 

the Far East, the lessons of World War I were once more reviewed. C. K. Leith 

and a small group of Washington scientists had kept the concept of strategic 

and critical minerals alive during the 1920's and 1930's. Leith, as a member of 

both the Science Advisory Board and the National Resources Board, tried to 

promote the adoption of a national minerals policy in 1934 and 1935 but 

without success. The need for a national mapping program was outlined by 

both the Science Advisory Board and the National Resources Board in 1934. In 

the mid-1930's, efforts were made to obtain funds for strategic-minerals 

studies, and Director Mendenhall somberly warned Congress that it was "futile 

to wait for an emergency and then expect sound and complete information." It 

was not until June 1939, however, that Congress passed the Strategic Materials 

Act and not until August 5, less than 1 month before the beginning of World 

War II in Europe, that Congress appropriated funds for strategic-mineral 

studies by the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines. With the beginning 

of the war, the third stage of conservation was once more interrupted and basic 

research projects were once more laid aside.

The Approach of World War II 19
Chapter 2.

National Welfare and National Efficiency,

1904-1907

The idea that our natural resources were inexhaustible still obtained, 

and there was as yet no real knowledge of their extent and condition. The 

relation of the conservation of natural resources to the problems of National welfare and National efficiency had not yet dawned on the public 

mind.

 Theodore Roosevelt

As the U.S. Geological Survey's silver anniversary approached in 1904, the 

American Mining Congress, an organization of Western mining men who consistently supported the work of the Survey, was calling for the establishment of 

a cabinet-level department of mines. The editor of the Engineering and Mining 

Journal was equally enthusiastic about the accomplishments of the Survey in 

aiding the development of the mineral industry but called instead for greater 

scope for the Survey's economic geology program and "freedom from the encroachments of the wood and water departments." As it turned out, the 

editor's fear of the effect of "wood and water" on economic geology was well 

founded, although it was not the wood and water departments of the Survey 

that encroached on its economic geology program but the inauguration of a national conservation program with initial emphasis on forests and water.

The beginning of the national conservation program may well be dated by 

the transmittal to President Roosevelt in March 1904 of the report of the Second Public Lands Commission that dealt extensively with forests and water. 

Within a year, the management of the forest reserves was transferred from the 

Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture and the Survey 

yielded its examination of the forest reserves to the Forest Service. Theodore 

Roosevelt was deeply interested in the conservation movement and considered 

it one of the most important efforts of his administration, but some of the more 

conservative members of Congress did not share his enthusiasm. Although they 

had been persuaded to authorize the forest-reserves transfer, they did not respond to recommendations for water-related legislation and in fact showed 

their mistrust by two successive cuts in the Survey's appropriation for stream 

gaging.

As long as the administration's conservation efforts were confined to 

forests and water, only the water-resources program of the Survey was 

vulnerable. In 1906, however, Roosevelt turned his attention to the mineral 

lands, and the withdrawal of millions of acres of supposed coal land in the West 

had an immediate impact on the Survey's geologic program. By that time, the 

mineral industry had begun to recruit economic geologists from the Survey so 

that the very success of economic geology was proving a handicap to its continued progress. Thus, in the spring of 1907, a new Secretary of the Interior, 

committed to the conservation movement, and a new Director, vitally interested in a business policy for the public domain, were able to set the Survey 

on a new course in which, for a time, practical geology outweighed research.

National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907 21
In 1904, no prophet foresaw this change. Scientists looked forward to new 

and challenging research objectives. C. R. Van Hise and George Becker, who 

assessed the "present problems" of geology and geophysics at the International 

Congress of Arts and Sciences in St. Louis that year, called for some very fundamental research. Van Hise defined geology as the science treating of the 

energy and substance of the Earth and its principal problem as the reduction of 

the science to order under the principles of physics and chemistry. Becker 

challenged physicists to undertake studies and enumerated a long list of problems that needed investigation. From the geological standpoint, the distribution of density within the Earth was one of the most important questions. 

Others were the age of the Earth and the solar system, the origin of the Moon, 

the outlines of ocean basins, the chief tectonic lines of the globe, seismology 

("a vast subject in itself, but one almost totally lacking in theoretical foundation"), causes of earthquakes, origin and mechanism of volcanoes, the physics 

of magmatic solution, origin of petroleum and ore deposits, mathematics of 

erosion, geological climates and the origin of glaciation, and the polarity of 

lavas. Simon Newcomb, who regretted the establishment of the Carnegie 

Institution of Washington because its granting of funds might prejudice the 

selection of research projects, said

our nation needs the services of a body of men who shall be engaged in 

work of a distinctively different type from that carried on in our traditional 

institutions of learning, a work which belongs peculiarly to the present and 

future, because it was not possible in the past.

As a Federal agency that depended on Congress for annual appropriations for 

its work, the Geological Survey had to devote most of its efforts to more practical "problems." Its work nonetheless encompassed a broad range of investigations from applied science and engineering to fundamental research and 

from paleontology to experimental physics.

The Geologic Branch, the oldest and largest of the three Survey's field 

branches, dominated the Survey in 1904. It was organized in four divisions: 

Geology and Paleontology, under C. W. Hayes; Alaskan Mineral Resources, 

under A. H. Brooks, who had begun his Survey career as Hayes' assistant; Mining and Mineral Resources, under David T. Day, who, like Hayes, had received 

a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins in the 1880's; and Chemical and Physical 

Research, under G. F. Becker, who had been appointed to the Survey in July

Colorado, the leading mining State in the West, had 

been the scene of many mining-district studies in the 

Survey's first quarter-century, the most notable being 

S. F. Emmons' classic study of the Leadville district 

from which he had developed the idea of structural 

control of ore deposits and the replacement theory of 

ore genesis. In 1904, J. E. Spurr and G. H. Garrey 

began a study of a section at the northeast end of the 

great mineral belt that included the area where gold 

had been discovered in 1859, precipitating the second 

great rush of gold-seekers to the West. (The old placer 

diggings near the point where gold was discovered are 

shown in the foreground of the photograph.) Spurr 

and Garrey concluded that the greater portion of the 

gold, silver, and lead deposits of Colorado were of 

magmatic origin and that, in fact, magmatic processes 

were by far the most important mode of formation of 

ores. (From J. E. Spurr and G. H. Garrey, 1908.)

22 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
1879. Under the reorganization plan of 1900 as modified in 1902, the Division 

of Geology and Paleontology, the largest of the four, consisted of the Sections 

of Areal Geology, Precambrian and Metamorphic Geology, Pleistocene 

Geology, Paleontology, Economic Geology of Metalliferous Deposits, and 

Economic Geology of Nonmetalliferous Deposits, headed by Bailey Willis, 

C. R. Van Hise, T. C. Chamberlin, T. W. Stanton, S. F. Emmons, and Hayes. 

In the fall of 1903, Van Hise had become president of the University of Wisconsin, and as he was no longer able to spend long periods in Washington, the 

Section of Precambrian and Metamorphic Geology was discontinued as a formal organization. In the spring of 1904, the Section of Pleistocene Geology, 

which Chamberlin had headed in addition to his responsibilities at the University of Chicago, was replaced by a Section of Physiographic and Glacial 

Geology, under G. K. Gilbert, which would consider all natural agencies by 

which the surface of the Earth is modified rather than the single agency of ice. 

M. R. Campbell, who had also begun his Survey career in the field with Hayes, 

replaced Gilbert as Chairman of the Geologic Names Committee. In addition 

to these formal changes in organization, some of the young men who had 

shown a capacity for handling large problems and for coordinating the work of 

others were given supervisory authority over groups of parties based on natural 

classification of the work or geographic location. Thus, when Hayes found that 

his administrative duties as Geologist-in-charge of both the Division of 

Geology and the Nonmetals Section left him no time for field work, he 

delegated to E. C. Eckel responsibility for all nonmetals investigations except 

those in the geology of fuels.

The Metals Section was the most coveted assignment for Survey geologists 

in 1904 although its chief, S. F. Emmons, was probably the Survey's hardest 

taskmaster. Emmons had established as a basic principle that the general objective of the work was the determination of the laws that govern the formation of 

deposits of the useful minerals and of the rock formations in which they were 

most likely to be found. This was an objective that could be attained only by 

long and careful study of many and varied deposits, the most intensive of them 

in old districts where the mining development had been greatest. Of almost 

equal importance was the collection of accurate statistics of the Nation's 

mineral production and their analysis from the geologic standpoint. During the 

1904 field season, Emmons himself completed a resurvey of the Leadville 

district in Colorado where he had done his first Survey work in 1879- Waldemar 

Lindgren, following the tradition begun by Clarence King and Emmons, 

prepared discussions of gold and silver production from the geologic standpoint 

for the annual Mineral Resources volume. J. E. Spurr, who had first worked 

with Emmons in 1894, directed two parties mapping areal and economic 

geology in Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties in Colorado and then made a 

reconnaissance of the newly important Tonopah and Goldfield districts in 

Nevada. W. H. Weed, who had been drawn into economic work in the 

mid-1890's, made a reconnaissance study of the copper deposits of the Appalachian region and also prepared a report on the copper deposits of the 

United States from the geologic standpoint. F. L. Ransome, who had joined the 

Metals Section in 1897, began the economic survey of the Coeur d'Alene 

district in Idaho. Ransome's contemporaries Arthur Spencer, after a year in 

Alaska, began a study of the zinc deposits of Sterling Hill and Franklin Furnace, New Jersey, and John D. Irving, who had defected part-time to Lehigh 

University, made economic investigations in the San Juan area of Colorado incidental to the areal mapping, aided by W. H. Emmons, the Metals Section's 

most recent acquisition. Of the still younger members of the section, J. M. 

Boutwell completed an investigation at Park City in Utah and began a study of 

the mineral deposits of that State, H. F. Bain continued his study of the lead 

and zinc deposits of the Mississippi Valley and prepared a report on the lead

Geology, 1904 23
and zinc deposits of the United States. Another very recent acquisition, L C. 

Graton, made a reconnaissance of the tin deposits of North and South Carolina 

under Lindgren's direction.

Investigations in the Section of Nonmetalliferous Deposits were for the 

most part carried on in conjunction with areal mapping. Hayes insisted on 

detail and accuracy in mapping, and maps prepared in the Nonmetals Section 

had already proved to be of value to both coal and oil operators in the 

Appalachian area, then the leading source of both commodities. M. R. Campbell, for example, had depicted the extent, position, and structure of coal beds 

so exactly in geologic folios that the operators were able to introduce more 

economical methods of mining. W. T. Griswold's determination of the 

underground structure on which the accumulation of oil and gas depended had 

been tested by drilling and found of value in the development of oil and gas 

fields. They continued such work in the Appalachian area in 1904; in addition, 

J. A. Taff worked in Indian Territory, where he divided his time between mapping coal fields and preparing detailed maps and descriptions for use of the 

Secretary of the Interior in selling the lands, thus classifying the lands in advance of disposition. Other oil-field investigations were made by F. C. 

Schrader, who began mapping the Independence quadrangle in Kansas, which 

included the southwestward extension of the lola field, and by N. M. Fenneman, who reexamined the Gulf Coast oil fields where development had been 

especially active since the discovery of Spindletop in 1901. E. C. Eckel supervised investigations related to iron and structural materials, spending some 

time in northeast Texas in connection with a planned report on the iron industry of the United States, directed E. F. Burchard, a new geologic aid, in his 

study of iron deposits in Alabama, and continued work on the report on 

cement resources. Other work was undertaken by C. K. Leith, who made a 

reconnaissance of the iron deposits in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific States, 

and by T. N. Dale, who continued studies of slate, granite, and clay in the New 

England States.

Investigations of mineral resources in Alaska were expanded in the summer of 1904. In previous years, much of the Survey's attention had been 

devoted to investigations of gold placers, which were the largest producers of 

wealth in the territory. In 1904, C. W. Wright and F. E. Wright continued the 

reconnaissance investigations in southeastern Alaska begun by Arthur Spencer, 

L. M. Prindle and F. L. Hess examined the Fairbanks and Ramparts placers and 

made reconnaissance studies in the Yukon-Tanana region, and Fred Moffit investigated the gold placers of the Kenai Peninsula. In addition, the Survey 

began some fuels investigations in the territory. The gold discoveries of the late 

1890's had stimulated interest in other mineral resources, and in 1900 Congress 

had extended the coal-land laws to Alaska. Little coal land was sold, however, 

for the coal-land laws provided for sales in governmental subdivisions and 

Alaska was still largely unsurveyed. In 1904, therefore, Congress provided for 

coal locations to be set off in rectangular tracts of 40, 80, or 160 acres, with 

north and south boundaries run according to true meridian and then described 

with reference to natural or permanent artificial monuments. As private interests were already claiming coal lands, the Survey sent George C. Martin to 

study the coal and oil fields of the Cook Inlet region and A. J. Collier to investigate the coal fields of the Cape Lisburne area in extreme northwestern 

Alaska north of the Arctic Circle. Topographic parties in the summer of 1904 

mapped in the Yukon-Tanana region, the Cook Inlet region, and the Seward 

Peninsula in preparation for future geologic studies.

Chester Purington and Sidney Paige made a very practical investigation of 

the costs and methods of placer mining in Alaska for comparison with those in 

the Yukon Territory and British Columbia. They found that in Alaska operations requiring the installation of expensive plants were often undertaken

24 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
The study of nonmetalliferous deposits became more 

important around the turn of the century. In 1898, 

Director Walcott had urged that the coals and cokes of 

the United States be thoroughly studied by chemical 

investigations and determinations of calorific values, 

including practical tests, so that the fuels might be 

used with the greatest efficiency. Work was begun at 

the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, where the 

practical tests were spectacularly successful in demonstrating improvements in the use of solid fuels. The illustration shows the graphic log sheet of boiler tests of 

an Indian Territory coal. (From E. W. Parker, J. A. 

Holmes, and M. R. Campbell, 1906.)

before the ground had been adequately sampled, and although methods of 

mining and conveying the gold-bearing materials often left much to be desired 

from the standpoint of economy most were developing along favorable lines, 

but the gold-washing and gold-saving appliances in use were inexcusably crude 

and inefficient in many places. The most significant difference between the 

Canadian and Alaskan fields, however, was the complete lack of adequate 

means of transportation in Alaska in contrast to the exceptionally good roads in 

Canada. Purington and Paige concluded that much could be done to increase 

the output and lower the cost of mining in Alaska by the judicious building of 

good roads.

A. H. Brooks, the chief of the Alaskan division, was quick to point out 

that full development of all Alaskan resources depended on the improvement 

of transportation facilities. Construction of roads was important, but 

economical transportation for long distances could only be achieved by the construction of railroads. Several bills for construction of railroads in Alaska had 

already been filed in Congress but none had been acted on. Brooks suggested 

that the proper location of a railway should be determined by topography and 

the distribution of mineral resources, and that for an appropriation of about 

$200,000 the Survey could in 2 years make reconnaissance surveys of the suggested routes.

In addition to its usual field activities in economic geology, the Survey had 

agreed to organize the department of mining and metallurgy at the Louisiana 

Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, which celebrated the centennial of the Nation's first acquisition of western territory, and had appointed Joseph Austin 

Holmes, the State Geologist of North Carolina, to direct it. With the 

knowledge of what had proved most effective at earlier expositions, the Survey 

planned to use the exhibit as a sort of comprehensive publication showing the 

mineral products of the United States and the geologic conditions on which the 

minerals depended.

Louisiana Purchase Exposition 25
Originally, the Survey planned that its own contribution to the exposition 

would be a series of charts illustrating the origin of ore deposits, but then it was 

realized that the exhibit offered an opportunity to demonstrate the value of 

more comprehensive investigations of coal and coke, which it had been proposing for several years. A special appropriation of $60,000 was therefore 

requested "for continuing and enlarging the work of the Geological Survey in 

examining, analyzing, and testing of coals and lignites of the United States in 

order to determine their fuel values." The appropriation was proposed to the 

Senate by Senator Stephen B. Elkins of the Committee on the Geological 

Survey in January 1904, and in February 1904 Congress approved as part of the 

Urgent Deficiency bill an appropriation of $30,000 for analyzing and testing 

coals and lignites "to determine their fuel values and the most economic 

method for their utilization for different purposes" with the stipulation that all 

testing machinery and all coals and lignites to be tested be contributed without 

charge to the Government. Director Walcott immediately protested that 

$60,000 was the absolute minimum required to do the work, and another appropriation of $30,000 was included in the General Deficiency Act approved 

on April 27, 1904.

To direct the fuels-testing program, Walcott reverted to one of his favorite 

administrative procedures and named a committee of Edward W. Parker of the 

Division of Mining and Mineral Resources as chairman, M. R. Campbell of the 

Division of Geology, and J. A. Holmes. Campbell spent most of the summer 

visiting coal fields in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, North 

Dakota, New Mexico, and Texas, in connection with his duties as a member of 

the committee, incidentally gaining valuable information for use in planning 

future work, particularly in connection with the low-grade coals of the West, 

while Parker and Holmes dealt with the problems of setting up the plant.

The coal-testing plant did not begin operations until the first of 

September 1904, delayed by the necessity of assembling and constructing the 

equipment that could be obtained free of charge as the law required and by the 

strike at the plant where some of the operating and conveying apparatus was 

purchased. Moreover, buildings had to be constructed a boiler and engine 

house, a storage and washery building, and two buildings for briquetting 

machines and equipment and a chemical laboratory installed in the Metal 

Pavilion, a short distance away.

The tests began to yield significant data almost immediately. In the steamtesting division under Professor L. P. Breckenridge of the University of Illinois, 

it was quickly learned that the steam-producing capacity of some coals could be 

improved by washing. In the gas-producer tests directed by Professor Robert H. 

Fernald of Washington University at St. Louis, it was learned that most 

American bituminous coals and lignites could be used as a source of power in a 

gas-producer plant and were in fact more efficient in a gas-producer plant than 

in a steam-boiler plant. Some of the lignites from North Dakota and Texas 

were found to have unexpectedly high power-producing qualities. The division 

headed by Dr. Joseph Hyde Pratt of the University of North Carolina found 

that some coals and the slack produced in mining could be briquetted on a 

commercial basis. The chemists under Professor N. W. Lord of Ohio State 

University analyzed the coals and lignites, using methods recommended by a 

committee of the American Chemical Society for correlation with other data in 

the hope of developing a classification of coal.

The annual Contributions to Economic Geology, inaugurated by Emmons 

and Hayes in 1903 to meet the growing demand from the mineral industry for 

prompt publication of Survey work, had in just 2 short years proved so successful that it was necessary to issue two volumes for 1904, one on the progress 

of investigations of mineral resources in Alaska, the other, of more than 600 

pages, on investigations in the States and Territories. In addition, Survey and

26 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
non-Survey economic geologists began making plans for a new journal that 

would publish papers dealing "with the application of the broad principles of 

geology to mineral deposits of economic value, with the scientific description of 

such deposits and particularly with the chemical, physical, and structural problems bearing on their genesis." In the first issue, published in 1905, the 

editors, among whom were J. D. Irving, Waldemar Lindgren, F. L. Ransome, 

M. R. Campbell, and C. K. Leith, pointed out that it was "inevitable" that 

some would "decry as mere luxuries of speculation all endeavors to solve the 

scientific problems which bear upon the practical difficulties of mining" 

although they thought, or more likely, hoped that their number was growing 

smaller.

The work of the remaining parts of the Geologic Branch was presumably 

less economically oriented although in fact the economic element turned up in 

unexpected places. In the Section of Paleontology, investigations literally ran 

the gamut from pure paleontology to economic geology, from W. H. Ball's 

studies of the marine Tertiary fauna of the Pacific Coast to R. S. Bassler's 

studies of the cement resources of the Valley of Virginia. Some paleontologists 

worked in the field with geologic parties: T. W. Stanton went to Alaska to aid 

George Martin in the study of coal and oil areas, and E. O. Ulrich assisted 

several geologists in their mapping projects in the Midcontinent region. Others 

worked independently on stratigraphic problems, as for example, David White 

in the Appalachian region. In the new Section of Physiographic and Glacial 

Geology, G. K. Gilbert continued his studies of glacial erosion and the terrace 

systems in the higher parts of the Sierra Nevada and also visited points on the 

shores of Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior in connection with a proposed 

investigation of modern earth movements in the Great Lakes region. W. C. 

Alden, Frank Leverett, and F. B. Taylor investigated glacial phenomena in 

Wisconsin and Michigan, while W. W. Atwood looked at the glacial 

phenomena in the Uinta Mountains. Areal geologic mapping was underway in 

all parts of the country. George Otis Smith was given general supervision over 

geologic surveys in New England and the crystalline belt of New Jersey, a field 

of responsibility last occupied by Raphael Pumpelly in 1892. In connection 

with his new assignment, Smith took up once more the study of critical areas in 

the Taconic and Green Mountains. To the south, Florence Bascom mapped in 

New Jersey, George Stose in West Virginia, and Arthur Keith and Laurence 

LaForge in the southern Appalachians. In the Western States, Whitman Cross 

continued mapping in the San Juan region of Colorado, and J. S. Diller spent 

most of the 1904 field season completing the study of the stratigraphy of the 

Taylorsville region, California, begun several years earlier with Alpheus Hyatt. 

C. R. Van Hise and C. K. Leith represented the Survey in a joint United StatesCanadian commission to study the nomenclature and correlation of Precambrian formations in the Lake Superior region and spent 6 weeks in the field 

with Robert Bell and F. D. Adams of the Canadian Survey, A. C. Lane, the 

State Geologist of Michigan, and W. G. Miller, the Provincial Geologist of Ontario. The commission, with Lane dissenting in part, recommended that the 

Precambrian be divided into Keeweenawan, Huronian, Keewatin, and Laurentian, with an eruptive contact between the Keewatin and Laurentian and 

unconformities between the other divisions.

The Division of Physical and Chemical Research also had a wide range of 

investigations underway in addition to routine analyses. George Becker concentrated on investigations of elasticity, one of his "present problems" of 

geophysics, while A. L. Day and E. T. Alien extended their researches on the 

thermal properties of rock-forming minerals to the ferromagnesian silicates and 

prepared to make investigations in which artifical minerals could be dealt with 

under high pressure as well as high temperature. W. T. Schaller continued 

crystallographic studies of natural and artificial minerals and E. C. Sullivan his

Geology, 1904 27
research on the secondary enrichment of copper ores. W. F. Hillebrand was 

called on to act as adviser in the investigation of coals and undertook a special 

investigation of his own on moisture in coals.

F. H. Newell directed the work of both the Hydrologic Branch, with its 46 

employees, and the Reclamation Service, which had 187 employees. The 

Hydrographic Branch was organized in a Division of Hydrography subdivided 

into districts, and Divisions of Eastern Hydrology under M. L. Fuller, Western 

Hydrology under N. H. Darton, and Hydro-economics under M. O. Leighton. 

The work of the Hydrographic Branch proper ranged from pure geology to pure 

engineering, merging with the work of the Geologic Branch at one end and the 

Reclamation Service at the other. At the geologic end of the spectrum, the 

Division of Hydrology and the Division of Geology jointly supported inauguration of a plan devised by Arthur Veatch, for collecting and preserving well 

samples, in the Eastern Section of Hydrology. It was not possible to place 

observers at all wells, thus success depended on the cooperation of the drillers, 

and in general such cooperation could be expected only when the driller received some benefit. Veatch therefore made arrangements to answer any questions promptly and to interpret the records on request, in return for which the 

driller would furnish written records of his wells and samples of the materials 

penetrated. This simple plan proved both convenient and effective. Veatch 

himself prepared a report on the fluctuations of wells on Long Island, and Professor C. S. Slichter compiled the results of his field experiments on the rate of 

movement of underground waters and began preparation of a new and enlarged edition of "The Motions of Underground Waters" for which there was a 

continuing demand. Two useful publications were prepared in the Eastern Section: M. L. Fuller completed compilation of a bibliography and index of 

publications on underground waters and D. W. Johnson prepared the first 

comprehensive summary in the U.S. on the "Relation of the Law to

No theory had yet been proposed that was considered 

adequate to account for the formation and movement 

of petroleum although the anticlinal theory of accumulation was widely accepted. However, W. T. 

Griswold and M. J. Munn concluded from a detailed 

study of part of the central Appalachian oil field, including preparation of a contour map of the oil sand by 

combining surface and subsurface data, that petroleum 

accumulated in anticlines if the rocks were porous and 

completely saturated but accumulated at the upper 

limit of the saturated area in rocks partly filled with 

water and at the bottom of synclines, or the lowest 

point in a porous medium, if the rocks were dry. (From 

W. T. Griswold and M. J. Munn, 1907.)

28 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
Studies of nonmetalliferous deposits were extended to 

the geology of structural materials as new construction 

materials came into use. Slate was studied because 

both the geologic structure and mineralogical composition were of importance in its commercial use: the cost 

of production and strength depending on the structure, the durability and freedom from staining on the 

composition. Slate is so fine-grained, however, that it 

had to be studied in thin section under a microscope in 

order to distinguish the constituent particles. The illustration shows a thin section of a black roofing slate. 

(From T. N. Dale, 1906.)

Underground Waters" to meet the rapidly increasing demand for information 

and to assist efforts in several States to enact laws governing the use of such 

waters. In the Western Section of Hydrology, N. H. Darton, geologist-incharge, was assisted by W. C. Mendenhall, C. A. Fisher, W. T. Lee, G. B. 

Richardson, and C. E. Siebenthal as well as several professors of geology who 

devoted part of their time to the work. Field work was underway in 10 States 

and Territories. Darton spent several weeks around Belle Fourche, South 

Dakota, where there was much interest in ground-water resources owing to the 

extensive settlement expected when the irrigation works of the Reclamation 

Service were put into operation, and continued work in the Bighorn Mountains 

of Wyoming and the Arkansas Valley in Colorado. Mendenhall had several investigations underway in southern California. Of the younger men, Lee studied 

the Colorado River valley from the mouth of the Grand Canyon to Yuma and 

also made a reconnaissance of Owens Valley, Fisher and Siebenthal carried on 

investigations in Colorado and Wyoming, and Richardson spent the summer of 

1904 studying the ground-water resources of the Salt Lake Valley in Utah.

Investigations in the Division of Hydro-economics were partly scientific, 

partly practical, though somewhat weighted toward the latter. M. O. Leighton 

investigated the pollution of Lake Champlain, and R. B. Dole began a study of 

the character of the ground and surface waters of Minnesota, in cooperation 

with the Minnesota Board of Health, with special reference to their availability 

for use as municipal and industrial supplies. Scientists from the Survey and the 

Bureau of Forestry and the Bureau of Fisheries began an investigation of the 

drainage basin of the Potomac River that included a complete reconnaissance of 

the drainage area for sources of pollution, a hydrographic study of the amount 

of water flowing in the Potomac and its various tributaries, a study of the relation of soils and forest cover to quality and quantity of surface water in the 

basin, and a determination of the effect of some industrial waste on fishes. The 

Survey and the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture also carried on a joint investigation of the character of spring waters that had been 

placed on the market with considerable advertising fanfare.

At the engineering end of the spectrum, the Division of Hydrography 

made cooperative arrangements with eight States and increased the number of 

river stations to 754. N. C. Grover moved to Washington, replacing E.G. Paul 

as district engineer and also acting as Assistant Chief Hydrographer. H. K. 

Barrows succeeded Grover in the New England district and its headquarters 

were moved from Maine to Boston, Massachusetts. The Western Section of 

Hydrography was further subdivided so there were nine districts, seven of them 

coextensive with States, one comprising Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South 

Dakota, Wyoming and parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory, 

and one including the remaining parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Indian 

Territory. The Reclamation Service was ready to move into the construction 

phase. The Board of Engineers had passed on all plans for the Shoshone project 

in Wyoming, and the Secretary of the Interior had set aside $2 1A million for 

construction. Proposals for work were being received or advertisements for bids 

being prepared for several other projects. The Salt River project in Arizona, 

however, was running into special problems; the area was so inaccessible that 

freight rates were prohibitive and arrangements had to be made to manufacture 

bricks, lime, and cement on the site.

Unlike the Geologic and Hydrographic Branches, the Topographic Branch 

presented more of a dichotomy than a spectrum of work. The Branch had been 

reorganized in 1903 into two divisions, a Division of Topography and a 

Division of Geography and Forestry. The Division of Topography was further 

divided into Sections of Eastern Topography, Western Topography, Triangulation, and Inspection. The organization had been tentatively set up with R. U. 

Goode, one of Walcott's right-hand men, in charge of the Section of Western

Water Resources, 1904 29
Topography, and also chairman of the Topographic Committee, which was the 

administrative head of the Topographic Branch and of the Division of 

Topography, and Henry Gannett as head of the Division of Forestry and 

Geography. Goode was probably slated to become head of the Topographic 

Branch, but the plan became unworkable when Goode died suddenly. Instead, 

a rather involved organization was devised with two divisions, Eastern 

Topography under H. M. Wilson and Western Topography under E. M. 

Douglas, and three sections, Triangulation and Computing, Inspection of 

Topographic Surveying and Mapping, and Instruments and Topographic 

Records, which served both divisions. The Director again became Chairman of 

the Topographic Committee. The Eastern Division mapped in 22 of its 26 

States a total of 18,121 square miles, more than 80 percent for publication at 

1:62,500. More than half the mapping was done in the four States of New 

York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, which had supplied $72,800 in 

cooperative funds. The Western Division mapped in 11 States and Territories a 

total of only 8,729 square miles, including 3,028 square miles in national 

forests at a scale of 1:125,000. Of the remaining area, a little more than 70 percent was mapped at the mile-to-the-inch scale. The record of mapping in the 

Eastern Division was comparable to that in 1903 but the area mapped in the 

Western Division was considerably less.

The year 1904 had been a highly successful one for President Roosevelt as 

well as the Geological Survey. The Panama Canal was finally underway; on 

February 29 he had appointed a 7-rnan commission to take charge of its construction and on May 4 the canal strip was legally transferred to the United 

States. On March 14, the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the administration case in Northern Securities v. United States, the first of more than 30 

antitrust actions begun by the administration, and the Sherman Antitrust Act 

had been revived. Then on November 8, Theodore Roosevelt was elected President in his own right. On December 6, when European powers threatened to 

intervene in the Caribbean to collect debts owed by the Dominican Republic, 

he asserted the right of the United States to exercise international police powers 

in the Western Hemisphere when forced to do so by international conflicts, extending the Monroe Doctrine from prohibition of intervention by European 

powers to the right of intervention by the United States. He followed that with 

an agreement between the United States and the Dominican Republic giving 

the United States charge of debt payments and customs finances of the 

Dominican Republic.

In his annual message to Congress in December, Roosevelt discussed the 

forest reserves at length and urged Congress to transfer their management to 

the Department of Agriculture. He recommended that Congress take several 

actions with regard to Alaska: to provide it with a delegate in Congress, to aid it 

in construction of needed roads, and to consider an Alaskan railway. He also 

spoke of economy:

The enlargement of scope of the functions of the National Government required by our development as a nation involves, of course, increase of expense; and the period of prosperity through which this country is passing 

justifies expenditures for permanent improvements far greater than would 

be wise in hard times. Battleships and forts, public buildings, and improved waterways are investments which should be made when we have 

money; but abundant revenues and a large surplus always invite 

extravagance, and constant care should be taken to guard against unnecessary increase of the ordinary expenses of government.

The Survey's request for appropriations for the year beginning July 1, 

1905, was prepared before the fuels-testing plant went into full operation and 

only two small increases were requested: $10,000 for skilled laborers and 

$25,000 for geological surveys to investigate iron ores and fuel resources and to

30 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
extend mapping in mining regions. The total value of mineral production of 

the United States in 1904 had again exceeded $1 billion, but there had been a 

decline of more than 9 percent from the preceding year, almost all of it in the 

value of coal and iron on which industrial development was based. The fueltesting plant had been thought of primarily as a demonstration of what could 

be done, but when the results proved so significant a deficiency appropriation 

of $25,000 was requested late in November to continue the work after the close 

of the exposition, and an additional item of $202,000 for fuel testing was 

added to the request for funds for the next fiscal year.

In bringing the request for the deficiency appropriation before the House 

in early December, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, James 

Hemenway of Indiana, said

This work has developed so rapidly and it has been ascertained that it is of 

such great value to the Government that great pressure has been brought 

to bear to continue the work until March 4 next, and then, if Congress 

deems it wise, to continue it for another year. * * * Our coal interests over 

the country did not wake up to the fact that these tests were of such great 

importance until a short time ago, and now they are demanding more of 

this work than the gentlemen in charge have anticipated. It is claimed that 

discoveries as to lignites will save the country west of the Mississippi 

River large sums of money. I think on the whole it is one of the best pieces 

of work that the Government ever entered into.

Support was bipartisan. Oscar Underwood of Alabama, well armed with 

technical facts, also spoke of the importance of the experiments, concluding, to 

great applause,

I think these experiments ought to be continued, and continued to the 

extent that all the coal fields in the United States that desire to have the 

benefit of the experiment may have it.

The deficiency appropriation was passed very quickly by both House and 

Senate and approved by the President.

Another new item was added to the request for appropriations on 

December 27 $7,500 for structural-materials testing. The American Portland 

Cement Manufacturers had done some materials testing at the St. Louis exposition as part of its cement exhibit, using equipment and methods proposed by

Metals remained of prime interest in Alaska, but in the 

summer of 1904 a Survey geologist went north of the 

Arctic Circle to appraise the coal fields at Cape 

Lisburne as a possible source of coal for use at the 

Nome gold mines. The deposits had been known for 

many years and had been used by ships plying these 

northern waters, but they were accessible only by sea 

and only from July to October. (From A. J. Collier, 

1906.)

Fuel- and Structural-Materials Testing 31
the special committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The exhibit 

building itself served as a working illustration of reinforced-concrete construction until it was completed in September, and for the remaining months of the 

exposition the laboratory showed the proper methods of testing cement and 

investigated the value of some sands, gravels, and broken stones in cement 

mortars and concrete used in some of the principal cities of the country. The 

valuable results obtained in the laboratory and the great need for more reliable 

information on structural materials suggested that such investigations should 

be continued. As Director Walcott pointed out in his request for funds

The large public works now being entered upon by the Government,

especially the irrigation works of the West and the Panama Canal, call for

the solution of new and important problems which relate not only to the

use of these raw materials, but also to the most economical and efficient

methods of utilizing additional manufactured products. And the solution > of these problems is also a wider field, affecting, as it does, the use of

building materials in all parts of the country.

Walcott made it clear that there was no intent to make either the fuel 

testing or structural-materials testing a permanent part of the Survey. In particular, he said of the fuel testing "It is the purpose of the Survey to push this 

work to completion as rapidly as possible. But in view of the complexity of the 

problems to be solved and the magnitude of the financial interests involved, it 

is necessary that every part of the work be done with the greatest possible care. 

The estimate of expenses has been reduced to the lowest limit consistent with 

these conditions."

When the sundry civil expenses bill was passed, the Survey received not 

only the funds for the new programs but even more than it had asked for ongoing programs. The chief beneficiary was the Topographic Branch, whose 

appropriation was increased from $300,000 to $350,000. As soon as the clerk of 

the House finished reading "for topographic surveys, $300,000," William 

Adamson of Georgia proposed the increase to $350,000 and sent to the clerk's 

desk a memorial, in the form of a letter to the Speaker, from more than 20 

State and Territorial geologists and other officials asking for increased support 

for topographic surveys, which could not be done so well by the States as by the 

Federal survey. The Secretary of the Interior and the Director, Adamson 

thought, had followed the President's request and had not asked for increased

appropriations, but this demand came not from Washington but from the i 

people. F. H. Gillett of Massachusetts, always wary of increasing Federal ex- | 

penditures, suggested that rather than increase the Survey appropriation, the 

Survey demand money from the States. The chairman of the Appropriations 

Committee protested that the Democrats were always calling for economy, yet 

in 5 years the appropriation for the Geological Survey had been increased by 

$498,000, the Director had been given every dollar he asked for, and now the 

Democrats wanted to go him one better. The minority leader, John S. Williams 

of Mississippi, accepted the challenge and retorted that if the Republicans 

wanted to practice economy they could stop their "miserable oriental colonistic 

foolishness" and interfering in the affairs of Spanish-American republics; 

$498,000 was only one-tenth the price of a battleship and one-half the cost of 

keeping a regiment of soldiers on a war footing. The House then voted to increase the appropriation.

The Senate took up the cause of geologic surveys and voted to increase that 

appropriation to $200,000. Senator Patterson of Colorado called the geologic 

surveys "a more important work than which is not carried out by any department of the Government." Senator William Stewart of Nevada, once the 

Survey's nemesis but now a stalwart supporter, agreed: "I am not generally for 

extravagance in appropriations, but this is an important item." As others rose 

to endorse the increase, Senator William Allison, chairman of the Appropria32 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
In a general study of the geology, stratigraphy, and 

paleontology of Western United States, H. F. Osborn 

found two natural divisions of geologic deposition and 

of animal and plant habitat similar to the existing 

natural divisions-of plains and mountains. Moreover, 

the differences in mammalian life indicated differences 

in the mode of deposition of sediment in the two areas. 

According to a ruling of the International Geological 

Congress, the term "zone" could be used for faunistic 

levels that could be synchronized by the presence of 

certain distinctive animals, and hence in this ' 'idealized 

bird's-eye view" of the Great Badlands of South 

Dakota, Osborn identified the Titanotherium sandstones, Metamynodon sandstones, and Protoceras 

sandstones as river-channel deposits. In official U.S. 

Geological Survey nomenclature, where paleontologic 

terms are not applied to lithologic units, these sandstones are parts of the Chadron Formation and Brule 

Clay. (From H. F. Osborn, 1909.)

tions Committee, protested that he had as high an opinion of the Director of 

the Geological Survey as had other Senators but it just wasn't possible to appropriate all that public opinion demanded for the Survey. Senator Henry Cabot 

Lodge of Massachusetts remarked that the Director of the Geological Survey 

was the most skillful money-getter in Washington, but that only called forth 

another round of enthusiastic praise of the Survey and its Director. Senator 

Henry Teller of Colorado called it a discredit to the Nation that Congress had 

not extended the Survey's efforts to "every acre of American soil" and Senator 

John T. Morgan of Alabama who, along with Congressman Hilary Herbert, had 

been very critical of the Survey under Director Powell, held that the Survey had 

"contributed more within the last 10 years to the actual, present, and prospective wealth of the United States than any other institution we have ever had." 

In the final bill, approved on March 3, 1905, the total appropriation for the 

Survey was $1,785,000, an increase of 20 percent over the previous year's 

funds.

3» Porcupine Butte 

VODCANIC ASH LAYER

300 400 FEET

Appropriations, 1904 33
In 1907, the Survey published a. long-planned 

monograph on Ceratopsia, the horned dinosaurs. J. B. 

Hatcher reported that the skulls of ceratopsians were 

larger than those of any other known land animal, living or extinct (the skull of Triceratops calicornis Marsh 

shown in the illustration is more than 70 inches from 

tip to tip), but the brain case itself was relatively small. 

Hatcher believed that the broad, hood-like parietal 

crest and the horns were developed to provide increased protection and the dentition to be more efficient in procuring food, and that the Ceratopsia 

became extinct because, being highly specialized plant 

feeders, they had been unable to adapt to the changing 

environment caused by the diastrophism toward the 

end of the Cretaceous. (FromJ. B. Hatcher, 1907.)

34 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
The new programs brought about yet another modification of the 

organization of the Geologic Branch. J. A. Holmes agreed to stay on with the 

Survey to direct the fuel- and structural-materials testing programs, and 

Richard L Humphrey, who had been in charge of the American Portland 

Cement Manufacturers' exhibit at the exposition, was appointed to take immediate charge of the structural-materials testing under Holmes' direction. 

Permission was obtained from the city of St. Louis, which had acquired the 

exposition buildings, to continue the work in Forest Park. The Director appointed a committee of Geologist-in-charge C. W. Hayes, M. R. Campbell, 

E. W. Parker, and Holmes to consider the best methods of exploiting the Nation's fuel resources and methods for their better utilization. Hayes, in turn, 

placed Campbell in charge of all geologic work on coal and retained for himself 

only the direction of the petroleum investigations. For the fuel- and structuralmaterials testing, most of which would be quite different from the Survey's 

normal work, the plan that had been successfully used in inaugurating the 

Reclamation Service was adopted: an advisory board was set up to which the 

scope of investigations and methods might be referred and from which a critical 

opinion of the results could be obtained.

Nearly half the increase in funds for geologic surveys was used for reconnaissance surveys of some of the western coal fields that had begun to attract 

the attention of coal operators and railroad men. Three experienced geologists, 

J. A. Taff, F. C. Schrader, and N. M. Fenneman, suspended their investigations in the Midcontinent and Gulf Coast areas, and several young men who 

had only recently joined the Survey worked with them: M. K. Shaler, who had 

been with Taff in 1904, H. S. Gale of the Metals Section, W. T. Lee, Arthur 

Veatch, George Richardson, C. A. Fisher, and newly appointed A. R. Schultz, 

a Leith protege, all recruited from the Hydrographic Branch, and the State 

Geologist of North Dakota, A. G. Leonard. Surveys were made in New Mexico, 

Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and North Dakota.

During the course of the summer of 1905, J. A. Taff, who was mapping in 

the Book Cliffs field of Colorado and Utah, was called on to aid the General 

Land Office by examining some contested coal lands near Coalville and Provo, 

Utah. The General Land Office, once the management of the forest reserves 

was transferred to the Department of Agriculture and the forest-lieu-land provision was repealed, was able to devote more time to investigating other publicland frauds and began an investigation of coal lands in Utah. The basic law for 

the disposal of coal lands was the Act of March 3, 1873, which limited the size 

of entry to 160 acres for an individual, or 320 acres for an association. This 

limitation made it impossible to develop some coal fields successfully and thus 

encouraged fraud in obtaining land by use of dummy entries or entries processed under the agricultural land laws.

Although the western coal program was the major effort in the Nonmetals 

Section, other fuels investigations were continued in western Pennsylvania, 

eastern Kentucky, and central Alabama, and Ralph Arnold took up George 

Eldridge's unfinished work in California. T. N. Dale continued his studies of 

structural materials, and F. L. Hess made a study of the magnesite resources of 

California. Most of the rest of the increase for geologic surveys was used to 

begin a systematic investigation of the iron ores of the country, the first to be 

made since the Tenth Census investigations of 1880. The investigation was 

placed under the direction of E. C. Eckel. Eckel himself and Charles Butts 

made field studies of iron deposits in Alabama and Virginia, and C. K. Leith 

examined most of the developed iron districts in the Western States. A. C. 

Spencer continued his detailed study of the iron, zinc, and manganese deposits 

in New Jersey and New York, concentrating especially on the deposits at 

Franklin, New Jersey, where Charles Palache was studying the mineralogy.

Geology, 1905 35
The metals program was somewhat smaller than usual as both H. F. Bain 

and J. E. Spurr had resigned, Bain to become State Geologist of Illinois and 

Spurr to begin his own consulting firm. Bain's work in the Mississippi Valley 

was suspended. The investigation of the newly discovered and unusually rich 

gold districts in Nevada, which Spurr had been expected to begin, was assigned 

instead to F. L. Ransome with the assistance of G. H. Garrey and W. H. 

Emmons, and the investigations in Arizona mining districts, which had been 

assigned to Ransome, were deferred, although S. F. Emmons spent some time 

in Arizona to keep in touch with developments. W. H. Weed was deeply involved in copper investigations, a review of the copper deposits of the United 

States, a reconnaissance of the copper deposits in the Appalachians, and further 

study of the veins at Butte. Lindgren began reconnaissance examinations of the 

mining districts in the Territory of New Mexico aided by L. C. Graton. 

Boutwell did no field work and instead spent his time working on the Park City 

report.

In 1905, even closer cooperation between the Division of Geology and the 

Division of Mining and Mineral Resources was effected. Lindgren was given 

responsibility for supervising the collection of statistics of the precious metals 

for the annual Mineral Resources of the United States as well as the discussion 

of the statistics such as he had prepared in 1904. The Division of Mining and 

Mineral Resources undertook a special study of the black sands of the Pacific 

Coast, an investigation that, it was thought, might lead to the development 

of an industry to utilize the black sands as a source of gold, platinum, iron, and 

some of the rare metals. The Division of Geology, in turn, began an investigation of a practical problem of long standing, the effect of hydraulic mining on 

agriculture in the Sacramento Valley of California, at the direct request of 

President Roosevelt. G. K. Gilbert was given responsibility for the investigation 

and in his typically thorough way went into the field in May to study the regimen of the Sacramento River and its tributaries with respect to the transportation of debris while a laboratory was set up at the University of California in 

Berkeley to study the laws that control the transportation of debris by streams.

There were nine parties in Alaska in the summer of 1905. In southeastern 

Alaska, paleontologist E. M. Kindle assisted the Wright brothers, who were 

giving special attention to gold and copper deposits. In the Yakutat Bay region, 

R. S. Tarr, assisted by B. S. Butler and Lawrence Martin, studied the occurrence 

of coal and gold but took time to study the glaciers and the remarkable deformation of the Earth's surface that occurred during the earthquake of September 

1899- George Martin continued his investigations in the Controller Bay area 

and also made a reconnaissance of part of the Matanuska coal field. U. S. 

Grant, assisted by Sidney Paige, studied the geology and mineral resources of 

the Prince William Sound region, paying special attention to copper. In the 

Seward Peninsula area, Fred Moffit and F. L. Hess mapped an area of unusually 

intricate geology, and in the Yukon-Tanana region, L. M. Prindle continued 

his geologic reconnaissance with the assistance of young Adolph Knopf.

In addition to the areal mapping in various parts of the country, compilation of two large geologic maps was begun, one of the United States on a scale 

of 1:2,500,000 by George Stose, and one of North America on the scale of 

1:5,000,000 by Bailey Willis. The latter map was compiled with the cooperation of the Governments of Canada and Mexico, and plans were made to issue a 

preliminary edition for the International Geological Congress to be held in 

Mexico City in September 1906.

Some of the most fundamental research being carried on in the Division of 

Physical and Chemical Research turned out to have very practical applications. 

In their study of eutectic series, A. L. Day and E. T. Alien took up two series of 

minerals, including a series ranging from pure lime to pure silica. As it happened, the melting of pure silica proved to be of immense technologic interest

36 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
because quartz glass can be heated white hot without softening and while still 

hot can be plunged into water without breaking. Their basic research eventually led to the development of a commercial glass resistant to heat and 

chemicals.

The work of the Hydrographic Branch in 1905 continued along the lines 

previously developed except in the Division of Western Hydrology where field 

work was limited. The number of river measurement stations was increased to 

817, the work of collecting well records and samples was extended to nearly 

every State and Territory, and a general investigation of the methods of deep 

drilling in the Eastern States and in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas was made. 

Field work in the study of ground waters was underway in 27 States and Territories, chiefly, however, in the Eastern Division where many part-time 

assistants were available. In the Western Division, field work was limited to 

California, North and South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Quality-ofwater investigations, underway in 16 States, included studies of the effect of 

sulfite pulp wastes on water and stream pollution, the best methods of purifying and recovering valuable ingredients in acid-iron wastes, dye wastes, or 

distillery slops, and a determination of the total amount of denudation in the 

Mississippi River system.

The two topographic divisions continued on their separate ways in 1905. 

The Eastern Division had cooperative arrangements with 12 States, which contributed more than $85,000, and mapped 18,042 square miles, about the same 

amount as in the preceding year. Better than 85 percent of the area was 

mapped at the mile-to-the-inch scale. The Western Division greatly increased 

the area mapped, from 8,729 to 22,671 square miles, but mapped only 2,783 

square miles at the mile-to-the-inch scale. The remainder included mapping at 

various scales for the Reclamation Service, mapping in the forest reserves at 

1:125,000, and mapping for the Geologic Branch at 1:250,000.

The work of examining the forest reserves, together with the men 

employed for it, was transferred during the spring of 1905 to the Forest Service. 

The Survey retained responsibility for compiling the special national-forest 

maps, and A. C. Roberts was placed in charge of the work, leaving Henry Gannett free to concentrate on geography and other assignments, which were not 

long in forthcoming. On June 2, the Committee on Departmental Methods, 

proposed by Gifford Pinchot and Secretary Garfield, was established to introduce modern business methods in the executive branch. Among the 70 experts assigned to assist the Commission was Henry Gannett, who participated 

in the investigation of the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture 

and later in the investigation of the organizations carrying on scientific work. In 

addition, in January 1906 the Board of Geographic Names, of which Gannett 

was chairman, was extended by Executive order.

While Survey work was thus progressing smoothly and efficiently, politics 

once more entered the picture. In December 1905, the 59th Congress, elected 

in 1904, convened for its first session. The administration apparently had a 

large majority, as Republicans outnumbered the Democrats 250 to 136 in the 

House and 57 to 33 in the Senate, but both parties were divided into conservative and progressive elements, which were more important than party labels, 

and the conservatives held the reins of power. An attempt to change the rules 

in the House was defeated and Speaker Cannon passed over two Republicans of 

greater seniority but suspect politics to appoint James Tawney of Minnesota, 

with impeccable conservative credentials, chairman of the all-important Appropriations Committee. The President's annual message to Congress, 

however, was almost more progressive than the progressives and was labeled by 

one newspaper as an attempt to subvert the American tradition. The President 

asked for legislation on a variety of reforms, including strengthening of the 

Interstate Commerce Act to prevent imposition of unjust rates and make the

Water Resources and Topography, 1905 37
services of the railroads available to all on an equal basis at reasonable and just 

rates. He called for "affirmative action" by the Federal Government in 

regulating the great corporations. He also repeated his previous recommendations for changes in public-land laws, for the Government to take control of the 

open range, for placing national parks under the Forest Service, and for admission of Oklahoma and Indian Territories as one State and Arizona and New 

Mexico Territories as another State.

There was no reference to coal in the annual message, but coal resources 

became politicized by being involved in several issues on which politicians 

disagreed. The House passed the bill for stricter regulation of the railroads on 

February 8, 1906. Four days later, Senator Benjamin Tillman of South 

Carolina, an outspoken opponent of the President, proposed a joint resolution 

authorizing the Interstate Commerce Commission to investigate railroad 

discriminations and monopolies, in particular whether the railroads had interests in coal and other products carried on their lines. Part of his plea for 

passage of the resolution was based on the need to return some initiative to 

Congress, because the public had been given the impression that this was solely 

the President's fight. Congress passed the resolution promptly but after the 

President signed it on March 7, in a bit of one-upmanship, he sent a message to 

Congress promising them preliminary reports on investigations of the anthracite and oil industries by the Commissioner of Corporations in the Department 

of Commerce and Labor before the end of the session. As it turned out, both 

the Commissioner of Corporations and the Interstate Commerce Commission 

in their separate investigations found that the railroads to a considerable degree 

controlled the coal companies.

The railroads' control of coal also came to light when the Senate received 

the bill passed by the House to provide for continuation and extension of the 

policy, inaugurated by Secretary Hitchcock, of leasing the segregated coal lands 

of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians in Indian Territory. When the Senate 

Committee on Indian Affairs proposed to amend the bill to provide instead for 

sale of the lands, Senator Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin, a close friend of 

C. R. Van Hise, was moved to consult the Secretary of the Interior and the 

Director of the Geological Survey; he found that bituminous coal of superior 

quality had been discovered on the segregated lands, that leases covering about 

a quarter of the area had been taken in the name of private coal-mining companies but were in reality controlled by railroads, that there was little or no 

competition in prices, and that rates for shipment were very high. LaFollette 

therefore proposed that the committee's amendment be amended to limit the 

amount of land that could be obtained by any one company and to include in 

the deeds a provision that the lands revert to the United States in trust for the 

Indians if acquired by a railroad. The Senate voted against the LaFollette 

amendment but the President himself told the Senator that he considered the 

matter important. LaFollette then suggested that the provision should, in fact, 

apply to all public coal lands; his colleague, Senator Francis Newlands, then 

filed a bill to reserve the coal and lignite underlying the public lands. When 

the Senate did not act on the Newlands bill, the President considered 

withdrawing the coal lands from entry by Executive order but the Attorney 

General expressed some doubt that he had the authority to do so.

Coal investigations provided a focal point for an attack on Survey appropriations, the first in several years. The request for appropriations submitted by 

the Survey did not include funds for continuation of the fuel- and structuralmaterials testing. On January 25, long before the House took up the appropriations bill, Senator James Hemenway, the former chairman of the House 

Appropriations Committee but now a Senator from Indiana, asked the 

Secretary of the Interior to send to the Senate a summary of the results obtained 

in the investigations at St. Louis and to give his opinion whether or not it was

38 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
In the Survey's first quarter-century, T. C. Chamberlin 

and other Survey geologists had made notable contributions to an understanding of continental glaciation. 

Comparatively few studies had been made of mountain glaciation before 1903 when W. W. Atwood 

began a study of glaciation in the Uinta and Wasatch 

Mountains. Clarence King, in his report on the Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, had called attention 

to the evidence of mountain glaciation in those mountains and had speculated on the possibility of two 

periods of glaciation. Atwood found evidence of more 

than 50 glaciers and confirmed King's idea of two 

epochs of glaciation. Little Cottonwood Canyon, 

shown in the photograph, has the beautifully symmetrical U-shaped form characteristic of vigorously 

glaciated canyons. (From W. W. Atwood, 1909.)

desirable for the Government to continue them. Anticipating an affirmative 

answer, he also asked for an estimate of the necessary appropriation. On 

February 9, Secretary Hitchcock replied that in his own judgment the investigations should be continued and submitted a letter from the Director of the 

Geological Survey with an estimate of $200,000 for fuel testing, $100,000 for 

structural-materials testing, and $50,000 for removal of the plant and 

equipment.

Walcott cited many reasons, both scientific and practical, why the fuel 

investigations should be continued. For one thing

The carefully made analyses of these representative coals and lignites are 

giving to the engineers of the country data of great value, not only 

because this work is done with care, but also because the complete 

history of every such sample is indicated, and the record is authentic and 

reliable.

Coal producers of the country, he noted, had been awakened to the value of a 

more careful study of their coals and of possible methods of improvement in 

quality, and manufacturers and other coal consumers had recognized the need 

to use their fuels more efficiently and to purchase them on a basis that indicated their true heating value rather than on some indefinite trade name or 

classification. Fuel supplies, he said, should be used without unnecessary waste 

and with the highest attainable efficiency. During 1905, more than $1.5 billion 

had been spent for fuels, but in the utilization of fuels for power, light, and 

heat the losses were so great that at most only 5 percent of the energy was 

available for actual work. Walcott listed 23 problems that needed investigation, 

most of them practical, but also some involving the physical and chemical 

properties of coal. First in importance was the prevention of accidents in coal 

mines by a study of the use of explosives in the presence of coal dust and coal 

gases in mines. He thought it desirable for the Government to continue the 

work begun by the Survey rather than turn it over to some other organization;

Fuel Testing 39
the work was being done effectively and there would be a loss in starting over. 

Moreover, the work pertained to the general welfare.

Walcott said less about structural-materials testing but made the point 

that engineers, architects, and builders in all parts of the country were demanding information because of the rapidity with which changes were being made in 

materials being used for construction purposes. He recommended not only continuing investigations already underway but extending them to field examinations and laboratory testing of other materials used in construction, such as 

sands, clays, cement and mortar, stone, steel, and other metals.

Apparently no problem was anticipated in obtaining the requested appropriations because in March 1906 a 39-member Advisory Board for the Investigation of Fuels and Structural Materials was formally organized and given 

Presidential appointments. Most of the members of the Advisory Board came 

from outside the Government, but because the Federal Government was at the 

time spending about $30 million a year for building and construction work, the 

Board included the Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal, the Chief Engineer

40 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907

Both the accuracy and efficiency of topographic 

mapping had been improved, the amount of mapping 

completed each year had increased, and the cost of 

mapping decreased since C. D. Walcott became Director. Little change had been made, however, in 

methods of mapping. The illustration of the signal 

tower in the manual of topographic methods published in 1906 was the same as that in the 1893 

manual. (From Henry Gannett, 1906.) 

I
of the Reclamation Service, the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department, the Chief of the Army's Bureau of Ordnance, the Chief of the Navy's 

Bureau of Steam Engineering, and representatives of the Army's Corps of 

Engineers and the Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks. The president of the 

Board was Charles B. Dudley, representing the American Society for Testing 

Materials. Dudley was also a member of the American Institute of Mining 

Engineers, twice its vice president and a member and former president of the 

American Chemical Society. He was not, however, an academic scientist but a 

chemist for the Pennsylvania Railroad, then under public scrutiny because of its 

coal interests. In that position, he had been responsible for revolutionary applications of chemistry in increasing the efficiency and safety of railroads.

When the House Committee on Appropriations filed its report on the 

sundry civil expenses bill on May 31, 1906, without any warning to the 

Secretary or to the Director that such an action was contemplated, it recommended reductions totaling $307,000 in the appropriations for fuel testing, 

stream gaging, topographic surveys, mapping forest reserves, and the report on 

mineral resources, and an appropriation for the Survey of only $1,138,320. 

That more than economy was involved became apparent as soon as the House 

debate on the Survey appropriation began on June 13. As soon as the clerk 

finished reading "For the general expenses of the Geological Survey, and the 

classification of the public lands, examination of the mineral resources and 

products of the national domain, continuation of the preparation of the 

geological map of the United States, gauging streams and determining water 

supply, and mapping forest reserves," and before he had a chance to read the 

amount, Edgar Crumpacker, Republican of Indiana, made a point of order: 

There was no authority in law for the Survey to make a map or gage streams except in the national domain. He thereby precipitated a 2-day debate on the 

merits of the Survey and the conduct of its work. Was "national domain" 

synonymous with public lands? Crumpacker thought the writers of the original 

legislation had used two different terms as a matter of literary style to avoid 

repetition and was promptly given several examples in which repetition was 

avoided without using two terms. The discussion then veered to House Rule 

XXI which prohibited a point of order against a public work in progress. Crumpacker held that a public work had to be tangible, such as a building; that 

assertion was countered with the observation that the boundary survey between 

Canada and Alaska, which was not tangible, had been ruled a public work in 

progress. Preparation of the geologic map had been included in the Survey appropriation since 1882, a map was patently a tangible object, and so Crumpacker withdrew his point of order against the geologic map. His colleague, 

James Watson of Indiana, who was in the chair at the time, then ruled that gaging streams was not a tangible object and could never be completed and 

therefore sustained that point of order. Before any more business could be 

taken up, friends of the Survey made a counter move. William Wiley, 

Republican of New Jersey, was given permission to insert in the Congressional 

Record several dozen letters and telegrams from prominent engineers and 

scientists praising the Survey. Wiley was an engineer, a graduate of Rensselaer 

and the Columbia School of Mines, and had been associated for many years 

with the publishing firm of John H. Wiley & Son founded by his grandfather.

The House then proceeded to consider appropriations for specific items. 

The first to be challenged was the appropriation for topographic surveys for 

which the committee had recommended $300,000; F. H. Gillett, Republican 

of Massachusetts, who in the preceding session had suggested that the Survey 

demand money from the States for topographic surveys, raised a point of order 

against the item, apparently under the impression that the topographic survey 

was part of stream gaging. He was quickly corrected and then William H. Stafford, Republican of Wisconsin, insisted that there was no connection between a

Appropriations, 1906 41
topographic survey and a geologic map. There were several efforts to explain 

that relationship, but finally F. W. Mondell, Republican of Wyoming, said 

that a topographic survey was a necessary preliminary to a geologic map, which 

had been retained, and the Chair therefore ruled against the point of order. 

The topographic map could be finished, and was therefore properly considered 

a public work in progress.

An amendment to restore the appropriation for topographic surveys to 

$350,000 forced the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, James 

Tawney of Minnesota, to explain the committee's recommendation. "This is 

something more than a business proposition. It is a question of whether the 

Geological Survey shall fix the standard of expenditure in its bureau by determining the amount of its appropriations or whether Congress shall perform 

that function untrammeled by the influence the officers of the Survey can command by reason of the private, State, and municipal interests they serve." Congress had been deluged with letters and telegrams on behalf of the Survey, and 

Tawney thought the Survey had solicited them. He was particularly incensed by 

a letter signed by J. A. Holmes that invited the recipient to comment. This, 

said Tawney, was carrying lobbying far beyond anything ever before attempted. He had complained to the Secretary of the Interior and in return had 

received letters from Secretary Hitchcock and Director Walcott. Walcott said 

that so far as he could determine only two letters had been sent about appropriations, both by H. M. Wilson of the Topographic Committee to officials 

in Minnesota, and they had simply explained that because of the reduction in 

the appropriation for topographic surveys, certain work requested by those officials could not be done. The letter about which Tawney was most concerned, 

the Director assured him, had been sent to the Advisory Board. When he 

demanded more information on that advisory board, the Director told him that 

it was a board appointed by President Roosevelt and "respectfully suggested" 

that further information be sought from him. There were 39 members on that 

board, Tawney told the House, and they received $5 a day when they actually 

served! "When," he demanded, "are we going to call a halt in the ambitions 

of this Bureau, this man, the Director of the Geological Survey, for whom I 

entertain the highest respect? The Director of the Geological Survey is unquestionably the ablest man that has occupied the position, one of the best administrative officers of the government, but when he seeks to use the influence he 

acquires by virtue of the administration of his department for the purpose of 

increasing his appropriations I say it is time for this House to call a halt. While 

he is an eminent scientist, a good administrative officer, these are not his only 

accomplishments. He is also the smoothest and most scientific and accomplished lobbyist connected with the Government." To this Swagar Sherley, 

Democrat of Kentucky, retorted that it was lobbying with a difference when he 

went to the people to get an expression of opinion. Then Tawney, in a curious 

twist of logic, insisted that it was the duty of the Government to govern and it 

was the duty of the people to develop the country, but not at the expense of the 

Government. Topographic surveys should be made by States, and streams 

should be gaged by the corporations interested in water power. Moreover, 

cooperative surveys were illegal. The House overruled him; by a vote of 101 to 

54, the appropriation for topographic surveys was increased to $350,000.

Questions were also raised about the appropriation for the report on 

mineral resources. Tawney wondered "Why is it so valuable? Who wants it?" 

Oscar Underwood of Alabama said he received more requests for that particular 

volume than he could fill. Tawney then questioned the amount; in 1891, the 

appropriation was only $10,000 and it hadn't been more than $50,000 until 

the year before, so why did the Survey need $75,000? Mondell suggested that 

the fact that there hadn't been an increase for several years was the best reason, 

but no increase was voted.

42 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
In 1904, the U.S. Geological Survey began an investigation, in cooperation with the Bureau of Forestry 

and the Bureau of Fisheries, of economic conditions 

that affected the utilization of the water resources of 

the Potomac River basin for industrial and recreational 

purposes and for the public water supply of the 

Nation's capital. H. N. Parker of the Survey, who investigated sources of pollution with particular reference 

to an undue prevalence of typhoid fever outbreaks in 

Washington, reported that typhoid outbreaks were 

caused almost entirely by contamination of the public 

water supply. The water had been obtained from the 

Potomac at Great Falls, 14 miles above the city, but 

passed through settlement reservoirs without any other 

purification until October 1905. Typhoid was most 

prevalent during times of low-river flow at Great Falls 

when contaminants were concentrated in the water. 

(From H. N. Parker, Bailey Willis, R. H. Bolster, 

W. W. Ashe, and M. C. Marsh, 1907.)

The committee had also recommended an appropriation of $100,000 

for stream gaging but no appropriation was approved. When the item came 

up, Crumpacker made a point of order against it. Mondell argued against the 

point of order; the work was provided for by three distinct provisions of existing 

law: classification of public lands, examination of mineral resources ("It is a 

well known fact," he said, "that water is a mineral."), and the legislation of 

March 20, 1888. The Chair, however, sustained the previous ruling against gaging streams. Mondell then proposed an amendment to appropriate $100,000 to 

measure the capacity of streams in accordance with the Joint Resolution of 

March 20, 1888. Tawney accused Mondell of obtaining that amendment from 

the Survey, and Mondell admitted that much that he had told the House had 

come from the Survey; it was, he said, "sound and safe doctrine." A point of 

order against the amendment was sustained.

The appropriations for structural-materials testing and fuel testing, the 

newest items in the Survey budget, also came under attack. The committee had 

allowed the full amount for structural-materials testing, but when the item 

came up, John W. Weeks, Republican of Massachusetts, seeking to protect the 

Watertown Arsenal, insisted that the original appropriation did not contemplate a continuing work and therefore made a point of order against it. 

After considerable discussion, the Chair, regretfully, sustained the point of 

order but on the ground that it was contrary to existing law, which forbade the 

Survey to execute surveys or make examinations for private parties or corporations. Furthermore, it would go on forever and so was not a work in progress. 

George W. Norris, the Chairman of the Public Buildings Committee, 

thereupon offered an amendment to appropriate $100,000 for investigations of 

structural materials belonging to the United States. The Chair promptly ruled 

that the Norris amendment was in order and not subject to a point of order, 

and the appropriation as amended was quickly passed. The appropriation for
fuel testing also went out on a point of order and for the same reason, that the 

samples came from private parties or corporations, and then was reinstated as 

Franklin Brooks of Colorado, following Norris' lead, proposed an appropriation of $200,000, which was $100,000 more than recommended by the committee, for testing fuels belonging to the United States. Congressman MondelJ 

then pointed out that the tests would help the Government to sell coal lands 

that would not otherwise be sold and to utilize coal that would otherwise go to 

waste. John Dalzell of Pennsylvania, one of the most powerful members of the 

House, then proposed an increase to $250,000 and that amendment was also 

passed.

The Senate Appropriations Committee made several revisions in the 

Survey portion of the bill. It restored "gauging streams and determining the 

water supply of the United States" to the general item and added a specific 

item of $200,000 for the work, increased the amount for the report on mineral 

resources to the requested $75,000, and for mapping forest reserves to 

$125,000. It also rephrased the item for testing structural materials to read: 

"For the investigation of the structural materials belong to and for the use of 

the United States," and neatly solved the several problems pertaining to fuel 

testing by adding a proviso "that in examinations, hereby authorized, for fuel 

materials for the use of the United States, or for the purpose of increasing the 

general efficiency or available supply of the fuel resources in the United States, 

the Director of the Geological Survey may have the necessary materials collected from any part of the United States where they represent extensive 

deposits; and it shall be the duty of the Director of the Geological Survey to 

have examined, without charge, the fuels required for use of the Government 

of the United States, and to give these examinations preference over other 

works. Provided, further, that in publishing the results of these investigations 

the materials examined shall not be credited to any private party or corporation, but shall be collected and described as representing such deposits." Part 

of the Senate proviso authorizing examinations "for the purpose of increasing 

the general efficiency or available supply" of fuel resources clearly extended the 

program from "testing" into more fundamental research.

On June 20, just before the Senate itself took up the bill, Senator 

LaFollette proposed a concurrent resolution to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to have a thorough investigation made of the coal, lignite, and oil 

deposits of the United States and to report to Congress on their nature and extent and the best method of mining them, and to authorize the President to 

withdraw from entry and sale all public lands known to be underlain with coal, 

lignite, or oil, and all such lands, which in the judgment of the Director of the 

Geological Survey, contained deposits of coal, lignite, or oil, and that all such 

lands be withheld from entry or sale until such time as Congress determined 

otherwise. The resolution was tabled.

The Senate passed the appropriations bill on June 22 without any change 

in the committee's recommendations on the Survey appropriations. On June

The majority of water-resources investigations involved 

stream-flow measurements. Methods were, in general, 

simple. Stations were usually located at bridges from 

which the current meter could be easily manipulated 

and, as far as possible, where the stream channel was 

straight, there were no crosscurrents, and the stream 

bed was free of large projections. Soundings were taken 

at an arbitrary number of points laid off perpendicular 

to the thread of the stream and velocities were determined usually by holding the meter at 0.6 the stream 

depth. (From H. K. Barrows and J. C. Hoyt, 1905.)

44 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
In 1905, M. L. Fuller divided the Eastern United 

States, except New England and eastern New York, 

into four districts from the standpoint of ground-water 

supplies: the Coastal Plain, Piedmont Plateau, Appalachian Mountains, and the Mississippi and Great 

Lakes basin. New England and eastern New York he 

considered most nearly comparable to the Piedmont 

region. Ground water was related to geologic factors in 

each area: it occurred in sands and gravels in the northern Coastal Plain and in limestones farther south, was 

soft and of good quality in the north but often hard 

and charged with sulfur and iron in the south; it was 

relatively uncertain in the Piedmont, depending on 

joints and fissures; and it occurred in sandstones and 

some limestones in the Appalachian Mountains but it 

was seldom used as a source of supply. North of the 

limits of the ice invasion, glacial deposits were a good 

source of water. (From M. L. Fuller, 1905.)

27, the conference committee made its report, including a compromise figure 

of $150,000 for stream gaging, $100,000 (the House figure) for mapping forest 

reserves, and $75,000 (the Senate figure) for the report on mineral resources, 

and both Senate and House adopted the conference report. On the following 

day, however, the Senate reconsidered its vote and asked that the bill be returned. The conference report had eliminated "for the purpose of increasing 

the general efficiency and availability of supply of the fuel resources of the 

United States" in the appropriation for fuel testing, and the Senate had been 

persuaded that the wording should be retained. Eventually the House yielded, 

and the bill was finally passed on June 29, 1 day before adjournment, 2 days 

before the beginning of the new fiscal year.

On the day that the appropriations bill was passed, the President of the 

United States created a problem for the Survey by ordering the Secretary of the 

Interior "to report as soon as possible the coal lands where the Department 

deems the coal deposits of such value that we ought to withdraw the lands from 

entry." There simply was not enough information available in the Survey files 

to make any such report. On the basis of what information was available and 

some additional data from the Forest Service, Secretary Hitchcock on July 26 

ordered the withdrawal from entry, filing, or selection of large areas of known

Appropriations, 1906 45
or supposed coal lands in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, North 

Dakota, Montana, Washington and Oregon. Additional withdrawal orders in 

the fall and early winter brought the total withdrawn acreage to 66,939,800 by 

December 13.

Investigation of the western coal fields thus became the most urgent program in the Geologic Branch in the summer of 1906. M. R. Campbell, who had 

been given responsibility for a new Section of the Geology of Fuels, established 

headquarters at Salt Lake City and personally supervised the work. George 

Richardson, M. K. Shaler, H. S. Gale, A. R. Schultz, A. C. Veatch, C. A. 

Fisher, and A. G. Leonard, all of whom had taken part in the reconnaissance of 

1905, were assigned to develop information on coal fields in the Book Cliffs, 

Durango-Gallup, and Yampa fields of Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado, and 

the coal fields of Wyoming and Montana. Very little topographic work had 

been done in any of these areas, so the geologists had to prepare their own 

topographic bases. Special attention also had to be paid to determining land 

lines on the ground wherever possible so coal areas could be segregated with 

reference to land corners and plats made for transmittal to the General Land 

Office showing the classification of the land by legal subdivision. It was very 

different work from the Survey's ordinary geologic mapping. As a result of the 

season's work, nearly 38 million acres were restored to entry, almost 9 million 

classified as coal land, and the remainder found to contain no coal or coal of 

such low grade as to be worth only the minimum price.

An effort was made to continue as much as possible of the previously 

planned geologic program. George Ashley supervised the survey of coal areas in 

Pennsylvania, in cooperation with the State, as well as reconnaissance studies of 

the Elkhorn coal field of Kentucky and the Dickinson County coal field in 

Virginia. Frank DeWolf and N. M. Fenneman began areal and economic 

surveys in Illinois in cooperation with the State, Charles Butts broadened his 

work near Birmingham, Alabama, to include coal, and A. J. Collier made a 

general reconnaissance of the Carboniferous coal field of Arkansas. Petroleum 

investigations were limited to W. T. Griswold's survey of the Flushing 

quadrangle in Ohio and Ralph Arnold's surveys of the Santa Maria and 

Summerland districts in Santa Barbara County, California, in which he relied 

greatly on paleontologic evidence in determining stratigraphy and structure.

The investigations of iron ores being made under the supervision of E. C. 

Eckel were also continued. Eckel and E. F. Burchard made field studies in 

Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia. Other field studies were made by 

A. C. Spencer in Pennsylvania, C. K. Leith in southern Utah, and S. H. Ball in 

Wyoming. At the end of the field season, however, Eckel resigned to enter 

private industry.

The Metals Section did considerably less field work in 1906 than in 

previous years, in part because it continued to lose men to the private sector, 

among them this year its copper expert, W. H. Weed. Some of the youngest 

members of the section were given an opportunity to do independent work. 

Thus, L. C. Graton was given Weed's responsibility for copper statistics as well 

as a detailed study of the copper deposits of Shasta County, California; J. M. 

Boutwell replaced Bain in the analysis of lead and zinc statistics, and W. H. 

Emmons was sent to Montana to begin studies of the economic geology of the 

Philipsburg quadrangle. F. L. Ransome was finally free to begin the long 

planned work in Arizona but met with an accident after a preliminary reconnaissance of the Tombstone district and spent several months in the hospital. 

At the end of his field season in Montana, W. H. Emmons was sent to Nevada 

to make the observations needed to complete Ransome's report on the Bullfrog 

district. Lindgren continued to supervise the collection of precious metal 

statistics and also examined the tungsten resources of Boulder County, Colorado. H. S. Gale, a former member of the section, was diverted from the coal

46 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
investigations long enough to examine some newly discovered deposits of carnotite in Rio Blanco County, Colorado.

Lindgren's major contribution of the year was his paper on the relation of 

ore deposition to physical conditions, presented at the 10th International 

Geological Congress in Mexico. Lindgren had taken the concept of depth 

zones, each characterized by its own mineral facies, as developed by Van Hise 

and others in the study of metamorphism, and by analogy applied it to the 

problems of ore deposition. Certain minerals or groups of minerals, he suggested, are characteristic of the temperature and pressure conditions under 

which they were formed, and consequently the genetic conditions under which 

a given ore deposit was formed are ascertainable. This was the key that opened 

the way to a genetic classification of ore deposits.

Fourteen parties went to Alaska in the summer of 1906, eight to make 

geologic investigations, three to make combined geologic and topographic 

surveys, two to make topographic surveys, and one to make stream 

measurements. Geologic investigations in southeastern Alaska, the Yakutat 

Bay region, and the Yukon-Tanana region were continued and the mapping of 

the accessible coal and oil fields of the Controller Bay region was completed. In 

the Seward Peninsula, F. H. Moffit, assisted by P. S. Smith, a Harvard University instructor, completed the areal mapping of the Nome and Grand Central 

quadrangles, the first attempt to make an exhaustive study of the geology of a 

placer district. Smith also made a reconnaissance of some of the other placer 

districts to gather data on the progress of mining and to familiarize himself 

with some of the larger problems of the province. J. C. Hoyt was detailed from 

the Hydrographic Branch to make stream measurements where cheaper 

methods of placer mining depended on an abundant supply of water.

Three volumes of Contributions to Economic Geology were published for 

1906, a total of nearly 1,300 printed pages on gold, silver, copper, nickel, 

uranium, iron, manganese, limestone, gypsum, clays, building stones, feldspar, quartz, mica, graphite, mineral paints, abrasive materials, phosphates, 

sulfur, coal, lignite, and peat.

Geologic mapping and other investigations in addition to those in connection with economic studies were carried on in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the 

Appalachian region, the Mississippi Valley, the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, and on the Pacific Coast. Members of the joint Canadian-U.S. committee 

on Precambrian nomenclature spent part of the summer in field work in the 

Adirondack Mountains of New York and then reached an agreement on 

uniform classification. G. K. Gilbert had been appointed to the special commission to investigate the San Francisco earthquake and spent much of the 

summer studying that part of Marin County near Bolinas and Tomales Bays 

that was traversed by the San Andreas fault. Under his direction, the experiments to determine the relation of detrital load to discharge of water, slope 

of stream bed, velocity, and other variables were continued in the Berkeley 

laboratory. Bailey Willis completed the geologic map of North America for 

presentation at the International Geological Congress, where some objections 

were raised because of his use of U.S. Geological Survey nomenclature. F. H. 

Knowlton, David White, T. W. Vaughan, and H. F. Osborn all made progress 

on paleontological monographs, and the monograph on ceratopsian dinosaurs 

begun by Marsh and continued by Hatcher was completed by R. S. Lull after 

Hatcher's death.

In the Division of Chemical and Physical Research, F. W. Clarke continued work on his monograph on geochemistry and after a conference with Sir 

John Murray obtained composite samples of materials from the Challenger Expedition for analysis in the Survey laboratories. W. F. Hillebrand prepared a 

new edition of his bulletin on rock analysis, and E. C. Sullivan prepared a 

bulletin on his researches on the chemistry of secondary enrichment. George

Geology, 1906 47
Becker continued to investigate problems in geophysics and C. E. Van Orstrand 

the study of the elastic properties of metals. A. L. Day and E. T. Alien continued their researches on the synthesis of minerals and made preparations to 

transfer the work to the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The Carnegie Institution had provided some support for their work, and when the Survey 

facilities were found to be unsuitable for the continuation of delicate experiments, the Trustees voted to purchase land and erect a suitable building.

The Hydrographic Branch had to cut back its program because of the 

unexpected reduction of 25 percent in the appropriation. It also acquired a new 

head and a new name. The Reclamation Service was by this time almost completely independent of the Survey and was preparing to move most of its force 

and archives to a nearby building for which Congress had appropriated additional funds. Newell therefore felt that he should relinquish direction of the 

branch, and at the beginning of the fiscal year, M. O. Leighton became Acting 

Chief Hydrographer. The decision was made that, rather than a uniform reduction in all lines of work, the needs of each part of the country should be studied 

and the work that seemed the least important in each region should be reduced 

or discontinued. However, measurements of stream flow were of the greatest 

importance in all areas of the country, and the suspension of measurements 

would make less valuable what had already been accomplished; thus, in the 

end, it was some of the research projects that had to be discontinued. The 

Hydrographic Branch was then reorganized into a single unit by abolishing the 

divisions. At the same time the name of the branch was changed to Water 

Resources Branch, as Leighton felt that the title was not only a more correct 

description of the work but was also more easily understood by the public. The 

reduced funds permitted only a few ground-water investigations, so N. H. 

Darton returned to the Geologic Branch and M. L. Fuller was given charge of 

all ground-water studies. Several brief investigations of ground water were 

made by various geologists as part of their work for the Geologic Branch, and 

others were made by two University of Chicago graduate students, O. E. 

Meinzer and S. R. Capps, who spent the summer with the Survey. Two qualityof-water investigations were continued in cooperation with the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology and the Rhode Island State Board of Health.

The contrast between the two topographic divisions was even more marked 

in 1906. Both mapped somewhat smaller areas than in the preceding year, only 

14,712 square miles in the Eastern Division and 19,360 square miles in the 

Western Division. In the Eastern Division, which had nearly $100,000 in 

cooperative funds from 10 States in addition to appropriated funds, nearly all 

the mapping was done for publication at 1:62,500. More than half the mapping was done in New York, already about 80 percent mapped, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, already 99 percent mapped, and Illinois. In the 

Western Division, only 17.5 percent of the mapping was done at 1:62,500 or 

larger scales. About 7,500 square miles was mapped for publication at 

1:125,000 and more than 8,600 square miles for publication at 1:250,000.

The coal investigations, as it turned out, not only upset the scientific program but were also used in the fall of 1906 as the takeoff point for an attack on 

the Survey administration that was carried on for several weeks in the pages of 

Science. Professor John C. Branner of Stanford University, who had taken to 

print in 1890 to chide the Survey for its lack of cooperation with the geologists 

of the country, took to print again on another "matter of far-reaching importance to the geologists and other scientific men of the country." In Professor 

Branner's view "The attitude of the survey toward the geologists of the country 

has come to be simply intolerable. No geologist has any rights that the survey 

feels bound to respect, unless indeed the geologist has political backing that 

makes it worth the survey's while to treat him with some sort of consideration."

48 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
Branner was upset because in January 1906, as the Survey was making plans to 

begin work in the Arkansas coal fields, he had received a letter suggesting that 

if he would turn over to the Survey the unpublished material on the coal fields 

of Arkansas, which he had mapped for the State survey in 1886 and 1887, both 

he and the Arkansas survey would be given full credit in the final publication; 

he asked instead that he be assigned to do the new mapping and was told that 

the Survey preferred that the mapping be done by full-time members of the 

staff. Branner then resigned his per-diem appointment, calling such a 

preference '' an outrage and an unwarranted personal affront to which no selfrespecting geologist can tamely submit." The resignation was held until October, in the hope that Branner would reconsider, when instead he wrote to 

Walcott and at the same time to Science. Branner accused the Survey of overriding local interests, of discrediting and driving State organizations out of existence, and even of invading the privacy of educational institutions to discredit 

them. His resignation was then accepted, and Walcott wrote to him that

The right of any geologist to restrict the operations of this survey in opposition to public interests can not be admitted.

It was manifestly contrary to good policy, Walcott said, for any organization to 

duplicate the work of others where there was a prospect the results would be 

published, but 18 years was sufficient time to secure publication and so the interest of the public outweighed the fact that he had worked in the area.

Apparently inspired by Branner's action, Professor W. H. Hobbs of the 

University of Michigan also resigned his per-diem appointment and sent a copy 

of his letter to Science. Hobbs directed his attack at "the arbitrary and 

overbearing administration of the geologist in charge of geology." Hobbs' ire 

had been roused by the treatment accorded a manuscript on the crystalline 

rocks of Connecticut that he had submitted. The manuscript had been critically 

reviewed by G. K. Gilbert, who had not accepted Hobbs' conclusions and suggested that the work be reviewed in the field, by Bailey Willis, who suggested 

that the author's reputation would be better served by the omission of certain 

chapters, and by George Otis Smith, who condemned the manuscript as of no 

value except for material already published. The manuscript was then laid aside 

because Smith was then the head of the Section of Petrology and without his 

endorsement the manuscript could not be published. Hobbs complained that 

the Survey had become "the Great American Trust" and that Hayes was "a 

hustling business manager of the sledge-hammer type who has transformed the 

survey of Powell which in a notable manner advanced the geological thought 

of the world and brought golden opinions from all sorts of people into a great 

mining bureau with an auxiliary map establishment for 'coloring in' the 

national domain."

The dual attack prompted Walcott to send a letter to Science on the principles governing the Survey in its relations with other geological surveys and 

working geologists.

There is among scientists in general a rule of courtesy that denies to 

others the privilege of investigation in a direction which one has made his 

own by reason of his contributions to knowledge along that line. The rule 

is variously construed in different countries and by different men, but it is 

no part of my purpose to minimize its force. It has been recognized by the 

national survey since the days of Director King, and is now effective in 

relations with individuals and state surveys. It is, however, necessarily 

controlled by the progress of the general survey and the development of 

general plans, which sometimes require that work shall be done by the national organization notwithstanding meritorious individual claims. 

Moreover, professional courtesy on the part of a public official is subject 

to limitations imposed by his obligation to Congress and to the people to 

render prompt and efficient service.

The Branner Attack 49
Long experience, Walcott suggested, had shown that men whose first obligation was to a university could not work as efficiently for the Survey as did its 

full-time employees. The Survey had not discontinued the employment of all 

university professors (the annual report for the year ending June 30, 1906 

showed that 81 members of 51 educational institutions had been paid a total of 

more than $200,000 for their services during the year) but so many of the 

Survey staff by this time had become highly qualified scientists that it was no 

longer necessary to call on university men as often as it had been in earlier years.

Branner was not mollified. In another letter to Science he modified slightly his statements about relations between the national and State surveys; his 

own experience (which had been in the late 1880's when Powell was Director) 

did not bear out Walcott's contention that relations were cordial and that 

cooperation was never forced upon a State organization. He had received a 

letter from the head of one State survey that had managed to survive who said 

that only by resort to the State's representatives in Congress had he been able to 

dislodge the U.S. Geological Survey from his State. (The more than faint echo 

of this charge during the debate on Survey appropriations a few months later 

suggests that he was referring to the Minnesota survey.) He was more concerned 

about the discrimination that the Director of the Survey was practicing against 

universities. Walcott's policy was in effect at the Geological Survey and the 

Carnegie Institution of Washington, and now Walcott was a candidate for 

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution where he would undoubtedly pursue 

the same course ' 'so the university professors of the sciences in this country and 

the universities themselves are face to face with a serious problem.'' By the time 

the letter was published, however, the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution 

had elected Henry Fairfield Osborn, President of the American Museum of 

Natural History, to the post of Secretary.

By this time Congress was back in session and coal was causing more 

trouble. The coal-land withdrawals had not greatly upset the coal industry, 

then largely based in the East and far more concerned with the Interstate Commerce Commission's investigation of eastern railroads and their ties to eastern 

coal mining. In his annual message to Congress on December 4, President 

Roosevelt alluded only briefly to the withdrawals, saying:

It is not wise that the Nation should alienate its remaining coal-lands. I 

have temporarily withdrawn from settlement all the lands which the 

Geological Survey had indicated as containing, or in all probability containing, coal. The question, however, can be properly settled only by 

legislation, which in my judgment should provide for the withdrawal of 

these lands from sale or from entry, save in certain special circumstances. 

The ownership would then remain in the United States, which should not, 

however, attempt to work them but permit them to be worked by private 

individuals under a royalty system, the Government keeping such control 

as to permit it to see that no excessive price was charged consumers.

Although the coal industry had shown little interest in the withdrawals, 

Western Congressmen were concerned. On December 5, Congressman 

Mondell filed a resolution asking the Secretary of the Interior to supply a list of 

withdrawn lands, giving their current status and the reasons for the withdrawals. On December 15, Mondell saw the President, and on December 17, 

the withdrawal orders were modified to read withdrawn from coal entry only. 

Previously, lands outside the forest reserves that were officially reported by the 

Survey to contain coal had been withdrawn from all forms of entry while lands 

within the forest reserves and those outside the forest reserves not officially 

reported to contain coal had been withdrawn from coal entry only. On 

December 17 also, the President sent a special message to Congress stating that 

the coal-land law put a premium on fraud, that it was a scandal to maintain 

laws that made fraud the key to the development of natural resources, and sug50 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
One of the Survey's first ground-water investigations 

was made in southern Californa, where irrigation was 

necessary to mature the more valuable crops but was 

already so developed that any extension of areas of 

cultivation required an increase in water supply. When 

W. C. Mendenhall began his study in August 1903, 

low rainfall in the preceding decade and the constantly 

increasing drafts on stored water had already caused a 

decrease in the flow from artesian wells, a shrinkage of 

the artesian area, and a lowering of the water table 

outside the artesian area. Mendenhall pointed out that 

inasmuch as wells in the coastal plain were interdependent, users of ground water could choose to 

become rivals or to cooperate in preventing waste and 

conserving supplies. Realistically, he foresaw the possible necessity of State intervention to oversee the use of 

ground water. (From W. C. Mendenhall, 1905.)

Later artesian zone Later pumpjing lone

Originalpumging zone

gesting that provision should be made for leasing coal, oil, and gas rights under 

proper restrictions. Senator Henry Hansbrough of North Dakota promptly filed 

bills to reserve the lands to the Government and to provide for leasing. Other 

bills were filed after the Christmas recess, but none was even reported out of 

committee before the session ended.

In the midst of all this turmoil, Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock was 

preparing to leave office. He had survived the rigors of the position longer than 

any of his predecessors, had obtained indictments against more than a thousand persons for land frauds, and had restored to the public domain more than 

300,000 acres that had been misappropriated, but Secretary Hitchcock, already 

72, was tired and eager to retire. On the opening day of the Congressional session in December, President Roosevelt had nominated James R. Garfield, the 

Commissioner of Corporations in the Department of Commerce and Labor and 

a member of the "tennis Cabinet," to be the new Secretary of the Interior.

In December 1906, Walcott submitted his resignation as Director of the 

Reclamation Service, but Secretary Hitchcock asked him to stay until the new 

Secretary assumed office. Within the Survey, Walcott was busy with a full-scale 

investigation of the Topographic Branch, precipitated by a complaint of 

discrimination by a member of the Eastern Division, and at the same time arranging a meeting of the State geologists of the Atlantic Coast States, who 

seemed not to share Professor Branner's distrust of the Survey, to plan a 

cooperative survey with special reference to the ground-water resources of the 

Atlantic Coastal Plain.

After Garfield's nomination to be Secretary of the Interior was confirmed 

on January 15, to take effect on March 4, the tempo of the public-land dispute 

began to pick up. As Commissioner of Corporations, Garfield had been a 

crusader, responsible for investigations of the meat-packing industry, which 

had resulted in several indictments and the passage of a law for a general system 

of meat inspection, and for investigations of the anthracite and petroleum industries. At the end of January, Senator Thomas Carter of Montana unleashed 

a scathing attack on Secretary Hitchcock, which very likely was meant as a warning to the new Secretary. Senator Carter complained that the publicity being 

given to charges of land frauds by the Interior Department "created the impression that the entire western population is, and has been, engaged in a 

veritable saturnalia of criminal conspiracy, fraud, and perjury over the whole 

broad surface of the public domain." Fraud, he said, was only a minor part of 

the public-land transactions. With specific reference to the coal lands, he 

pointed out that in the 33 years since the Coal Lands Law of 1873, only 407,000 

acres of coal land had been entered, and at that rate it would take 5,000 or 

6,000 years to enter the lands that had been withdrawn. A few days later, Congressman Mondell attacked the coal-land withdrawals in the House but first 

dissociated himself from the Senate criticism, saying he did not wish to impugn 

the motives of anyone or to appear as a captious critic or fault-finder. The 

withdrawals, however, were:

Attack on the Department 51
3265

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3245

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3255 

3245

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EXPLANATION 

PECOS RIVER

SOLID EARTH |^&&i SAND

g=| CLAYEY SILT o

unauthorized by law and not warranted by any authority granted to 

executive officers either directly and specifically or by any possible construction of any statute, and which, if unchallenged, will undoubtedly be 

considered as establishing a precedent for the exercise of even further 

and more far-reaching executive power in the same direction * * *.

In his opinion, the public lands could be reserved or withdrawn only pursuant 

to express legislative authority or by reason of a treaty, for the purpose of carrying out congressional grants, or for public purposes.

President Roosevelt countered with another message to Congress on 

February 13 on mineral-fuel lands and the public-land system. Again he 

recommended a leasing system for mineral-fuel lands and pointed out that it 

was not a wholly untried policy but one that had been used in Australia and in 

all the great coal-producing countries of Europe except Great Britain. He expressed "utter and complete dissent" with Senator Carter's view that there had 

been a minimum of fraud in the disposal of the public lands and pointed out 

that with regard to coal lands

the necessity for care in the future management of these fuel supplies is 

further illustrated by the rapid rate at which the use of such fuels is increasing in the United States. The amount of coal used in this country during the last ten years is practically equal to that used during the preceding 

50 years of its history, and during each decade of this period the coal used 

was practically equal to the sum of that used during all the preceding 

decades. This remarkable development and the certain continuity of this 

prodigious growth compels us to recast all estimates as to the life of our 

"inexhaustible resources."

Congress ignored the President's request for coal-land legislation, but it 

reacted strongly to his suggestion that legislation be enacted to provide for 

Government control of the public pasture lands of the West on the same 

general principles as applied to the control of the forest reserves by attacking 

the forest-reserve policy. Shortly after the management of the forest reserves 

was transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Department of 

Agriculture, Secretary Wilson instituted a system of leasing grazing lands 

within the forest reserves, to begin on January 1, 1906. The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture entered into an agreement whereby the 

latter was given jurisdiction over applications for rights and privileges within 

the forest reserve, in effect placing the authority to issue permits in the hands of 

the Chief Forester, Gifford Pinchot. During the debate on the Agriculture 

appropriations bill, the Forest Service came under attack and the bill was 

amended to specify ' "That hereafter no forest reserve shall be created nor shall 

any additions be made to one heretofore created within the limits of the States 

of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, or Wyoming except by 

Act of Congress." President Roosevelt thereupon issued Executive orders 

creating several additional forest reserves before he signed the appropriations 

bill.

BOTTOM OF MOLES ENDING

IN SIUT

On April 18, 1906, the coastal region of central 

California was shaken by an earthquake of unusual 

severity, causing many injuries or deaths and extensive 

property damage. The most disastrous effects were the 

outbreak of fires and the destruction of pipe systems 

carrying water to fight them, resulting in devastation 

such as that shown in the view looking west from 

Telegraph Hill toward Russian Hill in San Francisco. 

R. L Humphreys of the Survey's Structural Materials 

Division was sent to California on April 19 to study the 

effects of the earthquake on buildings and construction, and G. K. Gilbert was a member of the Earthquake Investigations Commission, appointed by 

Governor George Pardee on April 21 but supported by 

funds from the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

that made a thorough scientific study of the phenomena. (From G. K. Gilbert, R. L. Humphrey, J. S. 

Sewell, and Frank Soule, 1907.)

52 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
The Survey began investigations of the quality of 

water, both chemical analyses and determinations of 

turbidity, or the amount of matter suspended in the 

water, at about the same time that it began the 

ground-water investigations. The amount of silt carried 

in suspension in streams was of special interest to the 

Reclamation Service, which had to contend with the 

problems of silt deposited in storage reservoirs. In a 

survey of Lake McMillan on the Pecos River in New 

Mexico, engineers discovered that about 42 percent of 

the storage capacity had been lost in 10 years. The 

unexpectedly rapid silting up of the reservoir was attributed to its small size. The illustration shows cross 

sections of test borings, A at the dam site and H about 

8,000 feet back of the dam. (From W. M. Reed, 1905.)

The Geological Survey itself was in somewhat of a ferment by this time. 

Only 8 days after Garfield's nomination was confirmed, Walcott submitted his 

resignation as Director of the Geological Survey to the President. Osborn had 

declined the position of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, fearing that it 

would restrict his personal research. The Regents of the Smithsonian met on 

January 23 and elected Walcott Secretary; Walcott accepted immediately, 

tendering his resignation as Director of the Survey on the same day. President 

Roosevelt at first refused to accept Walcott's resignation but finally did so after 

winning Walcott's agreement to remain as Director of the Survey until 

Secretary Garfield gained some familiarity with the Department. Shortly 

thereafter, S. F. Emmons submitted his resignation as chief of the Metals Section, to take effect June 1.

The Survey appropriations had again been attacked in the House. The 

Survey had requested restoration of the $50,000 cut from the appropriation for 

water-resources investigations in the previous year but otherwise only the continuation of the previous year's funds. The House Committee on Appropriations, however, reduced that estimate by $675,000 to about 56 percent of the 

appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907. The reduction was to be 

achieved by denying all funds for gaging streams, investigations of structural 

materials and investigations of fuels, and by reducing the appropriation for 

topographic surveys by $100,000, for geologic surveys by $50,000, and for 

engraving and printing maps by $25,000. The committee also revised the 

general item by omitting the authorizations for preparation of the geologic 

map of the United States and for gaging streams and determining the water 

supply of the United States. Another debate was precipitated, not so prolonged 

as in 1906 but much more blunt. For the most part the Democrats sat back and 

let the Republicans argue among themselves.

The debate began with a motion by the Chairman of the House Rules 

Committee, John Dalzell of Pennsylvania, to restore the phrases deleted by the 

Appropriations Committee from the general item, which was countered by a 

point of order from Chairman Tawney of the Appropriations Committee. 

Dalzell reminded Tawney that in the preceding session the Chair had ruled that 

the geologic map was a public work in progress so preparation of the geologic

Appropriations, 1906 53
map was reinstated. Tawney then tried to have it amended to "preparation of 

the geologic map of the national domain" but after another debate on the 

meaning of "national domain," the motion failed. Mondell then took up the 

argument to restore stream gaging. He insisted that water was a mineral, and 

this time quoted Dana's "Textbook on Mineralogy" to prove his point. If 

water was a mineral, then gaging streams was determining the amount of a 

mineral resource. Mondell convinced the House that water was a mineral but 

still lost the move to restore stream gaging to the general item when the House 

decided that as mineral resources were already covered in the general item, 

"gauging streams and determining the water supply" would be redundant.

The "national domain" debate was resumed when the appropriations for 

topographic surveys and geologic surveys were considered. For many years these 

had been described as "surveys in various parts of the United States" but the 

Appropriations Committee amended the items to read "surveys of the national 

domain." Marlin Olmsted, Republican of Pennsylvania, proposed an amendment to restore the previous wording for topographic surveys and a second 

amendment to increase the appropriation to $400,000. After considerable 

discussion, a compromise was reached: the wording was restored but the appropriation was increased only to $300,000. There was a similar argument 

about geologic surveys; for that item, both the earlier wording and the full 

amount requested were restored. During the debate on these items it became 

obvious that Tawney did not understand the nature of cooperative surveys. He 

believed that the Survey was contributing large sums of money from its appropriation to the States rather than that the States were furnishing money to 

the Survey. He accused the Director of seeking to undermine State geologists in 

order to "add them to his power and influence in the matter of increasing his 

appropriation" and reported that the State Geologist of his own State had 

withstood him and denied him the right to do any work in Minnesota. In turn, 

both Republican Dalzell, and Democrat Sherley, accused Tawney of lying.

The attempt to restore the appropriation for stream gaging failed. 

Mondell was back in the fray on this one, proposing an appropriation of 

$200,000 for examination of the water resources and products of the national 

domain, but Tawney made a point of order against it on the ground that water 

was included in mineral resources. William Englebright, Republican of California and a mining engineer by profession, then proposed an appropriation of 

$250,000 for investigation of the mineral resources of the national domain, in 

addition to the amount already appropriated, provided that not to exceed 

$150,000 be spent on water resources. That too met with a point of order. He 

tried again, omitting the proviso, and met with the same result.

The appropriation items for fuel- and structural-materials testing, 

however, were reinstated. The argument on structural materials revolved 

around duplication of work by the Survey, the Watertown Arsenal, the Supervising Architect's Office, and the Bureau of Standards. Congressman Wiley of 

New Jersey, who by this time had collected another sheaf of letters and 

telegrams endorsing the Survey work, assured the House that the Watertown 

testing machine was all right for tensile and compressive strength but could not 

determine vertical strain as the Survey equipment did, and the real duplication 

would be to appropriate money for the Watertown Arsenal to purchase similar 

equipment. No one was prepared to argue the point so the House voted to appropriate $100,000 for testing structural materials. The appropriation for fuel 

testing was also debated and finally, on Chairman Tawney's assurance (which 

was later found to be in error) that $50,000 of the current appropriation had 

been spent on equipment, the House voted to appropriate $200,000 to continue the fuel-testing program.

The Senate Appropriations Committee again revised the House bill. It 

restored "gauging streams and determining water supply" to the general item

The preservation of areas of scenic and scientific interest, a cause long espoused by geologists, was advanced 

by the enactment on June 8, 1906 of the American Antiquities Act, which authorized the President to declare 

historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, 

and other objects of historic or scientific interest in the 

public lands to be national monuments. The first such 

designation. Devils Tower in Wyoming, was made on 

September 24, 1906. The photograph was taken by 

N. H. Darton who was studying the geology and water 

resources of the northern portion of the Black Hills and 

adjoining regions. (From N. H. Darton, 1909.)

54 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
Devils Tower 55
and provided $150,000 for the work, raised the amount for fuel testing to 

$250,000 with the proviso it had added to the 1906 bill, which the House had 

omitted. The Senate passed the bill without comment on the Survey appropriation on February 26. Senate and House conferees agreed on the Senate appropriation for fuel testing but compromised on an appropriation of only 

$100,000 for stream gaging. Both houses accepted the conference report on 

March 2 over Mondell's protest that the "orders withdrawing practically all the 

national coal lands from entry have prevented all coal development in the 

West, and whatever good this Bureau may have done in the last year, if it had 

anything to do with proposing that policy and advocating it, or recommending 

it, it would have been infinitely better for the West had there been no Bureau 

of this sort or kind created."

James R. Garfield assumed the post of Secretary of the Interior on March 

5, 1907, and within a few days there were changes in both the Department and 

the Survey. On March 9, F. H. Newell was appointed the second Director of the 

Reclamation Service, Arthur Powell Davis succeeded Newell as Chief Engineer 

of the Reclamation Service, and the Reclamation Service was separated from the 

Survey, becoming an independent bureau within the Interior Department. On 

March 19, the Topographic Branch was reorganized in accordance with a plan 

devised by a committee headed by Robert Marshall of the Western Division. 

The plan called for five divisions and the appointment of a chief geographer as 

administrative head of the branch. Pending the appointment of such an officer, which was left to the new Director, the chiefs of the five divisions, with 

H. M. Wilson as chairman, would act as the Topographic Committee. On April 

2, a new branch, the Technologic Branch, was established, comprising two divisions corresponding to the appropriation items for fuel testing and structuralmaterials testing. Joseph A. Holmes was named "Expert-in-charge" of the 

Technologic Branch, although he himself preferred and used the term "Chief 

Technologist." On April 4, Secretary Garfield changed the title of the administrative head of the Geologic Branch, C. W. Hayes, from "Geologist-in-charge 

of Geology" to "Chief Geologist." The latter title had been used briefly by 

G. K. Gilbert while J. W. Powell was Director but when Survey funds had 

been slashed in 1892, many had complained about the existence of such an office, arguing that the Director of the Geological Survey should be its chief 

geologist. While Walcott was Director the title had not been used. No reason 

was given for its revival but it is reasonable to infer that the new Director was 

expected to be the Survey's principal administrative officer but not its chief 

scientist.

The selection of George Otis Smith as the fourth Director of the United 

States Geological Survey was announced on April 5, 1907. The choice was 

unexpected. Hayes was reported to be the favorite candidate of most Survey 

men. The press reported that C. R. Van Hise had declined the appointment, 

preferring to remain president of the University of Wisconsin, and that C. K. 

Leith, Van Hise's protege, and W. B. Clark, the State Geologist of Maryland, 

had both been considered. Secretary Garfield, however, had chosen Smith 

because he had been impressed with Smith's administrative abilities as a 

member of one of the subcommittees of the Keep Commission during its investigation of the business operations of the Government. As the Senate was 

not in session, the appointment could not be confirmed, but on May 1, 1907, 

George Otis Smith became Acting Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. He 

was also Chairman of the Topographic Committee. On April 6, H. M. Wilson 

had transferred from the Topographic Branch to the Technologic Branch as its 

Chief Engineer, the Northeastern and Southeastern Divisions of the 

Topographic Branch had been consolidated as the Atlantic Division, and Smith 

had taken Wilson's place as Chairman of the Topographic Committee.

56 National Welfare and National Efficiency, 1904-1907
The organization of which Smith assumed charge was a vastly different 

one from the organization that Walcott had inherited from Powell in 1894. 

Walcott had become Director in inauspicious times, with the Survey under attack in Congress, and regarded with disfavor by segments of both the mining 

industry and the profession, and with the most serious economic depression of 

the 19th century underway. Superficially, the circumstances were similar in 

1907; Survey appropriations were again under attack, some members of the 

profession were unhappy with the Survey, and there was a financial crisis. The 

most serious problems in 1892, however, were the lack of strong direction and 

internal dissensions that kept the Survey from functioning effectively as a unit. 

Walcott lost no time in assuming control of the work and within 3 years confidence in the organization was largely restored. Survey work expanded into 

new areas investigations of water resources, Alaskan mineral resources, fuels 

and structural materials all of them eminently practical in keeping with the 

times but never wholly applied science. At one and the same time, the Survey 

was actively involved in forest conservation and the reclamation of arid lands, 

and, at the opposite pole, theoretical and experimental research in geophysics 

and geochemistry. As the Survey's work expanded, Walcott continued to hold 

a tight rein on its conduct but relied more and more on committees or groups 

of scientists or engineers to develop a consensus of scientific opinion and to promulgate standards; from these committees he chose the best qualified persons 

to supervise individual programs. The Survey in 1907 was widely respected in 

Congress and in the profession; there was no question of its ability to survive 

difficult times, as there had been in 1892.

Walcott was accounted "the ideal administrator" by more than one of 

those who worked under his direction, but he was known to his contemporaries, according to legend, as "Snowshoes Charlie" because of his ability to 

get around without leaving tracks. Thus, although President Theodore 

Roosevelt said that "by his force, pertinacity, and tact, Walcott succeeded in 

putting the [Reclamation] act into effect in the best possible manner," most 

historians have overlooked his role in the passage of the act and his service as 

the first Director of the Reclamation Service. Most geologists when questioned 

identify him as a superb paleontologist, but few recognize how much of the 

modern Survey can be traced back to Walcott's administration. Shortly before 

he left the Survey, Walcott wrote to a young man who sought his advice on how 

to get ahead in the Government service.

I have always found it a good plan to consider the past as dead and gone, 

the present as an opportunity, and the future something to be looked forward 

to. Hence, my suggestion to you, in your dealings with all public officials, 

is to attend strictly to the business you have in hand each day, have a 

distinct plan for the future, and not to grumble or find fault with the past 

or with individuals with whom you have been in contact, or may be in 

contact.

The Walcott Years 57
Chapter 3.

Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law,

1907-1909

The Secretary of the Interior as the representative of the Executive in 

the care of the public lands and their resources often needs to take steps 

neither prohibited nor specifically provided for by law to prevent some 

great harm or to gain some great good for all the people.

 James R. Garfield

When George Otis Smith became Director of the Geological Survey on 

May 1, 1907, James R. Garfield had been Secretary of the Interior for less than 

2 months. Both the Director and the Secretary were much younger than their 

predecessors, both came from politically oriented families, and both lacked experience in the administration of large or complex organizations. Garfield, the 

son of the Congressman from Ohio who became the 20th President, was 41. 

After graduating from Williams College and the Columbia Law School, he 

began practicing law with his brother Harry in 1888, concentrating on estate 

and corporation law. He had become active in Republican politics and was a 

member of the Ohio Senate from 1896 to 1899- He came to Washington in 

1902 as a member of the Civil Service Commission and became a member of 

President Roosevelt's inner circle. A year later, Garfield became the first Commissioner of Corporations when the Department of Commerce and Labor was 

established. When he became Secretary of the Interior, the Department consisted of the General Land Office, the Indian Office, the Bureau of Pensions, 

the Patent Office, the Bureau of Education, the Geological Survey and its offspring, the Reclamation Service, along with various eleemosynary institutions, 

national parks, and monuments. He had little first-hand knowledge of conservation but readily absorbed the views of Gifford Pinchot. Perhaps Garfield's 

greatest value to the President in the post was his position on reform. Roosevelt 

regarded the Executive as subject only to the people and bound to take action if 

the Constitution did not explicitly forbid it, a view which he admitted most 

able lawyers past middle age did not take. Garfield was in complete accord with 

the President in this regard.

George Otis Smith, born in Hodgdon, Maine, in February 1871, was barely 36 when he was named Director. His father had founded a newspaper in 

Skowhegan in 1878 and served as its editor except for the 3-year period that he 

was Maine's Secretary of State, and when George Otis Smith entered Colby 

College in 1889, he was primarily interested in a career in journalism. At Colby 

he came under the influence of W. S. Bayley and at Bayley's suggestion went 

on to Johns Hopkins for graduate work in geology. In 1896, he received his 

Ph.D. from Hopkins, joined the U.S. Geological Survey, and married Grace 

Coburn of Skowhegan, a member of the widely known Maine family. Some of 

the Coburns had been identified with the railroad interests, especially the 

Maine Central Railroad, and others owned extensive tracts of timberland. Marriage brought to George Otis Smith responsibilities in helping to manage the 

Coburn estate. Smith's first assignment on the Survey had been as assistant to

Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909 59
Bailey Willis in mapping in the State of Washington, and for several years 

Smith had continued to map in the Northwest. He had spent 1 year in the 

Metals Section, with G. W. Tower and S. F. Emmons mapping in the Tintic 

district in Utah, and then, in 1903, was assigned to investigations in Maine and 

New Hampshire. In 1905, Smith had been given supervisory responsibility for 

geologic investigations in New England; in 1906, he had been put in charge of 

a section of petrology and then detailed to the Keep Commission for introducing modern business methods into the Federal Government.

To assume the directorship following Walcott was a distinct challenge for a 

young man. To some, including the editors of Economic Geology, "however 

able his successor may prove to be it is doubtful whether he will meet with as 

great a measure of success in his administration of office." To others, who 

believed that the Survey had suffered both scientifically and financially by 

Walcott's efforts to develop such related interests as irrigation and forestry, the 

new Director had an opportunity to return to the less complicated days of the 

past or, as T. C. Chamberlin wrote in the Journal of Geology , "to show what 

can be done by an undivided devotion to the development of strictly geological 

work in the interest of industry, education, and science."

The policies the new Director would adopt could not be predicted, for 

when he was appointed George Otis Smith had not established a reputation as 

a brilliant scientist or as an administrator of science. In fact, the editor of the 

Mining and Scientific Press, trying to add a personal touch to the announcement of Smith's appointment, could only say that he was "reported to be a 

man of charming personality." A few years later, Smith reminisced that his 

greatest interest on becoming Director had been in establishing a business 

policy for the public domain and averred that the principal purposes for which 

the Survey had been established were practical, in the latter reflecting a view of 

Government science that was prevalent at the time. Certain it is that during his

George Otis Smith (1871-1944), Director of the U.S. 

Geological Survey, 1907-1930. Smith, only 36 when 

he became Director, considered the Survey to be a 

"bureau of information" with a "duty to assist in law 

enforcement," and his avowed greatest interest on 

becoming Director was the establishment of a business 

policy for the public domain. Throughout much of his 

directorate, he emphasized the practical aspects of the 

science, and he once remarked that "only as the 

utilitarian value of geology has become recognized has 

a use been found for geologists." (Courtesy of the 

Library of Congress.)

60 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
James R. Garfield (1865-1950), Secretary of the 

Interior 1907-1909- Garfield, son of the 20th President of the United States, was 42 when he became 

Secretary. Like the President he served, he tended to be 

a loose constructionist of the law. His Federal experience prior to becoming Secretary was a year as a 

member of the Civil Service Commission and 4 years as 

Commissioner of Corporations in which he gained a 

reputation as an investigator and reformer. As 

Secretary of the Interior, he worked closely with Gifford Pinchot and F. H. Newell in promoting the conservation of natural resources. (Courtesy of the Library 

of Congress.)

first years in office, Survey activities shifted from emphasis on research to emphasis on practical work and from a national orientation to stress on the public 

lands. The change coincided with a steady loss of personnel, as scientists left the 

Government service for higher salaried positions in the mineral industry, which 

lowered the Survey's professional standing.

The active interest of the Roosevelt administration in conservation quickly 

drew the Survey into the political arena. Western interests had been so 

thoroughly upset by the various withdrawals of public lands that a convention 

of protest met in Denver on June 19, 1907. Smith accompanied Secretary Garfield, Gifford Pinchot, and F. H. Newell to the convention where they were all 

given a thoroughly chilly reception. The convention vented most of its 

displeasure on the forest reserves but also asked that provision be made for filings on coal lands and that the leasing system for grazing lands be abolished, 

endorsed a liberal construction of the irrigation laws and State control of irrigation, and asked for the removal of restrictions on the settlement of Indian lands 

by whites. The convention did, however, go on record as approving the President's attempts to enforce the laws against land-fraud perpetrators.

The land frauds observed by Ralph Arnold, who was mapping in the Coalinga district in California, caused him to write to Director Smith suggesting 

that Secretary Garfield, who planned to visit Western regions after the convention, visit the Coalinga area, which contained the only vacant land in that part 

of the State that gave promise of producing oil. At that time, petroleum lands 

could be entered and patented only under the placer law, which required that a 

discovery be made before the land could be patented, so the oil companies 

could gain title only by development work such as drilling. When active

Into the Political Arena 61
development began about 1900, the Land Office had withdrawn lands from 

agricultural filing so the drilling could go on unhampered. Some of the 

withdrawals, however, included agricultural land and the resultant hue and cry 

was so great that the lands had gradually been restored to entry. Now 

homestead entries were being made on land that was obviously not suited to 

agriculture in the hope of capitalizing on the oil companies' work. Arnold was 

able to convince Secretary Garfield of the need for action and on August 15 

several thousand acres of presumed oil-bearing lands near Coalinga were 

withdrawn from homestead entry.

As a result of his Western visit, Secretary Garfield decided on a policy of 

local responsibility in the Interior Department. Land officials would be expected to familiarize themselves with the conditions in their districts and the 

needs of the homesteader and the farmer, so that Department officials in 

Washington would have information to judge the best interests of the people. 

In line with this objective, the Survey reopened offices in Denver and San 

Francisco.

Within the Survey there were other problems to be faced. In the fiscal year 

that began just 2 months after George Otis Smith became Director, the newest 

branch, the Technologic Branch, headed by Joseph A. Holmes, enjoyed mostfavored-status. The Water Resources Branch had to discontinue nearly all 

research and even to decrease the number of stream measurements because of 

the reduction in its appropriation. The Topographic Branch had to cut back on 

field surveys because of the cut in its appropriation and a decline in cooperative 

funds. The Geologic Branch had the same funds as the year before but the 

extensive program of coal-land classification to which it was committed could 

only be carried out at the expense of other projects. The Technologic Branch, 

however, had the same funds and the same objectives as the year before. '

Coal absorbed a large part of the attention of the Geologic Branch in the 

field and the Technologic Branch in the laboratory. The Geologic Branch 

planned to classify about 20,000 square miles of supposed coal land in the 

Rocky Mountain region, about one-fifth of the withdrawn area, on the basis of 

the first simple regulations for classification and valuation of coal lands approved by Secretary Garfield on April 8. Coal land was defined as land containing a coal bed at least 2 feet thick within 1,500 feet of the surface; its value 

depended on the number of such beds. M. R. Campbell was in charge of the

work and 16 field parties were organized to carry it out. Only a few experienced , men were available to head these parties so several young men were given J 

responsibility and paleontologists T. W. Stanton and F. H. Knowlton were sent 

out to assist them in working out stratigraphic problems. A. G. Leonard and 

Carl Smith worked in the Sentinel Butte field of North Dakota and eastern 

Montana, A. J. Collier in the Miles City field in Montana, J. A. Taff in the 

Sheridan field in Wyoming, W. T. Lee in the Grand Mesa field of Colorado, 

Hoyt Gale in the Uinta Basin and George Richardson in southwestern Utah, 

and James H. Gardner, who had worked with M. K. Shaler in 1906, in the San 

Juan River coal basin of northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. 

In addition to these parties, C. A. Fisher supervised five parties led by inexperienced men in south-central Montana and north-central Wyoming, and Arthur 

Veatch supervised four such parties in south-central Wyoming in addition to 

inspecting contract surveys and resurveying an area near Rock Springs for the 

General Land Office. Near the end of the field season, Veatch was called in 

from the field and detailed to the White House, which then sent him to 

Australia and New Zealand to study their coal-land laws. Coal investigations in 

the Eastern States were still based on detailed mapping. George Ashley supervised the cooperative work in Pennsylvania and Frank DeWolf the work in 

Illinois. Together they made reconnaissance surveys of the Henderson field in

62 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
During the last 6 months of 1906, acting under orders 

of rhe President, the Secretary of the Interior withdrew 

from entry nearly 67 million acres of supposed coal 

lands in the Western States and Alaska. The classification and valuation of these lands, work that was very 

different from the Survey's earlier coal investigations, 

became a major effort of the Survey. Typical of the difficulties of classifying and placing a value on coal land 

were those in the Book Cliffs field, one of the most important coal reserves in the Rocky Mountain region. 

Coal-bearing rocks cropped out around the margin for 

more than 500 miles, but no single bed could be traced 

for more than a few miles and the thickness of the beds 

ranged from a mere film to 21 feet. At Mount Garfield, shown in the photograph, the coal occurs 

beneath the massive sandstone at the top, (From G. B. 

Richardson, 1909.)

Kentucky and the Evansville field in Indiana in anticipation of future 

cooperative work. Charles Butts continued to map in the Birmingham, 

Alabama, district. The Technologic Branch continued the fuel-testing program 

and also supported David White's research into the origin of coal.

The Survey's coal geologists were called together in January 1908 to 

establish a classification of coals for use in Survey publications because the coal 

testing program had not yet achieved one of its objectives, the development of 

a classification of coals based on their chemistry. The nomenclature and 

classification of coals, particularly the low-grade coals with which much of the 

western coal work was concerned, had long been a problem in the trade as well 

as in the Survey. The classification in general use, one proposed by Persifor 

Frazer in 1879, was based on the fuel ratio, defined as the quotient of the fixed 

carbon divided by the volatile matter as shown in a proximate analysis. The 

system was fairly satisfactory for high-grade coals but could not be used to 

separate lignite from bituminous coal. Although the coal-testing program had 

produced many ultimate analyses, as yet it had not yielded a method of 

classification. The geologists therefore agreed that six kinds of coal should be 

recognized: anthracite, semi-anthracite, semi-bituminous, bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite. They also agreed that the term "lignite" should be 

restricted to coals that were either actually woody in structure or closely approached wood in composition, and that "sub-bituminous" would designate 

coals next below the rank of bituminous but made no attempt to define the 

terms otherwise or to delimit the groups. One of the first uses of the classification system was on a map of the coal fields of the United States compiled by 

M. R. Campbell and R. W. Stone and published in the spring of 1908. The 

map showed the location and extent of the coal deposits, the character of the 

coal in each of the fields, and whether the coal was at workable depth. The area 

of the more accessible coal fields was estimated as about 327,000 square miles 

and the coal available as nearly 2,000 billion short tons.

Coal Investigations 63
The Technologic Branch, in addition to the fuel-testing program, also 

began investigations looking forward to an increase in mine safety. As part of 

his plan to reorganize the Interior Department, Secretary Garfield transferred 

to the bureaus some of the functions that had been carried on by the Secretary's 

Office. General supervision of the work of coal-mine inspectors in the Territories was transferred to the Survey at the beginning of the fiscal year with the 

suggestion that the nature and extent of mine accidents, particularly those 

resulting from explosions, be investigated. Such an investigation had also been 

high on Walcott's list of 23 fuels studies that should be undertaken. Rollin T. 

Chamberlin, son of T. C. Chamberlin, who had just received his Ph.D. from 

the University of Chicago for a thesis on gases in rocks, joined the Survey to investigate gases in coal. He and Clarence Hall visited several mines, where 

disasters had occurred, to collect samples and obtain data on conditions existing 

before the explosions and the manner in which the explosions were propagated.

The great effort being expended on coal and the continuing loss of 

economic geologists to private industry made it necessary for the Geologic 

Branch to curtail some field investigations. There were only two field projects in 

petroleum geology: Ralph Arnold's detailed survey of the Coalinga district in 

California and the structural investigation of Appalachian oil fields begun by 

W. T. Griswold and carried on after his resignation by M. J. Munn. Chief 

Geologist Hayes made a brief study of the bauxite deposits of the Southern Appalachians and the librarian, F. B. Weeks, made a reconnaissance of the 

western phosphate fields of Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. The iron-resources 

investigations included work in Pennsylvania and Georgia by A. C. Spencer 

and W. T. Phalen and a reconnaissance of the principal manganese and 

manganiferous ore deposits of the United States by E. C. Harder, one of C. K. 

Leith's students who had assisted him in 1906. The Technologic Branch made 

most of the field investigations of structural materials and N. H. Darton was 

detailed to the Branch for that purpose. The metals program was much reduced. Waldemar Lindgren, who had succeeded S. F. Emmons as chief of the 

Metals Section, was too deeply involved in administrative duties to undertake 

any field work. S. F. Emmons was on leave to make a study of the Cananea copper mining district in Mexico and L. C. Graton and W. H. Emmons were with 

him, F. L. Ransome was occupied with reports, and only B. S. Butler, C. E. 

Siebenthal, and F. L. Hess were able to get into the field.

One of the largest projects in 1907 was the study of the geology and 

ground-water resources of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, a combined operation of 

the Geologic and Water Resources Branches in cooperation with several States. 

The project had been agreed upon at a meeting of State geologists in December 

1906, and at that time a supervisory board had been established, with Professor 

W. B. Clark, State Geologist of Maryland, as chairman, and the State 

geologists of other cooperating States, the Chief Geologist, the Chief 

Hydrographer, the Chief of the Section of Paleontology, and the Chief of the 

Eastern Section of Hydrology as the other members. M. L. Fuller of the Water 

Resources Branch was put in overall charge of the project for the Survey, Clark 

supervised the geologic work from Massachusetts southward to and including 

North Carolina, and T. W. Vaughan supervised the work from the North 

Carolina-South Carolina border southward. During the 1907 field season, 

mapping and other field studies were carried out in New Jersey, Delaware, 

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 

Because of the concentration of work in the Coastal Plain, somewhat less areal 

geologic mapping was done in other States. Bailey Willis continued to work on 

the geologic map of North America, revising the material that had been incorporated in the map printed for the International Geological Congress in 

Mexico.

64 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
Oil-bearing lands near Coalinga, California, were 

withdrawn from homestead entry in August 1907 after 

Ralph Arnold of the Geological Survey pointed out 

that frauds were being perpetrated in the acquisition of 

land in the area. At the time, petroleum lands were 

patentable only under the Placer Act, which required 

discovery before the patent could be granted, and 

some who hoped to capitalize on the oil companies' 

exploration were filing homestead claims. Arnold's 

study indicated that petroleum occurred in five different formations and that the influence of structure 

on the accumulation of petroleum varied in different 

parts of the field, presumably because of the presence 

or absence of water below the oil "zones." (From 

Ralph Arnold and Robert Anderson, 1910.)

G. K. Gilbert resumed his studies of the principles of river hydraulics after 

the investigation of the San Francisco earthquake was completed. He maintained his interest in seismology, however, by serving as chairman of a 

15-member Committee on Seismology of the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science and as a member of the Scientific Committee of the 

Seismological Society of America, which was established after the San Francisco 

earthquake.

In Alaska, W. W. Atwood and H. M. Eakin began a general study of the 

coal-bearing rocks of the territory, although its metals continued to be the principal interest. Fred Moffit examined the copper deposits of the Kasaan Peninsula and the valley of the Chitina River where there was a possibility that a 

railroad might be constructed. In the Seward Peninsula, P. S. Smith, F. J. 

Katz, and G. I. Findlay mapped the exceedingly intricate geology of an area 

that contained the only known quartz lode in western Alaska, Adolph Knopf 

investigated the tin deposits, and F. F. Henshaw continued the stream 

measurements with reference to placer mining. Because of the important mining developments and large gold production in the Fairbanks district, T. G. 

Gerdine and R. H. Sargent mapped at the mile-to-the-inch scale in preparation 

for future geologic work and C. C. Coven began hydrographic studies. Reconnaissance mapping was continued in the area between the international boundary and the Tanana and Yukon Rivers.

In the Division of Chemical and Physical Research, George Becker continued his investigations of geophysical problems and their application to 

geology, publishing three papers during the year on slaty cleavage, the age of a 

cooling globe, and the relations of radioactivity to geology and cosmogony. 

C. E. Van Orstrand continued in immediate charge of the work on elasticity. 

Early in July, A. L. Day and E. T. Alien left the Survey to inaugurate the newly 

built and equipped Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution in a 

secluded area on the outskirts of Washington.

Geology, 1907 65
The Water Resources Branch had to cut back its work still further because 

of the second successive reduction in its appropriation. Only 630 rivermeasurement stations could be maintained, and 263 of them were maintained 

in cooperation with other organizations. State agencies provided funds for 

stream gaging in California and Nevada, but in other Western States the 

stream gaging was restricted to streams that were available for irrigation and 

there the Reclamation Service paid part of the expenses. The Secretary of 

Agriculture provided $6,000 for stream-flow measurements in the South Atlantic States where Congress had called for an investigation of the advisability of 

setting aside watersheds as forest reserves. Many of the stations in New 

England, New York, the Middle Atlantic States, and the Midwest were simply 

discontinued. The comprehensive investigation of the geology and ground 

water of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, being carried on in cooperation with several 

States and the Geologic Branch, was continued but little field work on groundwater projects could be done elsewhere. In the fall of 1907, when M. L. Fuller 

resigned to engage in private practice, responsibility for supervising the Coastal 

Plain project was transferred to the Geologic Branch. W. C. Mendenhall was 

called to Washington to supervise the remaining ground-water activities and his 

work in southern California was suspended. Investigations of the quality of 

water were confined to the few that could be carried on in cooperation with 

States or with the Sanitary Research Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology.

The Topographic Branch was under new direction. Robert Marshall, who 

had chaired the reorganization committee in the spring of 1907, remained in 

Washington and was virtually in charge of the Branch after George Otis Smith 

became Director, although technically only Geographer-in-charge of the Pacific 

Division, until January 18, 1908, when he was promoted to Chief Geographer. 

Marshall was a Virginian, born in Amelia County in 1867 and educated in 

Richmond and at Columbian University in Washington. He was appointed to 

the Survey as a field assistant in 1889 and in 1890 was promoted to surveying 

duties in California. Frank Sutton, who became Geographer-in-charge of the 

Atlantic Division, had been with the Survey since 1886. Sutton graduated from 

Pennsylvania Military College in 1879 with a C.E. degree. W. H. Herron, 

Geographer-in-charge of the Central Division, a graduate of State Normal College of Eastern Illinois, joined the Survey in 1885. E. C. Barnard, Geographerin-charge of the Rocky Mountain Division, had been with the Survey since 

graduating from Columbia University in 1884 with a degree in mechanical 

engineering. From 1903 to 1905, Barnard had been chief topographer of the 

U.S.-Canadian Boundary Survey. T. G. Gerdine of the Alaskan Division of 

Mineral Resources became Geographer-in-charge of the Pacific Division when 

Marshall became Chief Geographer. Gerdine was an 1891 graduate of the 

University of Georgia. He had been with the Survey since 1893 except for 2 

years with the General Land Office. E. M. Douglas, who had headed the old 

Western Division, supervised the computing and instrument sections and was 

in general charge of office administration in the absence of the Chief 

Geographer.

The four topographic divisions completed 32,637 square miles of mapping, about 5 percent less than the Eastern and Western Divisions had accomplished in the preceding year. In the Atlantic Division, 11,200 square miles 

were mapped in 15 States, more than half of it at 1:62,500. The Central Division mapped only 4,715 square miles in 11 States, 75 percent of it at 1:62,500, 

but also made leveling surveys of the swamp areas in the ceded lands of the 

Chippewa Indians in Minnesota. The Rocky Mountain Division mapped 6,019 

square miles, almost all at scales of 1:125,000 and 1:250,000. The Pacific Division mapped 10,703 square miles in 7 States and Territories at scales ranging 

from 1:31,680 in the Sacramento Valley of California to 1:250,000 in the 

Tonopah quadrangle in Nevada.

66 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
In the fall of 1907, Director Smith, Waldemar Lindgren and E. W. Parker 

of the Geologic Branch, andj. A. Holmes of the Technologic Branch attended 

the 10th American Mining Congress in Joplin, Missouri. The congress was still 

intent on gaining recognition in Washington for the mining industry by the 

establishment of a department of mines; it was better organized than it had 

ever been before and seeking the support of the eastern coal industry in its 

endeavors. The President of the Mining Congress, J. H. Richards of Boise, 

Idaho, reported that he had been in Washington and had seen the President of 

the United States, who said that he would recommend a bureau, but not a 

department, of mines in his next annual message to Congress and had also seen 

the new Secretary of the Interior who was at first opposed to the idea of a 

bureau of mines but then agreed to help.

The Director of the Geological Survey was lukewarm about the establishment of a bureau of mines. The Geological Survey, Smith said, was regarded 

both at home and abroad "as in reality performing the work of a mining 

bureau by reason of its activity in fostering the development of mineral 

resources of the country,'' and he asked for the Survey "a fair recognition for its 

part in the past of American mining." For the future, Smith promised an 

"even greater endeavor to increase its usefulness to your industry," subject of 

course to the limitations imposed by Congress through law and size of appropriations. In the lines along which he proposed to have the Survey increase its 

usefulness, however, he listed first "the fuller recognition of its duty in the 

matter of the classification of the mineral lands of the public domain" and 

after that, the rapid extension of systematic field study of all mineral resources 

so that geological exploration could keep ahead of economic development, the 

further development of the Survey as a source of authoritative and disinterested 

information for the benefit of the prospector or land owner, the broadening 

and improvement of the methods of collecting mineral statistics, the investigation of processes relating to the mining and later treatment of fuels, ores, and 

other mineral products, and the preparation of reports that would better meet 

the needs of the mining industry and their more prompt and effectual 

distribution.

Lindgren, who addressed the congress on its first interest, gold, was asked 

whether the economics of gold production were such as to lend support to the 

idea of a bureau of mines or whether the Government should interest itself in 

decreasing the cost of gold production by experiment stations. In a carefully 

phrased response, he said it would be desirable for the Government to investigate processes from a scientific standpoint. Political economists, as he had 

already pointed out, were not at all agreed that gold was necessary. Many 

believed that the increased production of gold during the preceding decade 

had brought about a depreciation in its value and thus an increase in wages and 

commodity prices. Depreciation in value was an automatic regulation of the 

gold output of the world because as gold became cheaper and more plentiful, 

the mining of low-grade ores was jeopardized.

Parker was more favorably inclined toward a bureau of mines. Coal consumption had been increased enormously by industrial development, and he 

predicted that if the current rate of production continued, the anthracite fields 

of Pennsylvania would be exhausted in 70 to 80 years. The bituminous fields 

would last for about 700 years, but improvements in methods of mining, 

preparation, and utilization of coal would prolong the usefulness of the best 

and most cheaply mined coals.

Holmes took his stand on the prevention of waste. The world, he said, 

recognized Americans as the most wasteful of all people in the utilization of 

their resources. Water, "in some respects the most valuable of all our mineral 

resources," was being wasted, by excessive use in many places, by not being 

used as a source of power in others. The waste of other mineral resources was an

American Mining Congress, 1907 67
even more serious matter because minerals were not renewed and when once 

exhausted were gone forever. Metallurgical processes were also wasteful; the 

large quantities of sulfur and arsenic vapors that poured out of the smelter 

chimney were economically and commercially valuable and at the same time 

destructive, killing nearby vegetation and thus permitting the rains to erode 

the land. The waste of fuel resources Holmes called appalling and said

every possible means should be adopted for reducing it to a minimum in 

order that our fuel resources may suffice for the future as well as for the 

present needs of the nation.

Following the Mining Congress, Director Smith joined the Inland Waterways Commission on a trip down the Mississippi River. Where the idea for the 

Commission had come from, no one was quite sure. The President gave Pinchot the credit, but Pinchot was not certain whether he or W J McGee had 

thought of it. McGee had only recently returned to Washington after several 

years in St. Louis where he had become active in promoting the proposed 

Lakes-to-the-Gulf Waterway which would make it possible for ocean-going 

ships to come up the Mississippi to Chicago by way of the Illinois River. McGee, 

among others, saw that such a waterway could also be used for other purposes. 

The Army Engineers, however, were opposed to the idea, and in the Congressional session that ended on March 4, 1907, the House Rivers and Harbors 

Committee, under Chairman Theodore E. Burton of Ohio, disapproved an appropriation for such a waterway. Congressman Joseph Ransdell of Louisiana, 

who favored the waterway, thereupon demanded that the civil functions of the 

Engineer Corps be abolished and the work be put in the hands of a new Federal 

Department of Works. Instead, President Roosevelt on March 14 set up the Inland Waterways Commission with Congressman Burton as chairman and 

General Alexander Mackenzie, Chief of Engineers, as one of the members.

In the Goldfield, Nevada, mining district, one of the 

most rapidly developing gold camps in the West, the 

ores were remarkably rich but also remarkably irregular 

and almost without exception associated with craggy 

outcrops of silicified volcanic rocks, such as those 

shown in the photograph. F. L. Ransome found that 

these ledges, as they were called by the miners, consisted of quartz, alunite, kaolinite, and pyrite, and 

concluded that the presence of alunite in association 

with the gold ores and the alteration of the rock indicated that the ores were deposited from solutions 

containing sulfuric acid. (From F. L. Ransome, 1909.)

68 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
The continuing progress of the copper-mining industry 

in Alaska led to a demand for additional field investigations of the Prince William Sound area to supplement those by W. C. Mendenhall and F. C, Schrader 

in 1898 and by Schrader and A. C, Spencer in 1900. 

U. S. Grant and Sidney Paige, who studied the general 

geology as well as the mineral resources in three field 

seasons, noted that Prince William Sound is a highly 

eroded pan of the surrounding Chugach Mountains, 

and that the fairly accordant tops of the mountains 

suggest an ancient peneplain that had been raised 

above sea level, warped, and highly eroded. In this 

view looking northward from Cordova, the mountains 

in the foreground are glaciated but the summits of 

those in the background are not. (From U. S. Grant 

and D. F. Higgins, 1910.)

Others appointed to the commission were Senator Francis Newlands of Nevada, 

whose name was associated with the Reclamation Act, Senator William Warner 

of Missouri, Congressman John Bankhead of Alabama, Herbert Knox Smith, 

who had succeeded James R, Garfield as Commissioner of Corporations, the 

perennial duo of F. H. Newell and Gifford Pinchot, and W J McGee. In 

creating the Commission, Roosevelt stated that control of navigable waterways 

by the Federal Government carried with it corresponding responsibilities and 

obligations.

Our inland waterways as a whole have thus far received scant attention. It is 

becoming clear that our streams should be considered and conserved as 

great natural resources. Works designed to control our waterways have 

thus far usually been undertaken for a single purpose, such as the improvement of navigation, the development of power, the irrigation of arid lands, 

the protection of lowlands from floods, or to supply water for domestic and 

manufacturing purposes. While the rights of the people to these and similar 

uses of water must be respected, the time has come for merging local projects and uses of the inland waters in a comprehensive plan designed for the 

benefit of the entire country.

The President also joined the trip down the Mississippi during which a plan was 

developed for a conference at the White House to dramatize the need for 

conservation.

In his annual message to Congress in December 1907, President Roosevelt, 

as he had promised the President of the Mining Congress, recommended the 

creation of a bureau of mines under the control and direction of the Secretary of 

the Interior "to have power to collect statistics and make investigations in all 

matters pertaining to mining and particularly to the accidents and dangers of 

the industry.'' If this could not be done immediately, at least additional appropriations should be given to the Department of the Interior ' 'for the study

Inland Waterways Commission 69
of mining conditions, for the prevention of fraudulent mining schemes, for carrying on the work of mapping the mining districts, for studying methods for 

minimizing the accidents and dangers of the industry; in short, to aid in all 

proper ways the development of the mining industry.''

The greatest emphasis, however, was given to the need for a comprehensive program for the ' 'conservation of our natural resources and their proper 

use"; Roosevelt called it "the fundamental problem which underlies almost 

every other problem of our national life." He proposed that the National 

Government undertake the development of the great river systems as national 

water highways, first the Mississippi and its tributaries and then the Columbia. 

Other water uses should be part of the general plan for development of the 

waterways; Government dams, for example, should be used to produce power 

as well as to improve navigation, and the creation of deep waterways along the 

Mississippi could include the building of levees that, with control of the headwaters, would end the threat of floods in the delta region. Irrigation should be 

far more extensively developed, not only in the West but elsewhere, as in some 

of the South Atlantic and Gulf States where it would go hand in hand with the 

reclamation of swampland. The Federal Government should control the public 

grazing lands either by permit or lease. The Government should part with its 

title only to the actual homemaker, not the profitmaker, and its prime objective should be to secure the rights and guard the interests of the small-hold 

rancher.

Natural resources must not be wasted:

We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; 

this is not so. The mineral wealth of the country, the coal, iron, oil, gas, and 

the like, does not reproduce itself, and therefore is certain to be exhausted 

ultimately; and wastefulness in dealing with it today means that our 

descendants will feel the exhaustion a generation or two before they otherwise would.

He held that the Government should have the right to keep the fee of the coal, 

oil, and gas fields in its own possession and to lease the right to develop them 

under proper regulations, or, if Congress would not adopt this method, the 

coal deposits should be sold under limitations to conserve then as public 

utilities, the right to mine coals being separated from the title to the soil.

Much of the message dealt with the preservation or replacement of forests. 

Although the United States had made a beginning in forest preservation, the 

rate of exhaustion of timber was so great that the country was on the verge of a 

timber famine. About 20 percent of the forested territory was reserved in national forests, but these did not include the most valuable timberlands and the 

proportion was too small to do more than mitigate the trouble ahead. In particular, Roosevelt recommended that the Nation acquire all possible forest 

lands in the Appalachian and White Mountains.

The President's conservation program received a mixed but largely 

negative reaction from Congress, and indeed, in the months that followed, 

there seemed to be some confusion in the administration itself as to what constituted conservation. The Inland Waterways Commission report, sent to Congress in February 1908, defined the purpose of the conservation program as:

to carry out broad plans for the complete development of the resources of 

the country, and thus assure to the greatest number of people the greatest 

good for both the present and the future.

In the past, the Commission pointed out, the great natural wealth of the country and the eagerness of Americans for immediate results regardless of future 

needs had led to extravagant consumption of natural resources and the encouragement of monopoly. These monopolistic tendencies in the past had been

Joseph Austin Holmes (1859-1915), Chief Technologist, U.S. Geological Survey, 1907-1910; first Director 

of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1910-1915. Holmes, a 

professor of geology at the University of North 

Carolina and State Geologist of North Carolina, was 

chosen to direct the department of mines and 

metallurgy at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in

1904 and was a member of the committee overseeing 

the Survey's coal-testing program at the exposition. In

1905 he joined the Survey to supervise fuel testing and 

structural-materials testing under Survey auspices. He 

was active in the conservation movement but is remembered in particular for his pioneer work in promoting 

mine safety. (Courtesy of the Bureau of Mines.)

70 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
conspicuous with transportation agencies but were now opposing the best 

utilization of streams. The Commission therefore recommended that

hereafter plans for the improvement of navigation in inland waterways, or 

for any use of these waterways in connection with interstate commerce, 

shall take account of the purification of the waters, the development of 

power, the control of floods, the reclamation of lands by irrigation and 

drainage, and all other uses of the waters or benefits to be derived from 

their control.

To attain the maximum benefits from these improvements and uses of water at 

a minimum cost, the Commission considered it desirable that there be an administrative agency with "large powers for the investigation and elaboration of 

projects under suitable legislative regulation."

The Inland Waterways Commission report was signed by all members of 

the Commission except General Mackenzie. Senator Newlands' bill to carry out 

the Commission's recommendations was so effectively opposed by the Corps of 

Engineers that it never came to a vote. One reason for the Engineers' opposition may have been the recommendations in the report by M. O. Leighton, the 

Survey's Chief Hydrographer, for preventing floods and maintaining navigable 

depths in streams by the establishment and maintenance of reservoirs in 

highland tributaries of great rivers, proposals that were notably different from 

the practices then in use for flood control, especially those of the Army 

Engineers, but which anticipated in many ways the Tennessee Valley Authority 

created by Congress a quarter of a century later. Leighton suggested that the 

logical way to control a river is to control the sources of its water supply, the 

logical way to prevent floods is to store and temporarily hold flood waters in 

reservoirs so they do not descend on the lower valleys in a large volume, and the 

proper way to maintain navigable depth of rivers at the low-water season is to 

provide for the intelligent use of stored water. In most places, levees and 

canalization were not the way to control the rivers. The first cost of his proposed 

system would be large but the ultimate cost would be nominal in comparison 

with the benefits, and, moreover, if a method could be devised by which the 

United States could realize a fair return on the additional water power created 

by the proposed storage system, the entire cost of the reservoirs would be 

returned to the Treasury.

Public vs. private control of water power sources had only recently become 

a matter of public interest as the electrical industry passed beyond the pioneer 

stage and transmission of power by electric lines made water power of value 

beyond the immediate vicinity of the source. Building dams in navigable 

streams had required express authorization by Congress and approval by the 

Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War for more than a decade; in 1906, 

the number of applications for permits became so large that Congress passed a 

law to establish a uniform policy upon which approval would be given. One requirement was that construction begin within 1 year and be completed with 3 

years. By an act of Congress in 1896, revised in 1901, the Secretary of the Interior had been authorized to grant rights-of-way through the public lands, 

forests, and reservations, where many of the best sources were located, "for 

electrical plants, poles, and lines for the generation and distribution of electrical power.'' After the management of the forest reserves was transferred from 

the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture in 1905, the 

Forest Service began to charge for such permits within the reserves and to limit 

the length of the permits. In 1907, Secretary of the Interior Garfield, fresh 

from his crusading days as Commissioner of Corporations, charged that if the 

waters of the great mountain ranges of the West were acquired by private interests, "generations to come will pay tribute for use of water which should be 

preserved as a public utility, not a private privilege."

Inland Waterways Commission 71
In the spring of 1908, the administration decided to take a stand on the 

issue when Congress passed a routine bill to extend the time for completion of 

water-power works on the Rainey River, a boundary stream between the State 

of Minnesota and the Dominion of Canada. Permission to build the dam had 

first been given in 1898 and at that time a limit of 3 years for completion had 

been set. The limit had been extended several times, and no difficulty was foreseen in obtaining another extension. On April 13, however, Roosevelt vetoed 

the bill with the conservationist manifesto that natural resources must not be 

granted and held in an undeveloped condition for speculative or other purposes. Unfortunately, after the bill was vetoed it was discovered that the 

administration did not have all the facts in the case, and the President had to 

request Congress to pass the bill over his veto. Secretary Garfield explained that 

the Rainey Company had spent time and money persuading railroads to come 

to the place of construction, that it took 7 years to get the consents of Canadian 

parliaments, and that work had to be suspended in 1907 because of the recession. Moreover, the Rainey River dam would improve navigation and maintain 

the Rainey Lake waters during the low-water period as well as furnish power.

Disposition of the mineral lands was a moot subject. Several bills were 

filed in the House and Senate to reserve the coal lands, to dispose of the coal 

lands, or to reserve the mineral rights while providing for sale of surface 

rights but none was ever reported out of committee. Ralph Arnold, meanwhile, had been pressing Director Smith for more action on California oil 

lands, and the Director had written to Secretary Garfield on February 23, 1908, 

recommending that "the filing of all claims to oil lands in the State of California be suspended in order that the Government might continue ownership of 

valuable supplies of liquid fuel in this region where all fuel is expensive." The 

superiority of liquid fuel for steamships and in particular for the Navy was 

becoming evident, and its adoption was primarily a matter of price. The rate at 

which the oil lands in California were being patented by private parties would 

bring public ownership to an end in a short time, and after that the GovernThe dry dust of bituminous and lignitic coals had only 

recently been recognized as an explosive agent more insidious, threatening, and deadly to the miner than fire 

damp. Coal dust came mainly from breaking down 

coal at the face of the mine but was distributed 

through the mine in several ways, the finest dust being 

picked up by ventilating currents. A series of experiments at the Pittsburgh station, made with artificially 

prepared dust from a mine working the Pittsburgh 

seam that provided coal of uniform character and 

chemical composition, showed that dusts with about 

10 percent of volatile combustible matter will explode; 

dusts with higher percentages of volatile combustible 

matter are more sensitive. The photograph shows an 

explosion at the Pittsburgh testing station. (From G. S. 

Rice, 1910.)

72 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
The conservation of mineral resources, which were 

nonrenewable, had to be based on different premises 

than the conservation of forests or water. Scientists 

were concerned about the possibility of the exhaustion 

of oil and gas but their predictions of when it would 

occur were based on a limited knowledge of their occurrence. In the Gulf Coast area, for example, oil and 

gas were believed to occur in two ways, either concentrated in small areas near salt domes, or associated with 

favorable structures in certain geologic formations. 

Waste of these precious substances, such as gas in the 

well left burning for advertising purposes in the Caddo 

field in Louisiana, shown in the photograph, was totally unacceptable. (From G. D. Harris, 1910.)

rnent would be obliged to repurchase the oil it had practically given away. Garfield, however, took no action on Smith's recommendation, and the House on 

April 22 passed a bill for sale of the oil lands filed by Congressman Sylvester 

Smith, Republican of California. In May 1908, the Department of the Interior 

endorsed the Mondell bill to provide for acquisition of the public phosphate 

lands under the placer law.

Bills to establish a bureau of mines, as recommended in Roosevelt's annual message, were filed in both the House and Senate. The Senate Committee 

on Mines and Mining did not report out any bill, and a joint resolution proposed by Senator Charles Dick of Ohio to provide for a Branch of Mining 

Technology in the Geological Survey was passed over more than a dozen times 

and never voted on. The House Committee on Mines and Mining, however, on 

April 6 recommended passage of a bill to establish a bureau in the Interior 

Department where it would be associated with the Geological Survey and 

would perform duties that would in no way duplicate those that the Survey was 

authorized to perform. In reporting out the bill, the committee noted that the 

mining industry added nearly $2 billion annually to the wealth of the country 

without receiving any promotion, help, or even attention from the Government but that its great growth had been attended with a disproportionate and 

appalling loss of life due to accidents and explosions in mines.

The President's recommendation in the annual message that funds be appropriated "for studying methods for minimizing the accidents and dangers" 

of the mining industry had been timely, for the year 1907 had been a disastrous 

one in the coal mines. During 1906, more than 2,000 miners had been killed 

but the toll in 1907 was even worse, and in December alone, the month in 

which Roosevelt made the recommendation, 700 were killed. On December 

19, John McHenry of Pennsylvania filed a bill in the House for the purpose of 

supplying relief and alleviating suffering incident to accidents in coal mines, 

and both the Senate and the House talked about investigating mine disasters. 

Even before Congress convened, however, Clarence Hall and Walter Snelling of 

the Geological Survey's Technologic Branch had completed a report on coalmine accidents, including a statement of methods used to prevent them in 

other countries and a suggested program of investigation. "In no other country 

in the world are the natural conditions so favorable for the safe extraction of 

coal as in the United States," they said, but "in spite of this fact the number of 

lives lost per 1,000 men employed is far higher than in any other coalproducing country, and the number of lives lost per million tons of coal produced is exceeded by only one other county."

On January 17, 1908, the Secretary of the Treasury forwarded to Congress 

an estimate for a supplemental appropriation of $200,000 .for the Survey, 

$120,000 to establish and equip a station for the investigation of methods of 

minimizing accidents and dangers in mines, $60,000 for investigation of mine 

accidents and their prevention and the improvement of mine conditions, and 

$20,000 for the investigation of methods of preventing waste in mining, extracting, and utilization of ores and mineral substances other than fuels. Approval of the full program would in effect set up a bureau of mines within the 

Geological Survey. An enthusiastic Senator Hemenway thought the appropriation should be made part of the urgent deficiency bill, then pending, but the 

House Committee on Appropriations instead attached it to the legislative, executive, and judiciary bill for the next fiscal year. Before reporting out the bill, 

the House committee amended the proposal to restrict the work to "such 

investigations in the Territories and the district of Alaska as will increase safety 

and efficiency in mining," reduced the appropriation to $195,000, and 

authorized the Secretary of the Interior to accept any site, buildings, equipment, or funds for use in the investigations that in his judgment it might be

Mine-Accident Legislation 73
proper to accept. The House passed the bill with an appropriation of only 

$150,000 on the advice of Mr. Tawney that much of the first year would be 

taken up in acquiring buildings and equipment. When the bill came up on the 

floor of the Senate, Senator Philander Knox of Pennsylvania proposed an 

amendment to strike out the restriction of investigations to the Territories and 

Alaska and brought on a debate on States' rights in which Senator Henry Teller 

of Colorado was one of the most fervent objectors to Federal "interference" 

and Senator Eugene Hale of Maine a close second. When Senator Knox explained that the intent was to permit investigations to be made anywhere but 

that the Federal Government would apply the results only in the Territories and 

Alaska, the Senate passed the bill with the full amount of $195,000 on March 

21. The bill then went to conference where it remained for the next two 

months.

The Conference of Governors, convened by President Roosevelt to 

dramatize the need for natural-resources management, met at the White 

House May 13-15, 1908. It was attended by a glittering array of dignitaries in 

addition to the Governors, including Justices of the Supreme Court, the 

Cabinet, Members of Congress, and representatives of leading scientific and 

technical organizations. Among the Federal representatives were, of course, 

Gifford Pinchot and F. H. Newell, and also George Otis Smith, M. O. 

Leighton, Henry Gannett, and Joseph A. Holmes of the Survey. In the opening 

address, the President called conservation the weightiest problem before the 

Nation and said that national power and prosperity depended on the energy 

and intelligence with which natural resources were used.

We have become great in a material sense because of the lavish use of our 

resources, and we have just reason to be proud of our growth. But the time 

has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, 

when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the soils 

have been still further impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting 

the rivers, denuding the fields, and obstructing navigation.

The speakers at the conference assessed the problem of conservation from 

several points of view. Both Andrew Carnegie and T. C. Chamberlin stressed 

the need for research. According to Carnegie,

So far as our mineral wealth is concerned, the need of the day is prudent 

foresight, coupled with ceaseless research in order that new minerals may 

be discovered, new alloys produced, new compounds of common 

substances made available, new power-producing devices developed. The 

most careful inventory of the family patrimony should be made. I plead for 

economy, that the next generation and the next may be saved from 

want but especially I urge research into and mastery over Nature.

Chamberlin, who spoke in particular of soil conservation, said

The problem of soil management is a problem of proper balancings and 

adjustments, a problem to be solved by science and common sense.

He suggested that as nature had been working on the complex problems of 

balance between soil formation, soil waste, surface slope, plant growth, and 

stream development for uncounted ages, nature's methods should be studied. 

I. C. White and C. R. Van Hise, on the other hand, looked more to 

Government control. White spoke of the "awful waste" of fuel resources and 

called for legislation "to end the wild riot of destruction that has characterized 

the past." Van Hise, who spoke on fertilizers, considered the western 

phosphate deposits one of the most precious of the natural resources of the Nation and expressed the hope "that our wise and courageous President may find 

some legal way to preserve these deposits to the Nation, even as he has conserved the last great remnants of our forests."

74 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
Robert B. Marshall (1867-1949), Chief Geographer, 

U.S. Geological Survey, 1908-1919- Marshall first 

worked for the Survey as a field assistant in 1889 and a 

year later was assigned surveying duties as a 

topographer in California. Beginning in 1902, he was 

assigned to increasingly responsible administrative 

positions in the Pacific region. While serving as Chief 

Geographer, he was detailed for a year to the 

Secretary's Office to serve as superintendent of national parks and was on active duty as a member of the 

Engineer Officers Reserve Corps from June 1917 to 

March 1919- In 1919, he resigned from the Survey to 

devote full time to a project, which he had planned on 

the basis of information compiled during his 30 years 

with the Survey, to store flood waters, reclaim land, 

supply water to major cities, control floods, and ensure 

river navigation in California. The California Central 

Valley Project was partially realized before his death in 

1949. (From the files of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

Holmes saw the problem as one of economics. "The right of the present 

generation to use efficiently of the [mineral] resources what it actually needs, 

carries with it a sacred obligation not to waste this precious heritage. The right 

to profit in the mining and subsequent use of our mineral resources does not 

carry with it the right to destroy the birthright of generations yet unborn in 

order that we of today may obtain more easily and more cheaply the products 

we need for present use."

He concluded that

It is therefore reasonable to expect that the users of mineral products will 

pay for them such higher prices as will make profitable their mining and 

preparation without serious waste. It is also reasonable to expect that the 

resulting increase in the first cost of the crude material will ensure their 

more efficient use, and that in turn will both help to keep down the ultimate 

cost of finished products and to conserve their resources.

The Conference adopted a "declaration of views and recommendations" 

in which the Governors declared their "firm conviction that this conservation 

of our natural resources is a subject of transcendent importance," agreed "in 

the wisdom of future conferences between the President, Members of Congress, 

and the Governors of States," recommended the appointment by each State of 

a commission on the conservation of natural resources, and the enactment of 

laws looking to "the conservation of water resources for irrigation, water supply, power, and navigation, to the end that navigable and source streams may 

be brought under complete control and fully utilized for every purpose" and to 

"the prevention of waste in the mining and extraction of coal, oil, gas, and 

other minerals with a view to their wise conservation for the use of the People, 

and to the protection of human life in the mines." They expressed no opinion 

as to how conservation should be accomplished; that problem is still being 

debated.

The State Geologists assembled in Washington, 2 days before the Governors' Conference, at the invitation of the Director of the Geological Survey 

and before adjourning organized an Association of American State Geologists. 

One of their principal actions was the unanimous adoption of a resolution on 

topographic mapping to be presented to the President and the Governors at 

their meeting in the White House. The State Geologists went on record that a 

topographic map was necessary to the solution of serious problems relating to 

the "preservation" of our national resources and other "equally important" 

but unspecified problems, and therefore resolved "that we more earnestly ask 

of the State and Federal authorities in conference assembled their support in 

securing such a map, and, since the State and National interests are here so 

closely one, we most respectfully suggest: That State and Federal appropriations for topographic surveys be increased and that more immediately the 

Federal appropriation be increased for this work to meet the State appropriations now available."

While the White House Conference was underway, the Senate was 

debating the appropriations for the Survey for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 

1908. The appropriation requested was $1,612,870, or $167,850 more than the 

year that began July 1, 1907. The House Committee on Appropriations had 

recommended an appropriation of only $1,085,520 in its report filed on April 

10, but the House itself had increased the appropriation to $1,420,000 by 

amending the committee's recommendations with regard to stream gaging, 

fuel testing, and structural-materials testing. The committee had allowed no 

funds for stream gaging but inadvertently had used the old wording for the 

introductory item, including "gauging streams and determining the water supply" in marking up the bill. When the debate began on May 10, James 

Needham of California proposed an amendment to add $200,000 for investigations of water resources. He was told that he was out of order, that only whole

The White House Conference 75
paragraphs could be amended. After some discussion, which included consideration of the finer points of punctuation, the Chair ruled that paragraphs 

ended with dollars, therefore individual items were paragraphs, and Mr. 

Needham's amendment was in order as a separate paragraph. Mr. Tawney then 

made his usual point of order against stream gaging and the Chair sustained it. 

Needham bided his time until after the appropriations for several specific items 

had been passed, but as soon as the appropriation for the report on mineral 

resources was approved he proposed an amendment to appropriate $200,000 

for mineral resources, which, he said, was clearly covered by existing legislation. 

Tawney promptly made a point of order against the amendment on the ground 

that the item for preparation of the report on mineral resources had already 

been passed. Needham blandly replied that his amendment was a separate 

paragraph, providing for the examination of mineral resources not the preparation of the report, and the Chair overruled Tawney's point of order. Needham 

then suggested that inasmuch as water was a mineral, the Director could use 

the $200,000 for water-resources investigations if he wished, and Tawney 

delivered himself of the opinion that water might be a mineral but it was not a 

mineral resource of the United States. He was flatly contradicted by F. W. 

Mondell, who insisted that water was one of the most valuable and perhaps the 

most valuable of the country's mineral resources. Tawney thought there was 

ample money under the irrigation law to pay for stream gaging and was again 

contradicted by Mondell, who pointed out that under the reclamation law 

stream gaging could be done only in connection with irrigation projects. At this 

point, Swagar Sherley suggested an appropriation of $100,000 and the Tawney 

forces yielded. If the money is to be used for stream gaging, let it be appropriated for stream gaging said Walter I. Smith of Iowa as he offered an 

amendment to appropriate $100,000 for stream gaging and determining the 

water supply of the United States. The amendment was promptly passed. Appropriations for fuel testing and structural-materials testing were also discussed 

at some length, but in the end the House voted the same amounts as had been 

appropriated for fiscal year 1908, thus doubling the committee's recommendations for testing structural materials and increasing that for fuel testing from 

$100,000 to $250,000. Tawney thought there was entirely too much duplication in the various testing programs in the Government but was nonetheless 

incensed when John Small of North Carolina read a letter from the Chief of 

Ordnance saying that the Army and the Geological Survey had made an agreement about which structural materials each organization should test, and that 

inasmuch as the Watertown Arsenal did not test fuels and the Survey did not 

test metals, there was no duplication. Such an agreement, Tawney expostulated, destroyed the legislative function of deciding on programs.

The Committee on Appropriations had also attempted to exert control 

over the Survey's method of operation by attaching a proviso to the appropriation for structural-materials testing that no part of the appropriation could be 

paid as "compensation or emolument" to any person not regularly and continuously employed by or whose entire time was not devoted to the service of the 

United States. Although aimed primarily at the Advisory Board, such a proviso 

would also eliminate the employment of part-time or per-diem employees. The 

House, however, struck out the proviso after Oscar Underwood announced that 

the amount spent on those college professors was "a mere bagatelle."

The House passed without discussion, however, a requirement the committee had inserted in the bill that the National Academy of Sciences at its next 

meeting "take into consideration the methods and expenses of conducting all 

surveys of a scientific character and all chemical, testing, and experimental 

laboratories and to report to Congress as soon thereafter as may be practicable a 

plan for consolidating such surveys, chemical, testing, and experimental

Survey topographic parties spent two seasons resurveying and marking with stone monuments part of the 

boundary line between Idaho and Washington that 

had become obliterated. The 60th Congress had made 

a special appropriation for this work. Boundary lines 

are of two kinds: those defined by some natural 

feature; and those defined by imaginary lines traced on 

the Earth's surface by astronomic or mathematical 

processes, which had to be perpetuated by marks of 

some kind. The Idaho-Washington boundary included 

both, defined in part by the channel of the Snake River 

and in part by the meridian passing through the junction of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. The illustration shows one of the stone markers. (From R. B. 

Marshall, 1911.)

76 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
Marshall Ora Leighton (1874-1958), Chief Hydrographer of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1906-1913- 

Leighton, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology in 1896, was first employed by the Survey 

as a consulting engineer in 1901. He joined the Survey 

full time in 1902 and became the first head of the 

Hydro-economics Division of the Hydrographic Branch 

in 1903. He succeeded F. H. Newell as Chief 

Hydrographer in 1906 at a difficult time in branch 

history as Congress was cutting its appropriation, but 

during his tenure he expanded the surface-water work, 

encouraged and developed ground-water work, and 

defined the scope of quality-of-water work. His plan 

for prevention of floods and maintenance of navigable 

depth in streams in conjunction with water-power 

development, prepared for the Inland Waterways 

Commission, in many ways anticipated the Tennessee 

Valley Authority. Leighton left the Survey in 1913 for a 

career as a consulting engineer. (Courtesy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.)

laboratories so as to effectively prevent duplication of work and reduce expenditures without detriment to the public service." Tawney said the purpose of the 

study was to investigate the whole subject of governmental scientific work and 

to report to Congress on a plan for consolidating the work ' 'whereby the scientific research work of the Government will be carried on in one Department, in 

one bureau, and in one only, and when the final result is obtained the people 

of the United States and the world will know where they can obtain the final 

result of these original scientific investigations. In that way we will also stop the 

duplication of scientific work that is now going on in all the Departments of the 

Government." The proposed law further required that anyone employed by 

the United States Government, or by any scientific bureau or institution that 

was required to report to Congress, should refrain from participation in the 

deliberations of the National Academy of Sciences on the subject and from 

voting on or joining in the recommendations. The requirement seemed to be 

aimed at Charles D. Walcott, Chairman of the Committee on the Organization 

of the Scientific Work of the Government appointed by President Roosevelt in 

1903 and still in existence.

The Senate made only one change in the Survey appropriation, an increase 

for geologic surveys to $300,000; the House conferees refused to yield, however, and only $200,000 was appropriated. The House conferees also succeeded 

in attaching a proviso to the appropriation for fuel testing that all investigations 

be completed on or prior to July 1, 1909, and that all investigations already in 

progress be completed and reported on before the close of the fiscal year.

In the days immediately following the Governors' Conference, the House 

and Senate finally reached agreement on the legislative, executive, and 

judiciary bill that contained the funds for mine-accidents investigations. (The 

long delay was caused by the Senate's 365 amendments of the House bill.) For 

the mine-accidents legislation, the House figure for the amount of the appropriation and the Senate's purpose of the investigations were accepted. Roosevelt signed the bill on May 22, 1908, making immediately available $195,000 

for investigations "for the protection of the lives of miners in the Territories 

and in the district of Alaska, and for conducting investigations as to the causes 

of mine explosions with a view to increasing safety in mining.'' A Division of 

Mine Accidents was immediately set up in the Technologic Branch of the 

Survey.

On May 21, the House took up the bill to establish a bureau of mines and 

found Mr. Tawney one of the most vocal objectors to its passage. The miningsafety legislation had been passed, he said, and inasmuch as the Geological 

Survey had been given money to investigate the cause of mine accidents, that 

took care of the man in the mines, and this proposed bureau would only help 

corporations. The House nonetheless passed the bill by an overwhelming majority and sent it to the Senate. The session adjourned, however, on May 30 

before the Senate could take it up.

The net result of the various appropriations acts was that at least for the 

fiscal year beginning July 1, 1908, the Technologic Branch would have more 

funds than before and the regular Survey program would have somewhat less. 

Funds for the Technologic Branch were in fact more than the funds appropriated for the Topographic, Geologic, or Water Resources Branch alone and more 

than 60 percent as much as all three combined. With the Geologic Branch 

already committed to the coal-land classification and the Water Resources 

Branch necessarily devoting most of its energy to stream gaging, much of the 

Survey's potential for innovative research was in the hands of Joseph Austin 

Holmes.

Then on June 8, 1908, Holmes was appointed Secretary of the Section on 

Mineral Resources of the National Conservation Commission, which President

Appropriations, 1908 77
Roosevelt had established under the chairmanship of Gifford Pinchot. The 

Commission was organized in four sections water resources, forest resources, 

resources of the land, and mineral resources and to each of these sections 

President Roosevelt appointed, as he had to the Inland Waterways Commission, both Members of Congress and members of the profession. The Inland 

Waterways Commission was in fact reconstituted as the Section on Water 

Resources. The Section on Mineral Resources included Congressman John 

Dalzell of Pennsylvania, who so consistently supported the fuel-testing programs, as chairman, Senators Joseph M. Dixon of Montana, Frank P. Flint of 

California, and Lee S. Overman of North Carolina, Representatives Philo Hall 

of South Dakota and James L. Slayden of Texas, Andrew Carnegie, C. R. Van 

Rise, John Mitchell, head of the United Mine Workers, John Hayes 

Hammond, and Professor I. C. White, as well as Holmes, as members. Henry 

Gannett was appointed Geographer to the Commission.

The Executive Committee of the National Conservation Commission met 

on June 19 and outlined a plan for making an inventory of the natural resources 

of the United States so that work could begin on July 1 with the cooperation of 

the various Federal bureaus, State authorities, and national organizations. 

Several men from the Geologic, Water Resources, and Technologic Branches 

were asked to prepare reports in connection with this inventory, and Henry 

Gannett was given general supervision of the compilation of material.

Within the Survey, Holmes began to consolidate the operations of the 

Technologic Branch and to look forward to the establishment of a bureau of 

mines. Wasting no time once the Mine Accidents Division was set up, he obtained authority from the Secretary of War to use part of the old arsenal tract in 

Pittsburgh for an explosives experiment station, and then decided to concentrate, as far as possible, the various projects of the branch in that city. The fueltesting equipment that had been used at Norfolk, Virginia, to test naval 

supplies was moved to Pittsburgh, chemical investigations carried on in 

laboratories at several universities were also transferred to Pittsburgh, and a 

physical laboratory was set up. Structural-materials investigations were not 

easily consolidated, and only the chemical laboratories and testing equipment 

for investigations of clay and clay products were set up in Pittsburgh. Other 

special investigations were continued at St. Louis, Missouri, Atlantic City, New 

Jersey, and Northampton, Pennsylvania.

To initiate the mine-accidents program, plans were made for Survey 

engineers to visit the coal-mining regions in Europe to learn from their experience, and an invitation was extended to the Governments of Great Britain, 

Belgium, and Germany to send their most experienced mine-safety officers to 

advise the Survey on plans for investigations. Victor Watteyne, InspectorGeneral of Mines in Belgium, Carl Meissner, Councillor of Mines in Germany, 

and Arthur Desborough, H. M. Inspector of Explosives in England, arrived 

about the end of August, examined the plans and equipment of the minesexperiment station that was being established in Pittsburgh, and then visited 

some of the coal fields. As rapidly as the means became available, the Mine 

Accidents Division plunged into a series of investigations of explosives used in 

coal mining, of the occurrence of explosive gases and inflammable or explosive 

dust, of the so-called safety lamps and of mine rescue apparatus for use in 

mines filled with poisonous and explosive gases, and of the use of electricity in 

coal mines where either gas or inflammable dust was abundant.

The report of the visiting mine-safety officers to the Secretary of the 

Interior dealt primarily with mining safety, but it also pinpointed a special 

problem in the conservation of mineral resources. The experts reported that 

they were "greatly impressed" with the loss of coal in mining operations in 

many parts of the United States, which they termed a serious, permanent, and 

national loss.

78 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
It seems to be a natural outcome of the ease with which coal has been 

mined in the United States and the enormously rapid growth of the industry. The active competition among the operators and the constant 

resulting effort to produce cheaper coal has often naturally led to the mining of only that part of the coal which could be brought to the surface most 

easily and cheaply, leaving underground, in such condition as to be permanently lost, a considerable percentage of the total possible product. Certainly much of this loss can be prevented through the introduction of more 

efficient mining methods.

They discreetly avoided any discussion of the conditions under which the more 

efficient methods might be introduced.

The Technologic Branch in addition to its fuel testing continued to support David White's research into the origin of coal, and White, in a paper 

distilling a dozen years' study of coal into a statement on its formation, 

demonstrated why research was needed. Much had been learned about coal 

since geologists first began studying it, and it was no longer necessary to argue 

that coal was "a stratified carbonaceous deposit of first-hand organic debris in 

which the vegetal elements greatly predominate, at least optically." In the 

genesis of coal, however, the conditions of growth and accumulation of the 

organic matter, the kinds of organisms and the proportions of each, the conditions and duration of the initial process of organic decomposition, and the 

nature and energy of the dynamic forces bringing about the subsequent alteration of the organic residue were all facts that had to be considered. After more 

than a century of discussion, whether the coal-forming vegetation grew in place 

or was brought in was still a matter of dispute, and the difficulties of investigating the kinds and proportions of the organic matter contributing to the 

formation of the various kinds of coal and the determination of the resulting 

special qualities seemed almost insurmountable. The essential feature in the 

coalification of the organic debris, according to White, was the deoxygenation 

and dehydrogenation of the vegetal matter, the first step of which was accomplished by fermentation through the activity of microorganisms. The nature 

and relative amounts of the resultant hydrocarbon compounds depended on 

the extent to which the decomposition had progressed, and that in turn was 

governed by a complex of factors, the principal one the amount of oxygen 

available. The weight of field observations tended to confirm the conclusions of 

some of the earlier paleobotanists that the anthracites and bituminous coals 

were metamorphosed peats and lignites. White believed, however, that in the 

progressive devolatilization and consequent improvement of the coal as the 

result of dynamic influences, the essential cause was not folding or faulting but 

the deeper-seated horizontal thrust movements to which the folds and faults 

were the local means of relief, although gravity pressure or loading was also influential. Research, he concluded, was necessary on the point at which the 

biochemical process ended and the dynamochemical one began.

The great variety of work underway in the Technologic Branch, which 

ranged from research to service, was in fact comparable to that of an independent bureau with the exception of the ties to the Geologic Branch for studies of 

fuels and structural materials. Holmes' activities as head of the branch were 

much more in the nature of a director of a bureau than a subordinate chief, 

which made for a somewhat unusual relationship with the Director of the 

Geological Survey.

In the Geologic Branch, investigations of the economic geology of 

substances other than coal were few in number. J. A. Taff returned to the Midcontinent to resume investigations of its oil fields, and Ralph Arnold and M. J. 

Munn continued work in southern California and in the Appalachian fields. 

Very little work was done on iron ores although A. C. Spencer, who had been 

put in charge of mapping in central Texas, examined iron ores there. The

The Origin of Coai 79
metals program was severely curtailed. S. F. Emmons and Waldemar Lindgren 

were occupied with reports. F. L. Ransome completed field work in the 

Goldfield district of Nevada, and he and W. H. Emmons made reconnaissance 

investigations of the mining regions in northwestern and north-central Nevada. 

In the fall, Ransome started a field study of the Breckenridge district in Colorado. B. S. Butler mapped the Frisco, Utah, district. J. M. Boutwell resigned to 

become a consulting geologist and L. C. Graton to become Secretary of the 

Copper Producers Association.

Mapping projects and stratigraphic studies were continued in the Coastal 

Plain, the Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi Valley, and various parts of 

the West. Arthur Keith, who replaced Bailey Willis in charge of the Section of 

Areal and Structural Geology, spent considerable time in Massachusetts and 

Vermont in an effort to correlate the work of the several geologists who had 

worked in New England. In the Mississippi Valley, Chief Geologist Hayes, Professor A. H. Purdue, the State Geologist of Arkansas, E. O. Ulrich, andj. A. 

Taff made a field review of the stratigraphic and faunal relations of Paleozoic 

rocks in the Ouachita uplift. Bailey Willis with the aid of several colleagues 

compiled paleogeographic maps of North America at 15 different periods for 

exhibit at the Symposium on Correlation at the meetings of the American 

Association for the Advancement of Science and the Geological Society of 

America. Ralph Arnold, W. H. Dall, G. H. Girty, F. H. Knowlton, T. W. 

Stanton, and David White were among those presenting papers at the symposium. The Section of Physiographic and Glacial Geology was suspended by 

default. Gilbert was busy with his study of river hydraulics, Leverett spent most 

of the year in Europe at his own expense, and Alden made field studies in 

Wisconsin under the supervision of T. C. Chamberlin or worked on reports in 

conjunction with water-resources investigations.

The Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources, which operated under a 

separate appropriation, was able to maintain a full and varied field season. 

There were 17 separate investigations, most of them concerned with metal mining regions. W. W. Atwood and H. M. Eakin spent another season in a general 

study of coal fields. P. S. Smith and E. M. Kindle made detailed stratigraphic 

studies in the Seward Peninsula, and C. C. Covert continued and extended the 

investigations of the water resources of the Yukon-Tanana region and the 

stream gaging in the Circle, Fairbanks, and Baker regions. Topographic surveys 

were made of more than 4,000 square miles in southeastern and southwestern 

Alaska, the Copper River Basin, and the Yukon Basin.

The Division of Physical and Chemical Research lost two chemists, first 

E. C. Sullivan, who left to become director of research for the Corning Glass 

Works, and then W. F. Hillebrand, to become Chief Chemist of the National 

Bureau of Standards. Two months before Hillebrand left the Survey, he and 

Whitman Cross of the Division of Geology had been elected to membership in 

the National Academy of Sciences. The two men had begun their Survey 

careers together, appointed in 1880 and assigned to work with S. F. Emmons in 

the mining geology investigations in the Rocky Mountain region, and they had 

collaborated on several papers on minerals of the region. After the mid-1880's, 

however, when Hillebrand was transferred to Washington, their careers had 

diverged; Hillebrand was increasingly concerned with analytical chemistry and 

Cross with petrography. F. W. Clarke, who became the Survey's senior 

chemist, completed the first edition of the "Data of Geochemistry," which was 

termed "an important service to science" by the American Journal of Science.

The Water Resources Branch was able to increase the number of gaging 

stations, even though its appropriation had not been increased, as the result of 

cooperative agreements with States and repayments from other Federal agencies. Research, however, had to be limited. In fact, the total allotment for

80 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
ground-water investigations was insufficient to maintain the regular staff, continue the investigations by university experts, and continue the Coastal Plain 

study, so arrangements were made to assign H. R. Johnson to the Geologic 

Branch for half the year and for the State of Utah to pay O. E. Meinzer's field 

expenses while he was studying the ground-water resources of Juab, Millard, 

and Iron Counties. Johnson studied the occurrence, distribution, and quantity 

of underground waters in Antelope Valley and adjacent parts of the Mojave 

Desert in California, and G. A. Waring began a systematic study of the springs 

of California, especially those reputed to have medicinal properties.

A fundamental change was made in the topographic mapping program. 

On the advice of Secretary Garfield, the Survey accepted only $100,000 in 

cooperative funds, although more than $160,000 was offered. Consequently, 

more mapping was done in the public-land States and more mapping was done 

at small scales than in the previous years. Two-thirds of the mapping was done 

in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Divisions, but about 82 percent of the area 

was mapped at scales of 2 to 4 miles to the inch. In the -Atlantic and Central 

Divisions, 83 percent of the area was mapped at the mile-to-the-inch scale. In 

all four divisions, however, a significant amount of mapping for the first time 

was done at the scale of 2 inches to the mile.

Several members of the Survey prepared reports for the National Conservation Commission's inventory of natural resources. Chief Geologist Hayes 

prepared the report on iron resources, carefully labelling it "a first approximation." He concluded that at the existing rate of increase in production, the 

high-grade ores would not last more than 30 years and that by 1940 large use

By 1907. the Survey was making extensive use of 

multiple-point methods in studying stream flow, in 

particular the 0.2- and 0.8-depth method shown in the 

illustration. In this method, observations of depth and 

velocity are made at several points in a section perpendicular to the mean direction of the current, which 

divide the total cross section of the stream into elementary strips. The current meter is held successively at 0.2 

and 0.8 depth and the mean of the velocities at these 

points is taken as the mean velocity for that vertical. 

The discharge of any elementary strip is the product of 

the average depth, the mean velocity, and the width of 

the strip, and the sum of the discharges of the elementary strips is the total discharge of the stream. (From 

H. K. Barrows and R. H. Bolster, 1910.)

Water Resources and Topography, 1908 81
would have to be made of low-grade ores. F. B. Van Horn, who had succeeded 

Eckel as Hayes' assistant, estimated the total available tonnage of phosphate as 

221,500,000 tons, acknowledging that the estimate was based on very incomplete data. At the rate of increase in production that had prevailed for the 

preceding 25 years, he estimated that available rock phosphate would be exhausted in 25 years, and pointed out that much of the phosphate, in fact about 

40 percent of it in 1907, was not being used to aid American farms but was being exported. Waldemar Lindgren prepared reports on gold, silver, copper, 

lead, and zinc. He concluded that the resources, though large, were not 

measurable with any accuracy, but if the existing rate of increase in production 

continued, the known reserves, workable under 1908 conditions, would be exhausted before the middle of the 20th century. However, he pointed out, there 

was no way of knowing that the development of the world would continue 

along the same lines, that metals would continue to have the same value, that 

the same metals would be used for the same purposes, and without that 

knowledge the prediction meant little. M. R. Campbell and E. W. Parker 

estimated that 0.3 percent of the original total supply of coal, or 0.7 percent of 

the easily accessible and available coal had been exhausted by 1907 but that all 

available coal would be exhausted early in the 21st century and all coal by the 

middle of that century. David T. Day estimated that the known supply of 

petroleum was 15 to 24 billion barrels. Petroleum would last for 90 years at the 

then current rate of production but would be exhausted by 1943 if production 

continued to double each 9 years as it had since 1860. Day called attention to 

the enormous waste of natural gas as much as a billion cubic feet a day that 

accompanied petroleum production and urged that radical measures be taken 

to suppress such waste.

A. H. Brooks devoted much attention to the coal resources of Alaska in his 

report. Ores and other minerals mined to the close of 1907 included gold, 

silver, copper, lead, tin, coal, petroleum, gypsum, marble, and mineral waters, 

but quantitative data were not available because 84 percent of the territory was 

geologically almost unknown and less than 1 percent had been mapped in 

detail. More data were available for coal than for other resources; it was known 

to underlie some 1,200 square miles and believed to underlie more than 12,000 

square miles. The estimated tonnage was more than 15 billion tons but could 

easily be ten to a hundred times as much. The deposits easily accessible from 

the Pacific Coast were already being exploited but in the central province there 

were still large areas unprospected, and northern Alaska was not only undeveloped but likely to remain so until the accessible coal approached exhaustion.

M. O. Leighton, W. C. Mendenhall, R. B. Dole, Herman Stabler, and 

Henry Gannett all prepared papers on the conservation of water resources for 

the National Conservation Commission report. Gannett's paper was essentially 

a description of a map of mean annual precipitation in the United States based 

on data from 4,000 stations. Gannett's map radically revised John Wesley 

Powell's map of 1878. The 20-inch isohyetal line, east of which all areas received 20 inches or more a year, was considerably to the west of Powell's, 

extending in a southwesterly direction from roughly the 98th meridian at the 

Canadian border to the 103d meridian at the Mexican border. Within the arid 

region west of that line, there were many areas within which rainfall exceeded 

20 or even 30 inches a year. Gannett also prepared a map showing the percentage of annual precipitation during the months from April to September, which 

was more important for agriculture than the mean annual precipitation. On 

that map, the Great Plains region was shown as receiving more than 70 percent 

of its annual precipitation during the growing season.

Leighton contributed papers on floods and water-power development. A 

review of river-discharge records had indicated unmistakably that floods were

82 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
increasing. Climate, topography, geology, surface vegetation, and artificial 

agencies such as storage, reservoirs, and drainage all affected the flow of 

streams, but Leighton concluded that the increase in flood tendency was due by 

and large to the denudation of forest areas. Storage of flood waters in reservoirs 

would alleviate the danger of floods and under proper management would increase water-power possibilities in some areas and provide water for reclamation 

of many millions of acres of land in the arid West. A special census had shown 

that at the time 5,365,680 horsepower was developed in the United States, 

more than half of it in the North Atlantic region and the drainage basin of the 

St. Lawrence River. Leighton calculated that a total power installation of at least 

200 million horsepower was possible. The greatest water-power possibilities 

were in the northern Pacific region, essentially the basins of the Columbia and 

Sacramento Rivers. F. H. Newell of the Reclamation Service, in the same Conservation Commission report, estimated that a total of between 40 and 50 

million acres, including the area then under ditch, could be reclaimed. If all 

the runoff waters could be conserved and used in irrigation, the total area 

might be nearly 60 million acres, but large areas existed where there was no irrigable land on which the water could be brought at a reasonable cost.

Dole and Stabler estimated that the surface of the United States was being 

removed at the rate of 0.0013 inches a year. The amount was small but 

represented more than 270 million tons of dissolved matter and 513 million 

tons of suspended matter transported to tidewater every year by the streams of 

the United States. To make their figures easily comprehended they pointed out 

that "If this erosive action had been concentrated upon the Isthmus of Panama 

at the time of American occupation, it would have excavated the prism for an 

85-foot level canal in about seventy-three days."

Mendenhall's paper on ground-water resources was more philosophical 

than the others. Ground water, he pointed out, sustained crops and forests and 

was used in irrigation, in industry, in transportation, and in many activities of 

life, but the total quantity could not be closely determined because the determination involved such factors as the percentage of pore space in deeply buried 

and inaccessible material that were not directly measurable. A determination of 

total quantity, however, was not important as only a very small proportion of 

the water was accessible and utilizable. It was important that of the relatively 

small amount that was within reach, "only that proportion that, if withdrawn, 

will be restored annually can be utilized, because, obviously, withdrawals in excess of this mean reduction of the principal and eventual bankruptcy.'' He 

noted that already there were a few small districts where the ground water was 

being extracted faster than it was being renewed, other areas in which the 

ground water was being contaminated by careless discharge of industrial waste 

or sewage or brines from deep wells, and still other areas in which the stripping 

of natural cover was causing a material reduction in the annual accession to the 

supply. "These conditions," he said, "must be met and remedied; then 

nature, through her annual rainfall, will repair the harm, as yet slight, that has 

been done."

The National Conservation Commission completed its report by 

December 1, 1908, and it was endorsed 10 days later by a joint conference of 

Governors, State conservation commissions, and delegates and representatives 

of State and national organizations dealing with natural resources. In just the 

few short months since the White House Conference had met, 33 States and 

Territories had established conservation commissions and 41 national organizations were also participating in conservation activities.

The Commission divided natural resources into three categories. Although 

natural resources are interrelated, it said, they are unlike, and each class required distinct treatment. Moreover, the treatment applied to each class should

Conservation of Water Resources 83
be adapted to its own fullest development and best utilization and to those of 

the other classes of resources. Lands and forests were classified as improvable 

resources; the land could not be increased but its productivity and availability 

for use might be augmented, and forests could be protected and improved in 

such a way as to meet human necessities. Water was classed as a naturally 

renewable resource; man may do nothing to increase it but may do much in the 

way of conservation and better utilization. Minerals, however, are "limited in 

quantity and can not be increased or improved by anything which man may 

do." In an unfortunate choice of terminology that suggested profligracy was 

permissible, the Commission classified minerals as expendable resources.

The Commission stressed that waste of natural resources was not to be 

tolerated. The most reprehensible waste was that of destruction, as in forest 

fires, uncontrolled flow of gas and oil, soil wash, and abandonment of coal in 

mines. Nearly as reprehensible was misuse, as the consumption of fuel in furnaces and engines of low efficiency, the loss of water in floods, the use of illadapted structural materials, and the growing of ill-chosen crops. Waste arising 

from nonuse was less reprehensible and sometimes unavoidable.

For the conservation of mineral resources, the Commission proposed that 

metals should be so used as to reduce to a minimum the loss by rust, electrolytic

The joint study of the Atlantic Coastal Plain by the 

Geologic and Water Resources Branches of the Survey 

included stratigraphic and paleontologic investigations 

to determine the lithologic units worthy of recognition 

as formations or members. The paleontologic studies 

provided more definite information on the character 

and boundaries of the units but no major changes were 

made in the divisions recognized by earlier investigators. L. W. Stephenson, however, suggested a 

"readjustment" of nomenclature in order to retain the 

name "Tombigbee," first proposed by E. W. Hilgard 

in 1867, as a subdivision of the Eutaw. The photograph is of the Tombigbee Sand Member of .the Eutaw 

Formation along the Chattahoochee River below 

Columbus, Georgia. (From L. W. Stephenson, 1914.)

84 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
action, and other wastes; the National Government should exercise such control of the mineral fuels and phosphate rocks then in its possession as to check 

waste and prolong the supply; preventive measures to reduce mine accidents 

should be adopted. The Commission concluded that

While the distribution and quantity of most of our important mineral 

substances are known in a general way, there is imperative need for further 

surveys and investigations and for researches concerning the less-known 

minerals.

Water supply, the Commission emphasized, should be considered the 

paramount use of water, and next should come navigation in the humid 

regions and irrigation in the arid regions. The development of power on 

navigable and source streams should be coordinated with the primary and 

secondary uses of the waters but should be encouraged, other things being 

equal, because it would reduce the drain on other resources and because properly designed reservoirs and power plants would retard the runoff and so aid in 

the control of streams for navigation and other uses. The Commission urged 

that broad plans be adopted to provide for a system of water improvement 

extending to all uses of the waters and benefits to be derived from their control, 

and that

To promote and perfect these plans, surveys and measurements should be 

continued and extended, especially the more accurate determination of 

rainfall and evaporation, the investigation and measurement of ground 

water, the gauging of streams and determination of sediment, the 

topographic surveys of catchment areas and sites available for control of 

the waters for navigation and related purposes.

"Good business sense," according to the Commission, demanded the formulation of a definite land policy. The existing public-land laws did not serve 

the best interests of the Nation and should be modified. Public lands should be 

devoted to the use which would best serve the interests of all the people. 

Classification of all the public lands was therefore necessary. The timber, 

minerals, and the surface of the public lands should be disposed of separately. 

Public lands more valuable for conserving water supply, timber, and natural 

beauties or wonders than for agriculture should be held for the enjoyment of all 

people except from mineral entry. Title to the surface of the remaining nonmineral public lands should be granted only to actual homemakers.

Secretary of the Interior Garfield reacted quickly and positively to what he 

perceived to be these needs, even when it meant reversing a stand previously 

taken or alienating powerful interests. Although the Department had in May 

1908 endorsed the Mondell bill for disposing of the phosphate lands, in the 

light of the Van Horn, Van Hise, and Conservation Commission recommendations, the Secretary on December 9, instructed the Commissioner of the 

General Land Office to withdraw from all forms of disposal the unpatented 

lands in tracts covering 4,699,160 acres in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah supposed to contain phosphate "in aid of proposed legislation affecting the 

disposal of the phosphate lands" and then recommended to Congress that the 

phosphate lands be segregated from agricultural lands and leased. On 

December 15, the Secretary ordered public lands in the area of the Caddo oil 

field in Louisiana withdrawn from settlement, entry, or other form of appropriation, pending investigation by the Geological Survey, to prevent waste of 

natural gas. Chief Geologist Hayes and David T. Day had reported that when 

they visited the field in October, they had found gas escaping from four wells 

and a well burning with a flame 70 to 100 feet high as an advertising spectacle. 

Hayes estimated that at least 75 million cubic feet of gas were being wasted 

every day, and Hayes believed steps should be taken to prevent such waste.

National Conservation Commission 85
The philosophy behind these actions, Secretary Garfield explained in his 

annual report to Congress:

It is the duty of the Executive to take such action as will protect the interests of all the people of the United States in their property rights, and, if 

the occasion requires and the facts warrant, it is the duty of the Executive 

to prevent the acquisition of the public domain by private interests if such 

acquisition be detrimental to the public welfare. If there be no power to affirmatively provide for the ultimate use or disposition of the public domain 

in accordance with the needs of the public welfare, it is the duty of the 

Executive to temporarily prevent its acquisition until Congress may have 

an opportunity to consider the question and adopt appropriate legislation.

With the development of this philosophy in the Department, the Survey 

made plans to systematize the classification program to ensure uniformity of 

treatment consistent with Department policy and to provide control of the increasing mass of records. On December 18, 1908, a Land Classification Board 

was established in the Division of Geology of the Geologic Branch with Arthur 

Veatch as Chairman. The Board consisted of a general advisory section the 

Chairman, the Chief Geologist, and the chiefs of the Fuels and Metals 

Sections to consider questions of policy and approve standards, and four 

classification sections to deal with the particular classes of lands. C. A. Fisher 

and G. C. Martin formed the first Coal Classification Section; Ralph Arnold 

and J. A. Taff, the Oil Classification Section; F. B. Van Horn and E. O. Ulrich, 

the Phosphate Section; and H. C. McCaskey and F. L. Ransome, the Section on 

Metalliferous Deposits. Most of the members were young men the average 

age of the members of the classification sections was less than 40 and the Chairman of the Board was only 30 and all were active field geologists.

President Roosevelt said little about conservation in his last annual 

message to Congress, which was delivered before the joint conference met and 

approved the National Conservation Commission report. What he did say pertained only to forests, inland waterways, and national parks, which he said 

should be adjacent to national forests and under the Department of 

Agriculture. In November, his handpicked successor, William Howard Taft, 

had been elected President and confident that his program would be carried 

forward, he was making plans to leave on a trip to hunt big game in Africa 

when his term was over.

On January 22, 1909, he sent the report of the National Conservation 

Commission to Congress with a special message again urging that the plan for 

the development of waterways be put into effect, that provision be made for 

the protection and more rapid development of the national forests, that 

changes be made in the public-land laws, including separation of surface and 

mineral rights and the withdrawal from entry of all coal, oil, gas, and mineral 

lands still remaining with the Government, and that a bureau of mines be 

established. He also asked for an appropriation of at least $50,000 to cover the 

expenses of the National Conservation Commission.

Congress clearly wanted little if any part of the conservation program. It 

authorized publication of the Conservation Commission report but otherwise 

almost completely ignored it and the President's recommendations with regard 

to it. No appropriation was made for the work of the Commission, and to make 

sure that there would be no more such reports, Tawney personally attached an 

amendment to the sundry civil expenses bill forbidding the detail of any 

Federal employee for service with any such commission, or the payment of any 

money for salary or expenses to anyone working on such a commission. The 

Senate debated the bureau of mines bill that had been passed by the House in 

the preceding session but decided that there were already too many bureaus 

and commissions and did not vote on it. Only a minor change was made in the 

mineral-land laws. Persons who had entered or selected lands under the

86 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
In February 1909, Congress authorized 320-acre 

homesteads in nine Western States if the land was 

designated by the Survey as not susceptible of successful irrigation at a reasonable cost from any known 

source of water supply. The designation of areas suitable for these enlarged homesteads was not a simple 

matter. The high plains of eastern Colorado, which 

consisted of "grass, sunshine, and solitude" according 

to N. H. Darton, appeared to be suitable only for grazing lands, but Darton, who had recently completed a 

study of the geology and ground water in the Arkansas 

Valley, reported that several formations were known to 

be water bearing, but artesian flows were available only 

in the lower lands, in places the supply was inadequate, and in some places too saline or alkaline for use 

in irrigation. (From N. H. Darton, 1906.)

nonmineral-land laws that were subsequently classified, claimed, or reported as 

valuable for coal would be permitted to elect to receive patent to their lands by 

reserving to the United States the coal deposits and the right to prospect for and 

mine them. The House Committee on Public Lands, on the other hand, ignored the administration bill and recommended passage of the Mondell bill to 

make the phosphate lands available under the Placer Act. Leasing proposed by 

the Secretary of the Interior, the committee concluded, was "a radical and 

questionable departure from the long-established public-land policy of the 

country, and one calculated to hamper development.'' Moreover, in the committee's opinion, there was "no necessity for alarm that the phosphate deposits 

of the country will be soon depleted or that there will ever be a phosphate 

famine or shortage." What locators in the western areas needed, they said, was 

"encouragement and an opportunity to develop their industry." Rather than 

follow the administration's lead on the grazing lands, the House and Senate 

came to an agreement in mid-February and passed the Enlarged Homestead 

Act, authorizing 320-acre homesteads on nonirrigable, nonmineral lands having nonmerchantable timber in nine Western States, with a proviso that no 

lands would be subject to entry under the act until the Secretary of the Interior 

designated them as not being susceptible of successful irrigation at a reasonable 

cost from any known source of water supply. Congress by that time may have 

begun to suspect that the new administration would not be a carbon copy of 

the Roosevelt administation. Taft had sought no advice from Roosevelt on the 

selection of the Cabinet but instead had relied heavily on Senator Philander 

Knox of Pennsylvania, who had served as Attorney General from 1897 to 1904 

and whom Taft had chosen as his Secretary of State. As the appointments were 

announced, it became evident that the Cabinet would be weighted with 

lawyers, all but one of them over 50 and politically a bit to the right of center. 

Only two members of the Roosevelt Cabinet were retained, one of them James 

Wilson of the Department of Agriculture. Garfield had expected to be retained, and Pinchot wanted him retained, but in mid-January, the Presidentelect had announced that Richard A. Ballinger, who had served briefly under 

Garfield as Commissioner of the General Land Office, would be his Secretary of 

the Interior.

Enlarged Homestead Act 87
When the first request for segregation of land under the Enlarged 

Homestead Act was received in the Department of the Interior in late February 

1909, it was referred to the Reclamation Service, but Newell, who was busy at 

the time with selection of water-power sites, told Secretary Garfield that the 

Survey had had experience in classification, had data in its files, and was the 

agency best equipped to do the work. Privately, Newell, who thought the bill a 

bad one, advised George Otis Smith to have nothing to do with it, but the 

Dkector, who believed the bill was a good one, was eager to oblige when 

Secretary Garfield turned to the Survey and so responded promptly. The Land 

Classification Board was expanded, Chief Hydrographer M. O. Leighton was 

added to the advisory board, and a section on nonirrigable land was set up with 

W. C. Mendenhall and J. C. Hoyt as members. On his last day in office, Garfield made the first designation of land under the Enlarged Homestead Act.

Newell's preoccupation with the selection of water-power sites at that time 

resulted from a decision by Pinchot, Newell, and Garfield, when it became evident that there would be no new legislation on water-power sites before Congress adjourned. With only days remaining before the change of administration, Newell selected and Garfield withdrew from all forms of entry some 

3,928,780 acres along the courses of 16 rivers in 7 Western States. The last 

withdrawal was made on March 2, 1909.

The appropriations bills were passed hastily as the Congressional session 

was drawing to a close. The scenario differed only in detail from the one that 

had been followed since Tawney became Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. The committee slashed the Survey's budget, this time by 

$800,000, eliminating all funds for fuel testing and halving the funds for 

structural-materials testing. During the House debate, John Dalzell proposed 

$200,000 for fuel testing, Tawney made a point of order against the proposal 

on the basis of the previous year's proviso that the investigations be completed 

by July 1, 1909, and the House compromised on an appropriation of $100,000. 

George Norris made a motion to increase the appropriation for structuralmaterials testing to $100,000, and the House agreed. The appropriation for the 

investigation of mine explosions, which the committee had cut to $100,000, 

was increased to $150,000. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended increases in the appropriations for topographic surveys, geologic 

surveys including paleontology, Alaskan mineral resources, and stream gaging; 

the Senate accepted all recommendations and voted a total appropriation for 

the Survey of $1,592,390. The conference committee agreed to the Senate 

figure of $350,000 for topographic surveys and $90,000 for Alaskan mineral 

resources, compromised on $225,000 for geologic surveys including paleontology, and accepted the House figure of $100,000 for stream gaging. The appropriation for the year beginning July 1, 1909, although somewhat less than 

that for the year underway, actually provided more funds for old-line Survey 

functions such as topographic and geologic surveys; the major cuts were in activities identified with conservation stream gaging, mapping forest reserves, 

fuel testing, and structural-materials testing.

The report of the National Academy of Sciences on the scientific work of 

the Government, requested in the previous year's bill, had been "not much 

use," as Tawney grumbled, to a committee that was trying to control or curtail 

the scientific work of the Government. The Academy had appointed a committee of R. S. Woodward, dkector of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

W. W. Campbell, dkector of the Lick Observatory, Edward L. Nichols, Professor of Physics at Cornell, Arthur A. Noyes, acting president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and C. R. Van Hise, president of the University of Wisconsin. The committee was given access to the reports and data 

collected by the Walcott committee in 1903 and based most of its conclusions

88 Conservation: Not Prohibited by Law, 1907-1909
on that material. The amount of actual duplication of work» it found, was 

unimportant although the duplication of organizations and plants for conduct 

of work was great enough as to need careful attention from Congress. It made 

no recommendations, however, as to possible consolidations as each would require careful study. The committee was troubled most by the lack of rational 

correlation of work in allied fields or interrelated planning of the scientific work 

of the Government. The committee therefore recommended the establishment 

of a permanent board, composed of the heads of the scientific bureaus, two 

delegates from each House of Congress, and five to seven eminent men of 

science not connected with the Government, to meet at stated intervals and 

consider questions of the inauguration, continuation, and interrelation of the 

various branches of Government scientific work. That board, the committee 

felt, should also select men for the more important new projects or to fill vacancies in the more important positions in the agencies. What the Academy 

seemed to be telling Congress was that scientists, not politicians, should decide 

on the scientific work of the Government. A few months later, it gave further 

evidence of its distaste for the mixing of science and politics by rejecting for the 

third time the nomination of Gifford Pinchot to membership.

When the new Secretary of the Interior was sworn into office in March 

1909, George Otis Smith had been Director of the Geological Survey for 22 

months. In that short time there had been a great change in the organization 

he had taken over from Charles D. Walcott, but not in the way T. C. 

Chamberlin had hoped. Geology, topography, and hydrography had been the 

main subjects in Walcott's last annual report. For George Otis Smith in 1909, 

the special features of the work were progress in land classification, organization of the Land Classification Board, the investigation of water resources, 

topographic surveys, mine accidents, and technologic investigations. The 

"development of strictly geological work" received far less than "undivided 

devotion."

The Survey in 1909 89
Chapter 4.

Conservation: Within the Limitation of

Authority, 1909-1911

One of the propositions that I adhere to is that it is a very dangerous 

method of upholding reform to violate the law in so doing; even on the 

ground of high moral principle, or of saving the public. Congress has the 

power to dispose of land; not the executive. It is the business of the executive to protect the public lands within the limitation of his authority.

 William Howard Taft

As soon as William Howard Taft was inaugurated as President of the 

United States on March 4, 1909, Theodore Roosevelt tactfully left to hunt big 

game in Africa, expecting Taft to continue the program of progressive reform 

that he had begun. Taft was an excellent administrator, but he was not another 

Roosevelt. He did not share Roosevelt's conviction that the President was 

responsible only to the people but was more inclined to the view that the President was responsible to the legislature. He tended to move cautiously and to be 

scrupulous over constitutional issues. He believed his role in conservation was 

to give the Roosevelt program the force of law. Taft, however, was almost totally lacking in the political sensitivity that had been one of Roosevelt's strong 

points. Within a very short time his administration faced serious political problems, and the Geological Survey under its young Director became embroiled in 

some of them.

The long-brewing confrontation between progressive and conservative 

elements in Congress became a skirmish in the House, where the issue was 

Speaker Joseph G. Cannon's exercise of power, in the special session that convened on March 15, 1909- A battle was averted when the President supported 

the reelection of Cannon as a means of ensuring passage of his tariff legislation 

but in the spring of 1910, progressives in the House, led by George W. Norris, 

successfully revolted against the Speaker and voted to elect the Rules Committee and to exclude the Speaker from membership on the committee. The conservation movement provided a setting for another battle between progressives 

and conservatives, between Gifford Pinchot, the Chief Forester and Roosevelt's 

chief adviser on conservation, and Richard A. Ballinger, the new Secretary of 

the Interior, who, like President Taft, was a strict obstructionist of the law. 

Theodore Roosevelt returned from Africa and Europe in the summer of 1910, 

and espoused the cause of the progressives. In the November 1910 elections, 

the Democrats captured control of the House of Representatives for the first 

time since 1895. The Senate remained nominally Republican but was actually 

dominated by insurgents whom Taft labeled "assistant Democrats."

In the view of George Otis Smith, who staunchly supported Ballinger, 

"the whole conservation movement is now linked up with Mr. Pinchot's views 

on the subject, so that orthodoxy in the cause means agreement with Mr. 

Pinchot. * * * Any issue is to be raised that can be made against Secretary 

Ballinger, not because of the issue, but because Secretary Ballinger is to be 

overthrown because he opposes Pinchot's way of conserving." The controversy

Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911 91
led to the President's dismissal of Pinchot as Chief Forester and a congressional 

investigation of the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service. The 

majority of the investigating committee exonerated Secretary Ballinger, the 

division strictly on party lines. Public opinion, however, convicted him and by 

the spring of 1911 President Taft was convinced he must accept Ballinger's 

resignation in order to prevent further deterioration of his own political future.

Administration recommendations on the revision of public-land law and 

on conservation were largely sidetracked during the investigation. There was no 

clear progressive-conservative division on these issues at the beginning of the 

investigation, for both progressives and conservatives in Congress recognized 

that the differences between Roosevelt-Garfield-Pinchot and Taft-Ballinger 

views were not of conservation itself but of concepts of executive power. In fact, 

when Roosevelt and Taft spoke at the Conservation Congress in September 

1910, the chief difference that the press detected in their views on conservation 

was a difference in the style of delivering speeches. Scientists spoke out in vain 

that conservation was a scientific and technical matter. In the public mind, 

Roosevelt, Pinchot, and Garfield were progressives and conservationists, Taft was 

a conservative but he had fired Pinchot, hence he must be anticonservation.

The Survey during these years continued the concentration on public lands 

and practical work begun under Secretary Garfield and worked in close 

cooperation with the General Land Office, even to the extent of taking over

William Howard Taft (1857-1930), President of the 

United States, 1909-1913. Taft was a conservative, 

with some progressive leanings, who was elected President in an era that was very reform minded. He had 

come into national prominence as president of a commission to establish civil government in the Philippine 

Islands after the Spanish-American War and the first 

civil governor of the islands from 1901 to 1904. He 

then became Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of War 

and also his troubleshooter and closest adviser. Taft 

was in full sympathy with the objectives of the Roosevelt conservation program but believed they should be 

attained by legislative rather than executive action. He 

gradually allied himself more and more with the conservative wing of the Republican party and alienated 

the progressives, particularly by his dismissal of Gifford 

Pinchot as Chief Forester, and was defeated for reelection in 1912. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

92 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), one of the principal architects of Theodore Roosevelt's conservation program. 

Pinchot began the first systematic forestry work in the 

United States in 1892 at the Vanderbilt Forest in North 

Carolina. In 1896, he was appointed a member of the 

National Forest Commission of the National Academy 

of Sciences, although not a member of the Academy; 

in 1897, he became adviser on forest reserves to the 

Secretary of the Interior. In 1898, he became Chief of 

the Division of Forestry of the Department of Agriculture, which later became the Bureau of Forestry and 

then the Forest Service. Pinchot was also a member of 

the Second Public Lands Commission in 1903, the Inland Waterways Commission in 1907, and chairman of 

the National Conservation Commission in 1908. He 

was dismissed as Chief Forester by President Taft in 

1910 for defying an Executive order forbidding 

executive-branch employees to deal directly with Congress. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

some of its work. Perhaps as a consequence, problems within the Survey increased. The loss of personnel was great; in the first year after the change of administration, although the Director insisted there was no connection, 13 

geologists resigned from the Survey. By the summer of 1910, a rebellion against 

the emphasis on practical work began in the Geologic Branch where geologists 

thought a little research might improve the process of classification of the 

public lands. To a lesser degree, the Water Resources Branch followed suit. 

Later in the year, a discussion of the future of economic geology instigated by 

an editorial byj. D. Irving, long-time associate of S. F. Emmons, was carried on 

in the pages of Economic Geology.

In the field season of 1909, 18 of the 76 full-time geologists in the 

Geologic Branch were assigned to the classification and evaluation of western 

coal lands and 2, Hoyt Gale and R. W. Richards, were transferred from coalland to phosphate-land classification. Ten geologists resigned from the staff, 

including George Ashley to become State Geologist of Tennessee, Frank 

DeWolf to become State Geologist of Illinois, Ralph Arnold to become a consulting geologist, and J. A. Taff to be geologist for Southern Pacific. 

Paleobotanist David White took over Ashley's supervision of the quadrangle 

mapping in cooperation with the State of Pennsylvania but supervision of the 

cooperative mapping in Illinois was transferred to the State. Young Robert 

Anderson, only 3 years out of Stanford, continued Arnold's investigations in 

California and succeeded him in the Oil Classification Section of the Land 

Classification Board, but Taffs work in the Midcontinent areas was suspended 

for lack of a replacement. M. J. Munn replaced Taff in the Oil Classification 

Section of the Land Classification Board while continuing the studies of Appalachian oil fields he had begun as Griswold's assistant. Anderson attempted 

to push the work in California even farther beyond the limits of actual production to outline areas of possible productive territory but was also called on to 

examine possible oil fields in Utah and in the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming. 

Wyoming was then the focus of considerable interest as a potential oil region, 

and C. H. Wegemann, R. W. Howell, and E. C. Woodruff were all diverted 

for a short time from coal-land classification to examine oil fields in the State.

Coal-land examinations were made in Montana, Wyoming, North and 

South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah and in the Coos Bay and 

Eckley coal fields of Oregon. Phosphate-land examinations were made in Idaho 

and northeastern Utah. Assistant geologists A. R. Schultz and W. R. Calvert, 

who had succeeded C. A. Fisher and George C. Martin as the Coal Classification Section of the Land Classification Board, classified or reclassified about 

18.7 million acres of supposed coal land, and about 11 million acres were 

restored to entry as noncoal land. Under the new regulations, which had been 

approved by Secretary Ballinger in April 1909, they placed a value of almost 

$381 million on 5.6 million acres of coal land, about $293 million more than 

the value at the minimum price. Another 20.4 million acres of land in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona were withdrawn for classification. The 

Phosphate Section of the Land Classification Board set no values but restored to 

entry 2.3 million acres that field work had shown were not valuable for 

phosphate and withdrew an additional 402,000 acres of new phosphate territory found during the field examinations.

At this time, thie Metals Section was entering a new phase of its work. 

Waldemar Lindgren, the chief of the section, who had been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in April 1909, held that the first descriptive period 

of the science of economic geology was drawing to a close, that it was now 

necessary to turn to physical chemistry for the solution of some of the remaining problems, and the economic geologist should turn to the critical examination of mineral deposits over wide areas. Lindgren suggested, for example, that 

the principal epochs of the segregation of metals had been different in the

Geology, 1909 93
eastern and western parts of North America. In the eastern part of the continent, the principal metallogenetic epochs were associated with the Precambrian, the Paleozoic intrusive rocks, sedimentary iron ores, Triassic trap 

rocks, Cretaceous, and Tertiary or later epochs of zinc and lead concentration. 

In the western part, the principal epochs had been the Precambrian, Early 

Mesozoic, Late Mesozoic, Early Tertiary, Post-Pliocene, and the Cretaceous or 

later epochs of copper concentration in sedimentary rocks. (In 1870, Clarence 

King had recognized seven longitudinal zones of mineral deposits but he 

believed that only two periods of mountain-making, one culminating in the 

Jurassic and the other in the Tertiary, had favored the formation of 

metalliferous deposits.) Mining district studies were still important, however, 

and S. F. Emmons was pressed into service again to supervise such work. The 

mining interests in the Breckenridge district of Colorado, which Emmons had 

examined in 1895, had petitioned the Secretary for a survey so Emmons made a 

preliminary inspection after which F. L. Ransome began the field work aided by 

E. S. Bastin. Emmons also made a preliminary inspection of the Ducktown, 

Tennessee, copper deposits before W. H. Emmons began work there, and 

spent some time inspecting new developments at Globe, Arizona, as a result of 

which it was decided that Ransome would prepare a supplementary report as 

soon as he had time. Emmons also supervised A. C. Spencer's mapping of the 

Ely quadrangle, Nevada, with its huge deposits of disseminated copper ore. 

H. D. McCaskey began a detailed study of the quicksilver deposits of the Terlingua region in Texas.

In the chemical laboratories, R. C. Wells, who had received a Ph.D. from 

Harvard in 1904, succeeded Hillebrand and began studies of minerals containing elements that recent technical developments had made 

important tungsten, vanadium, molybdenum, uranium, titanium, columbium, thorium, and the rare earths in conjunction with Schaller's mineralogical and crystallographic studies. Chase Palmer, who had taught for 25 years 

after receiving his doctorate from Johns Hopkins, continued the work begun by 

E. C. Sullivan.

Most of the Geologic Branch's noneconomic projects were continued in 

1909; geologic mapping and stratigraphic and paleontologic studies were 

underway in all parts of the country. Bailey Willis completed the revision of the 

geologic map of North America and preparation for printing was begun. 

W. W. Atwood completed a classification of the physiogaphic features shown 

on the Survey's topographic maps as an aid to teaching.

In other areas of research, F. W. Clarke, who had also been elected to the 

National Academy of Sciences in April 1909, completed his recalculation of 

atomic weights and a preliminary study of the chemical denudation of the 

earth. Becker used the latter as a basis for calculating the age of the ocean as 

between 46 and 74 million years, and then, taking Walcott's dating of the base 

of the Cambrian as 27,640,000 years and the magnitude of the Precambrian as 

about the same, the age of the Earth was 50 to 65 million years. Becker noted 

that three methods of determining the age of the Earth on the basis of 

refrigeration so dealt with as to exclude tidal instability, on the basis of 

Hayford's level of isostatic compensation, and on the basis of the age of the 

ocean were converging on an age of the Earth of 65 to 55 million years, between two and three times the age King had calculated in 1893-

The Technologic Branch was forced to give up research in 1909- The 

reduction in the appropriation for fuel testing fully taxed the division's 

energies just to keep up with routine analyses and tests of coal purchased by the 

Government; the various experiments to increase the efficiency of fuels had to 

be curtailed. In the Structural Materials Division, a change in the phraseology 

of the legislation provided an additional complication. The Comptroller

94 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
Richard A. Ballinger (1858-1922), Secretary of the 

Interior 1909-1911. Ballinger, like the President he 

served, was a strict constructionist of the law; his appointment caused concern among the followers of 

James Garfield and Gifford Pinchot who feared that it 

meant Taft, through Ballinger, intended to scuttle the 

Roosevelt conservation program. Ballinger recommended many changes in public-land law that were 

enacted by later Congresses but his effectiveness as 

Secretary of the Interior was destroyed by charges that 

he had mishandled land claims, which touched off a 

Congressional investigation. Although the investigating committee exonerated him, he resigned in 1911 

because of public mistrust. (Courtesy of the Library of 

Congress.)

General ruled that the work authorized by the appropriation was limited to investigations of such materials as were actually the property of the United States 

and to be used by the United States, and therefore test of samples submitted by 

contractors for acceptance by the United States, such as the cement being 

purchased by the Isthmian Canal Commission, could not be charged to the appropriation. The division continued to test the materials but had to obtain 

reimbursement from the Government bureaus that submitted the material, 

a procedure that necessarily increased administrative costs. The Structural 

Materials Division was also called on to investigate the quantity, quality, and 

location of structural materials available for use in localities where public 

buildings had been authorized by Congress. Holmes himself participated in 

this work along with several geologists of the Geologic Branch, including E. F. 

Burchard, N. H. Darton, and T. Nelson Dale.

The engineers of the Mine Accidents Division visited the scenes of mine 

fires and explosions and investigated the conditions of the mines to determine 

the cause of the disasters; they also aided State officials at 14 mine explosions 

and 7 mine fires. Tests of safety lamps and rescue apparatus were continued, 

and on each Saturday throughout the year demonstrations were given at the 

Pittsburgh testing station of the use of explosives in the presence of explosive 

mixtures of mine gas, coal dust, and air in proportions similar to those in 

mines. In March 1910, a Mine Explosion and Mine Rescue Station was 

established at Urbana, Illinois, in cooperation with the State Survey and the 

University of Illinois, to interest mine operators and inspectors in the economic 

value of safety equipment and to train mine workers and others in the use of 

resuscitation apparatus. In January 1910, the manufacturers of explosives used 

in coal mines were invited to submit explosives for testing, and on May 15, 

1910, the Survey issued Explosive Circular No. 1 listing those that had been 

found satisfactory.

Mine-Accident Investigations 95
The emphasis on the public lands was a special hardship for the Water 

Resources Branch with its limited funds. When he took office, Secretary Ballinger questioned the legality of Secretary Garfield's last-minute withdrawals of 

water-power sites and believed that the Reclamation Service had grossly exceeded its legal authority by committing itself to plans for work, the cost of 

which far exceeded existing funds. Within a few days, he found that the President agreed with him on the power-site withdrawals and therefore restored the 

power sites to the public domain. Ballinger then directed the Geological Survey 

to make an investigation of water-power sites arid to recommend withdrawals 

necessary to protect them pending enactment of legislation. By the end of 

June, new power-site withdrawals had supplanted the Garfield withdrawals.

With the aid of cooperative funds from 12 States and funds from other 

Federal agencies, the branch was able to maintain 878 gaging stations and to 

undertake a few ground-water studies. Field studies and analyses of the quality 

of water, however, were discontinued except for the completion of the study of 

the surface waters of Washington. Herman Stabler transferred to the Reclamation Service, W. D. Collins to the Department of Agriculture, and H. N. 

Parker resigned.

A special effort was made to raise the standard of the progress report on 

stream measurements by revising the methods of computation to insure greater 

accuracy and by indicating the probable error of the monthly estimate. To 

facilitate the use of Government reports relating to water supply and climate, 

the Survey and the Weather Bureau agreed to divide the United States into 12 

areas, and the progress report was then divided into 12 parts, each covering one

In the spring of 1909, Secretary Ballinger restored to 

entry water-power sites that had been hastily withdrawn during the waning days of the Roosevelt administration on the recommendation of the Forest Service 

and the Reclamation Service. He then asked the Geological Survey to recommend sites. Among those 

chosen by the Survey were several along the Deschutes 

River in Oregon. The Deschutes had a remarkably constant natural flow, and its headwaters afforded reservoir sites sufficiently large and so distributed that the 

total flow could be utilized for both irrigation and 

power, the upper part of the river furnishing water for 

irrigation of lands in the upper part of the basin and 

the lower part, which flowed in a deep canyon, affording opportunities for power development. The photograph shows Benham Falls, near Bend, Oregon, where 

a reservoir was proposed to regulate the flow for power 

development. (From F. F. Henshaw, J. H. Lewis, and 

E.J. McCaustland, 1914.)

96 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
of the agreed-upon areas. Instruments for determining stream flow were improved, and a new automatic gage, which gave a printed record of the time and 

stage of the river every 15 minutes, was developed by Gurley Co. from 

preliminary plans and suggestions of branch engineers.

The allotment for ground-water investigations was only a few hundred 

dollars more than in the preceding year, but that was enough for Waring to 

continue the investigation of the springs of California and for Meinzer to study 

ground-water conditions in parts of New Mexico and Utah. H. E. Gregory 

studied the ground-water conditions in the Moko and Navajo reservations in 

Arizona with funds supplied by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The topographic mapping program was still further skewed in favor of the 

public lands during the field season of 1909- Director Smith ruled that until 

Congress appropriated money specifically for cooperative surveys, first consideration must be given to the public-land States where the Federal interest 

was paramount and second consideration to the progress of the topographic 

map of the United States. A maximum of $20,000 was set for cooperative work 

in States of which less than 35 percent had been surveyed, $15,000 for those of 

which 35 to 70 percent had been surveyed, and only $10,000 for States of which 

more than 70 percent had been surveyed. Cooperative money offered by States 

amounted to $250,000 but less than $150,000 was accepted from 19 States. 

Nearly three-fourths of the 36,539 square miles mapped in 1909 were in the 

Rocky Mountain and Pacific Divisions, which included most of the public-land 

States. Mapping was also begun in the Territory of Hawaii. Under a cooperative 

agreement with the Superintendent of Public Works of the Territory, which 

stipulated that the entire expense of the work be borne by the Territorial 

Government, the Survey detailed topographers and loaned instruments to 

begin the survey of the island of Kauai. C. H. Birdseye and eight other 

topographers were despatched to Hawaii to begin the work. A disagreement 

with the Forest Service about control of the work led the Survey to discontinue 

the preparation of the atlas of national forests. Folios of 36 forests had been 

completed; four partly finished folios, on Director Smith's orders, were turned 

over to the Forest Service.

President Taft's political problems were already well developed by the end 

of the 1909 field season. He had called the 60th Congress into special session on

In the summer of 1909, O. E. Meinzer combined an 

examination of the rapidly growing Estancia Valley in 

central New Mexico for the purpose of classifying lands 

under the Enlarged Homestead Act with a study of 

ground water to meet an urgent demand for information on the feasibility of irrigation by ground water in 

the area. Meinzer concluded that despite the high cost 

of fuel, pumping for irrigation could be profitable if 

the water was pumped in an economical way and widely used but that the underground supply was too small 

to irrigate more than a small part of the valley and in 

the central part of the valley the presence of alkali 

might impair the quality of the water or prohibit its 

use. The illustration shows a well being tested. (From 

O. E. Meinzer, 1911.)

Topography, 1909 97
March 15 to prepare a new tariff law. Theodore Roosevelt, who had been wary 

of the protective tariff, had remarked in his annual message to Congress in 

1907 that although the country was committed to the protective system and it 

was ' 'probably desirable that every dozen years or so, the tariff laws be carefully 

scrutinized," the subject could not "with wisdom be dealt with in a year 

preceding a Presidential election, because as a matter of fact experience has 

conclusively shown that at such a time it is impossible to get men to treat it 

from the standpoint of the public good. In my judgment the wise time to deal 

with the matter is immediately after such election." Taft evidently had accepted that judgment, and he did not anticipate any serious problems for there 

was a strong Republican majority in each house.

Discontent, however, had been growing both in Congress and throughout 

the country with the manner in which and the purposes for which the powers of 

the Speaker were being exercised by Joseph G. Cannon. As President-elect, 

Taft had encouraged a move to replace him as Speaker and to change the House 

rules, but when he was warned that if the Speaker was defeated for reelection or 

if the rules were changed, his plan for tariff revision would be in peril, he threw 

his support to Cannon. Cannon was reelected Speaker and the move to change 

the rules was defeated but a substantial number of Republicans voted with the 

minority. The House then passed the tariff bill so promptly that the Senate 

Committee was able to introduce a revised bill, containing more than 800 

amendments of the House bill, on April 12. But there the bill remained for 

more than 3 months as a group of Midwestern Senators organized in opposition 

and prolonged the debate while the House waited for the Senate to act.

Opposition to Roosevelt conservation was increasing by the summer of 

1909. The West was once more in a rebellious mood; the National Domain 

League had been formed in Colorado to restore the rights of farmers, stockmen, 

and miners in the national domain, which the League claimed had been 

usurped by the Forest Service, and the Western Conservation League was 

founded in Spokane, Washington, to oppose Federal control of natural 

resources. The Western Conservation League numbered among its founders 

close political friends of the Secretary of the Interior. Meanwhile, the more 

ardent proponents of Roosevelt conservation had been outspokenly critical of 

Congress and its failure to enact the Roosevelt conservation measures. An article by C. R. Van Hise on the subject in World's Work attracted the attention of 

James Tawney, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and he 

retaliated with a blistering attack on Van Hise in the House, pointing out that 

Van Hise had for many years drawn a salary from the Geological Survey. 

Tawney then inserted in the Congressional Record an article of his own defending Congress, which World's Work had refused to publish.

Pinchot, of course, was suspicious of Secretary Ballinger, who had replaced 

his friend James Garfield. On July 23, 1909, Ballinger revoked the cooperative 

agreement approved by Garfield whereby the Forest Service supervised timber 

cutting and fire protection of forest lands in Indian reservations, having been 

advised by the Solicitor that such an agreement was illegal. When George Otis 

Smith stopped in to see Pinchot later that day, he was accused of being a turncoat and a renegade and told that if there was any more criticism of Garfield, 

he, Pinchot, would himself lead the fight against Ballinger.

At the Irrigation Congress in Spokane, August 9-14, 1909, which Ballinger, Smith, and Pinchot all attended, Pinchot made good on that promise. 

The first day of the meeting was uneventful except for George Otis Smith's 

policy statement on the classification of the public lands and the Survey's role 

therein. On the second day, however, former Governor George Pardee of 

California attacked Secretary Ballinger for his action on the water-power sites, 

citing newspaper reports that 15,868 acres of choice water-power sites in Montana had been claimed after Ballinger reversed the Garfield withdrawals. The

98 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
Funds supplied by the Office of Indian Affairs enabled 

Yale Professor H. E. Gregory, who supervised the 

Survey's ground-water studies in Connecticut, to begin 

a reconnaissance of the scenic region bordering the 

Colorado canyons between the Little Colorado and San 

Juan Rivers southward to the line of the AT&SF Railway The area of about 25,000 square miles in Arizona, 

New Mexico, and Utah was home to more than 32,000 

Indians assigned to six vaguely defined reservations but 

only 500 others. Gregory's investigation was aimed at 

determining ways in which the country could be fully 

utilized and, as the region is arid, designed chiefly to 

obtain information about water supply. The illustration shows the cliff dwellings of some of the long 

vanished people who once inhabited the land. (From 

H. E. Gregory, 1916.)

next morning George Otis Smith claimed the podium to announce that the 

15,868 acres had shrunk to 158.68 acres, and he allowed as how "the waterpower entryman who can make these four forties shoestring six miles of the 

Missouri River deserves to become an Indiana politician." Secretary Ballinger 

then left the congress to continue on an inspection trip with F. H. Newell, 

leaving George Otis Smith behind on "department watch service," but there 

were no further incidents at the Irrigation Congress.

Behind the scenes, however, new charges against Ballinger were being 

developed. Louis Glavis, an examiner for the General Land Office, in mid-July 

requested the assistance of the Forest Service in investigating certain coal-land 

claims in the Chugach National Forest in Alaska, and in a second message 

several days later had hinted darkly that the Secretary of the Interior and the 

Commissioner of the General Land Office were involved in illegal actions. The 

claims in question had been obtained in 1903 by Clarence Cunningham of 

Seattle on behalf of an association but were not valid under the law at that 

time, which required public surveys. After the 1904 law was passed authorizing 

private surveys, surveys were made and an application to patent was submitted. 

The local land office cleared most of the claims in 1907, and an approach was 

made to the Morgan-Guggenheim syndicate to obtain railroad facilities for 

shipping the coal. In December 1907, Ballinger, then Commissioner of the 

General Land Office, ordered the claims clear-listed but reversed his decision 

after Secretary Garfield told him that Glavis had raised the possibility of a 

conspiracy to evade the law and put Glavis in full charge of the investigation. 

During the year that Ballinger was in private practice between being Commissioner of the General Land Office and becoming Secretary of the Interior, he 

had prepared a brief on behalf of Cunningham. In May 1909, 2 months after 

returning to Washington, Ballinger had ordered Glavis removed from the investigation on the grounds that he was working too slowly and an immediate 

hearing on the claims was ordered. In response to Glavis' request in July,

The Glavis Charges 99
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/DIRECTOR

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May 28, 1910

Pinchot assigned one of his assistants in the Forest Service to aid Glavis in preparing charges against the Secretary, which Glavis then submitted to President 

Taft. Pinchot fully expected Taft to dismiss the Secretary. Taft, however, 

informed Ballinger of the charges, the Secretary submitted an explanation, and 

on September 13, the President ruled in Ballinger's favor, and Glavis was 

dismissed.

President Taft was then on a cross-country speaking tour. He had approved the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act on August 5, 1909, saying that it was not 

"a perfect bill, or a complete compliance with the promises made, strictly interpreted," but it represented "a sincere effort on the part of the Republican 

party to make a downward revision." Public reaction, however, had been 

adverse, especially in the West. The President was ill-prepared for the trip, having procrastinated in the preparation of speeches because of his distress over 

Mrs. Taft's illness, and he made several statements that exacerbated rather than 

alleviated public indignation over the bill. Taft began by commending Senator 

Aldrich in glowing terms, then, on September 17, in Winona, Minnesota, near 

the heart of progressive country, he made a speech in support of Congressman 

James A. Tawney in which he defended the tariff as the best that the 

Republican party had ever passed. Until that time he had escaped personal 

criticism, but the honeymoon ended with the Winona speech.

On September 17, George Otis Smith renewed his plea for the retention 

of public oil lands in Government ownership. Secretary Ballinger, unlike his 

predecessor, endorsed the request and sent a letter to Taft recommending that 

the oil lands be withdrawn from entry and urging legislative action to assure the 

conservation of an adequate supply of petroleum for the Government's own 

needs. The Secretary's recommendation regarding the oil lands reached the 

President en route, and on September 26, Ballinger and Smith met with Taft at 

Salt Lake City. The President approved the recommendation and telegrams 

were immediately despatched to the Acting Secretary and to the Chairman of 

the Land Classification Board of the Survey. On September 27, Temporary 

Petroleum Withdrawal No. 5 was ordered, barring all forms of location and 

entry on 3,041,000 acres in California and Wyoming. The withdrawal of the 

California and Wyoming oil lands in late September was followed within a few 

weeks by additional withdrawals in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and 

California.

On September 28, 1909, President Taft spoke on conservation at Spokane, 

Washington. His views on conservation did not depart from Roosevelt's, but he 

placed the responsibility for further action squarely on Congress. He believed 

that the forest lands should be retained and protected and only the forest prodThe end product of the Survey's work of classifying and 

evaluating coal lands was a township map such as that 

shown in the illustration. The intrinsic value of the coal 

was determined by its character and heat-giving quality, but the workability of the deposit depended on its 

thickness and depth as well as its accessibility and 

other conditions that affected the cost of extraction. 

The coal was considered workable if the value exceeded 

the cost of extraction. Regulations established the price 

per ton for coal of a certain quality, thickness, and 

depth and provided for variations from these standard 

conditions. (From George Otis Smith and others, 

1913.)

100 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
ucts sold. Power sites should be sold under restrictions as to their use. Surface 

rights to coal, oil, and phosphate lands should be separated from mineral 

rights. The minerals, Taft said, should be valued by quantity and quality, 

rather than acreage, and the lands either retained and leased on a royalty basis 

or sold subject to restrictions designed to prevent monopoly. The Mining and 

Scientific Press commented that "if any faith is to be put in political bargains, 

Congress should give him what he asks in return for his defense of the tariff 

bill. Congress, however, has a way of its own, and is influenced mainly by what 

its leaders estimate to be insistent public opinion. Many will find reason to oppose the policy the President has outlined."

Both George Otis Smith and J. A. Holmes attended the American Mining 

Congress, which met at Goldfield, Nevada, during the week of September 27, 

and both spoke on aspects of conservation. Holmes told the Mining Congress 

that the function of the Federal Government in connection with mine operations was one of inquiry and research with two fundamental purposes: greater 

safety for the lives of miners, and conservation of mineral resources. Smith 

spoke on the Survey's role in classifying the public lands to fulfill the requirements of existing law and to provide Congress with data on which to base 

new legislation. The Mining Congress adopted several resolutions at its final 

session favoring some aspects of the conservation program. It asked that a national bureau of mines be established, that the Geological Survey assist Mining 

Congress committees in developing safety programs in mines, and endorsed the 

movement for the development of inland waterways. It urged State and county 

authorities to develop and safeguard desert water supplies, and requested that 

the Survey be authorized to cooperate in the work, especially with regard to 

desert water supplies on the public domain. It also asked for a national commission, elected from the mining communities, to prepare a revised code of 

mineral-land laws and recommended changes in the Alaska coal-land laws and 

enactment of laws for the development of oil lands in Alaska.

Chief Geologist Willard Hayes issued a public statement explaining that 

the withdrawals of oil lands were made because only a radical revision of 

American mining law would remedy the unsatisfactory conditions for entry of 

public oil lands. When the placer mining law was enacted, he pointed out, no 

one had any idea that it would ever be made to cover mineral deposits so far removed in every essential characteristic from gold-bearing gravels as are oil and 

gas. A law for disposition of the public oil lands must recognize the fundamental difference between oil and gas and other minerals, namely, mobility.

These elusive products can be drawn from a distance underground across 

boundary lines, and exclusive title to the product is acquired only after it 

reaches the surface. It follows, therefore, that oil can be disposed of by the 

Government or other owner of the land in which it occurs only as a 

commodity, and not in terms of acres like coal or other minerals occupying 

fixed locations. This difference is so well recognized that it has determined 

the leasing system which is practically universal in all the oilfields where 

the land is in private ownership. The Government cannot do better than to 

adopt the plan which has been worked out through long experience, and, 

where the holdings are sufficiently large, has been found thoroughly 

satisfactory, both to the oil operator and to the private land owner.

Hayes went on to say that "Any ideal or practical law must further 

recognize the fact that actual discovery involves heavy expenditure and considerable time, and that the prospector must be adequately protected in his investment before as well as after the discovery is made. The area to which he is 

given a preferred right must therefore be sufficiently large to justify his initial 

heavy investment and in such compact shape as to protect his discovery from 

encroachment by drilling on subsequent entries. A well considered leasing law 

will give certain incidental advantages of great importance both to the Government and to the oil operator. It will constitute the most effective means for the

Oil-Land Withdrawals 101
conservation of the oil and gas resources of the country by enabling the Government to regulate developments so as to prevent much of the criminal waste now 

prevalent.''

The origin and accumulation of petroleum was then a live subject, on 

which there was no unanimity of opinion in the Geological Survey. Chief 

Geologist Hayes subscribed to the formation of petroleum from organic 

materials; he and William Kennedy, for example, in their bulletin on the oil 

fields of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coastal Plain, had suggested that the oil of 

the Gulf Coastal Plain was the result of the action of decomposing organic matter, both animal and vegetable but chiefly the latter, on gypsum. Others, 

however, were inclined toward an inorganic origin, at least for some deposits. 

Becker believed some oil deposits could have originated from iron or other 

metallic carbides formed by the action of volcanic emanations on water; David 

T. Day considered it possible that metallic carbides had existed in the Earth 

during its early history and that the hydrocarbons might have been formed by 

decomposition of these carbides by water. Structure was held to be important 

in the trapping or accumulation of oil, but W. T. Griswold's careful mapping 

had shown that an anticline or flexure in the rocks was only one of the necessary 

conditions, the others being porosity of the reservoir rocks and movement as 

the result of differences in gravity of oil and water or the direct action of gravity 

in oil sands that contained no water. M. J. Munn, from his work in the Appalachian fields, concluded that the most important or controlling factor in the 

accumulation of oil and gas was not structure but rather moving water under 

either hydraulic or capillary pressure. Survey research in these and related subjects declined during fiscal year 1910 because of the loss of personnel and the 

necessary concentration of work on classification of the public mineral lands.

President Taft's first annual message to Congress in December 1909 contained no recommendations on conservation or public-land legislation, on 

which he promised a special message, other than the admission of Arizona and 

New Mexico as States and a new form of government for Alaska. Secretary Ballinger, however, in his annual report that accompanied the message, called for 

remedial legislation "if material progress is to be made in securing the best use 

of our remaining public lands." He noted that

while development is the keynote, the best thought of the day is not that 

development shall be by national agencies, but that wise utilization shall 

be secured through private enterprise under national supervision and 

control.

Many of Secretary Ballinger's recommendations clearly involved the 

Geological Survey. He asked, for example, that specific legislative authority be 

given the Department to classify and segregate public lands into well defined 

divisions according to their greatest apparent use, stating that the Survey had 

undertaken such classification through the general authority given in its 

Organic Act, but that full legal effect should be given to such classification so as 

to prevent the entry of lands belonging to one class under laws applicable to 

another class. He recommended that the coal-land laws be supplanted by an act 

separating the right to mine from the title to the soil, the objective being to 

conserve the coal deposits as a public utility. Disposition of the coal might then 

be accomplished through leasing or sale of deposits with restrictions on mining 

and use to control the output. Ballinger recommended that similar legislation 

be enacted with regard to lands containing oil and gas, repeating Hayes' statement that the nature of those deposits required that their disposition be in 

terms of quantity extracted rather than acreage. He also recommended that 

Congress authorize the Executive to reserve certain areas of the withdrawn oil 

lands for the purpose of affording a supply of fuel oil for the future use of the 

Navy. The phosphate lands should not be disposed of as either placer or lode

102 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
mineral claims but should be leased or sold in limited areas and on conditions 

preventing monopoly and insuring domestic use. Ballinger's other recommendations included repeal of the Timber and Stone Act, modification of the 

Carey Act, an appropriation for surveying railroad lands in national forests, and 

enactment of a measure to authorize classification of all lands capable of being 

used for water-power development and disposal of such lands under conditions 

reserving title to the Federal Government and easement for limited periods.

The disposition of the public lands that had prevailed until the administrations of Secretaries Hitchcock and Garfield, Ballinger said, had 

"naturally provoked the feeling that the public domain was legitimate prey for 

the unscrupulous and that it was no crime to violate or circumvent the land 

laws. It is to be regretted that we, as a nation, were so tardy to realize the importance of preventing so large a measure of our natural resources passing into 

the hands of land pirates and speculators, with no view to development looking 

to the national welfare." In conclusion, he asked that Congress give specific 

authority to make temporary withdrawals of public lands because "the legal 

authority of the Secretary of the Interior to make even temporary withdrawals 

of public lands for the purpose of submitting to Congress what may appear to 

the Secretary as an exigency requiring new legislation applicable to their proper 

use and disposition has been questioned."

When Congress convened in December 1909, the public's curiosity about 

Secretary Ballinger had been aroused but not because of his recommendations 

on public-land legislation. The November 6 issue of Collier's Magazine had 

contained a severely critical editorial on Ballinger's handling of the Cunningham claims, and the November 13 issue included an article by Louis Glavis, 

which the magazine advertised as "Are the Guggenheims in charge of the 

Department of the Interior?" In response, Secretary Ballinger had threatened 

to file suit for libel. On the opening day of the session, Congressman G. M. 

Hitchcock of Nebraska proposed that a committee investigate the General Land 

Office with relation to coal lands and to public lands in general in Alaska, and 

the Senate asked that President Taft send it the documents in the Glavis case. 

On December 21, Senator Wesley Jones of Washington, one of Secretary Ballinger's political friends, read a letter from the Secretary to the Senate, asking 

that any investigation by Congress of the Interior Department "be sufficiently 

broad and far-reaching to put at rest the suspicions, criticisms, and representations of corrupt or improper practices" charged against his administration. He 

also asked that such an investigation include the Forest Service as he had reason 

to believe that the "pernicious activity of certain of its officers" had been the 

source of inspiration for these charges. After the Christmas recess, Senator Jones 

introduced a joint resolution to authorize an investigation of the Interior 

Department and the Bureau of Forestry by a special committee of the Senate 

and House of Representatives. For several months, he said, the press of the 

country had been filled with charges against Secretary Ballinger, ranging from 

petty insinuations and innuendos to direct charges of malfeasance and misconduct in office. If Ballinger had used his office to advance special interests or for 

personal gain, that should be shown, but if he had been unjustly accused, that 

too should be shown, not only for his own sake but also that public confidence in 

the honesty and integrity of Government officials be restored. In discussing the 

proposed resolution, Senator Jones admitted that he did not agree with all of 

Ballinger's policies and proposals, but he commended the Secretary for providing specific recommendations when for several years there had been only 

"glittering generalities" and "platitude upon platitude." Senator Francis 

Newlands stated that he did not support all of Ballinger's recommendations 

either but thought they were "thorough, comprehensive, and wise" and "likely to reach the evils that are feared and to effect the reforms which are desired.'' 

There were no great differences between the Garfield-Pinchot and the Ballinger

The Ballinger-Pinchot Investigation 103
views of conservation, Newlands pointed out. Rather, their differences were in 

concepts of executive power: Garfield and Pinchot believed that executive 

power included all that was not forbidden by law whereas Ballinger held that 

executive power was limited to what was expressly authorized by law.

Senator Newlands expressed the hope that the proposed investigation 

would not delay needed legislative action. Many bills for reform of the land 

laws and for reforms called for by conservation policy had been introduced, but 

Congress was always slow to undertake reform unless driven by public opinion. 

Such opinion was only then being formulated to drive Congress into action. 

Senator Jonathan Dolliver then read a letter from Pinchot defending the Forest 

Service for forcing publicity on the Cunningham claims. The letter was in defiance of an Executive order of November 26, 1909, prohibiting subordinate officers of the Government from dealing directly with Congress, and therefore 

President Taft promptly dismissed Pinchot. Public attention was thus focused 

on the investigation; the public might not understand the intricacies of publicland law, but it assumed that in dismissing Pinchot, the symbol of Roosevelt 

conservation, Taft was arraigning himself on the side of the "Old Guard."

The joint resolution authorizing the investigation was passed by both 

Houses of Congress and approved on January 19, 1910. The investigation 

began on January 26 and continued intermittently thereafter until May 20, a 

total of 46 days being used for testimony by the 33 witnesses. The investigation 

was supposed to be a general look at the administration of the Forest Service 

and the Interior Department, but attention was soon concentrated on Alaska 

and the Cunningham claims, some of which were in or near the Chugach National Forest. The Forest Service's expert, sent to appraise the claims, reported

Alaska had large deposits of coal but the amount of 

coal mined was insignificant even from the two most 

important fields Bering River and Matanuska. Production from these fields had been held back in part by 

the development of the California oil districts but also 

by the coal-land laws pertaining to Alaska, which did 

not recognize that the development of a coal field is 

quite different from the mining of placer gold. 

Geographic and climatic conditions were .controlling 

factors in the utilization of Alaska's mineral fuel in 

1910 according to A. H. Brooks. Only the coals of the 

Pacific slope were then important, although coals of 

the central and northern provinces might in time be 

used for local consumption. The Bering River and 

Matanuska felds could supply high-grade fuel for use 

in Alaska, by the Navy, and by Pacific Coast industries 

if a railway were constructed to bring the coals to 

tidewater. (From A. H. Brooks, 1910.)

L-iji: -Y£S£| Coal-bearing rocks

Anthracite, semianthracite, and _ 

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coking coals

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Rivers navigable in summer 

Limits of sea ice during winter

104 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
there was no coal in the area. The General Land Office expert reported there 

were at least 22 "veins" of coal but not enough timber to make mining possible. C. A. Fisher of the Survey, sent to arbitrate the conflicting reports, said 

there were at least 28 distinct coal beds, and that less than one-third of the area 

of the Cunningham claims was within the forest reservations. When Pinchot 

was called as a witness, he presented a written statement charging that Ballinger 

had been unfaithful to the public and to the President, that he was in fact a 

dangerous enemy to conservation. The statement aroused great expectations in 

the public mind, but in cross-examination Pinchot admitted that the statement 

contained errors, that he had no direct knowledge to support some of his 

allegations, and that much of his criticism of Ballinger was based on differences 

in matters of policy or legal interpretation.

From the Survey, both A. H. Brooks and George Otis Smith were called to 

testify before the investigating committee. Brooks' testimony was largely 

technical, on Alaska coal and its mining and marketing. When asked about the 

best way to conserve coal on the public lands, he suggested that waste in coal 

mining had been due, at least in part, to unrestricted competition by a large 

number of operators whereas economical development called for large-scale 

operations. The dilemma for conservationists was that monopolistic ownership 

tended to result in high prices and conservation of coal whereas unrestricted 

competition meant lower prices but waste of coal. He suggested that in Alaska 

the law should give a man the choice of a leasehold or freehold but should control the price so that the deposits would be developed rather than held for 

speculative purposes. George Otis Smith, however, went on record as favoring 

leasing. Smith was also questioned on many aspects of Department policy and 

proved to be one of Ballinger's strongest supporters. In the course of the questioning, Smith drew a careful distinction between himself and Pinchot:

I think Mr. Pinchot and I differ on one fundamental principle, and that Is 

that the end justifies the means. I do not believe that It does.

During the closing arguments by legal counsel, little attention was given to the 

technical aspects of the claims and much was made of the fact that a document 

by the Attorney General, which seemed to be the basis for Taft's decision to retain Ballinger in office after the Glavis charges reached him in August 1909, 

had been predated and appeared to be based on a memorandum prepared in 

the Interior Department. The session adjourned before the Joint Committee 

completed its consideration of the testimony and prepared a report.

The hint of scandal had not diverted all attention from Secretary Ballinger's recommendations on public-land law and conservation. On December 

20, 1909, without waiting for Taft's promised special message, Congressman F. 

W. Mondell, who had been one of the first to question the legality of the coalland withdrawals in 1906, delivered a wideranging speech, which he began by 

castigating the Forest Service and its chief as well as the Department of the Interior on water-power development. "With due respect to the very able and efficient Secretary," he said, the Federal Government "had no constitutional 

right to in any way control the use or disposition of waters flowing in nonnavigable streams within the States," and the Secretary of the Interior, being a 

good lawyer, knew it. From water power, Mondell moved to consideration of irrigation and finally to mineral resources, coming out strongly on the side of 

those who opposed Federal control. Eight Western States and two Territories, 

he claimed, could supply the entire Nation with coal, at the existing rate of 

consumption, for more than 3,722 years, and after that North Dakota lignites 

and Alaska coal could be used. No one knew or could possibly estimate the 

ultimate oil and gas supply. Federal control was completely unnecessary.

President Taft's special message on conservation was, to a great extent, 

merely "an epitome of the recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior."

The Ballinger-Pinchot Investigation 105
Taft added an endorsement of the reforestation of sources of navigable streams 

and proposed improvements in inland waterways, and urged Congress to act on 

the proposed measures promptly as the results of the Joint Committee's investigation were not needed to determine the value and necessity of the recommended legislation. Few of the recommendations were enacted into law, 

however, for the session proved to be a stormy one. On March 17, 1910, the 

revolt against the Speaker broke out anew. On that day, George Morris of 

Nebraska offered what he called a privileged resolution calling for election of 

the House Committee on Rules. For 2 days, the House debated the nature of 

the resolution; on March 19, Speaker Cannon ruled that the motion was not 

privileged, citing as precedent a ruling by Speaker Randall in December 1878 

on a similar motion. The House then voted not to accept the Speaker's ruling 

and then adopted a resolution that called for the election of a 10-man Committee on Rules, 6 from the majority, 4 from the minority, and specifically denied 

the Speaker a place on the committee. Taft, it is believed, secretly approved the 

action and made no move to aid the Speaker. The public concluded, however, 

that as Taft did not encourage the insurgents he was on Cannon's side. The 

misunderstanding led to a complete break between the administration and the 

insurgents, who then opposed Taft's proposals; he, in turn, began a campaign 

to destroy the insurgents and build up the conservative wing of the Republican 

Party.

Among the bills Congress passed were those for New Mexico and Arizona 

statehood, authorization of Presidential withdrawal from entry of public lands, 

provision for agricultural entries on coal lands, and the establishment of a 

Bureau of Mines. The Pickett Act as originally submitted authorized the President to withdraw lands "for public use, for examination and classification to 

aid in administering existing law; to conserve the public domain pending

In the fall of 1909, President Taft authorized the 

withdrawal from all forms of entry of more than 3 

million acres of potential oil land in California and 

Wyoming, which had only recently become the focus 

of considerable interest as a potential oil region. C. H. 

Wegemann, who examined the Salt Creek field in 

Natrona County, Wyoming, in the field season of 

1909, reported that there were two domes in the 

area Salt Creek and Teapot. The Salt Creek Dome 

had first produced oil in 1889 but its development had 

been slow. Teapot Dome had not been tested but 

Wegemann believed structural conditions were favorable for the accumulation of oil. The illustration shows 

the Shannon sandstone lentil that outlined the Salt 

Creek anticline and furnished the oil in the discovery 

wells. (From C. H. Wegemann, 1911.)

106 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
In December 1908, Secretary Garfield withdrew from 

entry more than 4 million acres of supposed phosphate 

lands in Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. Disposition of 

these lands posed a problem because rock-phosphate 

deposits had not been previously considered in mining 

law. Placer locations had been used for phosphate 

deposits in the Southeastern States, but the most 

valuable part of the Florida and South Carolina 

deposits were true placers. The rock-phosphate 

deposits of the Western States, however, were more 

analogous to coal than to placers. These diagrammatic 

structure sections of the Beckwith Hills area, Wyoming, show the nature of the deposits, most of which 

were in the middle member of the Park City Formation. (From H. S. Gale and R. W. Richards, 1910.)

legislative action when in the judgment of the President public interest requires." As finally passed and approved by the President on June 25, 1910, the 

law provided that

the President may, at any time in his discretion, temporarily withdraw from 

settlement, location, sale, or entry any of the public lands of the United 

States, and the District of Alaska, and reserve the same for water-power 

sites, irrigation, classification of lands, or other public purposes to be 

specified in the orders of withdrawals, and such withdrawals or reservations shall remain in force until revoked by him or by act of Congress.

The law also provided that the lands would be open under the mining laws for 

"minerals other than coal, oil, or gas and phosphates" and that any bona fide 

occupant or claimant of oil or gas-bearing lands on the date of the withdrawal 

order "in diligent prosecution of work leading to discovery" would not be affected by the withdrawal. Another act, approved on June 22, 1910, provided 

that the withdrawn or classified coal lands were subject to entry under the 

homestead laws, the desert-land law, the Carey Act, or withdrawal under the 

Reclamation Act, with a reservation to the United States of the coal and the 

right to prospect for, mine, and remove it.

The House passed the bill to establish the Bureau of Mines before the 

Ballinger-Pinchot hearings got underway. The House bill was identical, except 

for minor changes in wording, to the bill passed by the House during the second session of the 66th Congress, and only a few negative votes were recorded 

despite the eloquent efforts of the economy-minded Mr. Tawney who said 

there were already too many bureaus, that another one would cost money, and

I Mile

The Pickett Act 107
besides the Geological Survey was already doing the work effectively. The 

Senate Committee on Mines and Mining amended the bill before reporting it 

favorably in March 1910. To make it clear that the Bureau was intended to be a 

scientific organization, the Senate bill required the Director to be thoroughly 

equipped for the duties of his office by technical education and experience and 

omitted the phrase in the House bill that would have the Bureau "foster, 

promote, and develop the mining industries of the United States."

The pros and cons of a Bureau of Mines were thoroughly aired in the 

technical press in the spring of 1910. Opponents of the bill argued that such an 

organization was unnecessary because the Geological Survey was already doing 

the work, that the Bureau might duplicate the work of the Survey and thereby 

cause friction, that it would be impossible to obtain competent engineers for 

the salaries paid by the Government, and that the Bureau would be bound to 

come under political influence. Those who favored establishment of the Bureau 

countered that the Survey should be enabled to concentrate its efforts on the 

investigations for which it had been established, and that the Survey was living 

proof that a Federal bureau could attract competent men, produce outstanding 

results, and remain free of political influence. The Engineering and Mining 

journal in New York and the Mining and Scientific Press in San Francisco were 

on opposite sides of the fence, the Journal opposed, the Press in favor. The 

Survey itself was divided, with Holmes working tirelessly for establishment of 

the Bureau while George Otis Smith opposed it.

The bill finally passed by Congress and approved by President Taft on May 

16, 1910, called for a Bureau of Mines in the Department of the Interior "to 

make diligent investigation of the methods of mining, especially in relation to 

the safety of miners, and the appliances best adapted to prevent accidents, the 

possible improvement of conditions under which mining operations are carried 

on, the treatment of ores and other mineral substances, the use of explosives 

and electricity, the prevention of accidents, and other inquiries and technologic 

investigations pertinent to said industries, and from time to time make such 

public reports of the work, investigations, and information obtained as the 

Secretary of said department may direct, with the recommendation of such 

bureau."

The act approved on May 16 called for transfer of the entire Technologic 

Branch of the Geological Survey to the Bureau of Mines. The House Committee on Appropriations, however, made no provision for structural-materials 

testing by either the Bureau or the Survey and recommended instead an appropriation of $50,000 for such work by the Bureau of Standards. In the discussion of Bureau of Mines funding on June 2, Congressman Mondell pointed out 

that the investigations of structural materials in the field were geologic and 

properly the work of the Geological Survey, but that testing was properly the 

work of the Bureau of Standards, which could legally perform tests for private 

parties. An attempt was made on the floor of the House to appropriate funds 

for the Bureau of Mines to do the work but failed. The Senate approved such an 

appropriation but yielded to the House in conference, so the structuralmaterials testing was transferred from the Survey to the Bureau of Standards. 

The total appropriation for the Bureau of Mines in its first year was $502,200.

The Sundry Civil Expenses Act provided a total appropriation for the 

Geological Survey of $1,175,015, including increases of $75,000 for geologic 

surveys and $50,000 for water-resources investigations, both designed to accelerate the work of public-land classification. Appropriations were also made 

to the General Land Office to complete the examination and classification of 

lands in Montana and Idaho within the Northern Pacific Railroad grant and to 

begin public-land surveys in Alaska. Both appropriations were later transferred 

to the Survey.

108 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
Other measures of interest to the Survey passed by the Congress included 

the establishment of Glacier National Park. The bill to establish that park had 

first been filed in the 60th Congress and endorsed by Secretary Garfield. When 

it came up again in February 1910, Senator Joseph M. Dixon of Montana 

"eschewed" a speech for "7 feet of a better or more eloquent speech, taken 

with a camera by Mr. Walcott, formerly Director of the Geological Survey, or 

merely one corner of this wonderful country," and the bill was quickly passed. 

President Taft approved the bill on May 11.

A new building for the Survey, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Reclamation Service, General Land Office, and Bureau of Mines was authorized in the 

Public Buildings Act approved on June 25, 1910. The Survey had been 

quartered in the Hooe Building at 1330 F Street Northwest since 1884 but had 

been seeking a building of its own for almost as long. By 1910, the space in the 

Hooe Building was both inadequate and unsuitable, not only for laboratory 

space but on all counts. As the Survey grew, wings and extensions had been 

added to the original building, but the floor space was increased at the expense 

of proper lighting. F Street had become one of the busiest streets in town; the 

traffic vibrations prevented the use of sensitive instruments, and the street 

noises made it difficult or impossible to hear when the windows were open on 

the street side. To add to the general confusion, the alleys on the sides of the 

building gave access to a theater, two newspaper offices, a hotel, and several 

saloons, with their attendant noises. The bill passed in 1910, strictly speaking, 

authorized only the preparation of designs and estimates for a building to cost 

not more than $2.5 million to occupy the entire square bounded by E, F, 

Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Streets Northwest with the funds left over from 

purchase of the land (which amounted to $96,506.20).

By the time the appropriations were approved, a contest had developed 

over the directorship of the Bureau of Mines. Holmes was the obvious choice, 

and in fact had been endorsed by many. Holmes, however, had had a long and 

close association with Pinchot, going back to his days as State Geologist of 

North Carolina, and although he had carefully refrained from taking sides in 

the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy, he was not acceptable to the Secretary. He 

was also not acceptable to some of the ruling clique in the House, especially Mr. 

Tawney who felt that Holmes' active lobbying had forced his hand on appropriations. Even in the Geological Survey there were those who feared that 

Holmes' skill in obtaining appropriations might work to the detriment of the 

older bureau. Within 10 days of the enactment of the law, George Otis Smith 

launched an all-out effort to secure the position for Edward Parker, the Chief of 

the Survey's Division of Mineral Resources, instead of Holmes. By early June, 

the mining journals were reporting the contest as another Ballinger-Pinchot 

confrontation. In mid-June, President Taft was reported as leaning toward appointing Parker but Senate confirmation seemed all but impossible inasmuch 

as 67 Senators had signed a petition supporting Holmes' appointment. Taft 

therefore postponed the decision, and on July 1, 1910, appointed George Otis 

Smith as Acting Director of the Bureau of Mines as well as Director of the 

Geological Survey.

Smith's appointment did not set well with the mining fraternity, or at 

least with that segment that had supported a separate Bureau of Mines. In a 

lead editorial, the Mining and Scientific Press proclaimed "Bunkoed was the 

widespread comment through the West." The Press roundly criticized the 

President for waiting until Congress had adjourned and then appointing 

Smith, and added "We fear that the Director of the Geological Survey has 

precipitated what we are sure he was most anxious to avoid, a contest between 

the Survey and the Bureau of Mines. He may temporarily control the situation, 

but in the nature of things such a condition can not last and the reaction is likeThe Bureau of Mines 109
ly to be more severe than would have been the original action had the latter 

been met helpfully rather than in a spirit of antagonism.''

At the start of the new fiscal year, the Geological Survey also became even 

more closely involved in the work of the General Land Office. Survey 

topographers began the public-land surveys in Alaska for which Congress had 

made a special appropriation, and Survey geologists began the work of examining and classifying the lands of the Northern Pacific Railroad grant. The Survey 

was also given greater responsibility in the validation of coal-land entries, and it 

was agreed that the Land Office would undertake no field examinations until it 

was determined that Survey data were insufficient, and it would submit copies 

of reports of field examinations to the Survey for advice before taking action.

The examination, classification, and valuation of mineral lands continued 

to be the largest single element in the Geologic Branch program during the 

field season of 1910, but the additional funds appropriated for geologic surveys 

made it possible not only to resume projects that had been suspended when the 

public-land surveys began but even to start a few new ones. In particular, a concerted effort was made to complete areal geologic maps and reports, even to the 

extent of assigning geologists to complete the work begun by others.

Research also became a part of the public-lands work. Half the 20 

geologists assigned to field examinations for the classification and valuation of 

coal lands had little or no experience; the more experienced, however, combined long-range research with their examinations. W. T. Lee undertook 

stratigraphic studies along the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains, C. T. Lupton, a study of the Cretaceous coal-bearing rocks along the south flank of the 

Uinta Mountains, Max Ball, a reconnaissance of the coal geology of the 

Parowan Range in Utah, and E.G. Woodruff, a study of the coal resources of 

the Gunnison Valley in Colorado.

The phosphate program remained one of only examination and classification. Hoyt Gale was detached from the program to supervise the work on the 

Northern Pacific grant, and direction of the phosphate program was turned 

over to R. W. Richards. Richards, Professor G. R. Mansfield of Northwestern 

University, and J. H. Bridges made a detailed examination of about 500 square 

miles in southeastern Idaho which, they estimated, contained more than a 

billion tons of high-grade phosphate rock. C. L. Breger and Professor Eliot 

Blackwelder made a reconnaissance in northwestern Wyoming and eastern 

Idaho to determine the extent and character of the phosphate deposits northeast of Bear Lake. Phosphate lands in Florida were also examined by George 

Matson of the Coastal Plain project as a temporary employee of the General 

Land Office.

In a pioneer study of the ore deposits of a large 

geographic unit to obtain information about little 

known districts for mineral statistics and, at the same 

time, to study a large area systematically for data on 

the location and origin of ore deposits, Waldemar 

Lindgren and L. C. Graton found that the mining 

districts of New Mexico form a belt trending southsouthwest through the mountainous section of the Territory. They recognized three periods of ore deposition, 

each characterized by distinct types of deposits which, 

according to Lindgren's recently proposed concept, 

corresponded to different physical conditions. In the 

Magdalena district in Socorro County, the chief zincproducing district in New Mexico, shown in the photograph, the ores are contact-metamorphic deposits 

associated with early Tertiary intrusions and formed 

under moderately high pressure and temperature. 

(From Waldemar Lindgren, L. C. Graton, and C. H. 

Gordon, 1910.)
Fuels investigations in the Eastern States included coal-field mapping in 

Alabama, Tennessee, Illinois, and Missouri, and oil-and-gas studies in 

Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. C. D. Smith was assigned to complete the 

quadrangle mapping in Oklahoma left unfinished when Taff resigned. David 

White continued his microscopic investigation of coals to ascertain the relation 

of the kinds and state of preservation of the plant materials to the chemical 

qualities and economic value of coals.

In the Metals Section several geologists began to study the mineral 

deposits of large geographic areas on which Lindgren placed such emphasis: 

Frank Schrader in Nevada, B. S. Butler in Utah, J. B. Umpleby in Idaho, A. N. 

Winchell in Montana, and Howland Bancroft in northeastern Washington. 

Mining district studies were continued, especially those of copper districts such 

as the Miami-Ray district in Arizona by F. L Ransome, the Ely district of 

Nevada by A. C. Spencer, Shasta County, California, by L. C. Graton, and 

Ducktown, Tennessee, by W. H. Emmons and F. B. Laney. E. S. Bastin and 

J. M. Hill mapped the areal and underground geology in the Central City 

district in Colorado, F. L. Hess completed field work in the Randsburg 

quadrangle, California, Sidney Paige mapped the Silver City quadrangle in 

New Mexico, and C. E. Siebenthal did additional work in the Joplin lead-zinc 

district.

The economic development of Alaska was again the basis of the Survey's 

work there in 1910. Reconnaissance topographic surveys were made of 13,815 

square miles and reconnaissance geologic surveys of 8,635 square miles in the 

Copper River and Susitna regions, the upper Yukon Basin, the Innoko-Iditarod 

region, and northwestern Alaska. Adolph Knopf completed the detailed study 

of the mineral resources of the Eagle River region in southeastern Alaska, and 

G. C. Martin, assisted by F. J. Katz and Theodore Chapin, made a detailed 

geologic survey of part of the Matanuska coal field. C. E. Ellsworth and G. L. 

Parker continued the study of the water resources of the Yukon-Tanana region 

begun at Fairbanks in 1907 and extended it into the Birch Creek and Fortymile 

districts. Parker also spent a month in the Seward Peninsula collecting gagingstation measurements made by the mine operators and making additional 

measurements.

The increase in the appropriation for water-resources investigations made 

it possible to undertake additional research in 1910 although most of the 

branch's work remained stream gaging and nearly all of it was done west of the 

100th meridian. With the aid of cooperative funds from 13 States and funds 

from other Federal agencies, the total number of gaging stations was increased 

to 1,105. Old-time records of stations maintained by the War Department and 

the Weather Bureau were also investigated, and by comparisons of 

measurements and adjustments, it was possible to obtain several long-time 

records of daily discharge. These it was hoped would throw light on the relation 

of runoff to precipitation and the effect of deforestation on river discharge.

The Division of Underground Water was enlarged to include newly resumed studies of the quality of water and Herman Stabler came back to the 

Survey from the Reclamation Service. Major projects were undertaken in 

California and Arizona. In California, R. B. Dole began a study of the composition of underground water in the San Joaquin Valley, and Stabler studied 

irrigation by the use of pumping plants in the San Joaquin and San Jacinto 

Valleys to supplement Mendenhall's geological and statistical studies of the 

development of ground water in those areas. C. H. Lee began an investigation 

of the relation of ground-water supplies to runoff and loss through evaporation 

and other forms of drainage in Owens Valley in cooperation with the City of 

Los Angeles. In Arizona, O. E. Meinzer began an investigation in Sulphur 

Spring Valley, in part in cooperation with the Arizona Experiment Station,

Survey Field Work, 1910 111
s.

FEET

14000

13000

12000

11000

10000

9000

TRIASSIC ?

'Wyoming" formation

CARBONIFEROUS PRE-CAMBRIAN '' Wyoming' 'J PRE-CAMBRIAN

formation 

4 Miles

which involved reconnaissance topographic surveys and careful studies of 

ground-water levels, the costs of recovery by pumping, the chemical character 

of the ground waters and soils, and other factors bearing on the problem of irrigation by ground water.

The Topographic Branch continued to concentrate on the public-land 

States but only 65 percent of the total area mapped during the field season of 

1910 was in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Divisions, somewhat less than in 

the preceding season. Sledge Tatum became head of the Rocky Mountain Division on June 1 when E. C. Barnard was detailed to the State Department for 

work on the United States-Canada Boundary Survey. S. S. Gannett was the 

boundary expert in Eastern United States, appointed by the Supreme Court to 

resurvey and mark the western boundary of Maryland and designated by Director Smith, at the request of the Attorney General of North Carolina, to find the 

line marked by blazed trees in 1821 along the disputed part of the North 

Carolina-Tennessee boundary line.

The political situation continued to engage public attention throughout 

the summer of 1910. Theodore Roosevelt returned from his long trip abroad in 

mid-June. From the moment he emerged from the jungle he had been besieged by leaders of both sides of the Republican argument; Pinchot went 

abroad to consult him and Taft sent him a handwritten letter. Roosevelt at first 

vowed to remain silent but the silence was short-lived. He then decided to tour 

the country in an attempt to reunite the party. But in one primary after 

another, the progressives were winning and the standpat Republicans losing, so 

Roosevelt rather soon alined himself with the progressives.

On August 31, Roosevelt spoke at the dedication of the State Park at 

Osawatomie, Kansas, and with him on the platform were Pinchot, Garfield, 

and the leaders of the Kansas insurgents. The speech is known as the one that 

defined his "New Nationalism," which "maintains that every man holds his 

property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to 

whatever degree the public welfare may require it." He also said that "words 

count for nothing except in so far as they represent acts. This is true everywhere; 

but, O my friends, it should be truest of all in political life. A broken promise 

is bad enough in private life. It is worse in the field of politics. No man is worth 

his salt in public life who makes on the stump a pledge which he does not keep 

after election; and, if he makes such a pledge and does not keep it, hunt him 

out of public life.''

President Taft was in the Summer White House in Beverly, Massachusetts, 

but the telephone and telegraph promptly brought him news of Roosevelt's 

remarks. On that same day he came to a decision about the Bureau of Mines 

and wrote to Director Smith: "I have concluded that I ought to appoint 

Mr. Holmes Director of the Bureau of Mines. The truth is that in searching for 

a competent man I do not find any one whom I am willing to appoint and take 

responsibility of turning down a man who comes to me recommended by both 

the labor organizations and mine owners and superintendents. * * * [Parker] 

is a good man, but not so well adapted to the work as Holmes. I thank you for 

the work you have done in the preliminary organization of the Bureau."

In 1909, F. L. Ransome mapped the Breckenridge 

distrkt, some 60 miles west-southwest of Denver, Colorado, to link Spurr's work at Georgetown with that of 

Emmons at Leadville. Ransome found that the thick 

series of Paleozoic rocks, including the limestone that 

was so productive at Leadville, is not present at 

Breckenridge. In the section east of the Tenmile 

Range, he identified the oldest sedimentary rocks, 

resting directly on the Precambrian, as the Wyoming 

(Triassic?) or the Dakota (Cretaceous) and found that 

these units, and to some extent the Precambrian, had 

been intruded by monzonitic porphyries, mainly as 

sills. Ransome thought the ores had been deposited 

from thermal waters and gases given off from the 

solidifying monzonitic magma, perhaps in cooperation 

with meteoric water, but he was uncertain whether the 

metals came from the magma or from the rocks invaded by it. (From F. L. Ransome, 1911.)

112 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
Smith was then in Stockholm, with G. F. Becker, Whitman Cross, S. F. 

Emmons, Arnold Hague, and Waldemar Lindgren, attending the sessions of 

the llth International Geological Congress. Economic geology was one of the 

principal subjects of discussion, and C. R. Van Hise gave one of the opening 

addresses on the influence of applied geology and the mining industry on the 

economic development of the world. Van Hise pointed out that iron, coal, and 

PRE CAMBRIAN copper had been of paramount importance in industrial development. He 

made a plea for the utmost economy in the use of metals so they would remain 

available for generations to come, and he predicted that within a few hundred 

years many nations would be obliged to turn to other sources of power than 

coal. In the future, he said, countries with large quantities of water power 

would be the rising nations industrially.

Professor J. F. Kemp of Columbia University had been delegated to present the United States' part of the planned review of the world's resources of 

iron ore. Kemp pointed out that the future of the iron industry was a function 

of several variables, some which neutralized each other: the increase in annual 

production, decrease in then known sources of supply, discovery of new sources 

of supply, gradual decline in average percent of iron in ores used, increase in 

expense of production, improvements in existing processes, supply of fuel, introduction of new methods of smelting, and the substitution of other materials 

for iron and steel. On the whole, however, he concluded that the iron industry 

would continue without any very fundamental changes for many years to come.

Professor Joseph W. Richards of Lehigh University argued that the energy 

source to reduce the iron ore was more important than the ore itself. 

Metallurgists were continually improving their methods, and the improvements in time would make it possible to work poorer ore. Richards predicted 

that in 20 years it would be possible to make pig iron from 40 percent ore as 

cheaply as it was then being made from 50 percent ore. He urged the International Geological Congress to make a careful inventory of the actual and 

potential coal reserves of the world, and the Congress decided to do so at its 

next session in 1913.

The U.S. Geological Survey officially proposed to the International Congress the preparation of a l:l,000,000-scale geological map of the world with a 

system of colors suggested by Bailey Willis but was rebuffed. The Commission 

on the Geologic Map of Europe unanimously agreed that such a map was 

impossible of realization at the time and that in any event the color system 

accepted at Bologna in 1881 should be used. The Commission, however, did 

recommend publication of a geologic map of the world at a suitable scale, and a 

committee, including George Otis Smith as one of the members, was appointed to bring in a proposal at the next Congress.

Joseph A. Holmes took over direction of the Bureau of Mines from George 

Otis Smith on September 10, and a few days later attended the Conservation 

Congress in Minneapolis at which both President Taft and former President 

Roosevelt spoke. Both Taft and Roosevelt advocated Government control of the 

acquisition and use of natural resources; Taft defined conservation as "the 

preservation of our natural resources for economical use so as to secure the 

greatest good to the greatest number." Scientific men, Taft said, had always 

been aware of the danger of wasting natural resources, but the formation of 

public opinion was a task that had been assumed by Theodore Roosevelt. He 

had inherited Roosevelt's policy and rejoiced in that heritage.

Both Chief Geologist Hayes and Professor T. C. Chamberlin, in the fall of 

1910, pointed out that conservation and ownership were separate issues. "Most 

good causes," Chamberlin said, "as they come into popular favor, suffer diversions, if not perversions, in the interest of other causes," and conservation was 

then being used to promote an unrelated issue.

Conservation of Mineral Resources 113
The protection of natural values against wastage is one thing, the possession of these values quite another thing. The best conservation may not be 

correlated with the best ownership, all things considered. Ownership, 

desirable on other accounts, may be an obstacle to conservation, and 

ownership, otherwise undesirable, may be tributary to conservation. This is 

so because, in their fundamental nature, the problems of conservation and 

the problems of possession are distinct questions, each to be solved in its 

own way and on its own basis. They center in separate fields. The conservation of natural resources centers in the scientific and technical; the right of 

ownership and the most desirable distribution of ownership center in the 

political and the sociological.

Conservation was not at issue in the November elections. The elections, 

however, were disastrous from the politically conservative point of view. The 

Democrats elected a group of reform-minded leaders, most of whom were not 

attached to William Jennings Bryan, and regained control of the House for the 

first time since 1895. The balance of power in the Republican Party shifted to 

the progressives. In the Senate, the Republicans had a nominal majority of 10, 

but 8 or 9 Republican Senators were progressives.

In his annual report transmitted to the final session of the 61st Congress, 

Secretary Ballinger repeated some of his earlier recommendations for changes in 

public-land laws. But first, with obvious reference to the problems of the year 

past, he "ventured the opinion" that when the Department of Commerce and 

Labor was established "it would have been more logical to have consolidated 

the Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture'' and transferred 

from them certain functions to the Department of Commerce and Labor and 

other departments, as, for example, the Patent Office from Interior to the 

Department of Commerce and Labor and the Pension Office from Interior to 

the Departments of War and the Navy. As it was, there was duplication of 

effort and divided jurisdiction, between Interior and Agriculture with regard to 

forest reserves, and between Interior and Commerce and Labor because of the 

Bureau of Mines and the Bureau of Standards.

In his 1910 report, Ballinger favored sale of coal lands rather than leasing, 

repeating the statement he had made in 1907 as Commissioner of the General 

Land Office that the Government would thus avoid the necessity of supervising 

operations and employing a large staff to collect rents and account for them. He 

continued to favor leasing of oil lands, which had been successful with the 

lands of the Five Civilized Tribes, but suggested that the law should recognize 

the right of prior bona fide locators of oil lands. He made a special plea for a 

liberal policy in opening up the California oil lands because of the enormous 

cost of coal for fuel in California. Search of the Patent Office records had 

disclosed several patents for stoves for domestic heating that would burn crude 

oil, and he pointed out that consumers would benefit by burning oil, at 85<t a 

barrel, rather than coal, at $11 to $15 a ton. He also asked for adoption of some 

form of legislation that would retain the fee title to water-power sites in the 

people and vest the power of regulation and control in either the State or the 

Federal Government in such a way as not to limit prompt and economical 

development or permit monopolization or extortion.

President Taft, in the State-of-the-Union Message, was more explicit in his 

recommendations. He conceded the force of Secretary Ballinger's arguments 

regarding the coal lands but went on record as favoring leasing through competitive bids for terms not exceeding 50 years. He recommended that surface 

and mineral rights for phosphate lands be separated, as had been done for coal 

lands, and that the phosphate lands be leased with an added condition to 

enable the Government to regulate, and if need be prohibit, the export to 

foreign countries. Taft recommended that the law allow a prospector for oil and 

gas the right to prospect for 2 years over a certain tract of Government land by 

license and that a lease be granted on discovery. Water-power sites, he recomIn 1911, C. R. Van Hise and C. K. Leith presented the 

results of a study of the geology of the Lake Superior 

region, with special reference to the iron and copperbearing formations, begun by R. D. Irving in 1880 and 

completed by them after his death. The iron-bearing 

formations consist of interbanded layers, in widely 

varying proportions of iron oxide, silica, and combinations of the two, that are remarkably similar in 

lithology even though they occur in three different 

groups separated by great unconformities and are 

unique among most of the sediments of the world. The 

rocks become ore by local enrichment, largely by the 

leaching out of silica, and to a lesser extent by the introduction of iron oxide, so there are complete gradations between rocks and ores. To show the chemical 

composition of the iron ores, Van Hise and Leith 

plotted individual analyses in a triangular diagram in 

which each point represents a unique combination of 

ferric oxide, silica, and minor constituents. (From 

C. R. Van Hise and C. K. Leith, 1911.)

114 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
mended, should be directly leased by the Federal Government for terms not 

exceeding 50 years or that the site be patented to the State in which it was 

situated on condition that the State dispose of it under similar terms. He asked 

also that the limitation on reservation of forest lands in Oregon, Washington, 

Idaho, Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming be repealed but stated that there 

was no need for radical reform in the methods of disposing of agricultural land 

for "the present laws have worked well. The enlarged homestead law has encouraged the successful farming of lands in the semiarid regions." Finally Taft 

asked, but with no sense of urgency, for a bureau for the care and control of the 

national parks and also that the Grand Canyon of the Colorado and surrounding territory be included in another national park.

President Taft and Secretary Ballinger agreed on the necessity for some 

action with regard to Alaska coal lands. Ballinger pointed out that extensive industrial progress in Alaska would be impossible without cheap fuel and 

improved transportation, "the latter depending largely upon a supply of the 

former. The importance of opening the vast coal fields of Alaska to development under some plan which will prevent waste and monopoly cannot be 

overestimated." Taft recommended passage of a law permitting the leasing of

FERRIC OXIDE le

100 1.

x Mesabi

* Vermilion

 Gogebic

o Marquette

 * Menominee

* Canadian

^~&m&&&&.\tt-rt

HOfX\^-\V \Xv:/\V>fX-v- v-> v */VvVX:\

MINOR 

CONSTITUENTS

SILICA

Public-Land Law Reform 115
Government coal lands in Alaska after public competition. He was reluctant to 

recommend home rule for Alaska but did favor the appointment of a commission for the government of the territory, which he thought would "lead to an 

improvement in Alaska and the development of her resources that is likely to 

surprise the country.''

Shortly after Congress convened in December 1910, the Joint Committee 

on the Investigation of the Interior Department and the Forest Service submitted a report divided on party lines. The seven Republican members of the 

committee concluded that the charges against Secretary Ballinger appeared "to 

have had their origin in a strong feeling of animosity created by a supposed difference in policy respecting the conservation of natural resources. The accusers 

evidently had this policy very deeply at heart and were evidently disposed to 

take a most unfavorable view of the character and motives of anyone whom 

they supposed to be opposed to their views. They thus came to regard the most 

natural and innocent acts occurring in the ordinary course of department administration as furnishing evidence of some sinister purpose. * * * The 

evidence has wholly failed to make out a case. Neither any fact proved nor all 

the facts put together exhibit Mr. Ballinger as being anything but a competent 

and honorable gentleman, honestly and faithfully performing the duties of his 

high office with an eye single to the public interest." The majority suggested, 

however, that the Alaska coal-lands claims cases be heard before a U.S. Court 

and that the Government lease, rather than sell, the coal lands. The four 

Democratic members of the committee concluded that the Secretary had not 

been "true to the trust imposed in him as Secretary of the Interior, was not 

deserving of public confidence, and should be requested to resign." The lone 

insurgent, Congressman James Madison of Kansas, declined to associate with 

either party and presented a third report saying that the Glavis and Pinchot 

charges "should be sustained."

Although the majority of the committee had cleared Secretary Ballinger, 

public opinion had convicted him, and for that reason administration programs 

lost support. Bills were filed to accomplish most of the public-land and conservation measures recommended in Taft's State-of-the-Union Message, but few 

were even called up. Discussion of a bill to permit exploration and leasing of 

coal lands in Alaska led to a violent altercation between progressive and conservative on the floor of the House. Chairman of the Public Lands Committee 

F. W. Mondell called the bill "the result of a very earnest, careful, and painstaking effort to meet in a fair way, and a way we believe is in harmony with the 

best public sentiment, the coal situation in the District of Alaska." Congressman Madison, the insurgent from Kansas, called the bill a "mockery," 

and James Wickersham, the delegate from Alaska, charged that while there 

had been much talk about conservation and a leasing bill for Alaska, the local 

land office in Alaska had been issuing patents on coal claims as fast as they 

could and there was little left to lease. Mondell and Wickersham questioned 

each other's veracity, then, as the Congressional Record reported, "menacing 

actions took place,'' and the Sergeant at Arms was called to restore order. The 

House then voted against the bill.

The Weeks Forest Purchase Act, which had been discussed for several 

years, was passed during the closing days of the congressional session. The act 

authorized the Forest Service to acquire and manage forests on the watersheds 

of interstate rivers with the consent of the State in which the land lay. The 

Secretary of Agriculture was to propose a selection, the Geological Survey to 

demonstrate its suitability, and a National Forest Reservation Commission, 

composed of the Secretaries of War, Interior, and Agriculture, and two 

members of each House of Congress, were then to approve the acquisition.

Secretary Ballinger had become a liability to the administration but President Taft continued to support him. Some time earlier, Taft had told one critic

116 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
The "unaltered" Precambrian sedimentary rocks of 

the Grand Canyon, first recognized by John Wesley 

Powell and more carefully studied by C. D. Walcott at 

intervals between 1883 and 1895, were reinvestigated 

after topographic maps on a scale of 1:48,000 were 

published between 1906 and 1908. Walcott had divided these rocks into two terranes, the Unkar and 

Chuar, separated by a slight erosional unconformity. 

L. F. Noble described the Unkar terrane in the 

Shinumo quadrangle as a wedge-shaped mass inset 

into the underlying Vishnu schist and composed of a 

great number of small tilted fault blocks. He divided 

the Unkar into five formations. The photograph shows 

a less common structure in the Unkar, a sharp monoclinal flexure, known as the Wheeler fold, in Bass Canyon. (From L. F. Noble, 1914.)

"If I were to turn Ballinger out, in view of his innocence and in view of the conspiracy against him, I should be a white-livered skunk. I don't care how it 

affects my administration and how it affects the administration before the 

people; if the people are so unjust as this I don't propose to be one of them." 

In mid-January 1911, Senator William Purcell, a Democrat of North Dakota 

appointed to fill a vacancy, introduced a resolution that Ballinger not be retained in office. Duncan Fletcher, freshman Senator from Georgia who had 

been president of the Gulf Coast Inland Waterways Association, said that the 

people did not require that an official be infallible but that they were "not 

satisfied to have him simply keep on the windy side of the law and pursue a 

course neglectful of and unfaithful to their interests to the point just inside the 

line of criminal guilt.'' Secretary Ballinger submitted his resignation, which the 

President again refused to accept. The Purcell resolution, debated in a halfhearted way over the course of a few days, never came to a vote.

While Secretary Ballinger was facing an increasingly hostile Congress and 

public, George Otis Smith faced increasingly irksome problems within the 

Geological Survey. Private industry was making heavy inroads on the Survey's 

geologic staff. The work of the Land Classification Board was increasing in 

volume, but not in variety, as a result of the various cooperative agreements 

and Secretarial orders, and as the paper work increased, the opportunity for 

field work decreased, a state of affairs to which most geologists are congenitally 

averse. The rank-and-file reaction to the emphasis on the public lands came out 

in the annual Pick and Hammer show. To the recurring refrain of "The L.C.B. 

is the biggest thing you'll see; it's just a little bigger than the whole G.B." the 

playwrights proclaimed:

Oh the Survey, the Survey, it don't amount to much

Since Congress has no money for geology as such:

The L.C.B * * *

There's coal land, oil land, power sites, and sich,

And when we get them classified you can't tell which is which;

The L.C.B * * *

Oh, the G.L.O. used to think it wasn't slow,

But since we got to going we have taken it in tow:

The L.C.B. * * *

Internal Problems 117
There had already been a large turnover in staff when on December 1, 

1910, the Chairman of the Land Classification Board, Arthur Veatch, applied 

for and was granted leave of absence to engage in exploration for oil abroad for 

private interests. Although the Board was a section in the Geologic Branch, on 

January 1, 1911, W. C. Mendenhall of the Water Resources Branch was named 

Chairman of the Board, its advisory committee, and, ex officio, chairman of 

each of the classification sections. N. C. Grover, who had left the Survey in 

1907, returned on March 1, 1911, to become Chief Engineer of the Board, and 

A. H. Brooks, Chief of the Alaskan Section, was added to the advisory committee. The membership of all sections was increased, and the section of 

hydrographic classification was divided into units dealing with water power and 

irrigable lands.

The emphasis on nonmetalliferous deposits led to some restiveness among 

the metals men. J. D. Irving, in an editorial in the October-November 1910 

issue of Economic Geology called on Federal and State surveys to investigate 

special problems in economic geology, claiming that in the United States 

economic geology had been studied almost exclusively on a geographic basis 

and reports were failing to provide information on general laws of the occurrence of ores. Letters poured in in response to the editorial, and most of the 

writers seemed to think that, although State surveys had been mentioned, the 

editorial was directed at the Federal Survey.

The first reply to be published was that of Waldemar Lindgren, who said 

that there were actually three methods of investigation: the monographic, 

which Irving had called descriptive geographic; the true geographic, or the 

comparative study of all mineral deposits in a given large area to ascertain 

geologic relationships and genesis; and the study of special problems. The 

economic work of the Survey had begun with the monographic method, at 

Leadville and the Comstock, although Becker's quicksilver investigations and 

gold-belt study showed that the geographic method had not been neglected. 

The emphasis was now on the true geographic method; it was necessary in order 

to take a census of metallic resources, and it was the safest way to obtain reliable

J

In the summer of 1910, M. R. Campbell took time off 

from coal-land classification to visit the newly 

established Glacier National Park in Montana and 

prepare a popular guide to its geology and scenery. The 

former Director of the Survey, C. D. Walcott, had 

been an advocate of the new park and the bill to establish it had first been filed by Secretary Garfield. The 

scenic features of the park are alpine, and many small 

glaciers are perched along the range in protected 

places. Swiftcurrent Valley, shown in the photograph 

by T. W. Stanton, was the principal route for transporting supplies into the mountains during the height 

of the mining excitement in the area; the beauty of its 

scenery and its accessibility had drawn many visitors 

before the creation of the park. (From M. R. Campbell, 1914.)

"*««»' * ."*« '
conclusions on the genesis of ores. The Survey could undertake few studies of 

special problems because of the small size of its staff. In making the distinction 

between the monographic and "true" geographic methods, Lindgren seemed 

unaware that Clarence King's plan for mining-geology investigations did not 

call for monographic treatments exclusively but for studies of mining districts 

in geologic units and the census of mineral deposits in geographic units. Lindgren's true geographic method was a modification of the original plan.

Charles D. Walcott, the third Director of the Survey, agreed with Irving. 

In earlier times, Walcott wrote, many broad generalizations had been drawn 

and reputations won as the result of reconnaissance work. Then it was realized 

that detailed work in selected areas must be done before another series of correlations and broad deductions could be "ventured upon." However, as such 

work had been going on for 20 years, the time had come to specialize, and the 

best men should be given the opportunity. He added, significantly in the light 

of past history, that in the nature of things some men would have to be pushed 

into new work, some would do it if encouraged, and the best would do it 

anyway, even in the face of administrative opposition.

There were no comments from S. F. Emmons, but in view of the long and 

close association between Emmons and Irving, it may be assumed that Emmons 

had approved living's editorial if indeed he had not instigated it, for Emmons 

during his more than 30 years in the Survey had never been one to remain 

passive when he disapproved a course of action. The whole discussion, which 

continued for several months in the pages of Economic Geology, was pointed up 

poignantly by Emmons' sudden death in March 1911 on the eve of his 70th 

birthday. Tributes were many and varied. The Mining and Scientific Press said 

that "In certain ways Emmons was the most influential geologist America ever 

produced. With the possible exception of his chief, Clarence King, to whom he 

was always devoted, he came closest to mining engineers and mine operators of 

any of the men which have served the nation through work on the Geological 

Survey." The Engineering andMining Journal'for once agreed with the Press: 

"Emmons' death has deprived science not only of an eminent geologist, but of 

the pioneer in economic work in this country. For the last 30 years he has indeed been the most prominent figure in that field in America, if not in the 

world." T. W. Rickard said "What Lyell did for geology, Emmons did for 

economic geology," adding that his greatest contribution, painstaking detail in 

working out structure, had become so commonplace that his origination of the 

method had been forgotten. The volume on the origin of ore deposits which 

Emmons had been editing for the American Institute of Mining Engineers was 

dedicated to him and became known as the "Emmons Volume." Contributions from many friends and coworkers were used to establish the Emmons 

Fellowship at Columbia University, which had the oldest school of mines in the 

country.

By early spring of 1911, advisers had convinced President Taft that he 

must accept Secretary Ballinger's resignation. In a highly publicized letter on 

March 7, in which he reaffirmed his support of the Secretary and condemned 

the conspiracy that led to his removal, he accepted the resignation. Six days 

later, Walter L. Fisher of Chicago became Secretary of the Interior. Fisher was 

known as a successful reformer. He had been active in Chicago politics for 

several years, and as president of the Municipal Voters League, he had conducted such a vigorous campaign against corrupt aldermen, whom he called 

"gray wolves," that two-thirds of the members of the city council were elected 

on pledges drawn up by the League. He had also served as traction counsel for 

the city and prepared a plan for municipal purchase of street railways that was 

accepted by the city council and approved by the voters in a referendum. But 

Fisher was also an ardent conservationist, and it was this that qualified him for

Economic Geology, 1911 119
the Interior position. He had been president of the Conservation League of 

America in 1908-09 and with Gifford Pinchot had drawn up the declaration of 

principles for the National Conservation Association in 1909- Taft's appointment of Fisher satisfied members of the progressive wing of the Republican 

Party. Theodore Roosevelt was especially pleased with the appointment and 

wrote to former Secretary Garfleld "If two years ago he [Taft] had done some of 

the things he has done now, he would probably have saved himself from nine 

tenths of the blunders he has made and is making.''

Ballinger returned to Seattle where he died a few years later, broken in 

spirit. Thirty years later, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, who as a 

young man had supported Pinchot in the controversy, declared after examination of Department records that Ballinger was not guilty. Long before that 

time, most of the public-land legislation that he had recommended had been 

enacted into law.

The Geological Survey was not affected by the change at Department 

level. When it came time to begin field work under the Weeks Forest Purchase 

Act, however, George Otis Smith deemed it politic to begin the work himself 

by making a preliminary examination of two proposed forest tracts in Georgia 

and Tennessee aided by Arthur Spencer of the Geologic Branch. Heeding T. C. 

Chamberlin's strictures on the role of geologists in conservation, Smith also 

ruled that the Survey's report would be a statement of fact without 

recommendations.

120 Conservation: Within the Limitation of Authority, 1909-1911
Chapter 5.

The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914

There is, however, grave danger that, carried away by the present furor 

for practical results, we may lose sight of our scientific ideals. Applied 

geology can only maintain its present high position of usefulness by continuing the researches which advance the knowledge of basic principles. 

Future progress in applied geology depends on progress in pure geology.

 A. H. Brooks

During the years between the appointment of Walter L. Fisher as Secretary 

of the Interior in the spring of 1911 and the outbreak of World War I in Europe 

in 1914, George Otis Smith served as Director of the U.S. Geological Survey 

under both a Republican and a Democratic administration. Within the Survey 

there were three Chief Geologists, and two heads of the Water Resources 

Branch, one called a Chief Hydrographer, the other a Chief Hydraulic 

Engineer. The two Secretaries of the Interior did not differ greatly in their 

public-land policies, and both supported the scientific and mapping programs 

of the Survey. Within the Survey, however, two different trends developed, 

one epitomized by the change in title of the head of the Water Resources 

Branch. The Water Resources and Topographic Branches were primarily concerned with practical work, for the most part in the public-land States. Both 

branches received increasing amounts of cooperative funds that enabled them 

to expand their programs, but usually for the acquisition of data or the production of maps and not for research. The Geologic Branch, on the other hand, 

increasingly stressed the research aspects of its program in both Eastern and 

Western States. The Survey's responsibilities for mineral-land classification 

were altered by Secretarial orders and agreements with the General Land 

Office, and on May 1, 1912, the Land Classification Board was separated from 

the Geologic Branch and given status as an independent branch of equal rank. 

Thereafter, geologic investigations in the public-land States became primarily 

geologic investigations in which classification might be one but not the sole 

objective.

During the summer of 1911, however, the Geologic Branch continued to 

be deeply involved in public-land problems. The Land Classification Board, 

under its new Chairman, W. C. Mendenhall, simplified and systematized its 

work so a large and more accurate output could be obtained without increasing 

the staff. Form letters were adopted to answer the simpler inquiries, and maps 

were prepared for each of the public-land States on which areas known or 

suspected to contain mineral deposits, reservoir sites, or lands valuable for 

power sites were colored in accordance with a definite plan so the remaining 

uncolored areas could then be clear-listed without special search of the records 

or literature. A study of the methods of evaluating coal land was already underway when Congressman F. W. Mondell wrote to Secretary Fisher on June 24 

that the Survey's valuations placed on coal lands were "so beyond all reason 

and justification" that he found it difficult to discuss the subject "in an entirely dispassionate and respectful way." His complaint was not directed at the 

policy of selling at a price to discourage speculation, he said, but at a price that

The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914 121
discouraged all sales. In fact, sales of coal land had been substantially greater 

since the adoption of the classification program, but the Survey sought a better 

method of valuation based on its greater knowledge of western coal.

Classification of coal and oil lands was continued under the supervision of 

M. R. Campbell, aided by E. G. Woodruff and W. R. Calvert. Nineteen other 

geologists were engaged in field work. The phosphate-land classification was 

continued under the direction of R. W. Richards. Field studies were made 

by G. R. Mansfield, A. R. Schultz, and Eliot Blackwelder, as well as Richards, and 

large areas that had originally been included in the phosphate reserves on the 

basis of mapping by the Hayden Survey in 1877 were eliminated. Field work for 

classification of the lands in the Northern Pacific Railroad grant, begun under 

the direction of Hoyt Gale in 1910, was completed by F. C. Calkins, J. T. 

Pardee, and R. W. Stone. Gale had been given yet another pioneering assignment, this time supervision of the search for potash.

A search for potash became part of the Survey's geologic program as a 

byproduct of the phosphate conservation program. The world's sole known 

source of the potash needed for fertilizer was at that time Germany, and the 

German potash trust, in retaliation for the withholding of phosphate by the 

United States, had an export duty placed on potash and prorated the amount 

to be mined so that exports to the United States were decreased and the price of 

fertilizer had doubled. An appropriation of $12,500 "for exploration and investigation within the United States to determine a possible source of supply of 

potash, nitrates, and other fertilizers" had been included in the Agriculture 

Appropriations Act over the objections of Congressman Mondell, who contended that the Geological Survey was the proper agency to conduct the work. 

When the Survey appropriations came up for discussion later, Mondell proposed an amendment to add $20,000 to the appropriation for chemical and 

physical research for "research on geological conditions favorable to the 

presence of potash salts," and that amendment was also approved. Despite the 

wording of the amendment, it was clear from the discussion that Congress exWalter L. Fisher (1862-1935), Secretary of the Interior, 

1911-1913. Fisher was a Chicago attorney who had 

been active in the reform of municipal politics and was 

also a leader in the conservation movement. He was 

president of the Conservation League of America in 

1908-09 and with Gifford Pinchot drew up the declaration of principles of the National Conservation Association organized in 1909 after Congress refused to 

fund conservation programs. Fisher was more successful than Ballinger in promoting Alaskan interests, and 

Alaska was formally established as a Territory and a 

commission appointed to plan a railroad into the interior in August 1912. He was no more successful than 

Ballinger, however, in achieving a revision of publicland law. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

122 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
pected the Survey to conduct a physical exploration. The mining journals took 

it for granted that the Survey would succeed but had questions as to what 

would happen next. If potash were discovered on the public lands, would the 

Government develop and mine the deposits? Or would it sell them, and if so, 

how? Or would it lease them? The assumption of success had as many pitfalls 

for the Survey as the questions about disposal of the land.

The search for potash was begun in the Quaternary lake beds of the Great 

Basin. Potash in its soluble or most useful form was known to be almost universally associated with other soluble salts, so attention was first directed to natural 

saline residues and to natural or artificial brines and bitterns. Both the Quaternary lake beds and the Permo-Triassic red beds of the Rocky Mountain States, 

Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas were thought to be more likely than others to 

contain potash salts in commercial quantities. The area to be explored was large 

and the funds were limited, so the lake beds were chosen for the first drilling 

tests because the centers of desiccation could be more accurately determined, 

locations for drilling better selected, and adequate testing done with fewer drill 

holes.

Alaska and its development had become the subject of so much interest 

that the Survey temporarily suspended its work in southeastern Alaska that had 

been carried on for a decade in order to begin investigations in other parts of 

the territory. Extensive topographic mapping was done in the Copper River 

region, in the Kenai Peninsula, and in the Yukon Basin. J. W. Bagley made a 

detailed topographic survey of part of the Port Valdez mining district and the 

Moose Pass region to test the methods and instruments for use of photography 

in topographic mapping. Geologic studies were made in the Copper River 

region, the Kenai Peninsula, and the Yukon Basin, where the topographers 

were working, and in the Susitna Basin. Two explorations were carried north of 

the Arctic Circle. A. G. Maddren was attached to the party surveying the 

border between the United States and Canada north of the Porcupine River and 

mapped the geology of 400 square miles on topographic maps prepared by the 

boundary surveyors. In northwestern Alaska, P. S. Smith and C. E. Giffin 

mapped the topography of about 10,000 square miles and the principal geologic features of about 8,000 square miles, traveling up the Alatna River, then 

crossing the divide to the Noatak, and down the Noatak to Kotzebue Sound.

In the programs not specifically oriented toward the public lands, the 

Metals Section played a more prominent part. Several studies of the ore 

deposits of large geographic units were underway in Arizona, Utah, Idaho, 

Nevada, and Montana. In addition, mining district studies were begun in the 

Tintic district of Utah by Lindgren and in the Creede district in Colorado by 

E. S. Bastin and J. M. Hill; J. D. Irving took over the task of completing S. F. 

Emmons' report on the Leadville district. C. E. Siebenthal continued his work 

on the zinc and lead deposits of northeastern Oklahoma and southwestern 

Missouri, E. F. Burchard continued his study of the red iron ore deposits of the 

southern Appalachians, and Frank Hess began a reconnaissance of the 

vanadium deposits of the United States. Fuel investigations in the Eastern and 

Central States included David White's continuing study of the regional variations of Appalachian coals, coal-field mapping in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, 

and M. J. Munn's examination of oil and gas developments in Tennessee and 

Kentucky.

Geologic mapping for the atlas was continued in all parts of the country 

and the field work connected with the geologic survey of the Atlantic and Gulf 

Coastal Plain was completed as planned except in a few small regions. T. W. 

Vaughan spent about a month in the Canal Zone to correlate geologic formations there with those of the Gulf Coastal Plain and also visited in the Bahamas 

and Florida Keys as part of his study of the geology and geologic processes in 

southern Florida.

Geology, 1911 123
In the Division of Physical and Chemical Research, the physical studies 

were all basic research. Becker was busy with a variety of projects: a study of the 

effect of radioactivity on the cooling of the Earth, methods of determining the 

viscosity of liquids, the effect of electrolytic action due to differences in sulfide 

potential on the decomposition of ores, and the application of "imaginary 

geometry" to the study of strain in rocks. Van Orstrand's experiments on diffusion in solids were extended to include a study of the variation of diffusion with 

pressure and temperature. F. W. Clarke was supervising publication of a new 

edition of his "Data of Geochemistry," but most of the other chemists were 

engaged in making routine analyses.

At the end of the field season, on October 15, 1911, Chief Geologist 

Hayes joined the exodus of geologists leaving the Survey for higher paying positions in private industry, resigning to become vice president and general 

manager of the Compania Mexicana de Petroleo El Aguila. Hayes had joined 

the Survey as a field geologist in 1887 after receiving his Ph.D. in chemistry 

from Johns Hopkins. He was quickly recognized for the standards of accuracy 

and precision that he applied to his field measurements, much greater than 

those in general use at the time, and for his patient accumulation of data. His 

first published paper in 1891 on the overthrust faults of the southern Appalachians was epoch-making. He had also made significant discoveries about 

the ancient landforms in the southern Appalachians, had provided geologic information useful in the construction of large engineering works, mining coal, 

and drilling for petroleum, and had been one of the first to make useful quantitative estimates of mineral resources. In 1900, he had become the first Chief 

of the Section of Nonmetalliferous Deposits, in 1902, Geologist-in-charge of 

Geology, and in 1907, when George Otis Smith became Director, he had been 

named Chief Geologist. His "Handbook for Field Geologists," first published 

in 1908, was a standard reference for many years. Hayes took no public role in 

the conservation movement beyond supervising preparation of the report on 

the mineral reserves of the United States for the National Conservation Commission and the 1910 paper in the Mining and Scientific Press. In fact, he had 

little patience with the extremists on both sides. T. C. Chamberlin once 

remarked that perhaps Hayes' most important contribution to the conservation 

movement was the conservation of common sense.

Hayes had been held responsible by some for the trend toward applied 

geology in the Survey. He had, of course, believed that geologic research 

should be useful that people had a right to expect geologists, especially those 

in Government organizations, to help in solving the problems of everyday 

life but such research is not necessarily a commercialization of science. As a 

matter of fact, the tendency toward applied science was not confined to one 

organization, or even to one science, as A. H. Brooks pointed out in his 

presidential address to the Geological Society of Washington in December 

1911. The trend toward applied science he attributed to "the evils of relative 

over-population and depletion of nature's wealth.'' There was no danger in the 

trend if applied geology rested on a broad basis of scientific research, but he 

warned that

If the spring of pure science is cut off, the stream of applied geology must 

soon run dry.

Professor Hobbs of Michigan, who had been one of Hayes' sharpest critics, saw 

in the Brooks paper "an apology for and a glorification of the almost exclusion 

of pure science from the later work of the Geological Survey'' although he conceded that "the concluding sentence of the address, if taken alone, might indeed seem to contradict the earlier statements of the report.''

The position of Chief Geologist was first offered to Brooks, who preferred 

to remain Chief of the Alaskan Division, and then to Waldemar Lindgren.

124 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
Lindgren, like Hayes, had begun his Survey career when John Wesley Powell 

was Director, had spent several years mapping quadrangles, and had turned to 

economic geology when that work began to expand after 1893. Lindgren had 

learned from Hayes' experience. He accepted the position of Chief Geologist 

on condition that he be relieved of all possible administrative routine, be allowed to retain direction of the Metals Section, and have an opportunity to 

continue his own research.

Lindgren fs appointment was favorably received. The Engineering and 

Mining Journal reported happily that it was "of more than passing significance 

in the mining profession, since for the first time in 30 years it places as the actual operative head of the Government's work in geology a man who by training, experience, and sympathy is allied primarily with the mining industry." 

Lindgren, however, was more than a mining geologist; in addition to his 

"essentially European mastery of detail and breadth of thoroughness of training," the Journal said, he had had "a remarkably rich fund of geologic experience" and was "regarded as one of the strongest all-around geologists of 

the time."

The Water Resources Branch was even more involved in public-lands work 

than the Geologic Branch in 1911 and also struggling against odds because of 

reduced funds and personnel. Some 83.5 percent of the direct appropriation 

and most of the cooperative and repay funds were used for work in the publiclands States, so comparatively little work could be done elsewhere. In an effort 

to meet the demands being made on the branch, Chief Hydrographer Leigh ton 

spent as much time as he could spare from other duties with E.G. Murphy and 

E. C. LaRue in the field examination of water-power withdrawals, rights-ofway, Carey Act segregations, and designations under the Enlarged Homestead 

Act. When the Assistant Secretary called on the Survey to examine water supplies in Mesa Verde National Park for the use of park officials and tourists, 

W. C. Mendenhall himself took the assignment rather than recess any of the 

ground-water projects. The bulk of the branch's work continued to be stream 

gaging, but C. H. Lee studied the effect of the absorption of flood waters on 

ground-water supplies in southern California, O. E. Meinzer examined the 

problems of irrigation with ground water in the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico 

and the development of supplies for range stock on the plateaus, and Everett 

Carpenter investigated the ground-water resources of Boxelder and part of 

Tooele County in Utah. A. J. Ellis began one of the most detailed studies of 

ground water yet undertaken in the East, a study of the ground-water resources 

of Connecticut under the supervision of Professor H. E. Gregory of Yale.

In 1911, Survey geologists began a congressionally 

mandated search for potash, concentrating at first on 

the desert-basin area where, from the work of G. K. 

Gilbert and I. C. Russell on ancient Lakes Bonneville 

and Lahontan, they believed that potash salts might 

occur in association with other desiccated saline and 

alkaline-water deposits. One of the first areas tested, 

Silver Peak Marsh in Nevada, proved disappointing; 

salt deposits were found but no potash-bearing salts 

occurred within the uppermost 50 feet tested by handdrilling. C. D. Walcott's photograph shows part of Salt 

Creek Marsh and "Alcatraz Island," a hill of Cambrian limestone nearly submerged by the playa 

deposits that bears a striking resemblance to an oceanic 

island. (Photograph from the files of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

Water Resources, 1911 125
Topographic mapping was carried on in 36 States and the Territory of 

Hawaii, and a total of 33,140 square miles was mapped. The public-lands 

States were still given preference, and nearly 65 percent of the area mapped was 

in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Divisions. However, 20 States provided an 

additional $177,853 in cooperative funds, and Director Smith abandoned his 

requirement that the amount accepted be in relation to the rate of progress 

toward completion of the topographic map of the United States. The largest 

sum, $25,000, came from the State of Ohio, which was 70 percent mapped at 

the beginning of the fiscal year, and $12,000 was accepted from West Virginia, 

which had been completely mapped, for remapping at a larger scale. In addition to the topographic mapping, 1,261 linear miles of river surveys were run, 

some paid for by the States and some done in connection with investigations of 

the Water Resources Branch, but all in relation to water-power development.

In the late summer of 1911, Secretary Fisher made an inspection trip to 

Alaska, accompanied by the Governor of Alaska and various Department officials, including A. H. Brooks of the Survey andj. A. Holmes of the Bureau of 

Mines. On his return, Fisher said the visit had demonstrated the necessity of 

establishing some policy on Alaska; the Morgan-Guggenheim interests had at 

least proposed some development, but everything had since come to a standstill. In an address to the American Mining Congress on September 27, he suggested that the Federal Government should construct a railroad from tidewater 

to Tanana and the Yukon, that a leasing law for minerals be enacted, and a territorial government should be established. These recommendations were 

included in his annual report to the President.

George Otis Smith continued to press for changes in public-land laws but 

took care to emphasize that the Geological Survey's role in public-land administration was a scientific one. In his annual report submitted to the 

Secretary of the Interior in the fall of 1911, he pointed out that Federal 

geologists had observed the working of public-land laws in nearly all the important mining districts of the country for more than 30 years and that the Survey

By 1911, coal-land classification was being combined 

with more complete studies of the geology of an area. 

A. L Beekly, for example, began mapping the North 

Park area in Colorado, where both the Hayden and 

King surveys had mapped in the 1870's. Beekly noted 

that although the report by Arnold Hague of the King 

survey on the area was brief and admittedly based on a 

hasty reconnaissance, he was "impressed with the 

pioneer geologist's remarkable grasp of the leading 

geologic features." Some of the most important coal 

beds in the region were in the widely distributed Coalmont Formation, shown as scenically eroded remnants 

in the photograph. (From A. L. Beekly, 1915.)

126 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
engineers had been in touch with irrigation and power developments for almost 

as long, and had developed an opinion on public-land laws based on both field 

conditions and administrative experience. It was his belief that

The objects to be sought by amendment of the public-land laws are first, 

purposeful and economical development of resources for which there is 

present demand, with retention of such control as may insure against unnecessary waste or excessive charges to the consumer, and second, the 

reservation of title in the people of all resources the utilization of which is 

conjectural or the need of which is not immediate.

To attain these objectives, it was essential that the public lands be classified, 

that surface and mineral rights be separated, and that the land be disposed of 

on terms that would secure their highest use, enforce development, and protect 

the public interest.

Under the Pickett Act, classification of the public lands in advance of 

disposition was possible, and disposition could be postponed to await legislation, but there were loopholes. No withdrawal was effective against location or 

appropriation for minerals other than coal, oil, gas, and phosphate. The apparent intent was to promote the exploration and discovery of metalliferous 

minerals, but the wording made no provision for such minerals as potash and 

nitrates, of no less vital concern than phosphates to the agricultural interests. It 

also permitted attempts to claim sand and gravel as minerals in order to secure 

control of power sites and entering claims for commercially worthless land in 

order to set up a claim for title to land of great prospective value for oil.

Smith suggested that legislation to permit the separation of surface and 

mineral rights, wherever the two had values that could be separately utilized, 

should be the first step in amending the land laws. Such separation, already applied to coal deposits, should be extended to oil, gas, and phosphate lands. 

Similar legislation should reserve to the Government the exclusive right to 

grant easements for the future development of water resources, for either power 

or irrigation, and at the same time make provision for grants of surface patents 

for agricultural use of the land or of mineral patents where mining would not 

interfere with water-power development.

To Smith, the coal-land law was the most satisfactory of the existing 

mineral-land laws in that it made possible placing an adequate valuation on the

As coal investigations progressed into new areas, questions were raised about the correlation of the coalbearing formations. W. T. Lee's detailed study in 1910 

and 1911, including careful measurements of sections 

at short distances, showed that the coal-bearing rocks 

of the Raton Mesa region in Colorado and New Mexico, long considered the equivalent of the typical 

Laramie of the Denver Basin, actually constituted 

two distinct formations, neither of them equivalent to 

the Laramie, separated by an unconformity. The lower, 

which Lee named the Vermejo (V on the sketch of a 

mesa near Koehler, New Mexico), contained a 

Montana-age flora and was older than the Laramie and 

more closely related to the Mesaverde of New Mexico; 

the upper, which he named the Raton (R on the 

sketch), contained a flora similar to that of the postLaramie formations of the Denver Basin and of the 

Eocene Wilcox group of the Gulf Coast. (From W. T. 

Lee, 1917.)

*** «-.--- 

^JJab-j^j.^-- ^ ?^m-v

t*&^3V f^^*

Public-Land Law Reform 127
deposits, which permitted purchase for immediate development and 

prevented, or at least discouraged, purchase for long-time investment or 

monopolization. As the ideal valuation was well-nigh impossible, however, 

leasing would have advantages because it would relieve operators from the large 

capital outlay necessary for acquisition of the large acreage necessary for a 

modern mine, and that in turn should lower the cost of operation and the price 

of coal to the consumer. Moreover, better control would be possible, despite 

the cost of Federal management and the possibility of inefficient administration or even maladministration. If a leasing law were not enacted, however, the 

existing law should be amended to allow holding a unit large enough to permit 

opening and equipping a modern mine.

Smith felt the most urgent need was for legislation for disposition of oil 

and gas lands. The placer law was wholly inadequate, and an altogether new 

measure was needed, one especially adapted to provide for the sane and 

equitable development of the industry. Such a law should authorize the issue 

of exploratory permits, granting the exclusive privilege of occupation, and 

should provide that upon discovery the permit holder would be given a 

leasehold title with a royalty varied to meet local and actual conditions. As for 

the phosphate lands, neither the placer nor the lode law was applicable, and a 

leasing law should be enacted.

Smith also suggested that the mining laws of the United States be revised. 

The law of the apex had proved more productive of expensive litigation than of 

economical mining, and in many mining districts it had been made inoperative 

either by common agreement or by compromise between adjoining owners. 

Discovery of ore in place should not universally be made a prerequisite to the 

location of a mining claim, for in many regions deposits underground could be 

definitely surmised even though no surface evidence existed. The law should 

provide for acquisition of metalliferous land classified as such on the basis of 

adequate geologic evidence. The mining law should also provide for enforced 

development by requiring actual use as a condition of occupancy, or, alternatively, the existing evil of idle mining property could be remedied by the 

adoption of leasehold, under which the Government could enforce operation.

Finally, Smith indicated that both the Survey and the Department of 

Agriculture agreed on water-power legislation: lands valuable for water-power 

development should be leased for a fixed term, not to exceed 50 years, with 

moderate charges for use and occupancy of land, revocable only upon breach of 

condition or if consumers were charged excessive rates.

Secretary Fisher included all these recommendations in his own annual 

report to the President. He also approved the Survey's request for significant 

increases of $150,000 each for geologic surveys and water-resources investigations in the budget estimate submitted to Congress in the fall of 1911 to help 

meet the heavy demand for classification of public lands.

Secretary Fisher, like his immediate predecessors, believed that the 

Department of the Interior was badly organized and proposed some changes. 

The Department's real function, he wrote in his annual report, was "the administration and disposition of the land and natural resources held directly or 

in trust by the Nation" and the Department would "more effectively and 

economically carry on this tremendously important function if it is given all of 

the distinctively administrative duties relating to it.'' It should also be relieved 

of certain functions, and, as one change, he proposed the transfer of the Patent 

Office to the Department of Commerce and Labor. He also called for an expansion of the work of the Bureau of Mines by an extension of its accidentprevention work to metals mines, quarries, and metallurgical plants, and by 

the addition of investigations into various branches of the mining industry with 

a view to lessening the waste of essential resources.

128 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
Exploitation of low-grade disseminated copper 

deposits became practicable when cheap and efficient 

mining and metallurgical practices were developed 

about 1907. In the Ray and Miami districts of Arizona, 

the ore was mined, with one exception, by caving 

systems of stoping, as shown in the photograph of the 

surface above the Miami mine, concentrated by flotation and running water, and then the concentrates 

were smelted locally. F. L Ransome found that the ore 

was formed in two stages: solutions associated with 

monzonite-porphyry intrusions deposited disseminated 

sulfides which were then enriched by downward percolating atmospheric water. The ore bodies were undulating, flat-lying masses of irregular shape and 

thickness in the marginal portions of the porphyries 

and in the adjacent schists. The shape and size of the 

ore bodies to a large extent depended on the lower 

limit set for the percentage of copper in material 

classified as ore. (From F. L. Ransome, 1919.)

Although Fisher had largely quelled the turmoil in the Department, President Taft's troubles had multiplied. In January 1911, a group of insurgent 

Republicans under the leadership of Senator Robert M. LaFollette founded the 

National Progressive Republican League, which sought to gain control of the 

Republican organization. In January also, President Taft proposed a reciprocal 

reduction of tariffs between the United States and Canada to lower trade barriers between the two nations, but the 61st Congress adjourned on March 4 

without acting on the proposal. The 62d Congress, elected in November 1910, 

was then called into special session on April 4, 1911, to consider the reciprocity 

agreement. The Democrats, after 14 years as the minority party, again controlled the House of Representatives and elected as Speaker Champ Clark, one 

of the leaders in the revolt against Speaker Cannon. Sensing victory in 1912, 

the Democrats were in no mood to cooperate with the administration unless in 

doing so they could contribute to Republican difficulties. Thus, despite 

Republican opposition to the reciprocity agreement, the House approved it 

promptly. While the Senate debated the measure, the Democrats began 

numerous investigations, and joined insurgent Republicans in passing several 

low tariff bills, all of which the President vetoed. The reciprocity agreement was 

finally approved on July 22, but Taft's hopes for a free trade area were shattered 

when the Canadian Parliament failed to come to an agreement and in the 

general elections that followed the Conservative Party raised the specter of 

American annexation of Canada and defeated the Liberal Party.

Taft was a firm believer in the competitive system and, in fact, that there 

was no intermediate point between true competition and socialism. Coupled 

with his strong commitment to law enforcement, this belief produced a 

vigorous antitrust campaign by the Justice Department. While Congress was in 

session, the Supreme Court, on May 15, 1911, ordered the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey dissolved on the ground that it engaged in unreasonable 

restraint of trade. Two weeks later, on May 29, the Court found the American 

Tobacco Company in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. By these decisions, the Supreme Court in effect changed the nature of the Sherman Antitrust Act by asserting the Court's power to decide whether a business was guilty 

of violating the Sherman Act, and thereby produced a crisis in the Republican 

Party. After the Supreme Court decisions, Taft intensified his antitrust activities and thus alienated the more conservative members of his party and the

Taft's Political Problems 129
business community. The decision in October 1911 to institute action against 

United States Steel alienated Theodore Roosevelt, for one of the main points of 

evidence against the steel corporation was its acquisition of the Tennessee Coal 

and Iron Company in 1907, which Roosevelt had tacitly, if not actually, 

approved.

In December 1911, President Taft devoted the entire State-of-the-Union 

Message to the trust question and sent special messages on other issues. In a 

special message on the Interior Department, he said:

There is no branch of the Federal jurisdiction which calls more imperatively 

for immediate legislation than that which concerns the public domain, and 

especially the part of that domain which is in Alaska.

He endorsed Secretary Fisher's recommendations for classification of the public 

lands, for leasing of mineral lands, for Federal construction of Alaska Railways, 

but stopped short of the Secretary's recommendation on self-government for 

Alaska. He also called for Federal control of water-power sites and establishment of a "Bureau of Federal Parks."

Congress paid scant heed to the President's recommendations. The second 

session of the 62d Congress, which convened on December 4, 1911 and remained in session until August 24, 1912, was no more tractable than the first 

had been. Campaign politics created additional problems. On the Republican 

side, Taft wanted to be nominated for a second term, Senator LaFollette also 

had presidential ambitions, and Theodore Roosevelt was clearly in the running 

although he did not formally declare his "availability" until February 1912. 

The Speaker of the House, Champ Clark, and Congressman Oscar Underwood 

of Alabama were active candidates for the Democratic nomination, as was 

Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey.

Coastal Plain investigations included paleobotanist 

E. W. Berry's study of the fossil pknts of the Southern 

Coastal Plain to carry the correlation of Tertiary formations, which had a "checkered nomenclatorial 

history," from Alabama across the Mississippi Embayment. The earlier Eocene (Midway and Wilcox) in the 

Mississippi Embayment lacked the succession of marine 

faunas that were present in the type locality along the 

Alabama River in Wilcox County, Alabama. The Midway was found to be a typical marine series but the 

Wilcox was composed of littoral or estuarine sediments 

over wide areas and contained one of the most abundant and varied fossil floras known to science. The 

illustration shows a restoration of a branch from the 

Eocene tree Bombacites formosus Berry. (From E. W. 

Berry, 1916.)

130 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
As part of an investigation of the problems caused by 

the overloading of some California rivers with waste 

from hydraulic mines, geologist G. K. Gilbert and 

hydraulic engineer E. C. Murphy collaborated in a 

series of laboratory experiments on the transportation 

of debris by running water. Gilbert concluded, however, that the empirical formulas could not be directly 

applied to natural rivers. The primary cause of stream 

traction, or the movement of coarser debris, was the 

bed velocity but bed velocity could not be satisfactorily defined because the direction of motion and velocity 

are constantly changing at any given point and bed 

velocity is not independent of depth. In the diagram, 

DE is the upper limit of the zone of saltation or stream 

traction, and ABC and A'B'C are the vertical velocity 

curves for the same mean velocity but two different 

depths of current. (From G. K. Gilbert, 1914.)

The House went beyond Taft's recommendations with reference to Alaska 

and on April 24, 1912, passed a bill to create a legislative assembly in the 

district of Alaska. The Senate passed the bill on July 24, and when the President finally approved it a month later, the territory acquired by the U.S. in 

1867 finally became the Territory of Alaska. Section 18 of the act created a 

railroad commission to conduct an examination into the transportation question, to examine railroad routes from the seaboard to the coal fields and to interior and navigable waters, to secure surveys and other information with 

respect to railroads, including the cost of construction and operation, and to 

obtain information on the coal fields and their proximity to railroad routes. 

The act specified that the commission be composed of "an officer of the 

Engineer Corps of the U.S. Army, a geologist in charge of Alaska surveys, an 

officer in the Engineer Corps of the U.S. Navy, and a civil engineer who has 

had practical experience in railroad construction and has not been connected 

with any practical railroad enterprise in Alaska." When the commission was 

organized, the Survey's A. H. Brooks became its vice chairman.

Congress took no action on the President's recommendations for leasing of 

mineral lands, Federal control of water-power sites, or establishment of a national parks bureau. It did, however, make two small changes in public-land 

laws; it closed the loophole in the Pickett Act, and it enacted a law to separate 

surface and mineral rights on oil land.

During this session, the political organization of the West was completed. 

New Mexico was admitted to statehood on January 6, 1912. Arizona, which 

had been part of New Mexico Territory, became a State on February 14. In 

August 1911, President Taft had vetoed the Congressional resolution admitting Arizona to statehood because its State constitution contained a clause providing for recall of judges by popular vote. Arizona was admitted as a State 

once the clause was removed and then promptly reinserted the offending clause 

in its constitution. Arizona's first Representative was Carl Hayden, sheriff of 

Maricopa County, whose Congressional career lasted until May 1968 when he 

reluctantly retired at the age of 90. During his long years in Congress, which included many as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hayden 

became quite knowledgeable about the Geological Survey's work and exercised a strong influence in promoting congressional understanding of its 

capabilities.

When Congress finally adjourned on August 24, 1912, there were three 

major candidates for election to the presidency. The Republican convention 

had been controlled by the conservative elements of the party who managed to 

exclude most of Roosevelt's supporters by ruling against contested delegations, 

and it had nominated President Taft for a second term. Roosevelt's followers 

then met, declared the Taft nomination fraudulent, and called upon Roosevelt 

to head a third party. In due time, the Progressive Party met and nominated 

Roosevelt for President. The Democratic National Convention had nominated 

Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey for President on the 46th ballot.

Conservation was not an issue in the 1912 campaign; both the Republican 

and Democratic platforms endorsed it. Both party platforms also supported a 

corrupt practices act and favored banking reform but differed in traditional 

fashion on the tariff. Both Republican and Progressive Party platforms called 

for control of monopolies while the Democratic platform called for their virtual 

abolition. Much of the debate, however, centered around a distinction drawn 

by Louis Brandeis, known as "the people's attorney" because of his advocacy of 

public causes, who said the issue before the people was regulation of competition vs. regulation of monopoly.

Conservation was injected into the trust issue at the Progressive Party convention in August when Theodore Roosevelt read to the assembled delegates 

passages from C. R. Van Hise's new book "Concentration and Control; A SoluThe 1912 Political Campaign 131
tion to the Trust Problem in the United States." Van Hise, viewing the matter 

as a scientist, pointed out that monopoly alone, or size alone, did not inevitably 

result in abuse. In fact, to some degree economic concentration resulted in increased efficiency which in turn could produce lower prices or better service. 

Strict enforcement of the antitrust laws would hamper conservation, for conservation of natural resources required cooperation among the firms of the Nation's primary industries. Methods of mining that produced immediate profits, 

for example, were not the methods to insure maximum production over the 

longest time; operators chose them because of the pressure of competition. The 

solution, according to Van Hise, was to set up general codes of fair business 

practices to which all companies, large or small, would be expected to conform.

During the summer of 1912, Van Hise also struck a raw nerve in the 

Geological Survey when he remarked casually, in discussing his concept of a national university, that "When the United States Geological Survey was 

originated there were drawn to Washington the most brilliant group of 

geologists in the country. This survey for a number of years was the center of 

the world for the advancement of the science of geology; but in recent years, 

while the organization is vastly larger, having appropriations of millions where 

it had in early days appropriations of hundreds of thousands, it is almost exclusively a department of practical geology. It is not contributing in any large 

way to the advancement of science."

This time Director George Otis Smith reacted personally and vigorously, 

stating

That the United States Geological Survey concerns itself with the practical 

side is true now as it has always been in the past; whether its work is more 

or less devoted to practical geology than formerly can be decided according to one's taste or prejudices; but that is is almost exclusively a department of practical geology must be denied.

Moreover, he said, "the recognition of the applicability of geologic data collected by government scientists to the administration of the public lands is in 

itself * * * a large contribution to the advancement of science," for thereby 

the "field of science" was "broadened" and "the standing of science" was 

"dignified." He concluded that "whenever this bureau becomes exclusively 

'practical' or exclusively 'scientific' it will cease to deserve either recognition or 

support."

During the winter and spring of 1912, the Survey had already taken steps 

to separate the public-lands and research aspects of its program and to give 

greater emphasis to the latter. On May 1, 1912, the duties of public-land administration were removed from the Geologic Branch, leaving it wholly a scientific organization. The Land Classification Board became, by Director's order, 

an independent branch, equal in rank to the Geologic, Topographic, and 

Water Resources Branches. The organization of the Geologic Branch itself was 

modified at the start of the fiscal year. The two largest sections, Geology of 

Fuels and Areal and Structural Geology, were divided into two at the 100th 

meridian, thus effectively separating the work in the public-lands States from 

that in other States. The Section of Glacial Geology was revived, and the investigations of the geology of the Coastal Plain and investigations in 

petrography were given greater prominence as subsections under Eastern and 

Western Areal Geology respectively. In another move to improve administration and at the same time to relieve the burden on the Chief Geologist, a new 

position of Administrative Geologist was established in the Director's Office 

shortly after the start of the fiscal year. The Administrative Geologist was in effect an assistant director, being given charge of certain functions and 

designated to serve as Acting Director in the absence of the Director, an assignment that had hitherto been delegated to the Chief Geologist.

Waldemar Lindgren (1860-1939), Chief Geologist of 

the U.S. Geological Survey, 1911-1912. Lindgren, 

born in Sweden and a graduate of the Royal Mining 

Academy in Freiberg in 1882, joined the U.S. Geological Survey in 1884 and succeeded S. F. Emmons as 

head of the Metals Section in 1907. Lindgren had a 

broader general training than most mining geologists, 

being soundly trained in chemistry, well versed in all 

phases of geology, and skilled in both field and 

laboratory methods. He was also well acquainted with 

statistics and resource evaluations for a quantitative 

perspective. During his years with the Survey, Lindgren made fundamental contributions on metasomatic 

processes in veins, contact-metamorphic deposits, and 

control by physical conditions. Lindgren achieved the 

final step in genetic classification of mineral deposits in 

a volume published shortly after he left the Survey to 

become William B. Rogers Professor of Geology at the 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Courtesy of 

the Library of Congress.)

132 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
In Lindgren's report summarizing 15 years of Survey 

work in the California gold belt, he linked the origin 

and distribution of the gold deposits to the geologic 

history of the Sierra Nevada. Gold-bearing quartz was 

deposited in veins toward the end of the Mesozoic 

when the Sierra first became a mountain range, gold 

from the veins was then accumulated in stream beds 

during long periods of erosion in the early Tertiary, the 

gold-bearing gravels were then covered and sealed in 

by volcanic flows, and finally, after the range was again 

elevated, new streams rapidly eroded canyons until the 

old gravels were exposed. Gold from both the destroyed portions of the old channels and from the veins 

accumulated in the modern canyons. The diagram is a 

schematic representation of relations among the deep 

gravels (a) deposited in young streams, bench gravels 

(b) deposited by more mature streams, rhyolitic (c) and 

andesitic (d) tuffs, the Tertiary bedrock surface, intervolcanic channels, and the surface after Quaternary 

erosion. (From Waldemar Lindgren, 1911.)

In a study of part of the Central City quadrangle, Colorado, immediately north of the Georgetown quadrangle mapped by Spurr and Garrey (see page 22), 

E. S. Bastin and J. M. Hill found that most ores occurred as veins which were in part fissure fillings and in 

part replacements of various rocks along zones of fracturing. Downward enrichment was confined mainly to 

the gold-silver deposits, which were the main economic 

resources of the district, and could be related to 

ground-water level. The photograph of the polished 

surface of ore from the Alice Mine shows, from right to 

left, almost all stages in the conversion of quartz monzonite porphyry into typical ore. The porphyritic texture is preserved at a but largely obliterated at c where 

all original minerals except apatite have been altered 

and pyrite, p, occurs in more abundant and larger 

crystals than in the less altered parts. (From E. S. Bastin 

andj. M. Hill, 1917.)

The duties of the new Land Classification Branch were described as "the 

consideration of questions of Survey policy in matters relating to land classification and the preparation of reports thereon for the Director, and the receiving 

from the other branches and recording of all data valuable in the administration of the public lands." In the months preceding the establishment of the 

Land Classification Branch, steps had been taken to systematize the process of 

land classification in the Department to make use of the scientific data 

available in the Survey. In January 1912, the Secretary issued orders requiring 

the General Land Office to submit all entries and selections of public lands, 

other than those specifically excepted from reservation under the Pickett Act 

and those under which a vested right had accrued, to the Survey for a report on 

their mineral or power values. On March 5, the Survey and the General Land 

Office came to an agreement on procedures. If the Survey reported the land to 

be without value for mineral, power, or reservoir resources, the Land Office 

would clear-list the case. If the Survey reported the land to have any of these 

values, the Land Office would give the applicant an opportunity to disprove the 

classification, and if he were unable to do so would proceed in accordance with 

the Survey's report. Where the Survey's information was too meager for a 

definite report, the Survey would give the Land Office such information as it 

had for use by the Land Office's field service. The Land Classification Branch 

would have no field duties, nor would it have an independent appropriation; 

instead its work would be supported by allotments from the funds appropriated 

for geologic surveys, topographic surveys, and gaging streams. It was thus more 

of a staff function than an operating branch.

The new branch was divided into two divisions, Mineral Classification, 

which in turn was divided into four sections, and Hydrographic Classification, 

which was divided into two sections. The total staff consisted of 30 permanent 

employees: 12 professional, 4 technical, and 14 clerical and subclerical. Walter 

C. Mendenhall continued as its head and N. C. Grover as the Chief Engineer.

George Ashley, head of the Coal Classification Section of the Land 

Classification Branch, became the Survey's first Administrative Geologist.

The Land Classification Branch 133
Ashley, a graduate of Cornell in 1889, had received his doctorate from Stanford 

in 1894. He had had experience with both the Arkansas and Indiana State 

Surveys before joining the U.S. Geological Survey in 1901, and had served as 

State Geologist of Tennessee from 1910 to 1912.

The reorganization of the Geologic Branch brought men with recognized 

research abilities to administrative positions. David White, who became Chief 

of the Eastern Section of Fuels, had been elected to the National Academy of 

Sciences in April. White, F. L. Ransome, who became Chief of Western Areal 

Geology, and T. Wayland Vaughan, Chief of the Coastal Plain Subsection, had 

all been starred in the 1910 edition of American Men of Science as three of the 

thousand American scientists whose work was considered most important. The 

other new chiefs were W. C. Alden in the Section of Glacial Geology, and E. S. 

Larsen, Jr., in the Subsection of Petrography. Alden, who received his Ph.D. 

from the University of Chicago in 1903, had been with the Survey since 1896. 

Larsen, a graduate of the University of California in 1906, had joined the 

Survey in 1909, after a year as instructor at the University of California and 2 

years at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory.

The Geologic Branch had no additional funds for research. The Survey 

had, in fact, begun its 33d year on July 1, 1912, without an appropriation. The 

new Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, succeeding Congressman 

Tawney who had not been reelected in 1910, was John J. Fitzgerald of 

Brooklyn, New York, a man described by one of his colleagues as having an instinctive antagonism toward the members of the executive branch who came 

before the Appropriations Committee. He reported out the sundry civil expenses bill on June 3, 1912, with a recommended total appropriation of $109.6

On June 6, 1912, Mount Katmai, a 7,500-foot peak 

near the eastern end of the Alaska Peninsula erupted so 

violently that within a few hours the surrounding area 

and the west half of Kodiak Island were covered with 

ash, and dust fell as far away as the Ketchikan Valley in 

southeastern Alaska. Katmai was one of the leastknown Alaskan volcanoes and had been dormant so 

long that there were not even legends of earlier outbreaks. Survey funds were not available for an investigation of the volcano, but the National Geographic 

Society sent Survey geologist George C. Martin to 

Alaska. Martin arrived just 4 weeks after the eruption 

began and spent several weeks documenting its effects. 

The photograph, taken by Martin on July 14, shows 

beach grass already growing through cracks in 11 inches 

of ash at Douglas Village, some 60 miles northeast of 

the volcano. (From G. C. Martin, 1913.)

^VKK ** ^-*_. -«A«*W.- JfeKC «^

r

134 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
million, which was $42.4 million less than the estimate submitted by the 

executive branch and $32.1 million less than the appropriation for the fiscal 

year ending June 30. Although the Survey had hoped for the $385,000 increase 

approved by the Secretary, it counted itself fortunate, under the circumstances 

that its appropriation was cut only $10,000, or less than 1 percent. The entire 

cut was made in the appropriation for Alaskan mineral resources, which had in 

previous years been included in the Urgent Deficiency Appropriations Act so 

an early start could be made, and the cut was made on the theory that it was too 

late in the year to spend the full amount. The Sundry Civil Expenses Act was 

enacted on the last day of the session, August 24, and the House Committee 

figures held.

Research is not always deterred by lack of funds, and the Geologic Branch 

found several ways to expand its research in 1912. When Katmai, one of the 

least known Alaskan volcanoes, and one that had been so long dormant that 

there were not even local legends of former outbreaks, erupted so violently on 

June 6, 1912 that the sound of the first explosion was heard 750 miles away at 

Juneau, the Survey had no funds for an investigation and Congress had not yet 

appropriated funds for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The Research Committee of the National Geographic Society made plans for an investigation and 

chose George C. Martin of the Survey as principal investigator because he had 

made a cruise along this little known coast in 1904 and was therefore somewhat 

familiar with its geography. Martin spent a month examining the effects of the 

eruption and then began a study of the metalliferous deposits of Kodiak Island. 

A. G. Maddren continued his geologic investigations along the AlaskanCanadian boundary north of Porcupine through the courtesy of the Boundary 

Commissioner. Most of the Alaskan Division geologists and topographers, 

however, had to postpone the start of field work.

In the Division of Geology, 26 geologists were assigned to the mapping 

and classification of coal lands. Classification, however, now required a more 

exact knowledge of the character of the coals, and so C. E. Lesher spent some 

time in the field testing apparatus devised to determine the ash and moisture 

content of coals. W. T. Lee's study of the stratigraphy of the coal-bearing formations of the southern part of the Rocky Mountain region had provided so 

much valuable information on the age and correlation of formations and the 

physical conditions under which they were deposited that it was extended 

northward to the Yampa field. Mapping was done in greater detail than in 

previous years, in some places for quadrangle publication. Similarly, the examination and classification of phosphate lands was continued and the work 

refined to include quadrangle mapping for the geologic atlas. Quadrangle 

mapping had for some time been the rule in the oil-field investigations in 

California.

The geologic knowledge already acquired in California was used to 

designate the first naval petroleum reserves. On June 25, 1912, the Secretary of 

the Navy asked the cooperation of the Secretary of the Interior in securing the 

reservation for the Navy of oil-bearing public lands in California sufficient to 

ensure a supply of 500 million barrels. The Geological Survey recommended 

two areas, one in the Elk Hills of Kern County, where no discoveries of oil had 

yet been made, and the second in the Buena Vista Hills, south of the Elk Hills, 

where oil had already been discovered. These areas became Naval Petroleum 

Reserves No. 1 and No. 2 in Executive orders dated September 2 and December 

12, 1912. Within the boundaries of both reserves, large tracts appeared to have 

been legally patented to private owners and only part remained in the hands of 

the Government. Most of the private land at the time the reserves were 

established was owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, the ownership based on grants made under the Act of July 26, 1866, of alternate sections

Geology, 1912 135
of nonmineral land in aid of railroad construction. The Federal Government 

filed suits to reclaim title to some of these sections, claiming that the Southern 

Pacific had misrepresented them as nonmineral.

The search for potash, the most practical of all Geologic Branch projects, 

was continued in 1912 without marked success, although two promising areas 

were withdrawn from entry as potash reserves, one in Nevada and the other 

near Searles Lake in California. By adding two chemists, W. B. Hicks and R. K. 

Bailey, to the staff of the chemical laboratory to perform the routine analyses 

for potash, some of the other chemists were freed for research investigations. 

George Steiger began a study of heavy metals in deep-sea deposits, R. C. Wells 

began a study of the application of physicochemical methods to geologic problems, and Chase Palmer carried forward E. C. Sullivan's work on the interaction between minerals and water solutions in collaboration with E. S. Bastin 

of the Metals Section.

Palmer reported to the American Institute of Mining Engineers that 

preliminary results of their experiments indicated that sulfides, arsenides, and 

sulfarsenides of some metals precipitated metallic silver very efficiently from 

dilute solutions of silver sulfate and that nearly all the sulfides and arsenides 

common in ore deposits were capable of reducing gold from a solution of its 

chloride. As the waters descending through the upper portion of most sulfide 

ore bodies were sulfate waters and carried chlorides, Palmer and Bastin suggested that similar precipitative action could occur under natural conditions, 

and that such reactions might be of importance in the secondary enrichment of 

ore bodies.

The Metals Section continued its studies of the geology and mineral 

resources of large geographic units in the West and of several mining districts.

David White (1862-1935), Chief Geologist of the U.S. 

Geological Survey, 1912-1922, Chairman of the Division of Geology and Geography of the National 

Research Council, 1924-1927. White joined the 

Survey as a paleontologic draftsman in 1886, after 

graduating from Cornell University, and remained 

with the Survey until his death. Primarily a 

paleobotanist, he became an authority on Paleozoic 

stratigraphy and on the formation of peat and coal; he 

was also author of a theory of oil distribution used for 

many years by the oil industry as a basis for exploration. White's interests, however, were broad and he 

contributed notably to studies of Precambrian life, ancient climates, and gravity anomalies. So many Survey 

geologists who worked under his direction were 

recruited by oil companies after World War I that a 

notable proportion of the leading oil geologists of the 

world on company payrolls in the 1930's were former 

members of the U.S.G.S. (From the files of the U.S. 

Geological Survey.)

136 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
David White's most comprehensive paper on the 

origin of coal was published in 1913, shortly after he 

became Chief Geologist. He followed that analysis 

with a paper showing that resins actually did occur in 

coals of higher rank, which many scientists had believed owed their differences in rank to differences in 

the types of plants from which they were formed. The 

surface of the specimen shown is strewn with small 

pieces of wood flattened and converted to mineral 

charcoal; needle-like resinous casts cross the specimen 

parallel to the grain. (From David White, 1914.)

W. H. Emmons, who had resigned from the Survey to join the faculty of the 

University of Minnesota, returned on a part-time basis to continue the detailed 

study of the Creede district in Colorado begun by Bastin. East of the 100th 

meridian, C. E. Siebenthal continued his investigation of the lead-zinc ores in 

Missouri and E. F. Burchard his study of the red iron ores of the southern 

Appalachians.

David White broadened the program of the Eastern Section of Fuels. 

C. A. Davis began a study of the peat bogs of eastern Massachusetts, mapping 

of coal fields was continued in cooperation with the States of Illinois and Missouri, and a detailed remapping of the coal fields in southwestern Virginia that 

set new standards for precision and detail was begun in cooperation with that 

State. The great Gushing field, one of the most phenomenal producers in 

history, was brought in in March 1912, causing intense interest in oil in 

Oklahoma. At the request of the State Geologist, M. J. Munn was diverted for 

a time from his work on the Appalachian areas to examine a geologically little 

known area in southwestern Oklahoma where the residents were interested in 

the possible occurrence of oil or natural gas. Munn concluded that the structure 

in at least part of the area along the Red River offered some encouragement for 

wildcat prospecting. An investigation was also begun to test the theory, proposed by some geologists, that the rate of downward increase of temperature 

was more rapid in rocks containing petroleum and gas than in barren rocks. 

Becker and Van Orstrand designed apparatus for measurement of temperatures 

in deep wells and supervised its construction; measurements were then made in 

Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia in cooperation with the Geophysical 

Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution.

In other parts of the Geologic Branch, geologists of the Subsection of 

Coastal Plain investigations under T. W. Vaughan cooperated with several nonSurvey scientists and organizations to correlate formations on the Atlantic coast 

with those on the Pacific coast and to work out the geologic history of the Gulf 

Coastal Plain and the Central American and Antillean regions. The Glacial 

Geology Section expanded its program of Pleistocene geology by mapping in 

the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Montana, in connection with which a reconnaissance trip was made to southern Alberta, and by beginning a project in 

cooperation with the Minnesota State Survey to map the Pleistocene deposits in 

the northern part of that State.

The work of both the Water Resources and Topographic Branches in 1912, 

by contrast, continued to be largely confined to the public-lands States and to 

be almost wholly concerned with practical objectives. In the Water Resources 

Branch, the problems of hydrographic classification had reached a desperate 

stage. Many of the power-site withdrawals were still unexamined; many 

applications for rights-of-way had been pending for more than 2 years; applications for power permits and for segregations of land under the Carey Act were 

acted on without field examination although such examination was highly 

desirable; applications for designation under the Enlarged Homestead Act, 

which required field examinations, were piling up; and the examination and 

classification of land valuable for power sites in Arizona and New Mexico, required by Congress in the acts admitting them to statehood, had not been made. 

During part of the field season, W. B. Heroy and W. N. White were detailed 

from the Land Classification Branch to aid E. C. LaRue and E. C. Murphy, who 

did the greater part of the field work, but personnel and funds were simply 

insufficient to meet the demands.

The total allotment for investigations of ground water and quality of water 

was only $16,870, but it was made to cover a variety of investigations. O. E. 

Meinzer, who had become acting chief of the division when the Land Classification Branch was established, undertook two special investigations in Montana,

Water Resources and Topography, 1912 137
one in the vicinity of Butte where underground water was in demand for milling operations and for irrigation of truck farms, and the other on the Flathead 

reclamation project, where the settlers were having difficulty in obtaining 

domestic water supplies. Meinzer then continued his investigation of the 

Tularosa Basin in New Mexico in cooperation with the State Agricultural Experiment Station. C. H. Lee continued the investigations of the percolation of 

flood waters to the underground reservoir in southern California. Kirk Bryan 

and W. O. Clark began surveys of the Sacramento and Santa Clara Valleys in 

California, and Everett Carpenter, a study of the ground-water resources of 

southeastern Nevada. Walton Van Winkle investigated the quality of water in 

Oregon. In the Eastern States, A. J. Ellis continued to study the ground-water 

resources of Connecticut, and R. B. Dole investigated the quality of water in 

Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, and Texas as part of the Coastal Plain project.

The Topographic Branch had mapping underway in 29 of the 48 States, 

the District of Columbia, and the Territory of Hawaii, but its major effort was 

still in the States west of the 100th meridian. On July 1, 1912, a new division 

was established in that area by separating Washington, Oregon, and Idaho 

from the Pacific Division as the Northwestern Division under T. G. Gerdine. 

George R. Davis, who succeeded Gerdine as Geographer-in-charge of the 

Pacific Division, was a Californian who had joined the Survey as a recorder in 

October 1898 and became an assistant topographer in November 1903- The 

principal mapping scales east and west of the 100th meridian were different, in 

part as a result of cooperative agreements with 18 States, 12 of them in the 

Atlantic and Central Divisions, and the Territory of Hawaii. East of the 100th 

meridian, all mapping was done at the mile-to-the-inch or larger scales, and all 

mapping in Hawaii was done at 2 inches to the mile. West of the 100th meridian, about 75 percent of the mapping was done at scales of 1:125,000 and 

1:250,000.

In November 1912, Woodrow Wilson was elected President, the first 

Democrat to hold the office since Grover Cleveland. Although the campaign 

had begun as a three-way race among Wilson, Roosevelt, and Taft, it soon 

developed into one between Wilson and Roosevelt and their different concepts 

of progressivism. Wilson's "New Freedom" and Roosevelt's "New Nationalism' ' sounded very much alike although a careful analysis indicated some 

differences, especially how goals were to be achieved. Roosevelt was very 

popular, but the two-term tradition was still strong. Wilson received more than 

6 million votes, less than half of the total popular vote, but Wilson and

As pan of his investigation of the origin of petroleum, 

David White took an active part in the study of the 

Green River Formation of northwestern Colorado and 

northeastern Utah, which contained shales that would 

produce oil when subjected to destructive distillation. 

The Survey considered this shale as a great reserve or 

undeveloped resource that would be developed as soon 

as the demand for petroleum greatly exceeded the supply. In anticipation of that day, a study of the Green 

River Formation was begun in 1913 and continued in 

succeeding years. The work indicated that gas and ammonium sulfate (fertilizer) might also be obtained 

from these rocks. In the photograph of about 600 feet 

of oil shale northeast of Watson, Utah, the darker 

layers are the richer beds. (From D. E. Winchester, 

1916.)

138 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
Roosevelt between them received nearly 10 1/2 million votes to Taft's 3 1/2 

million, showing that the country had become dominantly progressive. Wilson 

recognized this in his inaugural address on March 4, 1913, when he said that 

the Nation wished to use the Democratic Party to interpret a change in its plans 

and point of view.

In anticipation of the change in administration and new priorities, the 

Survey published a bulletin entitled "The Classification of the Public Lands" 

in January 1913, to present "a full statement of the policy of land classification 

and a detailed description of the procedure and methods so far found necessary 

to carry out that policy in the stage of development already reached." The 

culmination of several years' experience, it was designed "to be of value both 

to students of government and to geologists and engineers interested in the application of scientific investigation to practical business.

New coal-land regulations, developed.after more than a year's study, were 

approved by Secretary Fisher on February 20, 1913. In earlier regulations, coal 

had been divided into four classes and prices and depth limits had been fixed 

without any provision for graduated changes, but in the new regulations, depth 

limits were determined in accordance with the quality and thickness of the coal 

on the basis that the depth at which any coal can be commercially mined is 

dependent on the profit that may be derived, and prices were determined in accordance with the heat value of the coal expressed in British thermal units. The 

general effect was to increase the area classified as coal land underlain by beds 

of the best quality and to decrease the area classified as coal land underlain by 

poorer coals. At the same time, values were increased for land where the coal 

beds were more than 15 feet thick and decreased materially for land underlain 

by beds 2 to 5 feet thick. The effect of the latter change was a much greater 

acreage valued at the minimum. The new regulations were not only more 

realistic; in large measure, they met Congressman Mondell's objections.

The 62d Congress, in the session that ended on March 4, 1913, amended 

the Organic Act of the Bureau of Mines. Section 2 of the revised act defined the 

general province of the Bureau as "inquiries and scientific and technologic investigations concerning mining, the preparation, treatment, and utilization of 

mineral substances with a view to improving health conditions and increasing 

safety, efficiency, economic development, and prevention of waste in the mining, quarrying, metallurgical, and other mineral industries." The committees 

involved made it clear that the change was not meant to extend the work of the 

Bureau but to define its scope more clearly, and emphasized that the investigations were to be fundamental scientific investigations, the results of which 

would be widely and generally useful.

Congress also appropriated funds for construction of the new building for 

the Survey and other Interior agencies that it had authorized in 1910, and 

President Taft signed the bill as one of the last acts of his administration. During the Senate debate on the public buildings bill, a fire broke out at 7:15 a.m. 

on February 26 at 1320 F Street Northwest, only 12 feet from the Annex which 

housed the Survey's printing plant. George Otis Smith seized the opportunity 

to have a letter delivered to Senator Miles Poindexter before Congress met that 

day depicting the perils of housing the Survey in its existing quarters and the 

monetary loss to the Government if the Annex had been destroyed. The Survey 

itself, however, was left without funds for the coming year when President Taft 

vetoed the sundry civil expenses bill because of a provision for enforcement of 

the antitrust law which he called class legislation of the most vicious kind. 

However, President Wilson called the 63d session into special session on April 

7, and the bill was again passed before the fiscal year began.

When the Wilson administration took office in March 1913, few of the 

Cabinet officers were familiar with the departments they would head or with

New Survey Building 139
national politics. One of the few who knew the Washington scene well was 

Franklin K. Lane, the new Secretary of the Interior. Lane was a California 

lawyer who had been appointed to the Interstate Commerce Commission by 

Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. Wilson wanted Lane in the Cabinet and had 

originally selected him for the War Department but then turned to him when 

he had difficulty in filling the admittedly difficult post at Interior. Lane was a 

westerner but at the same time enough of a conservationist to avoid rousing 

the wrath of the very vocal conservationists of the East. The new Secretary of 

Agriculture, succeeding James Wilson who had filled that post since 1897, was 

David F. Houston. Houston was a classical economist, with a graduate degree 

from Harvard University, who had been an advisor to Wilson on the tariff. 

When appointed to the Cabinet, he was chancellor of Washington University in 

St. Louis. Under Houston's guidance, the Department of Agriculture added 

research on economic and social problems to its research on agricultural production that had flourished under Wilson. The Department of Commerce and 

Labor was divided into two departments. Unlike the Secretaries of Commerce 

and Labor, who had all been lawyers, the new Secretary of Commerce, William 

C. Redfield, was a steel manufacturer and exporter. Relations among the 

Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce would therefore be 

on a different basis than they had been during the Roosevelt and Taft 

administrations.

New appointments within the Geological Survey brought about more 

changes than were imposed by the change of administration. lindgren resigned 

as Chief Geologist on November 16, 1912, after only a year in office, to become 

Rogers Professor of Economic Geology in the Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology, and David White, who had been with the Survey since 1886 but a 

section chief only since July 1912, was appointed Chief Geologist. White's appointment further emphasized the research nature of the Survey's geologic 

work, for White was widely regarded as one of the leading paleontologists of 

this country if not the world, and his career had been devoted almost entirely to 

research of seemingly the most esoteric kind, Paleozoic paleobotany. Unlikely 

as it might have seemed to the nonscientist, however, paleobotany was essential 

to a full understanding of the geology of fuels, and White's work had long 

been directed toward the ultimate solution of economic problems as well as the 

advancement of science.

The Water Resources Branch, on the other hand, became even more 

oriented toward practical problems and data gathering. On June 3, 1913, 

M. O. Leigh ton resigned as Chief Hydrographer to engage in private practice. 

N. C. Grover, who had been Chief Engineer of the Land Classification Board, 

was appointed to fill the vacancy. At the same time, the title was changed from 

"Chief Hydrographer" to "Chief Hydraulic Engineer," officially because the 

latter title was "more closely in accord with the designation used in commercial 

organizations for men engaged in similar work and * * * also better descriptive of the qualifications for and duties of the office, as well as more distinctive, 

inasmuch as the Hydrographic Office of the Navy Department has a better 

claim to the title of hydrographer." Whatever the semantics, the Water 

Resources Branch seemed to have accepted the emphasis on applied science 

more readily than had the Geologic Branch.

David White's administration of the Geologic Branch proved unlike that 

of either of his predecessors. His life, according to W. C. Mendenhall, had two 

leading motives enthusiastic devotion to science and an equally absorbing interest in humanity. White possessed "charm of manner that made him a 

delightful companion, at home, in the office, or in the field;" he also had a 

strong instinct to be helpful and an innate sense of fairness in dealing with 

others. A Pick and Hammer Club song described other attributes that contributed to his success:

140 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
Now Geologs all, whoe'er you may be

If you want to rise to the top of the tree,

Just study and read, forget your pay,

And do your durndest every day;

And - learn to talk interminablee

And perhaps you'll all be ruler of the whole G. B.

White from the very beginning showed a certain disregard for formal 

organization, and as M. R. Campbell said when White retired as Chief 

Geologist in 1922, he made the Geologic Branch one family. In 1913, the 

Coastal Plain investigations were completely separated from Eastern Areal 

Geology and raised to the status of a full section to give greater prominence to 

the work of T. Wayland Vaughan on marine deposition in the Florida region, 

while at the same time the Section of Glacial Geology extended its study of 

glacial and interglacial deposits to contemporary deposits of the bordering 

regions and the geologic history of the continent during the Pleistocene epoch. 

Thus the work of the two sections was closely related and, in fact, geologists of 

both sections worked in Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Frank Leverett of 

the Glacial Geology Section studied the history of Caddo Lake, Louisiana, 

while E. W. Shaw of the Coastal Plain Section attempted to correlate the 

Pleistocene deposits of the lower Mississippi Valley with those of the glaciated 

regions to the north. (Shaw's study also included the sediment being deposited 

in the delta of the Mississippi River and some of his work took him offshore, 

thus bringing Senator Lodge's somewhat facetious prediction of 1900 that the 

Survey would go offshore and obtain a navy from the realm of the improbable to the possible.)

Much of the fuels program in 1913 dovetailed with the geologic atlas program. Quadrangle mapping continued in the California oil fields and in coal 

and oil-and-gas areas east of the 100th meridian in cooperation with the State 

surveys of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma, and an 

even greater proportion of the mapping for classification and evaluation of 

coal- or oil-bearing lands of the public domain or Indian lands was done in sufficient detail for folio publication. In addition, the search for new oil-and-gas 

areas was continued in California, in Wyoming, and in the new and exciting 

areas of Oklahoma where several new fields had been discovered and hundreds 

of successful wells drilled. C. H. Wegemann examined the Healdton and Loco 

fields and then with A. E. Fath and R. W. Howell mapped the area along the 

Red River east of that examined by M. J. Munn in 1912. Despite the new 

discoveries, the Survey anticipated that the day would come when the oil and 

gas resources of the United States would be depleted, and so E. G. Woodruff 

began an investigation of the oil shales of the Uinta Basin in western Colorado 

and northeastern Utah, combining mapping and stratigraphic studies with 

practical distillation tests in the field.

In the Nonmetals Section, now under Hoyt Gale, the examination of 

phosphate withdrawals was also closely related to the geologic mapping program. The search for potash was less easily combined with a geologic mapping 

program, but N. H. Darton made a reconnaissance examination of about 1,800 

square miles in central New Mexico to study the stratigraphy and conditions of 

sedimentation and chemical deposition in the red beds that were thought to be 

the second most likely source of the elusive element; that work eventually led to 

a geologic map of the State. An earlier interest in structural materials was revived with the employment of Professor F. F. Grout to study clay deposits and a 

granite area in Minnesota in connection with a report on building and 

ornamental stones.

F. L. Ransome succeeded Lindgren as Chief of the Metals Section, with 

J. B. Umpleby as assistant, but also retained his position as head of Western 

Areal Geology, again merging to a degree an economic program with the basic

Geologic Investigations, 1913 141
geologic mapping program. Much of the work of the Metals Section was a continuation of that begun under Lindgren, particularly the reconnaissance examinations of mining districts over large geographic units. The section also 

became involved in the search for a declining resource. The gold products of 

the United States had begun to fall off as new territory was not being developed 

to compensate for the failing supply in old and large producing districts. The 

results of several short investigations of reported occurrences and potential 

sources were reported in the annual Contributions to Economic Geology, along 

with reports of investigations of other mining districts.

The Survey's Alaskan program was again curtailed in 1913 because of the 

late appropriation. Extensive work had been planned for the Matanuska area, 

but because of the delay in starting, the geologists were able to make only a 

reconnaissance to determine the general distribution of the coal. However, 

J. W. Bagley was able to spend about 6 weeks making topographic surveys 

using the panoramic camera and phototopographic methods in the Broad Pass 

region and to map some 2,500 square miles for publication on a scale of 4 miles 

to the inch with 200-foot contours. C. E. Ellsworth and R. W. Davenport made 

a preliminary study of the possibilities of developing water power in the Prince 

William Sound region and adjacent portions of the Copper River and Bering 

River areas.

Scientists in the Division of Physical and Chemical Research divided their 

time between practical and basic research. The physicists continued investigations of the elasticity of metals and also designed and constructed special 

apparatus for determining temperatures in deep wells. Chemists alternated between routine analyses and research on physicochemical problems. Becker 

himself was drawn into a very practical problem. Since 1910, construction of 

the Panama Canal had been hampered by frequent earth slides. Chief

In 1911, the Survey began a series of local investigations of ground-water resources in cooperation with the 

State of Connecticut to supplement its 1909 report, 

which was not sufficiently detailed for local or quantitative studies. The chief water-bearing formations of 

Connecticut were the unconsolidated glacial materials 

that cover the bedrock. The efficiency of glacial drift in 

storing water depended on the rate of underground 

drainage, which in turn varied with the porosity and 

the topography of the underlying bedrock. For example, the dune sands of the Connecticut River Valley, 

shown in the photograph, were among the most porous beds and absorbed water rapidly, but they also 

allowed the water to circulate most freely and were 

therefore rapidly drained. (From H. E. Gregory and 

A.J. Ellis, 1916.)

142 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
Geologist Hayes had been called into consultation, and in 1911 D. F. MacDonald had been assigned to the Isthmian Canal Commission as geologist. 

Becker spent a good part of the year investigating the mechanics of earth slides 

after inspection of the various slides in the field.

To draw attention to the basic scientific research in the Geologic Branch, 

arrangements were made to publish some papers similar to those that had 

previously been sent to scientific journals in an annual publication called 

Shorter Contributions to General Geology. The first paper was H. S. Gale's 

"The Origin of Colemanite Deposits," published in the late summer of 1913. 

It was followed shortly by E. W. Shaw's paper on "The Mud Lumps at the 

Mouths of the Mississippi" and G. K. Gilbert's paper on "Interpretation of 

Anomalies of Gravity.''

The 12th International Geological Congress, which met in Toronto, 

Canada, in 1913, was concerned with both applied and fundamental geology. 

The review of the coal resources of the world proposed at the 1910 Congress 

produced enough material for publication of three quarto volumes and an 

atlas. Total world reserves were estimated as 7,397,533 million tons (7.4 trillion 

tons) of which nearly 4 trillion were bituminous coals, nearly 3 trillion brown 

coals, and nearly 0.5 trillion anthracite. China had the greatest reserves of anthracite; North America, of the bituminous and brown coals. A proposal was 

made to consider world resources of phosphoric acid, so necessary for 

agriculture, at the 13th Congress, but the final decision was left to the Belgian 

geologists who would host the next Congress. Other sessions were concerned 

with differentiation in igneous magmas, the influence of depth on the 

character of metalliferous deposits, the Precambrian, interglacial periods, and 

Paleozoic seas and their relation to diastrophism and time divisions. The Committee on the International Geological Map appointed at the 1910 Congress 

proposed preparation of geological maps of continents at a scale of 1:5 million, 

each with a distinct center of projection, using the map of North America as a 

model. The proposal was adopted and the committee was enlarged to include, 

among other new members, Bailey Willis, who had compiled the geological 

map of North America.

While the Geologic Branch moved to strengthen its research potential in 

1913, the Water Resources Branch placed even more emphasis on the eminently practical work of stream gaging. Its new Chief Hydraulic Engineer, N. C. 

Grover, said that

The Survey has always taken pride in the practical value of the data collected and published under its auspices. The engineers must therefore 

have an appreciation of the practical. They must not only understand how 

to do stream-gaging work and everything connected therewith, but also be 

able actually to do these things.

During his first year in office, the number of gaging stations, exclusive of those 

in Alaska, increased to 1,371. Two new hydrographic districts were established: 

Arizona and New Mexico under G. A. Gray, and Washington under G. L. 

Parker. The old Southern Pacific district then became the California district, 

and the old Northern Pacific district, the Oregon district. The Ground Water 

Division continued to devote some effort to research. However, most of the investigations were made west of the 100th meridian, and most were concerned 

with ground-water supplies for irrigation. The only major investigation east of 

the 100th meridian was A. J. Ellis' continuing study of ground water in Connecticut. The division also participated in E. W. Shaw's Gulf Coast investigations by analyzing 60 samples of water from the mouth of the Mississippi River. 

For the first time in several years, the Topographic Branch mapping in 

1913, in terms of areas covered, was not predominantly in the public-lands 

States. Fourteen States east of the 100th meridian contributed well over

Water Resources, 1913 143
$100,000 in cooperative funds, much of it for resurveying at larger scales. Nearly 60 percent of the mapping was for publication at 1:62,500, and less than 5 

percent, nearly all in national forests, at 1:250,000.

As a Survey contribution to the national park movement, J. H. Renshawe 

of the Topographic Branch spent a considerable part of his time preparing colored relief maps of the various parks for the Secretary's Office. Secretary Lane 

was keenly interested in national parks and gave A. C. Miller, a fellow Californian and Chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of 

California who was serving as Assistant to the Secretary, special responsibility 

for development of a unified administration of the ten national parks for which 

the Department was then responsible. Miller, in turn, delegated much of this 

responsibility to another Californian, young Horace Albright, a law student at 

the University of California, who was his clerk and who eventually became the 

second Director of the National Park Service.

Having accomplished many of its major objectives in tariff and banking 

reform in the special session of Congress that met from April 7 to December 1, 

1913, the administration turned to other matters in the fall of 1913. Secretary 

Lane's first annual report in November 1913 was devoted almost entirely to 

public-land policy. The "old" policy he characterized as land is land save when 

it contains minerals and let's dispose of it as quickly as possible. The "new" 

policy called for the land to be used for the purpose to which it was best fitted 

and to be disposed of with respect to that use. The West had accepted the 

necessity of the new policy; it did, however, ask action so that the lands could 

be used. Lane recommended leasing of the Western mineral lands, and that the 

search for oil be stimulated, with a plan to protect the prospector. For the 

development of Alaska's resources he suggested that a new piece of governmental machinery, a board or commission, be appointed. Alaska had the potential 

of a State and should be regarded as such and not as a storehouse for the rest of 

the Nation. The Government should undertake construction and operation of a 

system of railroads and the Alaska coal lands should be leased. The Portland 

Oregonian called Lane's report a state paper that might become the "basis of a 

new charter of liberty" for the West. The policy had the approval of President 

Wilson, who would use his influence to embody it in law; as the potency of the 

Wilson influence had been shown in the first session of Congress by the new 

tariff and banking laws, the Oregonian expected that the second session would 

open a new era of development in Alaska and the West.

Wilson did endorse Federal construction of a system of railways in Alaska 

in his State-of-the-Union Message and promised other messages on the 

development of Alaska's resources as part of a general plan of conservation.

We have a freer hand in working out the problem in Alaska than in the 

States of the Union, and yet the principle and object are the same, wherever 

we touch it. We must use the resources of the country, not lock them 

up. * * * The resources in question must be used, but not destroyed or 

wasted; used, but not monopolized upon any narrow idea of individual 

rights as against the abiding interests of communities.

Congress passed the bill to authorize construction of railroads in Alaska 

and President Wilson approved it on March 12, 1914. The bill to provide for 

leasing of coal lands in Alaska took longer, but it was finally passed and approved on October 20, 1914. The Coal-land Leasing Act required the Secretary 

of the Interior to have surveyed lands known to be valuable for coal, with 

preference to be given first to the Bering River, Matanuska, and Nenana fields. 

The President was ordered to designate and reserve from use, location, sale, 

lease, or disposition, a maximum of 5,120 acres of coalbearing land in the Bering River field, 7,680 acres in the Matanuska field, and half the acreage in other 

Alaskan coal fields with the provision that such coal could be mined if the sup144 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
In 1912, O. E. Meinzer began a thorough survey of the 

geology and hydrology of the Tularosa Basin of New 

Mexico in cooperation with the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station. Settlers who followed the 

railroad into the area had expected to use dry-farming 

methods, ordinary supplies of water having already 

been appropriated, and when dry-farming failed, some 

were considering the feasibility of developing new supplies for irrigation by storing flood waters or sinking 

wells. Meinzer found that sufficient ground water for 

domestic use and for raising stock could be obtained 

almost everywhere in the area of valley fill, although 

water of sufficiently good quality was difficult to find 

in some parts. He also noted that much of the water 

added to the underground reservoir each year was 

added below soil unsuitable for agriculture. One of the 

remarkable features of the basin was its gypsum sands, 

such as those shown in the photograph, part of which 

became the White Sands National Monument in 1933. 

(From O. E. Meinzer and R. F. Hare, 1915.)

ply of coal at a reasonable price was insufficient for Government works. Leases 

were authorized of 40 acres or multiples thereof, with a maximum of 2,560 

acres in one block. The leases were to be subject to competitive bidding, with 

royalties specified but not less than 2 cents a ton, plus an annual rental.

Administration bills were also filed to provide for exploration and disposition of coal, oil, and gas on public lands in the 48 States and for the development of water power and related use of public lands. The House Public Lands 

Committee held full hearings on the mineral-lands bill and reported out a new 

bill on May 12 providing for leasing of mineral-fuels and mineral-fertilizer 

lands on a royalty basis. Except for coal, the bill applied to the public lands of 

Alaska as well as those of the 48 States. The water-power bill, however, remained in committee.

In its report on the general leasing bill, the Public Lands Committee complained that

With all this enormous wealth decreed to us by nature and by purchase, 

with all the mineral deposits slumbering in the ground yet untouched, the 

Government, with all its patriotism, with all its wisdom, has as yet no welldefined, well-digested, rational policy for the development of the mineral 

resources contained in its public lands.

The laws were "crude, irreconcilable, inefficient, without uniformity, confusing to the brain of the miner, impossible of interpretation by the layman." In 

fact, they were not laws, but "a jargon of Executive orders, rulings, interpretations and decisions made by different bureau chiefs and clerks in the ramifications of the various bureaus of the Interior Department.'' The leasing plan 

would "insure a proper development and an intelligent utilization of our

Public-Land Law Reform 145
mineral resources, without waste and without permitting monopoly or injustice 

to be pressed down upon those who would develop the West, or upon the interests of the public, who are entitled to reap the benefits." Congressman Edward Taylor, Democrat of Colorado, presented a minority report to express his 

opposition "to having the resources of the West withheld from private ownership and put into a general Federal leasing system"; he considered the bill "in 

violation of the moral, legal, and constitutional rights of the Western States." 

The House, after lengthy debate, passed the bill on September 23 and sent it to 

the Senate, which did not act on it before adjournment.

The Geological Survey was subject to some Congressional scrutiny during 

the session because of its public-lands activities. The concentration of 

topographic and hydrographic work in the public-lands States had inevitably 

caused some dissatisfaction in the other States even as John Wesley PowelTs insistence on general geology before economic geology had caused problems for 

the Survey a quarter of a century earlier. Early in the second session, Congressman James P. Buchanan of Texas filed two bills "to provide for a more 

equitable means of distribution of topographic and hydrographic surveys and 

other work of the U.S. Geological Survey among the several States, and to 

make such work more effective and serviceable to the several States in the work 

of improvement and development." One bill was referred to the Committee 

on Mines and Mining, the other to the Committee on Expenditures in the Interior Department; neither was reported out. On June 22, when the House 

began consideration of the Survey appropriations, Congressman Patrick H. 

Kelley of Michigan offered an amendment, which he said was endorsed by the 

State Geologist of Michigan, to provide for an equitable distribution of expenditures for topographic and hydrographic surveys among the several States. 

The formula proposed was complicated, based on several factors such as the 

ratio of State to national population and of unmapped areas in the State to 

those in the Nation. The amendment was rejected, on a point of order, and the 

Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, John J. Fitzgerald, stated that 60 

percent of the Survey apporpriation was spent in the public-land States, but he 

for one believed that the entire appropriation should be spent there.

Congressman Scott Ferris of Oklahoma, Chairman of the Public Lands 

Committee, then proposed that the appropriation for geologic surveys be increased to $400,000 because of the public-lands work, and Fitzgerald countered 

with "I desire to compel the Director of the Geological Survey to spend this 

money where the law contemplated that it should be spent, spent on the public 

domain, and not upon private property for the benefit of individuals." Ferris 

replied that his amendment was designed solely to aid the work of classification. It was poor economy, he said, to keep the homesteader waiting until the 

Geological Survey could get enough money to go out and make the necessary 

investigations. The Public Lands Committee was under constant 

pressure there was a constant stream of complaints from chambers of commerce, from homestead settlers' organizations, and from individuals asking the 

committee to do something but the Public Lands Committee had no power 

to appropriate money. The only way the Survey had to secure the funds was to 

suggest to the Interior Department the propriety of estimating for the money 

needed; the Survey had in fact requested and the Department had approved an 

estimate of $400,000, but the Committee on Appropriations had allowed no 

increase. The Ferris amendment was then approved, despite repeated objections by Fitzgerald, by a vote of 60 to 45. Congressman Charles Curry, 

Republican of California, then offered another amendment, to insert "of the 

public lands" after "geologic surveys." Ferris immediately made a point of 

order against the amendment as new legislation, but the Chair did not sustain 

the point and the amendment to restrict the Survey's geologic work to the 

public lands was passed without discussion.

146 The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914
In 1913, the Survey made a reconnaissance of potential 

water-power sites in south-central Alaska. The region 

tributary to the Copper River, Prince William Sound, 

and the Susitna was one of the richest mineral districts 

in Alaska, contained arable lands, and was thought to 

afford many opportunities for water-power development. Moreover, the Copper River and Susitna valleys, 

which had tidewater terminuses at Cordova and Port 

Valdez (shown in the photograph), were important 

potential routes for the railroad into the interior. The 

preliminary report on water-power potential, however, 

was pessimistic; the sites were not as abundant as had 

been assumed, and any power development would 

have to compete with the mineral fuels available in the 

area. (From C. E. Ellsworth and R. W. Davenport, 

1915.)

When the appropriation for stream gaging came up for consideration, Ferris proposed another amendment, presumably also meant to aid the work of 

classification, to increase that appropriation to $200,000. Floor discussion 

degenerated at this point to a discussion of the merits of the Appropriations 

Committee rather than the merit of the amendment, and the amendment was 

rejected on a tie vote of 55 to 55.

The sundry civil expenses bill was passed by the House on June 25 without 

any further amendment of the Survey appropriation. The Senate declined to go 

along with the restriction of geologic surveys to the public lands, and the 

amendment was dropped in the first conference. The increase in the appropriation, however, was approved, and the total appropriated for the Survey was 

$1,405,520.

By the time the appropriations bill was finally passed on August 14, 1914, 

World War I had begun in Europe. Almost immediately the Survey began to 

receive inquiries concerning possible sources of various mineral products. The 

combination of the increased demand for information on mineral resources and 

the near miss on restriction of the Survey's work to the public lands brought 

about a changed perspective on its mission. In the fall of 1914, George Otis 

Smith, retreating not a whit from his insistence on the importance of the 

Survey's function in public-land administration, discovered anew the wisdom 

of the Survey's first director regarding its national role in mineral-resource 

investigations. "So far as the development of the mineral resources of the country is concerned," Smith wrote, "it is as important to know the resources of 

privately owned land as of Government-owned land. Director King, in the first 

annual report of the Survey, in illustrating the need for Federal investigation, 

selected iron as a mineral resource of large importance and stated that with the 

wide distribution and variety of occurrence of iron ores, neither corporations 

nor individual States could adequately investigate the subject, and he added 

that only for a few exceptional minerals could private or State enterprise 

successfully prosecute such work. If it is remembered that in this same report 

Director King prophesied for the United States a future annual output of 

mineral products having a value of a billion dollars, and that the present production is two and a half times that amount, it must be conceded that the 

desirableness of the Federal scientific investigation of these national resources is 

even greater now than in 1880.'' If Federal geologists were restricted to the 

public lands, Smith warned, they would have no opportunity to advance the 

study of ore deposits, and the same principle, in fact, held for all geologic investigations. Property lines and State boundaries must be overlooked when attempting to solve a geologic problem.

A New Perspective on the Survey Mission 147
Chapter 6.

National Efficiency and Security,

1914-1917

What we are seeking now, what in my mind is the single thought of the 

message, is national efficiency and security.

 Woodrow Wilson

The beginning of World War I in August 1914 caught the United States 

by surprise. Fighting had been going on in eastern Europe off and on for some 

time and in June Greece and Turkey had almost gone to war again, but when 

the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife were 

assassinated by Serbian nationals on June 18, few Americans realized that a 

world war would follow. During the spring and early summer of 1914, 

Americans had been far more concerned about the possibility of war in the 

Western Hemisphere for relations between Mexico and the United States had 

been so strained that in April Mexico had severed diplomatic relations and 

Congress had authorized President Wilson to use force to uphold U.S. rights 

and secure redress of grievances. That crisis seemed to have been averted when 

Wilson and President Huerta of Mexico accepted the offer of Argentina, Brazil, 

and Chile to arbitrate the dispute, but then Mexico rejected the arbitration proposal agreed to by the ABC powers on June 24. Huerta resigned on July 15, 

thus alleviating the tension somewhat, Carranza installed a new government in 

August, and in late November the U.S. forces that had occupied Vera Cruz 

since late April were withdrawn. Relations between the two countries, however, 

remained uneasy.

Austria's declaration of war on Serbia on July 28 was followed in rapid succession by Germany's declaration of war on Russia on August 1, and then on 

France on August 3. Germany then invaded Belgium and on August 4, Great 

Britain declared war against Germany. President Wilson issued a proclamation 

of U. S. neutrality in the Russo-German conflict on August 4 and on the next 

day broadened the proclamation to include the Anglo-German war. Two weeks 

later, as Belgian fortifications were crumbling and British troops were landing 

at LeHavre, Wilson asked Americans to be neutral in thought as well as action. 

Americans, however, did not all remain neutral. Within a month after the outbreak of war they were divided, some neutral, some pro-German, some proAllies.

Even though the United States was officially neutral in the European war, 

its outbreak posed problems because it disrupted normal trade relations, made 

it difficult for the United States to obtain the goods normally imported from 

Europe, and halted the European demand for American luxury goods. Very 

soon, however, there developed an urgent need in Europe for American 

agricultural products, and then a still more urgent need for American steel, 

copper, and explosives. Within 2 years the United States became the principal 

supplier of metals and munitions to Europe. Petroleum exports during this 

same interval increased by 17 percent. The United States then produced nearly 

two-thirds of the world's supply of petroleum and was exporting more than 20 

percent of its production.

National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917 149
In 1914, when it was almost universally believed that the war would be a 

brief one, the ability of the United States to rely on its own mineral reserves and 

remain industrially independent was viewed with some optimism. When President Wilson proposed a plan in December 1915, for national efficiency and 

security which most people called preparedness he included the safeguarding and intelligent use of natural resources as one of the measures, placing 

natural resources in the same framework as had Theodore Roosevelt a decade 

earlier when he called attention to the relation of natural resources to national 

efficiency and welfare. Congress debated the disposition of the withdrawn 

mineral lands and the various waterpower bills but reached no decision.

Within 2 years after the war began, however, some mineral raw materials 

were difficult to obtain; by 1917 it was clear that for more than a dozen essential minerals American reserves were insufficient for American needs. The 

problems of mineral supply brought about changes in the program of the 

Survey's Geologic Branch, and renewed emphasis on economic geology. The 

metals investigations thereafter laid the groundwork for development of the 

strategic-minerals concept; the research program in the geology of fuels made 

the Survey prime recruiting ground for the oil companies within a few years.

For most of the time between the outbreak of war in Europe and the U.S. 

entry into the war in 1917, the programs of the Topographic, Water Resources, 

and Land Classification Branches were not affected by the war. Within the 

Department of the Interior, the Survey, primarily through its Topographic and 

Water Resources Branches, cooperated with other agencies in the successful effort to establish the National Park Service and worked with the Reclamation 

Service in beginning a long-range plan to control the Colorado River.

Questions were raised about the effect of the war on mineral supplies 

needed by American industry almost as soon as war began in 1914; on August 

16, Interior Secretary Lane held a public conference to outline the expected 

developments, and early in September the Survey published George Otis 

Smith's "Our Mineral Reserves How to Make American Industrially Independent." Director Smith, in general, took an optimistic view. The United 

States was not only the world's greatest producer of mineral wealth, it possessed 

greater reserves of most of the essential minerals than any other nation. The 

only essential minerals of first rank of which the Nation had no known supply 

at all commensurate with its needs were nitrates, potash salts, tin, nickel, and 

platinum. Problems might develop with some minor minerals, such as antimony, pyrite, arsenic, magnesite, graphite, strontium, and barite, for which 

the United States had been largely dependent on foreign sources. Increased 

prices might result in an attempt to work American deposits of antimony, 

although they would not last long, but substitutes might also be found for 

some of the uses of antimony. Pyrite had been used in the manufacture of 

sulfuric acid, then the basis of much of the industrial chemistry, but a great 

potential existed for production of sulfuric acid as a byproduct of the smelter 

industry, and the production of sulfur itself had increased as the result of the 

successful operation of the Frasch process. Some arsenic had been produced as a 

byproduct of smelters but more could be saved. Magnesite deposits were known 

in California, and once the Panama Canal opened it might become profitable 

to develop them and transport the ore to eastern markets. Only the crucible 

industry would be affected by cutting off the foreign supply of graphite but 

adequate resources of crucible graphite might yet be found in this country. 

Strontium was known to exist in several places in the United States although 

none had been mined in 1913, and a good supply of barite would undoubtedly 

be found for the looking.

At the other end of the scale, the Director stated that in its reserves of 

mineral fuels the United States held an "impregnable position," and its ironore reserves were so enormous that increased demands for ore could be readily

150 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), President of the 

United States, 1913-1921. Wilson, a graduate of the 

College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), was 

a contemporary of David T. Day and C. Willard Hayes 

in the Johns Hopkins graduate school. He was elected 

president of Princeton in 1902 and elected Governor of 

New Jersey in the Democratic sweep of 1910. In his inaugural address, Wilson called for action on the tariff, 

conservation, banking, and regulation of economic interests. He had less success with conservation than with 

other progressive reforms although the Park Service was 

established in 1916 and the Mineral Leasing and Water 

Power Acts were passed in 1920. His second term was 

dominated by World War I and the attempt to achieve 

a just peace settlement. One of the lasting monuments 

of his administration is the National Research Council, 

which he established as a permanent body by Executive 

order in May 1918. (Courtesy of the Library of 

Congress.)

met. Smith expected no problems with supplies of cement, fluorspar, or 

phosphate, but he felt that difficulties of one sort or another might occur in 

some segments of the mineral industry. Among the major metals, the copper 

industry would probably feel the effects of war more seriously than any other 

metal industry with the possible exception of the silver industry. A material 

curtailment of copper production seemed inevitable; for the preceding 5 years 

approximately half the copper from American refineries had been exported 

almost entirely to countries now engaged in the war. Aluminum, on the other 

hand, had been imported in considerable quantity from Europe and the war 

should therefore stimulate the search for domestic deposits and promote largerscale working of the bauxite deposits of the Southern Appalachian States. The 

war's effect on the lead industry was uncertain although it seemed probable 

that ultimately the price of lead would increase. Smith believed the zinc industry might profit from the war. Domestic smelter capacity and spelter production had increased faster than consumption, but as most of the zinc 

smelting centers of continental Europe were in the active war zone, the United 

States might be able to develop a business of smelting foreign zinc in bond and 

establish foreign markets for United States zinc. Among the minor metals, 

manganese might present a problem, for domestic production of manganese 

had been relatively small and imports large. Shutting off the supply of ferromanganese from steel manufacturers would mean that much more ferromanganese might have to be manufactured domestically, but Smith said it was 

"cheering to know that the United States possesses within easy reach of 

manufacturing centers abundant reserves of such ores."

Our Mineral Reserves, 1914 151
Of the five essential minerals of which the United States lacked sufficient 

supplies in 1914, the Survey was actively seeking only one, potash. The United 

States was the world's greatest user of tin but most of it was imported from the 

Far East, the major portion through England and Holland, and minor amounts 

of stream tin in Alaska were the only known domestic supplies. Nickel was less 

of a problem as most of it came from the great deposit at Sudbury, Ontario, 

and was refined at Bayonne, New Jersey. Russia was the world's greatest producer of platinum; in 1913 the United States had imported 49,000 troy ounces 

of crude ore and nearly 70,000 ounces of unmanufactured platinum. The 

deposits in Oregon and California yielded only 570 ounces of crude ore. 

Nitrates, needed for explosives and fertilizers, were nearly all imported from 

Chile. Hoyt Gale had concluded, in a Survey bulletin published in 1912, that 

"few, if any, of the known [U.S.] deposits at present warrant much outlay for 

development as a source of commercial nitrate salts."

In 1914, the Survey continued its search for potash, but the well drilled in 

the Black Rock Desert of Nevada was unsuccessful. Hopes were raised for the 

discovery of supplies in the red beds when laboratory analyses of Permo-Triassic 

samples from the west-central and Panhandle regions of Texas disclosed indications of potash. The studies of the red beds were then extended from New Mexico into Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming to define as nearly as possible the 

sedimentary basins in Permo-Triassic time. Although Director Smith's bulletin 

stated that the United States had an impregnable position in regard to mineral 

fuels, the statement was more applicable to coal than oil even though 

petroleum production had reached a record high in 1913 of more than 248 

million barrels. The demand for petroleum was increasing so rapidly (the 

number of registered motor vehicles, for example, passed the million mark in 

1913) that the Navy was giving thought to producing oil from the naval reserves 

to meet its own needs.

Franklin K. Lane (1864-1921), Secretary of the Interior, 1913-1920. After a career in journalism, law, 

and politics in California, Lane entered the Federal 

service as a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1906 and was quickly recognized as one of 

the ablest members of the commission. As Secretary of 

the Interior, Lane walked a tightrope on conservation 

policy matters, keeping both the West and the Pinchot 

school of conservationists reasonably satisfied. He actively and successfully supported the effort to establish 

the National Park Service and persuaded Stephen 

Mather to be its first director. Lane was enthusiastic 

about public service and endeavored to kindle the 

same enthusiasm in the Interior Department employees and to foster a spirit of teamwork within the 

Department. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

152 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
In 1914, the Survey increased its geologic mapping to aid the discovery of 

new oil fields or extension of known fields, with mapping underway in 

Oklahoma, northwestern Louisiana, Mississippi, California, Wyoming, and in 

the Porcupine dome area north of Forsyth, Montana. Field studies of the oil 

shales of the Green River Formation were also continued by D. E. Winchester 

after E. C. Woodruff resigned. Structure was still the prime criterion for 

locating oil pools, but in the older fields in Ohio, where production was coming from deeper sands, operators had begun to question the validity of the anticlinal theory. D. Dale Condit mapped in detail the structure of the oil sands as 

well as the relation of the oil pools to the general geologic structure and to the 

character of the sands in the Summerfield and Woodsfield quadrangles. Condit 

found that the depth of the Berea Sandstone below near-surface sands varied 

and that oil and gas might not be found even in structurally favorable locations 

because of the trend, extent, texture, or degree of saturation or salt water of the 

pay sand.

Several investigations were undertaken in cooperation with the Bureau of 

Mines where Van H. Manning, Survey alumnus, had been Acting Director for 

some months because of the prolonged illness of Joseph A. Holmes. The 

Bureau set up a Petroleum Division at the start of the fiscal year, and David T. 

Day promptly moved from the Survey to the Bureau to continue his studies on 

the fundamental nature of petroleum. Then David White of the Survey and 

C. A. Davis of the Bureau also joined forces to study the origin and composition of oil shale. Several California oilfields had been severely damaged by the 

inflow of water that made it impossible to extract large quantities of oil. The 

exclusion of water from the well was a technologic problem, which the Bureau 

investigated; determining the source of the water and tracing its migration was 

a geologic problem, which G. S. Rogers began to study for the Survey.

David White told the Washington Academy of Sciences at its December 

1914 meeting that the organic matter of oil shales was, in general, regionally 

altered by dynamic agencies in a process parallel to the alteration of coals. A 

study of the distribution of petroleums and their salient features indicated that

In 1914 the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines 

began a joint investigation in the Sunset-Midway oil 

field in California where production had declined as 

the oil sands were invaded by water. In the early years 

of development of this field, and of geologically 

similar fields elsewhere, it was believed that the water 

and oil co-existed in the same sand and its appearance 

in the wells was regarded as inevitable. Later investigations had shown that the water was extraneous and its 

invasion related to the decline in gas pressure as the 

result of production. The joint Survey-Bureau mission 

was to locate the source and natural circulation of the 

water and develop means to exclude it. The Survey's 

G. S. Rogers found that the waters in and near the oil 

measures were very different in character from normal 

ground water, as the triangular diagram shows, and 

suggested that water analyses might be used to determine the productive horizon in a general way and in 

wildcatting as an indication of the presence or absence 

of oil and gas. (From G. S. Rogers, 1919.)

Concentration (total solids) 

in parts per million

X Less than 3.00O

o 3,000 to Z0,000

» More than EO.OOO

Cooperation with Bureau of Mines 153
no commercial pools of oil were to be found where the coals in or above the oilbearing formations had reached the stage of carbonization at which the fixed 

carbon exceeded 70 percent of the pure coal. Further, the oils of pools in 

regions of relatively high fixed carbon were, in general, highest in saturated 

hydrocarbons. In zones of lesser alteration of the organic debris, the oils were 

less refined, and the lowest grades of oil were found in formations in which the 

solid fuels were lignitic. In other words, as the carbonaceous residues in rocks 

became more distinctly carbonized, the liquid hydrocarbon distillates became 

more fully hydrogenized. White concluded that the limitation of commercial 

oil pools to regions of not too advanced alteration of the buried carbonaceous 

deposits bore unfavorably on the inorganic theory of the origin of petroleum. 

Within a relatively short time, his carbon-ratio theory became an important 

factor in the search for new oil fields.

Coal-field investigations were continued in Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Tennessee in cooperation with the States, and in 

Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, and West Virginia under Survey auspices alone. Many 

of these studies were undertaken in preparation for a general discussion of the 

coal fields of the United States in much greater detail than in the abbreviated 

account presented to the International Geological Congress in 1913- The 

Survey and the Bureau of Mines worked together in a study of Tennessee coals; 

F. R. Clark of the Survey examined and sampled all coal mines producing coal 

on a commercial basis and the Bureau made the coal analyses. West of the 

100th meridian, classification and mapping of coal lands, as well as phosphate 

lands, was continued but smaller areas were covered than in previous years, in 

large part because of the greater detail in mapping.

The Metals Section also had investigations underway in cooperation with 

the Bureau of Mines. In a comprehensive study of the placer deposits of the 

United States, J. M. Hill of the Survey studied the character, geologic occurrence, and origin of placer deposits and Charles Janin of the Bureau investigated methods and costs of placer mining. In a general investigation of the 

application of geologic features to the problem of mining and engineering construction, D. F. MacDonald, back from a stint at the Panama Canal, studied 

mining methods at Santa Rita, New Mexico, where A. C. Spencer was directing 

the study of the copper deposits. The Bureau also helped support F. B. Laney's 

metallographic studies as they promised to aid in the separation and reduction 

of ores as well as a determination of the origin of ores.

Investigations of iron included a new study by E. C. Harder, in cooperation with the Minnesota survey, of the Cuyuna iron range and of the magnetite 

ores by F. F. Grout and H. H. Brodt. Iron had been discovered in the Cuyuna 

district in 1904 because of the abnormal magnetic intensity but no ore had 

been shipped from the district until 1911. Considerable exploration based on 

the possibility of a connection between the Cuyuna district and the west end of 

the Mesabi district had been carried on but none was found when the Cuyuna 

became the subject of a separate investigation by the Survey. E. F. Burchard 

also continued his work on the iron ores of the Southern States, the red iron 

ores of the southern Appalachians, and the brown ores and carbonate ores of 

Texas and Louisiana.

F. L. Hess began a search for uranium and vanadium in southeastern 

Utah, and in the chemical laboratories W. T. Schaller made an extensive study 

of vanadium minerals, and George Steiger investigated methods of separating 

vanadium from large quantities of chromium. The uranium was of more interest than the vanadium. Radium salts were being used to treat cancer and 

other previously incurable diseases, but radium salts were high priced and 

scarce and much of the radium-bearing ore was being shipped out of the country. Early in 1914, Secretary Lane had bills introduced in Congress to reserve 

radium-bearing land from entry as mining claims and provide for the purchase

In connection with investigations of the iron deposits I 

of the Cuyuna Range in Minnesota, E. C. Harder made 

a laboratory study of iron-depositing bacteria. Harder 

found that, in addition to the iron-depositing bacteria 

proper, many of the common bacteria of soil and water 

are active in the precipitation of ferric hydroxide or 

basic ferric salts from solutions containing iron salts of 

organic acids. From the laboratory study alone it was 

impossible to say to what extent the bacteria were instrumental in the formation of iron deposits. The illustration is a photomicrograph of material from the 

262-foot level of the Kennedy mine, showing threads 

of Spirophyllum ferrugineum, Chlamydothrix ochracea, 

vnAGallionella ferruginea. (FromE. C. Harder, 1919.)

154 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
In a laboratory study of the ores of Tonopah, Nevada, 

geologists E. S. Bastin of the Survey and F. B. Laney of 

the Bureau of Mines found no mineralogical distinction between many veins that J. E. Spurr had classified 

as belonging to different periods and therefore questioned his classification of veins. They concluded that 

while the ores were mainly of hypogene origin, the 

primary mineralization was a process of considerable 

duration accomplished by solutions whose composition 

varied. Thus ore minerals deposited early in the 

mineralization were partly or wholly dissolved at a later 

stage and other minerals, more stable in the presence 

of the changed solutions, deposited in their places. 

The photomicrograph of the polished surface of ore 

from the 1,000-foot level of the Tonopah-Belmont 

mine shows galena (gal) has been partially replaced 

and quartz (q) slightly replaced by a fine aggregate of 

light-colored carbonate, argentite, and some chalcopyrite. (From E. S. Bastin and F. B. Laney, 1918.)

Microscopic Investigations 155
of ores by the Government. In an independent investigation, the Bureau of 

Mines devised a method concentrating the carnotite ores of Utah and Colorado 

so that thousands of tons of material that would have gone to waste under 

former methods could be utilized, and perfected a process by which radium 

could be recovered from these carnotite ores at a cost that was one-third the 

price asked by foreign producers.

M. R. Campbell, H. S. Gale, W. T. Lee, and R. W. Stone were diverted 

from the classification programs, along with N. H. Darton and J. S. Diller, to 

prepare geologic guides to railway routes for the benefit of travelers to the 

Panama-Pacific International Exposition to be held in San Francisco in 1915 to 

celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal. Diller, who had spent many 

seasons in the Cascade Mountains, also studied the eruptions of Lassen Peak, 

which began on May 30, 1914, with an outburst of steam that formed a crater 

in the snow-covered summit and covered the snow for a distance of 300 feet 

with a mantle of dark wet dust.

Ten parties were engaged in surveys and investigations in Alaska in the 

summer of 1914. About half the funds were spent in reconnaissance topographic and geologic surveys in south-central and southwestern Alaska. J. W. 

Bagley mapped about 4,000 square miles in the Copper and Susitna basins by 

phototopographic methods. A topographic survey of the Juneau district on a 

scale of 1:24,000 was begun as the district promised to become one of the most

A 10-minute outburst of steam from Lassen Peak in 

California at 5:30 p.m. on May 30, 1914, inaugurated 

a series of eruptions that J. S. Diller, who had first 

studied the Lassen region in 1883, said were "a great 

surprise not only to residents of the district but also to 

most of the geologists who are more or less familiar 

with the decadent volcanic energy of the Cascade 

Range." The enormous cloud above the crater, shown 

in the photograph, was composed of steam and 

perhaps other gases, and rock fragments and dust that 

under a petrographic microscope were seen to be 

pulverized portions of the rocks through which the 

steam and gases escaped. Diller concluded that the 

eruptions would end in the establishment of a solfatara 

on the summit but advised watching for earth tremors 

and other evidences of deeper-seated action. Lassen 

immediately became a mecca for travelers to West 

Coast expositions. (FromJ. S. Diller, 1915.)

156 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
important mining camps. Other investigations were made in the Prince 

William Sound area, the Kotsina-Chitina copper belt, the York tin district, 

and the gold placers of the Chisana district.

George Becker launched an investigation in 1914 to determine "what 

geological results of geodetic research we are bound to accept," in particular, 

the research of Hayford and Bowie of the Coast and Geodetic Survey on isostasy 

and gravity. Although both the Pratt and Airy theories had been proposed in 

the 1850's, not until 1909, when Hayford proposed uniform compensation at a 

depth of 122 kilometers to account for deflections of the vertical at 765 stations 

in the United States, did anyone undertake a rigorous mathematical proof. In 

1912, Hayford and Bowie used this same hypothesis to account for nearly all 

observed anomalies in the intensity of gravity. Hayford and Bowie attributed 

the remaining small residual anomalies to small differences in load, although 

they admitted that they might be due wholly or in part to irregular distributions in density. G. K. Gilbert had been attracted to the latter idea, and after a 

theoretical investigation, so was Becker. Taking into consideration the experiments by A. F. Melcher on the effect of rupture and infiltration on density 

of rocks under confinement and those by C. E. Van Orstrand and F. P. Dewey 

on diffusion in solids, both done in Survey laboratories, and the work of Professor P. W. Bridgman of Harvard on the effect of pressure on minerals, Becker 

concluded that the effects of the transfer of matter at the level of isostatic compensation would be small and would be masked by the effects of irregular 

distributions in density. This seemingly purely scientific conclusion of the two 

of the Survey's elder statesmen before long led to the development of the gravity method of geophysical exploration.

Both water-resources investigations and topographic mapping programs 

received increased financial support through cooperative funds from the States 

and repayments from other Federal agencies in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 

1914. For water-resources investigations, the amount received was more than 

two-thirds as much as the Federal appropriations, and for topographic mapping 

well over half as much. In both branches, therefore, much of the work was 

client-oriented.

Most of the water-resources work under the cooperative and repay projects 

was stream gaging and at the end of the year 1,350 stations were being maintained in 41 States and the Territory of Hawaii. This work included special gaging of the Colorado River and its tributaries for the Reclamation Service. The 

disastrous floods in southern California in January 1914 aroused public interest 

in flood control, and in connection with its study of possible reservoir sites, the 

Reclamation Service authorized installation of three recorders on the Green and 

Colorado Rivers and a gaging station on the San Juan River. The gaging station 

on the San Juan was about 180 miles from the nearest practicable railroad contact, its establishment fraught with some danger as the papers were full of news 

of Indian uprisings in the area an old story to Arthur Powell Davis, the Director of the Reclamation Service, whose assignment in 1883, as a young 

topographer for the Geological Survey, to map the country north of the San 

Juan had to be postponed because of an Indian uprising. The greatest difficulty 

in 1914, however, turned out to be determining the river's velocity and the 

amount of silt it carried. As part of the Colorado River investigations, E. C. 

LaRue also began preparation of a manuscript on the utilization of the Colorado for irrigation, power, and navigation. The Survey had begun its study of 

the river in 1889, when gaging stations were established at Buttes, Arizona, 

and had collected data at about 180 points in the basin. The Reclamation Service, the Office of Indian Affairs, the Forest Service, and the Weather Bureau 

had also collected data which LaRue used. Ground-water investigations were 

made in 12 States, nearly all in the arid and semiarid region and with special

Water Resources, 1914 157
reference to irrigation. Extensive work was done in California, in the Sacra- I 

mento and Santa Clara Valleys and in San Diego County. Other investigations 

were made in southern Grant County, New Mexico, and in Big Smoky Valley, 

Nevada.

The increase of funds for topographic mapping continued to bring about a 

change in the scale of mapping rather than the size of the area mapped. In 

fiscal year 1915, no mapping was done at the 1:250,000 scale. East of the 100th 

meridian, all mapping was at the mile-to-the-inch scale; and west of that line, 

there were three principal scales, 1:125,000, 1:62,500, and 1:31,680, more 

than 70 percent at the smallest scale but a significant 6 percent at the largest. 

Some of the most detailed mapping was done in southeast Texas, where Harris 

County had allotted $35,000 to the Survey for mapping 71/2 minute quadrangles, and C. H. Birdseye and his party mapped 30 square miles of the 

Sabine and Trinity River projects for waterway development at scales of 

1:12,000 with a contour interval of 2 feet.

In his State-of-the-Union Message on December 8, 1914, President Wilson 

discussed needed measures for the United States to adjust to new conditions 

brought on by the outbreak of war, which had "interrupted the means of 

trade" and also the "processes of production." Pointing out that

We have the resources but are we fully ready to use them? And if we can 

make ready what we have, have we the means at hand to distribute it?

Wilson urged that provision be made for the development of a merchant 

marine and for passage of the leasing and water-power bills, already passed by 

the House, by the Senate.

We have year after year debated, without end or conclusion, the best policy 

to pursue with regard to the use of the ores and forests and water power of 

our national domain in the rich States of the West, when we should have 

acted; and they are still locked up. The key is still turned upon them the 

door shut fast at which thousands of vigorous men, full of initiative, knock 

clamorously for admittance. The water power of our navigable streams outside the national domain also, even in the Eastern States, where we have 

worked and planned for a generation, is still not used as it might be, 

because we will and we won't; because the laws we have made do not intelligently balance encouragement against restraint.

The 63d Congress made only one change in public-land law. Although the 

Enlarged Homestead Act was already being questioned in the range country, 

Congress extended its provisions to Kansas and South Dakota, but provided 

that most of the applications be directed to registers and receivers in the land 

districts rather than to the Geological Survey. Despite Wilson's urging, neither 

mineral leasing or water-power bills were enacted. The Senate Committee

rewrote the House leasing bill, including in it relief provisions which the i 

minority attacked as being "designed to relieve oil corporations, including the ' 

Standard Oil Co., and certain individuals, from the results of their violation of 

the oil land withdrawals and naval petroleum reservations by, in effect, revoking and doing away with these reservations wholly or in large part.'' The Senate 

passed the bill, but the House refused to accept the Senate amendments. The 

Senate Committee also rewrote the House water-power bill; it was debated but 

not passed before the session ended. j

By the time the summer field season began in 1915, the world war had | 

come a little closer to the United States. On February 4, 1915, Germany announced that enemy merchant ships in British waters would be sunk on sight 

and neutral vessels entered the war zone at their own risk. The United States 

replied that the loss of American vessels or American lives would be considered 

a clear violation of neutrality. On May 1, an American tanker was struck by a 

torpedo, and on May 7, the British steamer Lusitania was sunk without warning

158 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
Earlier transcontinental (or rather transoceanic) 

"travelers" were noted by T. W. Vaughan who studied the more than 400 specimens of coral that W. C. 

Mendenhall had shipped to Washington from southern California in 1904. Siderastrea mendenhalli 

Vaughan belonged to the same group as one of the 

common corals (Siderastrea siderea Ellis and Solander) 

of the living reefs of Florida and the West Indies. The 

discovery of such reef corals at the head of the Gulf of 

California strongly suggested to Vaughan the existence 

of an interoceanic connection in Pliocene time. (From 

T. W. Vaughan, 1917.)

by a submarine; 128 Americans were among the 1,200 who lost their lives. 

Theodore Roosevelt and other leaders of the preparedness movement demanded that the United States enter the war immediately. President Wilson, 

however, drafted a peremptory note demanding reparations and an end to 

unrestricted submarine warfare. Secretary of State Bryan signed the note under 

protest but resigned rather than sign a second note in June. A third and 

stronger note was sent to Germany in July.

By the time the summer field season began in 1915, the mineral-resources 

picture had changed. Supplies of potash in the United States were becoming 

scarce and prices were rising as the result of the German embargo on the export 

of potash. The platinum supply was down as imports of crude ore had declined 

38 percent and of unmanufactured platinum 43 percent during 1914. Both 

domestic production and foreign imports of manganese had declined in 1914. 

Adequate supplies of crucible-grade graphite were difficult to obtain even 

though domestic production of graphite had increased greatly. Sulfuric acid 

had become high priced and many feared that foreign shipments of pyrite 

might be curtailed. On the other hand, although demand for petroleum had 

increased significantly, production had more than kept up with demand. Marketed production of petroleum in 1914 had increased 7 percent over 1913 and, 

in addition, at least another 8 percent had gone into storage. The increased 

production was due to a country-wide drilling campaign stimulated by the high 

prices that prevailed in 1913. Spectacular results were obtained from deeper 

drilling in the Midcontinent and Gulf Coastal Plain regions, new fields were 

discovered in Wyoming, and a large number of gusher wells were completed in 

California. The demand for coal had begun to decline, however, and coal production was notably less in 1914 than in 1913. Conditions in many of the coalmining regions during the last quarter of 1914 were little short of demoralized.

On May 1, 1915, E. W. Parker, who had been Chief of the Mineral 

Resources Division since 1907, resigned to join a coal producers' association. 

Parker, primarily a statistician, had been compiling coal statistics for the Survey 

for 25 years, during which time, he estimated, more than 80 percent of all the 

coal mined in the United States had been produced. Parker was succeeded as 

head of the division by H. D. McCaskey, who had been in charge of the compilation of statistics of metals, and as coal statistician by Carl Lesher of the Coal 

Section of the Division of Geology. With Lesher's appointment, the transformation of the Mineral Resources Division begun in 1905 was all but complete 

as all major and most minor mineral statistics were compiled by geologists. 

Under McCaskey, geologists in the Metals Section had been encouraged to go 

beyond the annual compilation and analysis of statistics and make field observations as well. D. F. Hewett, for example, had visited the manganese mines of 

Virginia and Maryland annually since joining the Survey and from the data 

thus obtained he postulated a relationship between the deposition of the ores 

and the physiographic history of the region. That encouragement was now extended to the whole division.

The Survey's search for potash was shifted from the Quaternary lake beds 

to the Permo-Triassic red beds of the Southwest. Field examinations had shown 

that there had been several periods of dry climate while the red beds were being 

laid down and had uncovered evidence of the deposition by evaporation of 

enormous deposits of rock salt, gypsum, and anhydrite in parts of the red beds 

country, especially in eastern New Mexico, northwestern Texas, and western 

Oklahoma. The composition and character of the rocks were similar to those 

that contained the great potash deposits of Germany and the periods of aridity 

and saline deposition were essentially contemporaneous in the two areas, so 

beds of potash salts might also lie buried in the American region. They were 

likely to be of very slight extent in comparison to the very great area of the red

Mineral Resources, 1915 159
beds, however, so that even with the best geologic guidance many holes might 

be drilled in different areas before penetrating one such deposit. The Panhandle region of Texas was chosen for the Survey's first physical tests, as potashbearing crystals of salt had been found near Boden and traces of potash found 

in brines or muds from wells at two or three other localities in the region. 

Drillers for oil and water in all parts of the red beds country were asked to 

cooperate by sending samples of brines and salt to the Survey for tests.

The Survey continued to search for areas structurally favorable for oil 

accumulation in the Midcontinent and Gulf Coast regions, and in Wyoming 

and Montana. K. C. Heald and R. H. Wood mapped in the Osage Nation, 

Oklahoma, while A. E. Path examined an area east of the Gushing field. G. C. 

Matson and O. B. JHopkins completed field work in Louisiana and Hopkins 

continued structural investigations across the river in Mississippi. C. H. 

Wegemann, who had been mapping in Oklahoma, was given general charge of 

the investigation of the Salt Creek field in Wyoming, and a major study of the 

Bighorn Basin was continued under the direction of C. T. Lupton. Eugene 

Stebinger investigated the oil possibilities in north-central Montana. The oilshale investigations were also continued. D. E. Winchester made numerous 

tests of the oil shale in northeastern Utah and found that the latent potential of 

oil shale as a source of petroleum was enormous, and also that a vast amount of 

nitrogen could be recovered as a byproduct.

Discovery of the Elk Basin field in Wyoming near the Montana line 

prompted the Survey to recommend withdrawal as potential oil land nearly 

362,000 acres in south-central Montana, 280,000 acres in eastern Montana, and 

about 85,000 acres in North Dakota near the Montana line. A third Naval 

Petroleum Reserve was also established in Wyoming by Executive order on 

April 30, 1915. From among several sites suggested by the Survey, the Navy 

had chosen Teapot Dome, adjacent to the Salt Creek field. Teapot Dome had 

not been drilled, although the Salt Creek field was being exploited, so Teapot's 

oil content was speculative, but the Navy viewed that as less important than the 

fact that the entire acreage was owned by the Federal Government.

The investigation of the California oil-field waters disclosed an intriguing 

relationship between the composition of the water and proximity to oil. Chase 

Palmer of the Survey's chemical laboratory therefore began experimental

In 1915, K. C. Heald of the Survey mapped the 

Foraker quadrangle in the extreme northwest corner of 

the Osage Indian Reservation in Oklahoma to determine the structural conditions related to oil and gas 

development. The area was some 30 miles north of the 

Boston field which Gypsy Oil Company's new geological department headed by M. J. Munn, formerly of 

the Survey, had mapped prior to a lease sale in 1913- 

To depict the structure, Heald prepared a stereogram, 

or sketch of the surface of the key rock, as reconstructed 

from the contours and shaded so that the features of 

the surface appear to stand out in relief. Heald stated 

that there was little doubt that oil and gas would be 

found in the Foraker quadrangle, and in 1920 Marland 

Oil Company's discovery well on one of Heald's anticlines opened the giant Burbank field. (From K. C. 

Heald, 1917.)

160 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
Oil had been found in association with salt domes near 

the coast in Texas and Louisiana but with only one salt 

dome in the interior before Survey geologists Sidney 

Powers and O. B. Hopkins began a study of three salt 

domes in northeast Texas in February 1917. They concluded that these domes, such as the Brooks dome in 

Smith County shown in the diagram, were so small in 

extent and had such a small "gathering ground" from 

which to drain oil that the oil might have been concentrated in spots that had not yet been found or might 

have escaped as the salt core rose. They also concluded 

that the most promising horizons for the occurrence of 

oil were near the top and base of the Austin Chalk and 

in the Woodbine Sand and predicted that the latter 

formation would be productive in eastern Texas wherever subsurface conditions were favorable. Oil was produced from the Woodbine in Anderson County in 

1927, and that discovery led directly to the discovery of 

the giant East Texas field. (From Sidney Powers and 

O. B. Hopkins, 1923.)

studies of the reactions between water, petroleum, and adjacent mineral 

substances in an effort to determine the cause of the peculiar composition of 

the waters and the chemical variations in the petroleum itself. A. F. Melcher, 

who had been investigating the physical properties of rocks as part of Decker's 

study of isostasy made some preliminary determinations of the porosity of oil 

and gas sands as part of the overall investigation.

There was little change in the nature of the work in the Metals Section in 

1915. B. S. Butler and G. F. Loughlin completed the general study of the ore 

deposits of Utah and made a reconnaissance of the Cottonwood-American Fork 

district in preparation for a detailed study, and J. B. Umpleby continued the 

study of the ore deposits of Idaho. H. G. Ferguson studied the Manhattan 

district in Nevada, and Adolph Knopf the northern part of the Mother Lode in 

California. A. C. Spencer and his associates completed field studies in the Santa Rita district in New Mexico, and Sidney Paige made a study of the copper 

deposits in the Burro Mountains in southern New Mexico. E. S. Bastin continued the investigation of the enrichment of silver ores, extending it to the 

Comstock, and he and F. B. Laney collaborated on a report on the genesis of 

the ores of Tonopah as interpreted from detailed microscope studies of the 

polished surfaces of ores. E. C. Harder, winding up the Cuyuna Range iron-ore 

investigations, prepared reports on the geology of east-central Minnesota and 

on the physiology, morphology, and activity of iron-depositing bacteria and 

the formation of certain iron-ore deposits, including an assessment of the 

relative importance of chemical and biologic processes in the deposition of iron 

ore. In the southern Appalachians, E. F. Burchard continued his studies of iron 

ores.

In the summer of 1915, 12 Survey parties were in Alaska where the war in 

Europe seemed very remote. About half the funds were spent for reconnaissance surveys in little known regions of the Yukon and Kuskokwim basins; the 

remainder supported detailed topographic and geologic surveys in southeastern 

Alaska, and the Prince William Sound, Copper River, and Cook Inlet-Susitna 

regions. P. S. Smith was appointed Administrative Geologist, succeeding 

George Ashley, and did not get into the field. The construction of the Government railroad from Seward to Fairbanks led to a demand for information about 

the tributary regions, most of which had been mapped in previous years, but 

two parties, under J. W. Bagley and S. R. Capps, were detailed to explore the 

less well-known regions east of Knik Arm and in the Talkeetna Mountains. Investigations of mineral springs were made in southeastern Alaska, the Yukon 

Basin, and the Seward Peninsula by G. A. Waring, of the Water Resources 

Branch, while G. H. Canfield began a study of water power in southeastern 

Alaska under a cooperative agreement with the Forest Service. General Land 

Office surveyors were also in Alaska, surveying the lands of the coal fields. 

Before leasing could begin, the Secretary of the Interior had to designate and 

reserve acreage in the Bering River and Matanuska fields and the Bureau of 

Mines had to determine the size of leases.

Austin chalk </ Taylor mart

Alaska, 1915 161
tv x V \*xV

StateKbuse ..... X ^Mtn. N

^

//' * //rx ^ //'"**

!' ''''T i// \V, /'/Nv »\

LesderMtn. Brier Creetf Mtn. SPuri^' ^"^^f^S^Jt1)1

Both the Director of the Geological Survey and the Director of the Bureau 

of Mines attended the American Mining Congress in San Francisco in 

September 1915. Joseph A. Holmes had died in July, and Van H. Manning had 

been appointed to succeed him in late August. Manning told the Mining Congress what the Bureau of Mines was doing and hoped to do for the metal mining industry. The Geological Survey, he said, had "done much to increase our 

knowledge of the character, geologic relations and areal extent of the mineral 

resources of the West * * *. The work of the Federal Bureau of Mines begins 

where the work of the Survey ends. Investigations to determine how mining 

methods can be made safer and more efficient, how milling and metallurgical 

methods can be improved so as to assure a larger extraction of metal, reduce 

waste and avoid damage to other interest, and how ores or mineral substances 

now unused can be made a source of wealth these are all within the scope of 

its duties as defined by Congress." Manning believed that through such investigations the metal production of the Western States would be increased in 

value by millions of dollars annually. George Otis Smith spoke on "plain 

writing," primarily to state a policy on Survey publications. An effort was 

underway to make the Survey's professional reports more generally intelligible 

and useful through simplification of the language and the preparation of 

reports that were "popularly descriptive and instructive."

As part of this educational effort, M. R. Campbell began preparation of 

another guidebook, for the Denver and Rio Grande Railway from Denver to 

Salt Lake City. A. J. Collier prepared a guidebook to Mesa Verde National 

Park, and Frank Calkins and F. E. Matthes began preparation of a guidebook to 

Yosemite National Park. J. S. Diller made a special survey of the area involved 

in the volcanic eruptions in the Lassen Peak region and began preparation of an 

educational bulletin on the subject. Campbell and Matthes also served as 

members of a committee of the Association of American Geographers, under 

the chairmanship of N. M. Fenneman, appointed to prepare a new map of 

physiographic divisions within the United States.

In other parts of the Geologic Branch, geologic mapping, primarily for 

folio publication, was carried on in 29 States, most of it in close cooperation 

with State surveys and university departments of geology. The Coastal Plain 

Section compiled a preliminary map, on a scale of 1:1 million, of an area of 

450,000 square miles, covering the entire Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains except the State of South Carolina and about 13,000 square miles adjacent to the 

Rio Grande in Texas, and began a major cooperative investigation of marine 

sediments in cooperation with scientists of the National Museum, the Bureau 

of Fisheries, the Carnegie Institution, the Bureau of Soils, the Bureau of 

Lighthouses, the Bureau of Plant Industry, and several scientists from the 

private sector as well.

162 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
The high prices being offered for manganese ores as a 

result of the war stimulated interest in the littleexploited manganese deposits of west-central Arkansas. In 1916, H. D. Miser, who was mapping the 

Caddo Gap and DeQueen quadrangles, examined the 

recently developed deposits, which occurred mainly as 

nodules, pockets, and short irregular veins at two 

definite horizons in the Arkansas Novaculite. The formations had been closely folded but the novaculite was 

very resistant so its upturned edges had formed ridges. 

Thus, the ore horizons could be followed for long 

distances along the slopes, and outcrops might be 

repeated on the slopes or crests of the parallel ridges. 

The illustration, a section through Leader, Brier Creek, 

Sugartree, and Statehouse mountains, shows the repetition of the two manganese horizons on different 

ridges. (From H. D. Miser, 1918.)

Nathan Clifford Grover (1868-1957), Chief Hydraulic 

Engineer of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1913-1939. 

Before joining the Survey in 1903, as district engineer 

of the New England district, Grover had been a 

member of the civil engineering faculty of the University of Maine and had begun the stream-gaging program for the Survey. In 1904, he moved to Washington as district engineer and acting assistant chief 

hydrographer. From 1907 to 1911, Grover was 

employed by thej. G. White Company but in 1911 he 

returned to the Survey as Chief Engineer of the Land 

Classification Board. During his long tenure as Chief 

Hydraulic Engineer, the Water Resources Branch increased in size, as water problems became more complex and cooperative programs with many States and 

municipalities flourished, and for many years it was the 

Survey's largest branch. (From the files of the U.S. 

Geological Survey.)

George Becker became interested in theoretical explanations of some 

engineering-geology problems. He was appointed a member of the National 

Academy of Sciences' committee investigating the slides in the Panama Canal 

and formulated a theory of the slides, showing that their mechanics were 

reducible to identity with a soluble problem in capillarity, which he had been 

investigating. His studies indicated that there was a limit to which the slides 

would extend. Then, with Arthur L. Day of the Geophysical Laboratory, Becker 

prepared a paper on the linear force of growing crystals, an experimental and 

theoretical refutation of attacks by some scientists on the deductions they had 

drawn ten years earlier. This linear force was now recognized as the reason for 

the partial failure of many dams.

Cooperative and repay funds for the Survey's water-resources investigations increased still more in 1915, the cooperative funds alone being more than 

three-fourths as much as the Federal appropriation. As most of the cooperative 

work was stream gaging, the number of river stations increased, and the increase made necessary several changes in the surface water districts in 1915. The 

North Atlantic district was divided into the New England and New York 

districts, and the Boston office was opened on May 1, 1915. The South Atlantic 

district was divided and Texas became a separate district with headquarters at 

Austin. Arizona and New Mexico were separated, Arizona becoming a separate 

district, and New Mexico pan of the Rocky Mountain district.

Most of the work of the Ground Water Division continued to be field investigations in the Western States. In California, G. A. Waring resumed the 

ground-water survey of the San Jacinto Valley that had been recessed after 

Mendenhall's appointment as chairman of the Land Classification Board, and 

W. O. Clark continued the survey of the Santa Clara Valley. A. T. Schwennesen resumed work in the Arizona-New Mexico area, and A. J. Ellis began 

work in Montana. Plans were also made for a comprehensive manual on ground

Water Resources, 1915 163
water. Meinzer made a special investigation in the vicinity of Guantanamo Bay, 

Cuba, to advise the Navy in its efforts to develop a water supply for the naval 

station there, and G. A. Waring investigated the possibility of developing 

ground-water supplies for the garrisons on Angel and Alcatraz Islands in San 

Francisco Bay for the War Department.

Cooperative funds for topographic mapping were somewhat less than in 

1914 and from fewer States; consequently nearly 70 percent of the area newly 

mapped in 1915 was west of the 100th meridian. The trend toward larger scales 

persisted, however, and more than 62 percent of all mapping was at either the 

mile-to-the-inch or larger scales, and nearly 18 percent, principally in Texas 

and California, was at 1:31,680.

Chief Geographer Marshall was informally loaned to the Secretary's Office 

for much of 1915 to organize trips to national parks as the Department began 

to push vigorously for a bureau of national parks. Stephen T. Mather, the 

wealthy Chicago industrialist who had coined the name ' 'Twenty-Mule-TeamBorax' ' and was an old college friend of Secretary Lane, had written an irate letter in the fall of 1914 in which he described the condition of the national parks 

as a Federal disgrace. Lane had promptly invited Mather to come to 

Washington to run the national parks, and Mather became Assistant to the 

Secretary in January 1915. With two expositions on the Pacific Coast inviting 

transcontinental travel and a war in Europe discouraging transatlantic travel, 

the time was ideal for publicizing the parks. Mather invited another old friend, 

Robert Yard, then Sunday editor of the New York Herald, to come to 

Washington as national parks' publicity chief. The Survey gave Yard an appointment at $30 a month (a salary generously supplemented by Mather) and 

detailed him to Mather's office, the Bureau of Mines provided office space, and 

the Pension Office contributed an experienced secretary.

The summer of 1915 was a relatively quiet one on the Western Front in 

France. In late September, the French and British began a great offensive in 

Champagne to force a German withdrawal, but after several weeks of intense 

fighting the lines remained substantially the same. The Allies' Eastern Front, 

however, was crumbling. By the end of 1915, the Russians had lost Poland, 

Lithuania, and Courland and almost a million men, and Russia was unable to 

receive supplies from her allies because the British failed to force the 

Dardanelles.

In his annual message to Congress on December 7, 1915, President Wilson 

presented a comprehensive plan for national efficiency and security or 

preparedness calling for an increase in the standing army and in naval personnel, a reserve corps, construction of additional naval vessels and purchase or 

construction of ships for the merchant marine. There was no unanimity of 

opinion on these aspects of preparedness, however. The program antagonized a 

large body of rural voters. William Jennings Bryan threatened to disrupt the 

Democratic party if Wilson made further warlike moves. The Republicans 

were, if anything, more divided on the issue than the Democrats; Theodore 

Roosevelt and other Eastern leaders were militantly pro-Allies, but 

Mid westerners were not, and Senator LaFollette of Wisconsin was one of the 

most outspoken against the preparedness program.

As part of his program for national efficiency and security, Wilson said it 

was "imperatively necessary" to "safeguard and conserve the natural resources 

of the country" and to "put them at the disposal of those who will use them 

promptly and intelligently.'' Again he urged passage of mineral-leasing and 

water-power bills along the general lines of those brought up in the 63d Congress. Chairman Scott Ferris of the House Public Lands Committee filed bills at 

the opening of the new session for the leasing of mineral lands and development of water power essentially the same as those recommended by the Department of the Interior and passed by the House in 1914. Along with them, he

164 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
filed a bill for stockraising homesteads similar to the one passed by the House 

in 1915. All three were reported out promptly and passed by the House.

While the mineral-leasing bill was being considered in the House, Senator 

Porter J. McCumber of North Dakota, by resolution, asked the Secretary of the 

Interior to supply information on the production, consumption, and price of 

gasoline because it appeared to him from the reports of the Geological Survey 

that the output of petroleum was declining and the price of gasoline had 

doubled. There might be a valid reason for these changes but if the oil fields 

were giving out or if there had been some "understanding" about the price increase, perhaps Congress should know about it. Senator McCumber asked 14 

specific questions, such as the production, consumption, and price of gasoline 

for each year since 1900, what oil fields were being exhausted, what new fields 

were being developed, and what the possibilities were for the future. He also 

wanted to know about methods of increasing the percentage of gasoline from 

crude oil, new uses of gasoline and petroleum, the influence of the war and of 

the internal combustion engine on the increased use of gasoline, and the reason 

for the sudden extraordinary increase in its retail price. Before the resolution 

was passed, Senator Thomas J. Walsh of Montana added a 15th question: 

"Were there fields that were unproductive or limited in production because of 

deficiencies in the laws relating to the disposition of the public lands?"

The Interior Department's reply listed 10 major oil fields, stated that the 

major producers in 1915 were the Midcontinent and California fields, and 

estimated the "percentage of exhaustion" as 93 for the Lima-Indiana field, 79 

for the Gulf Coast and Colorado, 60 for Illinois, and 50 or less for the Midcontinent and all other fields; Wyoming, where the fields were only 5 percent 

exhausted, was most favorably situated. Still left in known fields, it was 

estimated, were 7,629 million barrels, with potential oil production from adjacent or unknown areas as much as 75 million barrels more. The increased price 

was attributed in part to increased consumption in the United States, increased 

exports, depletion of stocks, and decreased production of crude containing a 

large percentage of gasoline, specifically the Cushing field. (The cracking process was then new.) The increased consumption was not due to new uses but to a 

tremendous growth in old uses, such as automobiles the number had more 

than doubled since 1913 as well as motorboats, motorcycles, aircraft, stationary internal-combusion engines, tractors, and general industrial and 

domestic uses. Oil exports had been increasing steadily for several years and had 

reached a new high of 2.3 billion barrels in 1915. Other factors contributing to 

the increased price of gasoline were the increased price of crude oil and "financial influences,'' translated as large companies being able to buy when the price 

was down and store until the price rose. The Geological Survey suggested investigation of the use of heavier distillates in internal combustion engines, 

more extensive use of cracking processes, and the development of processes for 

producing benzoil from coal and oil from oil shales as conservation measures. 

The answer to Senator Walsh's question was clearly yes; there were fields that 

would be more productive if the leasing law were passed.

The Senate Committee revised the mineral-leasing bill passed by the 

House, throwing out everything after the enacting clause and substituting its 

own bill, but after debating the bill the Senate itself did not pass it. The House 

water-power bill had a similar fate. The Senate, however, did pass the bill filed 

by Senator John Shields of Tennessee to provide for development of water 

power along navigable streams. The Senate also passed the stockraising 

homestead bill which authorized 640-acre homesteads on lands chiefly valuable 

for grazing and raising forage crops that contained no merchantable timber and 

were not susceptible to irrigation from any known source of water. Only lands 

designated by the Secretary of the Interior (that is to say, classified by the 

Survey) were to be opened to entry under the law. Congressman Kent of

Petroleum Inquiry, 1916 165
California had filed a bill to authorize the establishment of grazing districts on 

the public lands, to be under the control of the Secretary of Agriculture. The 

Kent bill was favored by cattlemen and sheepmen but the Conference of 

Western Governors, whose first choice would have been outright cession of the 

lands to the States, endorsed the Ferris bill.

Congressman Kent was more successful with his bill to establish a bureau 

of national parks. Two such bills were filed early in the session, and in anticipation of the passage of one of them Secretary Lane on December 10, 1915, 

designated Chief Geographer Marshall general superintendent of national 

parks with the intention of making him director of the new bureau when it was 

established. Marshall would then be the third alumnus of the Topographic 

Branch to become director of an Interior Department bureau, along with 

Arthur Powell Davis, Director of the Reclamation Service, and Van H. Manning, Director of the Bureau of Mines. Sledge Tatum, the head of the Rocky 

Mountain Division of the Topographic Branch, was named Acting Chief Geographer to succeed Marshall but he died only a month later. W. H. Herron, head 

of the Central Division, then became Acting Chief Geographer, Glenn S. 

Smith took over direction of the Central Division as Acting Topographic 

Engineer-in-Charge, and C. H. Birdseye was appointed Topographic Engineerin-Charge of the Rocky Mountain Division. Smith had first worked for the Survey as a field assistant in 1888 and had been appointed assistant topographer in 

1890. Birdseye, a graduate of Oberlin College in 1901, had spent a season or 

two with the Survey as a summer field assistant while undertaking graduate 

studies and had been appointed to a full-time position in 1904.

The Kent bill to establish the National Park Service was passed by the 

House on July 1, 1916, by the Senate on August 5, and approved by President 

Wilson on August 25. As the bill provided no appropriation for the new 

bureau, an interim Park Service was put into operation with staff members borrowed from other Interior agencies. In addition to Chief Geographer Marshall, 

the Survey sent Isabelle F. Story, Arthur E. Demaray, who many years later 

became Director of the Park Service, and James V. Lloyd to help start the new 

bureau. The National Park Service supervised 16 national parks, two of them 

new: Hawaii, established on August 1, 1916, and Lassen Volcanic National 

Park, established August 9, 1916.

In 1914, E. C. LaRue of the Survey began assembling 

information collected by various agencies to provide a 

broad basis for consideration of plans for utilization of 

the Colorado River by controlling its flow through the 

use of storage reservoirs, thus avoiding further damage 

to the Imperial Valley in California, where a breach in 

the river bank had diverted the flow for 2 years, and at 

the same time make the enormous volume of flood 

waters available for profitable use. The project was one 

of special interest to Arthur Powell Davis, the Director 

of the Reclamation Service. The illustration shows the 

annual discharge of the Colorado at the Survey's 

Yuma, Arizona, gaging station from 1895 to 1914. 

The annual discharge was an important factor in 

developing the Colorado River Compact in the 1920's. 

(From E. C. LaRue, 1916.)

166 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
All of these debates took place against a background of increasing concern 

about international affairs. During the winter of 1915-1916, the Mexican situation had seemed to pose a graver danger to the United States than the war in 

Europe. The United States, along with several Latin American governments, 

had recognized the Carranza government in Mexico in October 1915, but some 

Constitutionalists, among them "Pancho" Villa, the bandit-revolutionary who 

had also fought Huerta, continued to oppose Carranza. The Carranza government invited American engineers to return to Mexico to operate the abandoned 

mines in Chihuahua, and Villa's band killed several of them at Santa Ysabel in 

January 1916. Villa also repeatedly raided Texas and New Mexico, and in his 

raid on Columbus, New Mexico, on March 9, 19 persons were killed. General 

John Pershing was ordered to head a punitive expedition and to pursue Villa into Mexico. On March 14, while Pershing was assembling his force, a German 

submarine torpedoed the Sussex, a French cross-channel passenger ship, and 

several Americans were injured. Secretary of State Robert Lansing favored an 

immediate severance of diplomatic relations with Germany; instead, President 

Wilson issued an ultimatum on April 18 that unless Germany abandoned its 

methods of submarine warfare, the United States would sever relations. At the 

same time there was a growing concern about the internal disorders on the 

Caribbean island of Santo Domingo.

The National Academy of Sciences held its annual meeting in Washington 

April 17-19, 1916, in the midst of this crisis, and voted, on the motion of 

astronomer George E. Hale, to offer its services to the President in the interest 

of national preparedness. On April 26, a delegation from the Academy, including its Vice President, Charles D. Walcott, presented the resolution to 

President Wilson with the suggestion that the academy might advantageously 

organize the scientific resources of educational and research institutions in the 

interest of national security and welfare. Wilson accepted the offer and the 

Academy was asked to proceed at once to carry it into effect.

The Director of the Geological Survey, George Otis Smith, who was not a 

member of the Academy, was at the time concerned about the organization of 

Federal science. At the celebration of the centennial of the U.S. Coast and 

Geodetic Survey, after extolling the harmonious relations that existed between 

the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Geological Survey, Smith suggested 

that the rules for the control of corporations should also be applied to Federal 

scientific bureaus. Unrestrained competition in the public service, he said, was 

no less wasteful than unregulated competition in private business. The idea of 

natural monopolies in the Government scientific service should be recognized, 

which would insure the same real saving to society as had come with the growth 

of public-utility monopolies. If the scientific work of the Government was 

organized on the basis of specialization, however, then the correlative idea of 

adequate regulation must be adopted. A large share of the duty of insuring 

proper coordination of the public scientific work must fall to the bureau chiefs, 

who were constrained as public servants to avoid wasteful use of public funds 

and as scientists to conserve scientific effort by preventing duplication. "Faith 

in the effectiveness of highly specialized science must carry with it the belief 

that some one Bureau, by reason of its organization, personnel, and experience, can conduct scientific investigations of a certain kind better than any 

other bureau. * * * The attempt of an overzealous bureau chief to seek 

preferment for his bureau on other grounds is not in harmony with the publicservice idea that the Federal scientific bureau is only an agency to get results 

that are of the largest value to the public it serves."

Smith evidently referred to the friction which was beginning to develop 

between the Survey and the Bureau of Mines, especially with regard to 

petroleum investigations on the public lands. Not only had the Bureau drawn 

into its ranks several members of the Survey, most recently Max Ball of the Oil

Competition in Federal Service 167
Classification Section of the Land Classification Branch to study the legal 

aspects of the withdrawn lands, but it had recently begun geologic mapping in 

the oil regions of Oklahoma. Moreover, Smith's concern of 1910, that the 

Bureau would affect the Survey's ability to obtain appropriations, seemed 

about to be justified. The Committee on Appropriations had cut the Survey's 

budget request by $260,000, making it $100,000 less than the current appropriation; the Bureau's estimate had also been cut, but by only $53,800, and 

its appropriation would still be $207,705 more than the current year.

The very practical work of the Bureau was likely to be perceived as more 

useful in the emergency situation than the work of the Survey. The National 

Defense Act of June 3, 1916, provided for expansion of the regular army, a national guard and reserve officers' training corps, and also appropriated $20 

million for investigating the best, cheapest, and most available means for the 

production of nitrates and other products for munitions and useful in the 

manufacture of fertilizers. Survey geologists could and did investigate all 

reported discoveries of nitrates although with scant hope of locating new 

deposits. Processes for the extraction of nitrogen from the atmosphere had been 

worked out in Europe but the American chemical industry was not familiar 

with them, especially on a large production scale. The Bureau of Mines could 

and did investigate methods of fixing nitrogen and also developed new apparatus for oxidizing ammonia, making available in the United States processes 

that had been developed and carefully guarded in Europe.

The nitric acid supply was one of the problems to which the National 

Academy of Sciences' committee appointed to organize the scientific resources 

of the Nation directed its attention. In addition to setting up five committees 

to investigate pressing questions, among them the nitric acid supply, the committee in its first report on June 19 proposed establishing a National Research 

Council to be composed of leading American investigators, representing not 

only educational institutions and research endowments but also Federal scientific facilities. The organizing committee stated that the Council's activities 

should not be confined to research bearing directly on military problems but 

that

true preparedness would best result from the encouragement of every form 

of investigation, whether for military and industrial application or for the 

advancement of knowledge without regard to its immediate practical 

bearing.

President Wilson accepted the proposal, promised the cooperation of Federal 

departments and agreed to appoint representatives of Federal bureaus as 

members of the council. Van H. Manning, Director of the Bureau of Mines, 

was appointed to represent the Department of the Interior on the council.

By the summer of 1916, other serious problems were developing in the 

mineral industry. The demand for an American supply of potash was urgent as 

stocks of imported potash salts had diminished almost to nothing and prices 

had increased tenfold. The Allied Governments had placed an embargo on the 

exportation of platinum and the platinum situation was so disquieting that 

producers had become secretive about their sources of supply. Domestic 

production of manganese had increased but could not meet the demands; 

importation of supplies was hazardous because of the blockade and submarine 

warfare. The tungsten industry had been temporarily paralyzed by the outbreak of war but had recovered quickly and now prices were rising astronomically as large orders for munitions were received. Domestic production of 

chromite had also increased but the foreign supply needed to supplement it 

was uncertain and prices were high. Prices for antimony were the highest 

known since the metal became a regular article of commerce as great quantities 

were used in making shrapnel bullets and shells. American manufacturers were

168 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
having great difficulty in meeting the demand for sulfuric acid and the 

domestic production of pyrite was insufficient. The United States had been the 

greatest manufacturer and user of asbestos products, obtaining the asbestos 

from Canada until March 1916, when Canada had placed an embargo on the 

shipment of asbestos to other than British ports or by special license to Allied 

countries. Although the embargo was later modified to permit shipment to the 

United States on the guaranty that no crude or manufactured material would 

be reexported, these requirements caused asbestos users to look for an available 

domestic supply. Petroleum production had increased in 1915, although at a 

slower rate than in 1914, but the great Gushing field had attained its maximum 

production in April and then had entered upon a rather abrupt decline. The 

production of bituminous coal had increased and that of anthracite had 

decreased slightly but a shortage of railroad cars toward the end of 1915 had 

halted production in some areas and upset the industry.

Because of these changes, the Survey devoted an even greater proportion 

of its geologic work to the location and development of vital raw materials. To 

accommodate this realinement, the organization of the Division of Geology of 

the Geologic Branch was modified on July 1, 1916. F. L. Ransome, who had 

been chief of both Western Areal Geology and Metals since Lindgren left in 

1913, was relieved of supervision of Western Areal Geology. Sidney Paige, who 

had been with the Survey since 1902, working principally in Alaska and the 

Southwestern States, succeeded Ransome as head of the Western Areal 

Geology. The subsection of petrology remained with Ransome as part of the 

Metals Section. Fuels investigations were divided among three sections. Chief 

Geologist White took immediate charge of all oil and gas investigations 

throughout the country, while George Ashley and M. R. Campbell divided 

responsibility for coal investigations in the Eastern and Western States.

The search for manganese was the most comprehensive and systematic of 

the metals investigations. Survey geologists examined all reported occurrences 

of manganese and made qualitative and quantitative estimates with a view to 

ascertaining possible outputs of different grades of ore for 1917, 1918, and 

1919. J. S. Diller made a reconnaissance of 2,000 square miles in California to 

study the sources of supply and the possibilities of increasing the production of 

chromite. The problem of mining domestic pyrite of satisfactory grade sufficiently near to points of consumption and in quantities sufficiently large to take 

the place of a portion of the pyrite supply that had formerly been imported was 

investigated with the cooperation of several State geological surveys, especially 

those in the Southern Appalachian region. In addition, P. S. Smith made a 

special study of the sulfur deposits of Louisiana to determine to what extent 

they could be used for producing sulfuric acid. To aid the search for tungsten, 

F. L. Hess compiled a bulletin on tungsten minerals and deposits, showing by 

many illustrations, some in full color, the appearance of typical specimens.

Even the Alaskan Division felt the urgency of the Nation's metals situation in the summer of 1916. There were 11 parties in Alaska, and during the 

early part of the season work proceeded according to plan with surveys in 

southeastern Alaska, the Copper River region, Prince William Sound, and the 

Yukon Basin, most of them in mining districts. Then in August, J. B. Mertie, 

Jr., was directed to give special attention to the search for antimony and 

tungsten and thereafter made supplementary investigations in the Fairbanks 

area and in the Nome and other districts of the Seward Peninsula.

Nearly all the Survey's funds for potash investigations were devoted to 

drilling the buried saline deposits at Cliffside, Potter County, Texas, but 

without success. Borings in other areas of the salt-bearing formations in Texas 

and Oklahoma as well as one deep well in New Mexico were inspected and cuttings tested through the courtesy of the owners, but no deposits of potash-rich 

material were discovered. Other possible sources were also investigated, and

Mineral Resources, 1916 169
some promising results were found in examinations of greensands and other 

deposits of the Eastern United States by W. C. Phalen and George Ashley. In 

general, the best and most available deposits were those in New Jersey and 

Delaware, samples from which yielded 3.50 to 7.15 percent potash. P. S. Smith 

investigated sericite deposits in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina 

to procure data for chemical engineers to determine the practicability of using 

sericite for the production of potash.

The oil and gas investigations were followed along many lines, not only 

the continued search for structurally favorable areas and studies of the physical 

properties of oil sands and of oil-field waters, but also estimates of resources 

and preparation of a new map of the oil and gas fields of the United States. In 

the Midcontinent region which had supplied the greatest oil production in 

1915, A. E. Path, R. H. Wood, and K. C. Heald mapped in Oklahoma, Heald 

extended his studies north of the State line into Kansas, and N. H. Darton investigated areas in western Kansas and Nebraska. G. S. Rogers was assigned to 

an exhaustive study of the salt domes of the Texas Coastal Plain with special 

reference to the origin and conditions of occurrence of salt, sulfur, oil, and gas 

in the domes. O. B. Hopkins examined oil indications, surface geology, and 

structural criteria at several places in Texas, eastern Louisiana, Mississippi, 

Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. In California, R. W. Pack and W. A. English 

extended the area of mapping in Salinas Valley and made a detailed study of 

the Belridge-Lost Hills district. Extensive work was done in Montana by Eugene 

Stebinger, E. T. Hancock, C. F. Bowen, and A. J. Collier.

The Survey's investigation of oil-field waters was expanded into a study of 

the chemical and physical interactions between petroleum and natural gas and 

associated waters and reservoir rocks of two quadrangles in Ohio where R. V. A. 

Mills and D. D. Condit had been working and the Butler and Zelienople quadrangles in Pennsylvania where G. B. Richardson had been mapping. Mills and 

chemist R. C. Wells investigated the origin and deposition of salts found in 

wells and pipe lines, A. F. Melcher assisted Mills in an experiment on the 

migration of natural oil in sands, and Chase Palmer analyzed oil-field waters 

from California. It had been widely assumed that the dissolved salts in the 

saline waters associated with petroleum and natural gas had been derived 

through the leaching of sediments by ground waters or that they were fossil 

ocean waters buried at the time of deposition of marine sediments. The investigation indicated, however, that the brines were the result of a long and 

complex evolution in which marine water of sedimentation and ground water 

from other sources, included and deeply buried in sediments, migrated in 

association with oil and gas and became concentrated in part by evaporation inThe rains that swept southern California in midJanuary 1916, converting streams into torrents that 

overran their banks and devastated wide areas of the 

most fertile land in the State, revived memories of the 

flooding of the Imperial Valley a decade earlier and 

sparked public interest in plans for the utilization and 

control of the Colorado River. The most serious loss in 

1916, aside from the loss of life, was the destruction of 

the results of the work of generations on welldeveloped farm lands. Dams, bridges, pipelines, and 

other man-made structures, the Survey observed, can 

be repaired or replaced if funds are available, but it 

takes a long time to efface completely the track of a 

flood in a fertile and intensively cultivated river valley. 

The photograph, taken one month after the storm, 

shows the flood devastation on the Winston Ranch in 

Mission Valley. (From H. D. McGlashan and F. C. 

Ebert, 1918.)

170 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
to moving and expanding gases. Salts deposited in wells during the extraction 

of gas and oil, those occurring interstitially in sediments, and those in the Louisiana and Texas salt domes all agreed closely in composition with hypothetical 

salts whose loss from solution during concentration was predicated by Mills and 

Wells on the basis of their experiments.

Despite the increased emphasis on minerals in short supply and on 

petroleum, peacetime investigations were continued as far as possible even in 

the Survey's economic-geology sections. Coal-field mapping continued in 

cooperation with the State surveys of Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, 

and Virginia, and coal lands in the Western States were mapped and classified. 

In the Metals Section, J. B. Umpleby and E. L. Jones completed field work for 

the general report on the ore deposits of Idaho, and G. F. Loughlin and Professor W. O. Hotchkiss of the University of Wisconsin experimented with

Experience in and near the San Juan Mountains of Colorado indicated that construction of dams and reservoirs without taking into account the geology of the 

sites could lead to less than satisfactory results. There 

an increase in farming had created a demand for a large 

supply of water for irrigation and many reservoirs were 

planned, most of them associated with glaciated canyons or lake basins. The dam of the Farmers' Union 

reservoir, for example, was built in a constricted portion of the Rio Grande, but the constriction, as the 

sketch map and cross section show, was caused by a 

large landslide area. Although the dam itself was 

watertight, the reservoir leaked because the water was 

able to penetrate the landslide material. (From W. W. 

Atwood, 1918.)

NDSL/DE,MASSES :'.o '-.'o"'. - }/:

Dam-Site Investigations 171
magnetic methods for detecting ore deposits other than iron in the Magdalena 

district in New Mexico, finding that the methods promised some usefulness in 

tracing contacts between igneous and sedimentary rocks. G. R. Mansfield 

mapped about 400 square miles as he continued the detailed examinations of 

phosphate deposits in Idaho.

Quadrangle mapping was also underway in 32 States in 1916, and geologic 

studies were also made in three national parks in preparation for popular and 

technical publications. Another problem in engineering geology was investigated in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, where W. W. Atwood, who was 

studying the physiographic history of the area, examined several reservoir sites 

where leakage problems had developed. Most of the reservoirs were in mountain canyons and the sites for the dams had been selected where the valleys were 

somewhat constricted, either by glacial moraines or kndslide deposits. Such 

materials were not water-tight, and even though water-tight dams had been 

constructed, the water had found its way underneath or around the ends of the 

deposits.

In 1916, the Water Resources Branch again received funds from 

cooperating States that amounted to about three-fourths of the Federal appropriation and also funds from other Federal agencies. Gaging stations were 

maintained in 41 States, Alaska, and Hawaii, including all the States in the 

Great Basin and on the Pacific slope and nearly all States in the Rocky Mountain and Western Gulf regions where water was necessary for irrigating 

agricultural land. Many investigations of the use of both surface and ground 

water were made in connection with the classification of public lands with 

special reference to their use for power, under permit, or for agriculture, under 

the Enlarged Homestead, Desert Land, or Carey Acts. In addition, several 

special ground-water studies were made. O. E. Meinzer studied the changes in 

the artesian water supply in the Pecos Valley, New Mexico, to determine 

changes produced by developments since 1906 and a means of preventing 

underground losses. G. A. Waring investigated the ground-water resources of

In 1917, the Survey published a bulletin on the use of 

the panoramic camera in topographic surveying, with 

which J. W. Bagley had been experimenting in Alaska 

since 1910, and notes on the application of photogrammetry to aerial surveys. The field cost of surveys 

made by use of the panoramic camera in conjunction 

with a planetable was far less than that of surveys made 

with the planetable alone, and, although the compilation of field data was more laborious, the final cost 

was nonetheless lower. The combined method was considered especially applicable to regions such as Alaska 

where the field season is short, the field cost high, and 

climatic conditions adverse to topographic work. The 

illustration shows a panoramic photo-alidade, an instrument set up to determine directions from a 

photograph. (FromJ. W. Bagley, 1917.)

172 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
the Reese River valley and part of the Humboldt River valley in Nevada, and 

W. O. Clark began a similar investigation in the Salinas Valley in California 

after completing work on the Truckee-Carson irrigation project in Nevada. 

A. T. Schwennesen investigated ground-water conditions in Quincy Valley, 

Washington, where water was needed to irrigate orchard lands, and A. J. Ellis 

continued the study of the ground-water resources of Montana. R. B. Dole continued to work on his comprehensive paper on the chemical composition of surface waters but died in January 1917 before completing it. A. A. Chambers was 

then placed in charge of quality-of-water investigations.

Cooperative funds for topographic mapping continued to decline in 1916, 

and 60 percent of the new area mapped was west of the 100th meridian. Use of 

larger scales continued to increase in that area, and east of the 100th meridian 

all mapping was for publication at 1:62,500. Most of the mapping in the 48 

States was by conventional methods. In Alaska, however, J. W. Bagley continued to experiment with the use of phototopographic methods and mapped 

about 1,900 square miles in and east of the Port Wells district, Prince William 

Sound. His 6-year investigation of the use of photographic methods, including 

devising new instruments and methods as well as field tests, was reported in a 

Survey bulletin in early 1917. The methods were especially applicable to 

regions where the field season was short, the field cost high, and climatic conditions adverse to topographic work, but they promised a wider application. 

The field cost of the surveys was lower than surveys made by plane table alone, 

and though the compilation of field data was more laborious, the final cost of 

the completed map was lower. Because of the wide interest in aerial surveys, 

Bagley appended a discussion of the use of the camera in such work, based 

largely on French treatises, and presented briefly the principles and some of the 

methods of photogrammetry in its application to aerial surveys. "The subject," 

said A. H. Brooks, Chief of Alaskan Geology, "needs further study and 

experimentation.''

The war in Europe dragged on through 1916 and seemed no nearer to a 

conclusion. The Germans began an attack on Verdun in February and captured 

it in June, but with heavy loss of life on both sides. A massive Anglo-French offensive launched on July 1 in the Somme area gradually petered out, ending in 

mid-November with nothing gained of prime strategic importance and great 

loss of life on both sides. Then the French succeeded in retaking Verdun, 

leaving that situation much as it had been at the beginning of the year. The 

Russians had launched a great offensive on the Eastern Front but failed to take 

their objectives, and the loss of about a million men left the Russian army 

demoralized.

As the summer of 1916 was drawing to a close, Italy declared war on Germany, some 15 months after it had declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany 

declared war on Rumania, and Turkey and Bulgaria followed suit a few days 

later. The German navy raided the English coast and stepped up its campaign 

against shipping in the Atlantic. Germany had agreed to give up unrestricted 

submarine warfare in May in response to American protests, but with the 

stalemate on land its military leaders concluded in November that their best 

hope of winning the war was to starve the British by preventing supplies from 

reaching them.

Congress ordinarily adjourned early in election years but because of 

uneasiness over the European situation remained in session until September 8, 

1916. In the closing days of the session, several defense measures were enacted. 

On August 29, a Council of National Defense was authorized under the Army 

Appropriations Act ' 'for the coordination of industries and resources for the 

National security and welfare." On the same day, the "Big Navy Act" called 

for a 10-year plan of construction to make the United States Navy equal to any 

two others in the world. On the day before Congress adjourned, the Shipping

Council of National Defense 173
Act authorized creation of the U.S. Shipping Board to build, purchase, lease, 

or requisition vessels through an Emergency Fleet Corporation, that was 

capitalized at $50 million.

The Council of National Defense, a Cabinet committee of the Secretaries 

of War, Navy, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor, was to supervise 

and direct investigations and make recommendations to the President and the 

heads of executive departments as to "the location of railroads with reference to 

the frontier of the United States, so as to render possible expeditious concentration of troops and supplies to points of defense; the coordination of military, 

industrial, and commercial purposes in the location of extensive highways and 

branch lines of railroads; the utilization of waterways; the mobilization of 

military and naval resources for defense; the increase of domestic production of 

articles and materials essential to the support of armies and of the people during the interruption of foreign commerce; the development of sea-going 

transportation; data as to amounts, location, method, and means of production, and availability of military supplies; the giving of information to producers and manufacturers as to the class of supplies needed by the military and 

other services of the Government, the requirements relating thereto, and the 

creation of relations which will render possible in time of need the immediate 

concentration and utilization of the resources of the Nation." The inclusion of 

"utilization of waterways" was the only direct reference to use of natural 

resources. The Council also was required to nominate an advisory commission 

of not more than seven persons, each of whom should have special knowledge 

of some industry, public utility, or the development of some natural resource, 

or be otherwise specially qualified in the opinion of the council.

The National Research Council, which held its first meeting three weeks 

after the establishment of the National Defense Council, also omitted natural 

resources from its earliest considerations. At its first meeting on September 20, 

George E. Hale, Director of the Mount Wilson Observatory, was elected Chairman and Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the 

First Vice-Chairman. In the series of committees set up at that time to organize 

research in the various branches of science, geology was conspicuously missing.

By the fall of 1916, however, supplies of not only petroleum and certain 

metals but even coal had become a problem. Production of both anthracite and 

bituminous coal had been limited by lack of market in 1914, 1915, and 

throughout most of the country in the spring of 1916, but the demand for 

bituminous coal sharply increased thereafter just about the time that a shortage 

of railroad cars developed because of the tremendous movement of heavy 

freight from manufacturing centers to ports for overseas shipments. The situation was complicated by the demand of the major railway union for an 8-hour 

day and a threatened strike. Faced with the possibility of a short supply for the 

winter, consumers began to buy coal in what amounted to a panic, and prices at 

the mines rose to five times the normal price. Anticipating the difficulty, the 

Survey had begun to publish monthly statements on the shipment of coal in 

August.

The Council of National Defense held an organizational meeting on October 11, 1916, at which time Secretary of War Newton D. Baker was chosen 

its Chairman and an Advisory Commission nominated. The President in due 

time appointed Daniel Willard, president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; 

Bernard M. Baruch, New York financier; Howard E. Coffin, vice-president of 

the Hudson Motor Company; Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck 

Company; Hollis Godfrey, president of the Drexel Institute of Philadelphia; 

Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor; and Dr. 

Franklin Martin, secretary-general of the American College of Surgeons. The 

Advisory Commission, however, did not meet until December 7, 1916, a 

month after the national elections.

174 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
The long campaign for a bureau of national parks was 

successfully concluded in August 1916 when Congress 

established the National Park Service. Two new national parks, in volcanic areas in Hawaii and California, 

were established in that same month, and in February 

1917 Congress established Mount McKinley National 

Park in Alaska as a refuge and breeding ground for 

conservation of Alaskan big game against the inroads 

expected to develop when the new Akskan Railway 

was completed. The photograph was taken by A. H. 

Brooks of the Geological Survey who served as vicechairman of the Railway Commission. (From A. H. 

Brooks, 1911.)

President Wilson was reelected in November 1916 in an election so close 

that the result was in doubt for three days until the final count in California was 

announced. Although the Democrats retained control of both houses of Congress, the Republicans gained in both the Senate and House. Once the election 

was over, Wilson felt free to make an attempt at mediation of the European 

war, which the German Ambassador to the United States had proposed in 

September when German submarines were destroying Allied ships at such a 

rate that the German high command was confident of starving out Britain and 

winning the war. By the end of November, Wilson completed a draft proposal 

with a program for an equitable peace. Before he was ready to release it, the 

German Government announced its willingness to begin negotiations, but 

when Wilson asked the belligerent powers to state their terms for peace, 

Germany evaded a direct answer; the Allies rejected a negotiated peace and 

outlined peace terms clearly unacceptable to the Central Powers. Thus by January 1917, it was clear that the war would not soon end and on January 22 

Wilson addressed Congress, calling for "peace without victory."

Commissioner Baruch of the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense had already begun a study of the steel and metal industries, and 

at the January meeting of the Commission he was encouraged to continue his 

efforts to bring about an understanding of how they could combine their 

resources. Commissioner Willard was authorized to undertake an investigation 

to develop ways in which the railroads could aid the defense effort.

The National Research Council's newly formed Committee on Geology 

also met for the first time in January 1917. The committee, under the chairmanship of John M. Clarke, president of the Geological Society of America, 

was composed largely of academic geologists and a few State geologists but included no one from the U.S. Geological Survey. As a preliminary procedure,

"Peace without Victory" 175
the committee decided to make a census of all the geologists of the United 

States with reference to training, special skills and knowledge, and possible 

areas of public service. Plans were also made to prepare a brochure "What a 

geologist can do in war," and subcommittees were appointed on materials and 

facilities for rapid construction of roads and fortifications; measurement of 

earth vibrations as a means of locating heavy batteries; water supply for camps; 

and the geology of cantonments and geological instruction in training camps. 

The committee also examined the possibility of constructing a superior armor 

for the national army on the basis of the construction in armored Devonian 

fish.

By January 1917, petroleum supplies were already becoming critical, and 

the Survey's Division of Mineral Resources began collection and publication of 

monthly statistics showing the quantity of crude oil moved from field sources, 

delivered to refiners or consumers, and in storage at the end of each month for 

each of the major fields east of the Rocky Mountains. The information was 

compiled from reports submitted voluntarily by about 200 pipeline and refining companies and was admittedly incomplete. However, the data furnished an 

index to the status of the industry as 90 to 95 percent of the crude oil marketed 

each month was accounted for. In January 1917, also, the Ground Water Division of the Water Resources Branch and the Coastal Plain Section of the 

Geologic Branch joined forces to begin preparation of a series of reports on 

underground water supplies and soil drainage features of areas along the Mexican border and the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts for transmittal to the War College 

and the Army Engineers. In the Topographic Branch, a Division of Military 

Surveys was established, with Glenn S. Smith, commissioned a major in the 

Army Engineers' Reserve Corps, in charge. Director Smith had suggested such 

a unit to the War Department in August 1916, and after Congress appropriated $35,000 to the War Department for strategic mapping the division was set 

up and mapping was begun in Virginia.

At the end of January 1917, the German Ambassador notified Secretary of 

State Lansing that effective February 1, all ships, neutral or belligerent, armed 

or unarmed, in the war zone would be sunk on sight. The United States 

therefore severed diplomatic relations with Germany on February 3.

The Council of National Defense met with its Advisory Commission on 

February 12, at which time it agreed to ask the National Research Council to act 

as its research arm, and to concentrate its efforts on production and supply. 

Secretary of the Interior Lane called for a series of conferences with the leaders 

in each industry fundamentally necessary to defense, at which they could be 

asked to organize themselves to deal with the Council through one man or 

through a committee of not more than three men to whom the Council could 

submit problems. The Advisory Commission then organized itself into committees, each member being a chairman who could draw other members from 

either government or civil life or both. Daniel Willard became chairman of the 

committee on transportation and communication and Bernard Baruch, chairman of the committee on raw materials, minerals, and metals.

On February 26, 1917, President Wilson, still trying to avoid war, asked 

Congress for authority to arm American merchantmen in the hope of deterring 

submarines from attacking them to prevent an overt act that would precipitate 

war. The House approved the President's request on March 1, but in the Senate 

a small group filibustered until the mandatory end of the session on March 4 

and no vote was taken. Meanwhile, on March 1, the State Department had 

released a decoded message from the German Foreign Secretary to the German 

Minister in Mexico, which the British had intercepted, directing the Minister, if 

war broke out between Germany and the United States, to propose a GermanMexican alliance. Germany would provide Mexico with generous financial sup176 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
port and bring about the cession of New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas to Mexico 

in the peace treaty.

On March 12, the State Department announced that all American merchant vessels sailing through the war zones would henceforth be armed. It had 

been determined in the meantime that specific approval by Congress was not 

necessary. On that very day, an unarmed American ship was sunk without 

warning, and on March 16, three more American ships were torpedoed. On 

March 20, the Cabinet unanimously recommended war, and on the 21st, President Wilson called the new Congress into special session on April 2.

As the United States' entry into the war became inevitable, the 

Topographic Branch of the Survey adjusted its plan for field work to conform to 

a program drawn up by the General Staff of the Army, and after March 26, 

1917, all available funds were used to make maps for the War Department and 

all other surveys were recessed. Director George Otis Smith and M. R. Campbell were invited to become members of the subcommittee on the geology of 

cantonments and instruction in training camps of the National Research Council's Committee on Geology, and the Survey began preparation of a series of 

geographic handbooks that would be useful in both general and military 

instruction.

The Council of National Defense and its Advisory Commission met on 

March 24 at which time Commissioner Baruch reported that he had set up 

several committees, including committees on leather, rubber, steel, wool, 

nickel, oil, and zinc, and that negotiations were underway to provide the 

Government with its requirements of copper, zinc, lead, and steel products and 

to increase the output of tin cans and plate. Exactly what such requirements 

might be was not then known, for no one had calculated the materials necessary 

to equip and maintain an army of a million men.

The U.S. Geological Survey had by this time begun preparation of a 

bulletin "Our Mineral Supplies," the first chapter of which was published on 

April 13, the others at intervals during the next few months. Bulletin 666 was a 

more sobering document than George Otis Smith's Bulletin 599 issued as the 

war in Europe began. Minerals were now divided into three classes: those for 

which domestic supplies were adequate for all needs, those for which domestic 

supplies were not sufficient for all needs, and those that were ' 'inadequate in 

quantity or quality, or both, the lack of which must be offset by imports, use of 

substitutes, or curtailment of use." The list of minerals of which supplies were 

inadequate had been doubled to include asbestos, chromite, graphite, highgrade manganese ore, and monazite as well as nickel, nitrates, platinum, 

potash, and tin. The situation with respect to manganese was especially critical. 

If conditions demanded the maintenance of the 1916 output of steel and if imports of manganese ore and ferromanganese were cut off, the Survey held that 

deposits of manganese then developed in the United States could not meet the 

demands, and much readjustment in the steel industry would be necessary.

Domestic supplies of antimony, mercury, mica, pyrite, strontium, and 

vanadium were considered sufficient for most peacetime needs but insufficient 

for all needs, and some stimulation or control would be needed. Even for 

minerals for which domestic supplies were considered adequate, a note of caution had crept into the Survey's report. Iron-ore reserves, enormous as they 

were, were not sufficient to prolong production for many decades if the rate of 

increase in consumption of ore was maintained. Conservation of the iron-ore 

supplies of the United States, discovery of new supplies, and development of 

methods for rendering supplies of low-grade ore available were vital to the 

maintenance of the industrial independence of the United States.

Moreover, the "impregnable position" of the United States with respect 

to mineral fuels had become vulnerable. Coal had become high priced and

Our Mineral Supplies, 1917 177
hard to get because of the shortage of labor and insufficient transportation. The 

outlook for petroleum was not one "to encourage optimism." Production then 

barely met the normal demands for petroleum products; an immediate increase 

in production to meet the war's abnormal demands was imperative. The Survey 

foresaw a serious shortage in the supply of motor fuel and suggested that

this famine can be deferred by the exercise of strict economy in the utilization of the supply now available by every operator of a motor vehicle in this 

country and by the curtailment of the use of gasoline-driven vehicles for 

pleasure and for such business purposes as can not be efficiently accomplished by the substitution of electrically propelled vehicles. It may be 

still further deferred by the substitution in a multitude of small plants of 

one kind or another throughout the country of water, steam, or electric 

power for that now derived from gasoline.

178 National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917
Chapter 7.

Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919

It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material 

resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the incidental needs of the Nation in the most abundant and yet the most 

economical and efficient way possible.

 Woodrow Wilson

On the evening of April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appeared 

before a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against 

Germany. The war resolution was passed by the Senate on April 4, concurred in 

by the House in the early hours of April 6, and signed by the President on the 

same day. In his eloquent war message President Wilson declared that the 

American objective was "to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the 

life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst 

the really free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose 

and action as will henceforth insure the observance of these principles." The 

United States had no selfish ends to serve; it was entering the war to fight for 

the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of people everywhere "to 

choose their way of life and of obedience," and we would be "satisfied when 

those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations 

can make them."

The waging of war, Wilson pointed out, would involve not only equipping the Navy fully, especially to deal with submarines, and greatly expanding 

the armed forces, but also "the utmost practicable cooperation in counsel and 

action with the governments now at war with Germany'' including the extension of liberal financial credits. The effort would also involve "the organization 

and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply the 

materials of war and serve the incidental needs of the Nation in the most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible."

Wilson admitted to a confidant, Frank Cobb, editor of the New York 

World, that he had never been so uncertain about anything in his life as he had 

been about the war message. The consequences that he envisioned from 

American intervention were terrifying. "Once lead this people into war, and 

they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight you must be 

brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very 

fibre of our national life * * *." It would require, Wilson thought, a generation after the coming of peace to restore normal conditions.

Mobilization of the nation was a gigantic task, made more complex by 

distance from the front lines and American aversion to the discipline of the 

armed services or any control of civilian life. Americans responded at first with 

patriotic enthusiasm and then with patient endurance, and in time an effective 

organization was achieved. As the war went on, Wilson increasingly concerned 

himself with what he saw as the two great problems of the future: making a just 

peace and establishing an international organization to maintain that peace, 

for only peace for the entire world would ensure peace for the United States.

Geologists were then aware and others would soon become aware that 

no nation is completely self-sustaining in mineral resources. All nations depend

Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919 179
on others for certain minerals or for markets for their excess minerals. The 

possibility of international cooperation or international control of minerals 

became very much part of the thinking of many geologists during the war, and 

much work toward this end was carried on, even at the Peace Conference. In 

the end, however, the effort came to nought. Part of the war's aftermath was 

the rejection, in every belligerent country, of the statesmen who had directed 

it. The United States turned against "foreign entanglements" and became 

preoccupied with domestic concerns.

As soon as the United States declared war, many members of the 

Geological Survey volunteered for the armed services. A. H. Brooks, the Chief 

Alaskan Geologist, who was commissioned in the Engineer Officers Reserve 

Corps in April 1917, and Glenn Smith, Chief of the Division of Military 

Surveys of the Topographic Branch, were among those who sailed for France in 

June 1917 with the first contingent of the American Expeditionary Force. They 

were the vanguard of 411 from the Survey who served in the armed forces. 

Secretary Lane pointed out that the making of war in 1917 tested "the full 

powers of the Nation in every resource and capacity and especially along lines of 

scientific knowledge." Lane said that Brooks, who had spent 20 years studying 

Alaskan geology ' 'until he had become identified with the rise of Alaska and 

was the embodiment of its hopeful spirit," would use his geologic knowledge 

to locate trenches into which the country would not drain and thus provide a 

healthier place for the American soldier; Smith and the other topographers 

would prepare maps of the land over which new railroads would run to carry 

men, supplies, and munitions to the front and the wounded back for medical 

care, of the places where the big guns would be placed, rivers, forests, "and all 

the details of a landscape that changes from day to day under the pressing advance or the forced retreat," now that "men by the millions move by the 

map." Those who remained at home became "adjuncts and auxiliaries" in the 

contest as they wrestled with problems of supplying raw materials and power to 

serve the military establishment and industry.

In the United States, certain problems were already manifest with regard 

to mineral raw materials, but the parameters of the mineral-fuels problems 

were unrelated to those of the metals and other minerals. The United States 

was then producing nearly two-thirds of the world's oil and was the world's 

largest producer of coal. Its reserves of both commodities were considered adequate to meet all demands; the problem was one of conserving production and 

controlling distribution to meet the extraordinary demands of war. Reserves of 

many metals and certain other minerals, however, were inadequate, and the 

problem was therefore not so much one of production and distribution as of 

locating new sources, increasing the yield from known sources, or of finding 

substitutes. Federal efforts to alleviate shortages of needed nonmetals such as 

potash and nitrates had been underway for some time before the United States 

entered the war. Within a few months after the declaration of war, the Federal 

Government took steps to conserve production and control the distribution of 

the mineral fuels. Geologists and mining engineers, however, organized the efforts to solve the metals problems, but for many months they lacked a sense of 

direction or even coordination. In fact, the war was almost over before the 

situation was remedied.

The first efforts to control fuels were made through the Council of National Defense. In March 1917, the Council established an Advisory Committee on Petroleum Production, headed by A. C. Bedford, chairman of the Board 

of Directors of Standard Oil of New Jersey, and composed solely of industry 

representatives. The committee was asked to ensure delivery of adequate supplies of petroleum products for the Navy and other branches of the Armed 

Forces, recommend allocations of available production to meet the demands of 

the Allies, and to balance such needs against the requirements of domestic war

180 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
The U.S. Geological Survey was deeply and intricately 

involved in the war effort as is evidenced by this 

diagram in its 39th Annual Report. The diagram may 

also be taken to show the close involvement of the 

earth sciences in the common defense and general 

welfare of the people.

industries, all without creating shortages in any sector of the economy and 

without significantly increasing oil prices.

An Advisory Committee on Coal Production was established in April 

1917, and asked to concern itself with the production and movement of coal 

needed by the Navy, the war industries, Federal institutions, and public 

utilities. The Coal Committee was an industry-Government committee, and 

both George Otis Smith, Director of the Geological Survey, and Van H. Manning, Director of the Bureau of Mines, were members of this committee. The 

Committee on Coal Production was a very active committee. It helped settle 

several labor disputes, arranged to procure supplies for the Government, and 

organized the coal operators for cooperation with the railroads to facilitate

SPECIAL WAR ACTIVITIES.

GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS.

War minerals.

Mineral fuels.

Structural materials.

Confidential military data.

Mineral resources of the United States.

Mineral properties.

Foreign mineral resources.

Cantonment descriptions.

TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEYS.

Military mapping.

Survey of sites.

Route maps.

Recruiting engineer regiment.

Training engineer officers.

Shipment of instruments.

New airplane camera.

Confidential military data.

WATER RESOURCES INVESTIGATIONS.

Power survey.

General water-supply reports.

Special examinations.

Power and water systems.

Desert springs.

Confidential military data.

Foreign power resources.

MAP PRINTING.

Special military maps.

Mexico maps.

Foreign military maps.

Admiralty charts.

Confidential and emergency data.

Miscellaneous maps.

PUBLICATIONS.

Special distribution.

Orientation manual.

Special mineral report^.

Cantonment maps

DIRECT MILITARY SERVICE.

CONTRIBUTED TO 

WAR DEPARTMENT.

General Staff.

Engineer Corps.

Ordnance.

Artillery.

Quartermaster.

Signal Corps.

Surgeon General's Office.

Aviation.

NAVY DEPARTMENT.

Ordnance.

Hydrographic Office. 

Steam Engineering. 

Construction and Repair. 

Special Fuel Board. 

Yards and Docks.

STATE DEPARTMENT. 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Mines (gas defense).

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.

Bureau of Standards.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

Capital Issues Committee.

FUEL ADMINISTRATION. 

Coal Division. 

Oil Division.

FOOD ADMINISTRATION. 

WAR INDUSTRIES BOARD. 

WAR TRADE BOARD. 

SHIPPING BOARD. 

RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION. 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.

Survey War Activities 181
transportation. The committee also invited the coal operators to meet in 

Washington at the end of June 1917, and at that time the operators agreed to 

reduce the prices of coal at the different fields. A press release announcing the 

reductions quoted George Otis Smith as saying that the reduction to consumers 

east of the Mississippi River would amount to $15 million a month. The action 

of the committee, however, was not sanctioned by the Department of Justice, 

was repudiated by the Chairman of the Council of National Defense, and very 

nearly led to Secretary Lane's resignation. It was nonetheless effective in halting 

rising prices as most of the coal vendors adhered to the agreement.

Legislation then pending in Congress to conserve production and control 

distribution of food necessary to the war effort was amended to include fuel as 

well, and the bill was passed and approved on August 10, 1917, to be effective 

for the duration of the war. The Lever Act authorized the President to fix the 

prices of coal, coke, and other commodities, to license producers and 

distributors, and to prohibit unfair trade practices. The Food Administration 

was established immediately, and Herbert Hoover, who had gained an international reputation for his success as director of war relief in Europe, was apAlfred Hulse Brooks (1871-1924), Chief of the Division (later Branch) of Alaskan Mineral Resources, 

1903-1924, Chief Geologist of the American Expeditionary Force and of the Peace Commission, 

1917-1919- Brooks, who was commissioned a Major in 

the Engineer Officers Reserve Corps in June 1917 and 

later promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, is credited with 

initiating the idea of a reserve corps by suggesting that 

the War Department establish a roster of engineers and 

others in Government service whose special qualifications might be of value to the military in time of war. 

Brooks joined the Survey as a full-time employee in 

1894 after graduating from Harvard University, and in 

1898 was assigned to work in Alaska. He became so 

deeply involved in both Alaskan science and Alaskan 

development that he was commonly referred to as 

"Brooks of Alaska." The Brooks Range was named for 

him. (From the files of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

iriPii^E^c] ay^sh a I e

Impervious material: Easily excavated. Trenches require complete 

revetment and drainage for surface water.

Impervious material: Easily excavated. Trenches require complete, revetment and ample drainage for both 

surface and underground water.

182 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
One of the important ways in which geology was of 

service at the front was in the construction of field 

works such as trenches, dugouts, and covered ways. 

These were almost always built in a hurry and often 

under shell fire, usually without taking time to make 

underground tests. In many localities, however, the 

surface formation indicated underground conditions, 

or a geologic map could provide needed information, 

such as depth of soil and subsoil, lithology and structure of formations within 4 feet of the surface, and 

permeability of the excavated material. For example, as 

the illustration shows, trenches dug in impervious 

material, even though more difficult to excavate, did 

not require drainage as the surface water ran into the 

ground. (From A. H. Brooks, 1921.)

Pcrvifius hard material: Trench construction requires 

blasting but little revetment. No drainage required. 

as surface water runs into the ground.

pointed to head it. The Fuel Administration was established on August 23, 

with Harry Garfield, President of Williams College, as Fuel Administrator. The 

Food Administration, which might logically have been associated with the 

Agriculture Department, and the Fuel Administration were both provided office space in the new Interior Building.

The Council of National Defense also established several committees, all 

solely industry committees, on various metals and minerals. Then, on July 8, 

1917, the council voted to establish a War Industries Board to "act as a 

clearing-house for the war-industry needs of the Government, determine the 

most effective ways of meeting them, and the best means and methods of 

increasing production, including the creation or extension of industries demanded by the emergency, the sequence and relative urgency of the needs of 

the different Government services, and consider price factors and, in the first 

instance, the industrial and labor aspects of problems involved and the general 

questions affecting the purchase of commodities." The Quartermaster General 

had by this time estimated that 400 ships in constant service would be needed 

to maintain a million U.S. troops in France. There were fewer than 650 ships of 

American registry capable of transatlantic voyages at the time and losses by submarine attack were expected to exceed gains by new construction for at least a 

year. Clearly domestic production of all possible materials was needed to conserve shipping.

Entirely apart from the Council of National Defense, geologists and mining engineers organized a War Minerals Committee on July 12, 1917, that its 

chairman, consulting mining engineer W. Y. Westervelt, characterized as "a 

voluntary committee * * * trying to organize a constructive attitude in 

Washington." W. O. Hotchkiss, State Geologist of Wisconsin, proposed the 

formation of such a committee in the spring of 1917 and interested Philip N. 

Moore, President of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and F. W. 

DeWolf, State Geologist of Illinois, in the proposal. George Otis Smith at first 

saw no need for this unofficial agency but did not oppose it and named Chief 

Geologist David White to represent the Survey. Serving with David White and 

Hotchkiss, who represented the Geology Committee of the National Research 

Council and the Association of State Geologists, were Alfred G. White, mine 

economist of the Bureau of Mines, and Westervelt who represented the AIME 

and the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America. The War Minerals Committee, although it had no official status, was also given office space in the new 

Interior Building.

The War Minerals Committee began its work by establishing three classes 

of minerals with which it would be concerned: those that had hitherto been imported but whose production could be stimulated by ordinary commercial 

means; those whose production would require some fostering on the part of the 

Government; and those for which domestic sources were inadequate and which 

would have to be imported. The three classes included minerals in nearly all 

mineral groups precious metals, ferroalloy minerals, fertilizer minerals, and 

miscellaneous other metals and nonmetals; the most serious shortages were in 

the ferroalloy and fertilizer minerals. The United States had large supplies of 

iron ore but lacked adequate high-grade supplies of nearly all the principal 

minerals used to give special qualities to the finished iron and steel. The committee solicited reports from mining engineers and geologists on specific prospects and on the possibility of stimulating domestic production of the principal 

imported minerals. From these and later examinations and reports made expressly for the committee, they determined that a large amount of imported 

pyrite could be replaced by domestic pyrite, that a change in metallurgical 

practice would make possible greater use of domestic manganese, and that to a 

lesser extent, chrome and other minor metals might also be developed so that 

shipping tonnage could be released for transportation of war materiel.

War Minerals Committee 183
David White, in addition to his work on the War Minerals Committee, 

continued to direct the Geologic Branch of the Survey in its two-fold task of 

developing information on the mineral production of the United States, the 

specific task of the Division of Mineral Resources, and field investigations to aid 

the discovery and development or increase in the production of minerals in 

short supply and of petroleum, primarily the task of the Division of Geology 

and Paleontology. For administrative purposes, a Section of the Geology of 

Iron and Steel Alloy Metals, or war minerals, was established in the Division of 

Geology and Paleontology with E. F. Burchard in charge; White himself took 

personal charge of the petroleum investigations. In practice, section and division boundaries were ignored, and the full strength of the branch was directed 

toward whatever work seemed most pressing.

The Division of Mineral Resources became the main source of information 

on the mineral production of the United States during the war, and the policy 

adopted more than a decade earlier of assigning geologists to the preparation of 

reports on mineral commodities paid handsome dividends under emergency 

conditions. The staff kept up with the regular annual and semiannual reports 

based on correspondence with about 110,000 mineral producers and also made 

special investigations, sometimes collecting information by telegraph and 

preparing weekly reports. So impressed were some procurement officials with 

the quality of the data the Survey provided on metals that they asked the 

Survey to supply data also on hides and mahogany, a request which Director 

Smith, to their surprise, declined.

The Survey's collection of statistics on coal was greatly expanded through 

the aid of the Fuel Administration. Early in June 1917, the Survey began to 

publish weekly statements, prepared by C. E. Lesher with the assistance of 

W. T. Thorn, Jr., on the production of bituminous coal and the factors in each 

district that were limiting production and shipment. When the Fuel Administration was established in August, it did not build up an organization to handle coal statistics but used Survey data, and the group working with Lesher 

became the nucleus of a much larger organization financed by the Fuel Administration but administered by the Survey. This separation from the executive 

function of the Fuel Administration was later found to be of advantage in 

disputes between the Fuel Administration and other war boards.

Among the ferroalloy minerals in short supply, manganese was most important at the outset. Before the war began the United States had produced 

only 1 to 2 percent of its needs and had been able to increase that production 

only to about 35 percent. In June 1917, therefore, a field conference was held 

in the Central Valley of Virginia to test D. F. Hewett's hypothesis on the relation of physiographic and stratigraphic conditions to manganese deposits and 

its applicability to the discovery of new ore bodies. Then G. W. Stose, F. J. 

Katz, and H. D. Miser made an areal and structural study of the Shady 

Dolomite and contiguous formations throughout the manganiferous regions in 

that area and the Survey issued a short report recommending prospecting of six 

undeveloped tracts in the Shenandoah Valley. Stose and F. C. Schrader went 

on to make a detailed examination of the physiography and structure of the 

manganese-ore-bearing areas of eastern Tennessee in cooperation with the Tennessee Geological Survey. Stose also examined manganese deposits in 

Alabama, Schrader, the deposits in Georgia and North and South Carolina, 

and Miser mapped the geology of the Batesville area in Arkansas and estimated 

its manganese reserves. E. L.Jones, Jr., J. T. Pardee, andj. B. Umpleby made 

most of the manganese studies in the Western States.

Second to manganese in importance was chrome. J. S. Diller, long familiar 

with Pacific Coast geology, specialized in chromite, visiting the developed 

chromite deposits in California to determine their size and prospective output 

and also the chromite localities in Oregon and Wyoming. Eleanora Bliss exGlenn Shepard Smith (1869-1951), who had been 

placed in charge of the Survey's new Division of Military Surveys on January 11, 1917, was commissioned a 

Major in the Engineer Officers Reserve Corps in June 

1917 and sailed for France with the first contingent of 

the A.E.F. In France he served as assistant to the Chief 

of the Topographical Division, General Staff, and 

director of the Base Printing Plant of the 29th Engineers, and was later promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. 

After the war, Smith, who had been with the Survey 

since 1895, took charge of West Indian surveys and also 

served as Acting Chief Topographic Engineer in the 

absence of that officer. He became Atlantic Division 

Engineer in 1924, left the Survey briefly in September 

1929 to serve as Interior Department representative 

and Secretary to the Southern Appalachian Park Commission, and returned to the Survey in December 1930 

as Central Division Engineer. (From the files of the 

U.S. Geological Survey.)

184 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
Claude Hale Birdseye (1878-1941), Chief Topographic 

Engineer of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1919-1929; 

Chief of the Division of Printing and Engraving, 

1932-1941. Birdseye, who joined the Survey in 1904, 

was Topographic Engineer in charge of the Rocky 

Mountain Division when he was commissioned a Captain in the Engineer Officers Reserve Corps in June 

1917. He was promoted to Major before sailing for 

France in August as orienteur officer with the 1st 

Brigade of Coast Artillery, and promoted to Lieutenant 

Colonel in 1918 and assigned to the Office of Chief of 

Coast Artillery, A.E.F., in charge of artillery ranging 

and map information. Birdseye was a leading spirit in 

the development of photogrammetric methods of 

mapping and from 1929 to 1932 supervised the photogrammetric mapping of the site of Boulder Dam. He 

was one of the organizers and first president of the 

American Society of Photogrammetry, president of the 

Association of American Geographers, and also active 

in the American Association for the Advancement of 

Science. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

amined the chromite deposits in Cecil County, Maryland, and the abandoned 

chromite mines and chromite-bearing serpentines of southeastern Pennsylvania. Tungsten was used in making high-speed-tool steels, and molybdenum 

and vanadium were sometimes used in place of tungsten. The United States 

had some of the richest deposits of molybdenum but the other metals were 

sought throughout the Western States. Tungsten, along with platinum and 

tin, were also sought in Alaska, where G. L. Harrington and J. B. Mertie began 

a systematic investigation of heavy placer minerals.

The fertilizer minerals in short supply were potash, nitrates, and pyrite 

and sulfur. The nitrates and materials for the production of sulfuric acid were 

in demand not only for fertilizers but in the manufacture of munitions. 

Reported nitrate occurrences in the Amargosa Desert of southeastern California 

were fully examined by Survey parties under L. F. Noble, G. R. Mansfield, 

F. C. Calkins, and Theodore Chapin. The search for pyrite took A. C. Spencer 

and E. S. Bastin to Maine, while G. R. Mansfield examined possible sulfur 

deposits in New Mexico, and E. S. Larsen, Jr., examined sulfur deposits in 

Nevada. On the possibility of obtaining sulfur in Alaska, A. G. Maddren investigated deposits on Unalaska and Akun Island in the Aleutians and near 

Stepovak Bay.

The desperate need for potash in the United States brought about a partial 

resolution of the long stalemate between House and Senate on the leasing of 

mineral lands. By the summer of 1917, the price of potash had gone up to $480 

a ton. R. K. Bailey continued the Survey's search for potash, now in its seventh

Strategic Minerals 185
year, in Texas and New Mexico but found no new deposits. Special investigations were also made of deposits of potash-rich silicates but these contained at 

best only small percentages of potash. Secretary Lane warned Congress that if 

action were not taken by the end of October 1917, potash would not be 

available for crops in 1918. The House and Senate then agreed on a bill, approved October 2, 1917, to encourage prospecting for potash on public lands, 

according to its title, but chiefly to open up to development the Searles Lake 

deposits which had been withdrawn in 1912. The Secretary of the Interior was 

authorized under terms of the act to issue permits to prospect on 2,560 acres of 

public lands for potash and to issue patents for 640 acres if potash were found 

and to lease the remaining acreage. Lands already withdrawn as potash lands 

were excluded from prospecting but immediately open to leasing. The President was authorized to regulate the price of the minerals and to restrict the use 

of the potassium to the United States.

To aid the production of petroleum, the Survey continued its geologic exploration of promising areas to find new sources of supply. Intensive studies 

were made in Oklahoma where leasing of Indian lands was planned. In March 

1917, H. M. Robinson had been sent to investigate the lands proposed for leasing in Pontotoc and Hughes Counties, but during the summer of 1917, 20 

geologists, including both Survey geologists who had been mapping in other 

areas and college professors who joined the Survey for the season, were assigned 

to map in the Osage Reservation. Maps were prepared by townships and a series 

of papers describing the geologic structure was planned, to be issued as rapidly 

as possible for the guidance of prospective lessees. In addition to the mapping 

in Oklahoma, A. E. Path made a detailed examination of the Eldorado field 

and surrounding country in Kansas, and E. T. Hancock and Eugene Stebinger 

made a reconnaissance of the structure along the southwest front of the Black 

Hills and examined areas north of the Crow Indian Reservation and in Teton 

County, Montana. During the winter months of 1917-1918, L. W. Stephenson, O. B. Hopkins, and Sidney Powers began mapping in Texas.

Some of the Survey's basic research on the origin and accumulation of 

petroleum was continued until the press of war work forced its suspension. 

G. S. Rogers continued his investigation of salt domes in the Coastal Plain, and 

George Becker, who had been investigating capillarity and heat conduction and 

the part played by voids and interstitial spaces in rocks, devoted some time to 

the theory of the formation of salt domes. Both R. C. Wells and Chase Palmer 

continued for a time their studies of oil-field waters. In late winter, the work on 

salt domes was recessed and Rogers began a search for helium. Helium was particularly desirable for observation balloons because of its incombustibility and 

lightness. Early in the war, the British had made an unsuccessful search for this 

rare gas at home and in Canada. When the United States entered the war the 

project was revived, and after the Bureau of Mines had demonstrated the 

technologic feasibility of separating helium from other gases, the Survey was 

asked to locate the richest supplies and to estimate the quantity available.

While the Geologic Branch combed the United States for essential mineral 

resources, the Topographic Branch became to all intents and purposes part of 

the Army. By June 30, 60 of the Survey's topographic engineers had been commissioned, including the Chief Geographer, the Geographers-in-charge of 

three of the four divisions, and two of the three Inspectors of Topography. The 

branch organization took on a military flavor with Major Marshall in overall 

command, and Majors Herron and Gerdine in charge of the northeastern, 

eastern, southeastern, central, and southern "departments." G. R. Davis was 

left in charge of the western department where defense needs were less critical. 

At 66, topographer-artist J. H. Renshawe was too old for a commission but was 

nonetheless kept busy preparing relief maps, posters for the Navy, and color 

schemes for use in aerial photography. To carry on the routine phases of map186 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
ping, permission was obtained from the Civil Service Commission to appoint 

topographic field assistants without status in the classified service, and a training school was set up on July 1 to train the 75 candidates sent to Washington by 

engineering colleges throughout the country. The war gave considerable impetus to the development of photogrammetry. Newly commissioned Major 

J. W. Bagley, assisted by Alaskan geologists F. H. Moffit and J. B. Mertie, designed and constructed photographic cameras to be used in airplanes for 

mapmaking purposes. Sixteen engineer officers were trained in use of the 

instruments, and about 40 enlisted men assisted them in mapping airmail 

routes from Washington to New York and in other areas.

The Water Resources Branch, on the other hand, found its normal routine 

upset by having to undertake special investigations for which Congress had 

made appropriations. A major effort to examine and classify lands under the 

enlarged- and stock-raising homestead laws was begun. The Civil Service Commission had given a special examination and established a list of eligibles in the 

spring of 1917, a Division of Enlarged and Stock-Raising Homesteads was 

formed, under the direction of the Chief Hydraulic Engineer, the Division of 

Water Utilization was merged with it, and by the start of the new fiscal year 

field parties were being organized. Work began in the northern tier of States 

but as the field season advanced and the weather became unsettled, parties 

were transferred to the Southwest. Under instructions from Secretary Lane, 

field examinations were generally confined to lands for which applications had 

actually been made, and the Land Classification Branch was able to make the 

first designation of stock-raising lands on November 8, 1917.

A special appropriation had also been made for exploratory drilling for 

ground water for irrigation. After O. E. Meinzer and W. O. Clark had made a 

reconnaissance of a large part of east-central Nevada, Clark and C. W. Riddell 

made a detailed survey of Steptoe Valley, near Ely. Three wells were then 

drilled, two of which obtained large supplies of water within 100 feet of the 

surface.

The third special investigation was a survey of desert watering places, "to 

discover, develop, protect, and render more accessible for the benefit of the 

general public springs, streams, and water holes on arid public lands of the 

United States." This had been authorized on August 21, 1916, but no funds 

had been appropriated at that time. Because of the strategic importance of the 

area in southern California and southwestern Arizona, which was the driest, 

hottest, and least explored part of the desert and which included 350 miles of 

the Mexican boundary, regular Survey funds were used to supplement the 

special appropriation of $10,000 in the Sundry Civil Expenses Act so that the 

area could be surveyed in fiscal year 1918. Kirk Bryan, C. P. Ross, D. G. 

Thompson, and J. S. Brown, each accompanied by one nontechnical assistant, 

traveled by automobile carrying with them light-weight camping equipment 

and examined practically all the watering places in the region, erected signs at 

305 sites, and made a general exploration of the geography, geology, and 

ground-water conditions. Their maps and data were made available to the 

Army Engineers for incorporation in the military map of the United States.

The Water Resources Branch also received cooperative funds from 22 

States and the Territory of Hawaii in 1917, nearly all of it for studies of stream 

flow, and funds from other Federal organizations for studies of particular 

streams. Gaging stations were maintained in 40 States, Hawaii, and Alaska. A 

new laboratory for quality-of-water investigations was completed and the 

Quality of Water Division was organized on January 2, 1918, under the direction of A. A. Chambers.

When the United States entered the war in the spring of 1917, the situation in Europe had been pretty much of a standoff, and in the summer a

Water Resources, 1917 187
negotiated peace even seemed possible as neither side seemed able to win a 

decision on the battlefield and both Allied and Central Power governments 

were becoming increasingly unstable. By the winter of 1917-1918, however, 

the picture had changed. The Russians had withdrawn from the war after the 

Bolshevik coup d'etat in November, and in December the Italian forces had 

been broken after a 2-month campaign. Allied war aims could be achieved only 

by military victory and victory would not easily be won for the Central Powers 

could leave only token forces on the Eastern and Italian Fronts and concentrate 

on a massive drive on the Western Front to force the decision there before 

American troops could arrive in strength.

President Wilson told Congress in the State-of-the-Union Message on 

December 3, 1917, that "in the present session of Congress our whole attention and energy should be concentrated on the vigorous, rapid, and successful 

prosecution of the great task of winning the war.'' Among the various measures 

needed, it was

imperatively necessary that the consideration of the full use of the water 

power of the country and also the consideration of the systematic and yet 

economical development of such of the natural resources of the country as 

are still under the control of the federal government should be immediately 

resumed and affirmatively and constructively dealt with at the earliest 

possible moment.

General leasing bills were then pending in both the Senate and the House. 

The Senate passed its bill early in January 1918. The House Committee on 

Public Lands, in what had become practically time-honored fashion, threw out 

everything after the enacting clause of the Senate bill, substituted its own bill, 

which was essentially the same as the House had passed in previous sessions, 

and the House then passed its bill. The conference committee was again unable 

to come to an agreement.

A draft of a comprehensive act to cover the development of water-power 

sites under Federal control was prepared by E. C. Finney, Chairman of the 

Board of Law Review of the Department of the Interior, George Otis Smith, 

N. C. Grover, Herman Stabler, and W. B. Heroy of the Geological Survey and 

O. C. Merrill of the Forest Service and filed early in December 1917 by Congressman Scott Ferris, Chairman of the House Public Lands Committee. The 

Senate put on its calendar a bill to regulate the construction of dams across 

navigable waters. In an effort to avoid the stalemate of previous sessions, President Wilson invited members of the committees involved to the White House 

and the House then established a Water Power Committee. However, no bills 

were passed.

In January 1918, the Fuel Administration, which had at first been concerned only with coal, established an Oil Division to impose controls on production and marketing of petroleum. Mark Requa, a California petroleum 

engineer and a protege of Herbert Hoover, was chosen to head the division, 

which was housed in some of the rooms in the Survey left vacant by the departure of topographers for the Army. Requa, like Hoover, was a firm believer in 

cooperation between business and Government rather than control of business 

by Government. One of his first actions was to ask for additional representation 

on the Committee on Oil Production of the War Industries Board, and Van H. 

Manning, Director of the Bureau of Mines, was appointed to represent the 

Department of the Interior. Requa made it clear that the Fuel Administration 

would encourage maximum production to meet war needs but would at the 

same time insist on the use of efficient conservation methods and the prevention of waste. Research to improve oil recovery, to which the Bureau of Mines 

had made notable contributions, was encouraged, but not scientific research to 

find more oil. For that, Requa favored tax reduction for oil producers.

188 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
As part of its war effort at home, the Survey made 

special field investigations and laboratory studies of the 

ores of metals used in manufacturing ferroalloys, pig 

iron, and steel. To test D. F. Hewett's hypothesis of 

the origin of the manganese deposits of northwestern 

Virginia, long the source of much of the manganese 

mined in the United States, a survey was made of a 

narrow belt on the east side of the Shenandoah Valley 

of Virginia. At least five different structural associations were recognized, and prospecting of six undeveloped tracts along the west front of the Blue Ridge was 

recommended. The illustration shows the vertical cross 

sections of four manganese mines in the region, 

representing four types of deposits. (From D. F. 

Hewett, G. W. Stose, F. J. Katz, and H. D. Miser, 

1918.)

NW. SE.

-2,000

500

NW. SE.

:'.' -1.500

-1.OOO

5OO

NW. SE.

-1.50O

-1,000'

500

NW.

soo

Although the supply of coal was ample, the transport of coal had become 

so snarled by January 1918 that Fuel Administrator Garfield shut down every 

industrial plant, except those producing food, east of the Mississippi for a 

period of 5 days, and then for 9 consecutive Mondays. On April 1, 1918, the 

Fuel Administration and the Railroad Administration jointly established a zoning system to control the distribution of coal by restricting the movement of 

bituminous coal to markets in territory near the mines. The "zones" or areas 

within which there was both a coal-producing field and a coal-consuming 

market were delineated by the Fuel Administrator and the Director-General 

of Railroads from information provided by the Geological Survey. The size of 

each zone was determined by the ability of the particular field to produce and 

supply the market, the shape and location of the zone were determined by the 

available transportation. Consideration of the questions connected with the 

zoning system led G. H. Ashley to study the classification of coals in general 

and to prepare a detailed and comprehensive scheme of classification by use 

that was presented for discussion at the September 1919 meeting of the 

American Institute of Mining Engineers.

The Fuel Administration also began an investigation of water-power 

resources in an effort to conserve mineral fuel supplies. As it had no field engineers of its own, it made a cooperative agreement with the Survey in the spring

Coal Problems 189
of 1918 whereby Survey engineers would be detailed to the Fuel Administration to investigate specific problems. Then on June 1, 1918, the Survey set up a 

Division of Power Resources in the Water Resources Branch to carry out these 

engineering investigations and also, like its counterpart in the Geologic 

Branch, to make statistical investigations of power resources. W. B. Heroy was 

transferred from the Land Classification Branch to take charge of the new division. The engineering investigations undertaken by the division went beyond 

such traditional Water Resources Branch activities as investigations of facilities 

for water storage and use of stored water for the production of power by hydroelectric plants to the feasibility of financing and constructing such plants and 

obtaining licenses for the purchase of construction materials and generating 

equipment. Studies were also made of power shortages affecting the production of war necessities, economies to be gained by the interconnection of electric power stations, and the installation of additional generating equipment in 

power plants.

The War Minerals Committee had early come to the conclusion that 

something similar to the Fuel Administration was needed for coordination and 

control of the various demands on the mineral industry. The committee first 

planned to establish controls for manganese and pyrite, but on the advice of 

Herbert Hoover, they proposed a single agency to control all minerals and 

prepared legislation, modeled on the Lever Act, that would extend its provisions to the mineral industry except fuels, already under the Fuel Administration, and industries whose materials came from the mineral industry. Before 

the legislation could be introduced, however, the acute shipping crisis that 

developed as the end of 1917 approached forced other actions. The loss of 

American ships to German submarines, the demand for ships for military supplies, and the impending demand for troop transports was greater than 

American shipbuilders could meet. It became imperative that the Shipping 

Board divert available shipping tonnage from commercial to military use and 

use the remaining commercial tonnage as efficiently as possible for war commodities, so the board set up a Division of Planning and Statistics to formulate 

the program for reducing imports.

Mineral imports presented a special problem in import reduction for some 

minerals were clearly needed for production of war materials. In December

Chromite was produced in quantity in the United 

States only in California before the war, although it 

was also known in Oregon; most of the chromite used 

in steelmaking had been imported from New Caledonia and Rhodesia. The demand for domestic chromite increased during the war because of the embargoes on shipping, a great advance in cost, and the 

uncertainty of ocean traffic. J. S. Diller, the chromium 

specialist in the Survey's Division of Mineral Resources, 

noted that numerous areas of peridotite and serpentine 

in the Klamath Mountains of California and Oregon 

contain grains of chromite scattered throughout as well 

as segregated in bodies of commercial interest. Chromite begins to crystallize before the silicates; in the 

photomicrograph of chrome ore from a mine in Shasta 

County, California, the silicates (the light areas) fill the 

spaces left by the more rapidly crystallizing chromite 

grains (the dark areas.) (From J. S. Diller, 1921.)

190 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
As nitrates were essential to the production of explosives, the war made it imperative that all possible 

sources of domestic nitrates be developed in case of 

cutoffs of supplies imported from Chile. Survey geologists made a special investigation of the nitrates associated with other water-soluble salts in the soil layers 

covering certain clay formations in the arid portions of 

Southwestern United States, especially those along the 

Amargosa River near the boundary between Inyo and 

San Bernardino Counties in California. Extractable 

amounts of sodium nitrate were found but the salts 

were regarded as not of immediate practical importance because of the relatively high cost of collecting 

and extracting the nitrate in commercial form. The 

photograph shows a geologist testing a sample of 

nitrate with a portable field outfit. (From L. F. Noble, 

G. R. Mansfield, and others, 1922.)

1917, an informal joint committee of representatives of the Geological Survey's 

Division of Mineral Resources and the War Trade, War Industries, and Shipping Boards was arranged, under the chairmanship of E. S. Bastin, to 

systematize and coordinate more fully the exchange of information on mineral 

resources. Early in January 1918, the head of the Shipping Board's Division of 

Planning and Statistics called C. K. Leith, Professor of Geology at the University of Wisconsin, to take charge of investigating the possibilities of mineral 

embargoes. The Shipping Board believed that the situation required the 

immediate organization of a large professional staff, but Leith, who knew both 

the Survey and the Bureau of Mines, decided instead to confine his organization to a small committee and use the resources of existing agencies. A Committee on Mineral Imports and Exports was formally organized in late February 

with Leith as Chairman, and J. E. Spurr of the Shipping Board and Pope 

Yeatman of the War Industries Board as members. At about the same time, the 

informal joint committee chaired by Bastin was replaced by a Joint Information 

Board on Minerals and Derivatives to which 20 Federal departments, bureaus, 

or divisions of the war boards concerned in one way or another with mineral 

problems sent delegates. Yeatman served as chairman and Bastin as executive 

secretary of the new board, which met weekly to exchange information leading 

to better coordination and the elimination of duplication in mineral 

investigations.

The Leith committee obtained much of the data it needed such as 

estimated imports for 1918 to meet probable needs, the proportion of 

estimated imports that might be eliminated by the development and substitution of domestic supplies, the principal districts or changes in mining or 

metallurgical practice through which such development could be achieved, and 

the extent to which this development could be left to private initiative from 

the War Minerals Committee and the Geological Survey and Bureau of Mines. 

From time to time, technical assistants were taken on to meet special problems 

but the committee relied heavily on E. C. Harder, E. S. Bastin, D. F. Hewett, 

and other members of the Survey whose services were available to them through 

a cooperative agreement. In its work, the committee had to weigh the requirements of the Shipping Board, the War Trade Board, the War Industries 

Board, and the possible sources of supply, and then prepare reports on various 

commodities in which they indicated the nature, location and amount of 

domestic and foreign supplies, the overseas movements, and the war requirements and recommended either a reduction of overseas shipments by

Mineral Imports and Exports 191
specified amounts from certain localities or the maintenance or increase of 

overseas shipments. The information thus assembled afforded for the first time 

something in the nature of a general survey of the world distribution and use of 

mineral resources.

The Leith committee had only a short life. The fragmentation of authority 

led to problems with the War Industries Board, which was responsible for 

domestic production and therefore sometimes countermanded the decisions 

based on scientific advice. In protest, Leith and Spurr resigned, and on June 7, 

1918, the Committee on Mineral Imports and Exports went out of existence. 

Leith became Mineral Advisor to the War Industries Board and Spurr joined 

the Bureau of Mines to take charge of its war minerals program. Leith retained 

his office in the Interior Building and continued the work as a function of the 

War Industries Board.

In July 1918, the Geological Survey then set up a section of cooperation in 

the Division of Mineral Resources specifically to supply information on mineral 

matters to other Government departments, particularly the military 

establishments and the war boards. E. S. Bastin was in charge of the section but 

a large share of the work was directed by F. J. Katz because Bastin was also 

assigned by the Survey as mineral adviser to the Bureau of Research of the War 

Trade Board. Weekly statistics of the production of copper, lead, zinc, and 

aluminum were furnished for the guidance of Government purchasing agencies, and a system of monthly reports on the availability of mineral raw 

materials of chief war importance was established.

During the winter and spring of 1917-1918, the War Minerals Committee 

had devoted much of its energy to the mineral controls bill, seeking the support 

of the national mining, metallurgical, and geological societies, the various 

Government departments, and the President, and modifying the bill to meet 

the views of those concerned. Major metals such as iron, copper, lead, and zinc, 

and the precious metals, gold and silver, were dropped from the bill in order to 

gain industry support, and the bill became a minor minerals bill covering "the 

following named mineral substances and ores, minerals, intermediate 

metallurgical products, metals, alloys, and chemical compounds thereof, to 

wit: Antimony, arsenic, ball clay, bismuth, bromine, cerium, chalk, 

chromium, cobalt, corundum, emery, fluorspar, ferro-silicon, fullers earth, 

graphite, grinding pebbles, iridium, kaolin, magnesite, manganese, mercury, 

mica, molybdenum, osmium, sea salt, platinum, palladium, paper clay,

The Survey concentrated its oil-field investigations in 

the most promising undeveloped territory, beginning 

with the Osage Indian Reservation in Oklahoma which 

contained a large area of unleased lands. Productivity 

of developed fields there was high and pipelines and 

refineries were available, but bidders had little or no 

geologic information to guide them in evaluating new 

lease offerings. Survey geologists found that a limestone only 1 to 3 feet thick that could be distinguished 

by its lack of invertebrate fossils and the present of 

"Cryptozoon" (fossil remains of organisms whose 

nature had not been precisely determined), was 

remarkably continuous throughout the area and of 

great value in determining the structure. (From K. C. 

Heald, 1922.)

192 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
potassium, pyrites, radium, sulphur, thorium, tin, titanium, tungsten, 

uranium, vanadium, zirconium, and of other rare or unusual elements the supply of which may, in the judgment of the President, be inadequate for war and 

industrial needs." The bill made it unlawful to waste or hoard these 

substances, to make unreasonable charges for them, or to limit facilities for 

production or transportation of them. It authorized the fixing of prices and 

provided $50 million for stimulation of domestic production. The bill was 

introduced in the House on April 6, 1918, after preliminary hearings before the 

Committee on Mines and Mining at which Secretary of the Interior Lane, Director of the Geological Survey Smith, Director of the Bureau of Mines Manning, 

Chairman of the War Industries Board Baruch, and C. K. Leith all urged 

passage of the bill. The House passed the bill on April 30 and sent it to the 

Senate, where it became bogged down in committee.

Even before the war-minerals bill was submitted to Congress, the Survey 

had begun investigating minerals for peace. When President Wilson set forth 

his 14 points for peace on January 8, 1918, one was the removal of economic 

barriers and the establishment of equality of trade. At the request of the 

Secretary of State, the Survey, with the cooperation of the Bureau of Mines, 

prepared a preliminary statement in atlas form of the mineral production of the 

world. Work was then begun on a study of the distribution of the world's 

reserves of essential minerals with the specific aim of furnishing the American 

representatives at the Peace Conference with the economic data needed. The 

study was intended to serve two general purposes: to obtain a clear understanding of the relations between American war needs and foreign sources of supply 

from which these needs must or could be met; and to obtain an understanding 

of the bearing of mineral resources on the origin and conduct of the war and on 

political and commercial readjustments that would follow the end of hostilities. 

Adolph Knopf, A. C. Spencer, H. G. Ferguson, S. R. Capps, Max Roesler, 

Eugene Stebinger, Eleanor Bliss, and Doska Monical were all engaged in this 

work. Most of the information was obtained from published sources but 

American mining engineers and geologists also contributed some unpublished 

data. In June 1918, a small allotment of funds from The Inquiry made it possible to employ additional assistance, and a world atlas showing the production 

of the more important mineral commodities was completed as well as atlases 

showing the mineral reserves of Europe and South America.

In the spring of 1918, the Survey extended its search for war minerals to 

the Caribbean and Latin America, sending E. F. Burchard to Cuba, H. G.

Statistical information on the mineral production of 

the country, which the Geological Survey had compiled since 1882, proved invaluable during the war. 

When the war began in 1914, the Survey furnished the 

public with much information about the raw materials 

needed to fill war orders from Europe; when the 

United States entered the war in 1917, the Survey was 

called on to assist the War and Navy Departments and 

the various war boards. The graph shows the weekly 

production and stocks of refined copper from October

1917 to December 1918. The shortage and inefficiency 

of labor and the difficulties of transportation during

1918 resulted in unprecedented stocks of copper at the 

end of the year. (From B. S. Butler, 1921.)

200 1 1 | 1 1 1 1 1 1

8 __< v __

Z 'v

?

^

inn 100 --------

<o - -

o - ------

3 - -

r - ------

50--------

° Oct Nov.

1917

A ^

...; 7 .z...r

^-v v ^-'-'sj

Dec. Jan. Fel

Stocks

ji

x-, n /Sx--

s ' s '' ^ /= I/ T/\

WeeKly proeiuction >,

/s.'sxsT1 -v^/ 3 ^/'^^

/ " 1

Mar. Apr. May June July

}&\&

/

7

................. .J

/

^v_ ,

1 -"S '

 t=J ----- -

\

,. ^^ 7;\7 <! '^ ^/ ~~ s

s - '

Aug. Sept Oct. Nov Dec.

Minerals for Peace 193
4,500-

4,000-

3,600-

8,000

The Survey began a study of the location and extent of 

foreign mineral deposits as part of a comprehensive 

survey of the world's mineral wealth for the guidance 

of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace and 

continued this work after the war as an aid to American 

foreign trade and a guide to rational development of 

domestic resources. The comparative chart shows the 

estimated known, probable, possible, and total 

amounts of iron in iron-ore deposits of several countries of Europe, compiled by Max Roesler from literature printed in many languages and much of it in 

obscure publications. (From Max Roesler, 1921.)

194 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
Ferguson to the Dominican Republic, and Max Roesler to Puerto Rico. H. S. 

Gale was detailed to the Office of the Chief of Engineers and sent to 

Guatemala to study the occurrence and manufacture of potassium nitrate. He 

also investigated the potash minerals in Chile.

At home, Survey geologists began a search for other minor minerals that 

had become important in the war effort. R. W. Stone examined the magnesite 

deposits of California and Stephens County, Washington, G. F. Loughlin examined a large quartz deposit in Connecticut to determine its suitability for the 

manufacture of optical glass, and W. T. Schaller sought new deposits of highgrade sheet mica and zircon. Heinrich Ries examined several clay-bearing 

localities in North Carolina in search of high-grade clays that could be used as 

substitutes for imported clays, and F. L. Ransome surveyed quicksilver deposits 

in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Texas. One of the more unusual searches 

took G. F. Loughlin to Arizona and New Mexico to examine volcanic cinder 

cones as a possible source of porous rock suitable for a lightweight aggregate in 

concrete.

The Survey also continued its field investigations of potential oil regions. 

Once the reports were completed on the mapping of structures in the Osage 

Reservation in Oklahoma, W. A. English and W. S. W. Kew went back to 

California, A. J. Collier and Harvey Bassler began an examination of the 

stratigraphy, structure, and oil prospects in the Wind River Basin, Wyoming, 

G. B. Richardson went back to Pennsylvania, and W. E. Emery began compilation of a bulletin on the oil prospects in the undeveloped regions of the publicland States. Oil-shale investigations were extended as well. D. E. Winchester 

mapped the deposits in Battlement Mesa and an area near Grand Valley, Colorado, J. P. Buwalda examined deposits in Trout Creek, Utah, and D. D. 

Condit and Frank Reeves sampled the oil shales in several parts of Utah for distillation tests. The Survey also cooperated with the Bureau of Internal Revenue 

in the compilation of production of oil and gas fields, calculation of rates of 

depletion, and formulation of rules to govern the application of income-tax 

laws to the depletion of oil- and gas-field properties. Some of the basic studies 

of A. F. Melcher on the porosity of oil sands were used in this work.

By the summer of 1918, the campaign for domestic production of war 

minerals and the efforts toward conservation and economy in use of these 

materials had been proven effective. By late summer, the market for chromite 

was oversupplied, because of the increased importations authorized by the War 

Industries Board, and the market for manganese, pyrite, and sulfur was 

described as easy. Gold, however, had become one of the minerals in short supply. In July, Secretary Lane appointed a committee of Hennen Jennings, J. H. 

Mackenzie, and Charles Janin of the Bureau of Mines and H. D. McCaskey and 

F. L. Ransome of the Survey to study the rapidly increasing cost of producing 

gold and the declining output. The price of gold was then fixed at $20.67 an 

ounce and its purchasing power had been steadily declining as commodity 

prices increased. The United States held more than $3 billion in gold reserves, 

but it had contracted debts on a gold basis many times the prewar level, and 

maintenance of a sufficient gold reserve was considered essential to the security 

of national finance and credit. The committee found a cause-and-effect relationship between rising cost and declining output although the depletion of 

certain deposits and the lower grade of ore being mined in others were contributing factors. The committee recommended tax reduction and similar incentives to increase production and suggested forbidding the use of gold in 

manufactures and an appeal to turn in gold as a patriotic measure in order to 

maintain a visible gold reserve. Thought was given to adding gold to the list of 

minerals in the mineral-control bill, but the Senate, after some prodding by 

Secretary Lane and others, had finally passed the bill before the recommendation could be made.

Mineral Resources, 1918 195
When the mineral-control bill was finally approved on October 5, 1918, 

the war was nearly over. Massive convoys carrying American troops began sailing from Atlantic ports for Europe in March, as Germany launched the expected campaign to defeat the Allies on the Western Front before the 

Americans could arrive in force. By the end of May, the Germans were within 

50 miles of Paris, but almost a half million American troops had arrived. The 

German advance was stopped at Chateau Thierry on June 4 as American forces 

collaborated with the French in their first major action. In July, the Germans 

launched an offensive to crack the last Allied line and open the road to Paris, 

but a million American soldiers and marines were then in France. The German 

offensive was stopped, and an American and French counterattack turned the 

tide of war. American and British troops began a pincer movement on the 

Western Front, to capture a strategic railroad line and force German evacuation 

of the Briey and Longwy iron fields. At the end of September, the Bulgarians 

yielded and the Turkish regime collapsed and asked for an armistice. On October 4, the Germans and Austrians jointly appealed for an armistice. The armistice was finally concluded and at 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918, hostilities 

ceased on the Western Front.

When the armistice was concluded, 66 topographic engineers and 4 

geologists from the Geological Survey were serving as officers in the American 

Expeditionary forces overseas; others had been selected for overseas duty and 

were awaiting embarkation orders; and many more were serving in lower ranks. 

Most of the topographic engineers were in the 29th Engineers, which had its 

headquarters at Langres, Haute Marne, where a Base Printing Plant was set up 

under the direction of Major (later Lt. Colonel) Glenn Smith. At Camp 

Devens, Massachusetts, Major Frank Sutton organized the companies for 

surveying, mapping, and printing work to be performed overseas, and Company A arrived in France on December 3, 1917. In addition to those assigned to 

the Engineers, 13 Survey topographic engineers were selected as orienteur officers in the Coast Artillery and sailed for France in July 1917 under the command of Major (later Lt. Colonel) C. H. Birdseye. Birdseye was eventually put 

in charge of artillery ranging and map information for the A.E.F. and produced 

several manuals for use of the War Department. The others served as orienteur 

officers in the field and also instructed artillery officers in the use of surveying 

instruments and computations. Major (later Lt. Colonel) A. H. Brooks was 

Chief Geologist of the A.E.F. Under his direction, American geologists 

prepared geologic maps, based in pan on earlier French reports and in part on 

new observations, with practical descriptions of formations from the military 

point of view so that the army engineers could tell which formations were filled 

with water, which were dry and suitable for dugouts, which would support vertical trench walls for a long time and which would require timbering, and 

which would yield road metal and other construction materials. Water-supply 

maps were also prepared, showing depth to ground water, existing wells, 

springs, and similar information. The early work proved so useful that in July 

1918, plans were approved for providing five geologic officers for each army, 

two officers for work in communications, and a headquarters staff of six 

officers. The war ended, however, before the full complement was realized.

Literally within hours after the armistice on November 11, 1918, the 

Federal Government began to withdraw from its wartime activities to resume 

the pursuits of peace. The Minerals Control Act was never put into effect. Both 

the War Industries Board and the Department of the. Interior had claimed administration of the act, but when an Executive order was issued on November 

11 directing the Secretary of the Interior to exercise the power and authority 

given under the act to the President, except those related to duties on imports, 

it was no longer necessary to stimulate production to meet war requirements. 

The War Industries Board certified that the only war minerals in short supply at

196 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
130° 120° 90° 80° 70° 60°,

110°

The scarcity of fuel and labor during the war emphasized the need for serious consideration of the sources 

of the Nation's energy. Comprehensive information on 

the locations and relations of existing power plants and 

the possibility of improving their interconnections was 

lacking and so the Geological Survey collected the information on behalf of the Fuel Administration and 

the War Industries Board. Fully 80 percent of the 

power then generated in the United States for manufacturing and for operating public utilities was obtained from fuels although water power had unquestionably influenced the location of many industries 

and the establishment of many centers of population. 

The shaded areas of the map show where the greater 

part of the power in 1918 was derived from fuels, the 

unshaded areas, where the greater part of the power 

was derived from water. (From W. B. Heroy, 1919.)

the time were potash, zircon, and arsenic. The most pressing problem was one 

of overproduction of some minerals, which did not fall under the terms of the 

Minerals Control Act. The Joint Information Board formally went out of existence on January 1, 1919, and its records were deposited with the Division of 

Mineral Resources of the Geological Survey. The work of the Fuel Administration was gradually curtailed, and formal cooperation with the Geological 

Survey ceased shortly after January 1, 1919-

The Geological Survey too began an immediate return to its regular program of work, a process made easier by the fact that its organization had not 

been changed but simply adapted to the emergency needs. The Topographic 

Branch continued to map areas selected by the War Department for special 

military surveys for a short time, but several States made cooperative funds 

available with the understanding that matching Federal funds would be provided later, and civilian mapping was resumed. The Land Classification and 

Water Resources Branches again took up projects delayed by the war as soon as 

those who had been in active service returned. In the Geologic Branch, except 

for the Division of Mineral Resources, wartime projects were completed as soon 

as possible, economic and military results summarized, and scientific observations and discoveries that were byproducts of war organized and recorded so 

that long-term research projects could be resumed.

The war had given new meaning to the work of the Division of Mineral 

Resources. The Survey's first Director, Clarence King, had considered the collection of mineral statistics an essential part of economic geology, but the value 

of mineral statistics was perhaps appreciated fully for the first time during the 

war years when it became necessary to cope with shortages. The United States 

was unusually well endowed with mineral resources but not even the United 

States was completely self-sustaining in its mineral requirements, and the war's

The End of the War 197
interference with commerce had cut off sources of supply of essential minerals 

just as industrial expansion was multiplying demands. During the war, adequate supply was considered more desirable than low price and industry was 

willing to pay a premium for an uninterrupted supply; the advantage of 

domestic independence in minerals, however, became apparent. By the time 

the war ended, it was realized that achievement of national independence required a careful consideration of emergency factors and the possibility of insuring supplies. At the same time, international cooperation was widely held to 

offer the best hope for the world's future. International agreements for the 

allocation of minerals had been made during the war to insure the proper proportion of supplies to the different countries for the most effective prosecution 

of the war, and many believed that some form of international control of 

minerals should be developed as a means of furthering the aim of world peace.

Mineral statistics were expected to play a part in the Paris Peace Conference. President Wilson designated the Central Bureau of Planning and 

Statistics as the official source of economic data for the American delegation to 

the conference, and C. K. Leith was invited to serve as the mineral representative. In Paris, Leith was concerned with the readjustment of the international 

mineral trade to new conditions, determination of damages on mineral properties in the war zone, valuation of mineral resources of the Central Powers and 

their colonies as a possible basis for reparations, collection and correlation of 

mineral resource data in connection with drawing of new political boundaries, 

and the consideration of mineral resources in relation to future international 

arrangements. The data collected by the Committee on Mineral Imports and 

Exports was the basis for many of the discussions of international economic 

cooperation, but, in the end, the Peace Conference did not consider the 

matter.

In the immediate postwar euphoria, the Survey's Division of Mineral Resources was reorganized to reflect this more optimistic view of the world. E. S. 

Bastin succeeded H. D. McCaskey, who retired for reasons of health as soon as 

the war ended, as head of the division. Bastin was also designated to represent 

the Survey on the Economic Liaison Committee organized, under the auspices 

of the foreign trade advisers of the Department of State, to bring the expert 

knowledge of specialists in various Government agencies to bear on foreign 

trade problems, and he also served as chairman of the subcommittee on 

mineral raw materials. The Section of Cooperation, which Bastin had previously headed, was discontinued, but a new Section of Foreign Mineral Deposits 

was established with J. B. Umpleby in charge. G. F. Loughlin took McCaskey's 

place as geologist-in-charge of the Metals Section. The reorganization also 

recognized the new importance of energy minerals. The Nonmetals Section was 

divided, and C. E. Lesher took responsibility for a new Section of Mineral Fuels 

while R. W. Stone took responsibility for all other nonmetals.

The idea of international cooperation had already been extended to scientific research in the Executive order of May 11, 1918, which made the National 

Research Council a permanent part of the National Academy of Sciences. The 

Council was "in general, to stimulate research in the mathematical, physical 

and biological sciences, and in the application of these sciences to engineering, 

agriculture, medicine and other useful arts, with the object of increasing 

knowledge, of strengthening the national defense, and of contributing in other 

ways to the public welfare" and also to survey the "larger possibilities of 

science." The general lines of the permanent organization were drawn up 

shortly after the armistice and approved by the National Academy of Sciences 

on February 11, 1919- Plans were then made for a conference in Brussels in the 

summer of 1919 to complete the organization of an International Research 

Council and to form international unions, affiliated with the Council, to represent the individual sciences.

198 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
In the spring of 1919, the Geological Survey itself embarked on a program 

of international cooperation. In 1917, Rear Admiral H. S. Knappen, head of 

the U.S. military government in Santo Domingo, had requested information 

on the cost of necessary basic surveys, and in reply the Director had supplied 

that information and promised the Survey would undertake the work after the 

war ended. In March 1919, therefore, Glenn Smith and T. W. Vaughan visited 

the island to plan the surveys, and D. D. Condit, C. W. Cooke, and C. P. Ross, 

who had accompanied Vaughan, remained there for 3 months to make a 

general geologic reconnaissance of the country except the peninsula south of 

Samana Bay. Other Latin American countries had also become interested in 

geologic work because of the war minerals investigations, so Vaughan and 

Smith also visited Haiti, at the request of Haitian officials, and made arrangements for a preliminary geologic and topographic survey of Haiti under 

the general supervision of the U.S. Geological Survey. The Cuban Government 

also asked for and was assured of the Survey's cooperation in a topographic and 

geologic survey of that island. A Division of West Indian Surveys was established in the Topographic Branch on July 1, 1919, to administer and execute 

such topographic surveys in the West Indies and other Latin American countries as the Survey might undertake. Glenn Smith was named Topographic 

Engineer-in-Charge, to act as personal representative of the Director and Chief 

Geographer and assume responsibility for all matters except those that affected 

general policy. Members of the Survey assigned to the work were furloughed 

from the Survey and paid by the Latin American governments, but the division 

was nonetheless regarded as an integral part of the Topographic Branch. The 

Geologic Branch assigned responsibility for its part of the program to the 

Coastal Plain Section.

Before long, however, domestic problems became more important than 

international cooperation. Among the mineral fuels, the chief concern was 

then with petroleum. Petroleum production had fallen short of consumption in 

1918, and petroleum had to be drawn from storage and also imported to meet 

the demand. Mark Requa, Van H. Manning, and George Otis Smith addressed 

a joint letter of gloom to Fuel Administrator Garfield on Feburary 28, 1919. 

Careful calculations, they said, indicated that probably 40 percent of the 

available oil in the United States had already been exhausted. Production in 

the United States was becoming increasingly difficult because of the much 

greater depth to which wells had to be drilled to obtain oil. The cost of producing oil from oil shale was still too great for it to be a commercially feasible process. They therefore urged that American interests be encouraged to acquire 

foreign sources of supply, although they noted that American oil companies 

were seriously handicapped in their ability to compete throughout the world 

with the Shell-Royal Dutch combine. Requa, Manning, and Smith also urged 

that the Federal Government take action to make foreign control of American 

oil companies impossible.

The Fuel Administration was then being phased out of existence and was 

not in a position to propose legislation. In March 1919, however, the American 

Petroleum Institute was formed to facilitate cooperation within the oil industry 

and between the oil industry and Government. Requa, who became one of the 

directors of the new institute, urged it to embrace the cause of conservation and 

to raise the level of technical efficiency, not only to conserve the petroleum supply but for increased profits. API promptly announced plans to collect statistics 

and data on new processes and trends, to foster marketing of petroleum products, and to further the development of foreign oil sources and markets.

The Chief Geologist of the Survey, David White, had a different view. In 

March 1919, he told the American Association of Petroleum Geologists that the 

Survey estimated that as of January 1 there were 6.74 billion barrels of oil still

Petroleum Supplies 199
in the ground. This was actually a small amount in relation to prospective consumption, so "the search for new oil fields is a necessity, rather than a mere 

duty, and * * * the search must be carried wherever new fields may be 

found." Consumption was bound to rise, for

our civilization, our social and industrial life is based on a prodigal use of 

petroleum. Extravagance in oil has become a fixed habit, and we are still inventing uses for gasoline and oil fuel.

The United States, White said, had become complacent because for many years 

it had been producing more than 60 percent of the world's supply of 

petroleum, but he asked

Are we able to do that because we still have sixty percent of the world's 

reserves in the ground in the United States, or are we in order to produce 

sixty percent of the world's supply, exhausting our reserves more rapidly 

than other nations and so hastening the day when, instead of dominating 

the petroleum market, we will be the greatest purchaser or beggar for 

petroleum in the world.

He conceded that American oil companies would do well to acquire foreign 

reserves but held that responsibility for finding undiscovered domestic fields 

came first, and rinding them with skill and the least waste, rested on petroleum 

geologists in both the Survey and industry.

The metals industries were more concerned with oversupply of metals and 

called for enactment of measures ranging from financial assistance to mineral 

embargoes. As soon as it was announced that Secretary Lane had been appointed administrator under the Minerals Control Act, Washington was 

flooded with telegrams and letters urging the Government to support the 

market by purchasing chromite, manganese, and pyrite at the market price. 

Such action was not part of the act and by mid-December it was concluded that 

such action could be taken only if Congress were asked to authorize the application of the Minerals Control Act to the postwar problem. Instead, Congress 

passed new legislation and appropriated $8,000,000 for the Department of the 

Interior to pay relief claims. Secretary Lane appointed a commission of three, 

former Senator John Shafroth of Colorado, Dr. Martin Foster, former chairman 

of the House Committee on Mines and Mining, and Philip N. Moore, former 

president of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, to 

pass on the claims, and the Bureau of Mines organized an investigative force to 

obtain the data on which the commission would base its decisions. In this 

endeavor, the Survey's role was simply one of supplying information.

Domestic concerns in 1919 went beyond the need for raw materials. The 

war had called attention to the defenseless condition of much of the country's 

border areas where the Army had no maps upon which to base campaigns. Industrial development, land reclamation, power-generation projects, and 

highway construction were also creating a demand for topographic data. The 

Engineers, Architects, and Constructors Conference on National Public Works, 

which met in Chicago in April 1919, recognized the great importance of adequate maps for the economical planning and construction of a large proportion 

of engineering works and adopted a resolution urging the President and the 

Congress to make adequate provision for the entire work of completing the 

topographic map of the United States in the shortest possible time compatible 

with requisite accuracy. Nearly 60 percent of the country was then still totally 

unmapped, and much of the area mapped was in need of resurvey. If these 

maps were to serve their full purpose, the Survey pointed out, the whole country should be mapped within a generation, or better within a decade. The cost 

of such a program was estimated as $40 million. To accomplish the work within 

the time desired, however, would involve more than the appropriation of that 

sum. It would be necessary to build up an organization of specially trained

200 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
engineers to do the work. Active cooperation by the States was to be expected, 

so it was suggested that by gradually increasing appropriations, from $700,000 

for the field season of 1919 to a maximum of $4.5 million in 1928, the field 

surveys could be made economically and effectively and the work completed by 

1932.

Demands for water data also increased in 1919: water for power and water 

for use in industrial processes because of the increased industrial activity, water 

for municipalities as the Nation became more urban, as well as the longstanding demand for water for agricultural use.

Americans in the spring of 1919 were also concerned about inflation, 

recession, and revolution. From the beginning of the war in Europe to the armistice, prices had increased 50 percent, and, after a brief halt, they were again 

on the rise. Business activity had slowed with the end of the war. There were 

race riots and strikes, and before long an almost panic fear of a Communist 

revolution began to develop.

The new Congress was called into special session on May 19, 1919, because 

the 65th Congress had expired on March 4 without passing all the appropriations bills. President Wilson was still in France at the Peace Conference and his 

message stressed the need for appropriations and otherwise dealt only with the 

problems of labor. The new Congress, however, was controlled by the 

Republicans and was much more oriented toward the business-industrialengineering complex. It was also very economy minded. Survey appropriations 

had been cut, rather than increased, during the war years. A small amount was 

taken from several items because the Interior Department would be responsible 

for maintenance of the new building and the Geological Survey would no 

longer have to pay the elevator operators, but large amounts were cut from the 

appropriations for topographic surveys, Alaskan mineral resources, and engraving, printing, and binding Survey reports because most of the Topographic 

Branch personnel were in the service, because investigations in Alaska were not 

believed to be directly connected with the war, and because report writing had 

been put aside for the duration of the war. The Survey had naturally hoped for 

an increased appropriation, or at least the restoration of items cut because of 

the war. When the appropriations bill for fiscal year 1920 was passed, however, 

although the cost of everything from paper clips to field vehicles had increased, 

the prewar level of these appropriations was not restored, and only the appropriation for preparation of the report of mineral resources was increased over 

the 1918 level. When Congressman Marvin Jones of Texas questioned the size 

of the appropriation for geologic surveys, because the Survey had said it had insufficient funds to undertake the many investigations desired in oil regions, 

Congressman James Good of Iowa, the new Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee, dismissed the inquiry with the remark that these 

bureaus always asked for more than they expected to get. His Democratic colleague, T. U. Sisson of Mississippi, added that because the Geological Survey 

had helped win the war it was anxious to get a large appropriation but the 

committee just did not give them all that they asked.

Without additional funds, Survey programs had to be cut below prewar 

levels, and here the Geologic Branch experienced the greatest difficulties. The 

Topographic and Water Resources Branches were able to carry on substantial 

programs because funds were received from outside sources. The War Department supplied $260,000 for mapping for military needs, and 21 States and the 

Territory of Hawaii supplied an additional $190,000 in cooperative funds, to 

bring the total for topographic mapping to more than $750,000. For waterresources investigations, total funds were well over $500,000, divided almost 

equally among the direct appropriation, the appropriation for examination of 

lands under the Stockraising Homestead Act, and cooperative funds from 

States. Very little additional funding, however, was available for geologic work.

Survey Appropriations for 1919-1920 201
A massive loss of personnel after the end of the war made it difficult for 

the Survey to conduct a rational program, and here too the Geologic Branch 

was most seriously affected. Federal salaries were then much lower than those in 

industry. To compensate for the increased cost of living during the war, Congress had authorized a temporary increase of salaries in 1917 for employees at 

the lower end of the salary scale: 10 percent to those whose salaries were less 

than $1,200 a year and 5 percent to those with salaries between $1,200 and 

$1,800. In 1918, the temporary increase was changed to $120 a year for all 

employees receiving $2,500 or less, and for those receiving $2,500 or more 

enough to make the total $2,620. After the war ended, Congress established a 

joint commission to recommend the adjustments needed to provide uniform 

and adequate compensation for those employed in the District of Columbia. 

Patriotism had kept many in the Federal service during the war, but once the 

armistice was signed the number of resignations increased sharply. During the 

year ending June 30, 1919, there were 77 resignations from the Survey's scientific and technical staff, a loss of 17 percent. The percentage of resignations 

from the nontechnical and clerical staffs was even larger. The largest inroads on 

the scientific staff were made by the oil companies, which offered beginning 

salaries two to four times those paid by the Government. With a certain grim 

humor, Director Smith referred to himself as the head of a high-grade employment agency but forecast a decline in the popularity of the Survey as a 

recruiting station for oil-company personnel; the experienced oil geologists who 

had not already left, he said, were by personal preference immune to outside 

offers. Those who stayed had unexpected difficulties. The Survey was forced to 

give up nearly half its space in the new Interior Building to the Internal 

Revenue Service. Everyone was allotted 75 square feet of space, and with three 

people to a room, there was not enough space to study maps and collections 

and no room for visitors seeking information.

The Survey had also suffered a profound loss in the death of three of its 

senior scientists during the war years: Arnold Hague, on May 14, 1917; G. K. 

Gilbert, on May 1, 1918; and George F. Becker on April 20, 1919. All three 

had been appointed to the Survey in July 1879 and for the first time in its 

history the Survey was without any of its founders. Gilbert was, of course, the 

best known of the three. He was "a sort of father-adviser to the members of the 

Survey." W. M. Davis said that "Those already old when he was 

young * * * recognized in him one who would continue the work they had 

begun and carry it forward into regions of space and of thought they had never 

entered; * * * those still young when he was old * * * looked upon him 

with respect akin to awe as one who, surviving from an heroic age when a 

western frontier remained to be explored, had discovered there many of the 

facts and principles which they, on entering geological science, had found 

embedded in its foundations." T. C. Chamberlin thought it "doubtful 

whether the products of any other geologist of our day will escape revision at 

the hands of future research to a degree equal to the writings of Grove Karl 

Gilbert." Becker was also widely esteemed. He had begun as a mining 

geologist and had had an important role in the early development of mineral 

statistical work, being responsible for the precious metal statistics of the 1880 

Census and successfully lobbying for the first appropriation for such work by 

the Survey in 1882. Becker's interests, however, had gone far beyond mining 

geology, and Arthur Day said that "With the possible exception of Gilbert, 

there was no man of his time in the Washington geological world who possessed greater versatility in discussion or such breadth of view. In consequence 

of this, no problem was ever brought to his attention, whether in private council or in the more formal atmosphere of the Geological Society, to which he was 

not at once ready to contribute some fertile suggestion or some novel viewpoint." Hague was less well known. He was not a prolific writer and the full

202 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
 4*f IT ^«^.ti3pr^:^r-:- "" ' it" -"" ' " " w-^'* £~*- ~Wi£T^ j* ~ ^

. * :t ~ f*;^: i-sr'.i^S--^?^.-1 **^-"

 "-»-»' < *-< '» L* * .' V- - -*** ^-" S-"^*'.^-,!: , fV^ »

Travelers in the desert region of the United States 

depended for survival on water holes, many of which 

were separated from one another by a hard day's 

journey with team and wagon. In most of the region, 

the water holes had never been accurately mapped or 

described, no provision had been made for systematically maintaining them, and roads leading to them had 

not been marked although the American Mining Congress had for several years been calling for the Federal 

Government to undertake such work. In the summer 

of 1916, when relations with Mexico were strained and 

national defense of increasing importance. Congress 

authorized a program for surveying, marking, and protecting desert watering places. In 1917 and 1918, 

Survey geologists surveyed 60,000 square miles of the 

driest, hottest, and least explored part of the desert 

region in southeastern California and western Arizona, 

and erected signs directing travelers to water at 167 

localities. The photograph shows the first signpost 

erected by the Survey. (FromJ. S. Brown, 1920.)

report on his work in Yellowstone National Park, to which he devoted many 

years, was never completed. Many of the young men who first worked with 

Hague, however, went on to distinguished careers. He had a major interest in 

conservation, and Gifford Pinchot counted as invaluable his service as a 

member of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Forest Policy.

In the summer of 1919, the Division of Geology of the Geologic Branch 

placed as many parties in the field as funds permitted and the scientists who 

were unable to go into the field began new projects in the office. Fuels investigations were limited by loss of personnel as well as scarcity of funds but oilfield mapping was continued in the Los Angeles-Ventura region in California, 

in southeastern Arkansas and north-central Texas. Reconnaissance examinations 

were made of the Poplar Dome in Montana and the region including the Virgin 

City oil field in southwestern Utah. The Office of Indian Affairs supported an 

investigation in Caddo County, Oklahoma, the city of Dallas an investigation 

of the natural gas resources tributary to Dallas and other cities of northern 

Texas, and the city of Shreveport an investigation of the natural gas reserves 

available for that city. M. R. Campbell began compilation of a geologic map of 

Wyoming, which had been thoroughly mapped in earlier years, on a scale of 

1:500,000, and G. B. Richardson supervised the preparation of a map of the oil 

fields and pipelines. Marcus Goldman and P. V. Roundy began studies of the 

lithology and microfossils in drill cuttings collected with the cooperation of oil 

companies. The search for potash, in cooperation with the Texas State Bureau 

of Economic Geology and Technology, was limited to observations of drilling 

in progress in the Red Beds region of Texas, sampling of saline deposits and 

brines, and collection of well logs. N. H. Darton began compilation of a reconnaissance geologic map of New Mexico on the basis of his earlier mapping of 

the Red Beds. Field investigations were resumed in the metalliferous regions in 

Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, and Idaho; the major work on the geology and ore 

deposits of Idaho was left in an incomplete stage whenj. B. Umpleby resigned 

in August.

The noneconomic sections were less affected by the loss of personnel. Mapping for geologic folios, suspended during the war, was resumed, and W. C. 

Alden and F. E. Matthes began studies of the glacial geology of the northern 

Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. The Coastal Plain Section established 

a sedimentation laboratory, and T. W. Vaughan continued his research on the 

origin and distribution of the faunas of the Caribbean and Central American 

provinces, aided notably by the work in Haiti and Santo Domingo. Paleontologic research was pursued with some vigor; as Chief Geologist David White 

noted, "fortunately the services of the paleontologists are not sought by the oil 

companies so persistently as the services of the geologists; only one member of 

the staff has been lured away.''

The other divisions of the Geologic Branch were similarly handicapped. 

Little research could be done in the Division of Chemistry and Physics because 

of the loss of personnel. After Becker's death, George Steiger was placed in 

charge of the chemistry section and C. E. Van Orstrand of the physics section. 

The Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources could do only about half as much 

field work as in a normal prewar year, but it made a special effort to complete 

the topographic and geologic maps of the region tributary to the Alaska 

Railroad.

Because of the nature of its funding, the Water Resources Branch devoted 

most of its energies in 1919 to surface-water investigations, primarily stream 

gaging, and land classification. Gaging stations were maintained in 39 States, 

Hawaii, and Alaska. The Division of Ground Water, however, branched out 

into new areas of investigation. Cooperative work with the State survey of Connecticut, which had been interrupted by the war, was resumed as J. S. Brown

Geology, 1919 203
studied the ground-water resources of 18 towns in the New Haven, Connecticut, area and a special study of the relation of sea water to ground water. The 

Survey had been receiving many inquiries about the prospects of obtaining 

fresh water from wells sunk near the sea as coastal regions were on the whole 

areas of intensive human activity, which required both large and many sources 

of water, and the importance of coastal areas for national defense, as well as 

commerce and recreation, had been recognized during the war. A geologic and 

hydrologic study on the slope of Mauna Loa in Hawaii was also begun, after 

Professor H. E. Gregory, who had been State Geologist in Connecticut, became 

Director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu and interested citizens 

of the island in such an investigation.

In 1919, the Topographic Branch furloughed many of its engineers to 

undertake the mapping in the West Indies. Mapping in Santo Domingo, under 

the direction of Albert Pike, was by conventional methods but in Haiti the 

Survey experimented with photomapping. Features such as coast lines, cities 

and towns, and highways were plotted from aerial photographs, and field parties under Eugene L. McNair provided ground control. In the United States, all 

surveys were made by conventional methods and nearly all were made on 

behalf of the War Department or other Federal agencies or in cooperation with 

the States. In Arizona, the Reclamation Service, the State, and the Survey contributed equally to special surveys to ascertain the feasibility of the storage and 

diversion of the waters of the Gila River below San Carlos and the irrigation of 

lands in the proposed San Carlos project.

C. H. Birdseye returned to the Survey in June 1919 from war service and 

was designated as Acting Chief Geographer during Marshall's absence from the 

office. Marshall had developed a plan for storing the waters of the Sacramento,

Only a decade or so after the Reclamation Service was 

established, it became evident that practically all the 

tracts of land that could be readily made productive 

without irrigation had already been occupied and that 

practically all the streams that could be cheaply utilized for irrigation had already been appropriated. 

Greater attention was therefore paid to the possibility 

of using ground water for irrigation. In 1917, Congress 

authorized the Survey to undertake exploratory drilling 

in the arid region to discover ground water for irrigation. After a reconnaissance of valleys in western Utah 

and eastern Nevada, O. E. Meinzer chose Steptoe 

Valley, Nevada, as the site for drilling and pumping 

tests because of the railroad facilities and market for 

produce at Ely and other mining towns in the vicinity. 

(From W. O. Clark and C. W. Riddell, 1920.)

204 Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919
San Joaquin, and Santa Clara Rivers in California with the aim of reclaiming 

land, supplying water to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Bay cities, controlling floods, and ensuring the navigability of the rivers throughout the year. 

He turned his plan over to the State and at the end of September resigned as 

Chief Geographer to devote full time to lobbying for the project. On October 

1, Birdseye was designated Marshall's successor with the title Chief 

Topographic Engineer indicating a more modern concept of the position.

By the fall of 1919, the national unity and sense of dedication of the war 

years had largely disappeared. The Peace Conference had dragged on for six 

months while the situation at home deteriorated, and the peace treaty was a 

great disappointment. Wilson battled for his idea of a new world order, but 

European statesmen clung to old ideas, and in the end the forces of hatred and 

revenge prevailed. There was no real consideration of the economic aspects of 

international relations, and the third of Wilson's Fourteen Points, calling for 

the removal as far as possible of all economic barriers, was completely ignored. 

Against considerable opposition, he did succeed in making the League of Nations part of the Treaty of Versailles and hoped that it would in time right the 

wrongs that had been done. When President Wilson returned to the United 

States and presented the treaty to the Senate for ratification on July 10, 

however, he found the Senate already divided over the League of Nations. 

Opinions ranged from immediate and complete acceptance through participation with certain reservations to complete rejection. On August 19, Wilson 

agreed to accept certain of the Senate's reservations, but then those who opposed the League completely refused to go along and launched a campaign 

against ratification. Wilson decided to take his case to the people and on 

September 4, set out on a speaking tour through the Middle and Far West, 

warning that "within another generation there will be another world war if the 

nations of the world do not concert the method by which to prevent it." He 

also prophesied that "what the Germans used were toys compared to what will 

be used in the next war." On September 25, he collapsed and was rushed back 

to Washington where on October 2 he had a stroke that incapacitated him 

physically for the rest of his term. On November 19, the Senate voted against 

accepting the Treaty of Versailles. It was brought up again in the second session, but again there were insufficient votes to ratify and the Senate returned 

the treaty to the President on March 20, 1920.

The war had been won, but the peace was lost. President Wilson had foreseen the war as placing civilization in the balance. General Jan Smuts of South 

Africa, who had worked with Wilson at the Peace Conference, said that the 

Paris peace "in destroying the moral idealism born of the sacrifices of the 

war * * * did almost as much as the war itself in shattering the structure of 

Western civilization." During the next 20 years, Americans tried to forget that 

they had ever been involved in the war. Geologists, however, who had hoped 

that the essential role of mineral resources in the world's economy would be 

recognized in the postwar reconstruction for peace, resolved that at least the 

United States would not make the same mistake again of failing to recognize 

the strategic value of mineral resources.

Losing the Peace 205
Chapter 8.

The Convergence of Science and Industry,

1919-1922

Science and industry in their present-day progress are treading paths 

that converge, until they are now well within each other's sphere of influence. Science is becoming more useful, and industry is becoming more 

efficient, and this mutual approach means a mutual attraction.

 George Otis Smith

In the fall of 1919, according to the London Nation, Herbert Hoover was 

"the biggest man who has emerged on the Allied side during the war"; John 

Maynard Keynes said he ' 'was the only man who emerged from the ordeal of 

Paris with an enhanced reputation." Hoover returned to the United States after 

many months in Europe where he had served as director general of the 

American Relief Administration and directed the economic rehabilitation of 

Europe. He had already been named president-elect of the American Institute 

of Mining Engineers, and, in November 1919, he became head of the new 

Federated American Engineering Societies. Hoover was the "Great Engineer," 

the practical idealist, and all engineers took on a certain aura from his 

achievements.

In the traditional inaugural address of the president of the AIME in 

February 1920, Hoover chose to speak of the engineer's viewpoint on the problems that then confronted the American people. They were, he said, 

predominantly economic national and international, and required quantitative and prospective thinking and a sense of organization. They were the 

sort of problems that the engineering profession dealt with daily. Speaking of 

the Federal Government, he said:

Out of the strain of war, weaknesses have become even more evident in our 

administrative organization, in our legislative machinery. Our federal 

government is overcentralized, for we have upon the hands of our government enormous industrial activities that have yet to be demobilized. We are 

swamped with debt and burdened with taxation. Credit is woefully inflated, 

speculation and waste are rampant. Our own productivity is decreasing. 

Our industrial population is crying for remedies for the increasing cost of 

living and are aspiring to better conditions of life and labor.

In particular, Hoover pointed out that the organization and expenditures on 

public works and technical services in the Federal Government was appallingly 

inefficient. All such activities in his view should be in one department, as a 

practical matter, and they should be in the Interior Department. Another important need was a national budget.

Hoover believed that the solution to the many problems that faced the 

Nation depended on whether the American people in the aftermath of world 

war turned to reaction or radicalism, as others had done, or clung to the 

American social philosophy which held that the state should "in the region of 

economic activities apply itself mainly to the stimulation of knowledge, the 

undertaking only of works beyond the initiative of the individual or group, the

The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922 207
prevention of economic domination of the few over the many, and the least entrance into commerce that government functions necessitate." This was a clear 

call for a return to a form of laissez faire, albeit with progressive overtones.

Many of the issues Hoover raised in this talk remained issues for several 

years, especially that of reorganizing the Federal Government. The JonesReavis bill, to transform the Department of the Interior into a Department of 

Public Works with a technically qualified Secretary and four technically 

qualified Assistant Secretaries, had already been filed in Congress although no 

action had been taken on it. A national budget had been recommended by 

President Taft but had not yet been adopted.

Hoover made no mention of science, Federal or otherwise, in his address 

other than a brief reference to engineers as the "scientific advisers on 

industry." The success of applied science and engineering during the war years 

had placed fundamental research at a distinct disadvantage, one that would 

persist for several years. According to E. B. Rosa, Chief Physicist of the Bureau 

of Standards, only one percent of Federal expenditures in fiscal year 1920 was 

used for education and for scientific research and development. In the spirit of 

economy that developed after the war, even that small amount was being 

carefully scrutinized. Could the Nation afford to carry on such work on so 

generous a scale?

To compound the problem for Federal science, during the war industry 

had become aware of the value of science, established its own facilities, and offered Government scientists far more attractive salaries than the Government 

was giving them. Federal salaries were then low, and in the hope that an adjustment might slow the rate of loss of personnel, Congress had established a Joint 

Commission in March 1919 to study the problem. In 1920, however, Congress 

did not even consider the salary system proposed by the Commission although 

it accepted its recommendation that a retirement system be established and 

speedily enacted a law whereby employees would pay 21/2 percent of their 

salaries into a retirement fund and be retired at 70. The Government would 

pay whatever additional amount was necessary to retire civil service employees 

on a sliding pension scale with a top limit of $720 a year. When Congress failed 

to act on salaries, more than a hundred Federal employees in responsible administrative and technical positions formed a "Federal Club" in June 1920, 

under the temporary chairmanship of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant 

Secretary of the Navy, to facilitate the exchange of views on common problems 

and, where appropriate, joint action.

Although many left the Government service because of the low salaries, 

Eliot Blackwelder, who had held a w.a.e. appointment with the Survey for 

many years, suggested that many geologists were leaving the Survey for another 

reason, because they had "been gradually reduced from scientific investigators 

to technical clerks." Blackwelder believed that "the paucity of actual scientific 

opportunities" was the Survey's "most serious defect" and that many 

geologists would be willing to work for a relatively small salary provided they 

could pursue their chosen research. George Otis Smith was then insisting that 

in order for geology to be most useful in the days of world problems, a new type 

of geology was demanded the application of geology in terms of commerce. 

Investigators in commercial geology, whether they be called geologists, mining 

engineers, or economists, must, Smith said, view "not simply the ore minerals 

as they have been deposited, segregated, or enriched by the processes of 

nature," but also "the smelted ore and the refined metal on their way to the 

markets of the world, where they can serve mankind."

F. L. Ransome, Chief of the Survey's Metals Section, also differed with 

Director Smith. In his presidential address to the Washington Academy of 

Sciences, Ransome rejected any taint of applied science or engineering for the 

Geological Survey. He believed that the Survey's work should be confined to

To aid the second industrial revolution, based on industrial chemistry, which followed the end of World 

War I, the Geological Survey began a series of reports 

on the industrial utility of public water supplies, showing the most favorable regions for the future expansion 

of certain industries. As these maps show, industrial 

activity in the United States had expanded since 1849, 

when five New England States and New York accounted for about 48 percent of the value of manufactures, to 1919, when 26 States accounted for about 92 

percent of the value. The intensity of the shading indicates increasing increments of monetary value, thus 

in 1919 about 56 percent of the value came from the 

original five New England States and New York, plus 

Ohio and Illinois. Early industrial activity was confined 

almost exclusively to areas in which natural waters of 

excellent quality were abundant, and even though 

total industrial activity had spread, large industries 

that required the best water tended to remain in their 

original locations. (From W. D. Collins, 1926.)

208 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
O 20 40 60 80 100 %

O ZO 40 60 60 100*

O 20 «O 6O 6O K» X O 20 40 60 80 00*

O 20 4O 6O 80 100 X 20 40 60 80 100 X

EXPLANATION

MORE THAN 

$800,000,000

$4OO.OOO,000- 

$8OO,OOO,OOO

$200,000,000- 

$400.000,000

$IOO.OOO,OOO- 

$200.000,000

LESS THAN 

$100.000.000

The Spread of Industrialism 209
geology and necessary supporting activities and he was not certain that the supporting activities should include topographic mapping. A geological survey 

should have maps of the standard it required with the least possible delay, but 

it should not undertake to make them if existing organizations could and 

would provide the maps. The study of ground water Ransome would permit, 

but stream gaging and the estimation of water power would "scarcely fall" to a 

geological survey in any "ideal distribution" of duties. Geophysics and 

geochemistry, he decided on reflection, were appropriate in a geological survey, 

as were soil mapping and soil classification, but the compilation of mineral 

statistics was simply not suitable work for a geologist.

With regard to Government science in general, Ransome pointed out that 

it had become fashionable to emphasize usefulness as the chief criterion by 

which to judge its value, but no one had yet defined usefulness. Certainly 

usefulness was not predictable nor always immediate. The ideal was no doubt 

something like Pasteur's investigations, which had been undertaken to solve 

particular industrial and humanitarian problems but had at the same time 

enormously increased human knowledge. Pasteur's work, Ransome emphasized, had also demonstrated another important point: that apart from recognized usefulness, investigations that yielded results of interest to the general 

public were willingly supported by the people. A national scientific bureau, in 

order to survive, needed popular support and therefore must do some work that 

the majority of people could recognize as worth doing. Education was therefore 

a very important function of a Government scientific agency. The results of 

such education are

cumulative and a direct and permanent gain to science, whereas, on the 

other hand, the consequences of prostituting the opportunities for scientific work to satisfy this and that popular demand for so-called practical 

results in any problem that happens to be momentarily in the public eye, is 

a kind of charlatanry that is utterly demoralizing to those who practice it 

and that must bring even popular discredit on science. A bureau that 

follows such a policy can neither hold within it nor attract to its service 

men animated by the true spirit of investigation.

Economic geology was at a disadvantage amid the hue and cry that science 

must be useful because many of the major problems in the mineral industry 

were socio-economic rather than scientific or technical. Some parts of the industry were troubled with oversupply. The coal industry, according to Hoover, 

was "functioning badly from an engineering, and consequently from an 

economic and human standpoint." The great increase in efficiency in the use 

of coal since the turn of the century and the wartime expansion had left the industry badly overextended. Employment in the mines was intermittent at best, 

so postwar conditions created unusual hardships for the miners, and they had 

gone on strike on November 1, 1919 to demand an increase in wages and the 

guarantee of a 30-hour week. On the other hand, steelworkers, who worked 

very long hours, had gone on strike in September seeking a shorter work week. 

The coal and steel strikes in turn were largely responsible for a 21 percent 

decline in the production of pig iron in 1919 and a consequent decline in iron 

mining.

The greatest opportunities for economic geologists were in petroleum 

geology for the long predicted shortage of supplies had finally developed. Even 

among oil men, however, there were differences of opinion, and as many if not 

more would rely on conservation, tax incentives, or the acquisition of foreign 

reserves as on science to alleviate shortages. Both the Director of the Geological 

Survey and the Director of the Bureau of Mines publicly advocated the 

American development of foreign oil sources which they had proposed earlier 

to the Fuel Administrator. The Director of the Survey even maintained a liberal 

policy with regard to leaves of absence to permit Survey geologists to engage in

210 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
exploration for oil in foreign countries, holding it to be for the public welfare. 

Smith said the position of the United States could best be described as 

"precarious" and that our world leadership in production was "more spectacular than safe." He charged that "we have been draining our own oil pools 

in part to supply the needs of the rest of the world, but have made little effort 

to render the rest of the world self-supporting in oil production. Whether such 

a national policy is to be characterized as that of a spendthrift or that of an 

altruist, it is a short-sighted policy." To ensure a future oil supply, he suggested that domestic fields be reserved for American development and foreign 

acquisition of oil needed at home be prevented, and that American capital be 

encouraged to enter foreign fields to assist in their development. Director Manning of the Bureau of Mines, agreeing on the need to develop foreign sources, 

also said that "the premier position of the United States to the present time has 

been due, perhaps, more to an intensive development of resource than to 

supremacy in the resource themselves." He noted that many people were inclined to question the estimates of oil reserves as too pessimistic; whenever in 

the past more oil had been needed new discoveries were made and unexpected 

fields brought forth new supplies. Estimates were fallible, Manning admitted, 

but even if they were 50 to 100 percent too low, the situation was not satisfactory because no matter how much oil was still in the ground, it was not being 

brought to the surface as fast as it was needed.

Chief Geologist David White was one of the few who thought that fundamental research might aid in the location of new oil sources. At the AIME 

meeting in February 1920, he said

In these days, when detailed investigations of stratigraphy, structure, and 

sand conditions so frequently result in the discovery of new oil fields, and 

applause from oil companies and the public, geologists do well to walk 

humbly, and punctiliously to admit that the geologic principles controlling 

the distribution of oil and gas have as yet been discovered only in part, and 

that what remains yet to be learned is probably vastly more than what is 

already known.

White, who had seen his investigation of carbon ratios as confirmation of the 

organic origin of oil used as a tool in the search for new oil regions, listed a 

variety of factors to be considered: sufficient carbonaceous detritus and residues 

in the oil-forming rocks, stage of carbonization of the inorganic matter in the 

oil-bearing formations, folding of strata, thickness of sedimentary formations, 

and the conditions of deposition. But these, he suggested, were only a bare 

beginning.

The petroleum shortage forced Congress to come to a decision on the 

disposition of the reserved mineral lands. The Senate Committee on Public 

Lands reported out a bill, providing for leasing with royalties divided between 

the States and the Federal Government, which was passed after prolonged 

debate. The House amended the bill drastically, but the conference committee 

worked out compromises and the bill was finally enacted on February 25, 1920. 

The Mineral Leasing Act, more properly, the "Act to promote the mining of 

coal, phosphate, oil, oil shale, gas and sodium on the public domain," repealed the coal land law of 1873 and the Placer Act as it applied to oil and gas, 

phosphate, and oil shale, and substituted a general leasing law. Lands were to 

be obtained by competitive bidding, and royalty and other income to be 

divided, 10 percent to miscellaneous receipts in the Federal treasury, 

52 1/2 percent to the Reclamation Fund, and 37 1/2 percent to the States. 

Minimum royalties and annual rentals were fixed by law. The act also specified 

leasing units. Coal lands, which had previously been sold, would in the future 

be leased in 40-acre lots, or multiples thereof, with a maximum of 2,560 acres 

in one tract. Leasing units for phosphate and sodium lands (sodium could be 

substituted for potassium for some purposes) were similar to those for coal.

The Mineral Leasing Act 211
1849 EXPLANATION

1889

1899

V///////////mt^

1919

1923

EXCLUSIVE OF PLEASURE AUTOMOBILES

For oil and gas lands, the act distinguished between areas "within any 

known geological structure of a producing oil or gas field'' and those not within 

such structures. Only leases could be issued for areas within such known structures, only prospecting permits elsewhere. Only one lease could be given to any 

one applicant on any one structure, and not more than one-fourth of the area, 

or not more than 3,200 acres, could be leased to one claimant. Those who had 

made entries prior to the withdrawal of July 2, 1910, if they had continued 

operating in good faith after discovery, would be permitted to relinquish their 

claims in return for 20-year leases at the minimum royalty but they had to make 

payments on past production. In the naval petroleum reserves, the act specified 

that leases were to be issued only on producing wells unless the President chose 

to lease the remainder.

The Department of the Interior divided responsibility for administering 

the Mineral Leasing Act among the General Land Office, the Bureau of Mines, 

and the Geological Survey: the General Land Office would supervise the issuance of leases and permits and collect royalty and other income, the Bureau 

of Mines would supervise the operations on the leased lands, and the 

Geological Survey would classify the mineral lands. A major task under the new 

law would be the determination of the geological structure of producing oil or 

gas fields within which only leases were to be issued. The 50 million acres that 

had been withdrawn and not yet classified also had to be classified and restored 

to the public domain.

Congress also came to a decision, after many years of wrangling, on a 

water-power bill. The House passed its bill, essentially the same as that it 

agreed to in the previous session, on July 1, 1919- It then took 11 months more 

to get the bill through the Senate and the conference committee, but it was 

finally passed and sent to President Wilson on May 31, 1920, and signed by 

him on June 10. The Federal Water Power Act created a Federal Power Commission, composed of the Secretaries of War, Interior, and Agriculture, to issue

Cheap energy had been a major factor in the development of industry, transportation, and communications 

in the United States, so the continued availability of 

such energy was a matter of national concern after 

World War I. Charts based on data collected in connection with the Geological Survey's studies of water 

resources and their utilization, together with data from 

the Bureau of the Census and the Federal Power Commission, show a striking change in the use of energy in 

the United States between 1909 and 1919- The dramatic increase in the use of automobiles affected steel 

production, petroleum production, led to a demand 

for road-building, and increased the demand for maps. 

(From C. R. Daugherty, A. H. Horton, and R. W. 

Davenport, 1928.)

212 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
licenses for the development of water power at sites on boundary waters, 

navigable streams, on public land adjacent to streams having sufficient fall for 

power, and on headwater streams if the plants would affect the flow on 

navigable reaches of the river. Licenses were to be issued for specified periods, 

not to exceed 50 years, with an annual fee based on power capacity (i.e., the 

horsepower developed on-site).

The Federal Power Commission was simply an interdepartmental commission rather than an independent agency, and it had only one employee, the Executive Secretary, O. C. Merrill. Merrill, Herman Stabler, of the Survey, and 

General Enoch Crowder of the Army Engineers drew up the regulations for administration of the act. They recognized that reliable and adequate records of 

streamflow would be required, and that responsibility for obtaining such 

records rested with the permittees and licensees. However, the records had to 

be collected by standard methods to make them acceptable to the varied interests involved in their use and interpretation, so as a general policy it was 

agreed that the streamflow records would be collected under the supervision of 

the Geological Survey but at the expense of the permittee or licensee. The arrangements for obtaining the records ranged from little participation by the 

Survey to complete performance by the Survey. The regulations also required 

that before the Commission could consider an application, the feasibility of the 

plan, its suitability to the particular site, and the financial ability of the applicant be determined. The three departments divided up the examinations those on navigable streams were allotted to the War Department, those 

on public lands in the national forests to the Agriculture Department, and 

those on public lands outside the national forests to the Interior Department.

Secretary of the Interior Lane had asked Congress for two special appropriations in connection with power development. According to statistics 

developed by Survey engineers during the war, the generation of power in the 

United States then required not less than 800,000 tons of coal daily. The 

Secretary asked for an appropriation of $50,000 to continue the survey of power 

resources, and also for a special appropriation of $200,000 for an intensive 

study of the industrial zone of the East where power requirements were 

greatest. In the Sundry Civil Expenses Act in June 1920, Congress appropriated 

$125,000 for the special investigation and a report on the possible savings in 

fuel, labor, and material that would be gained by operating a comprehensive 

system for the generation and distribution of electricity to railroads and other 

industries in the region between Boston and Washington. No appropriation 

was made, however, to continue the survey of power resources.

Both water power and irrigation were at issue in the utilization of the Colorado River, which had been investigated by both the Geological Survey and 

the Reclamation Service. As a result of the continuing menace of floods in the 

lower Colorado River to the residents of Imperial Valley and the rapid increase 

of population in southern California which made further development of irrigation a necessity, Congress was besieged by petitions for action. On May 18, 

1920, Congress directed the Secretary of the Interior to report on irrigation in 

Imperial Valley and related subjects. Construction of a reservoir as near as possible to the point on the river where the greatest flood menace would occur was 

proposed as a solution, but a large reservoir would be needed so that the heavy 

load of sediment carried by the river would not too quickly fill it. The Upper 

Basin States feared that a large reservoir on the lower river would deprive them 

of the use of Colorado River waters at a later date. At the invitation of the 

Governor of Utah, representatives of the seven Colorado River Basin States had 

met at Salt Lake City in January 1919 and formed a permanent organization. 

At a meeting in August 1920, the desirability of encouraging construction of a 

large reservoir in the canyon of the Colorado for flood control, power, and irWater Problems 213
 ./?* Xki .v_j* B ~^#£ JO^B8**

^.^l .^/AJ&r- ^

\<z*^&d$&/Mr
The Geological Survey took part in an experiment to 

test the use of aerial photography in topographic mapping. In June 1920, a Army Air Service plane equipped 

with a K-l camera photographed the 15-minute 

Schoolcraft, Michigan, quadrangle in 7 hours' flying 

time. The prints were matched together and reduced 

to a scale of 1:48,000, and from them such features as 

roads, streams, forests, and land corners were transferred to planetable sheets, which the topographic 

engineers then used in the field to contour the relief. 

The illustration is part of the Schoolcraft topographic 

map published by the Survey in 1922.

rigation was discussed, and a resolution was adopted calling for negotiation of 

an interstate treaty on the use of the Colorado River.

Executive, rather than legislative, action made a change in the Survey's 

mapping operations in 1920. On December 30, 1919, the Board of Surveys and 

Maps was created by Executive order "to coordinate the activities of the various 

mapmaking agencies of the Executive Departments of the Government, to 

standardize results, and to avoid unnecessary duplication of work." The Board, 

to be composed of a representative of each of the Federal Government's 14 

mapmaking organizations, was to establish a central information office in the 

Geological Survey to collect, classify, and furnish to the public information 

concerning all map and survey data available in the Government departments 

and from other sources. The Board was formally organized in January 1920, 

with O. C. Merrill, Chief Engineer of the Forest Service, as its first chairman 

and C. H. Birdseye of the Survey as its first secretary. The Map Information Office was set up in the Survey under the direction of J. H. Wheat. The Military 

Engineer, the magazine of the Society of American Military Engineers, which 

had been organized to profit from the experience of the world war and to assist 

in the promotion of preparedness, was chosen as the official organ of the 

Federal Board of Surveys and Maps.

For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1920, the Survey's appropriation was 

$1,730,700. Small increases were provided for the Survey's regular operations: 

$5,000 each for topographic surveys, geologic surveys, and stream gaging, and 

$15,000 for preparation of the report on mineral resources; in addition, having 

passed the Mineral Leasing Act which required the Survey to classify mineral 

lands in advance of leasing, Congress for the first time appropriated funds for 

the classification of public lands. The appropriation, $300,000, relieved the 

field branches of the burden of allotments for supporting the work of the Land 

Classification Branch. The Land Classification Branch, in turn, rather than 

undertaking independent investigations, allotted funds to the field branches: 

$106,000 to Water Resources, $37,000 to Geology, and $32,000 to 

Topography. The Topographic and Water Resources Branches also received 

repayments from other Federal agencies and substantial amounts for work in 

cooperation with the States and Territories; the cooperative funds amounted to 

about 81 percent of the direct appropriation for topographic surveys and 103 

percent of the direct appropriation for water-resources investigations. They 

therefore had less difficulty in financing field operations than did the Geologic 

Branch.

Manpower problems were not solved by the new appropriation and its 

distribution, and here too the Geologic Branch was most seriously affected. In 

the Division of Geology, the Coal Section was practically wiped out, and in 

four other sections too few experienced geologists were left to train newcomers. 

The Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources lost some of its most experienced 

employees when six geologists went temporarily or permanently into private 

work (there were only eight on the staff at the beginning of the year), three 

topographic engineers were on furlough, and two remained in the Army. The 

Division of Physical and Chemical Research lost five chemists. In the Division 

of Mineral Resources, resignations and furloughs so depleted the staff that the 

division had to be reorganized, and 17 subjects were without direct supervision 

by a geologist or engineer specialist at the year's end. Although the Land 

Classification Branch had a turnover of 30 percent and the Water Resources 

Branch of about 45 percent, both branches were able to maintain full strength. 

The Topographic Branch, unlike the others, grew as 25 officers returned from 

the Engineer Officers Reserve Corps. The Topographic Branch thus became the 

most stable element in the Geological Survey in fiscal year 1921.

Topographic maps were then much in demand, particularly in the Eastern 

and Central States, because of the upsurge in construction after the war,

Manpower Problems 215
especially in road-building. The advent of the automobile had caused a revolution in transportation as had railroads in the previous century. Highways, 

however, were from the first considered a public responsibility, and there was 

no prolonged debate over financing their construction. In 1916, Congress had 

approved a program of Federal aid to States on the dollar-matching basis. The 

war brought the program to a halt before it was well started, so road building 

was urgent in 1920 for the increased use of motor vehicles during the war had 

wrought havoc on existing roads. As a direct contribution to the road-building 

program, the Geological Survey prepared road maps of 28 States in cooperation 

with the Bureau of Public Roads and of Illinois in cooperation with the State. 

In addition, the Survey made topographic surveys in the 20 States and the Territory of Hawaii that contributed funds to expedite topographic mapping, and 

made special maps and river surveys in Nevada and Arizona, to ascertain the 

feasibility of storage and diversion of the waters of the Colorado River, and 

along the Snake River in Oregon and Idaho. Because so much of the Survey's 

mapping was in the Eastern and Central States, the Northwestern Division was 

discontinued as a separate unit and combined with the Rocky Mountain 

Division.

Some research in mapping methods was carried on. A Section of 

Photographic Mapping was established in the Washington office to investigate 

the usefulness of aerial photographs in making planimetric and topographic 

maps, and placed in charge of Thomas P. Pendleton, who had joined the 

Topographic Branch in 1905, and who had worked on the development of the 

3-lens camera and of radial-line mapping methods as a 2d Lieutenant of Engineers during the war. Aerial photographs of 12,098 square miles of Haiti, 

where the Survey continued to supervise the mapping, were made in cooperation with the military services. In June 1920, an Army Air Service plane 

equipped with a K-l camera photographed the Schoolcraft 15-minute 

quadrangle in Michigan in 7 hours' flying time. The photographs were reduced 

to a uniform scale of 1:48,000, features such as roads, streams, forests, and land 

corners were then transferred to planetable sheets that the topographic 

engineers used for contouring the relief. The War Department also established 

an aerial route to Alaska in the summer of 1920 and, in cooperation with the 

Survey, included in the pioneer flight a photographic survey of some of the inaccessible portions of the Territory.

The Water Resources Branch was deeply involved in problems of power 

development in 1920. The branch provided administrative control of the socalled Superpower Survey of the area between Washington and Boston which 

was made by group of engineers under the direction of W. Spencer Murray, a 

consulting engineer for the New Haven Railroad. One-fourth of the Nation's 

population was concentrated in the area investigated, and there were 315 electrical utilities, 18 first-class railroads, and 96,000 industrial plants, all operating 

for the most part independently of each other. The engineers estimated that if 

energy were supplied by a coordinated power system, by interconnecting existing plants and systems, constructing new steam-electric and hydroelectric 

plants at favorable locations, and electrifying a substantial portion of the 

railroads, the annual savings in 1930 would be $429 million and 50 million 

tons of coal. The branch also examined projects of the Federal Power Commission in Alaska, Oregon, California, Idaho, Wyoming, and Arizona. Surveys 

were made of the John Day and Grand Ronde River basins in Oregon, of the 

Green River and its tributaries above Green River, Wyoming, of the Snake 

River, and of various short stretches of river in Montana, Idaho, and Utah to 

classify lands with respect to their value for the development of water power. 

Statistical reports were prepared on the production of electricity and consumption of fuel by public-utility power plants, and transmission lines and power

216 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
Following the passage of the Mineral Leasing Act in 

1920, the Survey's classification of oil and gas lands 

took on a new purpose, the determination of the limits 

of "any known geological structure of a producing oil 

or gas field." In 1920, Survey geologists examined 

lands in the Lost Soldier-Ferris district in south-central 

Wyoming, where development had begun in 1916 

after the Lost Soldier Dome was recognized on a map 

accompanying an earlier Survey report on coal-land 

classification. The district was found to have rather 

sharply defined limits within which nine domes and 

anticlines were found. The most important formations 

because of their possible yield of oil and gas were all 

Cretaceous in age. One of them, the Frontier Formation, is shown in the photograph. (From A. E. Path 

and G. F. Moulton, 1924.)

stations were mapped. The report on the water power of the world was compiled and sent to the printer for publication as Part II of the ' 'World Atlas of 

Commercial Geology."

The Ground Water Division was largely concerned with the use of ground 

water for irrigation but included some innovative research in its activities in 

1920. Kirk Bryan began a quantitative study of the geology and water resources 

of the San Pedro Valley in Arizona in cooperation with Professor G. E. P. Smith 

and the Arizona Agricultural Station. As part of this study, the rate at which 

water was withdrawn from the zone of saturation by vegetation was determined 

by a method devised by Smith. W. O. Clark and H. S. Palmer continued the 

investigations in Hawaii, but the study of ground water in eastern Montana was 

suspended when A. J. Ellis died suddenly in July 1920, for there was no one 

available to continue the work. W. D. Collins returned to the Survey after 

several years in the Department of Agriculture and began a general report on 

the hardness of water.

The Geologic Branch, in view of the continuing oil shortage, continued its 

geologic mapping of potential oil areas, principally in Wyoming, where there 

was some oil company interest, and in Montana, where only the Survey had as 

yet done any detailed work. Congress, meanwhile, had begun discussion of the 

possibility of substitutes for gasoline. Director Manning of the Bureau of 

Mines, as he was leaving to become Director of Research for the American 

Petroleum Institute, suggested that gasoline supplies might more easily be increased by acquiring supplies abroad or by encouraging domestic industry to increase the recovery from existing pools or by developing processes for making 

synthetic gasoline from heavy oils, oil shales, coals, lignites, or peat, all of 

which were functions of the bureau. He held out no hope of discovery of new 

pools.

The Oil Shortage 217
The Division of Mineral Resources continued the very practical work of 

compiling statistics on oil and gas, enlarged the scope of the monthly report on 

petroleum production, and began preparation of a series of maps showing the 

oil and gas fields of different States. The division, however, was only a shell of 

its wartime strength. E. S. Bastin, the head of the division, had resigned in 

December 1919 to join the faculty of the University of Chicago. He was succeeded as division chief by G. F. Loughlin who continued to supervise the Section of Metal Resources. J. B. Umpleby, head of the Section of Foreign Mineral 

Deposits, resigned in midsummer 1920, and was succeeded by Eugene Stebinger, who was then in South America gaining firsthand information on 

foreign mineral deposits by searching for oil. C. E. Lesher resigned as head of 

the Fuels Section to become the statistician for the National Coal Association 

and editor of Coal Age. He was succeeded by F. G. Tryon. F. J. Katz, the administrative officer of the divison, was loaned to the Census Bureau for the 

1920 census.

The Survey could make only a few other investigations in economic 

geology in 1920 because of the loss of personnel. E. F. Burchard, head of the 

Section of Iron and Steel Alloy Metals, was on leave for most of the year to work 

in the Philippine Islands. B. S. Butler, E. C. Harder, E. L.Jones Jr., Adolph 

Knopf, and J. B. Umpleby of the Metals Section all resigned to accept positions 

either in industry or in the academic world, and Hoyt Gale, head of the 

Nonmetals Section, who had been in charge of the potash project since its inception in 1911, also resigned from the Survey. F. L. Ransome continued work 

on the general report on the ore deposits of Nevada but the report on the ore 

deposits of Idaho was left unfinished after the resignations of Umpleby and

Passage of the Mineral Leasing Act also stimulated interest in exploration for oil. In Alaska, which had enjoyed a brief oil boom in 1901 that collapsed because 

of the rapid development of oil fields in California, 

there were small stampedes to all the accessible 

localities where oil seepages were known. The illustration shows one such seepage, near the head of Katalla 

Slough in the Katalla field, which had produced some 

56,000 barrels of petroleum by 1920. (From G. C. 

Martin, 1921.)

218 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
Jones. F. B. Laney and Edward Sampson began work in Idaho, but Laney 

resigned at the end of the field season to become a professor at the Idaho 

School of Mines. Newly appointed Yale professor Adolph Knopf and his newly 

wedded wife, Eleanora Bliss Knopf, studied the Simon and Omco districts in 

Nevada before departing for New Haven, and Sidney Paige resumed his study 

of the Homestake mine, which had been suspended for several years. George 

Mansfield, who succeeded Gale as head of the Nonmetals Section, continued 

his stratigraphic and structural study of the phosphate region of Idaho. Meanwhile, Survey chemists in Washington were beginning to find small lumps of 

potash-rich salts in cuttings and salt crusts from Texas.

The Survey's work in Alaska during the summer of 1920 was designed to 

aid the development of the Territory but was hampered by the weather as well 

as a lack of funds and a shortage of personnel. A. H. Brooks was chairman of a 

committee appointed by the new Secretary of the Interior John B. Payne in 

April 1920, to advise him on steps to be taken to better conditions in Alaska, 

which industries could be developed and which resources exploited to give 

employment to a resident population that would, in turn, provide a home 

market for Alaskan products. The Brooks committee included in its recommendations the establishment of an interdepartmental committee to coordinate 

Federal work in Alaska; the interdepartmental committee was duly established 

with representatives of the Departments of the Interior, War, Navy, Commerce, Agriculture, and Post Office.

Geologists in general had agreed on the necessity of emphasizing fundamental research and in preserving a distinction between science and 

engineering. In the summer of 1920, they formed the Society of Economic 

Geologists, choosing that name by ballot over Society of Applied Geology or 

Society of Geological Engineers. In the words of the Society's first president, 

R. A. F. Penrose,

Economic geology cannot progress faster than new discoveries in geologic 

science. The latter must always be in the lead, just as the pathfinder in the 

forests must precede the highway.

The Geologic Branch of the Survey, subscribing to this idea, turned to 

basic research wherever it could. Chief Geologist David White gradually relinquished control of the oil and gas investigations to K. C. Heald and resumed 

his own research, spending part of the 1920 field season collecting data on 

regional carbonization in Montana and collaborating with chemist E. T. 

Erickson in a study of fossil organic compounds in oil shale. Marcus Goldman 

studied cuttings from wells in the Ranger district of Texas to define the 

characteristic features of formations and to determine the conditions of deposition that might aid in determining the genesis of salt domes. C. E. Van 

Orstrand measured temperatures in deep wells in several States in his continuing study of geothermal gradients, and A. F. Melcher conducted both field and 

laboratory studies of the physical properties of oil, gas, and water sands.

W. T. Lee, one of the few survivors in the Coal Section, spent most of the 

year studying the possibility of using the airplane and aerial photography to 

secure information for geographic and geologic studies. Through the cooperation of the Air Services of the Army and Navy, he made several flights and 

Army photographers also made several trips at his request. Lee concluded:

It is perhaps premature to say much of the use of the airplane in the study 

of geology until it has been thoroughly tested. But it should be possible 

from the air to locate and map ore bodies, metalliferous veins, and outcrops of rock; for it is well known that rocks at the outcrop differ in color, in 

the forms of erosion developed in them, and in the kind of plants which 

they support.

Geology, 1920 219
Then he added a practical note: "The prospector should effect a great saving of 

time by using air photographs to guide him to places where he can find exposures of rock and to help him to avoid places where it would be useless to 

look for exposures. Particularly in wooded regions air photographs are valuable 

in indicating localities where exposures can be found in areas so covered with 

forest that examination on the ground would not be worthy of consideration. 

In fact, Lee noted, oil prospectors were already planning to use airplanes for 

that purpose in Canada and South America.

Other members of the Geologic Branch resumed areal mapping and 

stratigraphic studies in various parts of the country; in September, Wendell P. 

Woodring of the Coastal Plain Section led a party including W. S. Burbank 

andj. S. Brown of the Water Resources Branch to Haiti to begin geologic mapping of that country. Much effort also went into investigations of the principles 

of sedimentation. The National Research Council Division of Geology and 

Geography had set up a Committee on Sedimentation under the chairmanship 

of T. W. Vaughan, and there had been lengthy discussions of the subject at the 

1919 meeting of the Geological Society of America. As part of the Survey's program, R. C. Wells of the chemical laboratory began physical and chemical investigations of sediments, natural brines, and the solubility of sodium and 

potassium carbonates.

By the summer of 1920, the conservative element, those who regarded the 

whole Theodore Roosevelt era as some sort of aberration, had taken control of 

the Republican party. While Progressives hoped for the nomination of Senator 

Hiram Johnson of California and the younger professional and managerial 

classes for the nomination of Herbert Hoover, the Republican National Convention chose Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio as its candidate for President. The Democrats, divided on the League of Nations issue, on the 44th 

ballot chose Governor James Cox of Ohio largely because he had not been part 

of the Wilson administration. Senator Harding was a handsome, dignified man 

and a colorful speaker he had told a Boston audience in May that what the 

country needed was "not heroism but healing, not nostrums but normalcy, not 

surgery but serenity, not the dramatic but the dispassionate, not experiment by 

equipoise, not submergence in internationality but sustainment in triumphant 

nationality." Cox was unprepossessing in appearance, a mild individual who 

had made few enemies. Harding elected to conduct a front-porch campaign, 

after the fashion of McKinley in 1896, and described himself as just a plain 

fellow, old-fashioned and even reactionary in matters of faith and morals. Cox 

did an extraordinary amount of traveling and speaking. Both managed to be 

sufficiently unclear on where they stood with regard to the League of Nations so 

that a voter with firm convictions could not be sure which way to vote. 

Underneath all the campaign rhetoric, however, the Republicans seemed to

For the special use of oil geologists, the Survey in 1922 

published data on the character and thickness of formations and the general structure in New Mexico accumulated by N. H. Darton in his study of the Red 

Beds regions of the Southwest in connection with the 

Survey's search for potash. New Mexico had not then 

produced any oil, but oil had been found in a few wells 

near Dayton in Eddy County, wide areas of the State 

were underlain by formations of the same age as those 

that yielded oil in adjoining States to the east, and 

structural conditions in many places were considered 

favorable for the accumulation of oil and gas. Darton 

suggested that the Carboniferous and Cretaceous areas 

of eastern New Mexico and the Cretaceous areas of the 

northwestern part of the State were the most likely 

areas for discovery of commercial oil fields and that the 

Chupadera Formation (name since abandoned), one of 

the Permian red beds that underlie a wide area in the 

Pecos Valley, should contain oil. The illustration shows 

the Chupadera Mesa in central New Mexico, the type 

locality. The extensive oil deposits in the Permian 

Basin of southeastern New Mexico were located later by 

geophysical means. (From N. H. Darton, 1922.)

220 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
promise more business activity and the Democrats a somewhat higher level of 

Government activity. The voters decided that a return to old-fashioned values 

and the untroubled times of the past was what the country needed and elected 

Harding by an overwhelming majority.

In a reaction against the strong Executive leadership practiced by Wilson, 

Harding determined to rely on his Cabinet and to give them full responsibility 

for their departments. He promised to appoint the best minds to leading positions, and a few such choices were made. Herbert Hoover was persuaded to 

become Secretary of Commerce. For Secretary of Agriculture, Harding chose 

Henry C. Wallace, Iowa farmer, conservationist, and editor of a rural paper, 

Wallace's Farmer, which had been founded by his father. Wallace was a 

graduate of Iowa State College of Agriculture and had been an assistant professor of agriculture there for three years under James Wilson, Secretary of 

Agriculture under McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft. Wallace had the technical 

background for the position of Secretary of Agriculture and also an abiding interest in the economic and social problems of farming people. For Secretary of 

the Interior, however, Harding chose his close friend, Senator Albert Fall of 

New Mexico, an avowed anti-conservationist, who in his 8 years in the Senate 

had consistently favored the rapid exploitation of natural resources by private 

enterprise and expressed little faith in the Government's ability in business 

matters and even less in science of any kind. Gifford Pinchot is reported to have 

said of Fall "On the record, it would have been possible to pick a worse man for 

the Secretary of the Interior, but not altogether easy."

Hoover had been told by one of his predecessors at Commerce that the job 

of Secretary would not require more than two hours a day. However, he found 

"a sentence of major importance" in the organic act of the Department: "It 

shall be the province and duty of the said Department to foster, promote, and 

develop the foreign and domestic commerce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping and fishing industries, the labor interests and the transportation facilities 

of the United States." In accepting the position as Secretary, Hoover asked for 

a reorganization of the Government that would bring all the relevant bureaus 

into his department. Former Secretary of the Interior Lane observed that 

"unless he gets to be the leading adviser he'll have to get out.'' Hoover did not 

get out. He very quickly became one of Harding's key advisers, along with 

Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew 

W. Mellon, and continued to be a key adviser to President Coolidge. Thus his 

energies were never confined solely to the Department of Commerce.

Harding's inaugural address on March 4, 1921, set the tone for his administration, in fact for most of the decade. The key words were noninvolvement, normalcy, economy, and efficiency. The United States would "seek no 

part in directing the destinies of the Old World." The "supreme task" before 

the Nation was the "resumption of our onward, normal way." He called for a 

reduction in expenditures, for "administrative efficiency, for lightened tax 

burdens, for sound commercial practices, for adequate credit facilities, for sympathetic concern for all agricultural problems, for the omission of unnecessary 

interference of Government with business, and for more efficient business in 

government administration."

Hoover lost no time in getting into action in the Commerce Department. 

The American people were demanding a return to the past, to "normalcy," 

but clearly there could be no complete return. Unemployment was a problem, 

but unemployment he regarded as part of the overall problem of reconstruction 

and development in the aftermath of war. On March 19, Hoover invited 25 

leaders in business, labor, and agriculture to serve as an advisory committee to 

the Department on these problems, and plans were made for a national conference in the fall. After meeting with his advisory committee, he issued a short 

statement in which he pointed out that

Republican Ascendancy 221
We have many idle men walking the streets, and at the same time we are 

short more than a million homes; our railways are far below their need in 

equipment; our power plants, waterways, and highways are all far behind 

our national needs in normal commerce. To apply this idle labor to our 

capital equipment is one of the first problems of the country.

Hoover also suggested that "an infinite amount of misery could be saved if we 

had the same spirit of spontaneous cooperation in every community for 

reconstruction that we had in war.''

That spirit of spontaneous cooperation was still alive in the scientific community. In the spring of 1921, the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America 

set up a Committee on Foreign Mining Policy under the chairmanship of C. K. 

Leith. Secretary Hoover was asked to serve as a member of the committee; he 

declined but suggested that he could use the committee's advice in his department. Director George Otis Smith of the Geological Survey and Director Van 

H. Manning of the Bureau of Mines were members of the committee, along 

with H. Foster Bain, Sidney Ball, Horace Winchell, A. C. Veatch, and Pope 

Yeatman.

Another acute oil shortage had developed in the fall of 1920, and 

Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels had urged that all U. S. petroleum 

resources be nationalized, or at the very least that the Federal Government be 

given the power to prohibit the use of fuel oil for industrial purposes whenever 

it was needed for the Navy. Chairman W. H. Hurley of the U.S. Shipping 

Board suggested that the Federal Government collect the royalties it was receiving from its public lands in oil rather than money. The Geological Survey then 

asked the American Association of Petroleum Geologists to cooperate in 

preparing a new estimate of the oil remaining in the ground. David White, 

W. T. Thorn, A. E. Path, K. F. Mather, R. C. Moore (who was also State 

Geologist of Kansas), and K. C. Heald represented the Survey in this work; 

consulting geologists W. E. Wrather, Carl H. Beal, and Alexander Deussen, 

Professor Roswell Johnson, and oil-company geologists Wallace E. Pratt, Alexander McCoy, C. T. Lupton, and G. C. Matson, and Survey geologist K. C. 

Heald were designated as representatives of the AAPG.

The new Congress was called into special session on April 11, 1921, to deal 

with the "readjustments, reconstruction, and restoration which must follow in 

the wake of war." Hoover-backed bills were promptly filed, some of which 

affected the work of the Geological Survey: one by Senator Joseph S. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey to provide for the appointment of a Federal coal commissioner and to direct the Director of the Geological Survey to act as such commissioner, and another by Congressman Henry W. Temple of Pennsylvania to 

provide for a topographic survey of the United States. Both bills were referred 

to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and were not heard 

from again during the session. Congress did, however, pass the Budget and 

Accounting Act, creating in the Treasury Department a Bureau of the Budget 

and an independent General Accounting Office under the Comptroller 

General of the United States. It also, by Joint Resolution, declared the world 

war ended and ratified treaties with Germany, Austria, and Hungary.

Meanwhile, Secretary Fall made his first moves to gain control of natural 

resources. He persuaded President Harding to issue an Executive order transferring jurisdiction over the naval petroleum reserves from the Navy Department 

to the Interior Department. Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby acquiesced in 

the move, and the order was issued on May 31. A proposed Executive order, to 

transfer the Forest Service from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Interior, however, met with opposition and was not issued. 

Congress, on August 19, 1921, acceded to the request of the Governors of the 

Colorado River Basin States to authorize negotiation of a treaty among them on 

the rights of each State and the United States to the use and benefit of the

Oil was being obtained from greater depths but deep 

drilling was costly so operators turned to science to 

identify the formations penetrated by the drill. In areas 

where a knowledge of stratigraphy was well established, study of the fossils in drill cuttings was most 

useful but from wells drilled with cable tools large 

fossils were fragmental and often unidentifiable. Attention was therefore given to very small fossils that 

had to be studied under a microscope. Survey paleontologist P. V. Roundy, who began a study of the 

microfossils of Mississippian formations in Texas in 

1919, considered faunas to be more reliable than individual species, and believed that conodonts, shown 

in the illustration, whose zoologic affinity was a matter 

of conjecture, would prove to be of considerable importance. (From P. V. Roundy, G. H. Girty, and M. L. 

Goldman, 1926.)

222 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
X J$

txi

X10

Sa xto

Conodonts 223
waters of the Colorado and its tributaries, but it was Secretary of Commerce 

Hoover and not Secretary Fall who was chosen as the Federal representative and 

chairman of the commission.

The Geological Survey made rather extensive investigations in the Colorado River region in the summer of 1921. A topographic party made a survey of 

the Colorado River between the mouth of the Green River and Lees Ferry, and 

of the San Juan River from Bluff, Utah, to its mouth. E. C. LaRue of the Water 

Resources Branch went along to designate dam sites for detailed survey and to 

obtain information on the water-power resources. Geologists from the Geologic 

Branch accompanied the expeditions to determine the suitability of various 

dam and reservoir sites, taking advantage of the assignment to gain information on the geology of an extensive region that was little known and difficult of 

access. H. D. Miser and C. R. Longwell, with Kirk Bryan of the Water 

Resources Branch, studied the Paleozoic sections near Green River, Lees Ferry, 

and Bluff; Sidney Paige made geologic studies by river from Green River, Utah, 

to Lees Ferry, Arizona; Miser studied the geology along the lower San Juan and 

then joined Paige in Arizona.

In 1921, the Survey was again handicapped by lack of funds. Appropriations were almost exactly the same as those of the preceding year, and Congress 

had denied the Survey's request for an increase in the salary of the Director, 

still the $6,000 authorized in 1879, and for the establishment of the position of 

Assistant Director. Unheeded was George Otis Smith's plaintive statement: 

"All that we ask is that if we have accomplished anything, or if we have a well 

administered branch of the Government service, that we be given some reward 

in order that we may be prepared to do better service and to increase the service 

to the public. Now that is not an argument for an enlarged bureau. I think in a 

general way that the Geological Survey, the Bureau of Standards, and a few 

other scientific bureaus are about as large administrative units as is advisable, 

and I would not want to see the Geological Survey twice as large, but in some of 

the appropriations we need twice as much money as we used to have in order to 

do the same amount of work.''

Development of water power as an alternative form of 

energy was stimulated by passage of the Water Power 

Act in June 1920. In 1921, a Geological Survey party 

ihat included members of the Topographic, Water Resources, and Geologic Branches explored and mapped 

the San Juan Canyon in southeastern Utah in connection with proposed power and storage projects, making 

the 140-mile trip down the river in two 16-foot flatbottomed rowboats. The region trenched by the canyon was rough arid country, difficult of access, 

penetrated by few trails and still fewer roads, and parts 

of it were impassable for man and beast; in 1921, no 

one lived in the canyon and the entire region had only 

a few score inhabitants. The photograph shows a 

topographer at work in a view looking downstream 

toward Mexican Hat. (From H. D. Miser, 1924.)

224 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
Thus it was that in addition to its work on the Colorado River project in 

1921, the Topographic Branch mapped only in the 20 States and the Territory 

of Hawaii that contributed cooperative funds. More than 42 percent of the area 

mapped was in just four States: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, and 

Missouri. In Illinois, in addition to the quadrangle mapping, surveys were 

begun along proposed trunk-line highways, and the mapping done so it could 

be incorporated in standard topographic maps at a future time. Topographers 

also began a special survey of part of Shasta Valley, California, on a scale of 

2,000 feet to the inch, for preliminary planning of an irrigation system as part 

of Robert Marshall's plan. It was understood that a resurvey would be necessary 

on a still larger scale if the project were found feasible. The topographic work in 

the West Indies was discontinued in the fall of 1921. On June 14, 1921, the 

United States had withdrawn from responsibilities assumed in connection with 

Dominican affairs in 1916, and in September the Military Governor issued instructions to discontinue the mapping. Triangulation in Haiti was discontinued 

in October when funds were exhausted.

The work of the Water Resources Branch in 1921 was also to a large extent 

dictated by the availability of cooperative and repay funds, which again exceeded the direct appropriation. Most of these funds were supplied for investigations related to the utilization of water for power or irrigation, and most involved measurements of streamflow. In connection with the administration of 

the Federal Water Power Act, the Survey also carried on stream gaging in 17 

States in cooperation with Federal Power Commission permittees. During the 

year, the number of gaging stations being maintained increased to 1,540. Examinations were made to determine where water-power development existed in 

trespass and whether all lands that should be reserved for power purposes were 

actually included in power-site reserves in Utah and Idaho. B. E. Jones made a 

reconnaissance examination of power-site withdrawals along the Arkansas River 

and headwater tributaries west of Pueblo, Colorado.

The Ground Water Division began a systematic investigation of the artesian and other ground-water resources of Idaho in cooperation with the State 

Bureau of Mines and Geology. O. E. Meinzer organized the field work and 

made a general reconnaissance of large parts of the State east of Twin Falls. 

H. T. Stearns of the Ground Water Division and L. L. Bryan of the Surface 

Water Division, who had begun an investigation of the water resources of the 

Mud Lake basin in Idaho in April 1921 then continued the work. W. O. Clark 

completed the investigation of the ground water in the Kau district of Hawaii, 

and G. M. Hall took up the work in Montana left incomplete when Ellis died. 

Meinzer, who had become interested in the need to improve the technique of 

drilling wells to reduce the waste of ground water through leakage, was invited 

to attend the annual meeting of the North Dakota Well Drillers Association in 

January 1922. In a 3-day session, the members were instructed in the elements 

of geology, sanitation, and technical methods related to well drilling. Meinzer, 

who addressed the meeting, was elected an honorary member of the 

association.

In contrast to the Topographic and Water Resources Branches, the 

Geologic Branch in the summer of 1921 was more concerned with long-range 

studies rather than immediate results. Economic geology was again principally 

petroleum geology. The scope of the mapping in Montana, where there had 

been little commercial interest, was increased and several recently appointed 

young geologists were assigned to work under W. T. Thorn, Jr., Frank Reeves, 

A. J. Collier, and S. H. Cathcart. In Wyoming, which was favored oil country 

that year for commercial prospecting, the Survey's efforts were limited to K. C. 

Heald's study of the geology and probable productivity of Teapot Dome. In 

the Midcontinent region, the great El Dorado field had been brought in in 

January 1921 in what had been a poorly regarded wildcat area in southern

Water Resources, 1921 225
Arkansas. W. W. Rubey collected drill records and other data about the field 

and concluded that its structure was unlike that of any other known field of 

similar size, that in fact the structure of the oil sand had been produced by 

lateral movement along a fault.

Areal geologic mapping was resumed in many parts of the country in 1921 

and after many years, the branch was once again able to undertake a reconnaissance exploration of a still largely unknown area, and H. G. Ferguson and 

party began mapping the 4,000-square-mile Tonopah quadrangle in Nevada. 

In addition to the stratigraphic studies being made as part of the Colorado 

River investigation, W. T. Lee and J. B. Reeside, Jr., began detailed 

stratigraphic investigations in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. By 

accurately measuring sections so close to each other that there was little opportunity for error, they were able to resolve problems about the age and 

stratigraphic position of certain oil sands as well as to learn much about the 

geologic history of the region. At the meeting of the American Association of 

Petroleum Geologists in the spring of 1922, it was suggested that similar 

stratigraphic studies would be of more assistance to the oil companies than the 

Survey's structural mapping even though the Survey's maps had been the basis 

for several discoveries.

In another venture into the unknown in 1921, L. F. Noble began detailed 

mapping along the San Andreas fault and reconnaissance mapping elswhere in 

California as part of a program outlined by the Advisory Committee on 

Seismology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington under the chairmanship 

of Arthur L. Day. The program, essentially that suggested by H. O. Wood in 

1916 when he was an associate at the Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory, was 

aimed at predicting major earthquakes and devising practical measures to 

minimize the danger from their occurrence and to mitigate the disaster caused 

by destructive shocks. The program included geologic, geodetic, geophysical, 

and laboratory investigations which were undertaken by the U.S. Geological 

Survey and the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, as well as some private institutions such as the California Institute of Technology.

In late 1921, the Survey's Director, George Otis Smith, proclaimed a partnership between geology and industry. Science of all kinds had become more 

practical, he said, and the utilitarian trend of science had brought it into close 

touch with industry. Overlooking the Survey's early relations with the mining 

industry, Smith claimed that geologists had only recently come into this relationship, when they had been called on during the war to solve raw materials 

problems, and remarked that

only as the utilitarian value of geology has become recognized has a use 

been found for geologists.

The Pick and Hammer Club noted ruefully "Once economic studies helped a 

miner find his ore * * * But in those days statistics had not yet come to the 

fore."

The Survey's Chief Geologist did not comment publicly on Smith's idea, 

but A. H. Brooks, in his presidential address to the Washington Academy of 

Sciences, observed that the terms "practical" and "pure" should never have 

been applied to science. If the one was practical, the other must be impractical; 

if one was pure, the other was impure. Brooks thought there was no basic difference between practical and pure science. Federal scientists chose to investigate economic problems not because of any lack of thoroughness or any 

abasement of scientific ideals but because the organic or appropriations acts of 

most Federal scientific bureaus required them to direct research toward problems whose solution would contribute to the general welfare. The widespread 

belief that reorganization would cure all faults, Brooks feared, would not lead 

to much good for some of the plans were based on a misapprehension of the

226 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
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The development of water power sometimes caused 

unexpected problems as in Idaho, where R. W. Davenport was sent to investigate the controversy between 

landowners around Coeur d'Alene Lake and the Washington Water Power Company, which used the lake as 

a reservoir to store flood water in the spring and release 

it in low-water periods to assure the output of power 

from its hydroelectric plants on the Spokane River. 

Before the lake was used for storage, the water surface 

during July, under average conditions, was 2 to 5 feet 

below the main part of the bottom lands and drainage 

was facilitated; when the lake was used for storage, the 

water surface during July was within 1 to 2 feet of most 

of the bottom lands, drainage was retarded, and the 

land became unsuitable for growing crops, even wild 

hay. (From R. W. Davenport, 1922.)

purposes and methods of science. In particular, he pointed out that there must 

be a complete separation between scientific research and the administration of 

law.

Smith's "partnership" between geology and industry encountered problems almost as soon as it was announced. In November 1921, the Leith Committee on Foreign Mining Policy published a preliminary report in the hope of 

stimulating the mineral industry to think about the development of a national 

policy. The committee proposed a set of principles they believed to be "basic to 

the formulation of laws and agreements affecting natural resources." In 

general, the committee held that unless local conditions made the cost excessive, it was usually best to concentrate, smelt, or fabricate the mineral 

resources near the source of supply. There were two exceptions: it was more efficient to process some minerals near the source of coal than in the mining area, 

and shipping conditions sometimes made it cheaper and more efficient to carry 

crude ores to secure proper combination cargoes and to balance local imports 

and exports. The committee also held that freedom of trade and freedom of 

exploration were essential. "Any restrictions, national or international, which 

interfere with the necessary searching of the earth are in principle 

undesirable." They urged the United States Government to keep in close touch 

with American activities in foreign minerals fields, use mineral specialists on 

the staffs of consuls or other agencies abroad, coordinate mineral information 

to make it available to interested parties, and utilize international fact-finding 

committees such as the International Geological Congress.

The Leith committee divided United States mineral resources into four 

categories: minerals available in large quantities for export, minerals in adequate supply for American needs, minerals of which the United States had 

some supplies but not enough to meet the domestic demand, and minerals 

almost entirely lacking in the United States. The committee believed that protective legislation, designed to keep foreign supplies out and to utilize 

domestic resources, would succeed for minerals in the last two classes only at an 

excessive cost in efficiency and money, and, further, that Government restrictions on imports might bring retaliation from foreign governments and make it 

difficult for American enterprise to find and develop needed reserves of scarce 

minerals in countries that had more favorable geologic conditions.

The Leith committee's report was attacked as soon as it was published. 

Those who sought high tariffs denounced it as a free-trade document. Others 

objected to the classification of the various minerals. The American Mining 

Congress pointedly refused to endorse it. The War Department, however, had 

already begun to consider plans for procuring essential metals in times of national emergency, and the Assistant Secretary of War asked President A. S. 

Dwight of the American Institute of Mining Engineers to cooperate in the project. Leith was asked to serve on the AIME Committee on Industrial 

Preparedness. He and Dwight agreed that, to avoid duplication of effort, subForeign Mining Policy 227
committees on specific minerals of the AIME Committee and of the Mining 

and Metallurgical Society Committee would for the most pan include the same 

people, and that reports of the MMS Committee would be expanded to meet 

the needs of the War Department for estimates of the United States' requirements under war conditions and for recommendations for stockpile purchases. 

In January 1922, the joint AAPG-USGS committee announced its 

estimate of the Nation's petroleum reserves 9,150 million barrels, 5 billion 

"in sight" and 4 billion "prospective and possible." This report was also 

promptly attacked. Thomas A. O'Donnell, president of the American Petroleum Institute, decried the "super-scientists" who were "constantly measuring 

the petroleum resources of the world and pointing out various kinds of disaster 

following its exhaustion" and the "very able writers with a great command of 

the English language and a new use of mathematics" who used the statements 

of the scientists for some "wonderfully interesting articles" that gave "an exaggerated viewpoint to the public mind as to the immediate danger confronting 

our country through lack of the necessary petroleum resources of the future." 

E. L. DeGolyer, consulting geologist to oil companies, complained that producers were suffering from low prices because of overproduction and a glutted 

market at a time when the estimates of geologists, and the conclusions that industry leaders had drawn from them, indicated that petroleum would be in 

great demand and consequently high-priced. He feared that the new fields in 

the United States and Mexico would bring on more overproduction and panic 

prices. According to DeGolyer

It behooves the geologist, to consider seriously the value of these general 

estimates which he presents from time to time as well as the adequacy of 

the bases which he may have for making estimates at all. One might even 

question the necessity and desirability of trying to make such general 

estimates. It is doubtful whether they have been of value or service beyond 

giving concrete expression to and thus providing for popular education in 

the fact that our petroleum resources are not inexhaustible.

DeGolyer especially objected to estimates of what might be expected from 

undiscovered fields, which he labeled as pure guesswork. Arthur Veatch, then 

chief geologist for Sinclair, promptly disagreed with DeGolyer. Petroleum occupied a "paradoxical position" among minerals in that new discoveries, new 

researches, and new developments tended to increase, rather than decrease, the 

possibilities of its occurrence in hitherto unsuspected regions. The growth of 

knowledge about oil had progressively extended its known range through rocks 

of different ages and multiplied the conditions under which it might occur in 

commercial quantities. Veatch thought it quite possible to make a useful 

estimate of oil in unknown territory but questioned the attempt to express exhaustion in terms of years because that ignored fundamental economic factors.

Long before the world has reached a stage when high prices will fail to 

bring temporary overproduction and I believe that time is more distant 

than some recent estimates indicate petroleum prices will approach the 

economic limit, which will, on the one hand, curtail certain uses of 

petroleum products, and, on the other, make it commercially feasible to 

manufacture substitutes for many petroleum products, or to derive them 

more extensively by distillation from the very widely distributed oil-shale 

deposits, or what is probably a much more important source the highvolatile coals.

The AAPG-USGS committee had not relied solely on its own judgment in 

making the estimate of petroleum reserves. State geologists, regional 

geologists, consulting specialists, and geologists and engineers attached to 

many companies had worked with the committee. Local and State committees 

had reviewed reports for districts, counties, and fields before the joint committee considered them. But before the report was issued, previously discovered

High tide

of fresh water

228 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
The proximity of salt water makes it difficult to obtain 

supplies of fresh water of good quality at many places 

along coasts. Wells near the sea may become salty by 

the admixture of sea water, and the water level may rise 

and fall with the tides. Contamination (the Survey 

preferred to reserve the term "pollution" for unsanitary conditions of water due to sewage and industrial wastes) by sea water was by far the most 

troublesome problem, for sea water, even in small 

quantity, makes ground water unfit for both domestic 

and many industrial uses. The illustration is an ideal 

diagram showing movements of fresh ground water 

and the gradation into sea water along shores composed of uniformly porous sand on (A) a small island 

and (B) a mainland shore. Sea water is shown by heavy 

stipple, fresh water without stipple, and mixtures by a 

light stipple. (FromJ. S. Brown, 1925.)

Salt water could also be a problem in the interior. In 

northwestern Oklahoma, the average precipitation is 

only about 20 inches a year, barely sufficient for farming. Precipitation had been deficient for 2 or 3 years 

when a large flow of water, reported to be 40,000 to 

50,000 barrels a day, was struck at a depth of 508 feet 

in a well being drilled for oil in Ellis County. After an 

investigation, D. G. Thompson of the Survey concluded that water could probably be obtained in deep 

wells in sufficient quantity for irrigation but it would 

be so salty that it would kill crops and spoil the land for 

future use. In the uplands, water suitable for irrigation 

might be obtained from shallower wells but at a prohibitive cost. Farmers were advised to find relief from 

drought by a careful study of the crops and farming 

methods best adapted to the climate (From D. G. 

Thompson, 1921.)

fields whose development had been hampered by drilling difficulties or legal 

restrictions came into production, and new fields were discovered in California, 

Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas. Only a month after the estimate was made 

public, daily production of oil began to exceed consumption. The estimate, 

although made on the best information available at the time it was completed, 

confirmed Chief Geologist White's statement that "the geologic principles 

controlling the distribution of oil and gas have as yet been discovered only in 

part, and what remains yet to be learned is probably vastly more than what is 

already known."

While these arguments on petroleum resources were being aired, Secretary 

Fall on April 7, 1922, leased part of the Salt Creek field and the naval reserve in 

Teapot Dome to Harry F. Sinclair. The leases very quickly came up for discussion in Congress. On April 15, the Senate, acting on a resolution proposed by 

Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming, called on Secretary Fall to explain the 

lease of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3. Senator Kendrick said two questions 

were involved: Was there present need for the development of Teapot Dome? 

The adjacent Salt Creek field was not producing fully and leases there had been 

suspended. If Teapot Dome were to be developed, were the interests of the 

Government best served by public or private sale?

Acting Secretary of the Interior Finney and Secretary of the Navy Denby 

submitted a joint reply on April 21, stating that "The naval reserves in California have, by drilling and production on privately owned lands ajoining, already 

been drained to a very large extent, involving a loss to the Government of 

millions of barrels of oil, and from a careful geologic study recently made by an 

expert of this department it was found that the Teapot Dome was menaced 

with similar drainage danger.'' The report also stated that one of the reasons 

why the Salt Creek field was partly shut down was the lack of pipelines in the 

Wyoming area, and so Secretary Fall had considered proposals from several oil 

companies and individuals for development of the reserve with the accompanying guaranty of construction of adequate pipeline facilities. After full consideration of all offers submitted, a contract had been signed on April 7 with 

the recently incorporated Mammoth Oil Company. As oil in the ground, or 

even as it came from the ground before refining and transportation, was of no 

use to the Navy, this procedure, Finney and Denby added, was in the Navy's 

best interest.

On the day that the joint reply was received, Senator LaFollette introduced 

a resolution calling on the Secretary of the Interior to produce information and 

documents on the status of leasing in all three naval petroleum reserves. The 

resolution was allowed to lie on the table for several days, during which time

Naval Petroleum Reserves 229
the Elk Hills Naval Reserve in California was leased to E. L Doheny. On April 

28, LaFollette attacked the leasing of Teapot Dome in a long speech. He denied 

that there was any danger of drainage, and to substantiate his statement quoted 

several geologists, among them the Survey's Chief Geologist David White who 

had said that he had no evidence in his office to support any such claim. The 

LaFollette resolution was then unanimously passed by the Senate on April 29.

There was far more public interest in coal than in oil at the time, for 

another coal strike had begun on April 1, 1922. The problem was the same as 

in 1919; the industry was overdeveloped, the miners wanted steady work, the 

operators wanted to cut costs, and the public wanted cheap coal. When the 

operators in the bituminous fields refused to renew the existing wage agreement and called for drastic wage reductions, 500,000 bituminous coal miners 

went out on strike and were joined shortly by 150,000 anthracite workers. In 

mid-May, Secretary Hoover called a small group of coal operators together in 

conference, and then called a general meeting of coal operators on May 31 to 

consult with them "as to what measures could be taken to restrain runaway 

prices, profiteering, and speculation in coal during the strike." The 

preliminary conference suggested that the Garfield prices of October 29, 1917, 

be used to compute fair sales prices and that plan was agreed to in the general 

meeting despite a certain amount of criticism. Cod Age hailed the agreement 

as an "epoch in industrial progress," and praised Hoover's ability to get things 

done, noting that 99 percent of the operators approved the plan even though it 

would prevent them from recouping losses. George Otis Smith said that after 

"living with the coal question for weeks" he was "fully convinced that the plan 

Secretary Hoover is engineering in the interest of the public holds a larger 

promise of keeping coal prices down than any other move that is feasible at this 

time."

While Secretary Hoover was receiving accolades for his handling of the coal 

crisis, President Harding sent Secretary Fall's reply to the LaFollette resolution 

to the Senate. Although the President stipulated that the reply was not to be 

construed as a defense of either specific acts or general policies, it was chiefly a 

defense of the leasing of the Teapot Dome reserve. The report showed that the 

Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines held different views on the possible 

drainage of the reserve and that Fall had placed greater credence in the 

Bureau's findings. The crux of the matter was the relation of the Salt Creek 

field to Teapot Dome. C. H. Wegemann had mapped the Salt Creek and 

Teapot Dome structures as separate in 1909, and when the reserve was 

established in 1915, a small part of the Salt Creek field had been included. In

For most of the metals industries, the immediate 

postwar problem was oversupply, but a decrease in 

gold production was cause for concern because a sufficient gold reserve was considered essential to the security of national finance and credit. The depletion of 

some deposits, the lower grade of ore mined in others, 

and the fixed price of gold all contributed to the 

decline, and the elusive character of the metal complicated the search for new deposits. F. L. Ransome 

found that in the Oatman district in northwestern 

Arizona, for example, where gold had been discovered 

during the Civil War, small-scale mining had been carried on since the 1890's, and rich discoveries had been 

made in 1915 and later years, some of the largest ore 

bodies gave little or no indication of their presence at 

or near the surface, and some of the more conspicuous 

vein outcrops had little of value beneath them. 

Moreover, although the veins were mineralogically 

simple, gold was visible only in unusually rich ore. The 

photograph shows the Gold Road vein exposed on the 

Oatman-Kingman Road. (From F. L. Ransome, 1923.)

230 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
In the years immediately after World War I, when 

funds were short and scientists were leaving the Survey 

for private industry, the Geologic Branch supported 

basic research in various ways. In the summer and fall 

of 1919, surveying instruments and field equipment 

were loaned to Yale graduate student C. R. Longwell 

for his study of an almost unmapped area in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. The pioneer 

scientists who had studied the Colorado Plateau and 

Great Basin regions had given only passing notice to 

the area, and although it was of critical interest, being 

near the boundary of two provinces, later efforts had 

been discouraged by the climate, scarcity of settlements, and lack of base maps. The area included 

Boulder Canyon, shown in the photograph, now 

covered by Lake Mead. (From C. R. Longwell, 1928.)

1921, after Wegemann had left the Survey for private industry, he suggested 

that there was evidence of a fault in the area and that the Salt Creek wells might 

draw on the reserve. K. C. Heald had examined the area in 1921 and concluded 

that Wegemann's map should indeed be modified; the structure was probably 

a single, faulted dome and part of the reserve would be drained, but that the 

drainage would be exceedingly slow. At the rate of production then current, 

Heald concluded it would be a year or more before any part of the reserve 

would be appreciably damaged, but recommended that if appreciable loss 

became imminent because of intensive drilling near the line between the 

reserve and the Salt Creek field, a certain few fractions in the reserve should be 

leased. The Bureau of Mines engineers, however, had concluded that the 

danger of loss by drainage was imminent and serious. Fall's report was referred 

to the Committee on Public Lands and no more was heard of it.

Early in July 1922, the Federal Trade Commission filed a report on conditions in the petroleum trade in Wyoming and Montana for the stated purpose 

of bringing to the attention of Congress a situation which appeared to call for 

legislative action. Early in 1921, the prices of crude petroleum had been radically reduced in all the oil fields east of the Rocky Mountains, but the slow and 

unequal decline in prices of gasoline throughout the country brought complaints to the FTC, especially from Montana. The Commission pointed out that 

the petroleum industry of Montana, in fact of the whole Rocky Mountain 

region, was dominated by Standard Oil interests which legally were supposed 

to be strangers to each other but which were actually related through interlocking stock ownership. The fact that Standard of Indiana owned a half interest in 

Sinclair Pipeline and Sinclair Crude Oil Producing Company suggested to the 

commission that the contemplated entrance of Standard-Sinclair interests in 

the producing and transportation of Teapot Dome oil would increase the 

monopolistic control of the industry. The report was duly received and referred 

to the Interstate Commerce Committee but no action was taken.

The Survey had, meanwhile, begun the new fiscal year with an appropriation that was about 9 percent less than that for the preceding year. Under the

Petroleum Industry Problems 231
Budget and Accounting Act, appropriations were scheduled in bills framed 

along departmental lines, and the Senate and House Appropriations Committees established subcommittees to specialize in the work of the different departments. L C. Cramton of Michigan, chairman of the House subcommittee on 

the Interior Department, characterized the Survey as "a great service, which 

has been remarkably well administered under Dr. George Otis Smith. It is a 

service which joins in an effective and very necessary way with every activity in 

connection with the national domain, and has other important work." 

Nonetheless the committee delved into such matters as the number of 

automobiles and trucks in use, obviously fearing that Government employees 

would be tempted to ride around in them, questioned attendance at scientific 

meetings, another privilege that might be abused, and then reduced the 

budget "not because of any lack of confidence in the survey or any lack of appreciation of their work but because we have felt that some of its activities 

which must be done sometime are some of the things that now can wait.'' The 

major cuts were made in the appropriations for geologic surveys, classification 

of public lands, and engraving of geologic maps. A House cut in the appropriation for topographic surveys was restored by the Senate, and in the end that appropriation was cut only $5,000.

Percentagewise and dollarwise, the appropriation for classification of the 

public lands was cut most severely, so less field work for purposes of classification could be done. Because the Land Classification Branch was allotting funds 

to the field branches for such work, however, the cut was in large part simply 

passed on to the field branches. This did not greatly affect the Topographic and 

Water Resources Branches, both of which again received substantial funds from 

other sources to supplement the directly appropriated funds. Twenty-two 

States and the Territory of Hawaii contributed $286,000, equal to about 86 

percent of the direct appropriation, for cooperative topographic surveys, and 

other Federal agencies supplied an additional $23,000. Outside funds for 

water-resources investigations were again considerably more than the direct appropriation. In the Geologic Branch, on the other hand, funds for the Division 

of Geology were about 14 percent less than in the preceding year; the appropriation for the Division of Physical and Chemical Research was the same as 

it had been since 1911, for the Division of Mineral Resources the same as it had 

been in 1920.

The appropriation for investigation of the Alaskan Mineral Resources had 

not been increased since it was cut in 1918 on the theory that the war was far 

away from Alaska. However, the Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources was no 

longer part of the Geologic Branch but a Branch in its own right. Secretary 

Fall's efforts to take over the Forest Service had been thwarted by a well 

organized campaign that produced a stream of editorials and letters opposing 

the transfer, and his disposition of the naval oil reserves was being scrutinized. 

His interest in developing, or exploiting, Alaskan resources, however, met with 

more success, and the President himself encouraged him. In line with the 

development policy, the Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources was separated 

from the Geologic Branch on April 1, 1922, and made an independent branch. 

A. H. Brooks, who remained in charge, adopted the title "Chief Alaskan 

Geologist."

During the summer of 1922, Brooks accompanied a Department of Commerce expedition to study the fishing and fur-seal industries of the northern 

Pacific, taking advantage of the opportunity to study the geology and mineral 

resources of the coastal regions of Alaska, the adjacent islands, and portions of 

the coast of Siberia. R. H. Sargent was in charge of a double party making a 

reconnaissance topographic and geologic survey of the oil fields of the Alaska 

Peninsula. W. R. Smith accompanied Sargent, and R. K. Lynt and A. A. Baker 

formed the second party.

232 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
In 1920, W. T. Lee, one of the few coal geologists who 

had not left the Survey for private industry, spent 

several months making a practical test, with the aid of 

the air services of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, of 

the use of aerial photography in studying the physical 

features of the surface of the Earth. Aerial photography 

had been used during the war to record enemy positions, and A. H. Brooks, Chief Geologist of the 

A.E.F., had found that he could infer geologic information from such photographs. Lee concluded that 

aerial photography would aid both geographic and 

geologic investigators and could also be used to aid 

prospectors in their search for ore or oil. The 

photograph, taken by Lee, shows a tidal delta partly 

above water, and the hook-shaped bars built across the 

outlet of Popes Creek, Virginia, by tidal currents from 

the Potomac. (From W. T. Lee, 1925.)

The Topographic, Water Resources, and Geologic Branches again collaborated in special investigations in the Colorado River drainage basin in 

1922. River surveys were made along the Green River from Green River, 

Wyoming, to Green River, Utah, and on the Yampa from its mouth to the 

Cross Mountain reservoir site to ascertain the feasibility of storing and diverting 

the waters of the Green River for irrigation and generation of power. R. R. 

Woolley accompanied the Green River party to designate dam sites for detailed 

survey and Warren Oakey was attached to the Yampa River party for the same 

purpose. J. B. Reeside, Jr., accompanied the Green River party to make 

geologic examinations of proposed dam and reservoir sites.

E. C. LaRue served as chairman of the Arizona Engineering Commission 

established by the State to study the possibility of irrigation in Arizona by water 

from the Colorado. He also made a special survey of the river between Halls 

Crossing, Utah, and Lees Ferry, Arizona, to examine in detail some of the 

possible dam sites disclosed by maps made from the surveys in 1921, and examined power sites at the mouth of Diamond Creek and on the lower portion 

of the river from Boulder Canyon to Needles. F. L. Ransome studied the 

geology of the Boulder Canyon and Black Canyon dam sites, and H. A. C. 

Jenison examined the possible economic resources of the reservoir sites.

The Topographic Branch made two special surveys of the Klamath-Shasta 

Valley irrigation project in California in 1922, as well as special surveys of 

several counties in Utah, in cooperation with the counties and the Reclamation 

Service to aid in planning irrigation and drainage systems. Topographic surveys 

were also made in 24 States and in Hawaii, but only 60 square miles were 

mapped in the two States that did not contribute cooperative funds.

In the Water Resources Branch, nearly all the work done under cooperative 

agreements was concerned with streamflow, and stream measurements were 

also made for the Redamation Service, the Office of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the city of San Francisco, and the Federal 

Power Commission. At the end of the year, the number of gaging stations had 

increased to 1,591. Ground-water geologists had several reports in preparation 

but were unable to undertake much field work. The investigations in Idaho, 

begun in 1921, were continued by H. T. Stearns and L. L. Bryan of the Surface

Colorado River Utilization 233
Water Division, and Kirk Bryan studied the ground-water conditions in 

Yosemite National Park and made a special investigation of the proposed dam 

sites in Paradise Valley, Nevada. Norah Dowell was detailed to the Fort Caswell 

laboratory of the Public Health Service in May to assist in experiments to determine the extent to which Bacillus colt and the germs of typhoid fever were 

transported by ground water. Later in the year, the division established a small 

hydrologic laboratory to determine the mechanical composition, porosity, 

moisture equivalent, and permeability of water-bearing materials and placed 

Dowell in charge.

The peak of homesteading under the Stock Raising Homestead Act had 

been reached in 1921, and the decline thereafter seemed to bear out the earlier 

predictions of some sheepmen and cattlemen's associations that the breakup of 

the range into 640-acre homesteads would damage its carrying capacity. A 

Department of Agriculture bulletin issued in October 1922 went so far as to 

state that the Act of 1916 was proving an outright snare to deluded people, that 

much of the land classified as suitable for stock raising homesteads was "barely 

up to the requirements of the Land Classification Board" and that trying to 

make a living on 640 acres in most cases was "extremely hazardous." Although 

the General Land Office continued to hold that the results of the act were on 

the whole beneficial, the Division of Homestead Classification of the Survey's 

Land Classification Branch, under instructions from the Secretary of the Interior, began a cooperative program with the Department of Agriculture's newly formed Bureau of Agricultural Economics in studying the agriculture and 

utilization of land in the northern Great Plains region. Henry C. Taylor, the 

head of the new bureau, was a pioneer in the field of agricultural economics. A 

native of Iowa and a graduate of the Iowa State College of Agriculture, he had 

also studied at the University of Wisconsin where he came under the influence 

of Richard T. Ely. From 1901 until 1919, Taylor had been a member of the 

faculty of the University of Wisconsin, but left to join the Department of 

Agriculture, which he felt gave an opportunity to expand the work on 

agricultural econimics on a nationwide basis.

The Geologic Branch accommodated itself as best it could to the reduced 

funds in 1922 and for the most part emphasized completion of projects already 

begun rather than undertaking any new work. The Metals Section made a 

definite effort to finish up the work in Arizona. F. L. Ransome finished field 

work in the Oatman district, C. P. Ross completed the field studies of the 

Christmas quadrangle and the Aravaipa and Stanley mining districts, and 

special arrangements were made to permit Waldemar Lindgren to investigate 

mining districts in Yavapai County and E. S. Bastin to complete a report on the 

silver ores near Chloride and Kingman. Edward Sampson and J. L. Gillson continued the investigation of the mineral resources of Idaho. In Nevada, H. G.

In the fall and winter of 1920-1921, W. P. Woodring, 

J. S. Brown, and W. S. Burbank of the Survey made, at 

the request and expense of the Haitian Government, a 

reconnaissance survey of the Republic of Haiti and a 

detailed reconnaissance of several specific regions to 

ascertain the extent of mineral deposits and the 

possibility of utilizing the ground-water resources. In 

their report they also pointed out that the most striking 

thing in the morphology of the West Indies is the arrangement of its geographic features in arcs, seen in 

the trends of the islands and mountain ranges, and of 

the ridges and troughs in the submerged areas. No 

attempt was made to determine the significance of the 

arrangement although it was noted that the arcs were 

similar to the arcs of folded mountains in other areas. 

(From W. P. Woodring, J. S. Brown, and.W. S. Burbank, 1924.)

234 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
Ferguson, assisted by S. H. Cathcart, continued mapping the Tonopah and 

Hawthorne quadrangles, and L. G. Westgate, assisted by C. H. Dane, began 

field work in the Pioche mining district. At the request of B. S. Butler, L. C. 

Graton, and others who were investigating the native copper ores of the Lake 

Superior region, chemist R. C. Wells began experiments on the chemical 

changes by which copper may be formed in nature, resuming the fundamental 

work done by Stoke some years earlier. E. F. Burchard of the Section of Iron 

and Steel Alloy Metals returned from the Philippines and began a field study of 

the brown iron ores of west-central Tennessee in cooperation with the State 

survey. Mapping of potential oil areas was continued, chiefly in Montana, but 

also in parts of Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Los Angeles County, California. 

Research was also continued on the source materials of petroleum, the physical 

properties of reservoir rocks, microfaunas as aids to the identification and correlation of beds, and on salt-dome caprocks. The potash program was experiencing difficulties as few samples were being obtained for analysis since the 

adoption of core drilling. G. R. Mansfield continued his field work in the phosphate regions of Idaho.

Among the noneconomic sections, the Coastal Plain Section was especially 

active in 1922. T. W. Vaughan and associates, both within and outside the 

Survey, were engaged in special studies of the physical and chemical properties 

of sediments and the fundamental principles of sedimentation. George Steiger 

of the Chemical Laboratory also spent most of his time on sedimentation 

studies, and devised a method for analysis of sediments that was applied with 

satisfactory results to bottom samples from the Bay of Maine and from the 

vicinity of Samoa. Areal mapping and stratigraphic studies were continued in 

various parts of the country, and C. W. Cooke and L. W. Stephenson spent 

some time in Alabama to establish boundaries for a State geologic map.

The coal strike had continued into the summer of 1922 and became the 

cause of much public concern as the fall approached. Strikebreakers had been 

brought into a southern Illinois field late in June, and the resulting violence 

had left a score dead and many injured. In July, a conference was held in the 

White House, much like the one convened by Roosevelt in 1902. This time, the 

operators agreed to accept arbitration and to reopen the mines on the terms in 

effect before the walkout, pending final settlement, but the miners demurred. 

The miners finally agreed to return to work on the old scale with the understanding that a Federal investigation of the industry would be made.

By mid-August, the situation had become very serious; Survey information indicated that coal stocks were little more than one-third what they had 

been on April 1. President Harding addressed a joint session of Congress on 

August 18, characterizing the situation as "menacing to the Nation's welfare," 

and asked for creation of a commission to make a "searching investigation of 

the whole coal industry." The House passed such a bill on August 23; the 

Senate, which had two coal commission bills on its calendar when the House 

bill arrived, delayed until September 8 before passing a bill. The final bill, 

agreed to by both houses, called for a commission of 7 members, to be 

appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, at an annual salary of $7,500, "to investigate and ascertain fully the facts and conditions and study the problems and questions relative to the coal industry with a 

view to and for the purpose of aiding, assisting and advising Congress in matters of legislation which will insure a supply of this commodity to the industries 

and the people generally.''

On October 10, President Harding, acting without the advice and consent 

of the Senate, which had already adjourned to campaign for the November 

elections, nominated the seven members of the Coal Commission: John Hays 

Hammond, the well known mining engineer, chairman; former Vice President 

Thomas R. Marshall; Judge Samuel Alschuler, noted labor arbitrator; Clark

The Coal Strike 235
Howell, editor of the Atlanta Constitution; Dr. Edward Devine, former professor of social economy at Columbia University; Charles P. Neill, former Commissioner of Labor Statistics; and George Otis Smith, Director of the U.S. 

Geological Survey. The selection met with mingled cheers and jeers from the 

coal operators and miners. George Otis Smith planned to divide his time between the Survey and the Coal Commission, but the Comptroller General 

ruled that he could not hold two Government positions at the same time. Concluding that service on the Coal Commission was "not only a deserved honor to 

the Survey but also a desired chance to make the largest use of Survey data and 

personnel to the advantage of the public," Smith resigned as Director of the 

Geological Survey on October 31, 1922, with the understanding that he would 

be reinstated when the Coal Commission expired by law on September 22, 

1923. In the person of the Director of the Geological Survey, at least, science 

and industry had converged.

236 The Convergence of Science and Industry, 1919-1922
Chapter 9-

The Sound of a Different Drum,

1922-1925

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is 

because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he 

hears, however measured or far away.

 Henry David Thoreau

By November 1922, the U.S. economy had pretty well recovered from the 

protracted slump that began in the spring of 1920 and a new era of prosperity 

was underway. The Nation was well launched on a second industrial revolution 

as the result of the increase in manufacturing capacity during the war, the increase in electrical power, and the development of industrial chemistry, 

especially in the manufacture of special-purpose steels and of synthetics. 

Automobile production was on the rise (to become before long the Nation's 

most important industry), and it stimulated other industries by its demands for 

metals, glass, rubber, and textiles. The increasing use of automobiles 

stimulated the demand for gasoline and for good roads. At the same time there 

emerged a new generation of business leaders and a new form of competition, 

which relied not on the cutthroat tactics of an earlier generation in the development of monopolies but a more subtle collaboration within an industry to 

maintain prices and profits.

There was, however, a spirit of unrest also evident, particularly among 

farmers and labor who did not share in the general prosperity, and many Progressive leaders, both in and out of Congress, were calling for reform of the 

economic system. In the elections in November 1922, the Republicans lost 76 

House seats and 8 Senate seats although they managed to retain control of both 

houses. Senator Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin, who was reelected by a large 

majority, assumed leadership of the Progressive group and was nominated for 

President on a Progressive ticket in 1924. The continuing prosperity enabled 

the Republicans to weather even the scandals that came to light after President 

Harding's death in 1923 and to elect Calvin Coolidge as President by a clear 

majority and increase their strength in both houses of Congress. Under 

Coolidge, Government efficiency and economy were stressed even more than 

under Harding and business was all important as Coolidge himself put it, 

"The business of America is business."

The Nation's mineral industry, with but few exceptions, notably the coal 

industry, shared in the general prosperity in 1922. Iron, steel, and aluminum 

production were all increasing, but the Cinderella of the industry was 

petroleum. Following the years of short supply in 1919 and 1920, which had 

led to fears for the future of the world's oil supply, production had increased 

dramatically, and in 1922, U. S. production alone was more than the entire 

world production in 1919- In the next 3 years, the increase in steel production 

began to cause some concern about reserves of manganese and other steelhardening metals. The problems of the coal industry were alleviated, although 

not solved. Petroleum production continued to soar; in 1924, world production

The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925 237
was more than double what it had been in 1918; U.S. production had kept 

pace and was still about 70 percent of the total.

In the Geological Survey, David White's retirement as Chief Geologist on 

November 15, 1922, after ten years in the position and in accordance with his 

frequently repeated request to return to research, was announced at the same 

time as the resignation of George Otis Smith as Director so he could serve on 

the Coal Commission. White had become Chief Geologist as the Geologic 

Branch was attempting to resume basic research after several years' involvement 

in public-land administration, a trend that was soon interrupted by the necessity of undertaking multifarious tasks as part of the preparedness and war efforts. 

Resumption of basic research in the immediate postwar era was complicated by 

energy shortages, the loss of personnel to industry, and lack of Federal funds.

Walter C. Mendenhall, Chief of the Land Classification Branch, was 

named to succeed White as Chief Geologist. Mendenhall's first assignment in 

the Survey in 1894 had been with the Geologic Branch, but he had left the 

branch in 1903, serving first in the Water Resources Branch where he made 

some of the pioneer studies in ground-water geology. Since 1908, Mendenhall 

had been engaged in administrative work, as the head of ground-water studies 

in the Water Resources Branch and as a member and then head of the Land 

Classification Board and then as head of the Land Classification Branch where 

he had established a reputation as a superb administrator. Herman Stabler, 

Chief Engineer and head of the Division of Hydrographic Classification, succeeded Mendenhall as Chief of the Land Classification Branch.

Mendenhall's ability as an administrator may have been the principal 

reason for his selection as Chief Geologist, for in announcing White's retirement, George Otis Smith said that he had planned to start a somewhat radical 

reorganization of the Geologic Branch, a task he would have to leave to the new 

Chief Geologist and to Acting Director P. S. Smith. The Survey, said George 

Otis Smith, depended on scientists for administration, and yet that 

dependence had robbed it of research capabilities and too many scientists were 

spending time on tasks for which they were not trained. The reorganization, he 

suggested, would provide greater flexibility, a somewhat curious choice of 

words inasmuch as David White had been noted for his casual attitude about 

organizational boundaries and chains of command. White's methods had 

produced results but not the engineering efficiency demanded by the mood of 

the day.

Engineering continued to outrank science in public esteem, and so the 

Topographic and Water Resources Branches of the Survey continued to obtain 

financial support from the States and other Federal establishments. Stringent 

Republican economy was relaxed sufficiently to provide a substantial increase in

 ~" -fer *£ <T-f.;r* ^

r ».*.._, A^F > *->-***» -..; _-s_<Sy.''-Ml -jMj^

r^*idfc»" 

^-.^F1-

For studies of the utilization of the Colorado River, 

partial topographic information along the course of the 

river was available from various expeditions, beginning 

with John Wesley Powell's historic exploration of 1869, 

except for the Grand Canyon section, the most dangerous part of the river because of rapids and turbulent 

water. In 1923, a daring expedition led by the Survey's 

Chief Topographic Engineer, C. H. Birdseye, filled 

that information gap. Traveling in four wooden boats, 

the party established a continuous river line from a 

geographically known point near Lees Ferry to a 

monumented station below the mouth of Diamond 

Creek, a distance of 251 miles, and selected several 

possible reservoir and dam sites. The photograph, 

taken by E. C. LaRue, shows one of the boats running a 

rapid 2 miles above Havasu Creek, one of the 84 rapids 

run by the expedition. (From C. H. Birdseye and R. C. 

Moore, 1924.)

238 The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925
The Survey's continuing examination of western waterpower capacities indicated that by 1920 the water 

resources of the Great Salt Lake Basin were already 

rather intensively developed. Irrigation and power 

development completely utilized the low-water flow of 

most streams, and considerable progress had been 

made in conserving flood flow by building reservoirs, 

but the gross undeveloped storage capacity in the basin 

was estimated to be only about half the storage capacity of Bear Lake, the largest existing reservoir in the 

basin. Plans for future development would also have to 

take into consideration competition from power developed from Utah coal or developed at sites along the 

Snake, Green, and Colorado Rivers and their tributaries and transmitted to Utah. The photograph shows 

the Wheelon plant on Bear River which began as an 

irrigation project during the days of the Irrigation 

Survey in 1889 and was completed with construction of 

the power plant in 1903. (From R. R. Woolley, 1924.)

Federal appropriations for topographic surveys in fiscal year 1925- The Geologic 

Branch was unable to command much cooperative support and its appropriations remained static. Under the new Chief Geologist, however, the branch 

gradually recovered from the exodus of scientists to industry and the academic 

world of the early postwar years and once more developed its research 

capabilities. At the same time, however, it became a smaller and smaller part of 

the Survey.

Secretary of Commerce Hoover remained the indefatigable exponent of 

the need for a general reorganization of the Federal Government but Congress 

moved toward that goal slowly. Shortly after his inauguration, President 

Harding had asked that a representative of the executive branch be added to 

the Joint Congressional Committee on Reorganization. Congress had agreed 

but thereafter seems to have washed its hands of the affair until a report was 

submitted to the lameduck session of the 67th Congress. This report was 

promptly deemed the opinion of the executive branch alone, and the committee was given until July 1, 1924, to prepare another report. Congress did, 

however, pass the Classification Act which was approved by the President on 

the final day of the session. The act established six grades of positions in the 

professional and technical services, with salaries ranging from $1,860 per year 

for beginning scientists and engineers to $7,500 a year for chief scientists and 

engineers with many years of experience. The salaries were to take effect on July 

1, 1924, leaving somewhat more than a year for classification of positions.

The Interior Department Appropriations Act which had been approved on 

January 23, 1923, provided for the Geological Survey in the fiscal year beginning July 1, $1,670,190, or $219,250 more than in the year ending June 30. 

The largest part of the increase came through an amendment proposed by 

Congressman Henry Temple, Republican of Pennsylvania, to increase the appropriation for topographic surveys from $325,000 to $500,000. Congressman 

James Begg, Republican of Ohio, called for a point of order there was no 

authorization for the Geological Survey to make topographic surveys. After 

considerable discussion, the point of order was denied on the basis of the ruling 

in 1906 that a topographic map is a public work in progress and therefore not 

subject to a point of order. During the debate, however, it became apparent 

that several members of the House felt that the topographic surveys were being 

delayed by the greater detail with which mapping was being done in cooperative projects, in particular the smaller contour interval. Before the Temple 

amendment was approved a proviso was added: "That no part of the appropriation be expended in cooperation with States or municipalities except upon the 

basis of a State or municipality bearing all of the expense incident thereto in exAppropriations, 1923 239
cess of such an amount as is necessary for the Geological Survey to perform its 

share of standard topographic surveys." The other major increase, $55,000 for 

classification of public lands, was less than the Department had requested. The 

appropriation for stream gaging was cut by $10,000.

Even though his reorganization plans had not succeeded, Secretary of 

Commerce Hoover had enhanced his reputation for accomplishment and extended his influence within the executive branch. In November 1922, after the 

Coal Commission had begun its work, Hoover had met with the Colorado River 

Commission, and after two weeks of marathon sessions, a draft of a compact 

apportioning water between the Upper and Lower Basin States in perpetuity 

had been prepared and signed. Six weeks later, the White House announced 

the resignation of Secretary of the Interior Fall to take effect in March 1923- 

The stated reason for Secretary Fall's resignation was that he had not intended 

to stay in the post indefinitely and now wished to return to private business. It 

was, however, apparent that although President Harding continued his personal friendship with Secretary Fall, he was relying more and more on 

Secretaries Hoover and Hughes.

The new Secretary of the Interior was Dr. Hubert Work, a Colorado physician who had been active in Republican politics. In 1920, he had organized 

farmers in support of the Harding-Coolidge ticket. In 1921, he was appointed 

First Assistant Postmaster General and in 1922, Postmaster General. Work 

shared Hoover's enthusiasm for efficiency and economy in government. Work 

continued as Secretary of the Interior until 1928, when he resigned to become 

Hoover's campaign manager. During the intervening years, he was diligent in 

his efforts to reduce the size and cost of the Department of the Interior 

although he complained that "applying business methods to a great government department is a tedious process."

In the Geological Survey in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1923, four of 

the five branches had more money than ever before. Funds for topographic 

mapping soared to more than $900,000, or 1.8 times the direct appropriation, 

with the receipt of more than $350,000 from 19 States and the Territory of 

Hawaii and funds from the War Department for military mapping. The Water 

Resources Branch had cooperative agreements with 30 States and the Territory 

of Hawaii, which contributed funds equal to 1.65 times the direct appropriation, and in addition funds from several other Federal bureaus, so the cut in appropriation of $10,000 was insignificant. The Alaska Branch's appropriation 

was matched by an allocation of $75,000 from the Navy for exploration of the 

newly designated Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4. The financial plight of the 

Geologic Branch, which had no increase in funds, was accentuated by 

comparison.

There was, however, no radical reorganization of the Geologic Branch, as 

proposed by George Otis Smith, but the beginning of a gradual change that 

took several years to complete. The work became, if anything, less rather than 

more utilitarian, except in the Division of Mineral Resources whose future was 

clouded by the opposition of the Department of Justice to the dissemination of 

trade statistics. The division devoted considerable attention to coal; in addition 

to its regular statistical compilations, it issued a weekly report on coal and coke, 

assisted the Coal Commission and the Department of Commerce in special 

studies of the coal industry, and, in cooperation with the Bureau of the Census, 

undertook four canvasses of consumers' stocks of coal. Special statistics on 

petroleum and natural gas were compiled for the Federal Trade Commission 

and maps showing petroleum and natural gas fields and petroleum pipelines in 

Texas were compiled. The section of foreign mineral reserves completed a world 

atlas of fuel reserves but the metals and nonmetals sections did no more than 

the routine compilation of statistical material.

240 The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925
The occurrence of ground water in southeastern Pennsylvania depended to a large extent on geologic structure. Rocks that might be good aquifers were so deeply 

buried that they were not easily accessible or lifted so 

high that they were removed by erosion, and large displacements along major faults restricted the circulation 

of ground water. Minor structures could also be important. The Wissahickon Schist, for example, was a fairly 

good source of water supply but wells had to be 

situated to take advantage of the dip of the schistosity 

and the direction of flow of the ground water. Well A 

in the illustration could be a failure and well B successful because water falling on the east side of the hill 

passed down the planes of schistosity to B, leaving A 

only a small area from which to draw. (From G. M. 

Hall, 1934.)

/ Lines represent planes 

of schistosity

The Alaskan Geology Branch continued the program already planned 

before the Navy requested the investigation of the Naval Petroleum Reserve, 

for the most part investigations aimed at the development of the Territory. The 

Alaska Railroad bridge across the Tanana River was completed in March 1923 

and the railroad opened for direct traffic between Seward and Fairbanks. S. R. 

Capps began a study of the metal deposits along the route as the mining industry in the region tributary to the railroad seemed certain to expand with the 

improved transportation. J. B. Mertie, Jr., explored an area of about 4,000 

square miles some distance north of Fairbanks, between Beaver on the Yukon 

and the Chandalar placer district. George Martin continued his study of the 

stratigraphy and petroleum resources of the Alaska Peninsula, in which combined topographic and geologic parties mapped areas between Kamishak Bay 

and Katmai and between Katmai and Cold Bay. F. H. Moffit studied the 

copper deposits of the Prince William Sound area and A. F. Buddington's investigation in southeastern Alaska was broadened to include investigations of 

mineral deposits in widely separated districts. Sidney Paige, the head of the 

Division of Geology and Paleontology of the Geologic Branch, was detailed to 

the Alaska Branch and led an expedition of three parties to northern Alaska to 

explore the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4, taking with him James Gilluly and 

W. T. Foran as geologists.

The Geologic Branch also aided the work of the Land Classification Branch 

in 1923. W. T. Thorn, Jr., had succeeded M. R. Campbell as head of the Coal 

Section at the end of January, and the section, its strength renewed by the 

maturing of the young men appointed in previous years, undertook detailed 

studies of coal fields in public-land States for purposes of classification and for 

administration of the Leasing Act, as well as to guide future development on a 

somewhat larger scale than in past years. The Oil and Gas Section continued its 

structural and stratigraphic studies in the oil regions of the Midcontinent, 

Rocky Mountains, and California. In part because of the work in the Geologic 

Branch, the Land Classification Branch was able to act on more than 6,000 

applications for permits, leases, and patents of mineral lands, and at the same 

time defined or redefined the known geologic structures of 9 producing oil 

fields, classified some of the withdrawn lands, and restored to the public 

domain nearly 3 million acres previously withdrawn as possible coal land and 

more than 400,000 acres previously withdrawn as possible oil land.

The branch continued fundamental investigations of oil shales, salt-dome 

rocks, the chemical nature of the organic matter in oil shales, and the pore 

space of oil and gas sands, and David White used his newfound but short-lived 

freedom from administrative responsibilities to prepare papers on radioactivity 

in relation to oil fields and the use of gravity observations in the solution of 

problems in historical and economic geology as well as in dynamic geology and 

tectonics. The latter was the subject of his presidential address to the Geological 

Society of America. In April 1923, White became Home Secretary of the 

National Academy of Sciences and thereby a member of the Executive Board of

Geology, 1923 241
the National Research Council. In 1924, he became Chairman of the NRC's 

Division of Geology and Geography.

Some research had to be discontinued when two senior scientists left the 

Survey for the academic world, E. S. Larsen, Jr., to become Professor of 

Petrology at Harvard University and T. W. Vaughan to become Director of the 

Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California. New research was undertaken, however, following the recommendations of the Committee on Geology 

and Geography of the National Research Council. George Steiger prepared a 

paper on the chemical and mechanical analysis of sediments for the "Treatise 

on Sedimentation" and R. C. Wells, after completing his experiments on the 

mode of formation of metallic copper in ore deposits, began a study of the 

measurement of geologic time by atomic disintegration. Areal mapping and 

stratigraphic studies were also continued and much work was done on the State 

geologic maps of Alabama, Arizona, and Oklahoma.

The Geologic Branch programs that experienced the most difficulties in 

1923 were those in metals and nonmetals. The Chief of the Metals Section, 

F. L. Ransome, was given leave to teach at the University of Arizona, and Edward Sampson left to join the Princeton faculty. C. P. Ross continued the work 

in Idaho but very little else was done except the mapping in Nevada. In the 

Section of the Geology of Iron and Steel Alloy Metals, E. F. Burchard examined 

iron deposits in Alabama, Washington, and Idaho in addition to his investigation of the Tennessee ores, and W. S. Bayley and W. S. Burbank began a study 

of the magnetite deposits of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The search for 

potash was continued at a minimal level.

Investigations of dam-site geology were transferred to the Water Resources 

Branch. F. L. Ransome had made many of the dam-site investigations requested by the Reclamation Service, including, in 1921, an examination of the 

dam sites in Boulder and Black Canyons which the Reclamation Service found 

most suitable for construction of a dam on the Colorado River. At a symposium

In central and southern Rosebud County, Montana, 

water quality, which was related to depth below the 

surface, was an important factor in utilization of 

ground water. The chief water-bearing formations are 

the Lance and the Fort Union, one or the other of 

which is at the surface over most of the area. (The 

photograph shows a sandstone in the lower part of the 

Tongue River Member of the Fort Union Formation.) 

A supply of water could generally be obtained wherever these units extended below the water table but the 

water from shallow depths (less than about 125 feet) 

contained considerable calcium and magnesium and 

water from greater depths only small amounts of these 

elements. Both shallow and deep water was generally 

satisfactory for domestic purposes and the water from 

shallow depths for irrigation. The water from greater 

depths was unsatisfactory for irrigation because it produced a hard black alkali crust at the surface. Water 

from shallow depths contained a considerable amount 

of scale-forming constituents and water from greater 

depths foamed in boilers. (From B. C. Renick, 1929.)

242 The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925
in Salt Lake City in 1922, Bailey Willis had raised the specter of movement 

along old faults in the area and had also questioned the suitability of the foundation rocks for a dam. The Reclamation Service again requested the services of 

the Geological Survey and Ransome had reexamined the sites in late 1922, 

seeking in particular evidence that the faults in the area were not now active. 

He concluded that the presence of potholes cut into fault surfaces and fault 

gouges now at an elevation of 900 feet above the river indicated that no movement had occurred during the period necessary to cut canyons 900 feet deep. 

When the Reclamation Service, in the spring of 1923, requested the services of 

a geologist to investigate sites along its Columbia Basin project, Kirk Bryan of 

the Ground Water Division was given the assignment. Bryan went on to 

develop a special expertise in dam-site geology in the next few years.

Most of the ground-water investigations in 1923 were made in the Western 

States, concerned, in particular, with water for irrigation. However, the division also began a major investigation of urban and industrial water supplies in 

New Jersey, which was the fourth most urbanized State according to the 1920 

Census. Quantitative data were needed, and so David G. Thompson, who 

headed the investigation for the Survey, had water-stage recorders installed in 

wells to obtain continuous records of the fluctuations of water level, to be 

studied in relation to fluctuations in pumping, and also had samples of sand 

analyzed for porosity and permeability in the hydrologic laboratory to aid in 

determining the rate of flow. Meinzer completed a major report on the occurrence of ground water in the United States with a discussion of the principles of 

ground-water hydrology which was published as a Water-Supply Paper.

Most of the work of the branch was devoted to surface-water investigations, and the number of gaging stations increased to 1,673- Water-power investigations, a major element of the work, were often made in conjunction with 

engineers of the Topographic Branch. Engineers from the two branches, for example, worked together on the Klamath and Umpqua Rivers in Oregon and 

along the Clearwater River in Idaho. Other surveys were made along the Sweetwater and Encampment Rivers in Wyoming, the South Platte in Colorado, in 

the Uinta Basin, and along the Missouri.

The Topographic Branch made field surveys in 27 States and Hawaii, nearly all in cooperation with the States or of areas requested by the War Department or other Federal agencies, among them many related to water projects. In 

Texas, 25 7 1/2-minute quadrangles were completed and 35 more begun in 

cooperation with the Board of Water Engineers, and 10 reservoir sites were 

surveyed in detail. In Utah, 306 square miles were mapped in cooperation with 

several counties and the Bureau of Reclamation to aid in planning irrigation 

and drainage systems. Los Angeles County, California, provided funds to aid in 

mapping 326 square miles on the scale of 1:24,000 with a contour interval of 

only 5 feet.

The Geological Survey also made special plan and profile surveys of the 

Colorado River during the summer of 1923, in anticipation of the early ratification of the Colorado River Compact which had been signed on November 24, 

1922 and then submitted to the legislatures of the signatory States for ratification before being submitted to the U.S. Congress. During these surveys, some 

253 miles of the Colorado River between Lees Ferry, Arizona, and Black Canyon on the Arizona-Nevada line were traversed and mapped and 75 miles of 

surveys were carried up side canyons to appropriate controlling elevations. As 

part of the work, 22 dam sites Were surveyed on the scale of 400 feet to the inch 

with a contour interval of 10 feet. The Colorado River expedition attracted 

public attention because of the danger involved although Colonel Birdseye, 

who reserved the leadership of the expedition for himself, regarded the danger 

as all part of the day's work. The expedition set out from Lees Ferry on August

Water Resources and Topography, 1923 243
1 in four specially designed boats and at the end of the second day, when it encountered the second set of rapids in Marble Canyon, stopped for the night. 

While the party was in camp, they turned on their small radio set and heard the 

startling news that President Harding had died in San Francisco. To get away 

from Washington and its problems, Harding had set out in late June on a 

speaking tour that took him across the continent and to Alaska. With his party 

were the Speaker of the House and the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, 

and Interior. With Harding's death, Calvin Coolidge of Vermont became 

President of the United States.

Coolidge's concept of the role of President was limited. The President was, 

in his mind, first and foremost the party leader, and so it was his 

"business * * * to do the best he can to see that the declared party platform 

purposes are translated into legislative and administrative action." He was also 

head of the Government, and as such had "a certain responsibility for the conduct of all departments, commissions and independent bureaus;" he was 

therefore "willing to advise with any of these officers and give them any 

assistance" in his power although he felt "they should make their own decisions and rarely offered any advice." He believed that "In the discharge of the 

duties of the office there is one rule of action more important than all others. It 

consists in never doing anything that some one else can do for you."

Coolidge was if anything even more committed to economy and to furthering the interests of business than Harding. Secretary of Commerce Hoover 

characterized him as reluctant to undertake much that was new or cost 

money. In his first annual message to Congress, in December 1923, Coolidge 

supported the tax reduction plan of Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, opposed 

the cancellation of Allied war debts and the payment of a veterans' bonus, and 

called for a scaling down of Government expenditures, a minimum of Government interference in business, and increased Government aid to industry and 

commerce.

By the time Congress convened, however, the Senate Committee on 

Public Lands had already uncovered some unsavory material in relation to the 

leases of the Naval Petroleum Reserves. The Committee had begun public 

hearings on October 22, 1923. The two experts appointed to aid the committee, F. G. Clapp, consulting geologist formerly with the U.S. Geological 

Survey, and James O. Lewis, formerly chief petroleum technologist of the 

Bureau of Mines, testified that the oil content of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 

3, Teapot Dome, was 26 million barrels or less. Their testimony was widely 

quoted as supporting Secretary Fall's contention that the reserve was subject to 

drainage. Clapp complained, however, in a letter published in the November 

17th issue of the Engineering and Mining Journal, that the press has misstated 

the results of their investigation. He and Lewis had not claimed that the oil 

content of the Reserve had been reduced from 135 million barrels to 26 million 

barrels or less by drainage; they had reduced the estimate of the original oil 

content of the reserve to 26 million barrels because more recent work in the area 

had made possible a more accurate estimate.

The first inkling of the sensational nature of the ultimate disclosures came 

on November 23, after a month of technical testimony, when witnesses from 

New Mexico began to describe the sudden affluence of the former Secretary and 

the many improvements to his formerly rundown ranch. The possibility of 

malfeasance was freely discussed in Congress, and although no hard evidence 

was developed before Congress adjourned for the Christmas recess, Senator 

T. H. Caraway of Arkansas introduced a joint resolution on January 7, 1924, 

directing the President to institute and prosecute suits to cancel the leases and 

incidental contracts. President Coolidge withheld comment until late in January although evidence of bribery mounted. The Caraway resolution had not 

been acted on, but as the Senate prepared to bring it up Coolidge anticipated

244 The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925
The increased understanding of the importance of 

geology in the selection of reservoir and dam sites 

prompted the Bureau of Reclamation, which was considering construction of one of the highest dams in the 

world in southeastern Oregon, to call on the Survey in 

1923 for geologic advice. Kirk Bryan found both Tertiary volcanic rocks and water-laid deposits, traversed 

by numerous faults and fissures and tilted, in the area 

around the Owyhee and Malheur Rivers. He concluded 

that the red felsite at the favored site, shown in the 

photograph, was suitable for the foundation of a high 

masonry dam, except for fractures which could be 

grouted and the peculiar shape of the rock mass with 

respect to the topography of the gorge. Bryan recommended that the dam be located far enough within the 

throat of the gorge to rest wholly on an ample thickness 

of the red felsite. The Bureau later selected a site about 

1,000 feet downstream from the previous site. (From 

Kirk Bryan, 1929.)

the move and issued a statement to the press: "If there has been any crime, it 

must be prosecuted. If there has been any property of the United States illegally transferred or leased, it must be recovered." The resolution was passed by 

Congress and approved by the President on February 8, 1924. A second resolution, to institute court proceedings to establish the title of the United States to 

lands in Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1 was passed and approved on February 

23. Coolidge then nominated Owen J. Roberts and Atlee S. Pomerene to be 

special counsel to have charge and control of the prosecution of the litigations, 

and both nominations were confirmed by the Senate. The Public Lands Committee continued its investigation until May 1924 but with the appointment of 

special counsel the initiative shifted to them and to the courts. Suits were filed 

and in 1927 the Supreme Court declared the leases invalid. Secretary Fall was 

indicted for bribery and conspiracy and convicted of bribery. Secretary of the 

Navy Denby was forced to resign. George Otis Smith had meanwhile resumed 

his duties as Director of the Survey on September 24, 1923, and was pleased to 

note that "his year's absence had in no wise interrupted nor retarded the progress of the work; indeed notable advances had been made in the effectiveness of 

this branch of the public service."

Curtis D. Wilbur, Chief Justice of the California State Supreme Court and 

an Annapolis graduate, succeeded Denby as Secretary of the Navy and acted 

promptly to protect the Navy's interests. On March 25, 1924, President 

Coolidge announced the appointment of a three-man commission to study the 

fuel oil needs of the Navy: George Otis Smith, Director of the Geological 

Survey, Admiral Hilary P. Jones, President of the Navy's General Board, and 

Reed D. Bush, State Oil and Gas Supervisor for California. The mission given 

them was a general study, but they were specifically requested to "review the 

situation in each one of the Navy's reserves and endeavor to ascertain whether it 

will be possible by assignment of additional public land, transfers, trades, purchases, or otherwise to create large and better protected reserves than those 

existing at present." The White House announcement reversed the Fall policy 

and put Coolidge on the side of the conservationists by stating that "The purpose for which the naval oil lands were set aside was to provide reserves for the 

future. In order to do this in the best manner the oil should be, wherever possible, retained in the ground." Some historians have suggested, however, that 

the motivation for appointment of this board and of the Federal Oil Conservation Board in December 1924 was not so much concern for natural resources as 

concern for business; the rapid increase in oil supply was beginning to weaken 

the price structure.

Federal Oil Conservation 245
The combination of a Presidential election year and the disclosure of other 

scandals in the Harding administration in addition to the leasing of the naval 

oil reserve meant that other matters sometimes received scant attention or were 

postponed, among them some affecting the Geological Survey and the Department of the Interior. Shortly after Congress convened in December 1923, 

Senator S. M. Shortridge of California and Senator T. L. Oddie of Nevada filed 

bills to remove the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines from the 

Department of the Interior as the nucleus of a new Department of Mines. Both 

the Director of the Survey and the Director of the Bureau of Mines were 

reported to have endorsed the Oddie bill. In its December 21 issue, however, 

the Engineering and Mining Journal called attention to a provision in the 

Organic Act of the Commerce Department which authorized the President to 

transfer to it any scientific or statistical bureau whose work fell within the scope 

of the Department's activities, and speculated that the President would issue 

an Executive order transferring the Bureau of Mines and the Survey's Division 

of Mineral Resources to the Department of Commerce before January 1, 1924. 

The problem, according to the Journal, was what to do with the supervision of 

mineral leasing activities on the public lands, then the responsibility of the 

Bureau of Mines. It was assumed that this function would be transferred to the 

Geological Survey but the Journal considered it undesirable to separate it from 

the technologic research of the Bureau of Mines. Neither the Shortridge or 

Oddie bill ever emerged from committee, but the expected Executive order was 

also held up. In time, President Coolidge let it be known that he favored an expanded Bureau of Mines rather than a department of mines. The Institute of 

Government Research countered that with the suggestion that the Bureau of 

Mines be abolished because it was not doing anything that could not be done 

by the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Standards.

Secretary of the Interior Work, although in no way involved in the scandals, had his hands full during the winter and spring months with problems 

engendered by his handling of the reclamation program. One of the major 

problems in the Department when Work succeeded Fall had been the dissatisfaction of the water users, particularly with the repayment for water which was 

written into the reclamation law. Work's solution had been to reorganize the 

Reclamation Service into the Bureau of Reclamation, in the course of which the 

position of Director of the Reclamation Service, which was under Civil Service, 

was abolished and replaced by that of Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation. Arthur Powell Davis, who had been Director of the Reclamation Service 

since 1913, was then replaced by David W. Davis, former Governor of Idaho,

As a scientific byproduct of dam-site investigations in 

Northwestern United States, J. T. Pardee and Kirk 

Bryan deciphered a bit of geologic history in an area 

near Spokane, Washington. The Latah Formation, a 

series of leaf-bearing beds that fossil evidence indicated 

to be of lower or middle Miocene age, rests on a rough 

surface of granitic and schistose rocks of unknown age 

and is overlain without angular discordance by rimrock basalt flows, probably of Miocene age, as shown in 

the photograph. The rim rock flows are in turn overlain 

by valley flows of later Tertiary age and gravel of 

Pleistocene age. Pardee and Bryan suggested that the 

Latah beds accumulated when the advancing floods of 

basalt, although held back from the Spokane area by a 

ridge, obstructed the drainage outlet. Later, the lava 

topped the protecting ridge and spread over the sediments. After a period of time during which valleys 

were cut through the basalt to a depth of 800 feet, 

another series of basalt flows occupied parts of the 

valley. (From J. T. Pardee and Kirk Bryan, 1926.)

246 The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925
Another scientific byproduct was H. T. Stearns' study 

and documentation of the unusual explosive activity at 

Kilauea Volcano in May 1924, shortly after he arrived 

to study the ground-water resources of Hawaii. The explosive activity lasted only a few weeks and followed 

subsidence of the lava column in February, its disappearance in April, and then the collapse of the surrounding walls. The lava reappeared during the summer. Stearns' photograph was taken on May 18 when 

the eruption cloud was about 11,500 feet high and rising at a rate of 13 feet a second. His study indicated 

that the explosions were phreatic, that is, primarily 

low-temperature steam explosions and that the water 

was derived from the ground-water reservoir rather 

than from magma. He concluded that when the walls 

collapsed, the water table had closed in above the column, and ground water flowing into the area was then 

heated by gas effervescing from the lava column and 

converted into steam that produced the explosions. 

(From H. T. Stearns, 1925.)

because, Work explained, he needed a businessman, not an engineer, to direct 

the reclamation program. Nearly every engineering organization in the Nation 

protested, and the new commissioner proved an unhappy choice. Work's 

departure from the Cabinet was rumored but the situation was retrieved when 

Elwood Mead, the distinguished irrigation engineer from Wyoming, was 

named Commissioner of Reclamation and David W. Davis was placed in charge 

of a newly established Finance Division.

The Joint Committee on Reorganization of the Executive Branch finally 

endorsed Secretary Hoover's desires for the Department of Commerce in a 

report issued on June 4, 1924. Among the agencies that the committee recommended be transferred to the Department of Commerce were the Bureau of 

Mines and the Patent Office of the Department of the Interior. The committee 

also recommended that the collection and publication of statistics on mineral 

production be transferred from the Geological Survey to the Bureau of the Census in the Department of Commerce. The committee then recommended that 

other Interior functions, such as the Bureau of Pensions, St. Elizabeth's 

Hospital, and Howard University be placed in a new Department of Relief and 

that the remaining parts of the Department of the Interior be organized in two 

divisions, one pertaining to the public domain, the other to public engineering 

works. Under this scheme, the Geological Survey would be assigned to the 

Division of Public Domain. Bills were filed to bring about the proposed 

changes but were not acted on before Congress adjourned.

On June 6, 1924, the House Committee on Foreign and Interstate Commerce reported out the Temple bill to provide for a topographic survey of the 

United States with the recommendation that it be passed. In its report, the 

committee noted that of the 12 agencies then engaged in some form of 

topographic mapping, all but the Geological Survey, the Coast and Geodetic 

Survey, and the Corps of Engineers would cease such work if authorized agencies for the work existed and were able to meet their mapping needs. As matters 

stood, however, neither the Geological Survey nor the Coast and Geodetic 

Survey could plan work in advance of the fiscal year for which appropriations 

were known, so the program was often designed to meet the most insistent demands. A program definitely authorized for some years in advance was needed, 

and, in fact, advance planning could result in savings of as much as 10 percent. 

No further action was taken as Congress adjourned on June 7.

The appropriations bill, passed in the closing days of the session and approved on June 5, provided the Survey with the same money for fiscal year 1925 

that it had in the current year, and that was favorable treatment. The 68th 

Congress had seen eye-to-eye with President Coolidge on the need for economy 

and Chairman L. C. Cramton of the House Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations had warned its members that the committee was bound not only 

not to increase the appropriations recommended by the Bureau of the Budget 

but to make further reductions where possible, even though increasing 

familiarity with the work of the Department had impressed the committee with 

the importance of the part the Interior Department played in the present and 

future of the Nation. Thus increases in appropriation items to cover salary adjustments under the Classification Act of 1923, although approved by the 

Bureau of the Budget, were not approved. The committee held that the salaries 

had been increased so that the Government would be able to get better 

employees and keep them longer, and so get along with fewer. Then the committee placed a limitation on the amount that could be used for salaries in the 

District of Columbia, posing a special problem for the Survey for most of its 

scientific and technical employees divided their time between office and field. 

Without additional funds, their field time would have to be drastically cut; the 

limitation on funds to be spent in the District of Columbia would then keep

Appropriations, 1924 247
the Survey from paying them while in the office. Some months later, Congress 

relented and passed a deficiency appropriation to cover the adjustment of 

salaries.

The political scandals uncovered in the winter and spring of 1924 had little 

influence on the presidential election campaign later that year. Most of the Nation was prosperous, and the prosperity was attributed to the businesssmen's 

program enacted by Congress. Businessmen were beginning to supplant the 

politicians in controlling the Republican party, and when the Republican convention met in Cleveland on June 10, Coolidge's nomination for President was 

assured. Charles G. Dawes, the first Director of the Budget, was chosen as the 

candidate for Vice President. The Democrats, on the other hand, were divided 

over several issues, and a tempestuous convention took 103 ballots to nominate 

as its candidate for President, John W. Davis of West Virginia, a distinguished 

lawyer with Wall Street connections. Having alienated the West by choosing 

Davis, the delegates assured Democratic defeat in November by choosing 

Governor Charles W. Bryan of Nebraska, brother of William Jennings Bryan, 

as the candidate for Vice President, thus alienating eastern conservatives.

Dissident agrarian and labor groups, who did not share in the Nation's 

general prosperity, met in convention early in July. At the insistence of Senator 

Robert LaFollette, who pointed out that a third party would jeopardize the 

seats of the many Progressives in Congress who had won their seats as 

Republicans or Democrats, they did not form a third party at that time but 

nominated an independent ticket for President and Vice President, choosing 

LaFollette as the Presidential candidate and Senator Burton K. Wheeler, 

Democrat of Montana, who had won acclaim as the chief Senate investigator of 

the scandals in the Department of Justice, as the Vice-Presidential candidate. 

The convention adopted a platform, written by LaFollette, which pledged 

"recovery of the navy's oil reserves and all other parts of the public domain 

which have been fraudulently or illegally leased, or otherwise wrongfully 

transferred, to the control of private interests; vigorous prosecution of all public 

officials, private citizens and corporations that participated in these transacBroad scientific studies became the basis for classification of western mineral lands after Congress began appropriating funds specifically for classification. For example, both topographers and geologists mapped the 

Wasatch Plateau in Utah, which is underlain by 

Cretaceous rocks that contain valuable coal beds, and 

then geologists made detailed studies of the coalbearing formation in the Wasatch Plateau coal field, 

measured complete stratigraphic sections, and mapped 

structure in as great detail as exposures permitted to 

aid in outlining the future development of the field. 

The photograph shows the eastern part of the Hiawatha area, which contained the largest number of 

thick beds and was favorably situated for mining and 

shipping. (From E. M. Spieker, 1931.)

248 The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925
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 7SW. T. Lee and J. B. Reeside, Jr., examined the sequence and mutual relations of formations along the 

foothills of the Rockies from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming, physically 

tracing the units from place to place where possible 

and using fossil evidence where tracing them was not 

possible. They found that the so-called Dakota Sandstone consisted of five distinct sandstone and shale 

units in the type section near Bellevue, Colorado, and 

that these units could be found in conformable sequence throughout the area examined. As oil-bearing 

sands had been found in Wyoming and its neighbor 

States although the exact number, the region in which 

each was productive, and the identity and stratigraphic 

position of the sands in particular areas had not been 

previously determined, such long-range stratigraphic 

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in exploration for petroleum. (From W. T. Lee, 1925.)

tions; complete revision of the water-power act, the general leasing act, and all 

other legislation relating to the public domain." The platform also favored 

"public ownership of the nation's water power and the creation and development of a national super-water-power system, including Muscle Shoals, to 

supply at actual cost light and power for the people and nitrate for the farmers, 

and strict control and permanent conservation of all the nation's resources, including coal, iron and other ores, oil and timber lands, in the interest of the 

people.''

The voters, however, chose to "Keep cool with Coolidge." Coolidge's 

popular and electoral majorities exceeded the combined Davis and LaFollette 

vote. Moreover, the Coolidge landslide carried into office overwhelming 

Republican majorities in both the Senate and the House and ensured a conservative Congress.

While the Progressives were in session and calling for public power and the 

conservation of natural resources, Director George Otis Smith and John C. 

Hoyt were in London attending the First World Power Conference, Smith as 

the personal representative of the Secretary of the Interior and Hoyt as the 

Survey representative. The London conference was organized by the British 

Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association in cooperation with numerous 

technical, scientific, and commercial organizations to consider the sources of 

world power by evaluating the resources of each country, by comparing experiences in the development of scientific agriculture, irrigation and transportation, and by conferences and discussions looking to the establishment of a 

permanent world bureau for the collection of data and exchange of industrial

First World Power Conference 249
and scientific information. O. C. Merrill of the Federal Power Commission 

served as Chairman of the American delegation, which included representatives 

of many private power interests as well as Government officials. At its concluding session, the conference adopted a general resolution:

That this conference is of the opinion that the world's most crying need 

today is greater production and manufacturing activity among its peoples 

under conditions which will promote individual prosperity and happiness, 

and that this can be largely achieved by the fuller development of national 

power resources and by the establishment of the most economic means for 

the general distribution and utilization of energy.

In the fiscal year that began July 1, 1924, the Geological Survey continued 

to devote a considerable effort to the development of information on water 

power. The effort was concentrated in the Water Resources Branch, which continued to grow through receipt of cooperative funds, amounting to 185 percent 

of the direct Federal appropriation, as well as receipt of funds from other

The study of sedimentary rocks and sedimentary processes became more intensive and specialized during the 

1920's, spurred by the efforts of the Committee on 

Sedimentation of the National Research Council and 

the great increase of interest in petroleum geology. 

Marine sedimentary rocks, if areal extent was an index 

of relative importance, seemed by far the most important class of rocks at the surface of the Earth, but 

ancient marine sediments could be interpreted only in 

the light of data derived from studies of modern 

marine sediments. The illustration shows one of the 

unsolved problems that intrigued T. W. Vaughan, first 

chairman of the Committee on Sedimentation, the 

origin of the ellipsoidal aggregates in bottom muds 

(shown at the top), which are similar in external 

features to oolite grains (shown at the bottom), but 

lack their internal concentric structure. (From T. W. 

Vaughan, 1924.)

250 The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925
Federal organizations and from Federal Power Commission permittees. Most of 

these funds were used for stream gaging for various purposes including the 

water-power studies. Gaging stations were maintained in 41 States and Hawaii 

and at the year's end, the number had increased to 1,715, only 11 of which 

were maintained solely by the Survey. Several hydrographic engineers were involved in power- and dam-site studies. In the Colorado drainage area, E. C. 

LaRue examined promising dam sites in the stretch of the Colorado River 

beginning about 10 miles above Pierces Ferry and the El Dorado dam site in the 

lower end of Black Canyon, E. E. Jones made reconnaissance surveys of the 

power value of streams tributary to the Colorado, and R. R. Woolley examined 

power sites in the Uinta Basin. In the Pacific Northwest, surveys were made in 

Idaho and Oregon by Warren Oakey, W. G. Hoyt, and B. E. Jones.

Ground-water investigations continued to be a mixture of practical work 

and research. O. E. Meinzer, for example, completed a paper on the large 

springs in the United States, made progress on his second major report on 

ground water, and wrote a paper on plants as indicators of ground water. He 

also lectured, for the second year in succession, to a well drillers' association in 

the northern Great Plains region. Norah Dowell Stearns began a study of the 

thermal springs of the United States to bring up to date the compilations and 

discussion by G. K. Gilbert in 1875 and A. C. Peale in 1883. Work continued 

in New Jersey, New Mexico, and Hawaii, and G. M. Hall investigated an improved water supply for the oyster industry of Chincoteague Island in Virginia 

and the possibility of obtaining water from deep wells in the Valley of Virginia.

The Survey's topographic mapping program also continued to grow 

through receipt of funds from outside sources: cooperative funds from 21 States 

and the Territory of Hawaii that amounted to 81 percent of the direct appropriation and funds from the War Department for special surveys. Glenn 

Smith had been given charge of the Atlantic Division after Frank Sutton retired 

in March 1924, and Chief Topographic Engineer C. H. Birdseye had resumed 

supervision of the Rocky Mountain Division. However, the distribution of work 

was such that only three division chiefs were needed so on January 1, 1925, the 

Rocky Mountain Division was eliminated as a separate organization and the 

States composing it were divided between the Central and Pacific Divisions 

headed by W. H. Herron and T. G. Gerdine. Topographic field work was done 

in 22 States and Hawaii, and the area mapped bore a close relation to the 

amount of outside funds supplied. More than 62 percent of the area mapped 

was in just six States: Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, California, and 

Oregon. Most of the mapping was done by conventional methods although the 

branch continued to experiment with the use of aerial photographs and 

prepared base maps for surveys of 79 quadrangles and 3 special areas.

The Geologic Branch, however, continued to pursue its independent 

course in 1924. More funds were allotted to research with economic motives 

than to research without them, but even among the economic investigations 

priorities changed and long-range studies received increased emphasis. Fuels 

investigations played a lesser role than they had during the days of the oil shortages; coal received as much if not more attention than oil. Metals investigations 

received more support than they had had for several years. The Division of 

Physical and Chemical Research collaborated closely with the Division of 

Geology and Paleontology in several fundamental studies; the Division of 

Mineral Resources, on the other hand, was reduced to the routine compilation 

of statistics.

Associated with these changes were changes in the organization and administration of the Geologic Branch. K. C. Heald, Chief of the Section of the 

Geology of Oil and Gas Fields resigned to join the Yale faculty, and the section 

was once more combined with the Coal Section as the Section of the Geology of 

Fuels under W. T. Thorn, Jr. F. L. Ransome, Chief of the Metals Section,

Water Resources and Topography, 1924 251
resigned to join the faculty of the University of Arizona, and G. F. Loughlin, 

the head of the Mineral Resources Division, became the new Chief of the 

Metals Section. Loughlin graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology in 1903 and received a Ph.D. from Yale in 1906. He had joined the 

Survey full time in 1912 after combining teaching and summer work for the 

Survey for several years. Loughlin had worked with Lindgren at Tintic for 3 

years, and was now following in his footsteps up the Survey's administrative 

ladder, having served as Chief of the Metals Section of the Division of Mineral 

Resources before becoming Chief of the Metals Section of the Division of 

Geology and Paleontology. F. J. Katz succeeded Loughlin as acting head of the 

Division of Mineral Resources.

The Metals Section took on a new and yet an old look in 1924 as its 

geologists returned to some of the districts where the Survey had first worked. 

Loughlin followed in the footsteps of the section's first chief, S. F. Emmons, in 

studying new developments at Leadville and then in the Cripple Creek district 

where Cross, Penrose, Ransome, and Lindgren had previously worked. Adolph 

Knopf, aided by newly appointed junior geologist Thomas B. Nolan, resumed 

a critical study, begun in 1915 but recessed after one year, of the quartz veins of 

the Mother Lode in California. The relations there between ore shoots and 

barren veins had yet to be unravelled although Becker, Turner, Ransome, and 

Lindgren had all worked in the area. H. G. Ferguson returned to the Alleghany 

district in California, where he had spent the 1913 field season, for further 

study of the gold veins. B. S. Butler returned to the Survey after 4 years of 

investigating Michigan copper deposits for the Calumet and Hecla Company. 

The company turned the general geological results over to the Survey, and the 

Survey, after consulting other companies in the area, planned to extend similar 

investigations throughout the district.

There were no marked changes in the Fuels Section. Mapping was continued in the oil regions of California, Wyoming, and the Colorado Plateau, 

and reconnaissance examinations were made in Louisiana, Colorado, Utah, and 

New Mexico. W. H. Bradley mapped oil-shale lands in Colorado and made a 

reconnaissance of Naval Oil Shale Reserve No. 1. Coal-field mapping was also 

continued, particularly in western areas on behalf of the Land Classification 

Branch. Julian D. Sears, a Johns Hopkins Ph.D. who had joined the Survey in 

1918, succeeded P. S. Smith as the Administrative Geologist.

Fundamental research related to the origin and movement of petroleum 

was continued in the Division of Physical and Chemical Research by E. T. 

Erickson and A. F. Melcher. After Melcher's resignation to become head of the 

section of physical research of the Marland Oil Company, the Survey secured 

the services of P. G. Nutting to carry on the work. Nutting had been appointed 

an assistant physicist in the National Bureau of Standards in 1903 after receiving his Ph.D. from Cornell. He had left the Bureau in 1912 to help organize 

the Eastman Kodak Laboratories, and had left Eastman in 1916 to help 

organize the Westinghouse research laboratories. After 1920, he was a consulting engineer and was responsible for designing the lighting for the motion 

picture industry. Nutting was one of the founders and first president of the 

Optical Society of America. C. E. Van Orstrand also continued his study of subsurface temperatures. After measuring temperatures in the deepest well in the 

world at the time, near Long Bridge in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, 

and in some oil fields, he concluded that the highest temperatures were observed near or at the crests of anticlines. This conclusion led W. T. Thorn, Jr., 

to suggest that if there were a systematic relationship between Earth temperatures and structural uplifts, observations of temperatures in deep wells might 

afford a relatively cheap and effective method of finding not only oil fields but 

other deposits of economic value that were related to structural uplifts, buried 

topographic features, or magmatic features.

252 The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925
Much less research of a fundamental nature could be undertaken on coal 

because of lack of funds and personnel. However, attention was called to the 

fact that "certain kinds of research concerning coal are pressingly demanded, 

such as research as to its nature and composition, its origin, and its special 

fitness for use in particular industries," and that "the ever increasing demand 

for power implies the necessity for a more intelligent and therefore more 

economical use of the heat units in coal, now so lamentably wasted." The 

words were somehow reminiscent of C. D. Walcott's statement to Congress in 

1898 that led to the Survey's coal testing program begun in 1904 that had 

demonstrated the usefulness of such research. The Mining Congress Journal, 

however, seized upon the recommendation as almost a brand new idea.

Research without evident economic motivation was expanded in the 

Geologic Branch in 1924. Areal mapping was continued in various parts of the 

country, and at least 10 State geologic maps were in various stages of production from preliminary discussion to printing. Stratigraphic studies were 

underway in the High Plains of Texas by T. W. Stanton, in the Guadalupe 

Mountains of Texas and New Mexico by N. H. Darton and J. B. Reeside, Jr., 

and in the Black Hills by W. W. Rubey, M. N. Bramlette, and F. A. Melton. 

Interest in physiography and glacial geology was revived, as Frank Leverett attempted to distinguish between deposits of the first and second glacial stages in 

Kansas, J. T. Pardee studied glacial features in southwestern Montana, and 

F. E. Matthes investigated the physiographic history of the Sierra Nevada. The 

genesis of lithium pegmatites was studied in the field and laboratory by W. T. 

Schaller and E. S. Larsen, Jr., and Schaller concluded that the lithium 

pegmatites of southern California were not original crystallizations from a 

magma but the result of replacement of preexisting rock, probably by 

hydrothermal solutions.

The work of the Alaskan Geology Branch in 1924 continued to be almost 

entirely economically motivated. The first season's work in the Naval 

Petroleum Reserve No. 4, in the summer of 1923, had verified the reports of 

large seepages of oil and of geologic conditions sufficiently favorable to oil accumulation to warrant a second expedition, this one staffed by the Alaskan 

Geology Branch. P. S. Smith, J. B. Mertie, Jr., Gerald FitzGerald, and R. K. 

Lynt left for Alaska in January 1924 and went overland to the Reserve to make 

surveys in unmapped areas in its southern and eastern parts. During the open 

season, W. T. Foran and O. L. Wix went by sea to Wainwright and surveyed a

In 1923, the Navy supplied funds for the Survey to explore Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 in northern 

Alaska for evidence of petroleum. The geologists 

found the Point Barrow region underlain by more than 

15,000 feet of sedimentary rocks, chiefly shale, sandstone, and conglomerate with some thin beds of limestone, all regarded as Mesozoic in age. Two large oil 

seeps at Cape Simpson, one of which is shown in the 

illustration, were believed to emerge from this rock sequence although there was no clue as to which part. 

The part of the reserve investigated appeared to contain structural features favorable to the entrapment of 

petroleum. The evidence obtained in the first season 

justified continuation of the exploration. (From Sidney 

Paige, W. T. Foran, and James Gilluly, 1925.)

Geology, 1924 253
strip of country in the western and southern parts of the Reserve. S. R. Capps, 

with K. K. Landes as assistant, spent the field season of 1924 mapping the coalbearing rocks in the upper Matanuska region, an area expected to benefit from 

the completion of the Alaska Railroad. Other projects were continued in 

southwestern and southeastern Alaska.

A. H. Brooks, the Chief Alaskan Geologist, collapsed at his desk and died 

on November 22, 1924, bringing to an end so long and intimate an involvement in the development of Alaska that he was commonly known as "Brooks 

of Alaska." P. S. Smith, for many years a member of the Alaskan Branch and 

who succeeded him as Branch Chief, said that Brooks "through his long experience, sympathetic understanding of the problems of the mineral industry 

in a frontier country, and broad technical knowledge, was in large measure personally responsible for the application of sound scientific principles to the 

search for and development of the Territory's mineral resources." Brooks, 

however, was much more than an Alaskan geologist, as his services during 

World War I as the Chief Geologist of the American Expeditionary Forces 

testify. Director George Otis Smith, who had twice asked him to become Chief 

Geologist, said that "He was the associate to whom I, like others, turned most 

frequently for wise counsel and frank criticism." Brooks, he said, "had a 

genius for truth, and his loyalty to scientific truth made pretense impossible, 

although his unfailing humor often concealed his real contempt for any effort 

to make science appear what it is not. His service to pure science was not lip 

service."

Congress convened on December 2, 1924, for the lameduck session and, 

in keeping with presidential priorities, received the budget message before the 

State-of-the-Union Message. The budget message forecast receipts of more 

than $3,641 million and a surplus of nearly $374 million for the next fiscal 

year. In the State-of-the-Union Message, however, Coolidge said: "Our 

domestic problems are for the most part economic. We have our enormous 

debt to pay, and we are paying it. We have a heavy burden of taxation to 

reduce, and we are reducing it. But while remarkable progress has been made 

in these directions, the work is yet far from accomplished. * * * In my opinion the Government can do more to remedy the economic ills of the people by 

a system of rigid economy in public expenditure than can be accomplished 

through any other action. * * * The present estimated margin between 

public receipts and expenditures for the fiscal year is very small. Perhaps the 

most important work that this session of Congress can do is continue a policy of 

economy and further reduce the cost of government." Coolidge's inaugural address on March 4, 1925, also emphasized economy. In other speeches during 

the spring months, he said that what the United States needed was not more 

Federal Government but better local government, and deplored the tendency 

of States to turn to the Federal Government for aid toward projects that should 

be paid for by the individual States.

The appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior was reported 

out on the opening day of the Congressional session in December 1924 and 

enacted one day before adjournment in March 1925. For the Department as a 

whole, the Bureau of the Budget recommended a cut of about 10 percent in the 

total approved for the fiscal year in progress. In the hearings before the Appropriations committee, Secretary Work forecast new economies in the Department. Attention was then being given, he said, to curtailing unnecessary 

publications and to decreasing the size of the edition of those that were 

published. The Bureau of the Budget had reduced most Survey items, but only 

that for topographic surveys by the full 10 percent. Congress accepted the 

recommendations except that for topographic surveys, which in the end was cut 

only 3 percent.

Although the Ducktown ore deposits in Tennessee had 

been studied for more than 70 years and by many 

geologists, opinions still differed on their origin when 

W. H. Emmons returned to the field in 1922 to complete a study begun more than a decade earlier with 

F. B. Laney. The deposits were broadly tabular bodies 

included in a siliceous mica schist. (The illustration 

shows five cross sections through the ore body in the 

Polk County mine.) From the surface downward, the 

deposits consisted of limonite with kaolin, quartz, and 

other minerals, chalcocite, and a yellow sulfide ore. 

Along the strike and down the dip the ore graded into 

a lime silicate rock and, in some places, into marbleized limestone. Emmons concluded that the deposits 

were bodies of limestone that had been replaced and 

complexly folded and faulted but was uncertain about 

the source of the ore-depositing solutions. (From 

W. H. Emmons and F. B. Laney, 1926.)

254 The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925
SE

Cross section 2 North

Cross section 3 North

Cross section I North

SE

EXPLANATION

Fault

'///////'//.?'?:&&!' I

Cross section I South

300 Feet

Cross section 0

Congress also passed the Temple bill for a topographic survey of the 

United States. The House took the bill up under the unanimous consent rule 

which limits debate to 5 minutes and passed it on January 21, 1925. The Senate 

passed the bill on February 18, again with a minimum of debate. Senator 

Smoot argued that the map could not be completed in the time specified so the 

time should be extended but he was persuaded not to disagree with the House 

and delay the bill so that it could not be passed before the session ended. President Coolidge signed the bill on February 27. The Temple Act authorized the 

President to complete, within 20 years of the date of passage, "a general utility

The Temple Act 255
topographical survey of the territory of the United States, including adequate 

horizontal and vertical control, and the securing of such topographic and 

hydrographic data as may be required for this purpose, and the preparation and 

publication of the resulting maps and data." The President was further 

authorized to use the services and facilities of agencies already existing or that 

might be established thereafter, and to allot funds, from appropriations 

authorized in the Temple Act or appropriations made thereafter for the same 

purpose. The agencies engaged in carrying out the provisions of the act were 

also authorized to make cooperative arrangements with States or other civic 

subdivisions and to receive funds from them to expedite mapping within their 

borders. For the first year, the bill authorized an appropriation of $950,000.

Congress had not acted on any of the pending reorganization bills in the 

short session. President Coolidge was then persuaded to issue an Executive

EXPLANATION

>ology by FL Ransome 

and Adolph Knopf

In 1924, Adolph Knopf completed another segment of 

the Survey's investigation of California gold, a detailed 

study of the Mother Lode system in the Sierra Nevada. 

The geologic map shows a 10-mile section of the system in western Amador County which contains all the 

very deep mines. The gold deposits were principally 

parallel or acutely intersecting quartz veins and mineralized country rock adjacent to the veins or in broad 

zones of fissuring. The Mother Lode system traversed 

steeply dipping slates, schists, and greenstones, including some intrusive masses of serpentine, which 

formed a series of belts trending northwest parallel to 

the course of the range. Knopf concluded that the 

Mother Lode system occupied a series of auxiliary fractures in a zone parallel to a great reverse fault, and that 

the veins had grown by successive enlargement along 

fissures that were reopened from time to time by 

renewal of movement along the fractures. (From 

Adolph Knopf, 1929.)

256 The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925
GABBRO

Field and laboratory studies convinced Survey 

mineralogist W. T. Schaller that the lithium pegmatites as now seen are not the result of an original crystallization of a magma but of hydrothermal replacement of a much simpler, earlier-formed magmatic rock 

essentially free of any lithium minerals. In the California tourmaline field, the rock replaced was a graphic 

granite, and its peculiar structure and texture was the 

key to determining the replacement processes in which 

albite replaced microcline and quartz and was later 

replaced by lithium minerals. A few of the pegmatites 

were uniform in mineral compositon and texture but 

others were divided into two parts in which the mineral 

composition, rock texture, and structure were different. In some pegmatites the transition between the 

two parts was gradual, in others sharply defined, and 

in many there was a seam of rock different from either 

the upper or lower parts, called the "pay streak" 

because both gem and nongem lithium minerals are 

concentrated in it. (From W. T. Schaller, 1925.)

order on June 4, 1925, transferrring the Patent Office, the Bureau of Mines (except the supervision of mineral-leasing operations on the public lands), and the 

Division of Mineral Resources of the Geological Survey from the Department of 

the Interior to the Department of Commerce, effective July 1, 1925. The supervision of mineral-leasing operations was then assigned by the Department to 

the Geological Survey. In announcing the change, Secretary Work said "The 

change is one of the reorganization plans approved by the Joint Congressional 

Committee. The primary objects of such segregation are of course to secure 

economy in administration and a more efficient relationship with the public." 

He added, hopefully, "This transfer presages action by the Congress and opens 

the way for the transfer to the Department of the Interior of bureaus from other 

executive branches of the Government administering public lands and public 

works as recommended by this committee." In this expectation, however, he 

was disappointed. The Survey's Pick and Hammer Club viewed the loss of the 

Division of Mineral Resources philosophically, explaining in a song that

Secretary Hoover said "They've great efficiency

And all that is efficient must of course belong to me."

The Mineral Leasing Division and the part of the Petroleum Division of 

the Bureau of Mines that were transferred to the Geological Survey on July 1, 

1925, had been involved in both technical engineering and inspectional and 

regulatory functions in respect to the discovery and development of petroleum, 

natural gas, oil shale, coal, phosphate, sodium, and potassium on the public 

lands, the development of petroleum and natural gas in the three Naval 

Petroleum Reserves, and a variety of services on behalf of the Office of Indian 

Affairs in connection with mineral developments on Indian lands. Properties 

under development were inspected to prevent waste or damage and injury to 

life and property. Plans and operating procedures were approved, tests were 

made or witnessed, receipts for royalty oil were issued, pipeline companies 

authorized to receive oil or gas from Government leaseholds, royalties determined, and records maintained, all in addition to advising or assisting lessees in 

the solution of technical or engineering problems. To carry out these duties, 

funds amounting to $349,550 and 138 people were transferred from the 

Bureau to the Survey.

At the time of the transfer, the petroleum situation was dramatically different from what it had been when the Mineral Leasing Act was passed in 1920. 

U.S. petroleum production in 1924 was almost double that of 1919; so was 

world production. A Committee of Eleven Members of the Board of Directors 

of the American Petroleum Institute estimated in 1925 that there were 5.3 

billion barrels of crude oil recoverable by existing methods of flowing and 

pumping in proven territory in the United States, not too different, at first 

glance, from the AAPG-USGS estimate of 1922 of 5 billion barrels "in sight." 

However, in the 3-year period 1922-1924, about 2 billion barrels had been 

produced. The Committee of Eleven estimated that an additional 26 billion 

barrels left in the ground by existing methods could be won by methods of 

flooding, unwatering, forced air pressure, or mining when the price justified. 

They made no estimate of the quantity of oil to be found in unknown fields or 

by drilling to deeper horizons in existing fields. The Coolidge administration 

now clearly supported conservation of oil and President Coolidge had appointed a Federal Oil Conservation Board, consisting of the Secretaries of War, 

Navy, Commerce, and Interior on December 19, 1924, to review Federal oil 

policies. The Board had in turn established an advisory committee to assist it, 

and had appointed the Director of the Geological Survey George Otis Smith to 

act as its chairman.

On July 1, 1925, the Conservation Branch was established in the 

Geological Survey to incorporate the new functions transferred from the Bureau

Conservation Branch 257
of Mines with those of the Survey's Land Classification Branch and the Division 

of Land Classification Investigations of its Water Resources Branch. The duties 

of the Conservation Branch were defined as "the classification of lands according to their highest use; the protection of the public interest in undeveloped 

mineral, water-power, and agricultural resources; and the promotion of 

economical and efficient development of mineral deposits on public and 

Indian land."

The new branch was organized in four divisions: Mineral Classification, 

Power, Homestead, and Mineral Leasing, the first three to cover the work 

already being done in the Survey, the last to include the work previously done 

in the Bureau of Mines. The Mineral Classification Division remained essentially the same as it had been under the Land Classification Branch. The Power 

Section of the former Division of Hydrographic Classification was upgraded to 

a full division, testifying the importance of water power. The Irrigation Section 

and the Division of Land Classification Investigations of the Water Resources 

Branch were combined as the Division of Homestead Classification.

Survey men retained direction of all units except the Mineral Leasing Division. Herman Stabler, Chief of the Land Classification Branch, became the first 

Chief of the Conservation Branch, and J. D. Northrop its first Assistant Chief. 

Northrop was also Chief of the Division of Mineral Classification, B. E. Jones, 

Chief of the Power Division, and A. E. Aldous, Chief of the Homestead Division. H. I. Smith, who transferred from the Bureau of Mines, was Chief of the 

Mineral Leasing Division. W. G. Hoyt, who had been Chief of the Division of 

Hydrographic Classification before it was broken up, remained as a consulting 

engineer on the branch staff.

In the new Geological Survey, geologists became a distinct minority, even, 

one might say, an endangered species. In 1925, there were all told only 126 

geologists in an organization of more than a thousand people, and 108 of them 

were concentrated in the Geologic Branch.

During the remarkable development of the science of 

geography in the early decades of the 20th century in 

the United States, the significance of environmental 

factors in influencing human activities came to be appreciated. W. W. Atwood and K. F. Mather noted that 

such influence on routes of travel, location of settlements, human occupation, and ultimate utilization 

of natural resources was strikingly illustrated in the San 

Juan region of Colorado. The mineral resources first attracted the attention of prospectors and miners, who 

founded several mining towns in the 1880's, among 

them Ouray in the valley of the Uncompahgre, shown 

in the background of this photograph by Whitman 

Cross. Nearly all these towns were located as far 

upstream as transportation conditions permitted and 

suitable town sites were available, and later became the 

termini of railroad spurs and commercial centers for 

the mountain areas. The second wave of settlers was 

attracted by the agricultural possibilities of the broad 

fertile lowlands in the valley bottoms such as that 

shown in the foreground of the photograph. From 

W. W. Atwood and K. F. Mather, 1932.)

1]
Chapter 10.

The Power of the Purse,

1925-1928

The power over the purse is the power over liberty.

 Calvin Coolidge

The year 1925 has been called by one historian "the year that nothing 

happened." Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as President in his own right in 

March and as soon as the weather became better took an extended vacation. 

Federal expenditures were only a little more than $3 billion that year, less than 

half what they had been in 1920, and receipts were some $117 million more 

than expenditures so the national debt was being lowered, and that was good. 

The American Ambassador to Germany reported that German militarism was 

dead and that German ambitions were limited to economic rehabilitation. The 

Locarno Pact, which guaranteed the peace of the Rhine and called for arbitration of conflict among Western European nations, was signed so Americans 

could relax they had not erred in rejecting Wilson's League because Europe 

was going to take care of its own problems. There were some minor problems at 

home. General Billy Mitchell claimed that air power would be all-important in 

the future wars and accused the War and Navy Departments of incompetency, 

criminal negligence, and almost treasonable administration of the national 

defense in not developing American capabilities, but he was found guilty of insubordination in a court-martial and resigned from the service. The boll weevil 

continued to eat its way through crops in the South, and in the summer of 1925 

both the Southern and Western States were troubled by drought. Farming on 

the whole, however, was more prosperous than it had been since 1920. By and 

large the headlines that year recounted the plight of Floyd Collins, trapped in a 

cave in Kentucky, the real estate boom in Florida, the confrontation between 

religion and science at the Scopes trial in Tennessee, and the exploits of Babe 

Ruth, Bobby Jones, and Red Grange.

But 1925 was also the year in which Herbert Hoover, having achieved 

some of his goals in Government reorganization, espoused the cause of pure 

science. Hoover had been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1922 

and was soon drawn into active participation in its affairs. In 1924, he served as 

a member of a committee on forest policy, along with Charles D. Walcott, 

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and John C. Merriam, President of 

the Carnegie Institution of Washington. When a plan was proposed in 1925 to 

establish a research foundation under Academy auspices that would make 

funds available to investigators engaged in pure research, Hoover became chairman of the foundation's Board of Trustees. In a statement issued on February 

1, 1926, the trustees declared their conviction "that the United States, which 

already occupies a leading position in industrial research, should rank with the 

most enlightened nations in the advancement of pure science; * * * that 

research in all branches of the mathematical, physical and biological sciences 

should be encouraged, because of the intellectual and spiritual value of adding 

to knowledge and because the greatest advances in science and industry often

The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928 259
result from apparently useless abstract discoveries"; and "that the funds now 

available for the support of research in pure science in the United States are far 

below what our population, education and material resources demand." In an 

address before the Society of Sigma Xi and the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science in December 1926, Hoover declared that

we must strengthen the first line of industrial advancement pure science 

research. These men of pure science are the most precious assets of our 

country * * *. It is no fault of their own but it is the fault of the nation that 

it does not give to them and to the institutions where they labor a sufficient 

support. There is no price that the world could not afford to pay these men 

who have the originality of mind to carry scientific thought in steps or in 

strides.

The Coolidge administration, however, held that the high degree of prosperity which the United States had achieved, and which seemed to be a harbinger of an era of perpetual prosperity, was the result of its policy of economy, 

elimination of waste, and raising the standards of efficiency in Government. 

Thus even in Secretary Hoover's Department of Commerce, where science it 

might be presumed would aid commerce and industry, the increase in funds for 

scientific research during his 8-year tenure was only $1.3 million.

The Federal appropriation for some items in the Survey program during 

this period was augmented by funds from other Federal agencies, States, and 

municipalities, which called on the Survey to make surveys and supply data in 

connection with their own programs. Thus engineering and the practical or applied sciences were encouraged, and the Survey's topographic mapping program and water-resources investigations were able to continue, even to grow, 

because they could supply what others needed. Congress eased the way by 

authorizing Federal agencies to transfer funds to the Survey before a project was 

begun, which the Survey could then use as its own, and by appropriating additional funds for topographic mapping and stream gaging for the specific purpose of, and limited to, matching funds supplied by the States and 

municipalities for cooperative projects.

Basic research, however, was regarded as a luxury item which the Federal 

Government could not afford. Cooperative funds were in general not available 

for basic research, one notable exception being the survey of the economic 

geology of Colorado, to which the Colorado Metal Mining Fund contributed a 

sizeable sum, and that at least had the aura of practicality about it. Yet basic 

research persisted in the Survey, especially in the Geologic Branch and the 

Ground Water Division of the Water Resources Branch. The new Conservation 

Branch engaged in some fundamental research and contributed to the support 

of work in the Geologic Branch and the Ground Water Division.

Much of the work of the Conservation Branch in its first year of existence 

was concerned with mineral lands, especially with the newly acquired responsibility for supervising mineral leasing operations on the public lands. Two 

significant changes were made, the delegation of more authority to the field offices and a major effort to reduce the size of the activity. A large decrease in 

personnel was made possible by the cessation of Federal operation of the Red 

River oil fields, which had been under receivership since April 1, 1920, at the 

end of November 1925. Then by discontinuing some lines of research and 

distributing the duties of employees who resigned among those who remained, 

in one year the staff was reduced from 139 to 89.

The new Homestead Division, which combined the functions of the 

former Division of Homestead Classification and Irrigation Section of the Land 

Classification Branch and the Division of Land Classification Investigations of 

the Water Resources Branch, made both detailed examinations of land for 

designation under the enlarged- and stockraising-homestead laws in all the 

public-land States west of the 100th meridian and broad areal studies in the

260 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
Herman Stabler (1879-1942), first Chief of the Conservation Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey, established in 1925 with responsibility for classification of 

the public lands according to their highest use, protection of the public interest in undeveloped mineral, 

water-power, and agricultural resources, and the promotion of efficient and economical development of 

mineral deposits in public and Indian lands. Stabler 

graduated from Earlham College in Indiana in 1899 

and joined the Survey as an engineering aid in the 

Hydrographic Branch in 1903. With the exception of a 

year as an assistant engineer in the Reclamation Service, he remained with the Survey until his death in 

1942. In his own professional work, which was chiefly 

concerned with water quality and utilization, he published reports on the prevention of stream pollution 

and purification of wastes and developed an early interest in the amount of sediment carried by streams. 

He maintained a broad interest in all phases of conservation, however, and also served as a director of the 

American Society of Civil Engineers. (From the files of 

the U.S. Geological Survey.)

northern Great Plains region, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and 

Washington. The work in Nevada included a reconnaissance investigation to 

determine the agricultural utility of the unreserved public land throughout the 

State. Substantial progress was made in the cooperative project with the 

Department of Agriculture on agriculture and land utilization in the northern 

Great Plains region, and, under authorization from the Secretary of the Interior 

for extension of the cooperation, work was begun in the central Great Plains 

region.

By 1925, the Survey's oldest branch, the Geologic Branch, had nearly 

recovered from its postwar trauma. The rate of exodus of staff had been slowed 

and even reversed in some instances. Nearly all its work had been reoriented 

toward research and the program was described as "the establishment of principles and the discovery of new generalizations and new laws of wide applicability; the reporting of new facts, in particular on geologic maps; and the 

preparation of economic reports describing in detail the character, quality, and 

position of mineral deposits."

The economic geology of metalliferous deposits had entered upon a new 

and more intensely active phase, and the issues of Economic Geology were 

replete with discussion of a variety of subjects. How important were theories of 

ore genesis in a report? One of the editors of the journal, E. C. Andrews of 

Sydney, Australia, thought that geologists should curb their tendency to venture into unknown realms of science to shun "the romance of the 

unknown" in giving opinions on ore genesis. Augustus Locke, consulting 

geologist, said economic geologists should get out into the field and go over 

every inch of the ground; the science was already overgrown on the speculative 

side. F. L. Ransome thought that the weak point in discussion of ore genesis 

was lack of information on the physical chemistry involved. One of the "prime 

necessities for progress" was the establishment of fundamental chemical and 

physical data by experimental work of the caliber of that done by the

Economic Geology, 1925 261
Geophysical Laboratory on the origin of igneous rocks or by Professor P. W. 

Bridgman at Harvard on the effects of pressure on rocks. Ransome added

Without any suggestion that the use of the imagination should be 

discouraged or curtailed, writers on the problem of ore genesis may well be 

reminded that in the present state of knowledge, a modest realization of ignorance may well temper the enthusiasm with which some ideas are set 

forth and that suspension of judgment is not necesarily to be branded as 

timidity or aversion to real progress.

C. K. Leith precipitated discussions of the meaning of "economic" in 

economic geology. The reports of the Committee on Industrial Preparedness of 

the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and the Committee on Foreign and Domestic Mining Policy of the Mining and Metallurgical 

Society of America were published in 1925 as a pamphlet entitled "International Control of Minerals." The AIME Committee proposed a program to 

create stockpiles of several of the deficient minerals. Leith, who had been a 

member of the AIME committee and chairman of the MMSA committee, led a 

round-table discussion of natural resources in international relations at the 

Williamstown Institute of Politics in the summer of 1925, taking the opportunity to acquaint economists and political scientists with the facts about the 

geographic distribution and international movement of minerals. Leith held 

that fixed environmental conditions provided the ultimate control of political 

arrangements and suggested that the balance of mineral resources was a powerful factor in determining the balance of political power. The conference received worldwide notice because Leith, in discussing mineral resources and 

production in the Far East, concluded they did not indicate that a first-class industrial power would develop in the region, and a reporter interpreted that 

statement to mean that Japan was not a war menace because of its weak steel 

industry.

Survey geologists were not publicly involved in these discussions, but the 

Metals Section nonetheless exhibited a new air of activity in 1925. In the early 

days of the Survey, Colorado had been the scene of pioneering work in mining 

geology, and S. F. Emmons' Leadville monograph of 1887 was accounted by 

many the most important publication of the Geological Survey in its first 

quarter-century. The latest report on Leadville, G. F. Loughlin's "Guides to 

Ore in the Leadville District, Colorado,'' marked the beginning of a new era in 

Colorado mining geology. Under the sponsorhip of the Colorado Metal Mining 

Fund, Xoughlin, assisted by J. C. Beam and T. S. Levering, studied the deep 

mines in the Cripple Creek district, and B. S. Butler and W. S. Burbank, after

Classification of the public lands according to their 

highest use was seldom achieved, for the mineral-land, 

power, and agricultural classifications were made and 

reported independently. For example, the Homestead 

Division since 1922 had been systematically classifying 

the public lands with respect to utility for agriculture 

in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture. 

Lands were classified as those on which crops could be 

raised by irrigation or by dry farming or suitable for 

grazing only. However, in an area in Rosebud County, 

Montana, in which the land was classified as primarily 

grazing land, Survey geologists found thick coal beds, 

estimated to contain nearly 11 billion tons of coal, 

suitable for strip mining when transportation facilities 

became available. The photograph shows a geologist 

examining coal beds in the area. (From N. W. Bass, 

1932.)

262 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
Responsibility for promotion of efficient and 

economical development of mineral deposits in public 

and Indian lands had been assigned to the Bureau of 

Mines after passage of the Mineral Leasing Act in 1920 

and was transferred to the Geological Survey in 1925. 

In accordance with the instructions of the Secretary of 

the Interior, Government lessees were required to comply strictly with departmental orders and regulations 

developed to promote "conservation in its true sense, 

that is, use with minimum waste." Even in the 1920's, 

wells "going wild," such as that shown in the 

photograph, were among the most common oil and gas 

field wastes. (From T. E. Swigart and C. E. Beecher, 

1923.)

completing the field work and report on the copper deposits of Michigan, 

began preparations for an extensive study of the mining geology of the State to 

begin in the next fiscal year. Other field studies were continued in California, 

Nevada, Montana, and Idaho, and new projects were begun in west-central 

Utah, where Sidney Paige began mapping the Stockton-Fairfield quadrangles 

in the Oquirrh Mountains south of Bingham Canyon that included the abandoned gold mines of Mercur that J. E. Spurr had studied in 1894, and T. B. 

Nolan began a field study of the Gold Hill district in Juab County.

Although most of the metals projects were in districts where the major 

metals, gold, silver, copper, or lead, were the subject of investigation, some of 

the minor metals were also studied, either in conjunction with the major 

studies or alone. At Gold Hill, for example, Nolan found the deposits to be 

unusually varied, including not only gold and copper but also the important 

ferro-alloy minerals, molybdenite, which Butler had noted in his reconnaissance in 1912, and tungsten, which had been mined just south of the area 

during the world war. J. T. Pardee, who had previously examined the 

manganese ores of Washington, but found most of them to be the then 

unusable manganese silicate, went back after discovery of a high-grade 

manganese oxide was reported at Lake Crescent and was encouraged to believe 

that usable ore would be found. D. F. Hewett, who maintained an abiding interest in manganese minerals, completed field work in the Goodsprings 

quadrangle of Nevada and began a study of western manganese minerals and 

their origin. The Section of Iron and Steel Metals had dwindled to one major 

project, E. F. Burchard's study of the brown iron ores of Tennessee. Burchard 

had concluded that although a large proportion of the easily accessible ores had 

been mined, there remained an estimated reserve of 8.9 million tons. Future 

mining, he concluded, would be more expensive and its success would depend 

on the accessibility of transportation facilities and markets, iron prices, and improvement of the beneficiation process.

The fundamental research projects seeking to learn the source and movement of petroleum were now beginning to produce some practical spin-offs. 

P. G. Nutting, in his study of the movement of fluids through porous solids, 

for example, found that a soda solution separated the oil from sand grains so effectively in the laboratory that there was full recovery of oil. Oil operators at 

Bradford, Pennsylvania, were interested in testing a modification of the water 

drive for secondary recovery, and the first trials promised success in the field as 

well. C. E. Van Orstrand's conclusion that temperature was related to subsurface structure interested some oil companies as a possible method of locating 

new oil fields.

Most of the Fuels Section geologists were engaged in areal mapping and 

stratigraphic studies in the public-land States of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, 

and Montana, in part for purposes of mineral-land classification, and in northern Arkansas, Louisiana, and California. In addition to the mapping by the 

Fuels Section, other mapping and stratigraphic studies were also underway in 

New England, the Middle Atlantic States, the Gulf Coast, and New Mexico.

In 1925, the Survey became more deeply involved in basic research on 

natural catastrophes. On July 1, the Survey took over responsibility for the 

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory established by the Hawaiian Volcano Research 

Association in 1912. A few geologists were diverted from their mapping or 

other investigations for short periods to investigate some of the natural disasters 

that seemed unusually numerous in 1925. Arthur Keith studied the effects of 

the major earthquake of Febrary 28, that centered in the St. Lawrence Valley, 

in the Northeastern United States, as well as several small shocks in New 

England. W. C. Alden investigated the landslide of June 23 in the valley of the 

Gros Ventre River, about 35 miles south of Yellowstone Park. The slide had 

formed a dam about 225 feet high and half a mile long that completely blocked

Geology, 1925 263
the river and produced a lake that submerged much of three ranches and a 

ranger station in the Teton National Forest. Alden concluded that heavy rains 

and melting snow had saturated a clay shale, interbedded with the Carboniferous sandstones and limestones, which slipped and caused the slide. J. T. 

Pardee studied two earthquakes in the same general area, the first only four 

days after the Gros Ventre slide. Nearly all Montana and parts of the neighboring States and Provinces were shaken and considerable damage caused, 

especially in the villages of Three Forks, Logan, and Manhattan by the June 27 

earthquake. Pardee concluded that the region was likely to experience an occasional severe shock and suggested that the inhabitants take "at least a few simple precautions toward the prevention of future damage." Pardee also studied 

the effects of the earthquake of November 17 in the Big Horn Mountains of 

Wyoming. Survey geologists, however, were not involved in the study of the 

Santa Barbara earthquake of June 29, which focused attention on earthquakes 

in the United States and the damage they could cause. Studies of the Santa Barbara shock by well-known geologists, among them Bailey Willis, and engineers 

led to the first serious attempt to establish building codes.

The production of State geologic maps continued apace. The map of 

Alabama was in press by the end of the year, the maps of Oklahoma and New 

Mexico were ready for engraving, and progress was made on the map of Texas. 

C. W. Cooke prepared a geologic map of South Carolina as part of his report on 

the geology of that State and also cooperated with the State Geologist of 

Florida in revising the geologic map of that State. N. M. Bass, who was preparing a report on the oil and gas possibilities of Kansas, also cooperated with the 

State Geologist in preparation of a State map.

The geologic time classification used on the Survey's maps, however, was 

being questioned. That classification had been the source of lively controversy 

in the Survey's first quarter century, but little had been published on it for 

several years. The problems associated with Survey usage had not disappeared; 

in fact with the passage of time and the intensive study of the geology of the 

country, the problems had become very complex and the number of formation 

names had been greatly multiplied. Several geologists, among them T. C. 

Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury, E. O Ulrich, Charles Schuchert, W. B. Clark, 

and A. W. Grabau, had proposed major changes in classification, and so 

several American classification schemes were then in use, as well as several European classifications that not only differed from the American usage but from 

each other. The Survey had meanwhile clung to essentially the classification 

adopted in 1903 for the Geologic Atlas, and the publication in 1925 of a 

bulletin, compiled by M. Grace Wilmarth, Secretary of the Survey's Committee on Geologic Names, entitled "The Geologic Time Classification of the 

United States Geological Survey Compared with other Classifications and Accompanied by the Original Definitions of Era, Period, and Epoch Terms" 

seemed to suggest, at least by its title, that the Survey classification should be 

the standard. T. W. Stanton, Chairman of the Geologic Names Committee, 

went so far as to suggest in the preface that the Survey had been ' 'perhaps overconservative" in its classification. Schuchert, in a review of the bulletin in the 

American Journal of Science, called the Survey's classification "too simple" 

and "inadequate for modern needs."

The age of the Earth and length of the various time divisions were again 

being debated. The Wilmarth bulletin included estimates of the age of the 

Earth by H. S. Williams, W. J. Sollas, Charles Schuchert, and W. D. Matthew, 

which ranged from 48 to 94 million years, and by Joseph Barrell, of 1,240 to 

1,710 million years. Only Barrell's estimate had included radioactivity as a factor in the calculation. In the latter part of the 19th century, before radioactivity 

was discovered, geologists had decried estimates based on physical data as being 

too short to account for geologic phenomena, but now many scientists con264 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
By the mid-1920's it was becoming apparent that 

action must be taken to counter the effects of misuse of 

water. In the Roswell Basin of New Mexico, about 75 

percent of the water supply for irrigation was directly of 

artesian origin and much of the rest was derived indirectly from the same source. C. A. Fisher of the 

Survey, who had studied the area in 1904 and 1905, 

pointed out that misuse of artesian water would have 

serious consequences. O. E. Meinzer remapped the 

area in 1916, by which time the artesian flow had decreased considerably, much land on the west side of the 

basin had been abandoned because of the increased 

pumping lift, and much land on the east side had 

become water-logged and had to be drained. The artesian head continued to decline because laws regulating 

the use of water were not enforced. In 1925, the Survey 

began a cooperative investigation which led to enactment of a model law. The illustration shows Survey 

equipment set up for a leakage examination. (From 

A. G. Fiedler and S. S. Nye, 1933.)

sidered the estimates based on radioactivity too long. In that respect, the 

Survey did not take a conservative view but maintained a wait-and-see attitude. 

R. C. Wells prepared a table of the ages of minerals and rocks based on radioactive changes for the first volume of the "International Critical Tables" and 

assigned an age of 1,540 million years to an uraninite from the Black Hills of 

South Dakota. Wells felt, however, that neither of the two methods then in 

use, the helium or the lead method, was satisfactory. The helium ratio gave 

minimum ages because of the loss of helium with time, and the lead ratio involved the assumption, subject to proof, that the lead was wholly of radioactive 

origin.

Although emphasis in the Geologic Branch was shifting from oil to 

metals, the Alaskan Geology Branch, under its new chief, continued the direct 

search for oil. P. S. Smith had been appointed Chief Alaskan Geologist on 

April 1, 1925. Smith had joined the Survey in 1906 and had spent the following nine seasons in Alaska, for the most part engaged in exploratory and reconnaissance surveys in unknown or little known parts of the territory. In 1915, he 

had been appointed Administrative Geologist of the Survey and for the period 

of George Otis Smith's service with the Coal Commission had been Acting 

Director. Gerald FitzGerald succeeded Smith in charge of the NPR-4 exploration and he and W. R. Smith mapped about 7,000 square miles, chiefly in the 

headwater region of the Colville River and some of the northern tributaries of 

the Noatak. Interviewed by the press on their return in the fall, the unusually 

laconic FitzGerald reported "One of the purposes of the expedition was to 

determine the extent of the oil area. This we accomplished." R. H. Sargent and 

R. S. Knappen surveyed 3,000 square miles across the full width of the Alaska 

Peninsula to assist in the development of oil resources. In addition to the investigations related to oil, F. H. Moffit continued his study of the mineral 

deposits of the Prince William Sound region, K. K. Landes continued to map 

the coal-bearing rocks of the Matanuska region, S. R. Capps began reconnaissance surveys on the northwest side of the Alaska Range, andj. B. Mertie, 

Jr., was off into the unknown once again, this time to make geologic surveys 

along the Yukon River between the international boundary and Circle.

The Survey's other two branches were supported in large part during the 

fiscal year that began July 1, 1925, by funds from other Federal agencies, States 

and municipalities, or Federal Power Commission permittees. The Federal appropriation was about 60 percent of the total available for the Topographic 

Branch but less than 30 percent for the Water Resources Branch. As a result, 

both programs were largely directed toward the particular needs of others rather 

than national needs.

Alaskan Geology, 1925 265
The topographic mapping program was diminished somewhat during the 

year because the amount of cooperative funds was less than expected, 

presumably because of confusion over the meaning of the Temple Act. The act 

had authorized an appropriation of $950,000 for the first year but of course no 

such appropriation had been made. The Federal appropriation for topographic 

surveys had, in fact, been reduced, in the expectation that the States would 

provide the same or more cooperative funds whereas the States offered less, apparently assuming that a large Federal appropration would be available. As a 

result, the area mapped was about 15 percent less than in the preceding year.

Surface-water studies remained the major element in the work of the 

Water Resources Branch, and examinations of streams and neighboring lands 

for classification with respect to their value for water power and irrigation continued to be important. New and more urgent water problems were developing, however, as the Nation's population increased, and the Survey was called 

on to extend its work beyond the availability of water for power and irrigation, 

which had occupied a large part of its resources for many years, to the availability and quality of water for urban and industrial use and to the menace of 

floods.

Ground-water studies became more numerous and more quantitative. In 

New Mexico, A. G. Fiedler and B. C Renick began a cooperative investigation 

in the Roswell artesian basin where artesian flow had decreased alarmingly, to 

determine underground leakage, the quantity of water actually withdrawn 

from irrigation, the relation between draft and decline in head, and safe annual 

yield. A fundamental investigation was undertaken in Utah to determine the 

annual yield of ground water. In 1923, W. N. White and Depue Falck had 

made a ground-water and soil survey of the Escalante Valley for land classification purposes, in the course of which they had noted that in part of the valley 

alfalfa seed was being produced without artifical irrigation by subirrigation 

from ground water. As the Escalante Valley was a closed basin from which little 

or no water could escape and in which the ground-water recharge from mountain streams was about balanced by the average loss by evaporation from soils 

and transpiration from plants, Meinzer worked out a method to determine the 

annual yield; the Conservation Branch detailed W. N. White to make the field 

measurements. Urban water studies were expanded. David Thompson continued his work in New Jersey, and the Pennsylvania Topographic and Geologic 

Survey entered into an agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey for a 

cooperative study of the ground-water resources of that State. G. M. Hall began 

the work in the most urbanized area in southeastern Pennsylvania.

The 69th Congress which met for the first time in December 1925 was very 

Republican and very conservative. In his annual message, President Coolidge 

described the state of the Union as "one of progress and prosperity," and said 

that the budget law had been working well; departmental estimates for the 

next fiscal year were only $3,156 million, or $912 million less than for the year 

before the Bureau of the Budget was established. The conservation and 

development of natural resources were mentioned only briefly in the message. 

Coolidge stated that the Government was committed to a policy of reclamation 

and irrigation but wanted it established on a sound basis, that waterway 

development and the encouragement and development of water power should 

go forward, and he urged Congress to reconsider the report of the recent Coal 

Commission in an effort to resolve the "perennial conflict" in the coal industry. He also urged Congress to pass the reorganization bill as it would also 

be "of great benefit to the efficient and economical administration of business 

of the Government." Congress, however, showed little interest in going 

beyond what had been accomplished by the Executive orders of June 1925. It 

was much more interested in cutting taxes, which, after all, Coolidge said had

266 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
In 1925, the Survey began a systematic sampling of the 

sediment carried by the Colorado River at Grand Canyon, Topock, and Yuma, Arizona, using the sampler 

shown. Plans for the development and utilization of 

the river had to take into account the quantity of solid 

material carried by the river, much of which would be 

deposited in the proposed reservoirs, diminish their 

capacity, and decrease the effectiveness of flood control 

and river regulation, but observational data were 

scarce. C. S. Howard found that in the first 3 years of 

the investigation the annual load of suspended matter 

at Grand Canyon was considerably larger than that at 

Yuma, and for 2 of the 3 years it was larger than that at 

Topock. Howard also noted that for a considerable portion of the material a given weight required a larger 

volume than had been assumed. An accurate estimate 

of the volume of sediment to be deposited in reservoirs 

would require more quantitative data on the material 

carried in suspension and also a study of bed load, but 

the data on hand suggested that estimates in preliminary plans might well be too low. (From C. S. 

Howard, 1930.)

been the purpose of reducing expenditures. A new revenue bill, reducing income and inheritance taxes and removing many excise taxes, was passed in 

February 1926.

Congress passed two bills during the session that affected the work of 

the Survey to a degree, one resulting in extra work without additional funds, 

the other altering both the funding and the nature of work. The Sulphur Leasing Act of April 17, 1926, extended the Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 

1920, by authorizing the leasing of land in Louisiana and payment of royalties 

for production of sulfur. The Potash Act of June 25, 1926, authorized an appropriation for fiscal year 1927, and a similar amount for each of the four succeeding years to be expended as mutually agreed upon by the Secretary of the 

Interior and the Secretary of Commerce "for the purpose of determining the 

location, extent, and mode of occurrence of potash deposits in the United 

States and conducting the necessary laboratory tests incident thereto." The bill 

as originally filed and as passed by the Senate in April called for a cooperative 

project between the Bureau of Soils of the Department of Agriculture and the 

U.S. Geological Survey. The Department of Agriculture, however, did not actively support the bill; in the House of Representatives it was therefore referred 

to the Committee on Mines and Mining and became a "farm relief" bill, endorsed by Secretary Hoover, Secretary Work, and the Director of the Bureau of 

the Budget. The distribution of funds mutually agreed upon by the Secretaries 

of the Interior and Commerce provided $92,500 for the Bureau of Mines and 

$7,500 for the Geological Survey. The Bureau of Mines took responsibility for 

physical exploration, the Survey for site selection and laboratory tests.

On April 12, 1926, the Army Engineers and the Federal Power Commission transmitted to Congress their joint report on waterway development, 

authorized in the Rivers and Harbors Act in the spring of 1925. In it, they proposed investigations estimated to cost $7.3 million, among them investigations 

of stream discharge, capacity of power sites, location and capacity of reservoir 

sites, location and practicabilty of dam sites, and stream profiles, with all of 

which the Survey had many years' experience. The report referred to the Survey 

only in connection with streamflow data, however, and only by the suggestion 

that after the investigations were completed, the gaging stations should be continued and the Geological Survey's appropriation increased for that purpose. 

No action was taken on the report during the remainder of the session.

In the Department of the Interior appropriations bill, the items covering 

Survey activities had been modified. All administrative salaries were included 

in one item, and other items were then reduced by the amount that had been 

assessed for administrative salaries. The item for chemical and physical 

research, in the appropriations bills since 1888 but without an increase in funds 

since 1911, was combined with that for geologic surveys, so a single appropriation item would cover all the work of the Geologic Branch and the word 

"research" would be eliminated. The House Appropriations Committee made 

no objection to either change but then proposed a new appropriation item, not 

requested by the Survey. During an inspection trip in the previous summer, the 

committee members had met T. A. Jaggar in Hawaii, and Congressman L. C. 

Cramton had invited Jaggar to submit a plan for developing a division of 

volcanology in the Survey with a separate appropriation. Director Smith was 

somewhat less than enthusiastic about the proposal but conceded that perhaps 

to lend importance to the subject it could be given separate status for a year. 

The Committee then reduced Jaggar's proposed appropriation from $25,000 to 

$21,000 and described the work as "volcanologic surveys" not "research." For 

all major items, the Bureau of the Budget had recommended a smaller appropriation than the appropriation for the year underway, the committee approved some of their recommendations and cut others by small amounts.

Appropriations, 1926 267
Perhaps more important from the Survey's point of view, however, was the 

approval of new language with respect to transfer and cooperative funds. Under 

the law until this time, when the Survey made surveys or investigations on 

behalf of another agency it was reimbursed only when the work was completed, 

and Survey funds were used until such reimbursement was received. Survey 

funds were thus often unavailable for other purposes and as work on behalf of 

other agencies increased, problems had developed in financing Survey projects. 

The proposed new wording provided that: "During the fiscal year, 1927, the 

head of any department or independent establishment of the Government having funds available for scientific investigations and requiring cooperative work 

by the Geological Survey on scientific investigations within the scope of the 

functions of that bureau and which it is unable to perform within the limits of 

its appropriations may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, 

transfer to the Geological Survey such sums as may be necessary to carry on such 

investigations. The Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer on the books of the 

Treasury Department any sums which may be authorized hereunder, and such 

amounts shall be placed to the credit of the Geological Survey for the performance of work for the department or establishment from which the transfer is 

made. Provided, that any sums transferred by a department or independent 

establishment of the Government to the Geological Survey for cooperative 

work in connection with this appropriation may be expended in the same manner as sums appropriated herein may be expended." With regard to 

cooperative work with a State, Territory, or political subdivision thereof, the 

amounts received by the Geological Survey "shall be used to reimburse the appropriation from which the expense of such work is paid."

Both the House and the Senate devoted considerable time and attention 

to the appropriation for topographic surveys. At the outset of the discussion in 

the House, Chairman Cramton stated that the purpose of the Temple Act was 

to expedite completion of the topographic survey of the United States through 

more extensive cooperation of the States and municipalities with the Federal 

Government. There had been a great deal of misapprehension on the subject, 

he said, and read the letter from the Association of American State Geologists 

to President Coolidge complaining that the Director of the Budget had ignored 

the provisions of the Temple Act in allowing the Survey only $477,000 for 

topographic surveys. The $950,000 authorized for the first year of the act, said 

Cramton, was nowhere near met by State offerings, and in any event it would 

be impossible for the Survey to staff up to that level in one year. Moreover, he 

said, the Director of the Survey agreed to this interpretation the restriction of 

supplemental funds to the amount matching cooperative funds was "in accord 

with the spirit of the act." The Director of the Survey also agreed that 

cooperative work should have preference over purely Federal work. In order to 

take care of increases in State offerings, some for the fiscal year underway, 

Cramton proposed to reword the item for topographic surveys by increasing the 

amount to $525,000 with a proviso "that $445,000 of this amount shall be 

available only for cooperation with States or municipalities, and of this $73,700 

shall be immediately available." Congressman Temple, for whom the act was 

named, promptly objected. The spirit of the Temple Act was not dollar-fordollar cooperation but to bring the States up to a maximum, which was expected to be $700,000, and then pay for the rest of the work out of the U.S. 

Treasury. If money was not appropriated for purely Federal projects in this bill, 

then money would have to be appropriated to other agencies in other bills for 

such purposes as defense mapping or mapping the national forests. Money 

would be saved on the Survey appropriation, but the cost to the Treasury would 

be increased. The House, however, went along with Cramton's recommendation. The Senate also discussed the appropriation for topographic surveying at 

length and Senator Sam Bratton of New Mexico inserted in the record several

268 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
letters and editorials criticizing the action of the Director of the Budget. All attempts to increase the appropriation for topographic surveys failed; Congress 

appropriated only $451,700 for topographic surveys in fiscal year 1927 in the 

Interior Appropriations bill and appropriated the additional $73,300 for mapping in cooperation with the States during the current fiscal year as part of a 

deficiency bill, establishing a precedent followed for several years in appropriations for topographic surveys.

The appropriations committee recommended a cut of about 20 percent in 

the funds for investigations of Alaskan mineral resources, a cut which Secretary 

Work protested, but the House went along with the cut after several Congressmen had a chance for humorous remarks about how much work was done 

in Alaska when the geologists and engineers spent most of their time in 

Washington. The committee's recommendation on the appropriation for 

preparation of illustrations was overruled. Director Smith had made a special 

plea for an increase in funds because preparation of illustrations had become 

the biggest bottleneck in publication there were 49 reports ready for printing 

except for the illustrations but the committee did not recommend an increase. However, when Congressman Addison T. Smith of Idaho read a letter 

from Francis J. Thompson, Dean of the School of Mines at the University of 

Idaho and Secretary of the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology, urging him to 

do something about publication of G. R. Mansfield's report on the geology and 

mineral resources of southwestern Idaho, the House voted to increase the appropriation from $18,000 to $25,580, but then agreed to a cut of 8 percent in 

the already inadequate printing funds.

In the end, the total appropriated for the Survey was $1,819,440, about 7 

percent less than in the fiscal year already underway, and part of it was available 

only to match cooperative funds. However, the provision for transfer of funds 

made it less difficult for the Survey to undertake work for other Federal agencies, and the restriction of part of the appropriation to matching State contributions spurred several States to increase their contributions so in the end, the 

total available to the Survey was $2,864,127. The Federal appropriation was 

almost 64 percent of the total, a proportion that would seem sufficient to allow 

prosecution of a national program. In reality, however, some parts of the 

Survey became dependent on outside funds and thus more and more involved 

in meeting the particular needs of others.

The Water Resources Branch faced the greatest problem, for cooperative 

funds for water-resources investigations in fiscal year 1927 were double the 

direct appropriation and funds supplied by other Federal agencies almost 

equalled the direct appropriation. There was no possibility of dollar-to-dollar 

matching of cooperative funds, so most of the work of the branch had to be of 

the service variety. Most of the transfer and cooperative funds were for surfacewater studies, primarily stream gaging, and the number of river measurement 

stations increased to 1,749 in 41 States and Hawaii. In the continuing appraisal 

of water-power resources, hydraulic engineers accompanied the topographic 

party that mapped the Little Colorado River from Tolchico to the mouth of the 

river and made surveys of all dam sites in that stretch. H. T. Stearns was 

diverted for a time from ground-water investigations to examine the geology of 

the Mill Creek and Elk Creek dam sites and the Round Valley reservoir in Mendocino County, California, and of 43 dam sites in the western part of Oregon.

Cooperative ground-water investigations were continued in the urban 

areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and in New Mexico, Utah, and Hawaii. 

A new investigation was begun in central California in cooperation with the 

East Bay Municipal Utilities District, whose Chief Engineer and Manager was 

Arthur Powell Davis, former Director of the Reclamation Service. Davis had 

proposed the building of a dam on the Mokelumne River. As ground water in 

the alluvial fan was being pumped for irrigation, it was considered wise to

Water Resources, 1926 269
determine the effect of the diversion on ground-water supplies even though the 

dam was to be located at a place above that at which the ground-water reservoir 

in the fan was replenished and it was considered certain that there was a surplus 

of unappropriated water in the river. Stearns made the investigation in addition to his work on dam sites. Cooperation was continued with the North 

Dakota and Minnesota well drillers' associations, especially with their committees on specifications for class-A farm wells, and efforts to organize associations 

in other States were aided with a view to developing higher standards and better results in water-well drilling. The division was instrumental in bringing 

about a National Research Council conference on well drilling and well records, 

which led to the organization of a committee on conservation of scientific 

results of drilling and improvement of drilling methods and equipment as a 

committee of the National Research Council and the U. S. national committee 

of the International Well Drilling Congress.

The Topographic Branch laid aside its plans for a national mapping program, once Congress made clear its intent with regard to the Temple Act. 

Cooperative arrangements were made with 25 States and the Territory of 

Hawaii, which provided a total of $409,000, an amount equal to more than 90 

percent of the Federal appropriation. An additional $44,000 came from other 

Federal units. Very little mapping was done unless other funds were involved, 

the most substantial amount being the 180 square miles in Nevada mapped for 

the Geologic Branch. Nearly 17,000 square miles were mapped, the bulk of it 

in the States east of the Mississippi River. The Chief Topographic Engineer told 

the American Mining Congress quite frankly in September 1926 that ' "The immediate future of mapping in the Western States is contingent upon State 

cooperation. If the mining industry in the Western States needs topographic 

mapping and wants to take advantage of the corps of trained engineers of the 

Survey, it will be necessary to arrange cooperation by the States through some 

official agency." In addition to the mapping, the Branch made plan and profile surveys, at the expense of the Conservation Branch, of the Little Colorado 

River, Clark Fork in Montana and Idaho, and the Middle Fork of the 

Willamette and Sandy Rivers, Oregon, in connection with power surveys. Very 

little was available in the way of funds for experimental work, and T. P. 

Pendleton, head of the Photomapping Section, resigned to join a private firm 

engaged in such work. J. H. Wheat succeeded him but also remained in charge 

of the Map Information Office.

In California, the East Bay Utilities District proposed a 

325-foot dam on the Mokelumne River and a pipeline 

more than 100 miles long to provide additional water 

supply for the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and 

Alameda, and called on the Survey to make surface - 

and ground-water studies to determine the quantity of 

water that could be exported without interfering with 

the rights of lawful appropriates and riparian uses of 

the natural flow of the Mokelumne, and also to what 

extent the ground-water reservoir of the area, which 

supplied 2,000 irrigation wells, depended on the 

Mokelumne for recharge. The aerial photograph shows 

the river between Lancha Plana, the site of the proposed dam, and Clements, the section in which the 

amount of ground-water recharge was important. The 

elongated land forms in the lower central part of the 

photograph are rows of gravel left by gold dredges. 

(From H. T. Stearns, T. W. Robinson, and G. H. 

Taylor, 1930.)

270 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
In 1925, the new Commissioner of Reclamation requested the Director of the Geological Survey to send 

geologists who had not previously examined the site to 

make a field investigation of a proposed reservoir site 

on the Pecos River north of Carlsbad, New Mexico, immediately downstream from the McMillan Reservoir, 

which leaked badly, and upstream from the Avalon 

Reservoir, which held water without appreciable loss. 

Three Survey geologists had made four investigations 

of the site between 1905 and 1923 and had, with some 

minor differences, agreed that the site was unsuitable 

with respect to water-tightness. From the 1925 investigation, which included drilling four test holes to determine depth to ground water, O. E. Meinzer, B. C. 

Renick, and Kirk Bryan also concluded that the risk 

due to probable leakage was too great to warrant 

construction of a dam to anything like the height proposed. The Bureau of Reclamation thereafter requested funds for enlargement of the Avalon Reservoir. (From O. E. Meinzer, B. C. Renick, and Kirk 

Bryan, 1927.)

The Conservation Branch had sufficient directly appropriated funds in the 

fiscal year beginning July 1, 1926, not only to carry on its own program of 

classification of the public lands and supervision of mineral leasing operations 

but to supply funds to the field branches of the Survey to make additional investigations and surveys to supply data for its programs. The cost of supervising 

mineral leasing operations by the Survey was turning out to be much less than 

expected when the leasing law was enacted, averaging about 2 percent of the 

aggregate rents and royalties involved, but royalties received were also declining. The royalty value of oil and gas, which provided by far the largest share of 

the total, had dropped in just one year from $8.2 to $6.0 million, chiefly from 

a decline in production in Wyoming. The Homestead Division was renamed 

the Agricultural Division and continued to work in cooperation with 

agricultural economists of the Department of Agriculture. Field work was carried on in the central Great Plains region in the States of Colorado, Kansas, 

Nebraska, and Wyoming, and the preliminary edition of an 8-sheet map showing the agricultural classification of lands in the northern Great Plains region 

was published. By this time the Department of the Interior had begun to lose

EXPLANATION 

 Spring 

X Gypsum outcrop

Numbers refer to the test 

holes drilled in 1925.

Conservation Branch 271
all assurance that the Stockraising Homestead Act was working well and to fear 

instead that it was doing major damage to the livestock industry. Secretary 

Work in his annual report urged Congress to repeal the Stockraising 

Homestead Act and substitute a policy of leasing the grazing lands.

The Alaskan Branch was in somewhat straitened circumstances because of 

the cut in appropriation and the Navy's decision not to allot more money to 

surveys of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4. The pioneer spkit then came to the 

fore and as much work as was possible was accomplished by a variety of 

methods that ranged from some that resembled those used the Survey's earliest 

days in the 1880's to some that looked forward a decade or two hence. The 

Survey felt that many points concerning the geology of the Naval Petroleum 

Reserve required further examination before its task could be considered 

reasonably complete, so Branch Chief P. S. Smith and Gerald FitzGerald spent 

the season in the far North, traveling more than 700 miles by dogteam to reach 

the survey area. J. B. Mertie, Jr., and J. O. Kilmartin traveled by canoe or on 

foot to map in the wilds north of the Yukon just west of the Canadian boundary. S. R. Capps and K. W. Trimble used a pack train of 17 horses for their 

combined geologic and topographic survey of the Alaska Range, whereas F. H.

By passing the Temple Act in February 1925, Congress 

gave the Survey a mandate to prepare a topographic 

map of the United States. Congress did not, however, 

appropriate the requisite Federal funds to accomplish 

such a goal. Thus, although the Survey continued to 

experiment with the design of instruments and the 

development of methods of compiling topographic 

maps from aerial photographs, it relied heavily on 

cooperative funds to support its work and conducted 

most of its surveys by long-established field methods. 

The ambivalence was evident in the Survey's topographic instructions published in 1928, which defined 

the accuracy of a map as depending in part on the accuracy with which the field measurements had been 

taken and plotted but also suggested, in an extensive 

discussion of the compilation of maps from aerial 

photographs, that in some cases a photomosaic would 

be more useful than a map. (From C. H. Birdseye, 

1928.)

272 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
Moffit had most of the facilities available to those who worked in the Western 

States in his investigation of the mineral resources of the Copper River area. 

Looking to the future, a Navy expedition made aerial photographs of a large 

part of southeastern Alaska using controls that would permit the Survey to 

prepare base maps for future geologic and topographic mapping from the 

photographs.

The financial resources of the Geologic Branch were far less than those of 

the Topographic and Water Resources Branches but 88 percent of its funds had 

been appropriated by Congress for the Survey. Thus no part of the Branch 

received its principal support from outside sources. In fact, no distinction could 

be perceived among projects wholly supported by Federal funds, partly supported by funds from outside agencies, and those in which Survey scientists 

joined scientists in other agencies and in the private sector in working on a 

problem. On July 1, 1926, the organizational structure of the branch was 

simplified. The divisions, the organizational units which stood between the 

section and the branch, were discontinued. The Division of Chemical and 

Physical Research became a section, of the same rank as the sections of the old 

Division of Geology and Paleontology. Volcanology did not become a separate 

division, as Jaggar had hoped, but a section, with headquarters at the Hawaiian 

Volcano Observatory. Sidney Paige, head of the Division of Geology and 

Paleontology and of the Section of Areal Geology, resigned from the Survey to 

enter private industry, and H. D. Miser returned from the Tennessee 

Geological Survey, where he had spent 10 months as State Geologist, to 

become head of the Section of Areal Geology. All distinctions between 

economic and general geology were also dropped at this time, and all investigations in the branch became simply "geologic investigations." In a very real 

sense, however, all projects had become geologic investigations although they 

ran the gamut from detailed mapping of mines to compiling the geologic map 

of the United States, from selecting drilling sites in the search for potash to 

determining the temperature distributions below the floor of the crater of 

Kilauea, or from the x-ray study of clay minerals to making a structure contour 

map of the northern Appalachians. Everything was grist for the "geological 

mill," but basic to all else was geologic mapping. In many ways the branch program was reminiscent of that when G. K. Gilbert was Chief Geologist, and not 

unexpectedly so as Gilbert had been in many respects Mendenhall's scientific 

mentor and Mendenhall's career after Gilbert's death in 1918 was often influenced by his memories of Gilbert. Mendenhall, however, unlike Gilbert, 

fully appreciated the importance of economic geology for the Survey and the 

Nation.

The Metals Section began a major project in 1926 in cooperation with the 

Colorado Metal Mining Fund, to study the mining geology of Colorado, the 

work to consist of resurveys of old districts in the light of new developments, 

detailed studies of districts not previously mapped by the Survey, and a general 

inspection of the metalliferous regions of the State. Resurveys of old districts 

were begun by G. F. Loughlin in the Leadville and Cripple Creek districts, and 

by B. S. Butler in the Breckenridge district, while F. C. Calkins began an appraisal of the adequacy of maps in the Mosquito Range, and the Tenmile and 

Alma districts. W. S. Burbank began a survey of the Bonanza district, and T. S. 

Lovering mapped the Montezuma quadrangle. Other members of the section 

were in the field in California, Utah, and Nevada. D. F. Hewett mapped the 

part of the Ivanpah quadrangle in San Bernardino County, California. The 

survey had been undertaken primarily because of the ore deposits but the 

region was also yielding structural data of significance and contained an exceptionally complete stratigraphic record. James Gilluly and T. B. Nolan continued mapping in western Utah, Gilluly taking over the Stockton-Fairfield 

project Sidney Paige had begun; L G. Westgate and Adolph Knopf worked in

Geology, 1926 273
and near the Pioche district in Nevada; and H. G. Ferguson, after two seasons 

in the field, devoted a large part of his time to a detailed study of the 

mineralogy of the veins in the Alleghany district of California, in the hope of 

determining the principal factors that controlled the deposition of the gold.

The mineralogy of the potash cores was also a subject of investigation. 

From the $100,000 appropriated by Congress for core drilling by the Bureau of 

Mines, $7,500 was allotted to the Survey for site selection. Cores from two of 

the test holes and selected portions of the core from a private test on the 

McNutt permit, all in Eddy County, New Mexico, were sent to the Survey for 

study and chemists found promising prospects in the McNutt permit. W. T. 

Schaller and E. P. Henderson identified polyhalite of remarkable purity in 

several strata as well as several other minerals, among them two found for the 

first time on the American continent.

A cooperative investigation of clay minerals was also begun. Clay minerals, 

which make up the fine-grained argillaceous rocks, had been difficult to study 

microscopically because of their incoherence, the small size of the constituent 

particles, and the extremely diverse chemical composition. Fine-grained 

argillaceous rocks were, however, extremely important in the geologic column 

and of economic interest because they were commonly thought to be the source 

beds of petroleum. Development of methods of study of minute crystal aggregates, including the x-ray powder methods, made it possible to obtain 

definite information from optical examination. In accordance with recommendations of the National Research Council, mineralogists of the Survey, the U.S. 

National Museum, and Columbia University, where x-ray facilities were 

available, undertook the study.

Fuels Section investigations in 1926 were again largely areal mapping and 

stratigraphic studies, and many of them in the public-lands States were supported in part by funds from the Conservation Branch which needed data for 

classification purposes. In California, H. W. Hoots resumed his work in the 

southern San Joaquin Valley while W. P. Woodring and P. V. Roundy continued work on the Elk Hills report. In the Colorado Plateau, A. A. Baker mapped 

in the rugged country adjacent to the Colorado River near Moab, Utah, an area 

largely inaccessible by automobile but one from which there had been many 

applications for oil and gas prospecting permits, while E. T. McKnight mapped 

across the river in the canyon-trenched country between the Colorado and 

Green Rivers, part of which had been traversed by John Wesley Powell in the 

1869 expedition. North of these areas, D. J. Fisher mapped in the Book Cliffs 

area in Utah while C. E. Erdmann studied the coal and oil shale in an adjoining 

area along the Little Book Cliffs near Grand Junction, Colorado. W. H. 

Bradley continued to study the Green River Shale of Utah and Colorado. G. B. 

Richardson continued to map the coal, oil, and gas fields of the Appalachian 

area on a quadrangle basis, and compiled structure contour maps of parts of 

Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia as part of the investigation.

Stratigraphic studies in the Gulf Coastal Plain, though many of them were 

undertaken for scientific reasons only, were of value in the development of oil 

resources. L. W. Stephenson, Julia Gardner, and C. H. Dane studied the 

Cretaceous and Tertiary formations; Stephenson determined by examining core 

samples that the Eagle Ford Shale, a formation closely associated with the 

petroleum deposits of central Texas, was also present in Louisiana. Stephenson, 

H. D. Miser, and C. H. Dane visited several exposures of volcanic material in 

northeastern Texas to wind up the 4-year study of water-laid volcanic material 

that C. S. Ross had first identified in 1923 in specimens submitted to the 

Survey for identification. Their investigation demonstrated that the Woodbine 

Sand of Arkansas could be traced westward through Oklahoma into northeastern Texas where it passed into the typical Woodbine Sand of Texas, one of the 

producing oil sands.

274 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
In 1926, the Survey accepted the opportunity offered 

by William N. Beach, a sportsman and photographer 

of game, to join him in an expedition to the headwaters of the Skwentna and adjacent parts of the 

Kuskokwim Basin because the southern Alaska Range, 

even though it could be seen from Cook Inlet, was still 

largely unexplored. In the Beach expedition and two 

independent expeditions into the area in 1927 and 

1928, Survey geologist S. R. Capps and topographers 

K. W. Trimble, R. H. Sargent, and Gerald FitzGerald 

mapped more than 4,000 square miles and outlined 

the major geographic features. The photograph shows 

Mount Spurr, named for one of the Survey's pioneer 

geologists in Alaska, a volcano in the Alaska Range 

that was mildly active in 1927. (From S. R. Capps, 

1935.)

Fundamental investigations of petroleum were limited. P. G. Nutting 

continued his work in molecular physics, in particular on the physical properties of silts and sands related to the recovery of petroleum in spent fields. 

Because oil producers were greatly interested in the soda process, he prepared 

three general papers: one on the best field practice, one on the physical and 

chemical principles underlying the process, and one on the development of the 

process, the results of field tests, and the patent situation. David White, still on 

leave as Chairman of the Division of Geology and Geography of the National 

Research Council, was one of the members of the Council's Central Petroleum 

Committee, organized for cooperation between the Council and the American 

Petroleum Institute in connection with fundamental investigations into the 

physics, chemistry, and geology of petroleum. White had been largely responsible for obtaining gifts from John D. Rockefeller, Sr. and Universal Oil Products Company to finance the work for 5 years.

Areal mapping was continued throughout the country and steady progress 

was made in the production of State geologic maps. The geologic map of 

Oklahoma was published by the Survey and the map of Alabama by the State. 

The New Mexico map was well on its way toward publication and compilation 

of the Texas map was begun. G. W. Stose helped to compile the map of Pennsylvania then in preparation by the State, and the Survey contributed information and material for proposed maps of Arkansas and Colorado. Field investigations for the cooperative map of Virginia were continued, and work was begun 

on a new geologic map of Florida. The Topographic Branch completed the new 

base map of the United States and finally the day arrived when all these 

separate items led to the ultimate goal: Stose began compilation of the longplanned geologic map of the United States.

Three of the Survey's senior scientists were involved in special projects 

related to national parks in 1926. Both David White and F. E. Matthes contributed to a cooperative effort by the National Park Service, the American 

Museum Association, the National Academy of Sciences, and the U.S. National Museum to provide educational material at the Grand Canyon National

Geology, 1926 275
Park. Arthur Keith made a special field study in connection with the proposed 

Great Smoky National Park in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

At the Hawaiian National Park, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory maintained its watch on Kilauea. A set of borings was begun in the floor of the crater 

to study temperature distribution, and a precise-level line connecting tidewater 

at Hilo with the summit of Mauna Loa was run in cooperation with the Coast 

and Geodetic Survey. Using this line as a base, local level lines were extended 

from time to time to check any changes in altitude and the tilt in the land surface indicated by the seismographic records.

Vulcanism was one of the major topics under consideration at the International Geological Congress in Spain in 1926. Geophysics was even more extensively considered, and the International Congress voted that each country 

represented at the meeting should form an official committee on geophysical 

research to study the use of geophysical methods in investigations of structural 

geology or mineral deposits. From the Survey, H. G. Ferguson, Julia Gardner, 

Marcus Goldman, D. F. Hewett, and E. O. Ulrich attended but did not present 

papers although Hewett presided at several sessions. There was, in fact, a 

notable lack of American contributions to the technical sessions of the Congress, which undoubtedly reflected the nature of support of science in the 

United States at that time.

The whole world, it seemed, was in a state of ferment in 1926. Germany 

was admitted to the League of Nations and made a treaty of friendship and 

neutrality with Russia but its relations with Italy were tense. Italy made a treaty 

of friendship with Spain and Albania but Mussolini escaped three attempts to 

assassinate him. Greece alternated between military and civilian control, but 

the army overthrew the existing regime in Portugal, and General Joseph Pilsudski led a military revolt and became virtual ruler of Poland. Stalin eliminated 

his political opposition and became dictator in Russia, and the constitution was 

suspended after a coup d'etat in Lithuania. There was a 9-day general strike in 

Great Britain in May, and a financial crisis in midsummer toppled the French

In 1927, some 40 years after publication of S. F. 

Emmons' monograph on the Leadville district in Colorado and 20 years after the report by Emmons and 

J. D. Irving on the Downtown district of Leadville, the 

Survey published a major report on the Leadville 

district begun by Emmons and Irving and completed 

by G. F. Loughlin, then Chief of the Metals Section. 

Emmons' original finding that the contact between the 

Blue limestone and the White porphyry was the horizon in which the most productive deposits were found 

was still valid, and by far the greatest part of the total 

tonnage of ore had come from large bodies formed by 

the replacement of limestone, as Emmons' had concluded. The greater number and depth of mine workings had yielded data on the structural relations and 

complexity of faulting, identified the source of the ore 

solutions, and revealed a far more complex history. 

The illustration shows the sequence of events. (From 

S. F. Emmons, J. D. Irving, and G. F. Loughlin, 

1927.)

CRETACEOUS OR TERTIARY LATE TERTIARY OR 

EARLY PLEISTOCENE

First 

glacial 

stage

PLEISTOCENE

Interglacial 

sta&e

Second 

glacial 

stage

Interglacial 

stage

Third

glacial

stage

RECENT

Postglacial 

stage

White Gray porphyry Monzonite 

porphyry Sills stocks

 >'-, . -,,-) 

Fissuring Minor Folding Faulting and faulting

Fissurin^ and fissurin^ 

reverse faulting

Post mineral faulting Intermittentl

O

A Hi^h-temperature ore

B Moderate-temperature

ores

A Oxidizing conditions 

B Oxidation of ores

276 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
Government. In the Near East, the Arab State was split up; Ibn Saud became 

King of Hijaz and Nejd, later known as Saudi Arabia, and Reza Shah Pahlavi 

took control in Iran. In the Far East, the Netherlands East Indies were in revolt, 

and civil war between local military dictators in China left the national government virtually without power. Nearer home, Panamanians opposed a treaty 

between the United States and Panama to protect the canal in time of war and 

prevented its ratification, and U.S. marines were sent into Nicaragua to quell 

an insurrection. Even the American electorate was restless; the Progressives 

gained and the Republicans lost seats in both houses of Congress in the 

November elections.

In the annual message to Congress on December 7, 1926, President 

Coolidge again extolled the economy, elimination of waste, and general increased efficiency in the Federal Government that had promoted prosperity in 

the United States. He also made the usual formal endorsement of conservation, 

but in addition to calling for the proper development of water resources and 

reclamation with incidental power development, he also proposed a survey of 

the relation of the Government grazing lands to the livestock industry. 

Coolidge did not endorse Secretary Work's recommendation that the Stockraising Homestead Act be repealed and a system of leasing instituted but instead 

suggested a plan of administration corresponding broadly to that already successfully applied to the national forests. Only one bill was filed regarding the 

grazing lands and it was not heard from again after being referred to the Senate 

Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. The Army Engineers were authorized 

on January 21, 1927, to formulate general plans for the improvement of 

streams for combined purposes of navigation, development of potential water 

power, flood control, and irrigation. The Department of the Interior Appropriations bill, approved 9 days earlier, was an austerity measure. It provided 

less for all Survey activities in the year ahead except topographic surveys and 

Alaskan mineral-resources investigations for which it provided an additional 

$58,500 and $10,000 respectively.

Although relations with both Mexico and Nicaragua were tense at the 

time, the President said little in his annual message about them beyond the 

statement that "in some quarters our diplomacy is vexed with difficult and as 

yet unresolved problems." The difficulty with Mexico was the result of a law 

passed by the Mexican Congress in December 1925 putting into effect an article 

of the 1917 Constitution, which stated that ownership of lands and waters in 

Mexico was vested in the nation. As oil and mining properties controlled by 

U.S. capital were affected, the State Department had protested but there had 

been no resolution of the problem. In Nicaragua, revolutions and counterrevolutions had been the norm since the Marines had been withdrawn in 1925. 

The United States had recognized General Adolfo Diaz as President, an action 

protested by various factions, and then at Diaz' request, had sent the Marines 

back to Nicaragua, only to be denounced throughout Latin America and 

Europe for the action. In the cause of world peace, Coolidge in February proposed a 5-power disarmament conference, and his Secretary of State Frank 

Kellogg and the French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand began collaboration 

on the development of an antiwar pact. After Congress adjourned, Coolidge 

sent Henry L. Stimson to "clean up that mess" in Nicaragua, and Stimson's 

efforts at negotiating a peace among the various factions succeeded in time to 

permit planting of new crops in June. The situation in Mexico, however, continued to fester.

While the Coolidge administration was concentrating on peace efforts, the 

Mississippi River went on a rampage. After an enormous snow and two weeks of 

rain along the entire watershed from Minnesota southward, water spread like 

an inland sea over an area 1,000 miles long and as much as 40 miles wide. More 

than 250 people were reported drowned, and at least 700,000 had to flee their

Mississippi River Flood 277
homes. Six Governors in the stricken States requested Federal help, so Coolidge 

appointed Secretary Hoover chairman of a special Mississippi Flood Committee 

to coordinate relief for the disaster area. For several months thereafter Hoover 

made headlines.

The Survey made no special study of the Mississippi River floods. More 

than three-fourths of the funds for water-resources investigations were supplied 

by the States or other government agencies for specific purposes, so the Survey 

had very little leeway in initiating new projects. There were, moreover, only a 

few gaging stations in the flooded area to provide data. Surface-water investigations were again the major part of the program of the Water Resources Branch, 

and river measurements were made in 40 States and the Territory of Hawaii in 

cooperation with the States and in connection with the work of the Bureau of 

Reclamation, Office of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, Forest Service, 

Weather Bureau, Bureau of Mines, State Department, Corps of Engineers, and 

the Federal Power Commission. At the end of the year, 1,830 gaging stations 

were being maintained, but only 10 of them by the Survey alone.

The ground-water program continued to expand as the need for water increased and the demands for information became more exacting. In the Grand 

Prairie region of Arkansas, rice growers had prospered because an abundant 

supply of water could be pumped from wells at moderate cost but now the annual withdrawal of water had become so great that the head in the wells was 

lowered and pumping costs increased. In the Willamette Valley of Oregon, 

rainfall during the greater part of the growing season was insufficient to mature 

certain crops, but if irrigation water were available in late summer, the valley 

would produce berries and fruits; ground water was the most feasible source. In 

the Mimbres Valley of New Mexico, about 6,000 acres were being successfully 

irrigated but there was fear of overdevelopment. Preliminary surveys were made 

in all three areas to determine feasibility and then arrangements were made for 

the Geological Survey to begin comprehensive investigations. In the Eastern 

States, R. M. Leggette continued the survey of the water resources of Pennsylvania and A. M. Piper and F. G. Wells began a new study in Tennessee in 

cooperation with the State. The division also assisted a growing number of 

State associations of water-well drillers. O. E. Meinzer himself helped organize 

the Illinois association and also acted as chairman of a committee to organize a 

national association.

In addition to his administrative and organizational work, Meinzer made 

"a splendid contribution of lasting value to the hydraulics of artesian regions" 

in a paper on the compressibility and elasticity of aquifers published in 

Economic Geology. Meinzer held that artesian water, especially in strata of 

sand or soft sandstone, supports part of the load of overlying rock and that the 

aquifers are compressed when the artesian pressure is decreased, expanded 

when it is increased. Although only very moderate amounts of contraction and 

expansion resulted from changes in pressure produced by operation of wells, 

the amounts were more than could be attributed to the elasticity or other 

volume change in the water itself and large enough to affect radically conclusions regarding recharge, movement, and discharge of water in artesian 

aquifers. If artesian water supplies were to be fully developed and utilized, 

Meinzer said, legal protection must be given to those who develop them and 

put them to beneficial use, but that could "be accomplished only as groundwater geologists and engineers establish a broad, secure, scientific foundation 

for determining ground-water conditions and estimating ground-water 

supplies."

The Topographic Branch was unexpectedly able to do more mapping of 

the public lands in 1927 than for several years past because of a decline in State 

cooperative funds. A little more than half the mapping was done in States east 

of the Mississippi River but some of that was in the proposed Great Smoky and

278 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
A study of the mineralogy of drill cores and well cuttings from test holes in the potash fields of New Mexico 

and Texas, as part of the test drilling program 

authorized in 1926, revealed one reason why potash 

minerals had been so difficult to find. W. T. Schaller 

and E. P. Henderson discovered that the existing saline 

minerals were not the original minerals. Many had 

originated by the reaction of pre-existing saline 

minerals with potash-rich liquors while others were 

formed by reactions into which potassium did not 

enter. In many cases, Schaller and Henderson were 

able to determine the order in which the minerals were 

formed. The photomicrograph, for example, shows a 

fine-grained polyhalite (p) that has begun to replace 

halite (h), dividing some crystals into two parts, largely 

replacing a few, and corroding all of them. (From 

W. T. Schaller and E. P. Henderson, 19.32.)

In the 4 years following C. S. Ross's laboratory identification of volcanic ash and tuff from the basal Gulfian (Upper Cretaceous) rocks from Arkansas in 1923, 

Ross, H. D. Miser, L. W. Stephenson, and C. H. Dane 

identified similar volcanic rocks in the field in an eastwest belt about 150 miles long near the northern 

margin of the Gulf Coastal Plain in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and northeastern Texas. The volcanic tuffs had 

undergone very extensive alteration, some kaolinized, 

and some altered to bentonite. The illustration shows a 

thin section of bentonitic volcanic tuff. The large fragment, originally glassy pumice, has been completely 

altered to the clay mineral beidellite. (From C. S. Ross, 

H. D. Miser, and L. W. Stephenson, 1929.)

Shenandoah National Parks. In the Western States, considerable mapping was 

done in the national forests for the Forest Service, and in California, Montana, 

Utah, and Wyoming for the Geologic Branch. Of the 17,721 square miles 

mapped for the first time, resurveyed, or revised, about 60 percent was at the 

scale of 1:62,500.

The Conservation Branch's own activities again shifted in response to 

changing conditions in the administration of the public lands and the second 

consecutive decrease in its appropriated funds. The latter also made it difficult 

for the branch to finance field work by the other branches to provide it with 

classification data. The low price of oil discouraged production from the public 

lands, and the royalties received from oil and gas declined still more. The administration of the Naval Petroleum Reserves had been transferred from the

7..*

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Conservation Branch, 1927 279
Department of the Interior to the Navy Department on March 17, 1927, after 

the Supreme Court had declared the Elk Hills leases invalid, but an agreement 

had been worked out whereby the Survey continued to supervise operations in 

accordance with the policy set by the Secretary of the Navy. The Agricultural 

Division, on the other hand, found itself hard pressed to review a sudden great 

increase in applications for enlarged and stockraising homesteads following the 

proposal that a leasing system be substituted. It managed, however, to continue its studies of land utilization in the central Great Plains region and to 

extend them into the Colorado Basin.

Field work in Alaska in the 1927 season was again limited by lack of funds. 

Gerald FitzGerald andj. B. Mertie, Jr., traveling by dog team, canoe, and on 

foot, accomplished 4,900 square miles of topographic mapping and 3,700 

square miles of geologic mapping in previously unmapped parts of the Yukon 

Basin in northeastern Alaska. S. R. Capps and R. H. Sargent continued mapping in the Alaska Range and F. H. Moffit returned to his study of the geology 

and mineral resources of the Copper River region. During the off-season, 

Sargent completed a drainage map of pan of the Hyder-Ketchikan region, an 

area of about 6,900 square miles, from the aerial photographs made by the 

Navy in 1926.

In the Geologic Branch, where area mapping and stratigraphic studies had 

become a major element of the program, several sections had become to some 

extent interchangeable. When W. T. Thorn, Jr., head of the Fuels Section, 

resigned to join the faculty at Princeton University, H. D. Miser, head of the 

Areal Geology Section, succeeded him. The search for potash, which had occupied the Nonmetals Section for many years, was now primarily the province 

of the chemist and mineralogist, so G. R. Mansfield, head of the Nonmetalliferous Section, succeeded Miser and the Areal Geology and Nonmetals Sections were combined. Areal mapping and stratigraphic studies were underway 

in all parts of the country and progress was made in the compilation of the 

geologic maps of the United States and several individual States.

Of the three senior scientists who had undertaken special projects in national parks in 1926, only David White went back for a second season in the 

Grand Canyon, and there was more than a little nostalgia in that expedition. 

Charles D. Walcott, the former Director of the Geological Survey and Secretary 

of the Smithsonian Institution, died on February 9, 1927. As a young Survey 

geologist, Walcott had been sent into the Canyon in 1882 to seek fossils to 

determine the age of the beds and had gone on to become an authority on the 

fossils of the early Paleozoic and the Precambrian. In 1893, Walcott had given 

David White his first opportunity for independent scientific work in the 

Survey. The Carnegie Institute of Washington, of which Walcott had been a 

trustee for its entire 25 years of existence, supplied the funds for White's 

work. John C. Merriam, the president of the Carnegie Institution, said that 

"the definite contribution which he [Walcott] made to information concerning early stages of life and its environment constitute an element in the 

foundations of history which only the wrecking of our world of human thought 

could destroy." White relinquished the chairmanship of the Division of 

Geology and Geography of the National Research Council to another former 

Chief Geologist, Waldemar Lindgren, and went back to the Grand Canyon to 

extend his search for paleobotanical material ' 'with the object of determining 

the age of the beds and gaining knowledge of the plant life history in this part 

of the continent during Paleozoic and earlier times." White's search was 

rewarded by the discovery of two or three possible fossils in the lower part of the 

Precambrian Unkar Group, one of them possibly an a invertebrate, as well as 

additional material, "belonging more or less directly to the type of algal 

deposit named, though apparently not published, by Doctor Walcott, 

Chuaria.''

280 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
Arthur Keith, who was president of the Geological Society of America that 

year, confined most of his field work to a study of the geology of the District of 

Columbia but also took time to make a special investigation of recent earthquakes in Maine. F. E. Matthes returned to California and a study of the 

physiography of the drainage basin of the San Joaquin River in the vicinity of 

Yosemite National Park. W. C. Alden spent the season, the first of five in the 

Northern Rockies, studying the physiography and glacial geology of the intermontane valleys in western Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, while Frank 

Leverett studied the eastern glaciated area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Fundamental research projects in cooperation with the National Research 

Council were continued in the laboratories of analytical methods for lead, 

thorium, and uranium with particular reference to the determination of 

geologic age by R. C. Wells, and of clay minerals by C. S. Ross. Ross reported 

that research to date had disclosed that the number of important clay-forming 

minerals was not large and that many of those previously described were not 

valid mineral species.

The Fuels Section continued its investigations in California, where H. W. 

Hoots completed his field study of the eastern part of the Santa Monica Mountains and W. P. Woodring continued his study of the Elk Hills, and in the Colorado Plateau region where C. E. Erdmann spent a second season in the Book 

Cliffs region, E. T. McKnight and C. H. Dane mapped north of the area they 

mapped in 1926, and A. A. Baker and party mapped south of the area they 

mapped in 1926. Mapping in the coal fields of eastern Montana, suspended 

since the early 1920's, was resumed in McCone County and the Ashland coal 

field of Rosebud, Powder River, and Custer Counties in aid of public-land 

administration.

Both the research and the economic aspects of the economic geology of 

metalliferous deposits advanced along divergent ways in the spring of 1927. 

The Division of Geology and Geography of the National Research Council 

established a Committee on Processes of Ore Deposition. The American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers held a symposium on the 

resources and metallurgy of manganese ores, and in the wake of the latter, the 

War Department requested the AIME to reconstitute its special committee on 

manganese of the Committee on Industrial Preparedness to consider whether 

its previous report should be revised in the light of the world situation.

The NRC committee, under the chairmanship of Waldemar Lindgren and 

a membership drawn exclusively from the Survey or Survey alumni in the 

academic world or research institutions, emphasized the necessity of both 

geologic research for correlation and generalization, and physico-chemical 

studies. The committee also pointed out once again that individual efforts were 

not enough and that if important advances were to be made a more liberal and 

enlightened attitude was needed in both official bodies and the metal industries. F. L. Ransome, who was a member of the committee, seized on one of 

the recommendations for his presidential address to the Society of Economic 

Geologists in December 1927. For lack of basic chemical and physical data, he 

said, there had been little progress in economic geology in two decades. 

"Unless we remember that we are primarily scientific men we are likely to 

become content with the accomplishment of the particular job in hand and to 

lose sight of or become apathetic towards the broader considerations of our 

relation to scientific progress."

C. K. Leith, who had been co-chairman of the AIME meeting, countered 

Ransome's statement with a warning that economic geologists must not 

withdraw into the shell of pure science. The broader political and public aspects 

of economic geology, particularly those relating to mineral resources, should 

not be ignored.

Economic Geology, 1927 281
The primary allegiance of the economic geologist is to pure science. Of 

necessity he must learn something of the economic field. The additional 

opportunity now opens wide before him to aid in the interpretation of his 

field for the public welfare.

Leith had clearly brought this point out in his own paper at the AIME 

meeting in which he stated that "the adequacy of total supply, its occurrence in 

a few large reserves far removed from centers of consumption, and the steady 

tendency to concentration of commercial control in the hands of consuming 

steel interests in countries other than those of origin" was causing a growing interest in the availability of future supplies of manganese. The great steelproducing countries, the United States, England, France, and Germany, were 

all natural exploiters of world resources of manganese in times of peace, but in 

the event of war they would be unable to obtain adequate supplies of 

manganese by developing domestic sources and the substitution of other 

substances for manganese was not then technologically feasible. Of the alternatives, Leith thought stockpiling of supplies was possible but politically unacceptable, and control of the channels of flow from source to consumer would 

require the improbable negotiation of foreign alliances.

D. F. Hewett, probably more than any other member of the Metals Section, epitomized the ideal economic geologist according to Leith. Hewett was 

the only geologist to serve as a member of both the NRC Committee on the 

Processes of Ore Deposition and the AIME Committee on Industrial 

Preparedness. In addition, he continued field work in the Ivanpah quadrangle 

and his investigation of dolomitization, and worked on the report on the 

Goodsprings quadrangle. In the Colorado project, G. F. Loughlin continued 

his work in the Cripple Creek area and T. S. Levering mapped in the 

Montezuma quadrangle and did some underground mapping in the 

Breckenridge district. W. S. Burbank spent a second season in the Bonanza 

district and E. S. Larsen, Jr., returned briefly to the Creede district to assess new 

developments there. On the other side of the Colorado Plateau, T. B. Nolan 

and James Gilluly continued work in Utah and H. G. Ferguson continued mapping in Nevada. C. P. Ross and J. T. Pardee continued their investigations in

2 TIME (MIN.>

X

In his study of the structure of oil sands and the movement of petroleum and water through sand and rock, 

P. G. Nutting found that calculations of the movement of fluids in porous solids according to the laws 

supplied by theoretical physics were of little value 

because such laws pertain to uniform channels of simple form, whereas in nature the channels are neither 

simple or uniform. Nutting therefore began to develop 

methods for determining the effective pore section in a 

particular direction because once this was known, 

movements under specific heads, pressures, or capillary 

forces could be calculated. In these experiments, he 

found that pretreatment of the sand grains facilitated 

the movement of fluids as the illustration shows. Pretreatment became the basis for a method of secondary 

recovery of petroleum. (From P. G. Nutting, 1927.)

282 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
Idaho and Montana. In addition to these continuing projects, Adolph Knopf 

made a field study of the copper deposits of Plumas County, California, and 

A. C. Spencer, whose work at the Santa Rita, New Mexico, copper deposit had 

not been completed returned to the field to provide aid to the State,which was 

beginning a study of the ore deposits of Socorro County. In essentially the only 

metals investigation in the East, E. F. Burchard was called on to prepare a 

report on ore reserves and iron production in the Tennessee River Basin for the 

Corps of Engineers.

President Coolidge's foreign-policy initiatives in the winter and spring of 

1927 met with varied success. The disarmament conference in Geneva during 

the summer of 1927 was a failure; France and Italy refused to attend and the 

three other nations were unable to come to any agreement. The Stimson settlement in Nicaragua was widely misunderstood, and the administration was 

much criticized for interferring in Latin-American internal affairs, and in July 

one of the junior officers in the army of the Liberals, who had refused to accept 

the Stimson agreement, attacked the American marines and a band of native 

constabulary. In September, however, Coolidge scored an outstanding success 

in sending Dwight W. Morrow as Ambassador to Mexico with instructions only 

to "keep us out of war with Mexico." Morrow dealt so skillfully with the Mexicans that on November 17 the Mexican Supreme Court declared the limitation 

on concessions under the petroleum law unconstitutional, and on December 

25, the Mexican Congress granted unlimited concessions on lands on which 

positive actions had been taken May 1, 1917. Then in January 1928, Coolidge 

himself went to Havana for the Sixth International Conference of American 

States. His address to the conference was very conciliatory in tone and made 

such an impression on the delegates that the American delegation successfully 

prevented passage of a resolution declaring that "no state has the right to intervene in the internal affairs of another.''

Domestic policy, however, had not changed. President Coolidge had announced on August 2, 1927, that he did "not choose to run for President in 

1928" but did not relax in the slightest his stand on domestic economy. In the 

annual message to Congress on December 6, he said "The country as a whole 

has had a prosperity never exceeded. Wages are at their highest range, employment is plentiful. Some parts of agriculture and industry have lagged; some 

localities have suffered from storm and flood. But such losses have been 

absorbed without serious detriment to our great economic structure." However, "without constructive economy in Government expenditures we should 

not now be enjoying these results." Flood control was, of course, a live issue 

but Coolidge said

The Government is not an insurer of its citizens against the hazards of the 

elements. We shall always have flood and drought, heat and cold, earthquake and wind, lightning and tidal wave. * * * The Government does not 

undertake to reimburse its citizens for loss and damage incurred under 

such circumstances. It is chargeable, however, with the rebuilding of public 

works and the humanitarian duty of relieving its citizens from distress.

Coolidge cautioned legislators, however, to confine their attention to the problem of the lower Mississippi and await the results of the comprehensive survey 

authorized by Congress before enacting any general legislation.

The Interior Department's requested appropriation for fiscal year 1929 

was about 12.2 percent less than its appropriation for fiscal year 1928. Secretary 

Work boasted to the House Committee on Appropriations that "After four 

years of effort in consolidating and coordinating activities, reducing the personnel to a point more nearly commensurate with the needs of the service, and 

discontinuing unnecessary activities, the department has become a more compact, efficient organization." For the Geological Survey, the proposed reduction in appropriation was even greater than the Department average, more

Domestic Economy 283
than 16 percent, and the total proposed appropriation was only $296,000 more 

than the appropriation in 1908, the year after George Otis Smith became 

Director, and $285,000 of the 1929 budget was for supervision of mineral leasing which was not an item in the 1909 budget.

The House Appropriations Committee considered much of the Survey's 

work a luxury item. Director George Otis Smith told them that

The basic idea of the Survey's work is the application of scientific methods 

by scientists to practical tasks for the general good. Its fact finding is a 

continuing inventory of natural resources an aid to the discovery, 

development and wisest use of the nation's mineral wealth. The standards 

in useful geology, in useful topographic maps, in authoritative stream gagings, have all become higher as better methods have been developed. In the 

work it is necessary not only to apply the scientific principles already 

known, but also to carry on research so as to develop more knowledge and 

new principles for the use of future workers both in and outside the Survey.

Chairman Cramton's reaction was "Of course, I want my youngster to have a 

good time on Christmas, but if he comes and wants me to get him a Rolls 

Royce, or even something he needs really, that I have not got the money for, he 

won't get it. This committee has not got the money to make large increases in 

these items." George Otis Smith, it might be noted, responded tartly: "Well, 

I was asked to express my ideas of the needs, not of the expectations."

Only in his plea for funds to match the offerings of the States for 

cooperative work in stream gaging did the Director get a favorable response 

from the committee, and that was a mixed blessing. During the fiscal year 

1927, the States had contributed an amount that was 90 percent of the Federal 

appropriation for topographic mapping but more than twice the Federal appropriation for water-resources investigations. It was, the Director said, "unmistakable evidence of the growing spirit of cooperation between public officials," 

but the financing of cooperative efforts in the gaging of streams should be more 

equitably divided between State and Federal governments. The reasons for a 

dollar-for-dollar arrangement were similar to those recognized and adopted for 

topographic mapping. To this the committee agreed and recommended that 

the appropriation for stream gaging be increased from $147,000 to $197,000, 

with a proviso, similar to that used for topographic surveys "That no part of 

this appropriation shall be expended in cooperation with States or 

municipalities except upon the basis of the State or municipality bearing all of 

the expense incident thereto in excess of such amount as is necessary for the 

Geological Survey to perform its share of general water resources investigations, 

such share of the Geological Survey in no case exceeding 50 per centum: Provided further, That $125,000 of this amount shall be available only for such 

cooperation with States and municipalities." Rather than a solution, the 

appropriation with its attached proviso merely added a new dimension to the 

problem. Congress recognized the desirability of 50-50 cooperation, but did 

not supply funds to make it possible.

Senator Carl Hay den of Arizona was responsible for an additional increase 

in funds for water-resources investigations. The Colorado River Conference in 

September 1927 had resolved "that this conference respectfully request the 

Senators and Representatives of the Colorado River Basin States to obtain the 

necessary congressional action to provide for the collection of the needed riverflow data by the United States Geological Survey.'' The Survey estimated that 

$50,000 was needed but the Bureau of the Budget had allowed only $12,000. 

During the House hearings Congressman Edward Taylor of Colorado had questioned the adequacy of the estimate but neither the committee nor the House 

itself had made any change. In the Senate hearings, however, Senator Hayden 

elicited the information from Director Smith that the $12,000 would take care 

of the Lees Ferry station only, although other stations were needed. The Senate

284 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
Several of the strong earthquakes in various parts of the 

United States in 1925 were studied by Survey geologists to determine the cause of the shocks. J. T. Pardee 

concluded that the earthquake of June 27, which shook 

nearly all of Montana and parts of the neighboring 

States and Provinces, was caused by movement along a 

post-Miocene fault on the east side of Clarkston Valley, 

as shown on the geologic map. Pardee reasoned that if 

the fault was still active the region would likely experience an occasional severe shock in the future and 

residents should therefore take some simple precautions to prevent damage. The Santa Barbara earthquake of June 29, which caused extensive damage in a 

well populated area, persuaded Congress in 1926 to 

authorize a continuing Federal investigation of earthquakes, primarily the prevention or minimization of 

damage through the development of building codes 

and earthquake-resistant structures. (From J. T. 

Pardee, 1927.)

Contour interval 100feet

5000* 1

300C'-| 

2000 -L 

1000 -\

*/ <- Lombard

4 Overt h rust

Missouri Piver GarderiGuIch ^____-- I

,1-Probablt 

SECTION A- A'

Allu Tertiary"lake beds" PreTertiary rocks

(chiefly stream gravel (loosely consolidated dayt (chiefly Pate.oi.oic. limeand sand of Pleistocene sand, and gravel) stones and pre-Cambrian

argillite and quartiite 

with some Mesozoic rocks)

and Recent age)

5 / Strike and dip of beds 

f Strike, of vertical beds

U Upthrow side of fault 

D Downthrow side of fault

committee therefore added "and other base-gauging stations in the Colorado 

River drainage" to the item and raised the amount to $50,000. In the final version of the bill, the $50,000 was approved and the total appropriation for 

stream-gaging was $247,000.

The Appropriations Act made it clear that Congress preferred to base the 

appropriation for topographic surveys on the amount of cooperative funds offered by the States, even to the extent of making a deficiency appropriation

Montana Earthquake 285
later in the year if more cooperative funds were available than had been anticipated. Thus no plan for completing the topographic map of the United 

States could be made. Even with the unexpected increase in the appropriation 

for water-resources investigations, there could be no national planning, nor was 

there any leeway to undertake emergency programs without seeking funds 

specifically for that purpose. The work of classifying the public lands was still 

urgent and the work of administering the mineral leasing act was increasing. 

However, wells were being abandoned or shut in, royalty and other receipts 

were declining, and so Congress cut the appropriation. George Otis Smith had 

given the House Appropriations Committee a list of more than 30 recommended geologic investigations that could not be undertaken for lack of funds. 

None would be undertaken in fiscal year 1929, for the appropriation for 

geologic surveys was somewhat smaller than it had been not even enough to 

maintain the status quo let alone provide for any advancement of science. The 

service aspects of the Survey program were further emphasized by Congressional actions or the lack thereof. On December 15, Representative Nicholas 

Sinnott of Oregon had introduced a bill, at the request of the Department of 

Commerce, to authorize the transfer of the geodetic work of the Coast and 

Geodetic Survey to the Department of the Interior. Included in the transfer 

would be the variation of latitude, gravity, and seismological observations as 

well. The bill was referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and not heard from again. Among the many flood-control bills filed in 

this session of Congress was one by Congressman Temple to provide for 

topographic mapping and stream measurements in the valley of the Lower 

Mississippi River and in such other areas as had an immediate bearing on the 

solution of the flood problems of the Mississippi River Basin. Congress did not 

act on that bill but instead passed a flood control bill on May 15, 1928, 

authorizing expenditures of $325 million over a 10-year period for control of 

floods in the Mississippi Valley. The act stated that it was the "sense of Congress that the surveys of the Mississippi River and its tributaries authorized pursuant to the act of January 21, 1927, and H. D. 308, 69th Congress, 1st session 

be prosecuted as speedily as practicable." Even before the bill became law, the 

Corps of Engineers approached the Survey to arrange for stream gaging in connection with these surveys, and the Engineers and the Mississippi River Commission also called on the Survey for topographic mapping and river surveys. 

Thus, as the U.S. Geological Survey approached the fiftieth anniversary of its 

establishment for "the classification of the public lands and examination of the 

geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain," 

most of its resources were being spent in topographic mapping and stream gaging in cooperation with States, Territories, or municipal agencies or on behalf 

of other Federal agencies.

Severe floods caused great loss of life and property 

damage in several parts of the United States in 1927. 

The spring flood of the Mississippi River, which drove 

11/2 million people from their homes and destroyed 2 

million acres of crops and thousands of animals received the most attention and sparked a massive relief 

effort under the direction of Secretary Hoover. Floods 

in November in parts of the five industrialized New 

England States caused great loss of life and extensive 

property damage to highways, railroads, industries, 

and municipalities. The photograph shows a road near 

Rutland, Vermont, after the flood. Survey engineer 

H. B. Kinnison pointed out that such damage naturally follows industrial development on flood plains and 

adjacent to river channels unless flood-control projects 

are concommitant and that similar disasters were inevitable in practically every intensely developed region 

without a plan for flood control. In the flood-control 

bill of 1928, however, Congress provided only for a 

program to control floods in the Mississippi Valley. 

(From H. B. Kinnison, 1930.)

286 The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928
Chapter 11.

Research: Source of Power,

1928-1930

No scientific organization, even though much of its energy must be 

devoted to the application of science, can continue to function long 

without continuing the study of principles. Research is to such an 

organization what fuel is to the engine or food for the body. It is the source 

of power.

 W. C. Mendenhall

The year 1928 was in many aspects a low point in the history of the 

Geological Survey. Research, which is essential to the functioning of a scientific 

organization, was limited by the meager financial support then available. Practical surveys and investigations were being made but most of them were supported at least in part by funds from other Federal, State, or municipal agencies 

and were directed toward filling the special needs of these agencies rather than 

part of a national program. Resource problems of many sorts existed in 

utilization of land, production of oil and some metals, and of too much or too 

little water but there was no national plan for their solution or even national 

consideration of most of them. Even when legislation existed, such as the Temple Act of 1925 calling for completion of a national topographic map in 20 

years, Congress had not provided the means to accomplish the objective.

Within 2 years the situation was significantly better. The election of a 

Survey alumnus, Herbert Hoover, as President in November 1928 resulted in 

several changes in Federal policy that affected the Survey's work. More important, however, were the overall increase of nearly 40 percent in its appropriations and the approval of a special appropriation for fundamental research in 

geological sciences. The 71st Congress, elected with Hoover in 1928, also 

passed several measures for the conservation of natural resources, the development of water resources, and the establishment of new national parks. In 

December 1930, when President Hoover nominated the Survey's Director, 

George Otis Smith, as Chairman of the newly reorganized Federal Power Commission, Chief Geologist Walter C. Mendenhall, the Survey's most persistent 

advocate of basic research, succeeded Smith as Director. Having completed 50 

years of service to the Nation, the U.S. Geological Survey looked forward to increased usefulness, only to find its future altered once more by a national 

emergency, the onset of the Great Depression.

The turnabout in Survey fortunes between 1928 and 1930 was rapid but it 

was clear even as the new fiscal year began on July 1, 1928, that a change was in 

the offing, for both major-party candidates for President were so different from 

the incumbent that change was inevitable. True, the nomination of Hoover 

reflected the continuing domination of the Republican party by business and 

industry, and Hoover held the orthodox Republican view that when business 

prospered the rest of the country was assured of prosperity. However, even 

though Hoover had accepted the Harding and Coolidge leadership and had not 

aligned himself with the progressive interests, he personally espoused many 

progressive views and he had, moreover, shown a strong commitment to the

Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930 287
development of water resources, conservation of natural resources, and support 

of science in his administration of the Commerce Department. The nomination 

of Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York as the Democratic candidate 

reflected the increasing power of urban interests. Smith had been especially 

identified with the preservation of political, individual, State, and legal rights 

and with welfare legislation. During the campaign, he claimed that the much 

vaunted Republican prosperity was a myth but few believed him.

In the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1928, the Water Resources Branch of 

the Survey began to expand in size as problems caused by too much or too little 

water increased. In large part because of the Army Engineers' investigations 

related to flood control, the number of gaging stations increased from 1,830 to 

2,238 and new district offices were established at Augusta, Maine, Tuscaloosa, 

Alabama, Topeka, Kansas, and Fort Smith, Arkansas. On behalf of the State 

Department, the branch was also involved in investigations of flood problems 

with international implications, and a new district office was established at 

Thief River Falls, Minnesota. Canadian landowners wanted to construct dikes 

along the Roseau River, which rises in Minnesota and flows into Canada, to 

protect their lands from frequent overflows, but on the United States side it was 

feared that construction of dikes would constrict the channel and aggravate 

flood conditions in Minnesota; a joint investigation was therefore arranged 

involving measurements of streamflow, a large-scale topographic map of the 

basin, and a detailed survey of the river channel. The State Department also

Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964), President of the 

United States, 1929-1933. His was actually a rags-toriches story. Orphaned at an early age, he was raised by 

relatives and worked his way through Stanford University as a member of the first class to graduate in 1895 

and then achieved success as a mining engineer. 

Hoover first became acquainted with the Geological 

Survey as an undergraduate when he was employed as 

Waldemar Lindgren's field assistant. He renewed the 

acquaintance during World War I when he headed the 

Food Administration, which was housed in temporarily 

vacant space in the Survey's part of the new Interior 

Building, and served informally as adviser to the war 

minerals program. Hoover was a strong supporter of 

conservation and of science and an early advocate of 

the reorganization of the Federal Government to promote efficiency. His achievements have been overshadowed by the fact that the Great Depression of the 

1930's began 6 months after he took office (Courtesy 

of the Library of Congress.)

288 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
sponsored an investigation of the Kootenai River in Idaho and Canada where a 

similar Canadian proposal to construct dikes along the river on the Canadian 

side to protect land from overflow raised similar fears about constricting the 

channel and increasing the river stages on the United States side of the boundary. R. W. Davenport, who had been detailed to the Federal Power Commission, returned to the Survey to become liaison officer with the State Department in addition to supervising projects for the commission.

The Survey's ground-water investigations were progressing rapidly into a 

quantitative stage and also being extended into more States. The statewide 

study of resources was continued in Pennsylvania, where R. M. Leggette 

established an observation well at Sligo, and in Tennessee, and begun in 

Alabama, in cooperation with the State, by W. D. Johnston, Jr. In August 

1928, an office was opened in Minneapolis, which was then the center of welldrilling activities, and A. G. Fiedler, who had specialized in well-drilling 

methods, was assigned to undertake a comprehensive study of well-drilling 

methods and to cooperate with the various State associations of water-well 

drillers. Following up on the preliminary surveys in 1927, David Thompson, 

A. M. Piper, and W. N. White began studies of the source and quantity of 

ground water available for irrigation in the Grand Prairie region of Arkansas, 

the Willamette Valley in Oregon, and the Mimbres Valley of New Mexico. 

H. T. Stearns of the Ground Water Division and Lynn Crandall of the Surface 

Water Division began a quantitative study of ground water in the Snake River 

Plains of Idaho in cooperation with the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology 

and the Idaho Department of Reclamation. They endeavored to determine the 

direction of movement of ground water, the amounts of water contributed to 

the underground reservoir by seepage from the Snake River and tributary 

streams, from precipitation on the plain itself, and from irrigation water that 

percolated below the root zone. In December 1928, papers by Meinzer, 

Thompson, and White at the meeting of the Society of Economic Geologists 

brought to the attention of the geologic profession the basic research underway 

in ground-water hydrology.

The spectacular failure of several large dams and reservoirs, most notably 

the nearly new St. Francis Dam in California on March 12, 1928, focused attention on the relation of geology to dam- and reservoir-site engineering. Governor C. C. Young of California appointed a commission, including both F. L. 

Ransome and G. D. Louderback, to determine the cause of the failure of the 

St. Francis Dam. The commission found that "such a dam properly built upon 

a firm and unyielding foundation would be safe and permanent under all 

conceivable conditions, except perhaps faulting and earthquake shocks of tremendous violence" but "unfortunately in this case the foundation under the 

entire dam left much to be desired." The dam had been built on a mica schist, 

of thin and easily separable laminae, and a conglomerate of inferior strength, 

which, when wet, lost almost all characteristics of a rock. "With such a formation," the commission concluded, "the ultimate failure of this dam was inevitable, unless water could have been kept from reaching the'foundation." 

No geologist had been consulted in selecting the site or during construction of 

the dam, and C. R. Longwell said "No competent geologist would have 

approved the dam site without serious reservation, and probably very few 

would have consented to construction of the dam in that place under any 

consideration."

Congress became sensitive to these construction problems and in May 1928 

passed a joint resolution calling for the appointment of a board of engineers 

and geologists not previously associated with the project to examine the site and 

plans of the Boulder Canyon Dam. The Secretary of the Interior appointed 

Major General W. L. Sibert, Corps of Engineers (retired); engineers D. W. 

Mead of Madison, Wisconsin, and Robert Ridgway of New York; and

Dam Problems 289
geologists Charles P. Berkey of New York and W. J. Mead, of Madison, 

Wisconsin. The board was instructed to report by December 1 "as to matters 

affecting the safety, the economic and engineering feasibility, and adequacy of 

the proposed structure and incidental works." The report was satisfactory, and 

Congress approved the Colorado River project on December 21.

At a symposium on geology and engineering for dams and reservoirs at the 

February 1929 meeting of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical 

Engineers, Meinzer made a distinction between geology at dam sites and 

geology at reservoir sites. Dam sites, he said, were primarily the province of the 

engineer, who was concerned with the strength and stability of the rocks and 

their permeability and general behavior in the presence of water under 

pressure. Geologic investigations of reservoir sites, on the other hand, were concerned almost entirely with conditions that produce leakage or relative watertightness and were essentially ground-water hydrology, outside the normal 

training and experience of engineers. Kirk Bryan, who spoke on the geological 

examination of dam sites, admitted that geology had sometimes been overlooked or at best tolerated because of its inability to supply the quantitative information that the engineer needed without the use of test-holes, which the 

engineer regarded as his own province. Such problems as there were, he suggested, could be easily overcome if geology could progress more rapidly into a 

quantitative stage.

The role of geology in reservoir planning was recognized by Congress 

shortly before adjournment when it warily added to the appropriation for the 

enlargement of the Avalon River reservoir on the Pecos River at Carlsbad, New 

Mexico, a proviso that the funds would not be available until the "director of 

the U.S. Geological Survey shall have reported favorably on the foundation of 

the Avalon Dam and on the depth to which water may be stored in the proposed enlarged project." Director Smith promptly convened a special board of 

geologists and engineers who concluded that additional drilling was needed at 

special points. Kirk Bryan was sent to supervise the drilling by the Bureau of 

Reclamation; his report was reviewed by O. E. Meinzer, and by H. D. Miser 

and A. C. Spencer of the Geologic Branch, before clearance was given to proceed with the enlargement of the reservoir.

The Topographic Branch continued to be the Survey's largest branch, its 

total funds for the year being more than twice the direct appropriation for 

topographic surveys as the result of cooperative agreements and the transfer of 

funds from other Federal agencies, especially the Corps of Engineers and the 

National Park Service. For the Engineers, topographic engineers made river 

surveys in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and 

Texas along streams that flowed into the Mississippi or its tributaries in connection with the flood-control work of the Engineers. For the Park Service, surveys 

were made of the tentative boundaries of proposed new national parks in the 

Great Smoky Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley, and a topographic survey 

of Zion National Park was begun. Topographic surveys were made in 23 States 

and the Territory of Hawaii, and 17,190 square miles were mapped, about twothirds of it at the 1:62,500 scale. Most of the mapping at the 1:62,500 scale was 

in the Eastern or Central States; about half of it in Maine, Illinois, Kentucky, 

and Oklahoma.

The work of the Conservation Branch continued to shift along the trends 

begun a year earlier as the movements to conserve the grazing lands and oil and 

gas gained strength. Applications under the Stockraising Homestead Act increased for the second year in succession; the Agricultural Division fell farther 

behind in its classification work but continued its areal studies in the Colorado 

Basin region. Oil prices continued to be low and production from the public 

lands continued to decline. After the Supreme Court had declared invalid the 

earlier leases of the Teapot Dome Naval Reserve, the Secretary of the Navy had

290 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
Ray Lyman Wilbur (1875-1949), Secretary of the Interior, 1929-1933- Wilbur and President Hoover had 

been friends since 1892 when Wilbur entered Stanford 

where Hoover was then a sophomore. After receiving 

his M. D. degree in 1900, Wilbur had divided his time 

between the practice of medicine and teaching until 

1908 when he returned to Stanford to become, successively, clinical professor of medicine, chairman of 

the department, which amounted to being head of 

Stanford's new medical school, and president of the 

university in 1915. During World War I, he served as 

Hoover's assistant in the Food Administration in 

charge of the domestic campaign to save food. On 

becoming Secretary of the Interior, Wilbur declared 

that water conservation was the first priority in the administration of the public domain because of its importance in the everyday lives of the people, but the 

wise use of mineral resources, especially petroleum, 

was equally imperative from the national viewpoint. 

Wilbur, who was strongly committed to the ideal of 

research, looked on the Survey as a "fine example of 

the proper place of science in Government business" 

and was instrumental in obtaining the long-desired appropriation for fundamental research. (Photograph of 

an oil painting by Henry S. Hubbell, 1940, in the 

Department of the Interior.)

decided to suspend production and wells were shut-in in January 1928. The 

Federal Oil Conservation Board in its report in January 1928 had proposed the 

initiation of a conservation program, and the General Land Office had begun a 

campaign to cancel oil and gas leasing permits, the terms of which had had no 

compliance. Conservation Branch engineers were thus spending much of their 

time determining and reporting whether the physical conditions of a permit 

holding interposed any bar to development or if any land within the limits of 

the geologic structure involved was being drilled, so the General Land Office 

could make its decisions.

By 1928, the necessity of controlling the rangelands was being more widely 

accepted. Both the Geological Survey and the Department of Agriculture contributed to the discussion, the Survey with a series of five maps showing the 

agricultural utility of the central Great Plains region and the Department of 

Agriculture with a report by H. H. Bennett and W. R. Chapline of its Bureau 

of Chemistry and Soils that termed soil erosion a national menace. The report 

was concerned chiefly with the erosion resulting from the artificial disturbance 

of the vegetative cover and ground equilibrium by humans and domestic 

animals. The authors called for reestablishment of the vegetative cover and its 

protection against fire; use of artificial means to aid erosion control; and the 

regulation of grazing. By this time, even the American National Livestock 

Association was willing to concede the desirability of leasing the public grazing 

lands.

Rangeland Problems 291
The oil conservation program was less widely accepted. When the Federal 

Oil Conservation Board proposed it, about half the total oil being consumed in 

the United States was used for fuel. The board deemed motor fuel and 

lubricants to be the most essential oil products, and noted that a program to increase the percentage of gasoline from crude at the expense of fuel-oil production was then feasible. Fuel oils could be replaced by coal, so it seemed 

desirable to begin a conservation program before further increases in crude-oil 

production encouraged increased consumption and made the inevitable later 

readjustment to a declining production more difficult. As far as Federal oil was 

concerned, the Secretary of the Interior decided that

With the present realization that the limit to be placed upon industrial progress is likely to be fixed by the amount of power available for doing man's 

work, it is a plain duty to safeguard the future with a business-like policy

in developing the oil and coal in the public lands. The Federal Oil Conservation Board, however, went beyond the conservation of Federal oil by appointing 

a committee of nine lawyers and oil men which recommended enactment of 

Federal and State legislation to legalize agreements for the cooperative development and operation of single oil pools, and to permit curtailment of production in times of surplus supply. Such laws would, of course, be two-edged 

swords; while conserving oil and gas, they would also remove the oil industry 

from certain provisions of the antitrust law.

W. E. Wrather, a leading oil geologist, had a more optimistic outlook. 

Although domestic production had reached such proportions that he admitted 

to a "somewhat nervous speculation" as to how much longer it could be continued, he nonetheless said

We have never at any particular time in the past been in possession of sufficient detailed geologic information regarding our potential and untested 

oil-producing provinces to justify more than a very hazy and indefinite 

estimate of their future possibilities. Any estimate that fails to stress this 

point falls short of the demands of clear thinking.

Although the Nation's oil resources were a finite quantity and at some time a 

peak would be reached after which the country would be faced with declining 

domestic production, Wrather did not "view with alarm" the approach of that 

inevitable day. Quantities of oil could still be produced by better methods of 

recovery, fuel could be obtained from oil shales and retorting or pulverization 

of coal when the day of real need arrived, and last, but not least, there was 

synthetic chemistry. There was also the possibility that before the necessity for 

synthetic fuel arrived, other sources of power "of which we little dream at the 

present moment" might be discovered. And who was to say that that could not 

happen? During the 19th century, coal had been the major source of energy 

and had played a leading role in industrialization, and it was only during the 

first three decades of the 20th century that fuel oil, gasoline, natural gas, and 

water power had become competitive. Now world production of petroleum was 

steadily increasing while the production of coal had been almost stationary 

since 1913, and the coal mining industries of both the United States and the 

United Kingdom were seriously depressed.

The Geologic Branch's fuel investigations in 1928 were either long-range 

fundamental research or field mapping in which the acquisition of specific data 

on coal or oil was only one objective. David White, who was guiding several of 

the projects sponsored jointly by the National Research Council and the 

American Petroleum Institute, resumed his study of the origin of petroleum 

and collected specimens in quarries and drifts made by the oil-shale companies 

in Utah. W. H. Bradley, who had been making a detailed study of the Green 

River formation, which included the oil shale, reported on the algal reefs and

292 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
oolitic beds that made up an appreciable part of the formation, on the analcite 

and meerschaum beds, and on the varves and climate of Green River time. 

Data acquired in the last study enabled him to estimate the length of time to 

deposit the Green River as 5 to 8 million years and the duration of the Eocene 

as 13 to 33 million years, thus providing an independent check of estimates of 

age based on determinations using radioactive minerals. In another long-range 

project, P. G. Nutting continued his laboratory studies of granular solids, which 

encompassed far more than the movement of oil, getting into such matters as 

the filtration of oil, flotation of ores, deformation of rocks, and dam seepage. 

C. E. Van Orstrand measured temperatures in the oil fields of Texas, 

Oklahoma, and California; even more extensive investigations, however, were 

made by three research associates of the American Petroleum Institute using 

the apparatus devised by Van Orstrand.

A. A. Baker supervised a party mapping in southwestern San Juan County, Utah, between the San Juan River, the Navajo Reservation, the Colorado 

River, and the Arizona boundary, in part to obtain data for use in public-land 

administration. With H. E. Gregory and J. B. Reeside, Jr., he also made a 

reconnaissance of the geology of portions of northeastern Arizona. Baker and 

Reeside reported that the conditions of sedimentation during the Permian in 

this region had differed greatly between local areas at a given time and changed 

often with time, the net effect being to produce materially unlike sequences of 

deposits at now widely separated places and thus also considerable differences 

of opinion about stratigraphic relationships and appropriate nomenclature. In 

other geologic mapping projects, W. P. Woodring remapped part of the Elk 

Hills, California, region on a new topographic base, C. H. Dane began mapping in the San Juan Basin, N. W. Bass and A. J. Collier resumed mapping in 

the coal fields of Montana, and G. B. Richardson continued mapping 

quadrangles in the coal areas of Pennsylvania.

Much of the Geologic Branch work was, in fact, geologic mapping, and 

Arthur Keith, who had headed the Areal Geology Section and the Geologic 

Names Committee for several years, was the man of the hour. In his presidential address to the Geological Society of America in December 1927, Keith, 

reflecting American skepticism in general, had challenged the theory of continental drift, arguing that the distribution of sediments and of folding on the 

North American continent confirmed the permanence of ocean basins and the 

"reasonable" permanence of continents. In April 1928, Keith was elected to 

the National Academy of Sciences and also chairman of the Division of Geology 

and Geography of the National Research Council, to succeed Waldemar Lindgren on July 1. Under Keith's aegis, three new committees were established, 

one on field data on earthquakes, which he himself chaired, and others on 

batholithic problems and State geological surveys.

In addition to the geologic mapping, several geologists prepared summaries for a volume on North America in the series Geologic der Erde being 

published by Gebriider Borntraeger in Berlin. W. C. Alden continued his study 

of the glacial geology of the northern Rockies while Frank Leverett worked on 

reports and F. E. Matthes, after completing reports on the glaciation of the 

Sierra Nevada, began a study of the physiographic development of the 

Mississippi River in connection with problems of flood control. Volcanologic 

studies were continued in Hawaii, California, and Alaska.

In the laboratories, R. C. Wells began experimental work on ore deposition, investigating in particular dolomitization, in connection with D. F. 

Hewett's work, and the origin and replacement of minerals, and also began experiments on the diffusion of gases through rocks. R. K. Bailey, one of the eight 

chemists in the section, was sent to Roswell, New Mexico, to be close to the 

scene of the drilling for potash.

Geology, 1928 293
The Metals Section continued to operate on a somewhat broader basis than 

did the other sections in the Geologic Branch. Early in the spring of 1928, three 

senior geologists of the section, G. F. Loughlin, D. F. He wen, and H. G. 

Ferguson, and Chief Geologist W. C. Mendenhall met with Professor Lindgren, R. A. F. Penrose, Jr., and Everett DeGolyer to formulate plans for an annotated bibliography of economic geology and to assure them of full Survey 

cooperation in the venture. During the summer, Hewett, accompanied by 

Loughlin, made a study of rock alteration in Nevada, then visited the Ely, 

Hamilton, and Eureka districts in Nevada and the Tintic district in Utah in connection with his study of dolomitization, and visited manganese mines in 

Arizona, California, Nevada, and New Mexico in connection with preparation 

of a new summary of the manganese deposits of the United States. In two 

papers published during the year Hewett explored the extreme ranges of the 

economic geology of metals, presenting to the Society of Economic Geologists a 

theory of ore genesis and to the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical 

Engineers a review of metal production in Europe in the light of its geologic, 

economic, and political background to demonstrate that control of production 

provided more orderly advances and longer life to deposits.

Metals Section geologists were also in the field in New Mexico, Nevada, 

Idaho, Montana, and Colorado. Loughlin spent some time in New Mexico with 

A. H. Koschmann and V. T. Stringfield of the newly reorganized State Bureau 

of Mines and Mineral Resources who had been assigned to complete the study 

of the Magdalena district which Loughlin had begun in 1915 but had been

In 1928, the Survey began an investigation of the 

source, movement, and disposal of ground water in the 

Snake River Plain, a desert area in southern Idaho 

where about a million acres were under irrigation. Part 

of the strange landscape of black lava flows, drifting 

sand dunes, and bare lake beds had been set aside in 

1924 as the Craters of the Moon National Monument, 

shown here in a view looking southeast from the summit of Big Cinder Butte. The Survey study indicated 

that only a small part of the total annual ground-water 

supply, estimated as 4 million acre-feet, was being 

utilized for irrigation, and a map was prepared from 

which could be predicted the depth necessary for a well 

to obtain water. To conserve the ground-water supply, 

it was recommended that future irrigation development be confined to the southeast side of the Snake 

River above Milner so seepage water might return to 

the river where it would be available for reuse. (From 

H. T. Stearns, Lynn Crandall, and W. G. Steward, 

1938.)

ft

294 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
unable to continue because of his assignment first to war work and then to administration. H. G. Ferguson continued mapping the Tonopah and 

Hawthorne quadrangles as part of the overall investigation of the Great Basin. 

The investigations in Idaho, Montana, and Colorado were all cooperative ventures. C. P. Ross spent a second season in the Bay Horse region of Idaho, and in 

Montana the study of the mining districts of the Greater Helena region was 

broadened through the cooperation of the city, enabling J. T. Pardee to investigate an area in the Belt Mountains between York and Confederate Gulches 

and F. C. Schrader to examine a large area south of the city. The cooperative 

project in Colorado, which B. S. Butler continued to supervise although he 

joined the faculty of the University of Arizona, was enlarged slightly. In the 

Front Range, T. S. Levering remapped the Breckenridge district that F. L. Ransome had studied in 1909, and C. H. Behre began a resurvey of the outlying 

parts of the Leadville district which had not been studied since S. F. Emmons' 

classic work in the 1880's. In the San Juan Mountains, W. S. Burbank began 

mapping in the Ouray district to begin the study of the Ouray-TellurideSilverton "triangle" where Whitman Cross had mapped near the turn of the 

century.

The Alaskan Branch, which depended entirely on Federal funds, was able 

to continue its pioneering investigations in 1928. R. H. Sargent used the first of 

the drainage maps compiled from the aerial photographs taken for the Survey 

by the Navy in 1926 as bases for his reconnaissance mapping in the Ketchikan 

district in southeastern Alaska, where conditions were particularly encouraging 

for mineral development. The mapping thus provided a test of the accuracy 

and cost of a base made by photographic methods in comparison with one 

made by conventional ground methods. In another pioneering survey, Gerald 

FitzGerald abandoned his dogteam for an airplane, and in company with S. R. 

Capps and a recorder flew from Anchorage to a survey site in the Alaska Range 

west of Mount Spurr, hitherto a blank on all authoritative maps of the Territory. The flight took one hour and twenty minutes whereas the pack train carrying their supplies took more than twenty days to make the trip. In an area like 

the Alaska Range, where the working season was limited to less than 100 days, 

the time saved was important; budget makers were satisfied as the saving in 

food and salaries almost compensated for the extra cost of transportation by air. 

Other surveys were made by F. H. Moffit in the Copper River region and R. K. 

Lynt, who made a detailed topographic survey of a small tract in the Juneau 

region urgently needed by the Forest Service in connection with its activities in 

aid of the development of the paper-pulp industry.

Although Herbert Hoover had been elected President by an overwhelming 

majority on November 6, 1928, his influence on the final session of the 70th 

Congress was negligible; the Coolidge philosophy prevailed to the end of his 

term. Coolidge's last annual address to Congress began on a euphoric note: 

"No Congress of the United States ever assembled, on surveying the state of 

the Union, has met with a more pleasing prospect." At home there was "tranquillity and contentment." abroad "peace, the good will which comes from 

mutual understanding." In late summer, 14 nations had signed the KelloggBriand Pact to outlaw war, and the State Department, attempting to build 

hemispheric solidarity, was about to repudiate the Roosevelt Corollary to the 

Monroe Doctrine, defining the Doctrine as "a case of the U.S. v. Europe, and 

not of the U.S. v. Latin America." Coolidge spoke also of the great wealth of 

the United States "created by our enterprise and saved by our economy." During its 3-month session, Congress did little more than pass the appropriations 

bills, exercising appropriate economy as they did so.

Given the prospect of a President committed to the expansion of scientific 

research, the Geological Survey made a strong plea for funds for research in the 

budget submitted in the fall of 1928, but to no avail. The plea was based on

Alaskan Geology, 1928 295
the rapidly increasing needs of American industry for raw materials which, in 

turn, meant the more rapid exhaustion of mines and wells. The Survey was being called on to take the lead in studies directed toward the finding of ore in 

order to forestall any serious decline in the supply of metals and other essential 

minerals with the inevitable slowing down of all industry. For this important 

work, Director Smith pointed out, the Survey's appropriation in 1929 had 

been, in dollars, about the same as the appropriation for 1913, but the 1929 

dollar was worth only 60 cents. In an accompanying written statement, the 

Survey pointed out that some minerals were abundant but others were limited 

in quantity and definitely exhaustible. Consequently, the search for them was 

constantly becoming more intense, and that

all of man's resourcefulness, all of the energy, and all of the science of 

which he is master are needed to find new supplies to satisfy modern 

needs. The trends of colonization and settlement, the issues of peace and 

war, have been vitally affected by the presence or absence of these 

mineral resources, and civilizations have waned as the supplies have 

diminished.

The mineral industry wanted the help that geologic maps, geologic research, 

and geologic understanding could give them, and "giving this aid constitutes 

the economic use of geology." The Government was properly "looked to, not 

to apply geologic principles to specific problems, such as digging coal or mining 

copper that is the field of the practicing geologist and the mining engineer 

 but to establish the principles ready for application, to supply the general 

maps, to determine the rock succession, the broad relations and habits or ores, 

and the laws of their occurrence, and thus to guide exploration from hopeless 

into hopeful areas." The House Appropriations Committee, however, was not 

impressed with the argument. The appropriation for geologic surveys was not 

increased.

The only item Congress increased significantly was the appropriation for 

topographic surveys and in recommending that increase, to $635,000 of which 

$462,000 was limited to cooperative projects, the House committee was clearly 

more impressed by the greater cooperative offerings from the States than a 

resolution by the American Society of Civil Engineers urging the acceleration of 

mapping. The committee also authorized the Survey to contract with private 

firms for aerial photography. The War Department had insisted that the Survey 

contract with private firms when they were available to avoid War Department 

interference with private industry, but when the Survey tried to do so, the 

Comptroller General had ruled "that the making of topographic maps is one of 

the duties imposed by law on the United States Geological Survey to be performed by its authorized personnel, and contracting with an outside agency or 

individuals to perform a duty thus imposed was not authorized. Furthermore, 

the appropriations for the United States Geological Survey were made upon the 

basis of surveys by established ground methods and by the regular personnel of 

that service and that if it is desired to substitute an entirely different and new 

method such as aerial photography and by contracting with outside firms, the 

matter was one for presentation to the Congress for express authority to do so.'' 

The provision was carefully worded. It authorized the Secretary of War and the 

Secretary of the Navy to furnish aerial photographs if it would be economical 

for the Government and not interfere with military or naval operations. The 

Secretary of the Interior would reimburse the War or Navy Departments for the 

cost of making the photographs, the Department of the Interior would furnish 

copies of the photographs to cooperating agencies, and the Geological Survey 

would contract with civilian aerial photographic concerns if the War or Navy 

Departments were unable to furnish the photographs in time to meet the needs 

for which they were requested. Funds were also appropriated for the Survey to 

make surveys of the boundaries of the proposed Shenandoah and Great Smoky

296 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
As the importance of geology in the selection of dam 

and reservoir sites became more widely understood. 

Survey geologists were called on in the winter and 

spring of 1929 to study the geologic conditions that 

would affect the proposed Madden Reservoir in the 

Panama Canal Zone. The reservoir was intended to 

store flood water for use, mainly in the dry season, for 

lockages in the Panama Canal, for the possible 

development of hydroelectric power, and to aid in 

avoiding disturbing currents in the canal. Some of the 

rocks in the area were found to be permeable to water 

and others to be mechanically weak. Although it was 

clear that the reservoir would leak, the project was 

nonetheless favorably recommended because all the 

water except what was lost through evaporation or retained in the rock pores would find its way into Gatun 

Lake where it was desired. The illustration shows a diamond drill sinking a hole on the west side of one of the 

proposed dam sites. (From Frank Reeves and C. P. 

Ross, 1931.)

Mountains National Parks. The Sinnott bill, which proposed the transfer of 

geodetic work from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Department of the 

Interior, failed after the American Engineering Council announced its 

opposition.

Among the few other measures passed that were of interest to the Survey 

was the Boulder Canyon Project Act, which authorized construction of the 

largest dam in the world, a 75-mile-long canal to divert water from the Colorado River to the Imperial and Coachella Valleys in California, and a power 

plant to develop electric current from the falling water. Grand Teton National 

Park, proposed by C. D. Walcott in 1897, was also established in a bill approved on February 26, 1929-

The new Cabinet was announced after President-elect Hoover returned to 

Washington in January 1929 after a trip to Latin America to promote a good 

neighbor policy. As Secretary of the Interior, Hoover chose the President of 

Stanford University, Ray Lyman Wilbur, who, he said, "had been my constant 

friend of nearly forty years from my college boyhood. * * * His long 

background in public phases of the medical profession prior to his university 

presidency gave him a fine insight into social and educational forces so much 

needed by the Interior Department at that time. He was a great outdoor man 

and knew the West and its resources above most men." To succeed himself at 

the Department of Commerce, Hoover chose Robert P. Lament, an engineer 

and business man, but one who, Hoover later said, had "no initiative and no 

imagination." The post at Agriculture was offered to Senator Charles McNary 

and others who declined it, and finally to Arthur M. Hyde, former Governor of 

Missouri. Wilbur was one of the three members of the Cabinet who most closely shared Hoover's views, the others being the Attorney General William D. 

Mitchell and Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis Adams, Jr. A new era was 

thus about to begin in the Interior Department.

Hoover Cabinet 297
5OO-

-I.50O'-

Seventeen days after his inauguration as the 31st President of the United 

States, Hoover helped the Geological Survey celebrate the 50th anniversary of 

its establishment. President and Mrs. Hoover received members of the Survey 

at the White House on March 21, 1929, the 50th anniversary of the nomination 

of Clarence King as the first Director. Hoover had his picture taken with them 

all, standing between Director George Otis Smith and Professor Waldemar 

Lindgren, whose field assistant he had been in 1895.

Hoover's interest in conservation, however, had brought about a change in 

the Survey's work even before that day. He recognized three urgent problems 

in the conservation of the public lands: overgrazing, which diminished the 

value of the lands and imperiled the water supply through destruction of the 

natural cover; the best method of applying a reclamation service in order to 

gain real and enlarged conservation of water resources; and the conservation of 

oil and gas resources. Only 8 days after being inaugurated, Hoover took action 

on the last-named, announcing on March 12 that henceforth there would be 

the greatest possible conservation of Government oil. On March 16, a Departmental order outlined the procedures under the policy announced by the President, and thereafter Conservation Branch activities with respect to oil and gas 

filings became for the most part the preparation of technical reports on the 

status of drilling operations on permit holdings or on the geologic structure affecting them that had been held for cancellation or were involved in pending 

applications. Then on May 14, another Departmental order required the 

Survey to report to the General Land Office the prospective value for oil and gas 

in certain types of nonmineral entries and filings in 20 States as a basis for the 

reservation or waiver of the Government's title to such deposits. President 

Hoover also proposed a plan, along the lines of the Colorado River Compact, 

for an interstate oil compact by which each of the oil states would agree to set 

up regulations to repress overdrilling of new pools and waste of gas pressure in 

collaboration with the others. Secretary Wilbur presented the plan at a meeting 

of the Governors of oil States and executives of major oil companies on June 20, 

but they rejected the plan.

Reclamation, in Secretary Wilbur's view, was but one phase in the conservation of water resources which was of first importance in the administration of 

the public domain because water affected the daily lives of the people living in 

the arid region. Reclamation had created a great wealth in land, and it was 

generally agreed that the engineering operations of the Bureau of Reclamation 

had been soundly conceived and well carried out. The economic principles and 

policies that should govern decisions on the feasibility of projects had, however, 

not been firmly established and so Wilbur instituted an economic survey of 

reclamation projects. There was, however, a larger problem.

In 1928, F. G. Wells began a survey of the western 

counties of Tennessee as part of a cooperative statewide 

study of the use of ground water to meet the growing 

need for water for municipal and rural supplies and 

industrial development. Favorable conditions were 

found in the region west of the northward reflex of the 

Tennessee River. Most of this region is within the Gulf 

embayment which, as the section shows, is a basin of 

Paleozoic rocks filled with unconsolidated sand and 

clay of Cretaceous and Eocene age. The thickness of the 

principal water-bearing beds, the Wilcox Group, the 

McNairy Sand Member of the Ripley Formation, and 

the Eutaw Formation, and the physical properties of 

the sands of which they are composed indicated that 

large quantities of ground water could be developed 

throughout the area, and chemical analyses of samples 

indicated that the water was of good quality for all purposes except for the presence of considerable iron. 

(FromF. G. Wells, 1933.)

298 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
Oscar E. Meinzer (1876-1948) was one of the founders 

and first chairman of the Section of Hydrology of the 

American Geophysical Union, the first professional society devoted exclusively to hydrology. Meinzer joined 

the Survey as a geologic aid in 1906, succeeded W. C. 

Mendenhall as chief of ground-water investigations in 

1912, and remained with the Survey until his retirement in 1946. He was author or coauthor of more than 

a hundred reports and papers on ground water and is 

credited with being the principal architect in the 

development of the modern science of ground-water 

hydrology. (From the files of the U.S. Geological 

Survey.)

From Nebraska west, water, and water alone, is the key to our future. We 

need the mountains and the hills and a great protective back country or we 

can not have sufficient water for our valleys. The cooperation and fair play 

that have made possible the successes of individual reclamation undertakings must be extended to the larger problem. Homestead thinking must be 

replaced with watershed thinking. There must be a great western strategy 

for the protection of our watersheds and the plant life on them, however 

undesirable and unimportant some of it may seem to be.

He warned that unless we cared for the land, the West would suffer from 

"man-made barrenness, floods, erosion, and decay." Meanwhile, on June 25, 

President Hoover issued a proclamation making the Colorado River Compact 

effective and Secretary Wilbur began negotiation of the power contract. Hoover 

also ordered the Bureau of Reclamation to prepare engineering plans for the 

Columbia River project and proposed to the Governor of California a joint 

commission to examine the engineering and economic phases of the Great 

Valley of California water storage and flood control project.

The problem of overgrazing came up in August 1929 when Hoover sent a 

message to a conference of western Governors stating his desire, among other 

things, "to work out more constructive policies for conservation in our grazing 

lands, our water storage, and our mineral resources" and proposing a study of 

the problems of the public domain. The governors endorsed the proposed 

study, and, on October 19, a Public Lands Commission was appointed under 

the chairmanship of James R. Garfield, Secretary of the Interior in the last 2 

years of the Theodore Roosevelt administration.

In embarking on these policies, the Hoover administration was taking no 

dramatic initiatives as had the Theodore Roosevelt administration, although 

ardent conservationists in both the public and private sectors held divergent 

views on some of the issues, particularly on land utilization. The Division of

Hoover Conservation 299
Geology and Geography of the National Research Council had established a 

Committee on Statistics of Agricultural Land Utilization under the chairmanship of Professor Wellington D. Jones of the University of Chicago in an effort 

to gather pertinent information. In Washington, the Federated Societies on 

Planning and Parks issued a report prepared by a Joint Committee on the Bases 

of Sound Land Policy, chaired by Frederic A. Delano, which attempted to 

answer whether or not the land area of the United States would meet the 

demands of the population in the year 2000, and how to determine the best use 

of our land resources. Professor Benjamin Hibbard of the University of Wisconsin, who, with Henry C. Taylor, had established the profession of agricultural 

economics, stated that a national land policy to conserve land values would 

have the Federal Government halt further reclamation development, regain 

possession of much submarginal land, cease selling land of doubtful value and 

quality, and reforest some of the land withdrawn from cultivation and put 

other portions in wildlife refuges. The National Industrial Conference Board 

had undertaken a series of studies of world consumption and production of the 

various forms of energy on the premise that the first essential requirement for 

intelligent consideration and discussion of conservation is comprehensive information. The board's research staff, under the direction of Alfred G. White, 

who had been a member of the War Minerals Committee in 1917-18, prepared 

a detailed analysis of the factors that determine consumption and production of 

fuel oil, taking into consideration the various purposes for which fuel oil was 

used and the extent to which other sources of energy competed with the present 

and probable future supply of fuel oil. The board concluded that conditions 

were then favorable for undertaking an oil conservation program. In the oil 

industry itself, however, conditions steadily grew worse as the result of 

overproduction.

It was left to the private sector to initiate an effort for conservation of 

minerals other than oil and gas. The first overture came from the British Empire Mining and Metallugical Congress, which, in the fall of 1929, urged that a 

new and comprehensive study of the world mineral situation be made. In the 

spring of 1930, the Mineral Inquiry, under the chairmanship of C. K. Leith and 

sponsored by the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, 

was established in office space in the Brookings Institution in Washington. 

Aiding Leith as members of the Mineral Inquiry were H. Foster Bain, managing 

director of the Copper and Brass Research Corporation and former Director of 

the Bureau of Mines; G. Temple Bridgman, consulting mining engineer for 

Guggenheim Brothers; M. L. Requa, director of the Oil Division of the Fuel 

Administration during the World War and a friend of President Hoover; J. E. 

Spurr, who had served with Leith during the World War on the committee on 

mineral imports, and as chief engineer of War Minerals Relief; and William 

Rawles, one of Leith's students, as executive secretary. Although privately 

organized and funded, the Mineral Inquiry asked and received the cooperation 

of Federal agencies in the mineral field.

The work of the Conservation Branch of the Survey was inextricably linked 

with administration policies. Under the policy on oil and gas conservation initiated on March 12, 1929, the Survey prepared 4,533 reports on oil and gas 

cases outside Alaska for submission to the departmental committee to pass on 

claims. The number of oil and gas leases under supervision increased from 597 

to 676 during the year, and royalties increased from $3.7 million to $4.1 

million, but permits declined from 15,442 on June 30, 1929 to 6,482. The 

Agricultural Division continued its field studies of the agricultural utility of the 

land in the Colorado Basin region and acted on about 7,000 applications under 

the Enlarged- and Stockraising-Homestead Acts. Applications were beginning 

to decline, and cancellation of previous designations increased, so the total 

acreage designated under the Enlarged Homestead Act actually declined

300 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
By the late 1920's, the traditional policy of allowing 

unrestricted use of the unreserved public domain as a 

grazing common had ceased to be beneficial and in 

fact had become harmful by permitting overcrowding 

and overgrazing. The contrast between overgrazed and 

protected range lands is strikingly shown in the illustration; the pasture inside the fence line shows a good 

growth of palatable forage while practically all forage 

has been removed from the outside range. A plan of 

proper range management was needed not only to conserve a valuable natural resource but also to provide for 

livestock operations on a permanent economic basis. It 

remained to find a suitable formula for such management, which was achieved by passage of the Taylor 

Grazing Act in 1934. (From L. R. Brooks and others, 

1933.)

during the year from 325 million acres to 318 million. Designations under the 

Stockraising Homestead Act increased slightly, from 120 million acres to 121.5 

million acres. In addition to its regular work, the branch also prepared a report 

and a series of maps of the 10 principal public-land States for the Garfield 

commission.

The importance of the conservation of water resources led to still greater 

expansion of the Water Resources Branch during the year that began July 1, 

1929. Most of these investigations were made by the Division of Surface Water, 

which carried on stream gaging in 47 of the 48 States and the Territory of 

Hawaii. The number of gaging stations increased to 2,426 and 2 new district 

offices were opened, at Hartford, Connecticut, and Charleston, West Virginia, 

because of the increased work in cooperation with the States.

Ground-water investigations were made in 26 States and the Territory of 

Hawaii. R. M. Leggette, F. G. Wells, and W. D. Johnston, Jr., continued the 

cooperative statewide surveys in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Alabama, and a 

new survey was begun in Texas under the general supervision of W. N. White. 

A. N. Sayre, a recent University of Chicago Ph.D., joined the Survey to begin 

work in Uvalde and Medina Counties, and two young engineers, S. F. Turner 

and T. W. Robinson, began work in Dimmit and Zavala Counties, all in 

southern Texas, where additional ground-water supplies were needed for irrigation. After making a study of the water resources of the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota for the Indian Service, A. G. Fiedler began work in 

Somervell County, in the northern part of Texas, where the artesian head at 

many wells had declined to a serious extent. Arrangments were made for a 

cooperative survey in the Territory of Hawaii by H. T. Stearns, and, pending 

completion of Stearns' Idaho project, K. N. Vaksik of the Territorial Division 

of Hydrography began collecting well records on Oahu. The special studies in 

the Mokelumne area of California, the Willamette Valley of Oregon, the ricegrowing area in Arkansas, and the Mimbres Valley in New Mexico were continued, and S. S. Nye began a special survey of the occurrence, quality, and 

movement of ground water in Lea County, New Mexico, where dry farming 

had been supplemented in some cases by pumping from shallow wells. The 

Ground Water Division also continued to work with the eight State associations 

of water-well drillers and early in 1930 helped establish an American Association of Water Well Drillers. Both O. E. Meinzer and A. G. Fiedler were 

members of the Advisory Council of the national organization, Meinzer 

representing the National Research Council and Fiedler the Survey.

The Chief Topographic Engineer, C. H. Birdseye, resigned in September 

1929 to become president of the Aerotopograph Corporation of America, which 

had been selected to make the surveys of the Boulder Dam region in preparaWater Resources, 1929 301
tion for construction of the dam. T. H. Pendleton, former head of the 

Phototopographic Mapping Section of the Survey and future Chief 

Topographic Engineer, was then Aerotopograph's Chief Engineer. There were 

other changes in branch administration as well. Glenn Smith, the Division 

Engineer in charge of the Atlantic Division and former head of the Division of 

Military Surveys and the Division of West Indian Surveys, who had frequently 

served as Acting Chief Topographic Engineer in Birdseye's absence, resigned 

on September 9- On September 10, the appointments of John G. Staack, then 

serving as Chief of the Great Lakes Section of the Central Division, to succeed 

Birdseye, and of Albert Pike to succeed Smith, were announced. Staack had 

been a member of the branch for 25 years, having joined the Survey immediately after receiving his B. S. from the University of Wisconsin in 1904. 

Pike was a 35-year veteran, having been appointed an assistant topographer on 

May 1, 1894, while still in his teens. In October, W. H. Herron, the Division 

Engineer in charge of the Central Division, died suddenly. He was succeeded 

by H. H. Hodgeson, who had been with the Survey since 1902.

Despite the significant increase in the appropriation for topographic 

surveys, total funds for the branch were about 7 percent less than the year 

before because of the decline in cooperative and other Federal funds. 

Nonetheless, more than 22,000 square miles were mapped, resurveyed, or 

revised, about 30 percent more than in the preceding year. The area mapped at 

1:62,500, however, was very little more than the preceding year, and more than 

7,000 square miles in eight Western States were mapped at 1:125,000 or 

1:250,000 for the Forest Service or in preparation for geologic mapping.

The Alaskan Branch continued its experiments with aerial photography. 

The photographs made in 1926 had proved to be of such value to other agencies as well as to the Survey that the Forest Service had joined the Survey in 

asking the Navy to continue the work. The Navy, considering the training that 

the work afforded naval personnel as well as the needs of the bureaus, agreed to 

do so. R. H. Sargent was attached to the Navy's aerial expedition which 

photographed about 12,000 square miles in southeastern Alaska. Most of the 

branch efforts, however, were concentrated on exploration. S. R. Capps and 

Gerald FitzGerald teamed up to map more than 1,300 square miles of hitherto 

unsurveyed country in the Alaska Range. J. B. Mertie, Jr., completed field work 

for a revision of the geologic map of the tract lying between the Yukon and 

Tanana Rivers, mapping about 1,500 square miles in the area north of Fairbanks and west of Circle. F. H. Moffit made a geologic reconnaissance of parts 

of the area near the headwaters of the Copper River extending into the drainage 

basin of the Tok River.

The conservation policies of the Hoover administration had little effect on 

the work of the Geologic Branch which, in 1929, remained basically oriented 

toward geologic mapping, stratigraphic studies, and fundamental research 

yielding the maps, data, and understanding needed by industry. The purposes 

of these studies and the uses to which they were put, however, were increasing, 

and maps were being prepared of areas ranging in size from the entire United 

States to part of a mining district. G. W. Stose continued compilation of the 

geologic map of the United States; G. R. Mansfield was chairman of the Committee on Tectonics of the Division of Geology and Geography of the National 

Research Council, which began preparation of a tectonic map of the United 

States. The geologic maps of Arkansas and Kentucky were published, that of 

Pennsylvania was completed for publication, compilation of the maps of Texas 

and California continued, and field work was begun for a map of Georgia. 

Some quadrangle mapping was done but more mapping was special-purpose. 

L. F. Noble, for example, continued mapping the San Andreas Rift in California as part of the investigation of earthquakes in California, and also prepared a 

report for the Water District of Southern California to help it determine the

i

One of the first fruits of the Hoover administration's 

insistence on oil conservation was the passage of a bill 

authorizing unit operation or cooperative development 

of oil fields containing public lands. The concept of 

developing an oil and gas field as a geological unit as a 

means of conservation had been proposed as early as 

1908 by David T. Day of the Survey, but not until it 

was realized, after the discovery well in the Kettleman 

Hills oil field in California was brought in in 1928, that 

unrestricted development of the field would be ruinous to the oil industry as well as waste natural resources 

was there any urgency to adopt such a measure. In the 

plan for unit operation of the North Dome in the Kettleman Hills field, one of the first approved, the "blue 

line" on the structure contour map of the top of the 

Temblor Sandstone was the first approximation of the 

limits of productivity and the outer boundary of participating acreage. The "brown line" is a rede termination of the productive acreage as of January 31, 1931, 

on the basis of drilling information. (From C. D. Avery 

andj. C. Miller, 1934.)

302 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
most geologically favorable place for proposed aqueducts from the Colorado 

River to cross the fault zone. W. C. Alden continued to map in the Northern 

Rockies as part of his study of the geomorphology and glacial geology of that 

area, and F. E. Matthes mapped along the Mississippi River in connection with 

flood studies. Howard Powers joined the staff of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and began mapping the Kona district as part of the volcanological 

studies.

Laboratory investigations followed the general pattern. Roger Wells continued his investigation of methods of age determination, and analyzed some 

samarskites and uraninites for lead, uranium, and thorium so the age of these 

minerals could be calculated. In conjunction with a determination by Professor 

G. P. Baxter of Harvard, Wells' results afforded a means of determining the 

rate of disintegration of thorium over a very long time. W. T. Schaller, E. P. 

Henderson, J. J. Fahey, and F. C. Calkins concentrated on petrographic examinations of drill cores obtained in drilling for potash deposits and found that 

they could detect the presence of the more commercially valuable but more 

soluble minerals such as carnallite, sylvite, and langbeinite. Thus petrography 

became a tool to aid future exploration for potash.

Field work of the Fuels Section was on the whole more related to coal areas 

than potential petroleum areas. The reexamination and mapping of the coal 

beds of the Mesaverde formation across the southern part of the San Juan Basin 

in New Mexico was extended. J. D. Sears resumed an investigation of the 

Gallup district where he had mapped in 1919 and 1920, assisted by T. A. 

Hendricks who later took charge of the mapping, while C. B. Hunt continued 

the mapping which C. H. Dane had begun in 1928, under Dane's supervision. 

In Montana, W. G. Pierce mapped the southwest part of the Rosebud field and 

A. J. Collier, with several assistants, mapped in the Rickey-Lambert field.

Coal was also the subject of M. R. Campbell's address as president of the 

Society of Economic Geologists in 1929- Campbell pointed out that eight 

stages could be recognized in the metamorphism of coal, but at least six of 

these stages left few if any marks on the composition or physical appearance of 

the sediments associated with the coal. Thus coal could be regarded as a 

recorder of incipient rock metamorphism. Two months later, Campbell and 

David White participated in a very practical symposium on the still live subject 

of classification of coals at the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical 

Engineers meeting.

The Survey's oil studies were primarily stratigraphic and lithologic investigations which George Otis Smith said illustrated "the peculiar functions of a 

survey under governmental auspices in contributing to the technical work performed directly by the scientists employed by the industry.'' Such studies were 

underway in Pennsylvania, Texas, California, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, 

and Wyoming. Fundamental research related to oil Smith described as "production studies from the geologic side." Among these were P. G. Nutting's 

comprehensive study of the relations between oil, silica, and water, which 

branched off into a study of the bleaching clays used for refining petroleum 

lubricants. Some bleaching clays were effective and some were not, and producers were reduced to cut-and-try methods as little was known about them.

David White, however, continued his research into the genesis of 

petroleum as well as early plant life. As a member of the Central Petroleum 

Committee of the National Research Council, he guided several of the 38 fundamental research projects funded by the American Petroleum Institute from 

the Rockefeller-Universal Products grant, and worked closely with Taisia Stadnichenko in an investigation of the effect of geologic time in the genesis of oil 

from buried organic debris suggested by the experimental work of C. G. Maier 

and Stuart Zimmerley in 1924. Maier and Zimmerley had found that the formation of bitumen depended on both temperature and time of heating, and in

Geology, 1929 303
microthermal studies of some "mother rocks" of petroleum from Alaska, Stadnichenko found that differences in natural carbonization could be related to 

differences in composition and differences in composition were also related to 

differences in melting points and temperatures of volatization. In another API 

investigation, Parker Trask, API research associate, used the Maier-Zimmerley 

method on several recent sediments and found that the bitumen content of 

older rocks was several times greater than that of recent sediments of comparable organic content. That suggested to him that in older deposits some of 

the organic matter had been converted to bitumen and that the formation of 

bitumen was possibly an intermediate step in petroleum generation.

The Metals Section expanded in 1929 as the Colorado project was enlarged 

and new cooperative projects were begun in Oregon and Nevada. In addition, 

the cooperative projects in Idaho and Montana were continued, and informal 

cooperation between the Survey and the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and 

Mineral Resources sent G. F. Loughlin to New Mexico in the summer and 

brought Sam Lasky of the State Bureau to Washington for the winter to work 

on the report on the Magdalena district with Loughlin. In the Oregon project, 

D. F. Hewett restudied mines in the Sumpter quadrangle, adding new facets to 

his 1914 study, J. T. Pardee made a preliminary examination of the mining 

district in the western part of the State, and James Gilluly began mapping the 

Baker quadrangle and a detailed study of the copper deposits near Keating. 

Russell Gibson succeeded Pardee in Montana, mapping the Libby quadrangle 

in the northwest corner of the State, and C. P. Ross continued his work in 

Idaho.

B. S. Butler told the Colorado Scientific Society in June 1929 that the ore 

deposits of the southern Rocky Mountain region were concentrated in a narrow 

belt surrounding the Colorado Plateau and were associated with volcanic fields 

largely confined to the same belt. Structural and stratigraphic data indicated 

that the Plateau had long been a positive area undergoing erosion or moderate 

deposition while the surrounding area was a negative area of deposition. Ore 

deposits were formed as part of the igneous activity that accompanied the 

folding and faulting of the basins of deposition at the time of the Tertiary 

orogeny. Four young men were added to the staff: E. B. Eckel to work with 

W. S. Burbank in the San Juan Mountains, E. N. Goddard to work with T. S. 

Levering in the Front Range, and Quentin Singewald and John W. Vanderwilt 

to work under Butler's supervision, Singewald in the Alma district and Vanderwilt in the Climax area.

An overview of ore deposits in Nevada, planned before the World War 

intervened, was provided by H. G. Ferguson. Ferguson found there were four

Nearly a quarter of a century after the Survey first 

began the study of western coal fields, J. D. Sears and 

other Survey geologists reexamined and remapped the 

coal beds across the southern part of the San Juan Basin 

in New Mexico and found relations between the Mesaverde Formation and the underlying Mancos Shale 

were not simple. At the western edge of the field, 

estuarine and fluviatile deposits in the lower part of the 

Mesaverde overlie marine shale of the Mancos Formation. Eastward through the field, however, some of the 

beds showed a progressive lateral change to rocks of littoral and marine types, and there was some interfingering of the two formations. Thus the Gibson Coal 

Member of the Mesaverde was split toward the east by 

the Hosta Sandstone Member of the Mancos, and the 

Hosta, in turn, was split by the Satan Tongue of the 

Mancos. The photograph shows the Hosta (upper two 

ledges) split by the Satan. (FromJ. D. Sears, 1934.)

304 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
W. H. Bradley's detailed and multifaceted study of the 

Green River Formation of Colorado and Utah, which 

he had begun in 1923 to resume the investigation instigated by David White and recessed during the 

World War and early postwar years, allowed him to 

determine the physical conditions under which the 

sediments had accumulated in ancient Uinta Lake. He 

also reconstructed the history of the lake and inferred 

that the oil shale of the formation resulted from the accumulation of organic ooze in the lower stagnant layer 

of water during stages when the lake was relatively 

broad and deep. The illustration shows one of the 

microorganisms that grew in the lake, the green alga 

Eoglobella longipes Bradley. (From W. H. Bradley, 

1931.)

periods of deposition, the earliest associated with granitic rocks intruded near 

the close of the Jurassic in western Nevada, another associated with granitic 

rocks intruded at the beginning of the Tertiary in eastern Nevada, and two later 

periods associated with volcanic flows of Miocene and Pliocene age. He thought 

that the western argentiferous quartz veins offered little hope of important 

future production but that the eastern deep-seated deposits might continue to 

be important producers of base metals. Of the later deposits, the silver and 

silver-gold veins of the Miocene were likely to prove of more importance than 

the Pliocene gold-bearing veins. In cooperation with the State, T. B. Nolan, 

having completed the report on the Gold Hill district, began a resurvey of the 

Tonopah district which J. E. Spurr had studied shortly after the turn of the century, and soon found himself in disagreement with earlier workers in the area 

on interpretations of both stratigraphy and structure. The ore deposits, Nolan 

discovered, were associated with a unique compound fault, a recumbent crescent in cross section, and subsidiary faults. These findings provided a new basis 

for exploration and new hope for the district.

The Survey joined forces with the Bureau of Mines in preparing the United 

States report for the volume on the gold resources of the world of the 15th International Geological Congress which met in Pretoria, South Africa, in the 

summer of 1929. G. F. Loughlin and H. G. Ferguson, who were responsible for 

the final text, pointed out that gold production in the United States had been 

gradually declining since the World War, with only a slight reversal of the 

trend in 1923 and 1924 as a result of increased production of by-product gold 

from copper ores and the opening of new shoots of siliceous ore in old mines. 

The decline in production was attributed in part to the high cost of mining but 

also to the fact that many of the leading districts had reached or passed their 

maximum output of gold before the war began; increased production was 

considered likely in only a few States.

The Geological Congress had planned an appraisal of the gold resources of 

the world but differences in reporting made that endeavor impossible; countries reported reserves in ounces, in dollars or pounds, or in tons, and some did 

not report any figures. Among those countries that reported their gold reserves, 

South Africa clearly ranked first with an estimate of 1,000 million pounds sterling, but some of the Pacific nations also indicated the presence of large 

reserves.

Economists in the summer of 1929 were more concerned with 

government-held gold reserves than with gold resources. During the World 

War, most European nations had to abandon the gold standard. The increase 

in world price levels had enlarged the demand for gold in central bank reserves 

and threatened to cut the supply as rising costs pressed against the fixed price. 

For a time, following the League of Nations conference in 1922, foreign exchanges had been substituted for gold in reserve holdings but in 1925 Great 

Britain had returned to the gold standard and most other nations had followed 

suit. The United States' position as a creditor nation tended to set up a flow of 

gold toward it that threatened to unbalance the world distribution of gold and 

make an effective gold standard impossible. Partly to restrain this tendency, the 

U.S. Federal Reserve System held to an easy-money policy with low interest 

rates. Despite the policy, American gold stocks increased by more than $2 

billion during the 1920's, and by 1929 gold losses in many countries signaled 

approaching distress. The Federal Reserve policy, meanwhile, had raised 

speculation in stocks to new heights at home.

In the fall of 1929, the inevitable economic crisis began. Stock prices 

began declining in September, and then, on October 24, the decline became a 

panic. By mid-November, the loss in paper values of stocks was almost $30 

billion. Both business and political leaders were optimistic that the reversal 

would be short-lived. President Hoover sought the cooperation of the business

Gold Resources of the World 305
world in maintaining full employment and the continuation of construction 

programs, and when Congress convened in December urged it to make 

substantial appropriations for public works, all of which he hoped would combat any trend toward unemployment. Hoover also recommended a tax cut in 

the hope of increasing buying power, and Congress responded promptly, passing the tax-reduction measure within 2 weeks.

The Federal budget for fiscal year 1931, prepared before the stock market 

crash, included increases in funds for scientific agencies. Secretary Wilbur, who 

called the Survey "a fine example of the proper place of science in Government 

business," said that he expected to "see its activities strengthened and its work 

enlarged by increased funds and increased emphasis within the department,"

306 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
In 1929, more than a quarter of a century after J. E. 

Spurr first studied the Tonopah mining district in 

Nevada, T. B. Nolan remapped the area in cooperation 

with the State. Publications by Spurr and J. A. Burgess 

in 1915 had described the formations as essentially 

horizontal and implied that the bulk of the major 

faulting was later than the deposition of the ore. 

Nolan, however, making use of the more extensive exposures made available by development of the district, 

found that the formations were considerably tilted and 

that faulting was far more pronounced before mineralization than after. The apparent horizontal attitude of 

the formations in the older central part of the district 

was in fact largely the result of premineral faults. 

Nolan used a block diagram, part of which forms the 

illustration, to show clearly the relations between 

dominantly eastward-striking veins and northwardstriking formations and thereby set a new trend in 

geologic illustration. (From T. B. Nolan, 1930.)

and approved large increases in appropriations for geologic surveys, 

topographic surveys, and water-resources investigations, and also $300,000 for 

a new item, fundamental research in geologic sciences. The Bureau of the 

Budget whittled away at these estimates but allowed increases for most items 

and approved $100,000 for fundamental research.

When the House Committee on Appropriations began hearings on the 

Survey appropriations, every one present seemed relaxed and confident about 

the future. The Director did not attend he was in Tokyo at a World Engineering Conference and Administrative Geologist J. D. Sears and Chief Clerk 

John J. Madigan met with the committee. The chairman, L. C. Cramton, confessed a little surprise at the request for $100,000 for fundamental research; he 

had seen in a recent magazine, he said, that "the Geological Survey has sort of 

outlived its usefulness." The committee, however, either accepted or increased 

the recommendations of the Bureau of the Budget, and the chairman, in 

presenting the bill on the floor of the House, said "The Geological Survey 

comes into its own under this scientific administration." The bill, enacted on 

May 14, 1930, provided $2.87 million for the Survey, an increase of more than 

30 percent over the current-year appropriation.

Congress also responded favorably to Presidential initiatives on conservation. In his annual message on December 3, 1929, Hoover had described the 

conservation of national resources as "a fixed policy" of the Government. Three 

important questions bearing upon the conservation of the public lands, he 

said, had become urgent: conservation of oil and gas resources against future 

need; a major problem due to overgrazing; and reconsideration of reclamation 

policy. Hoover announced that he had appointed a commission to study these 

questions and asked authorization of funds to defray its expenses. He also asked 

for a reorganization of the conservation work in the Federal Government. Conservation activities were spread among eight agencies in five departments, and 

thus there was "no proper development and adherence to broad national 

policies and no central point where the searchlight of public opinion may concentrate itself." Hoover made no recommendation as to which department 

should house conservation agencies, that being less important in his mind than 

the fact of concentration. Congress, on April 10, 1930, appropriated $50,000 

for the expenses of a commission on the conservation and administration of the 

public domain but it made no effort to reorganize conservation within the 

Federal Government.

Congress, however, passed a major conservation measure in amending the 

General Leasing Act of 1920 to permit cooperative plans of developing oil pools 

involving public lands. The act authorized continuation of leases beyond 20 

years where such plans were in effect and gave the Secretary of the department 

having jurisdiction over the lands authority to modify the quantity and rate of 

production, and the Secretary of Interior authority to reduce the royalty when 

production was decreased below 10 gallons a day. The unit plan of development, by confining production to a minimum number of wells and eliminating 

offsetting, minimized waste and provided a means of controlling overproduction. As Secretary Wilbur pointed out, under the old system production at the 

Kettleman Hills field in California would flood the market with gasoline exceeding in quantity the entire California production and waste 450 million 

cubic feet of gas each day; the waste in energy from that one field was in fact 

more than twice the total expected annual electrical output at the Hoover Dam. 

The bill approved on July 3, 1930, was a temporary measure, to expire on 

January 31, 1931, but it was made permanent by a new bill approved March 4, 

1931.

Congress also acceded to President Hoover's request for a reorganization of 

the Federal Power Commission. Since its formation in 1920, the Commission 

had been a part-time responsibility of the Secretaries of Agriculture, War, and

Leasing Act Amendment 307
the Interior; Hoover believed it should be the responsibility of full-time commissioners. The bill was passed and approved on June 23, 1930, providing for 

five full-time commissioners, no more than three from the same party, each to 

receive a salary of $10,000 a year.

As the Geological Survey began its 51st year, it looked forward with 

renewed confidence to the future. The Federal appropriation for waterresources investigations had been almost doubled; the appropriation for 

geologic investigations had been increased by 40 percent, and part of the 

increase had been appropriated specifically for fundamental research; the 

appropriation for topographic mapping was up almost 20 percent; and the 

appropriation for Alaskan mineral resources had been restored to the 1925 

level. The Conservation Branch had received no increase in funds but had asked 

for none; work in the Conservation Branch was expected to decline because of 

change in policy with regard to development of the mineral lands. For three of 

the branches, the year's work proceeded according to plan; the Topographic 

and Conservation Branches, however, had to cope with special conditions 

resulting from the failure of the national economy to rally.

The Water Resources Branch had more funds to work within fiscal year 

1931 than any of the other branches and there was a net increase of 31 in the 

staff during year. Despite the great increase in the Federal appropriation, 

however, more than 60 percent of the branch's funds came from outside 

sources and so the program expanded without shifting emphasis. Surface-water 

investigations continued to outnumber all others; the number of gaging stations increased to 2,663 by the year's end (655 of them in connection with 

Corps of Engineers' projects), and 3 new district offices were established: at 

Ocala, Florida, and Indianapolis, Indiana, because of the increase in State 

cooperation and Engineers projects, and at Columbia, South Carolina, in connection with Engineers projects and Federal Power Commission requirements.

Ground water and reservoir sites were investigated in only 19 States and 

the Territory of Hawaii but there were 63 separate investigations. State-wide 

investigations were continued in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas, and new 

ones were begun in Florida and Nebraska. In Pennsylvania, R. M. Leggette 

completed his work in the northwestern part of the State and S. W. Lohman, a 

recent graduate of the California Institute of Technology succeeded him, 

beginning work in the northeastern part of the State. David Thompson took 

over general supervision of ground-water work in the Southeastern States. The 

Geological Survey of Alabama was unable to supply cooperative funds, so the 

ground-water survey was terminated and W. D. Johnston, Jr., transferred to 

the Geologic Branch. F. G. Wells also transferred to the Geologic Branch but 

C. V. Theis, after receiving his doctorate in geology from the University of Cincinnati, joined the Survey to begin the investigation of ground-water conditions in south-central Tennessee, and V. T. Stringfield, another newly appointed geologist, began a cooperative investigation in Florida, starting in 

Sarasota County. In Texas, W. N. White, Penn Livingston, and S. F. Turner 

began an investigation of ground-water resources in the Houston area where 

the increased draft had so lowered ground-water levels that concern was felt for 

the municipal water supply which came chiefly from ground water. The 

Nebraska Geological Survey had begun a statewide investigation of groundwater resources in 1929, beginning in the Platte Valley and the northern part of 

the upland to the south where the wide use of ground-water supplies for all 

purposes made imperative a better understanding of the geology and hydrology 

of the area. The State-sponsored survey became a cooperative project in 1930 

and L. K. Wenzel of the U.S. Geological Survey was assigned to study the 

hydrology. In Oregon, the work in the Willamette Valley was suspended at the 

request of the State because of the urgent need for investigations in other parts 

of the State. A. M. Piper began field work in May 1930 in the vicinity of The

308 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
Dalles, where several hundred acres of orchards were cultivated chiefly by dryfarming methods; under his general supervision, T. W. Robinson and C. F. 

Park, Jr., began a study of the Harney Basin, a closed basin in the southeastern 

part of the State. H. T. Stearns arrived in Honolulu in July to establish an office 

and begin the study of the ground-water resources of Oahu.

A new stage in the professionalization of the science was reached when the 

American Geophysical Union organized a Section of Hydrology as a constituent 

unit and the American representative in the International Association of Scientific Hydrology, which had been formed by the International Union of Geodesy 

and Geophysics in 1922. The organizational meeting was held at the National

Twenty years after F. L. Ransome mapped the 

Breckenridge district in Colorado, T. S. Levering 

remapped part of the district on a larger scale. With 

geologic data from the mining at greater depths in the 

intervening years and information gained from a study 

of the surrounding region, Levering made a more 

detailed analysis of the stratigraphy and complicated 

structure of the region. His columnar section for the 

district showed Precambrian schist, granite, and 

granite gneiss underlying the sedimentary rocks, which 

were of Carboniferous, Jurassic, and Cretaceous age. 

All these rocks were intruded by monzonite porphyry 

(Tmp on the illustration) and quartz monzonite porphyry (Tqmp) of Eocene age. Levering believed that 

the primary mineralization was related to the solidification of the deeper parts of the quartz monzonite porphyry, the latest of the porphyry intrusions, and that 

many of the deposits had been greatly modified by 

enrichment. (From T. S. Levering, 1934.)

Weber(?) 

formation

(UnexposecfJ

Pre-Cambrian 

granite and 

schist

Vertical scale

400' i

800 FEET

Water Resources, 1930 309
Research Council on November 15, 1930, and the first meeting of the section 

on May 1, 1931. O. E. Meinzer of the Geological Survey was elected the first 

chairman of the section. Meinzer, A. M. Piper, C. V. Theis, G. H. Taylor, and 

W. W. Rubey of the Survey all presented papers at the first meeting.

The Geologic Branch took on a new lease on life in 1930 with its increased 

funds. The $100,000 appropriated for fundamental research was divided 

among the Sections of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, Coastal Plain Investigations, Glacial Geology, Areal Geology, Chemistry and Physics, and Petrology. 

The additional $50,000 appropriated for geologic surveys and approximately 

the same amount in cooperative and transfer funds were used by the economic 

geology sections. The increase in funds permitted a modest expansion in staff; 

2 reinstatements and 22 new appointments brought the professional staff to a 

total of 146 by the year's end: 134 geologists, some of them part-time, 9 

chemists, and 3 physicists. Among the 22 newcomers were 11 assistant 

geologists and 7 junior geologists appointed to serve as assistants to some of the 

senior scientists.

The Geologic Branch also assumed additional responsibilities to the profession. In the spring, Chief Geologist Mendenhall was named General 

Secretary and H. G. Ferguson chairman of the committee on excusions for the 

16th International Geologic Congress which was to meet in the United States in 

1932. Guidebooks for the excursions were planned and N. H. Darton, F. E. 

Matthes, M. R. Campbell, H. E. Gregory, Charles Butts, and A. B. Knopf were 

assigned to their preparation. Compilation of the various State maps and the 

U.S. geologic map continued and E. B. Knopf, A. I. Jonas, J. T. Gardner, 

C. W. Cook, W. H. Monroe, L. W. Stephenson, and R. C. Moore all did field 

work to aid in their completion before the International Congress. A committee on the stratigraphic nomenclature of formations that crossed State 

boundaries, first proposed by the Association of State Geologists, was also 

formed, including representatives of the American Association of Petroleum 

Geologists, the Geological Society of America, the Association of State 

Geologists, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Representing the Survey were 

T. W. Stanton, Chief of the Section of Paleontology and Stratigraphy and 

Chairman of the Geological Names Committee, H. D. Miser, Chief of the 

Fuels Section, and G. W. Stose, the Geologic Map Editor.

Among the field investigations that were begun or expanded in 1930 as a 

result of the new funds were a detailed study of the geology of the Afton 

quadrangle in southwestern Wyoming by W. W. Rubey and J. S. Williams, in 

part for the purpose of classifying the lands as to phosphate, and geologic 

studies of Death Valley by L. F. Noble, the Marathon Basin in Texas by P. B. 

King, and the Appalachian Valley of Virginia by Charles Butts. E. O. Ulrich 

undertook a study of early Paleozoic rocks in Iowa and Michigan, and R. W. 

Brown and K. J. Murata of the Fort Union and associated formations in North 

Dakota. E. S. Larsen, Jr., began mapping the Southern California batholith 

where he had first mapped in 1906 as an assistant to W. C. Mendenhall.

George Steiger retired as chief chemist to devote his attention to the 

development of spectrographic methods and techniques for the determination 

of beryllium. Recent work in metallurgy had resulted in the production of 

beryllium alloys of outstanding promise in industry. Roger Wells, who succeeded Steiger as chief chemist, continued his work on the development of 

methods of determining geologic age, and R. E. Stevens, a new chemist, began 

the experimental investigation of the genesis of some metallic ores.

Much of the field work by the Fuels Section geologists, as for several years 

past, consisted of mapping and stratigraphic studies of more immediate scientific than economic import. Mapping the coals of the Mesaverde Formation at 

the southern edge of the San Juan Basin was continued; J. D. Sears led one 

party and started another in the Mount Taylor region, which he then turned

Taking advantage of advances in optical methods for 

detailed study of minute crystal aggregates and the 

development of the x-ray powder method for studying 

fine-grained crystalline materials, scientists of the U.S. 

Geological Survey, the Smithsonian Institution, and 

Columbia University in the mid-1920's began a complete investigation of the clay minerals. The optical 

and x-ray studies together with chemical and thermal 

investigations indicated that instead of one kaolin 

mineral, as had been commonly assumed, there were 

at least three distinct species, which C. S. Ross and 

P. F. Kerr called kaolinite, nacrite, and dickite. The 

three minerals were presumed to have originated in 

different ways. The photograph shows a single coiled 

kaolinite crystal from Mexia, Texas, a form so fragile that 

any transportation would have destroyed it, so it must 

therefore have developed in place. (From C. S. Ross and 

P. F. Kerr, 1931.)

310 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming was established by act of Congress approved February 26, 1929, 

becoming the 21st national park, In 1898, C. D. 

Walcott, then Director of the Survey, had urged Congress to establish the park, saying the area "may be 

more truly called the Switzerland of America than can 

any other spot known to me." Secretary Wilbur 

echoed Walcott's thought at the dedication of the park 

on July 29, 1929, calling the Grand Teton 

Mountains, "one of the noblest and most spectacular in 

the world, probably being more comparable with the 

Swiss Alps than other American mountain ranges." 

(From R. L. Wilbur, 1929.)

over to C. B. Hunt. T. A. Hendricks, who had worked with Sears in 1929, 

began mapping the coal field in Oklahoma, on which J. A. Taff had reported 

in 1899- This area was of interest as much because it contained one of the 

thickest known sections of Pennsylvanian rocks as for its coal. In Utah, E. M. 

Spieker mapped in the Wasatch Plateau, A. A. Baker mapped in the northern 

part of the Green River Desert, and W. H. Bradley spent 4 months mapping 

erosion surfaces on the north flank of the Uinta Mountains in an effort to 

resolve the history of Green River time. Other fuels investigations were underway in Montana, where W. G. Pierce and F. S. Parker mapped coal lands in the 

southeastern part of the State, in part for use in classifying the lands, and in 

Pennsylvania, where G. B. Richardson completed mapping the Somerset and 

Windber quadrangles in Somerset County for folio publications. In the only 

major oil-related field investigation, W. P. Woodring, Ralph Stewart, and 

Ralph Richards began stratigraphic and structural investigations in the Kettleman Hills area in California. Ralph Arnold had said in 1910 the petroleum 

possibilities in the area were good; the oil was deep, however, and the discovery 

well of the giant field was not drilled until 1928.

The demands of the oil industry for basic data on sedimentary rocks had 

led to the development of a new specialization in geology for which the name 

"sedimentary petrology" was chosen when a new journal was launched in 

1931, and to that development the Survey had contributed. C. S. Ross of the 

Survey and Professor Paul Kerr of Columbia had established four groups of clay 

minerals in their joint investigation, and had found that kaolin was not a 

mineral but a group of minerals. At least three of them, kaolinite, nacrite, and 

dickite, had similar chemical compositions but different optical properties, x-ray 

diffraction patterns, and dehydration curves. These three minerals were stable 

at different temperatures and thus presumably were formed under dissimilar 

conditions. Ross and Kerr suggested that kaolinite, the most common mineral, 

was formed primarily by the weathering of feldspathic rocks whereas nacrite 

and dickite seemed to be hypogene minerals. W. W. Rubey used the advances 

in clay mineralogy and techniques of investigation in a comparative study of 

the mineralogy, chemical composition, and physical properties of the finegrained argillaceous rocks which make up nine-tenths of the Upper Cretaceous 

rocks exposed on the northwest flank of the Black Hills. The fine-grained 

argillaceous rocks were of great scientific interest, being the most abundant but 

least understood of sedimentary rocks; they were also thought to be the source

Sedimentary Petrology 311
beds of petroleum. Rubey found that the finer-grained noncalcareous shales accumulated more slowly and in deeper water than calcereous shales, and that the 

finer-grained rocks lost volume and were deformed internally by loading and 

tilting. He also found that the percentage of soluble bitumens in the rocks 

varied with tilt or shear but not with depth of load, which led him to suggest 

the possibility that folding might convert the organic matter in fine-grained 

sedimentary rocks into oil and then force it into adjacent beds. P. G. Nutting 

continued his investigation of the bleaching clays and was on his way toward 

identifying them as the less stable and less completely weathered clay minerals. 

A new investigation was begun, under the direction of C. S. Ross, by M. N. 

Bramlette who began a special study of the siliceous sediments of the Monterey 

Formation in California, one of the major oil-producing formations of the 

State.

The Metals Section continued to expand and diversify. Several young men 

were added to the staff, the cooperative projects in Colorado and Oregon extended their investigations, new projects were begun in New Mexico and 

California in informal cooperation with those States, and both G. F. Loughlin 

and D. F. Hewett undertook special resource investigations, Loughlin of the 

carnotite deposits in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah in response 

to a Congressional request, and Hewett, a continuation of his survey of 

manganese deposits, aided by G. R. Mansfield and J. T. Pardee in Idaho and 

Montana.

In the Colorado project, then in its fifth year, T. S. Levering extended the 

study of the mineralized belt of the Front Range northeastward toward 

Jamestown. Field work in the Mosquito Range had been completed and 

preliminary reports prepared by C. H. Behre, Q. D. Singewald and B. S. 

Butler, and Butler and J. W. Vanderwilt; Vanderwilt then began mapping in 

the Snowmass area west of the Mosquito Range. In the San Juan area, W. S. 

Burbank and E. B. Eckel continued mapping in the Ouray-Telluride district 

and E. T. McKnight began geologic mapping in the Rico district where Whitman Cross had worked in the 1890's. A. H. Koschmann, with whom Loughlin 

had been working in New Mexico, joined the Survey to carry on the work 

Loughlin had been doing at Cripple Creek as time permitted. Work was also 

started toward a revision of the geologic map of western Colorado, making use 

of Levering's mapping in the northern part of the Front Range and E. S. 

Larsen, Jr.'s, work in the San Juan Mountains. To this end, David White spent 

several weeks in Colorado studying special stratigraphic problems, J. B. 

Reeside, Jr., and J. S. Williams made a preliminary correlation of Mesozoic 

rocks, and Professor J. H. Johnson of the Colorado School of Mines and parttime Survey geologist, correlated the Carboniferous rocks.

In Oregon, J. T. Pardee had general supervision of investigations of gold, 

copper, and mercury resources in the western part of the State and individual 

studies were made by P. J. Shenon, F. G. Wells and A. C. Waters, and by 

Eugene Callaghan and A. F. Buddington. In eastern Oregon, James Gilluly 

hadj. C. Reed and C. F. Park, Jr., to assist him in investigating mining districts 

in that part of the State and in mapping the Baker quadrangle, and R. W. 

Richards and B. N. Moore made a reconnaissance examination of nonmetallic 

minerals.

The informal cooperation in New Mexico and California did not involve 

transfer of funds but assistance by State personnel and supplies. In New Mexico, Sam Lasky, who had also been working with Loughlin, transferred from the 

State to the Federal survey and continued to map in the Central district. In 

California, W. D. Johnston, Jr., late of the Water Resources Branch, began a 

study of the underground geology in the Grass Valley district in the light of 

developments since Lindgren had mapped the area in the 1890's.

Projects were also continued in Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. In Nevada, 

H. G. Ferguson continued mapping the Hawthorne and Tonopah quadrangles

312 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
with the assistance of S. W. Muller, and T. B. Nolan continued the resurvey of 

the Tonopah district with the assistance of lan Campbell. Frank Schrader was 

sent to make a reconnaissance of the mining districts in the eastern part of 

Nevada. C. P. Ross and Russell Gibson continued mapping in Idaho and 

Montana.

The Alaskan Branch diverted some of its effort in 1930 from exploration to 

investigations on behalf of the Alaska Railroad. The completion of the railroad 

from Seward to Fairbanks in 1923 had been hailed as an historic event in the industrial development of Alaska but the railroad had not lived up to expectations. In 1929, the General Manager of the railroad had asked the Survey for 

aid in determining what could be done to stimulate mineral development that 

might contribute tonnage to the railroad but the Survey was unable to do much 

with the funds available. In 1930, a Senate Select Committee had been appointed to study means of decreasing the railroad deficit, and the Survey made 

three field studies in areas near the railroad. P. S. Smith examined some of the 

productive mining camps adjacent to the railroad between Seward and the 

Willow Creek gold lode districts, F. H. Moffit studied the Kantishna district 

and nearby country west of the railroad and part of the Bonnifield district east 

of the railroad, and S. R. Capps investigated the tract on the south side of the 

Alaska Range from the West Fork of the Chulitna to the Nenana. Gerald FitzGerald andj. B. Mertie, Jr., continued their explorations; FitzGerald mapped 

in southwestern Alaska north of Bristol Bay, one of the largest unsurveyed tracts 

in the Territory, and Mertie made a reconnaissance geologic survey of an area 

between the Yukon and Porcupine Rivers west of the international boundary 

that was not only unsurveyed but little visited even by casual trappers. In 

southeastern Alaska, R. H. Sargent mapped parts of Revillagigedo Island and 

the adjacent mainland, using a base map showing drainage and shorelines that 

he had compiled from aerial photographs. B. D. Stewart was sent to examine 

the Taku district east of Juneau to which prospectors had rushed in 1929 following announcement of the discovery of sulfide ores, but could spend little time 

there after being called as an expert witness in a trial in Seattle.

The Topographic Branch program in 1930 was, unexpectedly, altered by 

the deepening economic depression. The States were unable to offer as much as 

had been estimated in the way of cooperative funds, so part of the appropriation restricted to matching cooperative funds could not be used. Federal 

transfer funds increased, however, so the total expenditures for topographic 

mapping were about the same as in the preceding year. Unlike former years, 

when State cooperative funds declined, the amount of small-scale mapping in 

the Western States did not increase but decreased and the amount of large-scale 

mapping (1:62,500 or larger) was only slightly less than the year before. Approximately 60 percent of the large-scale mapping was done in the States east 

of the Mississippi River, in cooperation with the States, for the Corps of Engineers 

in connection with their flood-control projects, or in connection with the proposed Great Smoky Mountains, Shenandoah, and Mammoth Cave National 

Parks. Experiments with the photogrammetric compilation of maps were also 

continued; the map of the Upper Columbia River was completed and progress 

made on the map of Zion National Park.

The Conservation Branch found, contrary to expectations, that its 

workload in supervising mineral leasing operations in 1930 increased rather 

than decreased. Under President Hoover's oil conservation policy that had gone 

into effect on March 12, 1929, the number of prospecting permits had been 

reduced from about 17,500 to 5,094, and under Congressional authorization, 

permits had been extended with a requirement that there be no drilling or production until permitted or required by the Secretary of the Interior. However, 

both mines and wells were being abandoned and branch engineers were called 

on to prevent loss or damage to the minerals or mineral-bearing formations, to

Field Work, 1930 313
fight fires in abandoned coal mines, and to plug improperly abandoned oil and 

gas wells. A major accomplishment was the completion of the first unit plans of 

development, for the Kettleman Hills North Dome field in California and the 

Little Buffalo Basin gas field in Wyoming, before expiration of the temporary 

act on January 31, 1931. The Agricultural Division received fewer applications 

under the Enlarged- and Stockraising-Homestead Acts and so was able to continue its areal studies in the Colorado Basin region and to begin intensive 

studies of grazing in the Mono Lake and Owens Valley regions of California.

A deficiency in rainfall, especially in the humid States, added to the 

farmers' problems in the summer of 1930, and unemployment increased during the summer and fall. Still the election results in November 1930 suggested 

that the voters had not made up their minds that the Republican administration was wholly to blame for the growing economic plight. Although the 

Republicans lost heavily, the Democrats did not gain a majority in either house 

of Congress. The new Congress, however, would be so evenly divided 48 

Republicans, 47 Democrats, and 1 Farmer Laborite in the Senate; 218 

Republicans, 216 Democrats, and 1 Farmer-Laborite in the House that the 

balance of power would rest with the insurgents, and deaths during the 13 

months before the new Congress convened could completely alter the picture. 

In his State-of-the-Union Message on December 3, 1930, Hoover blamed the 

growing depression on world conditions beyond the control of the United 

States. "The origins of this depression lie to some extent within our borders 

through a speculative period which diverted capital and energy into speculation 

rather than constructive enterprise. Had overspeculation in securities been the 

only force operating, we should have seen recovery many months ago, as these 

particular dislocations have generally readjusted themselves. Other deep-seated 

causes have been in action, however, chiefly the worldwide overproduction 

beyond even the demand of prosperous time for * * * important basic 

commodities."

Among the nominations submitted to the Senate for confirmation on 

December 4 was that of George Otis Smith, Director of the Geological Survey, 

for a 5-year term as chairman of the reorganized Federal Power Commission. 

The nomination was confirmed on December 20, and Smith resigned as Director of the Survey on December 22, having served as Director for a few months 

short of 24 years, nearly half its life, nearly all its second quarter-century.

How had the Geological Survey fared under Smith's leadership? He provided an appraisal of his own stewardship in the introduction to the Survey's 

50th annual report. Although Smith called it "A look ahead," it was a reflection on his experience as Director. A comparison of his view of the Survey with 

that of the Survey administration in 1904 in celebrating the 25th anniversary 

clearly shows what had happened to the Survey in its second quarter of a 

century.

The major change was "the degree to which the public domain is administered on a scientific basis," an item not mentioned in 1904. "In the 20 years 

beginning in 1907," Smith wrote, "approximately a million dollars was spent 

for geologic work in areas in which the Federal Government owns coal lands. 

Upon this investment of appraising its property the Government is now collecting between $400,000 and $500,000 a year in royalties from coal mines from 

Government leases. The Government oil and gas leases have been still more 

productive, although the chief contribution of this service to the public interest 

has been the conservation of the natural resources belonging to the people. 

Even more important, however, than the enforcement of the best economic 

practices by the Federal engineers is their contribution to the conservation of 

life and health, both the zinc and coal mines under Federal supervision showing better accident records than other mines in the same States. Larger attention to the Government's real-estate business in classifying the unused public 

lands and in supervising mining leases would pay good dividends."

314 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
In 1929, the Survey published the last of its great 

monographs, a series begun in 1882, and the last of the 

major reports on vertebrate paleontology planned by 

its first vertebrate paleontologist, O. C. Marsh. H. F. 

Osborn said that the study of the titanotheres of ancient Wyoming, Dakota, and Nebraska had transformed 

our knowledge of the early Tertiary geology of the 

Rocky Mountain region, resulted in the development 

of a method of attacking problems of vertebrate 

paleontology, provided a convincing demonstration 

that evolution seldom moves along a single line of 

descent, and afforded an opportunity to enlarge 

knowledge of the actual modes of evolution and to 

revise theories of the causes of evolution and of extinction. By the time the report was published, however, 

the major emphasis in paleontology had shifted from 

vertebrates to invertebrates and especially to microfossils. The illustration is a back view of the mounted 

skeleton of Brontotherium hatcheri. (From H. F. 

Osborn, 1929-)

In regard to topographic mapping, Smith said "The work that produced 

the small-scale reconnaissance type of map has given place to more and more 

detailed surveying, with a product that can be used in planning engineering 

projects. New standards and new methods are constantly improving these 

maps, which as yet cover less than half the area of the United States." In 1904, 

the Survey had reported that topographic maps of 26 percent of the country, 

including Alaska, had been completed and that the maps had proved useful in 

investigations of water supplies and in railroad and highway construction.

"The investigations of water resources," the Director said in 1930, 

"which at first sought simply the answer to the agricultural problem presented 

by the wide expanses of arid land in the West, now serve many purposes. Power 

furnished added incentive to accurate stream measurement, and the quality as 

well as the quantity of water available for industrial and municipal use is now 

found an absolutely necessary subject of study in all parts of the United

Director Smith's Farewell 315
States." In 1904, the investigations of water resources were still relatively new. 

The Survey then merely claimed that it had assembled 15 years' data on river 

discharge for study in relation to precipitation, had studied the physical 

characteristics of river basins to determine runoff, had stimulated the development of water power by gathering data on streamflow, had gathered data on 

the irrigable public lands, and was helping to plan the construction of largescale irrigation projects. Some of the studies projected in 1904 were still, in 1930, 

in the future.

Smith made no claim for advancements in geology. In 1904, the Survey 

had stated that the value of its work to the people was best shown by the aid 

extended in developing the Nation's mineral resources and in forwarding important engineering projects, citing in particular the Leadville investigations, the 

Lake Superior iron studies, the Appalachian coal-field studies, and the collection and publication of mineral statistics. Perhaps the most revealing statement 

Smith made was his comment with reference to economic geology that "It is 

significant that the demand for intensive study of ore possibilities is most active 

today in the same mining States, Colorado and Nevada, where the first mining 

work of the Geological Survey was done, the production of the epoch-making 

monographs on Leadville, Eureka, and the Comstock, which had as their purpose 

to meet the anxious desires 'of miners as well as of students of geology and 

economy.' "

Smith foresaw a long future for the Survey. "The present accumulation 

of unanswered requests for needed work, the embarrassing abundance of untouched problems, and the broad expanse of unoccupied fields afford little 

basis indeed for any feeling that the activity of the Geological Survey will soon 

reach any state of diminishing returns." The Survey was, according to Smith, 

"a fact-finding agency, collecting and presenting the information regarding the 

country's natural resources necessary for the formulation of a national plan" 

and the demand for facts would continue as long as people continued to 

"carry on commerce and industry by a more intensive conquest of nature." 

Resources, however, must be used more wisely than in the past "in the light 

of better science and better engineering" and the prospects for winning a more 

general and more firmly established prosperity would furnish an incentive for 

applying science to national welfare. In short, he concluded, "the one 

hundredth report of the Director of the United States Geological Survey may 

be expected to be simply a report of progress.'' That confidence that there would 

be a Geological Survey in 1980 may have been George Otis Smith's greatest 

contribution to the organization.

President Hoover was committed to the appointment of heads of scientific 

bureaus from within the Civil Service, and pending submission of a formal 

nomination, Chief Geologist Walter C. Mendenhall was named Acting Director on December 22, 1930. His nomination as Director was submitted to and 

confirmed by the next session of Congress. Since becoming Chief Geologist in 

1922, Mendenhall had been the Survey's most persistent and outspoken advocate 

of fundamental research. The change of directors would thus mean a change 

in direction in more senses than one.

316 Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930
Chapter 12.

Research: Useful to the Social Organism,

1931-1933

The normal and proper objective of the research of tax-supported 

geologic institutions is to acquire facts or establish principles to apply in 

ways that are useful to the social organism.

 W. C. Mendenhall

Walter Curran Mendenhall became Director of the United States 

Geological Survey on December 22, 1930, at what, given one set of circumstances, must have seemed the best of times, and given another, close to 

the worst of times. It was midway in a year when the Survey had received more 

financial support for its work than ever before, and Congress was about to pass 

a bill with a still larger appropriation. Ten days before, however, the Bank of 

the United States in New York City, with 400,000 depositors, closed its doors, 

and even the most optimistic had to admit that the Nation's economic situation was getting worse rather than better.

Mendenhall was the same age as his predecessor, born in Ohio on February 

20, 1871, 2 days before George Otis Smith was born in Maine. Both men had 

joined the Survey in the 1890's, and both had served first as summer field 

assistants before becoming full-time geologists. Both had long been involved in 

Survey administration; Smith had become head of the Section of Petrology in 

1906, and Mendenhall took charge of ground-water investigations in 1908. 

Their greatest differences were perhaps in George Otis Smith's insistence on 

the practical nature of the Survey's work and Mendenhall 1 s equally urgent 

stand on the necessity of basic research as the foundation for practical work. 

There were, however, also differences in temperament. Smith was inclined to 

be reserved and aloof in manner. He was known as "Dr. Smith" and few there 

were who dared called him by his given name. Mendenhall had a welldeveloped sense of humor. He had been one of the original members of the 

Survey's Association of Ambitious Assistants (which later became the Pick and 

Hammer Club), and had been a frequent target of their humor because of his 

interest in golf and prolonged bachelor status. As Director he was always addressed as "Mr. Mendenhall" but otherwise was almost universally known as 

"Mendy."

In accepting the appointment, Mendenhall wrote to the Secretary of the 

Interior

Insofar as my part in Survey affairs may be effective, it will be directed 

toward fostering closely coordinated team work, to the end that the products of Survey activities shall continue to be of high quality since quality 

is essential to permanent value and as useful in the public service and in 

the advancement of geologic and engineering science as we can make 

them. We hope that our ideals will continue to be what we hope they are 

now, sane and practical ideals; that we shall not dissipate energy pursuing 

perhaps temporarily attractive, but impracticable dreams. We shall 

hope * * * to continue to devote our energies to the advancement of 

useful knowledge and the permanent welfare of our fellow citizens through 

our scientific and engineering services.

Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933 317
He was never deterred from these ideals, and thus, during his administration, 

despite the depression and the beginning of World War II, the Survey was 

gradually molded to his vision.

The first 3 years of MendenhalTs directorate were undoubtedly the 

most difficult. The depression steadily worsened, and the Survey's funds were 

slashed from a high of $3.1 million to $2.0 million, of which only 70 percent 

could be used. Cooperative and transfer funds also declined and the Survey 

faced compulsory furloughs or reductions in force. With the advent of the 

Roosevelt administration in 1933, Mendenhall himself faced the possibility of 

being replaced, but expressions of support from outside the Survey forestalled 

that action. More and more endorsements of the Survey as a research organization were received, and more and more emergency funds were funneled to it, 

until Mendenhall found that "its specialists and their specialized knowledge in 

problems of water supply, mapping, geology, engineering, and land classification" were "in embarrassing demand."

The Interior Department Appropriations Act, providing funds for the 

Survey's first full year under Mendenhall as Director, was passed on February 

14, 1931. The appropriation of $3,141,740, the largest to that date, included a 

substantial increase for water-resources investigations to enable the Survey to 

continue the gaging stations being operated in connection with the Army 

Engineers' investigations that were scheduled to end by October 1, 1931. The 

Bureau of the Budget had recommended an appropriation of only $650,000, 

with $575,000 of that amount limited to matching cooperative funds, and 

$50,000 for the Colorado River gaging stations. The House Appropriations 

Committee, however, asked the Survey to prepare a revised estimate, dividing 

the stations scheduled to be discontinued into two groups, those that should be 

continued as purely Federal stations and those that could be continued on a 

cooperative basis. The revised estimate of $720,000, with $552,000 limited to 

cooperative investigations, $48,000 for the Colorado River gaging stations, 

$45,000 for 120 Federal gaging stations that could not be included in 

cooperative agreements, and $75,000 for general noncooperative work, was approved by the committee and the Congress. The appropriation for purely 

Federal investigations placed the program on a new basis after several years of 

domination by cooperative and repay studies. The new bill also included a 10 

percent increase in the appropriation for classification of public lands, a substantial increase for publications, and a proviso that the cost of publishing 

topographic maps prepared as part of cooperative surveys be borne by both 

parties.

The general mood in Congress that session, however, could be best 

described as fractious, and the Survey's former director, George Otis Smith, 

was one of the bones of contention. His appointment as Chairman of the 

Federal Power Commission had been confirmed by the Senate, although many 

senators had opposed it because he was known to favor private development of 

power while the law required the preference be given to municipal development. The debate had been prolonged and the vote to confirm was 38 to 22, 

with 35 not voting. The new commissioners were sworn in on December 22, 

1930, and on the following day, Chairman Smith and two of the other four 

commissioners met, notified all employees that their positions had been 

abolished by termination of the old Commission and all but the general accountant and the solicitor, both of whom had clashed with the executive 

secretary over what they considered his unduly friendly attitude toward private 

power interests, that they would be given temporary appointments and would 

probably be retained. In effect, the three Commissioners fired the general accountant and the solicitor. When Congress reconvened on January 5, 1931, 

after the Christmas recess, Senator Thomas Walsh of Montana called for reconsideration of the appointments. The Senate voted to reconsider Chairman

318 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
Walter Curran Mendenhall (1871-1957), Chief of the 

Land Classification Board, 1911-1922; Chief Geologist, 1922-1930; Director of the U.S. Geological 

Survey 1930-1943. Mendenhall was first associated 

with the Survey as a volunteer assistant in 1893, 

became one of the pioneer Alaskan geologists in 1898, 

and a pioneer in ground-water geology in 1903- He was 

a strong advocate of fundamental research and his 

directorate was pivotal in the history of the Survey. 

Following his retirement in 1943, the Engineering and 

Mining Journal aptly summarized his career: "To have 

combined outstanding achievement in science with a 

long record of devoted public service is an accomplishment worthy of any man's respect. To these attainments, Dr. Mendenhall has added another: he provided for the men who have worked under his direction 

an environment in which scientific research, technical 

integrity, and practical skill could flourish, to the 

enrichment of all mankind." (Courtesy of the Library 

of Congress.)

Smith's appointment and asked President Hoover to return the resolution of 

confirmation. This he refused to do, so the Senate put the nomination back on 

the calendar anyway, voted on February 4 to reject it, and on February 5 asked 

the District Attorney to institute proceedings to test Smith's right to hold 

office.

The upcoming International Geological Congress was a victim of the 

prevailing mood in the U.S. Congress. Traditionally the meeting had been subsidized by the host country, and in answer to President Hoover's request for 

funds, Senator Hiram Johnson of California had introduced a resolution which 

the Senate had passed. In the House, however, the resolution was reported out 

on February 16 and referred to the Committee of the Whole but never placed 

on the agenda before Congress adjourned on March 4. It was therefore 

necessary to ask for a postponement of the Geological Congress in order to seek 

another source of funds.

The Water Resources Branch became the Survey's largest and richest 

branch in the fiscal year that began on July 1, 1931, with total funds of about 

$1.5 million and a staff of 285. Several changes were made in branch organization in anticipation of the expanded program. John C. Hoyt became a technical 

adviser to the branch, and on March 16, 1931, C. G. Paulsen, who had headed 

the Boise, Idaho, district office was named Chief of the Surface Water Division. 

On April 8, the Division of Water Utilization was reestablished, its mission to 

investigate the utilization and control of water and to supervise field administration of power-resource investigations, in particular to take responsibility for 

international operations and investigations for the Federal Power Commission.

Water Resources, 1931 319
R. W. Davenport, who had actually been performing these duties since his 

return to the Survey in 1928, was named head of the new division.

The biggest expansion was in surface-water investigations, and 683 new 

gaging stations were established. New district offices were opened in Santa Fe, 

New Mexico, and at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as a large cooperative program 

began with that State. Collection of hydrologic data needed for the forecasting 

of floods was part of the Pennsylvania program. The Harrisburg office also 

established four stations in Delaware on streams entering the Delaware River 

and Bay when industrial interests along the lower Delaware became concerned 

about the encroachment of salt water. Thus for the first time, the Survey was 

making measurements in all 48 States as well as in the District of Columbia and 

the Territory of Hawaii.

Drought and depression altered the ground-water program in 1931, particularly in the Eastern or Humid States, where the drought had been most 

severe in 1930. Acute shortages in the water supplies of several communities in 

New York State induced the State Legislature to appoint a Joint Legislative 

Committee and to appropriate funds to obtain expert assistance. Arrangements 

were made for the Geological Survey to begin a cooperative investigation on 

Long Island. A. G. Fiedler started the work pending the arrival of David 

Thompson. New Jersey resumed formal cooperation with the Survey, and the 

investigations which had been carried on before were expanded. Pennsylvania 

suspended the regular survey in favor of a statewide program of observation 

wells to monitor ground-water levels. In Virginia, where the drought had been 

especially severe, R. C. Cady, in his second year as a Survey geologist, began a 

cooperative investigation of ground-water resources in the northern tier of 

counties nearest Washington. North Carolina began an observation-well program and called on O. E. Meinzer for advice. C. V. Theis completed the field 

work in south-central Tennessee but that survey was then discontinued for lack 

of cooperative funding. V. T. Stringfield continued the investigation near 

Sarasota, Florida. In Nebraska, L. K. Wenzel continued field work in the Platte 

Valley, drilling a line of test holes and selecting observation wells for periodic 

measurements. A. N. Sayre began a survey of the ground-water resources in 

Duval County, Texas, and their relation to the artesian waters in nearby 

Brooks, Kleberg, and Willacy Counties, and W. N. White and S. S. Nye began 

a study of the Balmorhea area in western Texas to determine if the withdrawal 

of ground water for irrigation would reduce the flow of springs that were the 

chief source of the surface water being used for irrigation. Theis, after completing the field work in Tennessee, returned to his native New Mexico to begin 

a survey of the ground-water resources in Roosevelt and Curry Counties, immediately north of Lea County where Nye had been working. Most of those 

counties were either cattle range or farmed without irrigation; in Portales 

Valley, however, water was pumped from wells, and a considerable increase in 

pumping made it essential to determine the amount of available ground water. 

R. M. Leggette and G. H. Taylor began an investigation in cooperation with 

Salt Lake City to determine the possibility of increasing the municipal water 

supply from a nearby artesian area, and David Thompson began a new project 

in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Reclamation, studying the 

ground-water resources of Malad and Curlew Valleys in Oneida County, across 

the State line north of Great Salt Lake to determine the possibility of obtaining 

additional ground water for irrigation and of storing surplus surface water in 

small reservoirs. A. M. Piper continued to supervise the work in the Harney 

Basin in Oregon and also took on supervision of the Mokelumne project in 

California. There it had been decided that additional geological information 

was needed, and H. S. Gale returned to the Survey and H. E. Thomas transferred from the Geologic Branch to obtain it.

320 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
SE.

'' i\ J> Xn \^«u

3 Miles

As part of the Survey's newly funded program of fundamental research in the geological sciences, P. B. 

King mapped the geology of the largely unknown 

Marathon region in trans-Pecos Texas, on the edge of 

the Mexican Highlands province where it merges into 

the Great Plains. He found that structurally the region 

was a broad dome of Cretaceous rocks, from whose central part the Cretaceous cover had been stripped away, 

leaving an area of low country in the center in which 

strongly folded Paleozoic rocks were exposed. The 

folds, trending northeast and overturned to the northwest, were broken by numerous thrust faults, some of 

which had displacements of several miles and were 

themselves folded. The illustration shows his restoration of structural features in the younger rocks of the 

Dagger Flat anticlinorium, sections A and B in the 

southwestern part and C and D in the northeastern 

part. A and C represented the probable structures of B 

and D after the first folding and overthrusting in the 

region but before the last folding. (From P. B. King, 

1937.)

The Topographic Branch, although its total available funds were about 10 

percent less than the year before, mapped more than 29,000 square miles during the fiscal year, the largest area covered in one year since 1912. Even though 

nearly 40 percent of that area was mapped at the smaller scales of 1:125,000 

and 1:250,000, the area mapped at 1:62,500 and larger scales was larger than 

ever before. Most of the larger scale mapping was done in States that supplied 

cooperative funds or in connection with the flood control work of the Army 

Engineers. For the National Park Service, work continued on the photogrammetric compilation of maps of Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National 

Park. Planimetric maps of about 3,200 square miles in Michigan and Louisiana 

were also compiled from aerial photographs, and an experimental project was 

undertaken, in cooperation with the Army Air Corps, on the use of a new 

5-lens camera at high altitudes, which promised to reduce the amount of control 

needed for photogramrnetric work. Both Glenn Smith and C. H. Birdseye, who 

had left the Survey in September 1929, returned to the Survey. Smith came 

back in December 1930 to take charge of the Central Division and H. H. 

Hodgeson was transferred to the Pacific Division to replace T. G. Gerdine, who 

died on October 31, 1930. Birdseye returned in February 1932 to become a 

special assistant to the Director.

The most extensive Survey project in Alaska in 1931 was part of an "investigation of mineral and other resources of Alaska to ascertain the potential 

resources available which will affect railroad tonnage" for which Congress had 

made a special appropriation of $250,000 in the Interior Department Appropriations Act. Secretary Wilbur assigned the investigation to the Survey, S. R. 

Capps was put in charge of the project, and several geologists from the 

Geologic Branch were transferred temporarily to Alaska, among them R. W. 

Richards, G. A. Waring, C. F. Park, C. P. Ross, F. G. Wells, J. C. Reed, and, 

during part of the field season, D. F. Hewett as a special consultant.

Alaska Railroad 321
Director Mendenhall, who had been one of the pioneer geologists in 

Alaska at the turn of the century, joined P. S. Smith in his annual reconnaissance of recent mining developments in the Territory. Other mineralresources investigations were made in the Yukon region byj. B. Mertie, Jr., in 

the Taku district by B. D. Stewart, and in the Copper River Valley by F. H. 

Moffit. Gerald FitzGerald and junior geologist P. A. Davison made a combined topographic and geologic reconnaissance of part of the Nushagak region 

of southwestern Alaska, and C. F. Fuechsel mapped in the practically uninhabited and undeveloped part of the Copper River Valley, while R. H. Sargent, 

using the drainage base he had compiled from aerial photographs, mapped in 

southeastern Alaska. Through the courtesy of the Bureau of Mines, C. W. 

Wright and H. F. Reid made geographic and geologic investigations in the 

vicinity of Glacier Bay to complete the work begun many years before by the 

Wright brothers before they left the Survey for the Bureau of Mines and the 

Geophysical Laboratory.

Director Mendenhall, like Director Walcott, tended to act as his own chief 

geologist at the beginning of his directorate. Thus there was little change in the 

Geologic Branch program when T. W. Stanton, Chief of the Branch of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, became Acting Chief Geologist. Because of a decline 

in cooperative funds, some readjustments were necessary but on the other hand 

several economic geologists were needed in Alaska to investigate the mineral 

resources of the Railroad Belt. Fundamental investigations begun the year 

before were continued and, despite the disappointment of the postponement 

of the International Geological Congress, a considerable effort went into production of the geologic map of the United States and the preparation of 

guidebooks.

The Metals Section continued cooperative investigations in Colorado, 

Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and New Mexico. In Colorado, priority was given to 

field work leading to the preparation of a geologic map of the State. T. S. 

Levering continued his study of the tungsten and gold deposits of the Front 

Range and prepared a paper and map showing their relation to faults in the 

region that was issued by the Colorado Scientific Society as an aid to prospecting and mine development. B. S. Butler, Q. D. Singewald, and J. W. 

Vanderwilt mapped on the west side of the Front Range and C. H. Behre in the 

mines at Leadville. Burbank concentrated on the State geologic map. In Idaho, 

the cooperative project was limited to P. J. Shenon's mapping in the drainage 

basin of the South Fork of the Clearwater River and south of the divide between 

that stream and the Salmon River, which included the Elk City, Orogrande, 

Buffalo Hump and Tenmile districts. In Oregon, B. N. Moore began the 

detailed study of the nonmetallic resources of the eastern part of the State, 

Eugene Callaghan and A. F. Buddington did further work in the mineralized 

areas of the Cascade Mountains, and J. T. Par dee examined the gold and 

platinum placer deposits of the southern coast, which were again of interest 

because of the uncertain economic conditions. Pardee also spent some time in 

Montana, examining the gold placers in the Pioneer district near Helena, 

manganese deposits near Philipsburg, vermiculite near Hamilton, and 

phosphate areas in Granite and Powell Counties. Russell Gibson continued his 

work in the Lib by quadrangle in Montana, giving special attention to the gold 

quartz veins. In California, W. D. Johnston, Jr., spent a second season 

underground in the Grass Valley district, and in New Mexico, S. G. Lasky spent 

5 months in the field in the Bayard area of the Central mining district.

In the eastern part of the country, L. W. Currier completed a study of the 

structural relations of the lead and zinc deposits in southwestern Virginia in 

cooperation with the State, and C. S. Ross, Chief of the Section of Petrology, 

who had become interested in southern Appalachian ore deposits while looking 

for sources of pyrite during the World War, continued his investigations of

322 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933

To test N. L. Bowen's recently proposed thesis that 

albite granites were of hydrothermal origin, James 

Gilluly studied in some detail the albite granite near 

Sparta, Oregon, in connection with his study of the 

mineral deposits of the eastern part of the State. Field 

relations, microscopic studies, and chemical analyses 

led him to conclude that the Sparta albite granite had 

been formed by late magmatic and postmagmatic replacement of an almost completely solidified diorite by 

solutions probably derived from deeper levels in the 

mass and in large part guided by brecciated zones in 

the diorite. In this process, albite replaced andesine 

and orthoclase, a soda amphibole replaced hornblende, and large quantities of a deep blue quartz were 

introduced. The photograph shows a brain-coral 

myrmekite, recognized as a replacement product, in 

which the dark areas are albite and the light areas 

quartz. (From James Gilluly, 1933.)
Petrologist C. S. Ross, who had developed an interest 

in the copper-bearing pyrrhotite deposits of the 

Ducktown type in the southern Apppalachian region 

during the war-mineral investigations, attacked the 

problem of their genesis by the use of petrographic 

methods. W. H. Emmons had concluded (see page 

255) that the deposits at Ducktown, Tennessee, are 

partly replaced limestone lenses but Ross concluded 

that they are hydrothermally deposited veins, formed 

in a series of distinct stages each of which was 

characterized by a distinct group of minerals, and that 

the minerals of each successive stage replaced those of 

the preceding stages. In the photomicrograph, magnetite (dark gray) cuts across remnants of a crystal of 

pyrrhotite (light gray), showing that the magnetite is 

later than the pyrrhotite, and the straight parallel 

boundary lines of the enclosed pyrrhotite indicate that 

replacement had proceeded along crystallographic 

directions. (From C. S. Ross, 1935.)

southern Appalachian ore deposits, one of his principal objectives being the 

maximum use of petrologic methods in connection with field studies in the investigation of ore deposits.

D. F. Hewett was engaged in a special study of the manganese deposits of 

the United States. The Manganese Subcommittee of the Committee on Industrial Preparedness of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical 

Engineers had been reconvened to bring the conclusions of its 1924 report up to 

date in accordance with a request from the War Department. In a report submitted to the War Department in February 1932, the committee reaffirmed its 

earlier conclusion that a war-reserve of manganese ore was vital to insure national defense but increased its estimate of the amount necessary from 600,000 

to 680,000 tons. The committee was convinced that circumstances combined 

against the probable commercial development of the low-grade deposits 

and (or) complex beneficiation processes. Processes applicable to large lowgrade reserves might be developed that would be technically sound but noncommercial in normal times although applicable in times of stress and resulting 

high prices, such as in a war emergency. The investigations of such processes 

and their demonstration on an operating scale was obviously not an undertaking for private enterprise but its importance to national defense was unquestionable. The committee therefore definitely recommended concrete research 

by the proper government agencies to the end that fully demonstrated methods 

supported by detailed designs and plans be actually in hand on the eve of a war 

emergency.

The search for another strategic mineral, potash, was successfully concluded in 1931. During the 5-year test drilling program, the Government had 

drilled 24 test holes, and in 17 had found more than 50 intersections of polyhalite beds of possible economic interest. In 12 holes, the presence of the commercially more desirable sylvite, carnallite, or langbeinite had been detected, 

and in one a 5-foot bed of sylvite and halite containing more the 30 percent 

K2O overlain by a 5-foot bed of halite containing enough sylvite to yield 8.8 

percent K2O. Two other tests had penetrated beds of similar but lower-grade 

salts that were of possible but more remote commercial interest. Perhaps even 

more important, the program had made the oil companies and the public in 

general potash conscious and had stimulated private exploration. The United 

States Potash Company was already making regular shipments of potash salts 

from its shaft in Eddy County, New Mexico. Moreover, the cost of preliminary 

exploration had been greatly reduced by the discovery that careful petrologic 

study could detect the presence of the commercially more desirable minerals in 

well cuttings even though they were so soluble that it had seemed improbable 

that they would be preserved in well cuttings in sufficient amounts to provide a 

basis for prospecting.

The Fuels Section continued its geologic mapping and stratigraphic 

studies, for the most part in Western United States. C. H. Dane and W. G. 

Pierce began mapping the Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous formations of the 

High Plains of eastern Colorado between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers, while 

A. A. Baker continued mapping in the Green River Desert-Cataract Canyon 

region of Utah, E. M. Spieker in the Wasatch Plateau, and C. B. Hunt in the 

Mount Taylor region of New Mexico. T. A. Hendricks and C. B. Read mapped 

coal deposits in part of the southeastern Oklahoma coal field and F. S. Parker 

mapped coal fields in Custer County, Montana. W. P. Woodring and his colleagues continued their intensive investigation of the middle and south domes 

of the Kettleman Hills field in California, and, in a new venture, N. W. Bass 

began a cooperative investigation of shoestring sand bodies and related oil 

pools in Greenwood County, Kansas.

After the 5-year grant of private funds to the American Petroleum Institute expired at the end of June 1931, the Survey took over support of Parker

Strategic Minerals 323
CT formation J^NNSYLVANIAN

1ISSISSIPPIAN

CHAFFEE

FORMATION 

(DEVONIAN)

SAWATCH 

OUARTZITE 

(CAMBRIAN)

PRE-CAMBRIAN

Horizontal scale

Trask's study of source rocks of petroleum, and Taisia Stadnichenko joined the 

Survey to continue work with David White on the origin of petroleum. P. G. 

Nutting continued his investigations of the porosity and permeability of oil 

sands, thermal dehydration of minerals, and the absorptive power of clays as a 

factor in their capacity to bleach or clarify oils.

The volcanologic program in Hawaii expanded in 1931. Topographer 

E. W. Wingate established four new permanent triangulation points as a base 

net for observations at Halemaumau and three temporary points on the rim of 

the pit for map control. Work was begun on a 1,000-foot contour map of the 

ocean floor around the entire Hawaiian ridge. A. E. Jones constructed a 

seismologic laboratory at the Volcano Observatory, and Howard Powers completed the detailed mapping of the lava flows of Hualailai Volcano and began 

petrographic studies. T. A. Jaggar contributed a chapter on the mechanism of 

volcanoes of the "Physics of the Earth" volumes published by the National 

Research Council. The only other Survey contibution to the first four volumes 

published in 1931 was a reprinting of C. E. Dutton's 1889 paper "On some of 

the greater problems of physical geology."

In the Conservation Branch, the supervision of oil and gas operations 

became so different from supervision of mining operations that at the beginning of the fiscal year the Mineral Leasing Division was divided into two units, 

a Mining Division under H. I. Smith and an Oil and Gas Leasing Division 

under H. B. Soyster. Soyster was a graduate of the University of California in 

1922, who had joined the Bureau of Mines as a petroleum engineer in 1924 and 

then been transferred to the Survey in 1925. The Mineral Leasing Division 

supervised operations under 341 leases, 451 permits, and 91 licenses on coal, 

potash, sodium, phosphate, and oil shale lands that produced minerals valued 

at $7.88 million during the year. The division also supervised mining operations on Indian lands, chiefly in Oklahoma. Under the Hoover administration's 

oil-conservation policy, production from the public lands had declined as the 

number of wells shut in increased, fewer wells were completed to production, 

and permits were cancelled or relinquished. The crude-oil industry was in a 

state of shock because of the discovery of 27 major oil fields between 1928 and 

1930, and State authorities were grappling with the problem of controlling 

overproduction when the East Texas field was discovered in October 1930. The 

discovery well had a daily initial flow of only 300 barrels but large gushers were 

completed in succeeding months in neighboring areas so that by the summer of 

1931 the daily flow was about 900,000 barrels and the potential flow was 

greater than world demand. Much of the oil was sold for 10 cents a barrel, some 

for only 21/2 cents. In August 1931, following a strong statement by President

In the resurvey of the Mosquito Range in Colorado, 

more detailed stratigraphic studies, made to determine 

the amount of displacement along some of the notable 

faults and the depth to strata that had contained 

valuable ore deposits in the larger mining districts, 

demonstrated the existence and widespread distribution of rocks of Devonian age and led to a revision of 

the stratigraphic column in central Colorado. The illustration shows the lateral relations and variations in 

thickness of the pre-Pennsylvanian Paleozoic formations. Here the Parting Quartzite, named by S. F. Emmons in 1882 and considered by him to be Silurian, 

and the lower part of the Leadville Limestone, which 

he had called the Blue Limestone and Carboniferous, 

was assigned to the Chaffee Formation of Devonian 

age as its Parting Quartzite and Dyer Limestone 

Members. The upper part of the Leadville (Blue) 

Limestone was found to be separated from the lower 

part by an unconformity and to be of Mississippian 

age. (FromJ. Harlan Johnson, 1934.)

324 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
Hoover, the Governors of Oklahoma and Texas closed the Oklahoma City and 

East Texas fields, the latter under martial law, and in September, the Governors of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas signed the oil compact. An Oil States 

Advisory Committee called for an interstate agreement, with the creation of a 

joint Federal-State fact-finding body to forecast demand, recommend crude-oil 

production, and allocate it among producing States and imports. Secretary 

Wilbur designated the Survey as the Federal representative. The Mineral 

Classification Division was swamped by a 30 percent increase in the number of 

classification cases, most of them concerned with oil and gas lands, while the 

Agricultural Division received 18 percent fewer classification cases and was able 

to continue its studies of agricultural utility and grazing conditions. The Power 

Division made river surveys in Arizona, Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming and 

examined dam sites in Oregon, Washington, and Montana in connection with 

power projects.

The report of the Garfield Committee on the Conservation and Administration of the Public Domain was submitted to the President on January 

16, 1931, but was not sent to Congress until the new Congress met in 

December. The general conclusions of the committee were as follows: (1) "All 

portions of the unreserved and unappropriated public domain should be 

placed under responsible administration of regulation for the conservation and 

beneficial use of its resources; (2) Additional areas important for national 

defense, reclamation purposes, reservoir sites, national forests, national parks, 

national monuments, and migratory bird refuges should be reserved by the 

Federal government for these purposes; (3) The balance of the public domain, 

valuable chiefly for forage should be given to the States if and when they were 

prepared to accept it and provide administrative control of use; (4) In States not 

accepting such a grant of the public domain responsible administration or 

regulation should be provided." The committee also recognized that

the Nation is committed to a policy of conservation of certain mineral 

resources. We believe the States are conscious of the importance of such 

conservation, but that there is a diversity of opinion regarding any program 

which has for its purpose the wise use of those resources. Such a program 

must of necessity be based upon such uniformity of Federal and State 

legislation and administration as will safeguard the accepted principle of 

conservation and the reclamation fund.

The committee further concluded that when such a program was developed 

and accepted by any State or States, those resources should be transferred to the 

States, except when lands were reserved for national defense or other purposes 

by the Federal Government. The committee went on record that the "present 

conservation policy of reclamation should be continued."

In November 1931, a month before the report went to Congress, a National Conference on Land Utilization met in Chicago, called by the Secretary 

of Agriculture at the suggestion of L. C. Gray of the Division of Land 

Economics of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Gray, who had a doctorate 

from the University of Wisconsin, was close to Henry C. Taylor and Benjamin 

Hibbard who had been so influential in developing agricultural economics as a 

field of professional specialization and public service. The conference disagreed 

with the recommendations of the Garfield Committee on the subject of forage 

lands and reclamation. Agricultural experts were then trying to find a way to 

deal with farm surpluses and were skeptical of further expansion of agriculture 

by reclamation of arid lands at high cost.

In December 1931, however, Congress was far more concerned with the 

economy than with conservation. The United States was then going into the 

third, and perhaps the most cruel, year of the Great Depression. There were 

anywhere from 8 1/2 to 17 million unemployed, depending on the statistician,

Public Lands Commission Report 325
and for most of those who were still working, salaries and wages had been 

sharply reduced. In September 1931, England had gone off the gold standard 

and several other nations soon followed suit. The American banking system was 

seriously affected, especially those banks which had invested heavily in foreign 

securities, and in September and October more than 800 banks had closed. 

Gold was being hoarded in increasing amounts and it seemed possible that the 

United States would also be forced to abandon the gold standard.

In the 13 months between the election of November 1930 and the convening of the first session of the 72d Congress in December 1931, several members 

had died; in the special elections to fill the vacant seats the Democrats reversed 

the results of the 1930 election and achieved a small majority in the House. The 

Senate, however, remained at least nominally Republican. John Nance Garner 

of Texas, a member of the House since 1903 and the ranking Democrat on the 

House Ways and Means Committee in the 71st Congress, was elected Speaker. 

The organization of the House by the Democrats also meant a change in committee chairmen. The new chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee was 73-year-old Edward Taylor of Colorado, who had been elected 

to the House in 1908 as an avowed opponent of "Pinchot conservation" and 

who by seniority had become the most influential member of the House from 

the public-land States. Taylor had maneuvered the Stockraising Homestead 

Act through the House and had opposed the Mineral Leasing Act, and, in fact, 

all efforts for Federal management of natural resources. The new chairman of 

the House Public Lands Committee was John M. Evans of Montana, a former 

judge of a police court, one-time Land Office registrar and mayor of Missoula, 

who had been elected to the House in 1912. Sam Rayburn of Texas, also elected 

to the House in 1912, became chairman of the House Committee on Foreign 

and Interstate Commerce, which, under Hoover's influence, had handled much 

of the legislation concerning topographic mapping. Evans served only one term 

as chairman of the Public Lands Committee, failing to be renominated in 1932, 

but Taylor and Rayburn both served in the House until their deaths, Taylor in 

1941 and Rayburn in 1961.

The Senate received the nomination of Walter Curran Mendenhall as fifth 

Director of the Geological Survey shortly after it convened and confirmed it on 

December 21, 1931- A day later, it received with equanimity the news that its 

suit to prevent George Otis Smith from serving as Chairman of the Federal 

Power Commission had failed. Beyond that and the always essential appropriation bills, however, there was little that directly affected the Survey. A bill to 

provide for Federal mangement of the public rangelands was passed by the 

House but failed to pass in the Senate, and both houses passed the bill 

authorizing reorganization of the Executive Branch.

Director Mendenhall made his first appearance before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior Department on January 5, 1932. In 

a departure from previous custom, he brought with him the Chief Topographic 

Engineer, the Chief Hydraulic Engineer, and the Chief of the Conservation 

Branch as well as the Chief Clerk and a 60-page justification of the Survey's requested appropriation. Secretary Wilbur, in an earlier appearance before the 

committee, had already stated that "The Geological Survey performs important functions as a unit of the Interior conservation organization. It is the 

Federal geological authority. * * * It is the recognized authority on the facts 

about available water supplies, both surface and underground, essential to any 

well planned development, but becoming more widely recognized as necessary 

in the settlement of the country and the growth of cities. * * * It has to do 

with industrial and domestic water supply, flood control, irrigation, water 

power, and so on. * * * So geology is coming into its own, whether it is 

building a dam, putting in a mine, or controlling a flood."

326 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
A. A. Baker, C. H. Dane, andj. B. Reeside, Jr., who 

mapped several thousand square miles and measured 

numerous sections in the Colorado Plateau region of 

Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado in connection with the classification of the public lands, made a 

more definitive interpretation of the Jurassic 

stratigraphy of that region in which earlier correlations 

had diverged widely because distinctive fossils were 

rare and formations were deceptively similar in 

lithology. The photograph shows the three members of 

the Glen Canyon Group near the head of Indian Creek 

in Utah: the massive Wingate Sandstone at the base, 

the Kayenta Formation, with its distinctive bedding, in 

the middle, and the massive Navajo Sandstone forming the high dome. The name Kayenta was used for 

beds previously correlated with the Todilto Limestone 

of New Mexico, which was younger than the Navajo at 

its type locality. Although the Survey designated the 

age of the Glen Canyon Group as Jurassic(?), the 

authors suggested that the Wingate and Kayenta 

might ultimately prove to be Triassic, a suggestion confirmed during the uranium exploration of the 1950's. 

(From A. A, Baker, C. H. Dane, andj. B. Reeside, Jr., 

1936.)

fc.

The appropriation requested for the Geological Survey for the fiscal year 

beginning July 1, 1932, was $2,904,000, or $237,740 less than the appropriation for the year underway. The largest single reduction was $164,000 in the 

appropriation for topographic surveys restricted to matching cooperative funds. 

It was expected that $152,000 of the funds restricted to cooperative topographic 

surveys in the year underway would be unallotted at the end of the year, not so 

much because of lack of cooperative funds from States but because of the 

requirement in the 1932 act that the cost of engraving and printing maps be included in cooperative projects. The cost of engraving and printing ordinarily 

was not incurred in the same year as the field work; moreover, cooperative 

agreements already in effect had not included such costs, and there was no way 

of knowing whether State legislatures, which did not all meet annually, would 

agree to the extra costs. As the Survey could not by law spend more than 50 percent in a cooperative survey, it had solved the problem by undermatching 

cooperative funds by an amount equal to the costs of engraving and printing, 

which were then paid from general funds. The other large reductions were in

Appropriations, 1932 327
publication funds. For the other items, the requested appropriation was the 

same as the current-year appropriation although already there were problems 

apparent with regard to the appropriation for water-resources investigations. At 

the time of the hearings, the States had already offered $35,000 more in 

cooperative funds than the amount provided in the appropriations request. 

Moreover, the Corps of Engineers had asked the Survey to revive and maintain 

some of the 200 abandoned gaging stations from which it wanted records in 

connection with its work on flood control and navigation. The Corps was willing to transfer funds for that purpose but the Survey thought it had made an 

agreement with the committee to sever relations with the Corps. This committee, however, had no objection to the Survey's accepting the transfer funds.

The House Appropriations Committee recommended that the Survey appropriation be cut $624,500 below the estimate because of "a marked decrease 

in requests from States for cooperative work in connection with topographic 

surveys and stream gaging," which was contrary to the facts presented to the 

committee, and because of "the belief of the committee that investigation, 

research, and classification work should be reduced to a minimum under present economic conditions." The major reductions proposed were $250,000 for 

topographic surveys, $119,500 for stream gaging, $50,000 each for geologic 

surveys and fundamental research in geologic sciences, but no item escaped the 

knife. The committee concluded that a careful examination of the various items 

for the Geological Survey convinced the committee that the service would not 

be crippled by the reduction."

Congressman Temple attempted to obtain an increased appropriation for 

topographic surveys while the Survey appropriation was under consideration in 

the House, noting that more cooperative funds were available than had been 

expected. The justification for fundamental research, however, had attracted 

the attention of other members of the House. The justification stated that the 

subject for investigation might be closely connected with the problems of industry, giving promise of immediate practical results, or "utterly remote from 

the business world, such as tracing the ancestry of the modern horse back 

through the ages to the little 5-toed creature of Eocene time." It also pointed 

out that "while no one can predict the importance of the results * * * past 

experience justifies the confidence that something of value will come" and 

pointed out that scientific research had revolutionized industry and the 

American style of living. Nonetheless the "little 5-toed creature of Eocene

In a reconnaissance examination of a large area of the 

High Plains of eastern Colorado, C. H. Dane, W. G. 

Pierce, andj. B. Reeside, Jr., recognized some of the 

finer divisions of Cretaceous stratigraphy identified by 

N. W. Bass and others in their oil and gas investigations in western Kansas. The Cretaceous formations of 

Colorado had originally been defined in 1862 by F. B. 

Meek and F. V. Hayden as the Niobrara and Benton. 

The Fort Hays and Smoky Hill Members of the 

Niobrara had been recognized in Kansas in 1893 and 

1896 but G. K. Gilbert's stratigraphy of 1896, in 

which he replaced the Benton with the Graneros, 

Greenhorn, and Carlile Formations, had been generally accepted in Colorado. The photograph shows the 

contact (about 2 feet above the hammer) between the 

Fort Hays Member of the Niobrara and Bass's Codell 

Sandstone Member of the Carlile. (From C. H. Dane, 

W. G. Pierce, andj. B. Reeside, Jr., 1937.)

328 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
times" became the symbol of "useless" science in 1932 that "birds with 

teeth" had been in the days of John Wesley Powell. Congressman John 

Ketcham of Michigan concluded that inasmuch as the rocks had been there for 

thousands or even millions of years, the Survey's geologic investigations were 

not pressing. The House accepted the recommendations of its Appropriations 

Committee.

The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended restoration of part 

of the cuts in topographic surveys and water-resources investigations. The 

Senate itself, however, rejected its committee's report and demanded an overall 

10 percent cut in the House bill so an additional $98,500 was cut from the appropriations for administrative salaries, geological surveys, fundamental 

research, volcanologic surveys, Alaskan mineral resources, and mineral-leasing 

enforcement. Secretary Wilbur protested in vivid if somewhat unscientific 

terms that the Senate cut was ' 'just as if you took a chicken and pulled out all of 

its wing and tail feathers and expected it to fly" when the House had already 

damaged the Survey "so that it would just creep." Despite his protest, the 

bill, approved on April 11, 1932, provided only $2,181,000 for the Survey, less 

than 70 percent of the appropriation for the year that would end in about 

2 months.

A few days later the National Academy of Sciences expressed a somewhat 

different view of the Survey. Its Director, W. C. Mendenhall, was elected one 

of the 15 new members permitted by the rules, Arthur Keith was elected 

Treasurer, and David White was awarded the Mary Clark Thompson Medal for 

most important service to geology and paleontology.

Secretary Wilbur reaffirmed his support of the Geological Survey after 

passage of the Economy Act of June 30, which called for further reductions, 

compulsory retirements, impounding of 8 1/3 percent of salary funds, and 

restrictions on filling vacancies, including written authorization from the President himself. The Economy Act also permitted transfers between appropriations to permit retention of employees and Secretary Wilbur transferred 

$284,000 from the appropriation for road and trail construction in national 

parks to the Survey.

Conditions were grim as the Survey began its 53d year, and in many ways 

were reminiscent of those that prevailed in 1894 when Charles D. Walcott succeeded John Wesley Powell as Director. In 1894, with a depression only about a 

year old, Washington had been besieged by 17 armies of the underprivileged

After two seasons reexamining and mapping the coal 

beds across the southern part of the San Juan Basin in 

New Mexico, C. B. Hunt made a brief reconnaissance 

of the geology of the Mount Taylor volcanic region, 

part of the southern flank of the basin, which C. E. 

Dutton had studied in 1884. Hunt found that the first 

eruptions were probably those of Mount Taylor 

Volcano itself in Miocene time. Those eruptions were 

followed, probably in the Pliocene, by a large number 

of basalt sheets erupted by small volcanoes distributed 

around Mount Taylor on erosion surfaces cut around 

the Mount Taylor cone, most of them after Mount 

Taylor had become quiescent. Streams have since cut 

downward nearly 2,000 feet so lava sheets now cap 

high mesas and in some places the old volcanoes are 

marked only by isolated necks. The photograph is a 

view looking northeast, across an erosion surface in 

Lobo Canyon, toward Mount Taylor. (From C. B. 

Hunt, 1938.)

Appropriations, 1932 329
seeking relief, and the largest had been dispersed after its leaders were arrested 

for walking on the Capitol grass. In 1932, veterans of the World War came to 

Washington at the end of May with the announced intention of remaining until Congress authorized full cash payment of veterans' bonuses. Most of them 

left in mid-June after the Senate defeated the measure. When Washington 

police tried to evict the remainder, four persons were killed and President 

Hoover called out Federal troops and tanks to complete the eviction. In 1894, 

the Democrats, after only a brief and partial return to power, had been turned 

out of office in the midterm elections. Similarly, the Republicans had lost 

heavily in the 1930 elections although they were not turned completely out of 

office. But there the resemblance ended. By the Presidential election in 1896, 

after 3 years of depression, the economy had begun to improve, the Republicans 

claimed the credit, and the Republican candidate was elected President. 

In 1932, however, there had been no change in the downward trend of the 

economy and there was little hope of a Republican victory in November. 

The Republicans nominated President Hoover for a second term; the 

Democrats chose Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York. Both party 

platforms called for a sharp reduction in government expenditures, a balanced 

budget, and U. S. participation in an international monetary conference.

In the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1932, the Conservation Branch of the 

Survey, which had received the smallest cut in funds, was able to adjust to the 

reduced appropriation as the number of land-classification cases received 

declined by almost 19 percent from the preceding year. In fact, the Mineral 

Classification Division made progress in reducing its backlog, and the 

Agricultural Division was able to complete its field studies in northeastern 

Nevada, to continue its intensive studies of grazing lands in the Mono Lake and 

Owens Valley regions in California, and to prepare a land classification report 

and map for western Colorado showing irrigated and dry-farming land, range 

types, and aggregate forage resources as compared with livestock population. 

The Power Division continued its river surveys in Oregon and Washington and 

examined several dam sites, determining depth to bedrock at two of them by 

geophysical methods. The Mining Division supervised operations in an increased number of properties, but the production of coal and phosphate 

declined, and only that of potash increased. The Oil and Gas Leasing Division 

was preoccupied with the development of unit plans; departmental approval 

was obtained for the unit plan for the Pitchfork field in Wyoming and work 

was begun on a plan for the Middle Dome of the Kettleman Hills field in 

California.

The program of the Water Resources Branch was not unduly affected by 

the cut in appropriation for its total funds for the year were almost the same as

In 1931, Congress appropriated funds to assist the 

struggling Alaska Railroad by an investigation of 

natural resources that would affect railway tonnage. 

The Secretary of the Interior assigned the investigation 

to the Survey. Ten projects, selected on the basis of 

Survey knowledge of the area, were undertaken 

because they promised to disclose valuable mineral 

deposits that, if found, would attract private enterprise 

for development in the near future, and would likely 

afford considerable tonnage to be hauled by the 

railroad. Five of the 10 projects involved examinations 

of areas likely to be principally valuable for gold. 

Among them was the Willow Creek gold lode district, 

which included the Lucky Shot mine and camp and the 

War Baby mine shown in the photograph. (From J. C. 

Ray, 1933.)

330 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
those for the preceding year. Stream gaging was done in 48 States, the District 

of Columbia, and the Territory of Hawaii, and the number of rivermeasurement stations increased to 2,801 at the year's end. Ground-water 

investigations in 19 States and the Territory of Hawaii included some new objectives. In Michigan, for example, ground water was needed to fight forest 

fires. The Michigan Forest Fire Experiment Station had developed power 

equipment for fighting forest fires, which were becoming more hazardous as 

the drought continued. The equipment consisted primarily of a truck-mounted 

water tank that could be filled or emptied by using a small reciprocating pump 

driven by a gasoline engine. The water to fight fires was obtained from wells 

put down by jetting with water from the tank. The Michigan Geological Survey 

sought the cooperation of the U.S. Geological Survey in determining where 

water in sufficient quantities could be found at depth of 20 feet or less in 

regions subject to forest fires, and S. W. Lohman spent the summer surveying 

conditions in Roscommon County. In Utah, R. M. Leggette began an investigation of ground-water conditions in Ogden Valley in relation to the flow of the 

Ogden River as the basis for settlement of conflicts between those who used surface water for irrigation and the city of Ogden, which obtained nearly all its 

municipal water supply from artesian wells in the valley. The conflicts arose 

because during the summer and fall of most years the flow of the river was 

augmented by ground water returned to its tributaries from the sediments in 

the valley and by water that seeped into its channel as the river passed through 

Ogden Canyon. Regional ground-water investigations were continued in New 

York, where David Thompson and Francis Wells of the Geologic Branch began 

work; in Virginia, where R. C. Cady began work in the Shenandoah Valley; 

and in Florida, where V. T. Stringfield completed work in the Sarasota area and 

A. G. Fiedler supervised the exploration of artesian wells to determine the location of leaks and of water-bearing zones yielding salt water and water of the 

highest quality. Lohman, after completing work in Michigan, began an investigation near Elizabeth City, North Carolina, which obtained its water supply 

from the Pasquotank River but also wanted a ground-water supply. In Texas, 

W. N. White and A. N. Sayre began work in the San Antonio area to determine the capacity of the reservoir in the Edwards Limestone and the amount of 

water that could be withdrawn annually without serious depletion, and Penn 

Livingston began work in Kleberg County where ground water was the only 

trustworthy source of water supply and, although deep artesian wells in all parts 

of the county yielded fresh water, the artesian head was declining and good 

water could be obtained from above or below the artesian fresh-water horizon 

in only a few places. C. V. Theis continued the investigation in Curry and 

Roosevelt Counties, New Mexico, and extended it into Lea County where S. S. 

Nye had previously worked. On the Pacific coast, A. M. Piper made a reconnaissance of the Walla Walla Basin in preparation for a new project while the 

field work in the Harney Basin was completed, and in Hawaii, H. T. Stearns 

completed field work on Oahu.

Field work in the Geologic Branch was limited owing to the decline in 

Federal and State funds, but except for the retirements of M. R. Campbell, 

E. O. Ulrich, and F. C. Schrader under the provisions of the Economy Act, the 

staff was maintained, and a record number of reports and maps were in 

preparation. Eighteen members of the Branch contributed to a volume on the 

ore deposits of the Western States published by the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers to honor a former Chief Geologist, Professor 

Waldemar Lindgren, on his 70th birthday, and others, notably David White, 

contributed to the second edition of the highly regarded "Treatise on 

Sedimentation," sponsored by the National Research Council, and edited by 

Professor William Twenhofel. Work continued on the geologic map of the

Water Resources, 1932 331
United States and guidebooks for the International Geological Congress, 

rescheduled for July 1933, and Arthur Keith began compilation of a geologic 

map of Maine, to be published by the State.

One of the most significant events of the year was the adoption of a report 

on the classification and nomenclature of rock units, prepared byj. B. Reeside, 

Jr., and W. W. Rubey under the supervision of H. D. Miser, by the joint committee of the American Association of State Geologists, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Geological Society of America, and the U.S. 

Geological Survey. The new stratigraphic code was the first attempt since the 

turn of the century to deal with the subject in a comprehensive fashion. The 

code was published under the authorship of of 14 geologists, the 12 members 

of the joint committee and Reeside and Rubey, listed in alphabetic order, and 

became informally known as the Ashley code. It excited far less controversy 

than had earlier attempts. As the authors noted, uniform procedure in 

stratigraphic practice was essential, the greatest aid to uniformity was regulation, and although regulation would restrict an individual's freedom of action, 

general acceptance would be beneficial.

Much of the field work of the Geologic Branch in 1932 was done by the 

Metals and Fuels Sections. James Gilluly began a study of the geology and ore 

deposits of the Ajo district in southern Arizona. The district was known chiefly 

for its importance as a producer of copper but the district and its surroundings 

offered unusual opportunities for geologic investigations of many kinds. T. B. 

Nolan began a resurvey of the Eureka district in Nevada, one of the three great 

districts chosen for special study by the Survey's first Director in 1879 but not 

restudied since that time. Several smaller mining districts in Nevada were also 

studied, the Tuscarora and Mountain City by Nolan, and the Chief, Delamar, 

and Searchlight districts by Eugene Callaghan. The cooperative program in 

Colorado was continued although curtailed owing to the decrease in funds. In 

Idaho, P. G. Shenon and John C. Reed mapped in the Buffalo Hump, Elk 

City, and adjoining districts, and L. W. Currier spent 2 months in the 

Yellow Pine district in the Boise Basin. The Fuels Section had field work underway in Arkansas, Montana, Colorado, Utah, and California but none for 

extended periods. In Arkansas, H. D. Miser continued his studies of the 

Ouachita Mountains. In Montana, F. S. Parker extended the detailed mapping 

of the coals beds of Custer County and W. G. Pierce and C. B. Hunt made a 

reconnaissance survey of parts of Hill, Chouteau, and Liberty Counties. C. H. 

Dane and Pierce completed their mapping in the High Plains of Colorado, and 

in Utah, A. A. Baker did the field work necessary for preparation of a 

preliminary structure contour map of southeastern Utah, and E. M. Spieker 

some additional mapping of part of the Wasatch Plateau with special reference 

to coal. In California, W. P. Woodring and his colleagues began mapping in 

the San Pedro Hills and did some additional work in the Kettleman Hills area.

The most intense earthquake in Western United States in many years and 

probably the second most severe shock in Nevada since its settlement occurred 

near Cedar Mountain on December 20, 1932. The shock was perceptible over 

an area of 400,000 square miles but did very little damage. It did, however, 

provide considerable geologic information because the pattern of faults and 

displacements indicated the direction of earth movement. Fortunately, Eugene 

Callaghan was still in the field in Nevada at the time and was able to begin a 

field investigation within a few days. Unfortunately, heavy snows forced 

suspension of the field investigation after a few weeks.

Despite the drastic cut in its appropriation, the Alaskan Geology Branch 

was able to undertake a close-to-normal field program in 1932. Investigations 

on behalf of the Alaska Railroad were continued, by Ralph Tuck and C. P. 

McKinley in the Curry district, where gold-bearing veins had been discovered, 

and in the Moose Creek area, where G. A. Waring supervised core drilling of

332 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
y^. *l~:fr| --^^ S.&

- f-«~ a%mrd>A

1931

The growing need for information on water was made 

more evident by the droughts of the early 1930's. Between 1930 and 1934, a serious drought occurred over 

some broad region of the United States in each year except 1932. Survey hydrologist John C. Hoyt pointed 

out that because droughts are caused by deficient and 

poorly distributed precipitation, high temperatures, 

and hot winds, which in turn depend on other natural 

phenomena over which humans have no control, little 

can be done to modify their occurrence. It is possible, 

however, to alleviate the economic losses resulting 

from water shortages by conservation of available water 

supplies, efficiency in all uses of water, and adjustment 

of activities that depend on water to available supplies 

and variations in supplies. To exercise any of these controls, however, complete information is needed about 

available supplies, their fluctuations, and the possibilities of conservation. (FromJ. C. Hoyt, 1936.)

coal deposits. S. R. Capps accompanied an expedition organized by the Navy 

for the main purpose of making an aerial reconnaissance of the shorelines of the 

Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands. The area was difficult of access and little was known of its geology. Capps was unable to make trips ashore but was 

taken along on several flights that enabled him to gain some understanding of 

the region as a whole. Of the other members of the branch, only J. B. Mertie, 

Jr., did not go into the field, instead beginning preparation of a comprehensive 

report on the large area west of the international boundary between the Yukon 

and Tanana Rivers. F. H. Moffit returned to the Copper River Valley to make a 

reconnaissance geologic map of the Tonsina district which Fuechsel had 

mapped in 1931, and Fuechsel moved on to map in the headwater region of the 

Copper River Valley and at points along the Richardson Highway. Gerald FitzGerald began reconnaissance mapping on Kodiak Island, southeast of the 

Alaska Peninsula, and R. H. Sargent continued reconnaissance mapping in 

southeastern Alaska.

The Topographic Branch was most severely hurt by the cut in appropriation; its total funds were less than 80 percent of the preceding year's funds, 

and the area mapped in the field was considerably less than in the preceding 

year. Only 8,762 square miles were mapped at a scale of 1:62,500, and more 

than half of that was in Maine, Illinois, and Missouri in cooperation with State 

agencies. An additional 7,192 square miles were mapped at 1:125,000 and 

2,654 square miles in Nevada were mapped at 1:250,000. However, the 

amount of planimetric mapping prepared from aerial photographs increased 

significantly, as maps of nearly 8,000 square miles in Michigan, Montana, and 

Louisiana were compiled. Photogrammetric methods were used to compile 

maps of 425 square miles in California.

Science became somewhat of a political issue in the waning days of the 

presidential election campaign when President Hoover declared that progress in 

the last generation had been due to scientific research, and that if the American 

system was not destroyed and if scientific research was stimulated, future 

generations would enjoy the same opportunities as the present generation. 

Republican hopes of victory had been raised when business seemed to improve 

in the summer of 1932, the gold drain was reversed, the rate of bank failures 

slowed, and the stock market showed signs of reviving. But hard times had settled in again by early fall, and in November 1932 Governor Roosevelt was 

elected President and the Democrats became the majority party in both houses 

of Congress.

Some people interpreted the results of the election as a repudiation of 

Hoover's scientific policies as well as his economic policies. Some agreed that 

research might eventually benefit the economy but thought it should be 

postponed until the emergency was over. Others thought that a slowing up of 

research might be a good thing, giving scientists time to assess the meaning of 

discoveries already made and especially the applications of discoveries. Yet 

others suggested that scientific and technologic progress offered a basis for prosperity that could not be realized because of the financial system. These proponents of "technocracy" proposed that the price system be based on energy 

and that scientists and engineers be put in charge of the economy. The idea 

became very popular in the month following the election but, like Jonah's 

vine, the idea grew and as quickly withered.

In his last annual message to Congress on December 6, 1932, Hoover 

reiterated his stand on the importance of maintaining the American system of 

free enterprise in the future progress of the Nation, particularly in the light of 

what scientific research might produce. The "continued existence and adequate functioning" of the Government depended on the "maintenance of 

State, local, institutional, and individual sense of responsibility." The Government should "allow free play of social and economic forces as far as will not

1932 Election 333
limit equality of opportunity and as will at the same time stimulate the initiative and enterprise of our people" but could "permit of no privilege to any 

person or group;" it should "act as a regulatory agent and not as a participant 

in economic and social life."

With the free development of science and the consequent multitude of inventions, some of which are absolutely revolutionary in our national life, 

the Government must not only stimulate the social and economic responsibility of individuals and private institutions but it must also give leadership 

to cooperative action amongst the people which will soften the effect of 

these revolutions and secure social transformations in an orderly manner.

Congress was more concerned with economy than philosophy. The Federal 

budget called for a total appropriation of $4.2 billion, a reduction of $0.58 

billion below that for fiscal year 1933, and the budget message urged limitation 

of expenditures in the interest of "the already heavily burdened taxpayer" and 

the "very integrity of the finances of the Federal Government." The proposed 

cuts were selective rather than across the board.

The budget estimate for the Geological Survey for the fiscal year beginningjuly 1, 1933, was $2,384,900, some 9 percent more than appropriated for 

the year underway, but still less than received because of the transfer from national park funds. The estimate posed more than the usual number of problems with respect to cooperative funding because the impoundment by the 

Treasury of 8 1/3 percent of salary funds, as required by the Economy Act, had 

reduced the Survey contribution in some investigations to less than 50 percent. 

(The Comptroller had also ruled that the impoundment applied to State funds 

deposited with the Treasury for disbursement by the Survey; that decision had 

been appealed but not as yet resolved.) For topographic surveys, the Bureau of 

the Budget had approved a total appropriation of $512,000, of which $316,500 

was restricted to cooperative surveys, but almost $345,000 had been received in 

cooperative funds during the year underway and $340,000 was in prospect for 

the next year. For water-resources investigations, the Bureau of the Budget had 

approved a total appropriation of $621,400 of which $482,300 was restricted to 

cooperative investigations. The Water Resources Branch had cooperative funds 

in the year underway of $580,000, but had had to decline some offers as the 

amount offered exceeded the total appropriation. Little if any decrease in the 

next year was expected. Despite the evidence, the House Appropriations Committee, under great pressure to reduce expenditures, cut the appropriations for 

topographic surveys by $62,000 and for stream gaging by $81,400 because "existing economic conditions will undoubtedly result in severe reduction in 

cooperative funds." A total reduction of $457,400 below the Bureau of the 

Budget figure was achieved by the elimination of funds for fundamental 

research and Alaskan mineral resources, and reductions in other items ranging 

from 42 percent in the item for classification of the public lands to about 10 

percent in funds for geologic surveys and supervision of mineral leasing.

Attempts to increase Survey funds during the House debate were all met 

with the statement that the amounts provided by the committee were as much 

as or more than the Survey had in 1927, a statement that was manifestly in 

error. Finally, Congressman Taylor stated that the committee "is very sympathetic with the Geological Survey and nearly all of its work, and there is no 

disposition among the members * * * to cripple or seriously impede or delay 

their services. But, with all due respect, it sometimes seems to me personally 

that that bureau has less disposition to properly recognize the serious financial 

condition of the country and the depleted condition of the Federal Treasury 

and the absolute necessity of reducing expenditures in this department as well 

as other departments than it should have. The members of this committee are 

persistently beseeched to make no reduction for this bureau, and we have not

334 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
made any that we feel are unjust." The House then approved the committee 

report as far as the Survey appropriation was concerned.

The Senate took a less rigid stand on the Survey appropriation. The 

delegate from the Territory of Alaska protested the complete elimination of an 

appropriation for Alaskan-mineral-resource investigations and the Senate 

restored an appropriation of $30,000. The Senate also increased the appropriations for supervision of mineral leasing and for publications. To all these 

changes the House agreed. Senator Hayden also tried to convince the Senate to 

increase the appropriations for geologic surveys and fundamental research, 

pointing out the value of geology to the mining industry and noting that Russia 

and Mexico, "two countries that are supposed to be backward in many 

respects," spent more on fundamental research than did the United States, but 

to no avail. The Interior appropriations bill, approved on February 17, 1933, 

provided the Survey with a total appropriation of $1,992,500, about 9 percent 

less rather than 9 percent more than the appropriation for the year underway 

that had been requested.

President Hoover's long-cherished dream of reorganizing the Executive 

Branch, which had seemed close to fulfillment when Congress passed the Executive Reorganization Act of June 30, 1932, in the end came to nought. The 

proposed reorganization was contained in a series of Executive orders submitted 

to Congress on December 9, 1932. They included the establishment of a Division of Public Works in the Department of the Interior, comprising the Survey, 

the Bureau of Reclamation, and several agencies to be transferred to Interior, 

such as the Office of the Supervising Architect, the Bureau of Public Roads, 

and most of the nonmilitary activities of the Corps of Engineers. The General 

Land Office was to be transferred from Interior to the Department of 

Agriculture where it and the Forest Service would form a Division of Land 

Utilization. The Federal Oil Conservation Board was to be abolished and its 

functions given to the Bureau of Mines. Another transfer of interest was that of 

the Navy Hydrographic Office to the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

The proposed transfers, especially those of the General Land Office and 

Engineer activities, were not well received. To become effective, the Executive 

orders had to be approved by joint resolution; some members of Congress went 

one step further and filed resolutions to disapprove the orders. It was pointed 

out that the original jurisdiction granted by law to the Secretary of the Interior 

could not be transferred by Executive Order to the Secretary of Agriculture and 

that there would therefore be some extraordinary maneuvers with regard to 

public-land administration if the Geological Survey were in Interior and the

In northeastern Pennsylvania, a cooperative investigation of ground-water resources begun in 1930 indicated that anthracite coal mining, at that time by far 

the most important industry in the region, and the 

development of ground water for domestic use or industrial supplies were incompatible. Outside the coal 

basins, ground water was used for domestic and small 

municipal supplies, but within the coal basins surface 

water from the Delaware or Susquehanna River (shown 

in the photograph in Luzerne County) was used for 

almost all municipal, industrial, and domestic supplies. The region's coal beds and associated formations 

contained considerable water but the continual pumpage of mine water had lowered the ground-water level 

in the coal basins and most of the little water that remained within the reach of wells was highly acidic and 

unfit for ordinary use. The mine water was used for 

washing coal and then discharged into the streams. 

(From S. W. Lohman, 1937.)
General Land Office in Agriculture. L. C. Cramton, the former chairman of the 

Interior Appropriations Subcommittee who had become a Special Assistant to 

the Secretary of the Interior following his defeat in the 1930 election, suggested 

that the Forest Service logically belonged to Interior, not Agriculture. Senator 

Sam Bratton, Democrat of New Mexico, promptly filed a bill to establish a 

Department of Development and Conservation by combining the Departments 

of Agriculture and Interior. None of these proposals was acted on, however, 

and at the last minute Congress attached to the Treasury appropriations bill a 

provision calling on the President to reduce expenditures and in order to accomplish this and to increase efficiency to "group, coordinate, and 

consolidate" executive and administrative agencies according to their major 

purposes, thus transferring the authority to the incoming President.

The economic situation became progressively worse during the winter of 

1932-1933. Banks continued to fail and by mid-February the American banking system had given way completely, and the economy was a disaster. By the 

morning of March 4, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was to be inaugurated as the 

31st President, nearly every bank in the United States had been closed by State 

proclamation. There were ominous developments in other parts of the world as 

well. On January 30, Adolf Hitler had become Chancellor of Germany, the 

Reichstag building had been burned on February 27, and emergency decrees 

had suspended the constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press in 

Germany. Japan had rejected the League of Nations report condemning its actions in Manchukuo and continued its march southward.

The new Cabinet was hastily confirmed and sworn in on March 4 with the 

state of the economy the first order of business. It was a mixed group one 

historian called it "a strange assortment" composed of Republicans and 

Democrats, progressives and conservatives, party war horses and independents, 

inflationists and anti-inflationists, nationalists and internationalists. Cordell 

Hull, conservative Senator from Tennessee, was Secretary of State; William H. 

Woodin, an industrialist of orthodox economic views, Secretary of the 

Treasury; Homer S. Cummings, seasoned Connecticut politician. Attorney 

General, a last-minute choice after the sudden death of Senator Thomas J. 

Walsh; George H. Dern, mining executive and Governor of Utah, chosen first 

for Secretary of the Interior and then as Secretary of War; Claude A. Swanson, 

Virginia's courtly Senator, Secretary of the Navy, and, at 71, the oldest man in

In the south-central part of the semiarid State of 

Nebraska, where ground water was almost universally 

used for domestic, municipal, and industrial supplies, 

the increasing development of irrigation with ground 

water in the Platte River Valley made imperative a better understanding of the geology and hydrology of the 

valley. In a 5-year cooperative investigation by the U.S. 

and State geological surveys, A. L. Lugn and L. K. 

Wenzel found that part of the ground water had percolated into the area from the sand-hill region of 

north-central Nebraska and another part came through 

seepage from streams entering the area from the west 

and northwest. They concluded that for most parts of 

the area the ground-water supply was ample and that 

irrigation by ground water could be further developed 

in the Platte Valley and in the valleys of some of the 

smaller streams. Development of large irrigation projects on the plains to the south, however, was not feasible because the ground-water supply in that area was 

limited chiefly to percolation from the Platte Valley. 

(From A. L. Lugn and L. K. Wenzel, 1938.)

336 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
the Cabinet; Daniel C. Roper, one-time political lieutenant of Woodrow 

Wilson, whose views made him acceptable to business. Secretary of Commerce; 

Frances Perkins, State Industrial Commissioner of New York under both 

Governor Smith and Governor Roosevelt, Secretary of Labor and the first 

woman to serve in a Cabinet position.

Two of the most unorthodox members of the Cabinet were the Secretary of 

Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior, and thus the long-standing rivalry 

of those departments was enlivened. For the post in Agriculture, Roosevelt 

chose Henry A. Wallace, son of Harding's Secretary of Agriculture. Wallace, at 

45 the youngest man in the Cabinet, had been a Republican until 1928. He 

had been editor of the family magazine, Wallace's Farmer, a practicing 

agriculturist who had pioneered in the development of new breeds and strains 

of chicken, corn, and strawberries, and an agricultural economist, who had 

forecast the farm-price collapse of 1920 and had chaired the Agricultural 

Round Table in 1927 and the International Conference on Agricultural 

Economics in 1929- Harold L. Ickes, Chicago lawyer, former Bull Moose 

Republican and self-styled curmudgeon, became Secretary of the Interior. Ickes 

had become a Progressive because of a stand against political corruption rather 

than any great interest in conservation, and had hoped to be appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs but was chosen for the Secretary's post when difficulties arose in filling it. Although Ickes was later described as "the most 

fanatical conservationist of his generation," at the outset he considered the 

functions of the Interior Department to be "sociological and scientific" and 

placed "the protection and enlargement of life" ahead of the conservation of 

natural resources as its first concern. Almost immediately, however, he was confronted with problems in the management of mineral resources. Curtailment of 

the overproduction of oil came up at the Cabinet meeting on March 14, and a 

conference of Governors or their representatives was hastily called. While 

committees of the Governors and oil industry representatives, who had also 

convened in Washington, were meeting to try to work out a program, Ickes was 

summoned to the President's office for a conference on legislation to cure some 

of the outstanding problems of the coal industry. By mid-April, Ickes was 

jousting with Wallace on the proper home of the National Park Service and the 

Forest Service.

The new Congress was called into special session on March 9 and in a little 

more than 3 months passed dozens of measures to stimulate the economy or 

provide relief. An emergency banking bill was brought up in the House while 

the new members were still seeking their seats, passed by both houses in 

the record time of 8 hours, and approved the same day. The Economy Act, 

fulfilling a platform pledge to reduce the cost of government, was passed on 

March 20. The Civilian Conservation Corps was established on March 31 to give 

unemployed young men useful work in such projects as reforestation, flood 

control, soil-erosion control, and road construction. On May 12, the Federal 

Emergency Relief Act appropriated $500 million for direct relief to States, 

cities, towns, and counties, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act provided 

financial aid to farmers. On May 18, the Tennessee Valley Authority was 

established "to improve the navigability and to provide for the flood control of 

the Tennessee River; to provide for the reforestation and the proper use of 

marginal lands in the Tennessee Valley; to provide for the agricultural and industrial development of said valley; to provide for the national defense by the 

creation of a corporation for the operation of Government properties at and 

near Muscle Shoals in the State of Alabama." Finally, on June 16, came the 

National Industrial Recovery Act, designed to revive industrial and business 

activity and reduce unemployment. Under Title I of the act provision was made 

for codes of fair dealing for industries; under Title II, $3-3 billion was appropriated for public works.

Roosevelt's First Hundred Days 337
None of the emergency legislation, with the possible exception of the National Industrial Recovery Act, seemed destined to help Federal bureaus such as 

the Geological Survey, and some made matters worse. The Economy Act proposed to balance the budget by reducing the salaries of Government employees 

as much as 15 percent, reducing veterans' pensions, and reorganizing Government bureaus to achieve economy. The Tennessee Valley Act terminated the 

investigations of the Army Engineers in that area, which included the operation 

of about 100 gaging stations by the Survey. The National Industrial Recovery 

Act included the conservation and development of natural resources among the 

public works for which the appropriation was made, but it was widely believed 

that construction was the main purpose of the program and no one knew if or 

how Federal bureaus would be involved. To make the situation even more difficult, on June 6 a cash withdrawal limitation was imposed on appropriations so 

that only 70 percent of the appropriation could be used. Thus the funds 

available to the Survey for fiscal year 1934 would be about half those available 

in 1933- At the beginning of the fiscal year, therefore, field work was curtailed, 

administrative furloughs were imposed, and some were separated from the 

service.

Under these gloomy conditions, visitors began arriving in Washington for 

the 16th International Geological Congress. The technical sessions were 

scheduled for the week of July 22, but excursions to points of geologic interest, 

two of them transcontinental, would precede and follow those sessions. Director Mendenhall of the Survey was General Secretary of the Congress; H. G. 

Ferguson and Marcus Goldman of the Survey, the Assistant Secretaries. The 

technical sessions of the 16th Congress were largely devoted to such fundamental research topics as the measurement of geologic time; batholiths and related 

intrusives; major divisions of the Paleozoic era; geomorphic processes in arid 

regions; fossil man and contemporary faunas; and orogenesis. Sessions were 

also devoted to zonal relations and metalliferous deposits, the geology of 

petroleum, and the geology of copper deposits. The 16th Congress devoted its 

major resource appraisal to copper. James Gilluly of the Survey was a member 

of the committee responsible for the publication to which a dozen and a half 

other Survey geologists contributed. The four major known sources of copper in 

the world at that time were, in order of importance, the Rocky Mountain and 

Great Basin area of the United States, the west slope of the Andes in Peru and 

Chile, the central plateau of Africa in the Belgian Congo and Northern 

Rhodesia, and the Precambrian shield area in central Canada and its extension 

into northern Michigan. Arthur Notman estimated the world reserves as of the 

order of 100 million tons of copper, which would last, at the average consumption for the preceding 13 years, for 69 years even if no more copper were found. 

He also pointed out that no important copper-producing area in the world had 

yet been exhausted although production had ceased in some districts because 

the metal could not be produced in competition with more favorable areas. 

Gold was of far greater interest than copper to those outside the profession, and 

when T. B. Nolan of the Survey was awarded the Spendiarov Prize as the most 

promising young geologist of the host country, he soon received an inquiry 

from an Idaho prospector asking for information on his special method of 

"determining where to look for favorable places for gold."

While Director Mendenhall was occupied as General Secretary of the 

Geological Congress, the administration of the National Recovery Act was set 

up. Title I was made the responsibility of a Cabinet committee headed by the 

Secretary of Commerce, and the National Recovery Administration was lodged 

in the Department of Commerce, with General Hugh Johnson as Administrator. Title II was the responsibility of another Cabinet committee headed by 

Secretary Ickes, and the Public Works Administration was placed in the 

Department of the Interior. Secretary Ickes was designated Public Works Ad338 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
In Duval Country, Texas, where cattle raising, farming, and oil production were the principal industries, 

A. N. Sayre's study of the ground-water resources, 

made in cooperation with the State Board of Water 

Engineers, indicated that there was little possibility of 

using ground water for irrigation. Except in the extreme southeastern part of the county, the quality of 

the water was unfavorable or the water level was so low 

that the lift necessary to raise the water to the surface 

would make the cost prohibitive. The illustration 

shows a ledge of the Goliad conglomerate, the principal water-bearing formation of the area. (From A. N. 

Sayre, 1937.)

ministrator. A National Planning Board was named on July 20 to aid Ickes in 

formulating a comprehensive plan of public works: Frederic A. Delano, city 

and park planner, and incidentally President Roosevelt's uncle, chairman; 

Charles E. Merriam, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, 

and an old friend of Secretary Ickes; and Wesley C. Mitchell, Professor of 

Economics at Columbia University. So many applications were received for 

water projects in the Mississippi Valley that a special Mississippi Valley Committee was set up to review them.

On July 31, as the Geological Congress members enjoyed their excursions 

following the technical sessions, the President established by Executive order a 

Science Advisory Board "with authority, acting through the machinery and 

under the jurisdiction of the National Academy of Sciences and the National 

Research Council, to appoint committees to deal with specific problems in 

various departments." The Economy Act had called for reorganization of 

Government bureaus to achieve economy, but even before that was passed 

some Cabinet members, notably the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary 

of the Interior, had been coveting the others' bureaus and making plans on the 

basis of the authority in the Treasury Appropriation Act. Early in July, 

Secretary Wallace had asked the National Research Council for advice on the 

reorganization of the Weather Bureau. Isaiah Bowman, the Chairman of the 

National Research Council, found that the Council had no means of acting 

upon the request except by appointing a special committee, and suggested that 

instead a general board be established that could appoint committees to deal 

with specific problems. President Roosevelt then agreed to issue an Executive 

order appointing nine members of the National Academy of Sciences as a 

Science Advisory Board: Karl T. Compton, President of the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology, chairman; W. W. Campbell, President of the National Academy of Sciences; Isaiah Bowman, Chairman of the National 

Research Council; Gano Dunn, President of J. G. White Engineering Corporation; Frank B. Jewett, Vice-President of American Telephone and Telegraph 

Company; Charles F. Kettering, Vice-President of General Motors Corporation; C. K. Leith, Professor of Geology at the University of Wisconsin; John C. 

Merriam, President of the Carnegie Institution of Washington; and R. A. 

Millikan, Director of the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics at the California 

Institute of Technology.

The Science Advisory Board, in addition to dealing with specific problems 

presented to it by Secretaries Wallace, Roper, and Ickes, undertook a study of 

the general problems of science and on September 15 submitted to Secretary 

Ickes, as Public Works Administrator, a "recovery program of science

Science Advisory Board 339
August September

progress." The program, which carried the endorsement of officers of 33 major 

scientific and engineering organizations, proposed an appropriation of $16 

million over a period of 6 years in support of research in the natural sciences 

and their applications, in the belief that

scientific research is an essential element of any far-sighted and comprehensive program for planning and improving the national prosperity, 

and * * * failure to nourish and encourage American scientific activity 

will result in failure to realize the nation's best economic advantages and 

standards of living.

Among the fields of research eligible for support from this fund they included 

investigations that might reasonably be expected to lead to improvement or extension of public works; study and survey of natural resources in their 

economic, social and political relations, and particularly in regard to conservation; determination of physical and chemical properties of materials which 

might be useful in industry and engineering; research in biology, medicine and 

food technology directed ultimately toward public health and comfort; research 

in fields that might lead to "knowledge applicable to the satisfaction of human 

desires, the creation of new industries or the extension and improvement of 

established industries"; and research on mechanization in relation to employment and costs.

Secretary Ickes gave the board to understand that he was personally convinced of the value of the proposal but believed that public-works funds could 

be expended only for construction. By mid-September, however, the Public 

Works Administration had already made several grants that could easily be construed as support of science. On August 12, the PWA had allocated $500,000 

to the Geological Survey for rehabilitation of river-measurement stations, and 

shortly thereafter another $70,000 for the establishment and operation of new 

river-measurement stations on the Colorado, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers 

where only a few measurements had been made because of the great cost of installing and operating the special equipment needed on such large streams. 

Then on September 3, the Public Works Administration allocated another 

$100,000 to the Survey for investigations of ground-water problems in five 

areas for which no cooperative funds were available and in which Federal interests were sufficient to justify the use of Federal funds. In September also, the

In the Ogden Valley of Utah, where surface water had 

been used for irrigation since shortly after the first 

settlers arrived in 1847, and the city of Ogden had obtained its municipal supply from the ground-water 

reservoir in the upper valley since 1914, a considerable 

variation in total surface-water outflow had been 

observed over the years and the summer flow was 

generally inadequate to supply all demands. Conflicts 

arose among the water users because part of the river 

flow in the lower valley consisted of seepage of ground 

water into the channel. From an investigation of 

ground-water conditions in the valley and their relation to stream flow, made under a cooperative agreement between the Survey and the city of Ogden, R. M. 

Leggette and G. H. Taylor concluded that the city's 

use of the reservoir had resulted in a somewhat greater 

seasonal lowering of water levels than would otherwise 

have occurred and therefore that stream flow from 

seepage had been diminished. On the other hand, 

ground-water recharge during the winter and spring 

had been increased over what it would otherwise have 

been because of the lower water levels at the beginning 

of the recharge period. (From R. M. Leggette and 

G. H. Taylor, 1937.)

340 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
In the Harney Basin in southeastern Oregon, where the 

rivers drain into three lakes that have no outlet to the 

sea, discharge ranges from several thousand secondfeet in some spring freshets to complete failure in some 

autumns so that between 1895 and 1930 the aggregate 

water surface of the lakes varied repeatedly from about 

125 to about 2 square miles. The photograph shows 

Harney playa in a period when the lake surface was 

small. The Survey's investigation of the ground-water 

resources indicated that the 800 square miles of alluvial 

plains in the low central area contained arable land 

that could be irrigated economically by pumping from 

wells. The plains were underlain by shallow waterbearing beds, although near the center of the basin the 

water might be very alkaline, and received water largely by percolation from the Silvies River all along the 

stream during spring freshets. In the northwestern part 

of the central plain, deep permeable beds supplied 

several irrigation wells but recharge was restricted to a 

small area. In the marginal area, the temperature of 

the water in bedrock ranged from 52 ° to 154 ° F. (From 

A. M. Piper, T. W. Robinson, and C. F. Park, Jr., 

1939.)

PWA allocated $2,400,000 for topographic surveys in the United States and 

$25,000 for topographic surveys in Puerto Rico, and in succeeding weeks 

allocated more than $628,000 for plugging wells, safeguarding mine openings, 

and controlling fires in the public lands. By November 1, 1933, the total of 

PWA allocations to the Survey was $3,741,074. These were 2-year funds, 

available for use until June 16, 1935. The Survey estimated that $1.97 million 

would be spent in fiscal year 1934, about the same amount as had been appropriated directly for the Survey but $0.6 million more than it was authorized 

to spend under the Economy Act. Thus at least in some parts of the Survey the 

gloom of July had been dispersed.

Funds continued to be funneled into the Survey for stream gaging and 

topographic mapping. In November, the Weather Bureau, which had received 

an allotment for rehabilitation of the river stations it maintained for flood 

forecasting, turned over $112,000 to the Survey for the work, and the Tennessee Valley Authority completed arrangements for a program of stream gaging that replaced and in fact enlarged the program the Survey had carried on 

for the Corps of Engineers. In December, the Public Works Administration, on 

the recommendation of the Mississippi Valley Committee, allocated another 

$280,000 to the Survey for construction, repair, and replacement of equipment 

and maintenance of river-measurement stations on the Colorado River, 

tributary streams of the Mississippi, and at 805 existing stations in the Mississippi Valley, and the Tennessee Valley Authority made a cooperative agreement 

with the Survey to supply its needs for topographic maps. When the House Appropriations Committee met on December 19 to begin hearings on the Survey 

appropriations for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1934, the Survey had received in addition to its Federal appropriation sufficient additional funds to

PWA Allotments 341
assure full programs in the Topographic and Water Resources Branches in the 

year underway and the promise of a busy and productive year ahead.

The Geologic, Alaskan, and Conservation Branches still faced difficult 

fiscal problems and the appropriations recommended by the Bureau of the 

Budget for the coming year offered no relief. The recommended appropriations 

for geologic surveys, Alaskan mineral resources, and classification of the public 

lands were essentially the amounts allowed under the cash withdrawal limitation during the year underway, too small to maintain the staff let alone do any 

productive work. The recommended appropriations for topographic surveys 

and water-resources investigations posed special problems even for those 

branches because they did not provide sufficient funds to match the cooperative funds being offered by the States. The recommended appropriation for 

topographic surveys was only $112,140; the States were already offering 

$208,000. The recommended appropriation for water-resources investigations 

was $337,650; the estimated cooperative offerings for the next fiscal year were 

already $530,000. Chairman Taylor was unsympathetic. He complained that 

the Survey had been "growing like a mushroom for a long time," disapproved 

of the methods by which the lands were classified, in fact stated that the need 

for such work had declined as fewer homestead entries were being made, and 

dismissed the notion that there had been any great increase in work with 

respect to mineral lands. The House committee then cut $19,130 from the appropriation recommended by the Bureau of the Budget, and the House on 

January 19, 1934, voted the Survey an appropriation of $1,303,060. Secretary 

Ickes asked the Senate to restore the cuts, and in the final bill, the House and 

Senate compromised on a partial restoration so that the total appropriated for 

the Survey was $1,313,500. Nearly half the 1934 funds unexpended because of 

the cash withdrawal limitation were reappropriated as well. Congress later appropriated funds for restoration of salary cuts so in the end the Survey received 

$1,631,138.

By the time the appropriations bill was approved on March 2, 1934, 

however, geologists who had been desk-bound or on furlough had hastily 

gathered their field gear and some were already in the field. In January 1934, 

the Public Works Administration made grants totalling $276,000 to the 

Geological Survey for geologic investigations of mineral resources in 19 States 

east of the Rocky Mountains and grants of $248,000 for classification of the 

public lands; an additional $10,000 had been transferred to the Survey from 

the Bureau of Reclamation for a field study of the mineral resources of the 

Boulder Dam region.

Responsible at least in part for the changed outlook was a report of the 

Science Advisory Board, which on December 7, 1933, 2 weeks before the House 

Appropriations Committee met, had given Secretary Ickes a ringing endorsement of the U.S. Geological Survey and its work. Soon after the Board was 

formed, the Secretary had asked it for advice about consolidating the Survey 

and the Bureau of Mines, and on September 5 a committee of C. K. Leith, 

chairman, F. M. Becket, Past President of the American Institute of Mining 

and Metallurgical Engineers, and F. A DeWolfe, State Geologist of Illinois, 

had advised against consolidation, and had in fact recommended the establishment of a third organization to concentrate and strengthen the work on mineral 

statistics and mineral economics then scattered through several departments. 

The full report stated that the organization of the Survey "is well designed as to 

branches, divisions and sections of work to be done" and that its "scientific 

and technical standards are high and the work of the Survey has been marked 

by conspicuous honesty," but that its work had been inadequately supported 

and the conditions under which its scientists were required to work were 

intolerable.

342 Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 1931-1933
The Leith committee also concluded that while all the current activities 

were "desirable and justifiable," the "balance and emphasis" was unsatisfactory. It recommended that supervision of mineral leasing activities be returned 

to the Bureau of Mines, which had had the responsibility before it was transferred to the Department of Commerce in 1925. It also recommended that the 

geophysics program that had been developed in the Bureau of Mines be 

transferred to the Survey as it "has to do with the finding of ore, which is a 

function of the Survey, and not with extraction and technology of ores, which 

are primary functions of the Bureau of Mines." The committee also took note 

of a proposal then being actively advocated to transfer the Topographic Branch 

to a proposed new Bureau of Surveys and Maps but concluded that it was 

doubtful that the new bureau would receive larger funds, use them more effectively, or make any other great improvement over the existing arrangement.

The committee devoted most of its attention to the geologic work of the 

Survey, describing the Geologic Branch as "the core of the Survey responsible 

for the fundamental research for which the Survey was created the branch 

which in the main has given the Survey its high scientific reputation." 

Classification of the public lands was also a "vital part of the Government's 

resource program." Neither activity was receiving adequate support. While the 

Topographic and Water Resources Branches were both busy as a result of the 

cooperative funds and emergency Public Works allotments, the Geologic 

Branch was furloughing men for substantial periods. The committee suggested 

that, inasmuch as hundreds of geologists and engineers who had previously 

been engaged by the mineral and petroleum industries were without work, the 

Secretary "invite the Director of the Geological Survey to propose a plan for the 

useful employment of these men in connection with land classification and the 

study of mineral resources under an emergency allotment. The work could 

probably be supervised by members of the Geologic Branch and the results 

could be counted on to be of public benefit." The Science Advisory Board, in 

the person of C. K. Leith, had also had a hand in the transfer from the Bureau 

of Reclamation. The Director of the Bureau, Elwood Mead, had asked for advice on a geologic and economic survey of the Boulder Dam region, in response 

to which Leith had submitted a plan for a survey of mineral resources with 

respect to tonnage and grade; an estimate of costs and feasibility of mining, 

milling, and transportation; and an analysis of the results with regard to 

general economic and market conditions to ascertain the advantages or disadvantages of undertaking the development of the resources. The plan was an 

opening wedge into the field of mineral economics.

In conclusion, the committee stated

The Geological Survey has played an important part in the development of 

our mineral resources for more than fifty years, and mineral resources have 

been a leading factor in our material advancement. New questions of intelligent public planning, now looming, call for strengthening and wider 

use of the services that only the Geological Survey can perform.

Report on the Survey 343
Chapter 13.

The End of the Pioneering Period,

1933-1936

We have reached the end of the pioneering period of go ahead and 

take. We are in an age of planning for the best of everything for all.

 Harold L. Ickes

A quarter of a century before Franklin D. Roosevelt became President, the 

National Conservation Commission appointed by Theodore Roosevelt reported 

that the Nation was entering a third stage in its growth and development of 

natural resources. In the third stage, said the Commission, enterprise would be 

"collective and largely cooperative, and should be directed toward the larger 

benefit of communities, States and the people generally." In the third stage, 

wise and beneficial uses of resources would be essential, and the checking of 

waste absolutely demanded. The conservationists of 1908 had been unduly optimistic about entering the third stage. The conservation program of the first 

Roosevelt aroused strong opposition and progress was made but slowly. The 

major effort of the Taft administration to give the Roosevelt program the force 

of law met with but little success. The Wilson administration gave conservation 

a lower priority, and after the onset of the World War conservation efforts were 

to a large extent disorganized until the advent of the Hoover administration, 

which was deeply committed to both conservation and science.

Franklin D. Roosevelt also had a strong commitment to conservation, and 

so, while most of his administration's first actions were designed to relieve 

unemployment and promote economic recovery, some of the emergency programs, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps and TVA, were two-edged; they 

provided employment and helped stimulate the economy, and they also aided 

in the physical rehabilitation of the countryside or the development and control 

of natural resources. Conservation programs were also carried forward or 

modified from those initiated in the Hoover administration the construction 

of big new dams in the West, .legislation to control the grazing lands of the 

public domain, and the creation of new national parks.

Unlike Hoover, Roosevelt was not pro-science, but neither was he against 

science. The hopes and expectations of scientists in the Federal service were 

lowered and raised by events rather than administration policy. Early in the first 

term, scientists were encouraged when Roosevelt resubmitted the nomination 

of Lyman Briggs as Director of the National Bureau of Standards after the 

Senate had failed to act on Hoover's recommendation and by his appointment 

of a Science Advisory Board. Secretary Ickes, however, as Public Works Administrator, declined to fund the Science Advisory Board's recovery program 

for science progress.

The Roosevelt administration made extensive use of boards and commissions for planning purposes and both science and conservation were included. 

One of the first, the National Planning Board, was set up by Secretary Ickes, at 

about the same time as the Science Advisory Board was established, to advise 

him on the feasibility and desirability of public works projects. The Planning 

Board was succeeded at the end of June 1934 by a National Resources Board, a

The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936 345
Cabinet-level board under the chairmanship of Secretary Ickes, and in June 

1935 by a National Resources Committee, which took over planning for both 

the physical and social sciences. Although Americans were in general suspicious 

of any governmental planning and some of the planning aroused strong opposition from the more conservative members of Congress, by the end of 

Roosevelt's first term, economic and social planning by the Federal Government was an accepted fact.

Natural-resource planning, or at least its translation into legislation, was 

complicated by the division of responsibilities among several agencies and 

departments and to some extent by the rivalry among them. Both the Secretary 

of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior, for example, sought to promote conservation and research and incidentally to gain control of one or 

another of the other's bureaus. Significant advances were made in land and 

water utilization but the conservation and development of the nonrenewable 

resources proved to be as intractable a problem as ever. The nonrenewable 

resources, however, presented not a single problem but a whole variety of problems for which no single policy could probably be devised although a few 

dedicated individuals persisted in efforts to establish a national policy.

Among the nonrenewable-resource problems facing the Roosevelt administration in its first months in office were the overproduction of oil and the 

depressed state of the coal industry, and then the reappearance of the precious 

metals in the political arena. The United States, in effect, went off the gold 

standard on March 6, 1933, when President Roosevelt issued a proclamation 

prohibiting the export of gold and the redemption of currency in gold. The 

Emergency Banking Act of March 9 confirmed these actions, and authorized 

the Secretary of the Treasury to call in all gold and gold certificates in the country. In late summer, as economic recovery still lagged, Roosevelt, who had been 

impressed with a relation between the prices of gold and agricultural products 

postulated by an agricultural economist, decided he would like to buy gold in 

the open market at more than the prevailing price in an effort to raise commodity prices. On September 8, the domestic price of gold was raised from 

$20.67 an ounce, which it had been for most of the preceding century, to 

$29.92 an ounce. The results were at first satisfactory but then prices again 

began to drop. In October, therefore, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation 

was authorized to buy newly mined domestic gold, and later to buy and sell 

gold on the world market, at prices that were successively pegged higher and 

higher, from $31.36 an ounce on October 25 to $34.06 an ounce on December 

16. Experiments in the massive purchases of silver began in December under an 

amendment to the Agricultural Adjustment Act. Silver was purchased at 64.64 

cents an ounce (about one-half of $1.29, which was 1/16 of $20.67, the March 

1933 price of gold). About the only accomplishment of the precious-metals 

program, however, was the arousal of sound-money Democrats into open conflict with the administration and increased pressure from inflationists for silver 

legislation. On January 25, 1934, Roosevelt sent a special monetary message to 

Congress, which promptly passed the Gold Reserve Act. On January 31, the 

dollar was stabilized at 59-06 cents and the price of gold fixed at $35 an ounce. 

In June, Roosevelt yielded to pressure from the silver bloc and submitted a bill, 

also quickly passed, authorizing the purchase of domestic or foreign silver until 

the price reached $1.29 an ounce or the Treasury's silver holdings were onethird its gold holdings. The move aided silver producers in the United States 

but had disastrous effects on the monetary systems of China and Mexico, which 

were on a silver standard.

The problems of the oil and coal industries were attacked under the National Industrial Recovery Act. The Code of Fair Competition for the 

Petroleum Industry was approved by President Roosevelt on August 19, 1933.

346 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), President of the 

United States, 1933-1945. Roosevelt's political career 

began in 1910, the same year as that of Woodrow 

Wilson, with an unexpected victory as a candidate for 

the New York State Senate, where he became identified with the interests of upstate farmers and with 

progressive legislation and reform in general. A strong 

supporter of the conservation program of his cousin. 

Theodore Roosevelt, much of his knowledge of the 

land was based on the family estate and how it fared. 

In the New York State Senate, he served as chairman of 

the Committee on Fish, Forests, and Game and the 

Committee on Agriculture. President Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913, a 

post he held until he was nominated for Vice President 

in 1920. As Governor of New York from 1929 to 1932, 

Roosevelt experimented with methods that were later 

used in New Deal legislation. As President he hoped to 

achieve a national policy for the development of land 

and water resources. (Courtesy of the Library of 

Congress.)

It provided for a required daily production of 2,338,500 barrels to balance consumer demand and allocated the production among the petroleum-producing 

States, the largest amount, 965,000 barrels to Texas, and more than 1 million 

barrels to the States of Oklahoma, California, and Kansas. The code for the 

coal industry took somewhat longer and Roosevelt had to call operators and 

miners to the White House before agreement was reached. Then in the second 

session of the 73d Congress, beginning in January 1934, Senator Elmer Thomas 

of Oklahoma introduced a Department of the Interior bill for unrestricted and 

permanent control over the oil industry. This was followed by a House resolution for an investigation of "the production, importation, storage, transportation, refining, purchase, and sale of petroleum, and its products, for the 

purpose of determining whether there is an excessive supply of petroleum and 

its products; whether such excessive supply, if it exists, injuriously affects commerce in petroleum and its products and has the effect of rendering unprofitable the operation of wells of small but settled production and will cause their 

abandonment before the maximum yield is obtained."

The need to formulate a national mineral policy was called to the President's attention by C. K. Leith, who, with the approval of the Executive Committee of the Science Advisory Board and Secretary Ickes, wrote to Roosevelt 

on February 8, 1934, that

Mineral Policies 347
The United States has by far the most outstanding mineral resources of 

any country on the globe, and owes much of its material advancement to 

them. Its annual mineral output reaches nearly half of the value of agricultural products. Mineral development has been left almost exclusively to 

private initiative. There has been no unified national mineral policy other 

than that of laissez faire. Broadly speaking, the mineral industries are now 

passing from a period of exploitation to one of surplus, involving public and 

social considerations and the necessary introduction of some measure of 

public planning.

Leith suggested that coordinated national planning for the conservation of 

mineral resources would involve the restriction of mineral development and 

production to balance consumption, and "the first step, the very cornerstone of 

planning" was the preparation of estimates of future consumption. Effective 

methods of curtailment to meet consumption estimates must then be chosen as 

the mineral industries, with few exceptions, had no legal way to act jointly 

without violating antitrust laws. Mineral codes should then be reviewed to 

bring them into accord with the chosen method of curtailment. National 

defense needs, including the procurement of war stocks of certain key minerals 

not adequately produced in the United States, should also be taken into account. International exchanges of minerals should be considered in connection 

with treaty negotiations and tariff revisions. The Federal Government should 

develop the general principles for conservation into which the laws and practices of the different States could be brought into accord. Finally, Leith said, 

the use of marginal sources should be discouraged and mineral supplies obtained from the best developed, best organized, and cheapest sources.

The mineral industry had meanwhile been considering what help it 

wanted from the Government. Reno Sales, the Chief Geologist of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company and one of the chief spokesmen for industry at a 

symposium on relations between Government surveys and the mining industry 

at the February 1934 meeting of the American Institute of Mining and 

Metallurgical Engineers, agreed in part with Leith's sentiments, at least to the 

extent that "The position of our mining industry in relation to wealth produced, and number of people employed, is an extremely important one. Of 

vital moment also is the factor of metal supply in time of war. Prolonging the 

life of this most important and essential industry, therefore, becomes a matter 

of national concern. The bugbear of overproduction and excess productive 

capacity in our mining industry, of which so much has been heard in the past 

four years, should not be interpreted as proof that there are inexhaustible 

reserves, within the United States and its territorial possessions, of oil, ores of 

iron, copper, zinc, lead, or other useful metals. The facts are quite to the contrary." Sales, however, said "that there are undiscovered mineral deposits in 

the United States of great value, no one will deny. To make these resources 

available, every reasonable effort must be put forth to reduce as far as possible 

the financial risks involved."

As a most important part of that effort, the industry wanted geologic help. 

The Government, Sales said, had early recognized its obligation to the mining 

industry by the formation and maintenance of the Geological Survey, and 

through that organization invaluable aid had been received. In fact, the 

"present-day application of geological knowledge of mine operations owes 

much to Survey activities'' but the appearance of the mine geologist in industry 

had in no way lessened the need of intensive field and research work by the 

Survey and related organizations.

Because of increasing difficulties in maintaining ore reserves, it should be 

the policy of the Survey to work unceasingly to establish sound geologic 

principles for the guidance of human effort in the search for useful metals.

348 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
Harold LeClair Ickes (1874-1952), Secretary of the Interior, 1933-1946, Administrator of Public Works, 

1933-1939. and Petroleum Administrator (under 

various titles), 1933-1946. Ickes, a Chicago lawyer, was 

a Republican associated with reform politics and an 

original Bull Mooser in 1912, but in 1920 and again in 

1928 and 1932 he supported the Democratic ticket. 

After Roosevelt's victory, Ickes hoped to become Commissioner of Indian Affairs but instead became 

Secretary of the Interior. Although Ickes was a member 

of the Roosevelt inner circle, he was always wary of the 

New Dealers and hewed to his own course. Arthur 

Schlesinger, Jr. described him as "a defiant and fractious servant and a high-handed and mistrustful 

master yet a superb public servant * * * who maintained vigorous standards of honesty and efficiency, 

who never flinched from battle." (Courtesy of the 

Library of Congress.)

Sales, however, questioned the trend of recent Survey work. Despite the 

declaration by Emmons that the primary object of Survey work was to determine the general laws governing the formation of deposits, there had been a 

tendency to examine regions of new discoveries and partly developed areas and 

to devote less attention to well developed districts. While no one objected to 

Survey activities in frontier regions, whether there was a proper balance between the scientific side and the practical was a question deserving careful 

consideration by those in charge. Sales believed that older districts should be 

reexamined at sufficiently frequent intervals to keep pace with significant 

geological developments. Comparison and correlation of data on ores and ore 

deposits of similar mineral composition and geologic setting would also lead to 

progress, although the study of geologic units rather than geographic units as in 

the Professional Papers on the ore deposits of New Mexico and Utah would be 

more profitable and moreover would tie the work of the economic geologist 

more closely to that of the scientist working on the broader problems of 

geology. In any event, "The Government should provide funds upon a much 

more liberal scale than in the past, to enable the Survey to perform this useful 

and much needed service."

Following the AIME meeting, several congressmen from mineralproducing States and some of the leading mineral men from New York and

Mineral Policies 349
V^^ /->!_ I I I'll ' ttXvXSW**'' \St=*' Church Hill agp? 

'

Washington met with Congressman James Scrugham of Nevada and Director 

Mendenhall to discuss ways and means by which a mineral consciousness could 

be developed in the Government and something done for the mining industry. 

Congressman Scrugham, a member of the AIME, had been elected to Congress 

in 1932 following a distinguished career as an engineer, professor of engineering and dean of the Engineering School at the University of Nevada, State 

Engineer, Governor of Nevada, and Special Adviser to the Secretary of the Interior on Colorado River development. The group drew up a plan including the 

appointment of a new Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Minerals and the 

reorganization of the mineral services. Leith dismissed the plan as too narrow, 

failing to take into account foreign trade or national defense, and urged them 

to delay submission of their proposal to Secretary Ickes until a decision was 

reached on another plan which he had discussed at high levels.

President Roosevelt shortly thereafter approved Leith's plan and asked 

Secretary Ickes to form a planning committee and to serve as its chairman. On 

April 7, 1934, the following were appointed as members of the committee: 

C. K. Leith, Vice-chairman; Herbert Feis, representing the Department of 

State; J. W. Furness, the Department of Commerce; Colonel C. T. Harris, the 

War Department; Leon Henderson, the National Industrial Recovery Administration; W. C. Mendenhall, Director of the Geological Survey; F. A. 

Silcox, Chief Forester of the Department of Agriculture; Wayne C. Taylor, 

Special Assistant to the Special Adviser to the President on Foreign Trade; 

W. L. Thorp of the National Emergency Council, and Scott Turner, Director of 

the Bureau of Mines, who was later replaced by John W. Finch when he succeeded Turner as Director of the Bureau of Mines.

While plans were being discussed for the development of a mineral policy, 

Congress spurred the administration into action on the development of a water 

policy. On February 2, 1934, the Senate passed Senator George Norris' resolution requesting the President to provide a comprehensive plan for the improvement and development of the rivers of the United States that would give 

Congress the information needed to guide legislation to provide a maximum 

amount of flood control, navigation, irrigation, and the development of 

hydroelectric power. Roosevelt referred the resolution to the Secretaries of the 

Interior, War, Agriculture, and Labor, and they in turn divided the country

The receipt of substantial funds from the Public Works 

Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority 

had a profound impact on the Survey's topographic 

mapping program. PWA funds were used primarily for 

l:62,500-scale mapping in public-land States; TV A 

funds made practicable the development of photogrammetric methods. TVA needed a contoured map 

on a scale sufficiently large for detailed planning, but 

the time involved and the funds required precluded 

such a choice. Instead, a planimetric map on a scale of 

1:24,000, comprising 766 full or fractional 7 1/2- 

minute sheets, was made by using aerial photographs 

and developing special compilation methods. The map 

shown is a section of one of these maps, showing 

woodland (shaded), drainage, and culture. Once this 

assignment was completed, the Survey began compilation of contour maps by photogrammetric methods. 

(From T. P. Pendleton, 1935.)

350 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
into six regions, appointed six technical subcommittees, and gave them six 

weeks to draft a statement. The technical subcommittees, drawn from the professional staffs of the Interior, Agriculture and War Departments, included 

N. C. Grover, C. G. Paulsen, O. E. Meinzer, A. M. Horton, and A. W. 

Harrington of the Geological Survey.

In forwarding the report to the President on April 17, the Cabinet committee stated that

The basis of a comprehensive plan for water policy lies in (1) adequate 

facts, maps, and general information in easily accessible and comparable 

form; (2) continuous study and refinement of plans for the full development 

of river basins with coordination of present agencies in elements of the 

work; (3) agreement upon a statement of principles to govern the division of 

responsibility and costs among Federal, State, municipal, and private 

bodies, for various kinds of projects and combinations of projects; (4) 

agreement upon a statement of principles to govern the extent to which 

various kinds of projects shall be charged to the users and on methods of 

apportioning such charges; and (5) agreement upon a statement of the 

social, economic, physical, and geographical criteria for choice and priority of projects and units.

Basic information on which the water policy must be based, however, was 

"fragmentary and scattered," and the committee considered it essential that 

the organization which prepared the study continue to develop more specific 

plans and that a definite planning body be established. President Roosevelt forwarded the document to Congress in June but suggested that Congress regard it 

as a preliminary study and wait until the next session for a comprehensive plan 

to be pursued over a long period of years. Among other reasons, he pointed 

out, many interrelated subjects must be considered in a comprehensive 

plan erosion, stream pollution, fire prevention, reforestation, afforestation, 

and marginal lands, among others.

The urgent need for land planning persuaded the Secretaries of 

Agriculture and the Interior to form a committee on land planning in the summer of 1933, in an effort to bring to an end the disagreements between the two 

departments. The Director of the Survey, W. C. Mendenhall, was one of the 

three representatives of the Department of the Interior. In October, the Soil 

Erosion Control Service was established in the Department of the Interior with 

a $10 million grant from the Public Works Administration, its mission "to 

demonstrate that the impoverishment and destruction of our remaining areas 

of good agricultural land by continuing erosion can be largely controlled; and 

to lay the foundation for a permanent national erosion-control program of adequate scope to meet the acute land crisis created by wasteful methods of land 

utilization." Hugh H. Bennett, who a few years before had termed soil erosion 

a national menace, was persuaded to leave the Department of Agriculture to 

head the new program. The need for this program was demonstrated 

dramatically less than a month later as the first of the great dust storms of the 

1930's swept across South Dakota on Armistice Day and spread eastward, 

darkening the sky in Chicago on the following day and Albany, New York, on 

the day after that.

In the fall of 1933, the Science Advisory Board, acting on its own initiative 

and in the belief that a study of the land problem from a distinctly scientific 

standpoint would be helpful, appointed a Land Use Committee of Isaiah 

Bowman, chairman, C. K. Leith, John C. Merriam, and Carl O. Sauer, Professor of Geography at the University of California. The board then engaged 

W. L. G. Joerg, of the staff of the American Geographical Society, to make a 

study and analysis of methods and principles that had been used for land 

classification and Professor Sauer to write a report designed to be of broad 

benefit to all agencies concerned in land use. Professor Sauer's report on "Land

Land Use Planning 351
Resources and Land Use in Relation to Public Policy," dated April 26, 1934, 

pointed out the need for a reintegration of land research. In the 19th century 

the Federal Government had sponsored scientific inquiries into the 

characteristics of the land as Americans moved westward, and these investigations had been a great stimulus to the growth of scientific knowledge. 

However, the generation of pioneer investigators had been succeeded by more 

and more specialized workers, Government bureaus had become involved in 

administrative and technologic services, and universities had taken over investigations formerly expected of the Government. It was time, he suggested, for land 

specialists of all kinds to focus their individual knowledge on the entire range of 

land problems "as a matter of national welfare that depends on a balanced 

relation between the people and their land." He proposed a program of inquiry that would proceed from the physical sciences, in which he included 

mapping as well as geology and hydrology, through the social sciences, to an 

examination of regions, defined as the different complexes formed by man and 

nature, and the relation of these regions to each other and to the country as a 

whole, and finally to public policy and a determination of "whether we have 

appropriated the land wisely or unwisely to our present needs and whether we 

have made proper provision for the future."

In an effort to get such a program underway, the Science Advisory Board 

committee invited representatives of 16 agencies in the Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the 

Federal Relief Administration to meet in conference on June 14, 1934. Herman 

Stabler, Chief of the Conservation Branch of the Survey andj. F. Deeds, Chief 

of its Agricultural Division were among those attending. The conference heard 

reports on the land-use programs of the several agencies and statements on the 

scientific and administrative aspects of the problems of land use as seen by the 

Government, discussed the Sauer report, and agreed on the need for another 

conference in a few months. In the meantime, a concerted effort would be 

made to define further the scientific elements of the problems involved, 

establish priorities among such problems and elements, and keep the many 

agencies concerned in closest practicable association.

By June 14, 1934, however, Congress had already passed the Taylor Grazing Act, which, according to Rexford G. Tugwell, the Under Secretary of 

Agriculture, "laid in its grave a land policy which had long since been dead 

and which walked abroad only as a troublesome ghost within the living world." 

Congressman Edward Taylor of Colorado, long noted for his opposition to 

Federal control of the public lands, filed a bill on January 5, 1934, the third day 

of the session, "to stop injury to the public grazing lands by preventing 

overgrazing and soil deterioration, to provide for their orderly use, improvement and development, to stabilize the livestock industry dependent upon the 

public range, and for other purposes." A month later, even before the bill was 

reported out of committee, President Roosevelt issued an Executive order 

withdrawing certain public lands in Utah "from settlement, location, sale, or 

entry, and reserving them for classification in aid of legislation, for conservation 

and development of natural resources and for use as grazing land." The order 

was accompanied by an opinion from the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior that legal authority for the action existed under the Pickett Act of 1910 

and that no special legislation was necessary. Mindful of the uproar that ensued 

when Theodore Roosevelt had withdrawn public lands nearly three decades 

earlier, the administration also supported passage of the Taylor Act. During the 

House debate, Congressman Taylor observed that the Western States had 

fought reservation of the public lands by Theodore Roosevelt because they 

considered the action a "high handed, outrageous, and infamous invasion of 

our vested rights," but that now "nobody would think of having the public 

domain thrown open to a brutal free-for-all scramble again.'' That was an exag352 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
geration but the bill passed the House by almost 3-1 and the Senate without a 

division, and was approved on June 28, 1934. Although Taylor had stated that 

it did not matter whether the Department of Agriculture or the Department of 

the Interior administered the act, Congress, and the livestock industry which 

had had to deal with the Department of Agriculture in regard to grazing in the 

national forests, preferred the Department of the Interior. The Taylor Act provided for the segregation of a maximum of 80 million acres of vacant unappropriated and unreserved lands to be organized into grazing districts under 

the control of the Secretary of the Interior. The Secretary was also authorized to 

initiate measures to protect, regulate, and improve the lands within the 

districts, to issue permits for use of the range, determine fees and the number 

of livestock to be permitted in each district. The Act was amended in 1935 to 

increase the acreage to be included in grazing districts, and Executive orders in 

November 1934 and February 1935 effectively closed the public domain to 

entry.

The Grazing Service was established in the Department of the Interior to 

administer the Taylor Act and, as there was no appropriation for its work, the 

Agricultural Division of the Survey's Conservation Branch was "loaned" to the 

Department to organize the new bureau, prepare regulations, and conduct 

public hearings in the West to explain the purposes of the act and the procedures of grazing-district organization. Then on March 21, 1935, by Departmental order, the work of agricultural and grazing classification was formally 

transferred to the Grazing Service. Farrington R. Carpenter, a Colorado livestock man, was chosen to head the Grazing Service; J. F. Deeds, chief of the 

Survey's Agricultural Division, became the Administrative Assistant of the 

Service (the title today would be Assistant Director for Administration.)

For the rest of the Geological Survey, the first 16 months of the Roosevelt 

administration could easily be described in terms of the elastic rebound theory 

of earthquakes. First came the strain of accommodating itself to the reduced 

budget of the latter part of the Hoover administration, then the sharp shock of 

the first few months of the Roosevelt administration, and finally the recovery as 

PWA and other funds were channeled to the Survey, providing not only for 

needed work but also opportunity for new research that advanced the Survey to 

a new position in the world of science and engineering.

The Conservation Branch experienced perhaps the most radical change 

during this period, only pan of it the spin-off of the Agricultural Division to 

form the Grazing Service. A Secretarial order on September 13, 1933, transferred to the Survey the duty of receiving rents, royalties, and license fees for 

transmission to the General Land Office and of maintaining accounts on these 

funds. In the fiscal year then underway, these funds amounted to almost $4 

million, about twice the appropriation for the entire Survey. At the same time, 

the Oil and Gas Leasing Division began receiving an increasing number of 

plans for unit operation of oil fields for technical review and the Mining Division revised procedures to comply with a Departmental order restricting issuance of coal prospecting permits to localities whose needs could not be 

feasibly served by existing mines. These added duties could only be undertaken 

at the expense of the existing responsibilities which had fully engaged the staff. 

Some temporary assistance was received in the form of PWA funds to protect 

the public lands by putting out outcrop fires resulting from irresponsible 

trespass on coal lands or plugging abandoned wells, but these did not aid the 

regular work. PWA funds also enabled the Power Division to undertake long 

deferred surveys of power resources of important streams in 10 Western States 

but the Mineral Classification Division, which performed the original function 

assigned to the Survey, was unable to do field work for lack of funds.

The substantial allotments of funds from the Public Works Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority began a revolution in topographic

The Grazing Service 353
mapping in the Survey. The area mapped for the Public Works Administration 

and in cooperation with the States in fiscal year 1934 was 21,534 square miles, 

only 7 percent more than in the preceding year, but the area mapped at the 

mile-to-the-inch or larger scales was 174 percent of that in the preceding year, 

and a considerable amount of it was done on public lands where previously 

smaller scales had been used. The area covered by topographic surveys in fiscal 

year 1935 was 30,924 square miles, almost half again as much as in 1934. Mapping was done in all 48 States and in Puerto Rico, 77 percent of it at 1:62,500 or 

larger scales. The Survey's topographic mapping program became clearly a national mapping program. For the TVA project, a total of 766 maps on a scale of 

1:24,000 was needed, and the need was urgent. As it would take many years to 

prepare the maps by conventional methods, the agreement stipulated that 

planimetric maps would be prepared first and then replaced by topographic 

contour maps. The maps, it was agreed, would be prepared by photogrammetric methods. T. P. Pendleton returned to the Survey to take charge of the 

work. The Survey's one aerocartograph was slow and expensive to use, so 

studies were begun immediately of new stereophotogrammetric plotting 

machines of German manufacture. Pending completion of the study, the 

planimetric maps were compiled in the office, using 3-lens aerial photographs 

and the radial line method, and given an overall check in the field. The 

stereoplanigraph obtained from Germany was no less complicated or expensive 

than the aerocartograph the Survey already owned. Multiplex projectors, 

however, were small, comparatively simple, and not expensive, but not as 

accurate as the stereoplanigraph. Permission was therefore obtained from the 

Zeiss Company to redesign the Multiplex for finer work, and Russell K. Bean 

was assigned to the task.

The interest in photogrammetry led to the establishment of a professional 

and technical society, the American Society of Photogrammetry, in 1934 to advance knowledge in the science and to act as a clearinghouse for the exchange of 

information. Bean was one of the founders of the new organization and C. H. 

Birdseye its first president. Within the Survey, the new interest led to a considerable increase in the area outside the Tennessee Valley covered by 

planimetric maps and in the use of aerial photographs as bases for topographic 

mapping.

PWA allotments broadened the program of the Water Resources Branch. 

The first allotments were used to rehabilitate existing river-measurement stations or to establish new ones on certain large streams. Then, in January 1934, 

the Survey was given $150,000 to establish and operate stream-flow measurement stations and to obtain records of sediment at the eight erosion-control 

projects of the Soil Erosion Service in North and South Carolina, Missouri, 

Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin, and Washington. For each project, two 

adjacent similiar areas were selected and experimental methods of erosion control used on one; the effectiveness of the experimental methods was measured 

by the amount of sediment carried by the streams. Rain gauges were also 

operated on each project, and 213 observation wells were selected by R. M. 

Leggette for systematic observation of ground-water levels. An engineer was detailed to each project on 24-hour call as measurements were most important 

during floods, which were of short duration and often occurred at night.

In February 1934, the Public Works Administration allotted funds to the 

Survey for a compilation of data showing flood magnitude and frequency and a 

study of the relation between rainfall and runoff. Engineers generally agreed 

that much of the flood destruction in the United States could have been 

prevented if sufficient information had been available on river characteristics to 

serve as a basis for establishing control measures or for adjusting human activities, but for some rivers data on stages and flows of floods had never been 

compiled. Nor had available climatic and hydrologic data ever been adequately

354 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
In a survey of the geology and ground-water resources 

of the valley of the Gila River and San Simon Creek in 

Arizona in 1934, made under PWA auspices, M. M. 

Knechtel observed some of the extensive channel 

trenching of lands in Southwestern United States. Pictured is the steep-walled gully in the floor of San 

Simon Valley. Historic evidence indicated that the 

trenching, which had been described at length by J. L. 

Rich in 1911 and named the "epicycle of erosion" by 

H. E. Gregory in 1917, began after the arrival of white 

settlers. Most investigators attributed the trenching to 

the introduction of livestock and the consequent 

decrease in vegetative cover and formation of trails that 

promoted rapid runoff and increased the rate of erosion. Some geologists, however, favored a recent 

change in climate as the cause of the accelerated erosion and a few favored regional tectonic activity that 

brought about a differential warping of the earth's surface. The cause of the erosion was a matter of practical 

importance if appropriate measures were to be taken to 

prevent further encroachment of the channels on existing property. (From M. M. Knechtel, 1938.)

analyzed to deduce useful information. Both these studies were made in the 

Water Utilization Division. R. W. Davenport supervised the compilation of 

flood data by a working group composed in part of employees of the Survey or 

other Government agencies and in part by persons appointed by the Secretary 

of the Interior from PWA lists of eligibles. W. G. Hoyt, working under Davenport's supervision and aided by L. L. Harold and R. C. Cady, made the study of 

the relation between rainfall and runoff. The American Society of Civil Engineers' Committee on Flood Protection Data, headed by Gerard H. Matthes, 

the principal engineer of the Mississippi River Commission, and a committee 

appointed by the Section of Hydrology of the American Geophysical Union 

under the chairmanship of Wesley W. Horner, consulting engineer, of St. 

Louis, acted as advisers.

The Ground Water Division had been able to undertake a considerable 

amount of field work in the summer of 1933 although adjustments had to be 

made as projects were suspended for lack of cooperative funds. T. W. Robinson 

began an investigation of the Walla Walla Basin of Washington and Oregon on 

May 1, and was later joined by H. E. Thomas. The project, which was supported in part by funds from the States of Oregon and Washington and the 

County Court of Umatilla County, Oregon, stemmed from a suit brought by 

the State of Washington against the State of Oregon. A considerable part of the 

flow of the Walla Walla River then seeped into the ground on the alluvial plain 

at the base of the foothills; some of it reappeared as springs in Oregon and 

Washington and was used in both States for irrigation. In Oregon, irrigation 

was also carried on by gravity diversions from the river and by pumping ground 

water. Contending that irrigators in Washington were not receiving a fair share 

of the water, the State of Washington brought suit against the State of Oregon 

to determine the rights of each State to the water. Both States agreed to an investigation by a disinterested party and the Survey was asked to make it. The

Water Resources, 1933 355
project in Michigan survived because O. E. Meinzer had recognized the possible advantages of cooperation with the Civilian Conservation Corps, and during the summer of 1933 there were eight parties in the field, each consisting of 

six or seven CCC men, headed by a Survey geologist. At the suggestion of 

A. G. Fiedler, double-acting hand-operated pumps were substituted for the 

relatively expensive power pump used in 1932, and the equipment was successfully used not only for drilling wells but for fighting 14 forest fires. In the 

Eastern States, the cooperative projects were continued in New York and New 

Jersey, and on a reduced scale in Virginia. The cooperative project in North 

Carolina was suspended at the end of June for lack of cooperative funds, but 

the ground-water program in Pennsylvania was resumed and S. W. Lohman 

began the investigation of the 14 counties in the south-central part of the State. 

V. T. Stringfield continued the investigations in Florida until the end of the 

fiscal year and was then detailed to Michigan. Cooperative projects were also 

continued in Nebraska, Texas, New Mexico, and Utah, although on a 

somewhat reduced scale, and the investigation in the Mokelumne area in 

California was completed at the end of June except for the investigation of rainfall penetration. In Hawaii, H. T. Stearns and Howard Powers began a study of 

the geology and ground-water conditions on the island of Maui.

When a PWA allotment of $100,000 was received on September 3, 1933, 

the Ground Water Division turned to the Geologic Branch, where geologists 

were being furloughed, for assistance. The first project to get underway was a 

reconnaissance by C. V. Theis, assisted by H. P. Burleigh and H. A. Waite, of 

an area of about 70,000 square miles in the High Plains in parts of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico where practically all water, except 

along the Arkansas River, was pumped from wells, making vital a greater 

knowledge of its availability and quantity. Beginning in October and continuing through late fall and winter, geologists G. A. Waring of the Alaskan 

Branch, and M. M. Knechtel, D. A. Andrews, M. A. Harrell, and E. B. Eckel 

of the Geologic Branch investigated five areas in the High Plateaus of Utah, 

Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona to determine the available water supplies 

from wells and springs and the prospects of developing additional supplies 

from deep-seated artesian basins. D. F. Hewett of the Geologic Branch headed 

a combined geologic-hydrologic investigation of a group of warm springs in the 

west-central part of Georgia being used in the treatment of infantile paralysis. 

In November, V. T. Stringfield returned to Florida from Michigan and began a 

regional study of artesian conditions in the Florida peninsula and early in 1934, 

M. A. Pentz, under the supervision of A. G. Fiedler, began an experimental investigation of the possibility of obtaining water supplies from shallow wells in 

the Coastal Plain.

In 1934, the Ground Water Division continued an extensive field program 

with the assistance of cooperative and PWA funds and also began a program of 

systematic observation of water levels and artesian pressure in wells. The Survey 

had been making measurements of ground-water levels in wells since 

Mendenhall began the practice in southern California in 1903 and Arthur 

Veatch, later that year, made measurements in connection with the Long Island 

investigations. Periodic measurements in connection with quantitative groundwater investigations had become an established practice in the Survey by 1930. 

The serious drought of that year in the Humid States made it clear that a more 

thorough knowledge of ground-water supplies was important, and in 1931, 

Pennsylvania had temporarily recessed the regional ground-water investigations 

to begin a State-wide program of observation wells to study fluctuations of the 

water table in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey. North Carolina 

began a similar program with Survey advice. By the beginning of January 1933, 

about 3,000 observation wells were being measured periodically by either the 

Ground Water Division or cooperating parties, most of them, of course, in

356 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
areas of intensive ground-water development. Then early in 1934, a program of 

observing wells was set up in connection with the erosion-control projects of the 

Soil Conservation Service, and later in the year V. T. Stringfield and L. K. 

Wenzel assisted the State surveys in Michigan and Nebraska in selecting wells 

for statewide observation-well programs. In October 1934, O. E. Meinzer appointed a committee, under the chairmanship of R. M. Leggette, to promote 

the proper and systematic development of a broad program of observation wells 

and to establish uniform field and office methods. Leggette's committee, 

which included L. K. Wenzel, R. C. Cady, S. W. Lohman, V. T. Stringfield, 

R. W. Sundstrom, and S. F. Turner as members, developed a more or less 

standard procedure for establishing and maintaining observation wells, recommended that the records be published, and prepared a preliminary manual of 

methods which was issued in May 1935.

PWA grants revitalized the Alaskan Geology Branch which had been 

unable to do much field work in the 1933 season. In 1933, J. B. Mertie, Jr., 

working alone, had made a reconnaissance of the mining camps in the RubyKuskokwim region, and R. H. Sargent had done some reconnaissance 

topographic mapping in southeastern Alaska; on behalf of the Alaska Railroad, 

S. R. Capps and Ralph Tuck had made a reconnaissance of the potential lode 

resources in the Willow Creek-Kashwitna region, and in cooperation with the 

U.S. Navy, Gerald FitzGerald had begun detailed topographic mapping in the 

Aleutian Islands. Seven projects were begun in 1934. F. H. Moffit and FitzGerald resumed the geologic and topographic mapping on the northeast side of 

the Alaska Range. J. B. Mertie, Jr., made a reconnaissance survey of the Kaiyuh 

Hills, southeast of the Yukon River in west-central Alaska, an uninhabited and 

little known region about which little information was available. Mertie did not 

discover any mineral deposits of great value but considered that his discovery of 

small bodies of silver-lead ore and traces of alluvial gold justified further prospecting. Capps began the geologic mapping of Kodiak Island, living on a boat 

and proceeding from point to point along the shore. Kodiak was the site of the 

first Russian colony in Alaska and it was believed by some to have been a stopping point during the migration of early people from Asia to North America, 

so archeologists were also investigating the island. In southeastern Alaska, 

Sargent mapped an extensive tract of Admiralty Island and adjacent parts of the 

Juneau district, and John C. Reed began geologic work near Ketchikan. On 

behalf of the Railroad, Tuck investigated the coal fields near Eska, in the 

Matanuska district.

The Geologic Branch had also been financially handicapped in 1933, but 

funds from several sources made a great variety of field work possible in 1934. 

In 1933, the branch had put only four small parties in the field for brief 

periods, to survey phosphate and oil-shale lands in Wyoming, oil in the San 

Pedro Hills of California, and coal on the east side of the San Juan Basin in New 

Mexico. With the aid of cooperative funds, work was also continued in the 

metal-mining districts in Colorado and New Mexico; in Idaho, increasing interest in placer gold mining resulted in a new cooperative project to evaluate 

the gravel deposits of the north-central part of the State.

Grants from the Penrose Fund of the Geological Society of America enabled members of the Geologic Branch to resume field work, some beginning 

in the fall of 1933, more in the 1934 field season. Penrose Fund grants went to 

Eugene Callaghan for a study of recent faults in the western part of the Great 

Basin: to James Gilluly, for a study of the structure, stratigraphy, and geomorphology of the Little Ajo Mountains in Arizona; to W. D. Johnston, Jr., for a 

study of the structure of the granodiorite of Nevada City; to T. S. Levering, for 

a study of the physiography of the Front Range in Colorado; to L. F. Noble, for 

a study of the general stratigraphic and structural relations of a region including

Geology, 1933-1934 357
the Death Valley depression; to H. G. Ferguson, for a study of pre-Tertiary 

structural features in the western Basin Range region; to P. B. King, for a study 

of the Permian rocks of trans-Pecos Texas; to K. E. Lohman, for a study of 

diatoms in Maryland and California; to L. W. Currier, for a study of the 

metamorphism of Cambrian and Ordovician rocks on the east side of the Green 

Mountains; and to Parker Trask, for a study of the calcium carbonate content of 

fine-grained clastic sediments of California. A grant was also made to Julia 

Gardner for a study of the Tertiary faunas of northern Mexico. Grants to W. H. 

Bradley, T. B. Nolan, W. G. Pierce, and Ralph Stewart were "cancelled 

without prejudice" when the services of these geologists were needed on PWA 

projects.

The PWA projects employed geologists who had previously been engaged 

in the mineral and petroleum industries but were now without work under the 

supervision of Survey geologists, as had been proposed by the Leith Committee. Under these terms, some long-neglected investigations of mineral resources 

in the States east of the Rocky Mountains were undertaken. These included a 

much needed review of the gold resources of the southern Appalachian region, 

which had also been a target during the gold crisis of the 1890's; an examination of tin prospects in Alabama and adjacent States; an intensive survey of the 

Tri-State lead-zinc district in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas; an investigation of bauxite deposits in Arkansas and other Southern States; surveys of 

quicksilver deposits in Arkansas and Texas; a geophysical survey of fluoritebearing areas in Illinois and Kentucky; an investigation of the bleaching clays 

and other high-grade clays in several Southern States; prospecting of public 

land in Florida withdrawn for classification as phosphate lands; a survey of the 

oil and gas fields in New York, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas; and a 

survey of coal fields in Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, 

and Texas. A few other surveys were made that were needed either locally or as 

part of the inventory of national resources. Some of these projects were continued on Survey funds after the PWA funds ran out, and nearly all resulted in 

a Survey publication at a later time. The experience gained by Survey geologists 

in these projects proved valuable in later years, particularly during World War 

II, and some of the PWA geologists later joined the Survey.

An allocation of $10,000 from the Bureau of Reclamation resulted in the 

assignment of six geologists, chosen because of their training and previous experience, to an appraisal of the mineral resources of the Boulder Dam region to 

determine their availability as the basis of industries that would consume power 

generated at Boulder Dam. B. N. Moore appraised the nonmetallic mineral 

resources; W. W. Rubey and Eugene Callaghan, the magnesite and borate 

deposits; W. T. Schaller, the borate minerals of the Kramer district; T. B. 

Nolan, the nonferrous metal deposits; and D. F. Hewett, the ferrous metal 

deposits. Field work began in February 1934 and the preliminary report was 

transmitted to the Bureau of Reclamation in January 1935. The complete 

report was published by the Survey in 1936.

In addition to these projects, some field work was continued in 1934 in the 

mining regions of Colorado, Idaho, and New Mexico, in cooperation with the 

States. In Colorado, geologists were also called on to make investigations with 

reference to a proposed deep drainage tunnel at Cripple Creek, to the adequacy 

of the artesian water supply at Englewood, at the request of the Public Works 

Administration, and of the Douglas Creek diversion tunnel at the request of 

the State Engineer.

During the summer of 1934, the Geological Survey also produced a major 

document on the geology and occurrence of petroleum in the United States for 

the House Committee on Foreign and Interstate Commerce in its investigation 

of the oil industry. David White contributed a paper on the early history of the 

use and development of petroleum and its origin in which he concluded that

358 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
although the expansion of oil production was greatly stimulated by the 

demands imposed on producers during the World War, and by competition 

among the companies in leasing new territory after the estimates of 

.1916-22 as to the available oil remaining in the ground, the long-continued 

overproduction from which the industry has suffered is due chiefly to the 

development by geologists and the adoption by producing companies of 

scientific methods of exploration for oil and the consequent great rapidity 

with which new oil fields in large number have been located and, owing to 

prevalent methods of production, too promptly exploited.

A. A. Baker, N. W. Bass, C. W. Cooke, C. H. Dane, H. D. Miser, O. C. 

Postley, R. W. Richards, G. B. Richardson, W. W. Rubey, L. W. Stephenson, 

and Ralph Stewart prepared summaries on the various petroleum-producing 

States. The reserves of recoverable oil from known fields in the United States 

were estimated as 13,360,000,000 barrels, a not inconsiderable gain over 

estimates of the late 1920's as the result of new discoveries.

David White's contribution to this document was reprinted in the April 

1935 issue of the Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists 

in order to make it more widely available to the profession. A month later, his 

last paper, completed a few days before his death on February 7, 1935, was 

published. Entitled "Metamorphism of organic sediments and derived oils," it 

was a rethinking of his earlier work on the carbon ratio in the light of 20 years of 

additional experience. He found that in many regions, the "oil dead line" fell 

in a far narrower range than previously supposed.

Not since the death of S. F. Emmons in 1911 had the death of a Survey 

geologist called forth so many tributes from all parts of the world. Professor 

Charles Schuchert of Yale summed up his career in the following words: 

"David White came to the United States Geological Survey in 1886 as a 

draughtsman; he left it in 1935 as America's foremost authority on Paleozoic 

stratigraphy based on fossil plants, as her leading expert on the origin and 

evolution of those two plant products, peat and coal, and as the author of a 

theory of oil distribution that is basic to the petroleum industry. In addition, 

he achieved notable success as an administrator in the Survey and in the National Research Council, and he found time, withal, to be mentor and friend to 

hundreds whose affection for him found abundant and constant expression. As 

Mendenhall has so well said, 'His was a career that came to full and happy fruition.' " Mendenhall, in his annual report, also pointed out that David White's 

career was "a striking example of the type of leadership at the service of the 

American people in the scientific establishments at Washington. Recognized 

and honored the world over as a scientist of the highest standing, whose 

research and administrative work had direct practical applications of great 

value; repeatedly offered by commercial organizations salaries several times 

greater than the Government paid him he nevertheless remained in the service throughout his career and devoted his rare abilities and his limitless industry 

to the Government and the people of the United States."

On June 30, 1934, shortly after sending to Congress the preliminary report 

on river development, President Roosevelt created by Executive order a National Resources Board "to prepare and present to the President a program and 

plan of procedure dealing with the physical, social, governmental, and 

economic aspects of public policies for the development and use of land, water, 

and other national resources, and such related subjects as may from time to 

time be referred to it by the President." Secretary Ickes was chairman of the 

Board; the other members were Secretary of War Dern, Secretary of Agriculture 

Wallace, Secretary of Commerce Roper, Secretary of Labor Perkins, Relief 

Administrator Harry Hopkins, and the three members of the former National 

Planning Board, Frederic Delano, Charles Merriam, and Wesley C. Mitchell, 

which was discontinued when the new Board was formed. The staff was enlarged, and a Technical Committee, divided into six sections concerned with

National Resources Board 359
land, water, minerals, power, industry, and transportation, was established. 

The Mississippi Valley Committee, which was also discontinued, became the 

Water Committee, the Leith committee on mineral policy became the Minerals 

Committee, and the joint Agriculture-Interior land planning committee 

became the Land Committee. Director Mendenhall was a member of both the 

Land and Minerals Committees, which were composed, with the exception of 

Leith, of Government experts. The Water Committee, by contrast, was composed of experts from outside the Government with the single exception of the 

Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers.

In November 1934, the National Resources Board gave the President a 

455-page "Report on National Planning and Public Works in Relation to 

Natural Resources and including Land Use and Water Resources with Findings 

and Recommendations." Unlike the Science Advisory Report on Land 

Resources, the NRB report on land planning did not call for specific research. It 

categorized the land area of the United States into four classes: agricultural, 52 

percent; useful nonagricultural (forest, woodland, and grazing), 41 percent; 

nonagricultural nonforest (urban, parks, roads, railroad rights-of-way, bird and 

game refuges, and swamps), 3 percent; and land of little or no use, 4 percent. 

The report projected need for an additional 47 million acres of arable land in 

the next 25 years, and proposed the retirement of some 25 million acres of crop 

land, an increase in Federal ownership of forest lands, and an increase in recreational areas.

The report on water planning called for establishment of a national advisory planning agency for coordinating the use and control of water resources 

because

it is no longer possible to regard either water or land as purely private property, unaffected with a public interest. Whatever the legal rights, no owner 

has a moral right to waste a natural resource or to put it to uses which are 

generally harmful.

360 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936

To provide engineers the data they needed to develop 

flood-control measures, the Public Works Administration allotted funds to the Survey for the compilation of 

data on the magnitude and frequency of floods. On 

New Year's Day 1934, a flood in La Canada Valley 

near Los Angeles, California, moved more than 

800,000 cubic yards of debris from the mountain area 

to the foothills region and valley floor, devastating 

buildings, citrus groves, vineyards, villages and 

highways. The extent and depth of the debris is indicated in the photograph by comparison with the sizes 

of the steam shovels and trucks brought in to remove 

it. The flood water and debris came mostly from the 

mountainous tributary area north of the valley that had 

been almost completely denuded of its vegetative cover 

by a forest fire in November 1933, and this denudation 

was one of the principal causes of the enormous debris 

movement in a flood that followed two December 

storms. (From H. C. Troxell andj. Q. Peterson, 1937.)
As part of an investigation of the relation between 

rainfall and runoff commissioned by the Public Works 

Administration, the Survey studied the relations between precipitation, temperature, evaporation, 

transpiration, runoff, and infiltration as a basis for 

quantitative analysis of the hydrologic cycle over broad 

areas. In the 10-year progressive annual precipitation 

and runoff for selected drainage basins shown in the 

illustration, a change of 1 inch in annual rainfall is 

reflected by a change in runoff of about 0.3 inch in the 

Red River basin, 0.5 inch in the Mississippi River basin, 

and 0.7 to 0.9 inch in the basins of the James, Merrimack, Tennessee, and Chattahoochee Rivers. Evidently 

the annual average precipitation in the preceding 10 

years had been less than the normal demands of 

transpiration and evaporation in the Red River basin 

but had exceeded those demands in the James, Merrimack, Tennessee, and Chattahoochee basins. (From 

W. G. Hoyt and others, 1936.)

The proposed agency would cooperate with and utilize existing and special 

Federal and State agencies to accomplish objectives which the committee defined as: to develop the more productive uses of water resources, such as pure 

water supply, navigation, power, irrigation, and recreation; to eliminate, 

modify, or neutralize harmful influences of waters, such as floods and erosion; 

to eliminate, modify, or neutralize man's harmful handling of waters, including pollution and waste through irrational promotion of runoff and 

drainage; and to accomplish these purposes effectively from the point of view 

of technology, geographical conditions, existing public agencies, and the good 

will of citizens.

The report also called for increased effort in or extension of "surveys, inventories, and records of conditions fundamental for the use and control of 

water resources," including among them the topographic mapping of the 

United States, the system of permanent gaging stations on rivers, the systematic 

inventory of water resources of the Nation, and systematic studies of ground 

water. It also called for an exhaustive study of legislation needed to permit effective cooperation between Federal, State, local, and regional agencies in the 

conservation and effective utilization of water resources, and for surveys, 

studies, and experiments in planning in selected unit areas in the 12 basins and 

districts into which the United States was divided.

\ i'

;f

Chattahoochee Hirer Basin 

abore West Point, Ga.

James Hirer Baeln 

abort Cartersrllle, Ta.

Heosho Hirer Bag IE 

abore lola, Kana.

*.*'

f

f»_

' ~

Hlsslsslppl Hirer Basin 

above Keoknk, Iowa.

Had Hirer Basic 

abore Grand Forks, H. Dak.

f

. i

' f

' -\

. * ""^T V

 

Tennessee Hirer Basin 

above Chattanooga, Term.

Merrlmaok Blrer Baaln 

abort lAwrence, Mass.

14 16 16 20 

Run-off In Inches

Report on Water Planning 361
QC.OLOQIC 5C.CTIOU 0» WlsT 

lklLtL To LtUeTM OF IjLAUD

\SL»UD NY

The Planning Committee for Mineral Policy defined conservation as 

"orderly and efficient use in the interest of national welfare, both in war and 

peace, without unnecessary waste either of the physical resources themselves or 

of the human elements involved in their extraction." The problem in conservation was not to prepare for the day when all fuels and metals would be gone but 

to minimize the adjustment to the stage of increasing cost of resources as the 

rich and accessible deposits were depleted. Waste must be eliminated and 

mineral technology improved, and for that purpose, better coordination of 

private and public effort was needed. An economic organization of the mineral 

industries should be encouraged to minimize the waste of resources and the 

business losses of destructive competition. Tax, tariff, and public-land policies 

should be reviewed in the light of their effects on resource use and conservation. The States should be encouraged to use their constitutional authority to 

prohibit waste by the exercise of police power. The arts of exploration, mining, 

and metallurgy should be fostered to offset the progress of exhaustion of 

resources and the increasing difficulties of their extraction. The liberties, 

health, and living standards of mine workers should be guarded as a primary 

obligation.

In specific recommendations, the committee called for preparation of consumption forecasts by the Bureau of Mines, working in cooperation with the 

Geological Survey and the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce; encouragement of the development of minerals in deficient supply in the United 

States by the methods that had made available supplies of potash, helium, and 

magnesium rather than by use of tariffs; extension of leasing laws to all 

minerals on public lands except in Alaska; physical stockpiling of reserves of 

certain deficient minerals and prohibiting the export of the scrap of metals for 

which the United States depended largely on foreign sources.

Both scientific research and better engineering practices were necessary to 

achieve these goals, the committee added, the most obvious being the extension of topographic and geologic mapping, specific studies of mineral occurrences and mining districts, more thorough inventories of mineral reserves, 

fundamental research in geology to improve methods of finding new mineral 

supplies, improvements in the techniques of exploration, mining, and 

metallurgy, and studies of changes resulting from improvement in transportation. The principal scientific, technical, and statistical services should be in the 

Department of the Interior, but the fact-finding agencies should be separated 

from the administration of mineral codes or production controls to insure independence of scientific inquiry.

In 1932, the Survey began a new study of the groundwater resources of Long Island, New York, which had 

been among the first it had studied in the early 1900's, 

because of concern that too great a draft on the 

ground-water supply would allow the infiltration of 

salt water. New data from wells drilled since the first 

study indicated that certain clay beds (the Gardiner 

clay of the cross section), which A. C. Veatch had 

believed were discontinuous lenses that retarded 

downward movement of water to lower beds but did 

not greatly reduce recharge, are in fact so widespread 

and thick that they more likely had originally covered 

the whole area and their absence in some wells was due 

to erosion rather than nondeposition. The erosion 

channels permitted only restricted recharge of underlying beds in some parts of the island. (From D. G. 

Thompson, F. G. Wells, and H. R. Blank, 1937.)

362 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
The committee concluded that

The exhaustibility of minerals warrants special emphasis on scientific and 

technological investigations by the Government. The value of minerals produced annually is about 50 percent of that of agricultural products derived 

from the soil. Notwithstanding the importance of the mineral problem to 

our national welfare in comparison with agriculture, the total appropriations 

for Government mineral services are only a fiftieth part of the appropriations 

given to similar scientific and technological services in agriculture. 

Minerals, in short, from the standpoint of public attention have been a 

neglected natural resource.

The report of the National Resources Board also included a plan for completion of the topographic map of the United States in 10 years. The plan, 

which had been prepared by the Federal Board of Surveys and Maps at the request of the National Resources Board, established three categories of mapping. For all unmapped and inadequately mapped agricultural lands in the 

Eastern and Southern States where farms were small and irregular, and other 

areas of extreme economic importance, an area estimated as about 300,000 

square miles, planimetric maps would be compiled from aerial photographs 

and published at a scale of 1:24,000, followed by preparation of contour maps 

to be published as advance sheets at 1:31,680 and in final form at 1:62,500. For 

agricultural lands in States where the farms were large and regular and other 

areas of moderate economic importance, an area estimated as 1,216,000 square 

miles, planimetric maps would be compiled and published at 1:31,680, followed by preparation of contour maps to be published in advance form at 

1:48,000 and in final form at 1:62,500. Maps of the remaining 700,000 square 

miles would be published only as topographic contour sheets, in advance form 

at 1:96,000 and final form at 1:125,000. All mapping, except for primary control by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, would be done by the Geological 

Survey. The total cost was estimated as $117 million.

The Science Advisory Board had also become interested in the surveying 

and mapping services of the Federal Government through discussions with the 

Bureau of the Budget and had appointed a committee that issued a report at 

about the same time. The SAB committee consisted of Douglas Johnson, Professor of Physiography at Columbia University, chairman; W. L G. Joerg, 

Research Editor of the American Geographical Society; Robert H. Randall, 

President and Chief Engineer of R. H. Randall Co., geodetic and topographic 

engineers; C. C. Williams, Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa, along with Isaiah Bowman, C. K. Leith, and Frank DeWolf of the 

earlier committee on the Geological Survey, which had considered but not 

recommended a proposed new Bureau of Survey of Maps. The larger committee 

reversed that recommendation. It found that there had been unnecessary 

duplication of effort and waste of public funds because different Federal agencies covered the same territory with successive surveys, each adapted to its own 

needs rather than to the general needs of the Federal Government and the 

public, and also because of "structural defects" in certain bureaus. Production 

of the standard map could be expedited and major economies effected only by 

placing the primary surveying and mapping of the lands and adjacent waters of 

the United States and its territorial possessions under the unified control of a 

central surveying and mapping agency.

The SAB committee concluded that the central surveying and mapping 

agency should preferably be placed directly under the President, with the 

Department of the Interior or the Department of Commerce as alternatives. In 

each case, however, the Coast and Geodetic Survey would be the nucleus of the 

new mapping service and units or parts of units from other agencies would be 

transferred to the new agency; and the system of commissioning properly 

qualified personnel, mandated by law in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, would

Surveying and Mapping Services 363
be extended to those transferred. The committee recommended that the 

Topographic Branch and the Division of Engraving and Printing of the 

Geological Survey be transferred to the new agency; the Topographic Branch it 

found, "owing to defects of organization" had not been "sufficiently alert in 

testing, inventing, developing and perfecting new methods and instruments," 

and its "total past production" and "present pioneering activities" were not 

"commensurate with what they might have been and should be under the 

stimulus of inspiring expert direction." The committee, exhibiting a certain 

amount of naivete about Government operations, proposed that the central 

mapping agency be financed by transferred funds. Each agency requiring mapping services would present its needs to the Bureau of the Budget and to Congress, secure appropriations to meet those needs, and then transfer the funds to 

the central mapping agency.

In other recommendations, the committee stated that the first objective of 

the national mapping plan should be completion of the standard topographic 

map of the United States at 1:62,500, or 1:125,000 if necessary to complete 

mountainous areas already far advanced at that scale, and that "where urgent 

Federal needs require the central agency to undertake topographic mapping on 

scales greater than 1:62,500 such work should so far as practicable be 

assimilated to the scale which can best be made the next objective of a more 

detailed survey of the national terrain." The policy of cooperative mapping 

should be reviewed, for cooperative surveys could retard the progress of the 

overall plan by calling for departures from national standards or result in a program determined too little by national needs and too much by the ability to 

pay of certain States. Other recommendations dealt with such fine points as 

engraving on glass and the use of stereoscopic methods in plotting. In conclusion, the committee stated that consolidation had "in principle" been 

approved by the Coast and Geodetic Survey and by the U.S. Section of the International Boundary Commission, and that "influential elements in the 

Topographic Branch and in the Division of Engraving and Printing of the 

Geological Survey have long advocated some form of consolidation of mapping 

activities, or separation from the Geological Survey to form an independent 

topographic mapping unit."

The Director of the Bureau of the Budget sent the report of the Science 

Advisory Board committee, together with drafts of three alternative Executive 

orders to set up the central mapping agency, to Secretary Ickes for comment. 

Ickes was never one to view lightly any dismantling of his department, however 

slight. Moreover, he had in hand the report of the Federal Board of Surveys and 

Maps on the subject, and, secure in the knowledge that powerful elements in 

the National Academy of Sciences were dismayed by some of the activities of 

the Science Advisory Board, was already on a collision course with the Science 

Advisory Board. In his reply to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, which 

had been prepared by the Director of the Geological Survey, he opposed the 

creation of the central mapping agency and proposed, as an alternative, that 

the Division of Geodesy of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which was not a 

mapmaking group although its work was related to mapmaking, be transferred 

to the Topographic Branch of the Geological Survey, "the major mapping 

organization of the country," and that the remainder of the Coast and 

Geodetic Survey be combined with the Hydrographic Office of the Navy. Accompanying the letter was a draft of an Executive order for the transfer of the 

Division of Geodesy.

The attempt to form a single mapping agency was no more successful than 

those that had preceded it in the years since the National Academy of Sciences 

had suggested it in 1878. No Executive orders were issued, and the Geological 

Survey and the Coast and Geodetic Survey each retained its integrity and 

autonomy. The Mendenhall-Ickes letter, however, achieved a degree of endur364 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
ing fame, being placed for the record in Congressional documents, by suggesting that the mapping activities of the Government fell naturally into two 

great groups which required different kinds of training and experience, one "a 

landsman's job, the other * * * essentially a seaman's job," and concluding 

that it would not be sensible, nor would it contribute to economy or efficiency 

"to place our land mapping activities under a coast, harbor, and sea surveying 

organization because both involve some forms of engineering'' and thus put 

"ensigns and commanders and captains in charge of surveying the plains of 

Kansas or the Mojave Desert."

The Science Advisory Board met with no more success with its new version 

of a program for science, which was completed at about the same time. The new 

science program called for allocation of 0.5 percent of the Public Works 

emergency appropriations for scientific and engineering research; formulation 

of programs of research both within and outside the Government by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council, and a new Science 

Advisory Board; the appropriation of $5 million annually for support of scientific and engineering research outside the Government; and maintenance of 

the scientific bureaus of the Government with adequate personnel and appropriations. President Roosevelt delegated the task of evaluating the program

Charles Kenneth Leith (1875-1956), Geologist, U.S. 

Geological Survey, 1895-1905; Professor of Geology, 

University of Wisconsin, 1902-1945; mineral adviser to 

the Federal Government in World Wars I and II. Leith 

was one of the first members of the Science Advisory 

Board appointed in 1933, served as chairman of its 

subcommittee on the Geological Survey and the 

Bureau of Mines, prepared the plan for the geologic 

and economic survey of the Boulder Dam region, and 

proposed the mineral policy planning committee that 

later became part of the National Resources Board. He 

was cited by the University of Wisconsin in 1956 as 

"At once perceptive scholar and practical man of affairs, he has played a decisive role in the development 

of our national policy on mineral resources." (Courtesy 

of the University of Wisconsin Archives.)

Program for Science 365
to Secretary Ickes who, in turn delegated it to the Advisory Committee of the 

National Resources Board. At the end of January 1935, Secretary Ickes wrote to 

the President suggesting that the Science Advisory Board be abolished, that the 

planning function be placed with a Science Committee, which would include 

the social sciences and education as well as the physical sciences, under the National Resources Board. He urged that adequate Federal appropriations be 

made to finance specific research projects and provide generous support for the 

scientific work carried on by the Government but opposed any appropriation 

for unspecified projects to be determined by any science research committee.

118 113°

35'

25 

I

50 MILES

M ' ' ' i i r

0 25 50 75 KILOMETERS

366 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
With PWA funds allocated to the Bureau of Reclamation and transferred to the Survey, six Survey geologists 

made a field study in the region of Boulder Dam, then 

under construction, primarily to appraise the mineral 

resources of the region with respect to their probable 

availability as the basis of industries that would consume power generated at the dam. The illustration is 

part of the map of nonferrous metal districts included 

in the report. Gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc 

deposits were indicated by their chemical symbols, and 

the type of deposit by letters: V, vein; D, irregular 

body; PL, placer; O, oxidized ore; and S, sulfide ore. 

The circular symbols indicate whether the district had 

been recently examined by the Survey, whether or not 

production had been recorded, whether the reserve was 

undetermined or small, or noteworthy. The arc on the 

outer rim indicated the value of production for the 

period 1902-1932. (From D. F. Hewett, Eugene 

Callaghan, B. N. Moore, T. B. Nolan, W. W. Rubey, 

and W. T. Schaller, 1936.)

The Ickes plan for a Science Committee was quickly approved and the National 

Academy of Sciences, the Social Sciences Research Council, and the American 

Council on Education were asked to nominate members of the new Science 

Committee. The Federal Government was willing to seek advice about scientific research but it intended to keep control of what was done.

In his annual message to Congress on January 4, 1935, President Roosevelt 

in referring to the National Resources Board said that its

study of our national resources, more comprehensive than any previously 

made, shows the vast amount of necessary and practicable work which 

needs to be done for the development of our national wealth for the enjoyment and advantage of our people in generations to come. The sound use 

of land and water is far more comprehensive than the mere planting of 

trees, building of dams, distributing of electricity, or retirement of submarginal land. It recognizes that stranded populations, either in the country or 

in the city, cannot have security under the conditions that now surround.

Most of the message was devoted to a program of social reform with three major 

goals: security of livelihood through better use of national resources, security 

against the major hazards and vicissitudes of life, and security of decent homes. 

Among the few specific recommendations was the renewal and clarification of 

the National Industrial Recovery Act due to expire at the end of the fiscal year. 

The budget message on the following day proposed a budget of $8.52 billion 

that was balanced except for expenditures for relief and to provide work for the 

unemployed.

The National Resources Board had called for increased Federal spending 

on many conservation and research programs, and the Bureau of the Budget 

had approved a substantial increase in the Survey appropriation, especially for 

topographic surveys, water-resources investigations, Alaskan mineral resources, 

and classification of the public lands. Congressman Scrugham of Nevada, a 

new member of the Appropriations Committee, was in charge when Director 

Mendenhall and his usual entourage appeared for hearings on the Survey 

appropriations. The atmosphere was noticeably less formal than in the sessions 

when Congressman Taylor was in charge, Mendenhall was teased about running up the cost of government with his $500-a-year raise, which he disclaimed 

as "without solicitation or expectation," and the famed Mendenhall sense of 

humor was given free rein. The House committee concerned itself particularly 

with the appropriations for topographic surveys, geologic surveys, and waterresources investigations. The recommended appropriation for topographic 

surveys was $400,000, much larger than that for the year underway but less 

than the amount being offered by the States and a far cry from the annual appropriation of $11-12 million recommended by the National Resources Board. 

Although Scrugham urged that the Federal Government assume the entire 

responsibility for topographic surveys, the committee accepted the recommendation of the Bureau of the Budget. For geologic surveys, the Bureau of the 

Budget had recommended a small increase to $325,000. Scrugham took the 

lead in a discussion of mineral inventories, such as the one around Boulder 

Dam which the Survey had made for the Bureau of Reclamation. Mendenhall 

said that such inventories would be especially valuable in areas of potential 

power development, but in answer to Scrugham's inquiry whether one would 

be made in the Columbia River area, said "Not on this money." Scrugham was 

also interested in a resurvey of the Comstock, which Mendenhall also agreed 

should be made but again said could not be made "on this money." The committee then voted to increase the appropriation for geologic surveys to 

$335,000. For water-resources investigations, the Bureau of the Budget had 

recommended $630,000, which would provide $425,000 for cooperative investigations, $52,000 for Colorado River stations, $88,000 for Federal rivermeasurement stations in the Mississippi, Columbia, and Colorado River basins

Appropriations, 1935 367
for which PWA had originally allocated the funds, and $65,000 for administration and noncooperative investigations. The committee cut the recommended 

appropriation for Federal stations to $75,000. The House approved the recommendation of its Appropriation Committee, which was only $3,000 less than 

that of the Bureau of the Budget.

The Senate increased the appropriations for several items so that in the 

end the Survey received $175,000 more than the amount recommended by the 

Bureau of the Budget. By the time the Senate committee hearings were held, it 

was clear that funds in the new Emergency Relief bill could not be used to supplement regular funds as NIRA funds had been. The Senate committee had 

also received a barrage of letters and telegrams complaining that Congress was 

not appropriating sufficient funds to match State offerings for cooperative investigations of water resources and a resolution from the American Mining 

Congress urging an annual appropriation adequate to maintain the Survey at 

an effective level. The Senate committee recommended increases over the 

House bill of $150,000 for water-resources investigations, $115,000 for geologic 

surveys, $60,000 for Alaskan mineral resources (or a restoration of the $100,000 

appropriation of pre-World War days), and $25,000 for supervision of mineral 

leasing. No explanation was offered for the recommended increases and the 

Senate approved them without question. The conference committee accepted 

the Senate figure for geologic surveys and the House figure for supervision of 

mineral leasing, and compromised on the other proposed increases, allowing 

$30,000 for Alaskan mineral resources but only $20,000 for water resources. 

Thus in the final version of the bill, approved on May 9, 1935, the appropriation for geologic surveys was the largest in Survey history to that date, although 

$50,000 less than the combined appropriations for geologic surveys and fundamental research in fiscal year 1931; the appropriation for water resources was 

about 15 percent more than in 1931, for Alaskan mineral resources, about 7 

percent less; and for topographic surveys only a little more that half what it had 

been in 1931.

Legislation to renew and clarify the National Industrial Recovery Act was 

filed in both houses, but before any action was taken the Supreme Court, early 

in January 1935, struck down the provision in the NRA Petroleum Code that 

authorized the President to prohibit the transportation in interstate and foreign 

commerce of oil produced or withdrawn from storage in violation of State law 

on the grounds that it was an improper delegation of legislative authority. The 

oil industry had by this time concluded that Government control was to its advantage. Congress very quickly passed the Connally "Hot Oil" Act, approved 

February 22, 1935, which prohibited the shipment of contraband oil in interstate or foreign commerce for a period of 2 years. (The act was renewed in 

1937 and 1939 and eventually made permanent.) Congress also authorized an 

Interstate Compact to Conserve Oil and Gas. Depending on one's viewpoint, 

these actions either enabled the oil industry to "avoid the twin horrors of competition and antitrust action" or provided a means of conserving oil by 

avoiding the waste generated by unrestricted or unregulated competition. In 

April 1935, C. K. Leith told the Senate Finance Committee while it was considering the renewal of the National Industrial Recovery Act the prevention of 

waste was one of the prime tenets in the conservation of nonrenewable 

resources. The Mineral Policy Committee believed that there should be some 

measure of production, capacity, or price control for exhaustible resources even 

after the National Industrial Recovery Act expired. Not only exhaustibility but 

unequal geographic distribution of minerals, and not only conservation but 

also national defense requirements made it important to prevent waste.

Secretary Ickes had by this time begun to consider the Department of the 

Interior the principal Federal agency of conservation. He was thus more than a 

little irritated when the Soil Erosion Control Division was transferred from In368 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
With funds allotted to the Survey by the Public Works 

Administration for investigations of mineral resources 

east of the Rocky Mountains, most of the known gold 

deposits in the Piedmont region of Virginia, North and 

South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama were examined 

in 1934 and 1935. Gold mining in the area, which had 

begun in 1799 but almost ceased during World War I 

and the period of high costs that followed, was showing signs of revival. J. T. Pardee and C. F. Park Jr., 

found that both lodes and placers were being mined 

although in many places there was no definite separation between residual placers and the lodes from which 

they were derived, and thus the classification of a given 

deposit sometimes depended on the method by which 

it was worked. The photograph shows a steam dragline 

and a portable machine for recovering placer gold 

operating in Goochland County, Virginia, where the 

gravels were said to contain about 0.011 ounces of gold 

per cubic yard. (FromJ. T. Pardee and C. F. Park, Jr., 

1948.)

terior to Agriculture at the end of March 1935 by Executive order. The order 

anticipated passage of legislation to establish a Soil Conservation Service in the 

Department of Agriculture but followed a complaint from Secretary Wallace to 

President Roosevelt that the Department of the Interior was interfering in 

agricultural matters. Secretary Ickes told the President then that he would like 

to be relieved of all responsibility for the works program and have all conservation activities in Interior. As this would require legislation, Ickes was told to 

canvass sentiment on the Hill, and on April 10 he was given authorization to go 

ahead with a bill. Two weeks later the bill was ready, proposing to change the 

name of the Department of the Interior to Department of Conservation and 

Works and to give the President the power for 2 years, subject to review by 

Congress, to transfer bureaus to and from Interior. When the bill was filed, 

newspaper correspondents immediately read into it a conflict between the 

Departments of Agriculture and Interior for control of the Forest Service, and 

Ickes confided to his diary, "they are not far wrong at that." When the Senate 

hearings were held in mid-May, representatives of the Forest Service appeared 

in opposition to the bill although their opposition had to be on general 

grounds as there was nothing in the bill itself to bring up the question of a 

transfer of the Forest Service.

All of this was overshadowed by the announcement by the Supreme Court 

on May 27, 1935, that the National Industrial Recovery Act was unconstitutional because Congress had exercised power beyond the scope of the interstate 

commerce clause and had delegated too much power outside its own reach. 

Four days later, in a press conference, President Roosevelt noted that the implications of this decision carried to their logical conclusion would exclude 

Federal jurisdiction over construction, mining, manufacturing, and agriculture, 

or four of the five major economic activities of the Nation. Almost immediately 

after the decision was announced, C. K. Leith suggested to Secretary Ickes that 

the Mineral Policy Committee draft a general enabling act covering all natural 

resources to replace the codes covering the mineral industries, but Ickes held

Department of Conservation 369
that the committee should not frame legislation unless the President specifically requested it to do so. Leith then attempted to bring the matter to the 

President's attention but the other members of the Mineral Policy Committee 

refused to endorse his letter.

Administration officials debated on a course of action in response to the 

Supreme Court decision but on June 4 the President announced his post-NRA 

policy. He recommended a program looking not to central control of the 

economy but the the patrolling of separate sections by separate laws, and called 

for passage of the Wagner bill, of a law enforcing wages, hours, and anti-childlabor provisions on public contractors, and of the Guffey bill to replace NRA in 

the coal industry. Again Roosevelt took the initiative and during the summer 

prodded Congress into action. The stream of legislation that followed was 

reminiscent of the first hundred days of the administration. Among the laws 

enacted were the Guffey-Snyder Act which, in effect, reenacted the bituminous 

coal code of the NRA and created the Bituminous Coal Labor Board and the 

National Bituminous Coal Commission to administer it, and an act requiring 

the development under unit plans of oil pools on public lands under lease.

As the newly revived administration swung into action, Roosevelt had 

issued an Executive order on June 7 abolishing the National Resources Board, 

which had been set up under the National Industrial Recovery Act, and 

reestablishing it as a National Resources Committee in the enlarged form 

earlier proposed by Secretary Ickes. The Technical Committee was expanded to 

include two new sections on urbanism and science. The Science section was 

composed of nine members, three each named by the National Academy of 

Sciences, the American Council on Education, and the Social Science Research 

Council. The National Academy of Sciences nominated its president, F. R. 

Lillie, Professor E. B. Wilson of Harvard, both zoologists, andj. C. Merriam, 

President of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, a paleontologist. The

Oil became so plentiful in the early 1930's that Congress made an extensive investigation of the petroleum 

industry in 1934 as background for the development of 

legislation for regulation of the industry. As part of the 

investigation, Survey geologists prepared a comprehensive summary of U.S. reserves, calculating that as of 

December 31, 1933, recoverable oil amounted to 13.16 

billion barrels. The map shows the producing fields 

and areas known at that time. The Survey considered it 

reasonable to assume that productive fields would be 

discovered in the future, some possibly as prolific as 

any then producing, but probable that the number of 

new fields would be less than the number already 

found. (From U.S. Congress, 1935.)

370 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
Land Section of the Technical Committee continued with much the same 

membership, but the Water Section was new, composed largely of Federal experts including the Survey's Chief Hydraulic Engineer N. C. Grover, the Commissioner of Reclamation Elwood Mead, and H. H. Bennett, head of the Soil 

Conservation Service. The Minerals Committee was continued but without any 

clear sense of purpose and with some disagreement among the members about 

its future course; early in January 1936, it was disbanded and its functions were 

taken over by the National Resources Committee. In anticipation of the demise 

of the Minerals Committee, Leith arranged for a thorough study of mineral 

conservation under the auspices of the Brookings Institution in Washington. 

The Science Advisory Board, due to expire on June 30, 1935, was also given a 

6-month extension in order to give the National Academy of Sciences time to 

provide some means for carrying on its work. This the Academy did through a 

reorganized Committee on Governmental Relations, its Executive Committee 

dominated by former members of the board, and newly renamed The Government Relations and Science Advisory Committee.

The Geologic Branch in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1935, was almost 

back to normal. It had the largest appropriation it had had to that time for 

geologic surveys, some PWA funds were still available, cooperative funds were 

available from Colorado, Idaho, and New Mexico, and the National Park Service provided funds for physiographic and geologic studies in Yosemite, 

Sequoia, and Zion National Parks. Fifty field parties were at work in 35 States. 

The branch was also under new management. T. W. Stanton retired as Chief 

Geologist and was succeeded by G. F. Loughlin, Chief of the Metals Section. 

D. F. Hewett, who for many years had been closely associated with Leith, 

became the new Chief of the Metals Section.

The Metals Section undertook investigations not only in the Western 

States but also in the Mississippi Valley and the Southern Appalachian States. 

In Colorado, Wilbur Burbank returned to the San Juan region and E. B. Eckel 

to the La Plata region; T. S. Levering and E. N. Goddard were in the Front 

Range; A. H. Koschmann back at Cripple Creek; and C. W. Behre in the Mosquito Range. In Idaho, P. J. Shenon continued field work in the Coeur d'Alene 

district, J. C. Reed in the Florence and Warren districts of Idaho County, and 

C. P. Ross in the Boise Basin. In New Mexico, S. G. Lasky continued his field 

study of the Little Hatchet Mountains. In other areas, the Survey aided the 

State Survey of Arizona in mapping the Tombstone area by supplying the services of B. S. Butler, H. G. Ferguson resumed mapping the HawthorneTonopah quadrangles in Nevada, F. C. Calkins began a resurvey of the 

Comstock district, E. T. McKnight continued detailed areal and underground 

mapping in the Tri-State area of Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas, andj. T. 

Pardee and C. F. Park continued mapping in the Southern Appalachian gold 

region.

Fuels Section geologists resumed work in California, Utah, Wyoming, 

Kansas, and Oklahoma, and also continued the investigations begun under 

PWA auspices in New York. In California, W. P. Woodring gathered additional data on the Kettleman Hills oil and gas fields, and studied the oil 

resources and subsurface structure and stratigraphy of the Mountain View and 

Edison fields near Bakersfield. C. B. Hunt began a field study of the geology 

and oil and gas resources of the Hanksville-Cainsville area in Utah that was later 

extended to a study of the Henry Mountains. W. G. Pierce and D. A. Andrews 

made field studies of the geology and fuel resources of an area on the western 

margin of the Big Horn Basin in the north-central part of Park County, Wyoming. T. A. Hendricks made field investigations of the petroleum possibilities, 

structure, and stratigraphy of the Black Knob Ridge and adjacent areas in the 

Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma, and N. W. Bass resumed the cooperative 

investigation in Kansas, studying the limestones of Mississippian age found in

Geology, 1935 371
deep wells in the eastern and southeastern part of the State. W. H. Bradley 

continued the field investigations of the gas resources and structure in southcentral and western New York, begun under a PWA grant, and found 10 

domes considered suitable for drilling.

The Alaskan Geology Branch also had a full field season in 1935. F. H. 

Moffit and Gerald FitzGerald mapped in the Alaska Range between the Copper and Tanana Rivers, FitzGerald, as had become customary, in an area 

previously unmapped even in an exploratory way, little known and rarely 

visited except by prospectors, hunters, or native Alaskans. J. B. Mertie, Jr., 

completed the geologic investigation in the Nushagak region of southwestern 

Alaska begun by P. A. Davison in 1931. S. R. Capps returned to Kodiak Island 

to map the southern and central part, and R. H. Sargent continued mapping in 

the Admiralty Island area. Stephen Taber joined the branch temporarily to 

begin a special investigation of the effect of permanently frozen ground on 

mining developments in central and western Alaska, especially in the Fairbanks 

and Nome districts.

The Conservation Branch was severely handicapped by lack of funds in the 

fiscal year beginning July 1, 1935. The Power Division was able to continue its 

field investigations because of the extended availability of PWA funds but the 

Mineral Classification Division was restricted to the office and even there 

delayed by lack of geologic information as the result of limited field work. In 

the leasing divisions, field engineers had to be assigned to Washington because 

of the great number of unit plans submitted for technical review, with consequent sacrifice of field duties, omission of inspections, and loss in resources and 

revenue.

The Water Resources program expanded in the year beginning July 1, 

1935, an expansion clearly in line with the call of the Water Planning Committee of the National Resources Committee for the extension of surveys, inventories, and records of conditions fundamental for the use and control of water 

resources but also the result, at least in part, of the many problems caused by 

the disastrous drought in 1934 and the increasing drain on ground-water 

resources. Stream-flow records were obtained in all 48 States, the District of 

Columbia, and the Territory of Hawaii, and at the year's end the number of 

stations in operation had increased to 3,163. Most of these measurements were 

related to such long-standing purposes as irrigation, municipal supply, or 

power.

SW.

Forest BellGraySquirrel -\

fault-flexure) 

f UrT f

\

NE.

Ouray fault

Uncompah£re "break"

lia the Uncompahgre district of Ouray County, Colorado, W. S. Burbank found that the principal ore 

deposits were closely associated with laccolithic intrusions and local uplift of late Upper Cretaceous and 

early Eocene age but their location was largely governed by structural trends and axes of uplift established 

in late Paleozoic time that in part renewed and accentuated structural lines of late Precambrian time. An 

idealized section of the southern part of the district 

shows the relations of the main faults and folds in the 

Precambrian basement to faults and folds in the immediately overlying Paleozoic limestone. Two main 

structural axes crossed near the center of eruptive activity and divided the district into four sections in 

which, because of different relations to the structural 

axes and the intrusive rocks, the conditions of mineralization were different and prospectors must use different criteria in the search for ore. (From W. S. Burbank, 

1940.)

372 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
To test various theories of the force required to move 

particles on a stream bed, W. W. Rubey reexamined 

the data from G. K. Gilbert's laboratory experiments 

on the transportation of debris by running water (see 

page 131) and found that the classic 6th-power law was 

valid for large particles such as coarse sand and gravel. 

In the idealized velocity gradient very near a stream 

bed shown in the diagram, the velocity within a film of 

laminar flow increases greatly with distance from the 

stream bed to a "bed" velocity at the boundary between that film and the main mass of turbulent water 

above it. The forces acting on a particle immersed 

within the film increase greatly with the dimensions of 

the particle or the height to which it stands above the 

stream floor, hence the forces acting on particle B to 

push, drag, and lift it may be enough greater than 

those acting on particle A to move B without moving 

A. The steepness of the velocity gradient is the controlling factor but the start of movement depends at 

least in part on surface drag or hydraulic lift. (From 

W. W. Rubey, 1936.)

Ground water, however, was being used in new ways, such as in air conditioning and industrial applications, in some areas and was increasingly being 

turned to in other areas for irrigation and public water supplies. The quantitative investigations that the Survey had been conducting became even 

more important under such circumstances. The Survey's ground-water investigations in 1935, in 21 States and the Territory of Hawaii, were concerned 

with a variety of problems. In the Humid States east of the Mississippi River, 

systematic ground-water investigations were continued in Connecticut, in New 

York, where R. M. Leggette took charge of field work, and in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and western Florida. In Indiana, where more than 80 percent of all 

municipalities obtained their water supplies from ground water, R. C. Cady 

made a reconnaissance of the northern part of the State and selected 87 observation wells to begin a cooperative program. In the semiarid and arid regions 

most of the investigations were drought-related. In South Dakota, T. W. 

Robinson measured the depth to the water level and artesian pressure in about 

75 artesian wells west of the Missouri River and A. N. Sayre investigated the 

ground-water conditions in the valleys of the James and Cheyenne Rivers where 

the Army Engineers were attempting to determine the extent of the shortages 

in water supply. In Nebraska, L. K. Wenzel, with the assistance of H. A. 

Waite, selected 350 observation wells in Keith County where the construction 

of large reservoirs in connection with the Platte Valley and Central Nebraska irrigation districts made information on ground-water resources very important. 

Wenzel also arranged informal cooperation with the city of Grand Island, 

Nebraska, where a depression in the water table had been noted earlier, and 55 

observation wells were constructed there. In Texas, a statewide inventory of 

water wells and water-table and seepage studies were begun with the aid of a 

PWA grant sponsored by the State. A statewide program was also begun in 

Utah where the increasing number of disputes between owners of nearby wells 

had persuaded the legislature to enact a ground-water law and appropriate 

funds to begin the investigation as the basis for administration of the law. The 

State Engineer arranged for cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey and 

G. H. Taylor and H. E. Thomas began the program on July 1. In the first 

season, 230 observation wells were selected where data on the position and fluctuations of ground-water levels could be obtained as the basis for later investigations to be extended throughout the State. The Oregon State Water Resources Department also arranged for cooperation with the Survey to begin an 

observation-well program in the semiarid region east of the Cascade 

Mountains.

In the spring of 1935, C. V. Theis had presented to the American 

Geophysical Union an important new formula for use in such quantitative investigations, the nonequilibrium formula for determining the drawdown of the 

water level in the vicinity of a discharging well, taking into account the removal

Water Resources, 1935 373
of water from storage. The formula was called "nonequilibrium" because it 

did not depend on the hydraulic system's reaching a state of equilibrium. In 

nature, the hydraulic system in an aquifer is in balance; discharge and recharge 

are equal and the water table is more or less fixed. When discharge through 

wells is superimposed on that system, water levels are lowered in the vicinity of 

the wells and a new equilibrium must be established. For many years, the 

lowering was considered a local phenomenon and the reestablishment of 

equilibrium a short-term process, but evidence had been accumulating that at 

least in artesian areas a much larger area and longer time were involved than 

had been believed. Theis based his formula on the assumption that Darcy's law 

is analogous to the law of flow of heat by conduction and thus that the 

mathematical theory of heat conduction is largely applicable to hydraulic 

theory. Later development and use of the formula indicated that well discharge 

may affect the whole aquifer and the draft on storage may continue for several 

generations, even though at a distance these effects may be small.

The Topographic Branch, like the Conservation Branch, had a problem 

with inadequate funds. Most of its PWA funds had been spent, and the appropriation of only $400,000 limited the amount of cooperative funds that 

could be accepted. As a result, expenditures for topographic mapping were 

only about 70 percent of those in the preceding fiscal year, and field mapping 

for standard contour maps covered only 18,555 square miles. Although the 

amount of mapping declined, the program remained national in scope, as 

mapping was done in 43 States, and 70 percent was done at the 1:62,500 scale 

in accordance with the national mapping plan. In addition, planimetric maps 

of 31,654 square miles in 8 States were made from aerial photographs and 

given a field check. The bulk of the planimetric mapping was in the Tennessee 

Valley, and the 766 maps needed by TVA were completed by the end of the 

year.

Congress adjourned on August 26, 1935, and the President left 

Washington for several weeks, beginning with a train trip across the country in 

September, with a stop for the dedication of Boulder Dam, followed by a 

leisurely cruise on the Houston. It was a peaceful interlude, but a short one. In 

October, Italy invaded Ethiopia. Although Roosevelt quickly invoked the 

Neutrality Act, which Congress had passed shortly before adjournment, and 

representatives of 51 nations voted in the League of Nations Assembly to 

impose sanctions on Italy, which went into effect in November, the Italians 

continued their advance. In December, the French and British foreign 

ministers agreed to a partition of Ethiopia.

In his annual message to Congress, which he delivered personally before a 

joint evening session on January 3, 1936, Roosevelt spoke of the increasing tension in Europe and Asia. As a matter of policy, he said, the United States was 

following "a two-fold neutrality toward any and all Nations which engage in 

wars that are not of immediate concern to the Americas. First, we decline to 

encourage the prosecution of war by permitting belligerents to obtain arms, 

ammunition or implements of war from the United States. Second, we seek to 

discourage the use by belligerent Nations of any and all American products 

calculated to facilitate the prosecution of a war in quantities over and above our 

normal exports of them in time of peace."

On January 6, 1936, the Supreme Court challenged Federal jurisdiction in 

another area by declaring the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 unconstitutional. The Court based its decision on the processing tax which the majority 

decided was not a tax but part of a system for regulating agricultural production. Secretary of Agriculture Wallace, who had already had some doubts about 

the processing tax, had new legislation ready to be submitted, and the Soil 

Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act became law only 54 days later, 

enabling the Government to continue the restriction of agricultural output by

374 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
providing benefit payments to growers who practiced soil conservation by not 

planting soil-depleting crops.

The implications of the Supreme Court decision were far reaching, for this 

time in presenting its case the Government had invoked the clause giving Congress power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the 

debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United 

States." The general-welfare clause, the Government argued, should be construed broadly to include anything that was conducive to the national welfare. 

The Court declared, however, that agriculture was not a national problem and 

that it did not help "to declare that local conditions throughout the nation 

have created a situation of national concern; for this is but to say that whenever 

there is a widespread similarity of local conditions, Congress may ignore any 

constitutional limitations upon its powers and usurp those reserved to the 

States." The problem with respect to agriculture had been eased, but the nagging question remained: if agricultural problems did not affect the general 

welfare of the United States, what other Federal activities might be challenged?

On February 17, the Court upheld the dams built under TVA as a 

legitimate exercise of the Federal Government's power to control navigable 

streams and to provide for the common defense, but 3 months later, on 

May 18, declared the Guffey Coal Act was an infringement of states' rights and 

therefore unconstitutional. In the Guffey case, a stockholder had asked the 

Court to enjoin the Carter Coal Company from collaborating with the system of 

bituminous coal regulations established the year before to replace the NRA coal 

code. His lawyer argued that coal mining was just as much a local activity as 

farming or manufacturing, and therefore not subject to Federal regulation, 

although the company in question shipped most of its coal outside the State 

where it was mined. Seven coal-producing States supported the Government

After Congress authorized cooperative development of 

oil fields including public lands, the Survey began an 

investigation of the geology of the Kettleman Hills in 

central California, which included a considerable 

acreage of public lands, primarily to provide data to 

aid public-land officials in cooperating with the 

leaseholders and holders of private lands to conserve 

and utilize the resources to the greatest possible advantage. In working out the stratigraphy and structure of 

the area, Woodring and his coworkers paid particular 

attention to the zonal paleontology of the Pliocene section that crops out in the Kettleman Hills. Sand dollars 

of the genus Dendraster were among the most abundant of the stratigraphically important fossils in the 

San Joaquin and Etchegoin Formations. The type specimen of Dendraster coalingaensis macer Stewart, from 

the Etchegoin Formation, is shown. (From W. P. 

Woodring, Ralph Stewart, and R. W. Richards, 1940.)

Supreme Court Decisions 375
case with briefs stating that the act did not endanger States' rights and that 

Federal regulation was the only solution for the coal industry. A majority of the 

Court found that the labor provisions of the Guffey Act, which had yet to be 

put into effect and were not in issue, were unconstitutional, and therefore that 

price stabilization and fair-trade practices, which were in issue, must also be 

unconstitutional. The decision ignored the stipulation in the act that if any 

provision of the statute were to be held invalid, the other provisions would not 

be affected thereby. The decision, according to A. M. Schlesinger, Jr., was "a 

staggering blow against the whole idea of national power.''

The second session of the 74th Congress was a relatively short one, it being 

a presidential election year, and it provided few new major legislative enactments beyond the appropriations bills. President Roosevelt's plan to establish a 

National Resources Board was bottled up in committee in both houses and 

Secretary Ickes' bill for a Department of Conservation languished in a House 

committee. Nonetheless, Ickes continued to emphasize the role of the Department of the Interior in conservation, and in December 1935 told the House 

Committee on Appropriations that

Expediency in dealing with our natural resources can no longer be justified 

as Federal policy. * * * Careful and concentrated thought must be 

devoted to their protection and development through wise use.

For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1936, the Department had approved a 

Survey budget of $3,398,000, larger than any appropriation the Survey had 

received before that time but about the same amount as the combined PWA 

and directly appropriated funds for the year then underway. The largest increases were proposed for topographic surveys, water-resources investigations, 

and supervision of mineral leasing activities on the public lands. A smaller 

increase was proposed for geologic surveys, in part to support the geophysical 

activities being transferred from the Bureau of Mines to the Survey. The justification for geologic surveys stated the funds were needed "not only for the 

surveys of districts not previously studied in detail but for the periodic resurvey 

of leading mining districts," a recommendation of the AIME symposium in 

1934, and "for the mineral inventories long recommended by the Geological 

Survey itself and now by the Mineral Policy Committee of the National 

Resources Committee." Somberly, the statement added

Obviously much more concentrated attention should be given to strategic 

and deficiency minerals. There is great unrest in the world, and all that it is 

possible to do should be done to make this country self-sufficient in the 

mineral field.

The Bureau of the Budget slashed the requested appropriation for the 

Survey by 30 percent and recommended to Congress an appropriation of only 

$75,000 more than the current appropriation. The Department had requested 

$1,000,000 for topographic surveys; the Bureau of the Budget recommended 

$400,000. The Department requested $800,000 for water-resources investigation; the Bureau of the Budget approved $660,000. The Department requested 

$538,000 for geologic surveys; the Bureau of the Budget said $488,000. The 

Department asked $315,000 for supervision of mineral-leasing activities; the 

Bureau of the Budget recommended $225,000. Then to make up for the fact 

that it had approved increases of $113,000 in these four items, the Bureau of 

the Budget recommended that the appropriation for classification of the public 

lands, for which no increase had been asked, be cut from $150,000 to 

$100,000.

Although economy was probably the chief reason for the reductions, for 

economy and a balanced budget were being fervently promoted in some circles, 

the effect was nonetheless to cripple national work. Congressman Scrugham 

continued to favor the proposition that topographic mapping was a purely

376 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
The end of the pioneering period in the YukonTanana region of Alaska was noted byj. B. Mertie, Jr., 

in a report published in 1937. It had begun in 1896 

when J E. Spurr headed the first Survey expedition 

into the area. Systematic study of the geology and 

mineral resources had begun when the Division of 

Alaskan Mineral Resources was established in 1903, 

and by the early 1930's the general types and distribution of the major geologic units had been fairly well 

determined. Henceforth, detailed and semidetailed 

mapping in selected areas would be needed to solve 

important problems. The red beds of the Tindir 

Group, shown here along the Tatonduk River, of 

uncertain age but roughly equivalent to the Belt series, 

Mertie believed merited more field and petrographic 

study. (FromJ. B. Mertie, Jr., 1937.)

Federal responsibility, but funds for topographic surveys, including transfer 

and cooperative funds as well as the appropriation, would not even provide for 

the salaries of the permanent staff and related activities. State offers of 

cooperative funds for water-resources investigations had surpassed the $596,000 

mark by December 1935, so clearly the Bureau of the Budget figure would 

allow little if any purely Federal work. The recommended appropriation for 

geologic surveys allowed for the added expenses of the geophysical work but 

not for strategic-mineral investigations.

The House committee was most concerned about the amount of money 

that was being spent in Washington, and thought perhaps the whole Survey 

should be transferred outside the city to some point that would be more central to its operations. Director Mendenhall thought that the idea of being central applied equally well to the Capital, and in any event that the Survey should 

not be separated from the Department and other national functions. The committee did not press the idea of transferring the Survey outside Washington but 

it was unable to understand how administration, laboratories, the library, computations, drafting, and report writing in Washington had anything to do with 

field work. In the end, the House committee accepted all Bureau of the 

Budget recommendations except those for water-resources investigations and 

Alaskan mineral resources, from which it trimmed an additional $60,000 and 

$10,000 respectively, while voting to reduce the amount that could be spent 

in the District of Columbia for topographic and geologic surveys, Alaskan mineral 

resources, and supervision of mineral leases. The House went along with the 

committee's recommendations.

The Senate Appropriations Committee raised the appropriation for waterresources investigations to $791,317 (almost the $800,000 originally approved

Appropriations, 1936 377
by the Department) and for supervision of mineral leasing to $315,000 (again 

close to the Department estimate.) For topographic surveys, the committee 

proposed an appropriation of $650,000 and added a proviso that the Secretary 

of the Interior submit to the next session of Congress a program for expediting 

the topographic mapping of the United States in an economical manner, 

together with the estimated cost. That proviso was later dropped from the bill 

and made the subject of a resolution, proposed by Senator Hayden, and passed 

on April 17. More modest increases were recommended for geologic surveys 

and Alaskan mineral resources, $12,000 and $10,000 respectively. In the final 

bill, which was approved on June 11, the more generous Senate figures prevailed except for Alaskan mineral resources, which received only the $60,000 

allowed by the House. The total appropriated for the Survey for the fiscal year 

beginning July 1, 1936 was $2,807,817.

At least part of the Survey appropriation can be accounted as congressional acceptance of national responsibility for natural-resource investigations, 

but a clear statement of Federal responsibility was made in the Flood Control 

Act of 1936, passed in the wake of the floods that devastated the Northeastern 

States in the spring of 1936 and approved on the same day as the Interior 

Department Appropriations Act. In the Flood Control Act, Congress stated as 

a principle that flood control on navigable waters or their tributaries was a 

Federal responsibility, in cooperation with States and smaller political subdivisions, and allocated to the War Department responsibility for Federal investigations and improvements of rivers and other waterways for flood control and 

allied purposes, and to the Department of Agriculture responsibility for investigations of watersheds and measures for retardation of runoff and waterflow 

and for prevention of soil erosion. Both departments were enjoined not to interfere with the investigations and river improvements incident to Bureau of 

Reclamation projects. As the 1936 election campaign began, an ideological 

confrontation among the three branches of the Federal Government was 

developing.

378 The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936
Chapter 14.

Astatic World, 1936-1939

If we were known to be dealing with a static world in which our 

knowledge regarding all available materials and of man was approximately 

complete, it would be possible to formulate plans which, with slight variation, might operate almost indefinitely. It is, however, clear that by 

whatever means we view the history of science and research we are seen to 

be dealing with almost continuously changing conditions to which adjustments must be made.

 John C. Merriam

At the outset of the election campaign in 1936, the issues seemed clearly 

defined. The Republican National Convention had condemned the New Deal, 

accused the President of usurping the power of Congress, charged that 

regulated monopoly had displaced free enterprise, and nominated for President the Governor of Kansas, Alfred M. Landon, a businessman and independent oil producer with little experience in politics. The Democratic National 

Convention had made its stand on the administration's record and nominated 

Franklin D. Roosevelt for a second term. In accepting the nomination, 

Roosevelt had challenged the opposition with an attack on the "economic 

royalists" who had "created a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of 

legal sanction." Most of the newspapers and large numbers of businessmen 

supported Governor Landon, and Roosevelt's defeat was widely predicted. As 

the campaign progressed, the preservation of peace became an issue after other 

countries began to intervene in the Spanish Civil War, which began in midJuly, making Spain the battleground of rival ideologies. Most Americans, according to contemporary polls, sided with the Loyalists although many who 

feared the spread of communism more than fascism supported Franco and the 

Insurgents. Roosevelt came out on the side of peace while the businessmen supporting Landon were accused of being on the side of the warmakers. On 

November 3, Roosevelt was reelected President of the United States, winning 

60.7 percent of the popular vote and the most overwhelming electoral majority 

since Monroe's victory in 1820. The Democratic majorities in both House and 

Senate were increased substantially.

The landslide victory naturally gave the administration renewed confidence to pursue a program of domestic reform, and plans were made to attack 

a wide variety of social problems. Increasing turmoil in the world, however, 

gradually forced the administration to devote more attention to foreign policy 

and national defense. Roosevelt's efforts to reform the judicial system, in particular the Supreme Court, split the Democratic Party, a recession in late 1937 

added further complications, and in the 1938 elections, for the first time in 10 

years, the Republicans made notable gains. Most of the New Deal's conservation programs to protect and develop the land and water were simply carried 

over from the first administration; a proposal to create regional conservation 

authorities, however, was opposed with a fervor reminiscent of earlier decades. 

Proposals for an accelerated mapping program and for mineral inventories in 

aid of domestic development received little support and even when their imAstatic World, 1936-1939 379
portance for national defense was recognized funds were not readily forthcoming. Funds for basic scientific research were meager, less than one percent of the 

budget, and economy and a balanced budget were considered most important.

By 1936, the Geological Survey, in no small part owing to the skillful administration of its Director, had regained its stability after the trauma of the 

early depression days and had also achieved new standing in the world of 

science and engineering. Director Mendenhall was president of the Geological 

Society of America that year, D. F. Hewett was president of the Society of 

Economic Geologists, C. E. Dobbin was vice president of the American 

Association of Petroleum Geologists, and O. E. Meinzer was president of the 

Washington Academy of Sciences. C. S. Ross had just completed his term as 

president of the Mineralogical Society of America, and C. H. Birdseye, after 

completing his term as president of the American Society of Photogrammetry, 

had been elected a councilor of Section E of the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science. Survey geologists were serving as associate editors of 

national scientific journals, Survey scientists and engineers were serving on 

committees of the National Resources Committee and the National Research 

Council, and Meinzer and R. W. Davenport of the Survey were appointed 

chairman and vice chairman of the Research Council's committee to prepare the 

volume on hydrology for the Physics of the Earth series.

It was an exciting time to be a geologist, perhaps less exciting, Mendenhall 

suggested in his presidential address, than the days of some of the great 

philosophic battles of the past, between Neptunists and Plutonists, over the 

meaning of fossil shells found on mountain tops, or Darwinian evolution, 

although he found discussion of some current topics equally interesting. He 

thought it

safe to say that what is now known about the earth and its development, 

about the origins and evolution of life, including man himself, and about 

earth processes is infinitesimal by comparison with what will eventually be 

known.

Moreover, he believed that the contributions of the scientists of 1936 to the advancement of science would be as sound and as permanent as "those past contributions that we often refer to with awe as the products of the masters."

Desirable lines of research in geology and geography, the National 

Research Council found in response to a poll of more than 300 scientists in the

Gold placers had attracted the earliest settlers to Colorado but had long since ceased to be of much interest 

until the price of gold was increased in 1934. In a 

special field study of placers in northwestern Park 

County, Quentin Singewald combined his knowledge 

of the bedrock geology, including the location of lode 

deposits, and physiography of the region to determine 

the geologic environment of the gold placers and the 

probable distribution of gold in the unconsolidated 

deposits. Large areas of promising outwash gravel and 

morainal deposits were found from which private 

enterprise produced some $4 million in gold between 

1939 and 1942. The photograph shows a close-up of 

the productive gravel in the Alma placer. (From Q. D. 

Singewald, 1950.)

380 Astatic World, 1936-1939
spring of 1936, covered a broad spectrum, some familiar topics, some very new 

problems, and many of them couched in language that would have puzzled an 

earlier generation. Research was proposed in the concept of rhythm or cycles in 

geologic processes, the permanence of continents and ocean basins, the causes 

of magmatic differentiation, the geology of the Precambrian, the structure of 

the Earth's crust, the geology of the ocean bottom, the application of model 

theory to geologic processes, and the orientation of unequidimensional particles in moving fluids, to list but a few. So many problems were suggested in 

the borderland fields between geology, chemistry, and physics that the NRC set 

up an interdivisional committee to consider them, with the Survey's T. S. 

Levering as chairman and W. W. Rubey among its members.

The Geological Survey, as a tax-supported organization, had less freedom 

to pursue basic research than endowed institutions, as Mendenhall conceded. 

He still held, however, to the familiar axiom that there can be no applied 

science unless there is science to apply, and as the Survey's fiscal situation 

stabilized, long-range and fundamental research programs were revived or inaugurated. With the beginning of World War II, the Survey's work was once 

more gradually reoriented to meet new national needs.

In the fiscal year that began on July 1, 1936, the Geologic Branch put 59 

parties in the field and made investigations in 33 of the 48 States. The program 

remained weighted toward economic geology, but some of the economic 

geologists began making substantial contributions to basic science, and some 

fundamental research, suspended in earlier years, was resumed. The laboratory 

began giving more attention to the determination and compilation of the 

physical properties of rocks and to the correlation between physical properties 

of minerals and their chemical composition. The branch gained a new capability in geophysics through transfer of the Geophysics Section of the Bureau of 

Mines, as the Science Advisory Board had recommended in 1934. In another 

change of organization, the Coastal Plain Section was formally combined with 

the Section of Paleontology and Stratigraphy under J. B. Reeside, Jr.

The major metals field investigations were in the Rocky Mountain or Great 

Basin States. In the cooperative program in Colorado, field work was continued 

in the San Juan and La Plata regions, the mineral belt of the Front Range, and 

the Mosquito Range. T. S. Levering devoted considerable attention to the 

problems of heat conduction in rocks, and W. S. Burbank found evidence from 

his studies of granodiorite porphyries in the Ouray district of a potential internal source of heat energy in crystallizing magmas that could explain the rise of 

magmas in the crust, concentrations of metals, and the manner in which 

materials were transported from the magma to the surrounding rocks. James 

Gilluly began a field study of the geology and ore deposits in west-central 

Cochise County, Arizona, and delivered a paper on the water content of 

magmas before the Harvard Tercentenary Conference on Arts and Sciences and 

one on the physiography of the Ajo region to the Geological Society of 

America. Eugene Callaghan began a survey of the Marysvale district, requested 

by Utah citizens in the hope that sufficient reserves of alunite would be found 

to attract industry to the region. Alunite had been discovered in 1910 and 

developed as a source of potash during and after the World War when potash 

prices were high; in 1936 there was a possibility that alunite could serve as a 

source of aluminum with potash as a byproduct. In Idaho, P. J. Shenon began 

mapping in the silver belt of the Coeur d'Alene district and J. C. Reed completed his work in the Florence mining district before leaving for Alaska. C. F. 

Park began a study of the areal geology and mineral resources of the Metaline 

quadrangle in the extreme northeastern corner of Washington.

A few metals investigations were made in the South and Midwest. Thomas 

Kesler, who had been a PWA geologist with the Survey in 1934, returned as a 

regular Survey employee to begin a study of the geology and mineral resources

Geology, 1936 381
of the Cartersville district, 40 miles northwest of Atlanta, Georgia, where 

C. W. Hayes had mapped near the turn of the century, and E. F. Burchard 

continued mapping in the Russellville district in eastern Alabama. E. T. 

McKnight continued work in the lead-zinc districts of the Tri-State area and 

L. W. Currier completed in cooperation with the State an investigation of the 

fluorspar deposits of Illinois begun in 1935 as a PWA project.

The Fuels Section continued field investigations in California, Utah, 

Wyoming, and the Midcontinent region and began a new field project in Montana, an investigation of the mineral resources of the Little Rocky Mountains by 

M. M. Knechtel. Other new projects included Ralph Stewart's study of the 

structure, stratigraphy, and oil resources of the lower Tertiary strata of Reef 

Ridge in the Coalinga district in California where some of the Survey's earliest 

petroleum geology had been done, and A. A. Baker's mapping of the 

Strawberry Valley quadrangle in Utah with special reference to classification for 

oil, oil shale, gas, coal, and phosphate. Parker Trask concluded from his continuing investigation of the source beds of petroleum that petroleum originates 

mainly from the organic matter in marine sediments that is derived chiefly 

from the remains of planktonic organisms in the overlying water. Sedimentary 

petrology studies were extended in the fall when C. S. Piggott of the Carnegie 

Institution invited a group of Survey geologists to study the deep-sea cores from 

the North Atlantic Ocean and W. H. Bradley, M. N. Bramlette, J. A. 

Cushman, L. G. Henbest, K. E. Lohman, and Trask took up the task.

In other fundamental investigations, E. S. Larsen resumed his study of the 

Southern California batholith, with assistance from Harvard; W. C. Alden 

resumed his study of the physiography and glacial geology of western Montana 

and adjacent areas; and L. F. Noble resumed his study of Death Valley and its 

exceedingly complex structure. F. E. Matthes continued work in the national 

parks of the Sierra Nevada in cooperation with the National Park Service, and 

H. E. Gregory, after several years of "vacation studies" began a general 

geologic reconnaissance of the plateau country of southern Utah, including 

Zion Canyon National Park. N. H. Darton, before retiring after nearly 51 years 

in the Federal service, prepared a report on the structure of the northern anthracite coal basin in Pennsylvania on the basis of well data, bringing up to date 

work that had been in limbo since 1913 when he had completed an investigation for the Bureau of Mines of the relationship between structural features and 

the emanation of explosive gas in coal mines.

The Alaskan Geology Branch, with the exception of J. B. Mertie, Jr., had a 

normal field season in 1936. Mertie started for Alaska in the spring to make a 

geologic map of the valley of the Porcupine River in interior Alaska. On the 

way, however, the steamboat on which he was traveling up the Yukon River 

was wrecked and sank with all his instruments and field equipment. There being neither time nor funds to replace what had been lost, the field party was 

disbanded but Mertie proceeded to Fairbanks where he purchased new clothes, 

borrowed instruments from the University, and then, with authorization from 

Washington, spent the field season examining mining operations in the Fortymile, Eagle, and Circle districts. F. H. Moffit and Gerald FitzGerald continued 

their geologic and topographic mapping in the Alaska Range region, S. R. 

Capps returned to the railroad belt to study the principal mining camps along 

the route, and in southeastern Alaska, R. H. Sargent continued the 

topographic mapping of Admiralty Island, and in August John C. Reed began 

a geologic study of Glacier Bay. With the sense of emergency relaxed, P. S. 

Smith devoted some time to studying the route of early man from Asia and 

North America and at the Fifth Pacific Science Congress discussed the geologic 

and geographic evidence for a route across the Bering Strait rather than up the 

Aleutians.

382 Astatic World, 1936-1939
In the mid-1930's, Survey geologists began a new investigation of the Oklahoma coal field where J. A. Taff 

had worked in the late 1890's and from which samples 

had been furnished for the coal-testing program of 

1904, which, it was hoped, would lead to a scientific 

classification of coal. In a survey of the HoweWilburton district, T. A. Hendricks was not only able 

to establish a correlation between the formations of the 

Oklahoma and Arkansas coal fields, which had been 

differently defined near the turn of the century, but 

also to describe the coals according to the classification 

of coal by rank that had been adopted by the American 

Society for Testing Materials and the American Standards Association in 1937. The photograph shows the 

contact between the shale immediately above the lower 

Hartshorne coal and the overlying sandstone. Fossil 

tree trunks extend across the contact. (From T. A. 

Hendricks, 1939.)

The Water Resources Branch in 1936 furnished an excellent example of 

Director Mendenhall's ideal for Survey work closely coordinated teamwork, 

useful in the public service, and leading to the advancement of science or 

engineering. The Surface Water, Ground Water, and Quality of Water Divisions joined forces with each other and with other Federal agencies to acquire 

the facts needed to resolve the interstate dispute over the allocation of the 

waters of the Rio Grande; the Division of Water Utilization acquired added 

duties with respect to flood investigations as a series of record-breaking floods in 

all parts of the country awakened public support for obtaining the basic data 

needed to design control measures; and the compilation and publication of 

data on power production, a task which the Survey had performed since the 

World War although it was only peripheral to Survey work, was transferred to 

the Federal Power Commission. In the regular ongoing program, stream-flow 

records were obtained in 48 States, the District of Columbia, and the Territory 

of Hawaii, and the number of gaging stations increased to 3,379 at the fiscal 

year's end. Ground-water investigations were carried on in 30 States and the 

Territory of Hawaii, the observation-well program was extended, and the use of 

geophysical exploration techniques in the search for water was investigated.

The Rio Grande Joint Investigation was under the general direction of the 

National Resources Committee, which had been asked by the Rio Grande Compact Commission to arrange for an investigation of the water resources of the 

basin above Fort Quitman, Texas, where the last major tributary joined the 

river. The States of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas had signed a temporary 

compact in January 1929, not to allocate the waters but to obtain data by maintaining key gaging stations and exchanging the records, to bar Colorado and 

New Mexico from impairing the water supply in the Rio Grande by additional 

diversions or storage in Colorado except under specified conditions during the 

duration of the compact, and to convene a commission to conclude a permanent compact. When the Compact Commission found it difficult to reach 

agreement on a permanent compact it turned to the Federal Government for 

assistance; Federal interests were involved because the delivery of Rio Grande 

water to Mexico was guaranteed by treaty and because Rio Grande water was 

needed for irrigation projects on public and Indian lands. The Public Works 

Administration allotted funds for the investigation on condition that the States 

and certain Federal agencies also contribute funds, and the investigation was 

divided among the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering and the Bureau of Plant 

Industry of the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Geological Survey, 

which was to make measurements of stream flow, drainage, waste, and diversions, and study the ground water including its chemical quality. The Surface 

Water Division established and maintained 76 gaging stations in Colorado and

Rio Grande Joint Investigation 383
144 in New Mexico; C. V. Theis supervised the ground-water investigations,

and C. S. Howard was responsible for thousands of water analyses, including

some which the Department of Agriculture laboratory was unable to make. >

Results of the joint investigation were used as the basis for negotiating the

interstate compact that was approved by the three States and by the U.S.

Congress.

Most of the flood investigations were made by engineers of the Surface 

Water Division in the districts in which the floods occurred under the guidance 

of the Division of Water Utilization; the Division of Water Utilization 

prepared the reports or supervised their preparation. With funds allotted by 

PWA, the floods of March 1936 in Eastern United States, floods of unusual

magnitude in July and September 1936 in Texas, and the floods on the Ohio I 

and Mississippi Rivers, the greatest known since the arrival of Europeans in the

area, were investigated and reports prepared. Reports were also prepared on the ' 

floods in central New York State in July 1935, on the Republican and Kansas j 

Rivers in May and June 1935, and in La Canada Valley, California, on January 

1, 1934. The study of the Texas floods indicated that long-time records of 

stream flow as well as flood records were needed for the economic and safe 

design of dams, reservoirs, levees, and other controlling works because Texas 

rivers had long periods of exceedingly low flow but during floods might have 

greater maximum rates of discharge than rivers in areas of comparable size 

elsewhere in the United States. Investigations of the floods on the Ohio and 

Mississippi Rivers included a special study of flood deposits by G. R. Mansfield 

of the Geologic Branch to aid in establishing criteria for the development of 

towns and construction of public works that might be affected by flooded 

rivers. The flood in La Canada Valley pointed up strikingly the relation between rising flood damage and increasing human occupation of river banks and 

river valleys. Much of the damage of that flood was caused by the movement of 

massive amounts of debris from the mountains to the foothill region and the 

valley floor. Movement of material eroded from mountain areas into the valley 

was a natural process that had been going on for a long time without affecting 

or being affected by man's activities, but most of the debris during this flood 

came from an areas north of the valley which had been denuded by a forest fire 

in November 1933.

The Topographic Branch reached a turning point in its history in 1936 as 

work began in earnest in the compilation of topographic contour maps by 

photogrammetric methods. The Tennessee Valley Authority offered to set aside 

space for photogrammetric equipment if the Survey would furnish the instruments and personnel to operate them, and the offer was accepted. R. K. 

Bean was put in direct charge of a unit in Chattanooga, six topographers, two 

each from the three topographic divisions, volunteered for the experiment, and 

the program got underway in April. In the beginning, operations were on a 

three-shift basis and the unit prepared maps of areas in Virginia, as part of a 

cooperative project with the State, as well as the TVA maps. The area covered 

by conventional field surveys in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1936, declined 

to only 14,302 square miles in 36 States and Puerto Rico, but nearly 80 percent 

of it was mapped at 1:62,500 and larger scales.

Problems remained in the Conservation Branch. The classification of the 

public lands remained nearly at a standstill for lack of funds for field explorations. However, the increase in appropriations for mineral-lease supervision 

permitted reasonably prompt action to be taken on proposed plans for 

cooperative or unit development of oil fields and somewhat better supervision 

of production operations. At the end of the fiscal year, 1,343 plans had been 

received and only 42 awaited original technical consideration. The volume of 

work under field supervision continued to increase; during the year production 

increased between 5 and 10 percent and revenue to about $6.3 million.

384 Astatic World, 1936-1939
The first session of the 75th Congress began on January 5, 1937, with the 

Democrats in virtually unassailable control; it ended on August 21 with little of 

the President's legislative program accomplished and the Democrats badly 

divided. In his annual message to Congress on January 6, President Roosevelt 

had asked for an addition to the Neutrality Act covering specific points raised 

by the "unfortunate civil strife in Spain" and immediate consideration of the 

extension of certain authorizations in power due to expire. Two days later he 

presented a budget for fiscal year 1938 balanced except for debt reduction and 

promised a completely balanced budget for 1939- Then, in the second inaugural address on January 20, he challenged Congress with the need to help 

the "one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished." Roosevelt 

also spoke of the necessity of bringing "legislative and judicial action into 

closer harmony," and on February 5 he submitted to Congress a plan for 

reorganizing the Federal judiciary, including the authorization for appointment of one additional Supreme Court Justice for each Justice who did not 

retire within 6 months of reaching 70. The bill to reform the judiciary aroused 

widespread and bitter opposition, tied up Congress for several months, and in 

the end the Senate on July 22 recommitted the bill to the Judiciary Committee 

where it died. In a 2-month period beginning in late March, however, the 

Supreme Court sustained several important New Deal measures, and on May 

18 the retirement of Justice Van Devanter was announced, so even though he 

lost the battle, Roosevelt felt he had won the war. The court fight, however, 

produced a new coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats that contrived to block other legislation "so as matters turned out in Congress and the 

party, it could better be said that he lost the battle, won the campaign, but lost 

the war."

Congress responded promptly to Roosevelt's request for neutrality legislation. On January 6, it passed a joint resolution forbidding the export of munitions to either side in Spain and in April passed the Neutrality Act of 1937, 

adding to previous requirements the so-called "cash-and-carry" clause that 

belligerents who purchased nonmilitary goods in the United States pay for 

them immediately and transport them in their own ships. During the spring, 

Congress also passed the Guffey-Vinson Bituminous Coal Act, reenacting all 

the chief provisions of the Guffey-Snyder Act of 1936 that the Supreme Court 

had outlawed in 1936, except the wages-and-hours clause. The Guffey-Vinson 

Act authorized a code of fair competition for the bituminous coal industry and 

placed the output of soft coal under Federal regulation.

Later in the session, however, Congress became more recalcitrant, and 

among the measures that made no progress was the President's plan to create 

regional conservation authorities. The National Resources Committee in 

December 1935 had pointed out that many problems were neither solely within 

a State or entirely national but regional in nature. It had followed that up in 

December 1936 with two reports, one on drainage-basin problems and their 

solution, the other on the future of the Great Plains, which the Committee 

defined as extending eastward from the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains to 

the line west of which major readjustments in land and water use appeared 

necessary to meet climatic conditions, very roughly the traditional one hundredth meridian. The drainage-basin report outlined a pattern of water 

development and control designed to solve the problems, including even 

specific construction projects, and in effect presented the framework of a national water plan. The Great Basin report was less specific but pointed out that 

nature had established a balance in the Great Plains area, which had been 

disturbed when settlers had moved in; now the intruders must either restore 

nature's balance or devise a new one. Both reports stressed the need for early 

completion of topographic mapping, hydrologic and other scientific surveys in 

the region. On June 3, 1937, the President sent a special message to Congress:

National Resources Committee 385
KANSAS A determination of the origin of the oil- and gasproducing Bartlesville and Burbank sands of Kansas 

and Oklahoma was of commercial importance as well 

as scientific interest because the mapping of structure, 

which the petroleum industry had long used in its 

search for new sources, was not applicable to these 

sands, which characteristically occurred in belts of 

elongate bodies 50 to 150 feet thick, 1/2 to 2 miles 

wide, and 2 to 6 miles long. In a regional study, N. W. 

Bass and his coworkers used modern shoreline features 

as models, outlined contemporaneous deposits in the 

two States, and concluded that the shoestring sands 

were most probably deposited as systems of offshore 

bars on the oscillating western shore of the Cherokee 

sea. The trends of hypothetical offshore bars, patterned after modern coastal charts, are shown on a 

sketch map of parts of Osage and Kay Counties, Oklahoma. The solid black dots and areas indicate wells and 

fields where the Burbank is present, the plus signs 

wells in which it is absent. (From N. W. Bass, Constance Leatherock, W. R. Dillard, and L. E. Kennedy, 

1937.)

Nature has given recurrent and poignant warnings through dust storms, 

floods, and droughts that we must act while there is yet time if we would 

preserve for ourselves and our posterity the natural sources of a virile 

national life.

He suggested that the time had come when we should allot a definite portion 

of each year's budget to "this work of husbandry," and proposed the establishment of seven regional authorities which would, at least in the early years, be 

chiefly concerned with the development of integrated plans to conserve and 

safeguard the prudent use of waters, water power, soils, forests, and other 

resources of the areas entrusted to their charge. Congressman Joseph Mansfield 

and Senator George Norris promptly filed identical bills to establish these 

regional bodies, which were then referred to the committees they chaired and 

locked up. Six weeks later, in a countermeasure that was passed with despatch, 

Senator James Pope of Idaho offered a bill that declared it the policy of Congress to assist in providing facilities for water storage and utilization in the arid 

and semiarid areas of the United States and authorized the Secretary of 

Agriculture to formulate and keep current a program of projects for construction and maintenance of such facilities. Just before adjourning, having made it

386 Astatic World, 1936-1939
very clear that another bureau would not be established or additional funds appropriated, Congress asked for a comprehensive plan for the development of 

Alaska and its resources.

Recommendations for expanded hydrologic and topographic mapping 

programs also fell afoul of the conservative mood and the need for economy. In 

September 1936, the National Resources Committee had released a report 

appraising existing hydrologic programs prepared by a specially appointed 

committee from the viewpoint of engineers who had to use the data. That committee found the programs adequate in some respects but seriously deficient in 

others, and stated that

In the light of past experience with crop losses, dam failures, flood 

damages, and similar losses to life, health, and property, due in part to inadequate data, we feel confident that there can be no thoroughly sound 

Nationwide development of water resources unless certain deficiencies 

are remedied.

Among the deficiencies were the collection of data on stream flow, fluctuations 

of ground-water levels, and quality of water. The committee was critical of 

reliance on cooperative programs and considered it "absolutely essential" that 

a network of Federal stations for stream-flow measurements be established. 

More specifically, the committee recommended the establishment and 

maintenance of 500 base stations at Federal expense and the rehabilitation of 

1,000 existing cooperative stations. In addition, it recommended the expansion 

of the observation-well program by an additional 4,000 base stations and 6,000 

cooperative secondary wells, and an increase of 200 Federal quality-of-water stations and 400 secondary cooperative stations. The total cost for these stations 

was estimated as $2,306,250 for the first year and $1,132,500 for each succeeding year.

Secretary Ickes' program for expediting the topographic mapping of the 

United States, in response to Senator Carl Hayden's resolution of April 17, 

1936, was sent to Congress on January 29, 1937. Ickes said that inasmuch as 

only 25 percent of continental United States exclusive of Alaska had been adequately mapped, that is, had maps less than 40 years old, and 46 percent was 

entirely unmapped, mapping 1.5 million square miles, including Puerto Rico 

and Alaska, in 20 years, at an average rate of 75-85 thousand square miles a 

year was a "reasonable program for present consideration." Such a program 

would cost $100 million, $20 million for triangulation and leveling, $80 

million for mapping and reproduction. The Secretary recommended that the 

program be entirely Federal but agreed with Director Mendenhall that the 

States be permitted to contribute funds to expedite the program. Ickes further 

recommended that the Congress appropriate $4 million for topographic mapping by the Geological Survey in 1938 without restricting any funds to 

cooperative projects.

The President's budget did not reflect the recommendation of the National Resources Committee that the hydrologic program be expanded or 

Secretary Ickes' recommendation for expansion of the topographic mapping 

program. The Department had asked for an appropriation of only $874,000 for 

gaging streams, an increase of $82,683, and $1,000,000 for topographic mapping, an increase of $350,000, far cries from the $2 and $4 million proposed by 

the NRC and Secretary Ickes. For the Survey as a whole, the Departmental 

budget called for an increase of some $609,000 in its appropriation, including 

small increases for all line items except printing and binding. Among the increases was one of $25,000 for geologic surveys because "the need for a general 

inventory of strategic minerals is ever before us, and international conditions at 

present emphasize that need. We should like to make a modest beginning of a 

long-continuing inventory * * *." The Bureau of the Budget countenanced 

no such extravagance as proposed by the Department. It chopped $590,000

Appropriations, 1937 387
from the overall recommendation and recommended a total appropriation for 

the Survey for fiscal year 1938 of only $19,183 more than the appropriation for 

the year underway: $10,000 for engraving and printing maps, $8,683 for 

stream gaging, and $500 for preparation of illustrations.

The House committee did not delve deeply into the Survey's needs. It accepted most of the recommendations of the Bureau of the Budget but cut the 

appropriation for mineral leasing supervision by $40,000 on the ground that 

most of the work had been done on the unit-plan system, and reduced the 

limitations for attendance at scientific meetings and for personal services in the 

District of Columbia. The hearings were enlivened only by pleas from Congressman Ross Collins of Mississippi, Walter Reid, the mining engineer who 

had procured the donation of the Kunz collection to the Survey library, and 

Isaiah Bowman, president of John Hopkins University, for additional funds for 

that library, which was described as the "only one real central source of 

geologic information in the country," and, to the obvious surprise of committee members, as better than the Library of Congress. As a result, the limitation 

on funds to be used for purchase of books, which had been reduced to $2,000 

in 1905, was restored to its old level of $6,000. Congressman James Scrugham 

had little to say during the Survey hearings. He had twice persuaded the House 

to approve funds for strategic minerals in the Naval Appropriations bill, only to 

have the Senate refuse. This year he waited for Secretary Ickes' appearance a 

week later and asked him for an investigation and recommendation as to the 

cost of a strategic-minerals program. This year, for the first time, the Senate 

had agreed to the appropriation of funds for strategic minerals in the Navy bill. 

The total appropriation for the Survey in the bill approved on August 9 was 

$2,927,000, and only the Water Resources Branch could look forward to more 

funds for the coming year.

It was late June, only a week before the start of the new fiscal year, when 

the Senate committee began its hearings on the Survey appropriation. By that 

time the cooperative offerings for water-resources investigations were only a few 

thousand dollars less than the appropriation voted by the House, so the Senate 

committee recommended an increase of $100,000, to $900,000, for waterresources investigations. The Senate also restored the cut in the appropriation 

for supervision of mineral leasing. Secretary Ickes had explained that field 

supervision was only a small part of the unit-plan operations; moreover, the 

number of properties under supervision had increased by 40 percent during the 

preceding 5 years but production had increased 80 percent and revenue 94 percent in the same period. No change was made in the funds for classification of 

the public lands but in a separate bill Congress authorized the extension for 

another 2 years of oil and gas prospecting permits outstanding on December 31 

while awaiting completion of unit plans. The committee devoted some time to 

discussion of the topographic mapping program and Secretary Ickes' plan was 

made a part of the record but no change was made in the appropriation. There 

was no discussion of strategic minerals. While the Senate had the Interior bill 

under consideration, the Chinese and Japanese had gone to war without 

benefit of any formal declaration. On July 7, Japanese troops on night 

maneuvers near Peking clashed with the Chinese, the fighting spread rapidly, 

and soon a large-scale campaign was underway in northern China.

The increased appropriation for stream gaging, although less than desired, 

permitted the continued growth and diversification of the work of the Water 

Resources Branch. A net increase of 452 in the number of river-measurement 

stations in the year beginning July 1, 1937, brought the total up to 3,831. Investigations of notable floods were continued and reports prepared on those in 

eastern New Mexico in May and June 1937 and in northern California in 

December 1937- Ground-water investigations were made in 34 States, the 

District of Columbia, the Territory of Hawaii, and on the Island of Guam.

 yfto 

I

J04

,0t iy bentonite

bentonitt

ntreate!

Nature 

clay

dgel

Aged

ZOO C. tOO' 6OO'

Temperature

2OOC. 40O' 6OO*

Temperature

Although adsorbent or bleaching clays were used to 

purify oil, the bleaching-clay industry had long been a 

hit-or-miss proposition because little was known of the 

nature of the clays, their action on oils, or the location 

and extent of deposits until the Survey in the 

mid-1920's began a series of laboratory and field 

studies that eventually placed the industry on a rational basis. P. G. Nutting developed methods of 

testing the clays, tested thousands of samples, determined the nature of the bleaching action, and classified the materials possessing bleaching properties. The 

illustration shows thermal hydration curves for various 

days and components of clays. In 1934 and 1935, 

several Survey geologists using PWA funds made field 

investigations of clays in the Southeastern States and 

Texas and discovered extensive and valuable beds of 

highly active bentonite in Florida. (From P. G. 

Nutting, 1943.)

388 Astatic World, 1936-1939
The greatest change in the branch was the expansion of the Quality of 

Water Division, which for many years had been largely a service organization. 

The study of sediment and suspended matter in the Colorado River, begun in 

1925, had been its first continuing independent investigation. A growing appreciation of the relation between the quality of water and its utility, especially 

for industrial purposes, had encouraged the publication of water analyses in the 

early 1930's, and the Rio Grande Joint Investigation brought further recognition in 1937. In the spring of 1937, the division was asked to participate, along 

with the Ground Water Division, in a cooperative investigation to determine 

the source of the salinity in the Pecos River. C. S. Howard organized the 

chemical work and a laboratory was established at Roswell, New Mexico, with 

W. F. White in immediate charge. Later, another chemist was sent to Texas to 

supervise analysis of water samples in connection with ground-water problems. 

In July 1937, cooperative agreements were made with the State of Connecticut 

for expansion of the study of the salinity of the Connecticut River begun as part 

of the ground-water investigations and with the State of Georgia for analyses of 

water samples taken at gaging stations maintained by the Surface Water Division. The latter agreement was expanded on December 1 into an intensive 

study of the salinity of the Savannah River so the new intake of river water for 

the Savannah municipal supply could be located at a point above any possible 

salt-water contamination.

The Ground Water Division was increasingly preoccupied with the need 

for legal control of ground water. The Washington State Department of Conservation and Development, anticipating the need for legislative action, 

entered into an agreement with the Survey for a statewide investigation, which 

began with the organization of a small observation-well program under the 

direction of A. M. Piper. In New Mexico, which had pioneered with the first 

ground-water control law, A. M. Morgan was sent to observe wells in the 

Roswell area where increased irrigation from shallow wells had made it 

necessary to determine the amount of available shallow ground water. At the 

spring meeting of the American Water Works Association in 1938, David 

Thompson and A. G. Fiedler, in a paper later awarded the Goodell Prize, said

where ground water is available for irrigation or for large communities or industries, there must be assurance that the consumption of water will not

Although the United States was by far the world's 

largest consumer of platinum, until 1938, when a 

phenomenal increase in production in Alaska made the 

United States the world's fourth largest producer of 

platinum, it produced only a negligible part of its requirements. The great increase in Alaskan production, 

from 6,042 ounces in 1937 to an estimated 34,000 

ounces in 1938, came almost entirely from placer" 

deposits in southwestern Alaska, which had been 

discovered in 1926, after a dredge was installed in 

1937. The photograph shows a dragline excavator on 

Platinum Creek. J. B. Mertiejr., in his 1938 investigation, found the source of the platinum in the placers 

and related their occurrence to the geomorphic history 

of the region. (FromJ. B. Mertie, Jr., 1940.)

Water Resources, 1937 389
exceed the safe yield of the water-bearing formations; otherwise, failure 

will result. In order to limit the draft to safe yield, some kind of legal control 

of consumption is necessary.

Ground-water laws, however, had to be based on knowledge of the resources 

but that could be ascertained through scientific investigations. Thompson and 

Fiedler favored a law based on the doctrine of appropriation conferring the 

right of use rather than ownership, and the exercise of that right only as long as 

the use was for beneficial purposes and essentially continuous.

In some other areas where investigations were underway, ground water was 

used primarily for a single purpose but in others there were multiple and

potentially conflicting uses. In Virginia, where D. J. Cederstrom began an in- . 

vestigation in the tidewater area south of the James River as the cooperative I 

program with the State was resumed, industry was contemplating the use of 

ground water. In Texas, three separate areas were studied, and A. N. Sayre was 

concerned with the possibilities of obtaining ground water for municipal and 

industrial purposes in Angelina County in southeastern Texas, while S. F. 

Turner, in the Bryan area of east-central Texas, and Penn Livingston and R. R. 

Woolley in the Big Spring area of northwest Texas, were concerned only with 

municipal use. In the Oklahoma Panhandle, S. L. Schoff investigated the 

suitability and safe yield of ground water for irrigation; in Kansas, David 

Thompson and S. W. Lohman investigated the ground-water resources in the 

Equus beds north of Wichita where improper handling of brines in evaporation 

ponds had resulted in contamination of the shallow ground water that was the 

source of rural and potential urban water supplies; and in Nebraska, R. C. 

Cady and H. A Wake sought ground water for irrigation and municipal supplies. Near Tacoma, Washington, which was seeking an additional source for 

municipal supplies, A. M. Piper and G. A. LaRocque tried to determine the 

safe yield and chemical quality of the ground water.

The Topographic Branch began preparing for an expanded national mapping program that it felt would sooner or later be authorized. The status of 

mapping in the United States was reviewed, maps of 79,668 square miles, 

based on reconnaissance surveys made before 1896, were found inadequate by 

modern standards, and the areas reclassified as "unmapped," increasing the 

unmapped area of the Nation to 55.0 percent. Conventional field methods 

were used *o map 13,538 square miles in 35 States and Puerto Rico, more than 

90 percent at scales of 1:62,500 or larger. An additional 1,169 square miles 

were mapped at a scale of 1:24,000 by photogrammetric methods. Work was 

resumed on the United States portion of the 1:1 million map of the world, the 

general adjustment of horizontal and vertical control to agree with the standard 

datums in the United States was continued, eight bulletins reporting the results 

of control surveys were published, maps of five States in the sectional map of 

the United States were also published, and progress was made on office work on 

river surveys.

The Geologic Branch program in 1937 remained at about the same level as 

the preceding year and included many ongoing projects and a few new 

endeavors. Physiographic and geologic studies were continued in many parts of 

the country and a new study of the physical geography of Florida was begun. 

Metals investigations in Nevada were resumed, after the lapse of a few years, 

and continued in other Western States, the Tri-State lead and zinc districts, 

and in the Southeastern States. A new element was added to the Idaho 

cooperative project when S. R. Capps began a study of alluvial deposits and 

physiographic history in the central part of the State. A new venture in 

cooperative work was begun when E. B. Eckel, who had completed the La Plata 

project in Colorado, was assigned to assist the Corps of Engineers by reporting 

on the geology and advising on the choice of site of the Savage River dam and 

reservoir in northwestern Maryland.

390 Astatic World, 1936-1939
Scientists studying 11 North Atlantic deep-sea cores 

obtained between Newfoundland and Ireland by C. S. 

Piggot of the Geophysical Laboratory in the spring of 

1936 recognized six zones of distinctive lithologic 

character: two in which silicic volcanic ash was common 

and four interpreted as glacial marine deposits formed 

when drift ice from continental glaciers transported 

quantities of rock debris far out into the ocean basin. 

Between the glacial marine zones the sediments consist 

chiefly of foraminiferal ooze or marl, much like that 

being formed today in the same area. The illustration 

also shows past fluctuations in the temperature of the 

surface water at the site of each core. The shaded blocks 

represent samples taken for the study of organisms, the 

center line of each column represents the present 

surface-water temperature, the large dot in each 

shaded block indicates qualitatively the deviation from 

the present temperature, and the dotted line connecting these points the trend of the temperature change 

from one sample to the next. (From W. H. Bradley and 

others, 1942.)

WEST

Somewhat more emphasis than before was given to fuel-related, especially 

petroleum-related, investigations. Proven petroleum reserves of the Nation 

were about 13 billion barrels, according to the latest estimate from the 

American Petroleum Institute, but there was some pessimism about the future. 

An analysis by W. E. Pratt, vice president of Humble Oil, showed that the 

discovery rate of new fields, after reaching a peak between 1925 and 1930, had 

declined sharply and was then inadequate to increase or even maintain the 

known reserves. In his presidential address to the American Association of 

Petroleum Geologists in 1936, however, A. I. Levorsen had pointed out that 

petroleum geology to that time had been directed toward a search for structural 

traps. There was a limit to the number of anticlines that might be found but 

stratigraphic traps, a term he coined, had accounted for one-fourth to one-third 

of past production, and future exploration might well be based on stratigraphic 

methods. Levorsen concluded that

Our future is limited only by our ability to reason geologically and the foundation for such reasoning is a real knowledge of geology, more geology, 

and then still more geology.

A somewhat similar note was struck by I. M. Goubkin at the International 

Geological Congress in Moscow in the summer of 1937:

I am sure that none of the great geologists of the world gathered here will 

assert that we have reached our "ceiling" in our knowledge in the domain 

of petroleum geology. The science of oil as an independent branch of 

economic geology is, as a matter of fact, just beginning to develop, and our 

knowledge of the conditions of the origin and accumulation of oil in the 

earth's crust will grow together with the future development of this branch 

of science. We therefore presume that all talk of exhaustion of the world oil 

reserves in the near future is of no practical significance, and in all probabilities will have no real meaning still for a long time to come. By this time

EAST

Volcanic ash zones

Petroleum Geology 391
?fpS|p!JL :$ml!h*m

WWI

392 Astatic World, 1936-1939
By the mid-1930's, micropalcontology, which 

developed as a specialized branch of the science in the 

20th century, was beginning to expand from morphology to paleoecologic and other studies in line with 

the main trends of macropaleontology. In the study of 

the North Atlantic cores, foraminifers, which had 

been most useful in stratigraphic correlation elsewhere, 

could not be used for detailed correlation from one 

core to another because of differences related to their 

ecology and geographic distribution although the 

foraminiferal facies characteristic of cold and warm 

climates correlated with the alternation of glacialmarine and warm-water sediments indicated by the 

lithology. Diatoms, such as those shown in the illustration, also exhibited warm-water and cold-water alternations but at different positions in the cores than 

those inferred from lithology and foraminiferal facies. 

Possible explanations for the differences were sought in 

the longer settling time of the diatoms and the action 

of cold and warm currents. (From W. H. Bradley and 

others, 1942.)

the progress of science will provide with extensive possibilities of utilizing 

other kinds of natural resources as a source of energy, and develop new 

kinds of synthetic products which will fully substitute.

The Survey's fuels investigations included both field and laboratory investigations. The field studies were primarily stratigraphic, as they had been for 

many years. In the 1937 field season, R. B. Stewart continued to map Reef 

Ridge in the Coalinga district in California and concluded that the oil seeps 

that had interested geologists for many years might be due to local accumulations in lenticular bodies that had since been exposed by erosion but that such 

stratigraphic traps, if preserved under Reef Ridge, would be difficult to find. 

Systematic mapping was continued in Utah, Wyoming, and Montana; in the 

Gulf Coast, W. H. Monroe resumed work in the Jackson area of Mississippi 

where the State had just completed a deep test well. In the Midcontinent 

region, N. W. Bass continued his investigation of subsurface rocks of Mississippian age in Kansas and T. A. Hendricks his mapping near the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma. Parker Trask and P. G. Nutting continued their studies of 

sediments, Trask searching for criteria for recognizing source beds of petroleum 

while Nutting summarized 8 years of work on the bleaching clays, used in processing oil, fats, waxes, and much sulfur, that had put the industry on a firm 

basis.

Hendricks also served as the Survey representative on the Committee on 

Coal Classification of the American Society for Testing Materials, which completed its 10-year study by publishing standard classifications of coal by rank 

and grade. The classification by rank was based on the degree of metamorphism and the designations of individual coals differed in only a few borderline 

cases from the designations by the fuel-ratio system that the Survey had 

developed from Persifor Frazer's system of 1879; such differences as existed 

were the result of refinements. The classification of coals by grade was based on 

four characteristics of coals of primary importance in its utilization: calorific 

value, ash, sulfur content, and ash-softening temperature.

The Alaskan Geology Branch made no field investigations related to 

petroleum although the Branch Chief P. S. Smith was on record that the latent 

oil resources of Alaska might be of importance to the world's future economics. 

Two of the principal projects were concerned with strategic metals. J. B. Mertie, 

Jr., and Gerald FitzGerald teamed up to complete the study of the platinum 

deposits in the vicinity of Goodnews Bay, near the mouth of the Kuskokwim 

River in southwestern Alaska, which were then the principal source of platinum 

metals in the United States, and John C. Reed began surveys on Admiralty 

Island in southeastern Alaska to obtain information about possible nickel 

deposits as well as the gold lodes that had long yielded a small but constant 

output. F. H. Moffit returned to one of the least known parts of the Alaska 

Range, near the head of Copper River, to determine the general features of the 

geology and whether geologic conditions were favorable for the occurrence of 

gold and other mineral deposits similar to those known on the outskirts of the 

area. R. H. Sargent, after 28 seasons in Alaska, transferred to the Topographic 

Branch where he succeeded W. M. Beaman as Chief of Inspection and Editing.

The Conservation Branch, faced with a formidable volume of work and 

unable to persuade Congress of the need for additional funds, assigned several 

field engineers to Washington and was thus able to effect a considerable reduction in the number of pending cases and to place the work of reviewing unit 

plans on a current basis by the end of the year. Although there was some consequent loss to field supervisory activities, mineral production from the public 

and Indian lands continued to increase and the revenue therefrom increased by 

more than 50 percent over the preceding year to a record $9-75 million. The 

Science Advisory Board as far back as 1933 had recommended the transfer of 

the field supervision of mineral leasing on the public domain to the Bureau of

Conservation, 1937 393
Mines, but in August 1937 the Select Committee of Congress to Investigate the 

Executive Agencies decided that the recommendation had "theoretical merit" 

but was "not advisable as a practical administrative measure." The Geological 

Survey classified the mineral lands and must be consulted in connection with 

mineral leasing so transferring the work of field supervision would just add 

another bureau and multiply the paperwork. Furthermore, the committee concluded, "it is admitted that the Geological Survey has conducted this branch of 

its work with judgment and efficiency, so that no tangible benefit would result 

from the transfer.''

In late summer the Japanese-Chinese conflict broke out in the Shanghai 

area and the Japanese naval blockade of South China was extended. President 

Roosevelt declined to invoke the Neutrality Act on the ground that it would 

have worked to China's disadvantage, but on September 14 he forbade the 

transportation of munitions to either nation on U. S. Government vessels and 

warned private shippers that they acted at their own risk. The bombing of 

Chinese cities by the Japanese outraged world opinion, and in October both 

the League of Nations and President Roosevelt condemned the Japanese action. 

Roosevelt's speech, in which he urged an international quarantine of aggressors 

as the only means of preserving peace, aroused considerable criticism in the 

United States, which remained dominantly isolationist in sentiment.

By October 1937, the economy was creating problems at home. Late in the 

summer, the stock market began to decline and then, as wave after wave of selling tumbled prices to new lows, it began to seem like 1929 all over again. Congress was called into special session on November 15, but instead of presenting 

a new economic program, the President called for action on four bills that had 

not been passed in the session that adjourned in August, including administrative reorganization and regional planning. The session was disorganized, and 

none of the bills was passed. The Western States were opposed to regional planning, and Congressman Edward Taylor, who conceded many of the main purposes of the proposal were "laudable," said that "insofar as they apply to the 

waters of the streams throughout the entire arid region of the West they are in 

bold violation of, and absolutely destructive of, the vested property rights and 

the established system of development of any western resources by irrigation 

and reclamation of our public and private lands. They utterly ignore the doctrine of priority of water rights by appropriation, which is the foundation of all 

the agricultural development throughout the arid West." Thus it was that 

"the entire delegation in Congress from 13 of the Western States are 

unalterably opposed to the measure in its present form." On the day before the 

session ended, Senator Hayden proposed a substitute measure that would 

eliminate the possibility of another Federal agency while providing for more 

coordination among existing agencies by setting up a National Resources Board 

that would formulate plans but have no control over construction.

Before the special session adjourned, foreign affairs were back in the 

headlines. On December 12, Japanese bombers attacked American and British 

ships near Nanking, China, and sank the U.S.S. Panay. Secretary of the Navy 

Claude Swanson wanted war immediately. Secretary Ickes noted in his diary 

that "Certainly war with Japan is inevitable sooner or later, and if we have to 

fight her, isn't this the best possible time." Instead of war, however, the 

United States on December 14 formally demanded apologies, reparations, and 

assurances against further incidents, and the Japanese responded the same day. 

On December 14, also, Congressman Louis Ludlow of Indiana reintroduced his 

resolution, which several times had failed to pass, calling for an amendment to 

the Constitution to require a national referendum on a declaration of war. A 

national poll in 1937 indicated that nearly three-fourths of those polled favored 

such a referendum, and passage of the Ludlow resolution in the new session 

seemed assured until President Roosevelt sent Congress a message pointing out

394 Astatic World, 1936-1939
In 1939, F. E. Matthcs reported that in all probability 

many of the small cirque glaciers in Western United 

States were "the modern successors rather than the 

lingering remnants of the glaciers of the ice age." In 

the Sierra Nevada, he had noted morainal embankments at the ends of glaciers still loosely piled together 

in slopes that had not yet everywhere assumed the 

angle of rest, some with bodies of glacier ice still buried 

beneath them. The morainal embankment at the front 

of the east lobe of the Lyell Glacier is shown in a 

photograph by W. T. Lee. Moreover, the extreme sensitivity of glaciers in and near Yosemite National Park 

to departures from average precipitation and temperature conditions indicated that they would be destroyed in about a century by only a moderate sustained deficiency of snow coupled with somewhat 

higher summer temperatures. Matthes suggested that 

these glaciers did not exist during the middle third of 

the post-glacial interval, which was warmer and drier 

than the present. (From F. E. Matthes, 1939.)

that such an amendment "would cripple any President in his conduct of our 

foreign relations, and it would encourage other nations to believe that they 

could violate American rights with impunity."

Roosevelt's annual message to Congress in January 1938 was for the most 

part concerned with domestic issues after a brief reference to the unsettled 

world conditions and the need for a strong defense. The President again called 

for a balanced budget although not at the expense of the welfare of individual 

Americans, some 8 to 11 million of them unemployed. A special meassage on 

January 28 recommended increased expenditures for defense, including antiaircraft materiel, defense industry tools, and an increase in the authorized naval 

construction program. The Naval Expansion Act was passed on May 17 but 

otherwise Congress was more preoccupied with domestic affairs and the 

economy. In April, the President sent to Congress a series of recommendations 

for combatting the business recession, including a $3 billion spending program; he followed it 2 weeks later with recommendations for curbing 

monopolies and the growing concentration of economic power. Congress 

responded to both proposals within a few weeks but in reverse order, setting up 

a Temporary National Economic Committee, a joint legislative-executive body 

to conduct a full-scale investigation of the economy on June 16, and appropriating the $3 billion on June 21. Other New Deal legislation passed during the session included the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. a modified 

form of the 1933 act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established a

National Defense 395
minimum wage of 40 cents an hour and a maximum work week of 40 hours, to 

be put into effect within 8 years for wages and 3 years for hours.

The National Resources Committee's report on Alaska and its resources, in 

response to the resolution of August 21, 1937, was sent to Congress on January 

20, 1938. Although the Senators and Representatives who sponsored the resolution had declared their belief that Government agencies had all the needed 

information locked up in their files, the committee reported that information 

about the Territory was "wholly insufficient for any adequate program" and 

recommended that "surveying, mapping, land classification, mineral exploration, and other scientific investigations already in progress should be carried 

forward at a faster pace than at present." The committee also suggested that 

the administration of conservation policy though not the policy itself be 

reexamined, and that suitable steps be taken, by modification of the mining 

laws if necessary, "to insure that the Government may retain such control over 

mineralized areas about to be opened up as is in the interest of orderly and efficient development." The committee also noted that aviation would play a 

large part in any program for the development of the resources of Alaska, and 

that aeronautical maps should be made available. The Coast and Geodetic 

Survey had had such a program under consideration for some time but funds 

had not been made available to undertake it.

During 1937, the National Resources Committee had also prepared a 

series of regional plans, revised and extended its report on drainage-basin problems, and issued two reports in an effort to read the future. "Our Cities Their 

Role in the National Economy" recognized the problems attendant upon the 

increasing urbanization and the need to consider social and economic plans to 

deal with them. "Technological Trends and National Policy," prepared under 

the sponsorship of the Science Committee, was written because

Anticipation of the future is the key to adequate planning for the best use 

of our natural resources.

It was the first major attempt to assess how new inventions might affect living 

and working conditions in America in the next 10 to 25 years. The report noted 

that science and technology had brought about great advances in American life 

in the 20th century but pointed out that invention, which was commonly the 

intermediate step between scientific research and technological application, 

was "a great disturber," but also "The greatest general cause of change in our 

modern civilization." Inventions affected all social institutions from the family

In 1936, the Survey set up an office in Chattanooga, 

Tennessee, to prepare topographic maps of the entire 

Tennessee River Valley by photogrammetric methods, 

beginning a revolutionary swing away from field 

methods as the basic mapmaking procedure. The 

photograph shows the Survey's original multiplex 

equipment in the Chattanooga office in 1937. This 

equipment, manufactured by Zeiss Aerotopograph 

Company, was later modified by the Survey in cooperation with Bausch and Lomb to provide greater accuracy along with economy and speed, but was superseded after World War II by the development of a 

succession of more refined instruments. (Courtesy of 

Morris M. Thompson.)

396 Astatic World, 1936-1939
to the State, and as their adoption was often resisted, sometimes for social, 

sometimes for economic reasons, the time from the first development to full 

use, which averaged 30 years, was often a period of social and economic maladjustment. The five men who analyzed the outlook for the future in the mineral 

industries, F. G. Tryon, G. S. Rice, and Oliver Bowles of the Bureau of Mines, 

Professor T. T. Read of Columbia University, and K. C. Heald of the Gulf Oil 

Company, concluded that the short-term prospect was favorable but the longterm prospect was one of growing difficulties. In the next 10 years, they believed mineral technology would overcome the increasing handicaps of nature, 

leaner ores, greater depths, and exhaustion, and perhaps even effect greater 

savings in labor and in concentrating mineral production in a smaller number 

of larger and more efficient plants. Thus "aside from the hazard of war, 

technology and its allies, exploration and transport, should be able to supply all 

the fuel and earth materials that the world can consume at prices not greatly 

different from those to which we became accustomed during the 1920's." Over 

a longer time, however, technology would have a harder time to overcome the 

handicaps of nature, and more of the world's mineral industry would have to 

pass into the stage where technological gains could no longer offset them.

Two speeches, one by Congressman Scrugham and the other by John W. 

Finch, Director of the Bureau of Mines, were placed in the Congressional 

Record shortly thereafter to illustrate the necessity of special consideration of 

the strategic minerals. At the time, the War Department had classified strategic 

materials as those essential to the national defense for the supply of which in 

war dependence must be placed, in whole or in large part, on sources outside 

the continental United States and for which strict conservation and control 

measures would be necessary. A second class of "critical materials" was described 

as those for which the procurement problems in war, while difficult, were less 

serious than those of strategic materials, due to greater resources or to a lesser 

degree of essentiality, and for which conservation and distribution control 

measures would probably be necessary. There were 9 minerals on the list of 

strategic materials: aluminum, antimony, chromium, manganese, mica, 

nickel, mercury, tin, and tungsten, and 25 minerals on the list of critical 

materials, including iron, copper, lead, zinc, and petroleum. Finch proposed 

an appropriation of $500,000 a year for the Bureau of Mines and the Survey to 

make a comprehensive study of ways and means of adapting the Nation's 

domestic reserves of strategic minerals to a permanent solution of the 

deficiency-mineral problem.

The Science Committee followed up its report on technological trends 

with one on research in the Federal Government. The committee first addressed 

itself to the perennial question of what scientific research should be done by the 

Government, and concluded that there were certain fields, such as those involved in national defense or in setting standards, in which the Federal Government was obliged to carry on research, others (among them, geology) in which 

the Federal Government was better equipped to carry on research, and still 

other fields in which programs were so extensive that the Federal Government 

was better able to coordinate them. It found, however, that procedures with 

respect to authorizing and financing research tended to limit rather than promote intelligent consideration of the Government's scientific program. 

Research workers found it difficult to make clear to the Bureau of the Budget 

and the Congress the desirability of new research enterprises, and as it was 

easier to get support for established lines of work, new research was postponed 

or begun under a subterfuge. Agencies presented their budget requests inadequately, were timid in their statements, and failed to make clear that research is 

essential to the public welfare. Appropriating authorities, on the other hand, 

frequently acted as if research workers were making requests for purely personal 

or selfish reasons.

Research in the Federal Government 397
J u:: *£'. i '? lr y* A fw " ** r^ &

A case in point was the Geological Survey budget for the year beginning 

July 1, 1938. The Survey had convinced the Bureau of the Budget that it 

needed an increase of $251,880: $150,000 for water-resources investigations, 

$75,000 for topographic surveys, $15,000 for classification of the public lands, 

and the remainder for administrative salaries, preparation of illustrations, and 

supervision of mineral leasing. The approved increases, however, bore little 

resemblance to the real needs, and none had been granted for research. Congress, for the most part, either accepted the recommendations of the Bureau of 

the Budget or sliced small amounts from them.

The National Resources Committee had recommended establishment of a 

network of Federal stations for hydrologic measurements at an initial cost of 

$2.3 million and an annual cost thereafter of $1.1 million. The Bureau of the 

Budget recommended an appropriation of $1,050,000 for water-resources investigations but restricted $850,000 to matching cooperative offerings. By the 

time the appropriations hearings were held, some months before the new fiscal 

year would get underway, cooperative offerings of almost $883,000 were 

already in prospect. The House voted to cut the appropriation to $1,000,000, 

in effect cutting the small amount available for purely Federal work. The 

Senate restored the cut and the final bill provided $1,050,000.

The Ickes plan for topographic mapping called for Federal appropriations 

of $100 million at the rate of $5 million a year to accelerate the mapping of the 

United States. The Bureau of the Budget recommended an appropriation of 

$725,000 and Congress accepted the recommendation.

In 1936, the National Resources Committee sponsored 

a joint investigation of the water resources of the Rio 

Grande Basin by the Geological Survey, the Bureau of 

Agricultural Engineering, the Bureau of Reclamation, 

and the Bureau of Plant Industry to determine the 

available water supply, water uses and requirements, 

and the possibilities of additional supplies. Above Fort 

Quitman, Texas, where the investigation was concentrated, nearly all the water of the river, 99 percent of 

which came from Colorado and New Mexico in about 

equal amounts, was being consumed by irrigation in 

Colorado. New Mexico, and Texas, and there had been 

a long-standing controversy among the three States 

over the depletion of the water in the upper part of the 

basin. This investigation was the first time that States 

and the Federal Government joined together to find a 

satisfactory basis for allocation of the waters of a river 

by assembling the factual data needed to make the 

allocation. The aerial photograph shows irrigated farms 

in the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District in New 

Mexico. (From National Resources Committee, 1938.)

398 Astatic World, 1936-1939
The Survey had long used the 0.2- and 0.8-deprh or 

the 0.6-depth methods for measurements of river 

discharge, but they were not always practicable in very 

shallow water. There the current meter was placed at 

mid-depth, a point at which the actual velocity is not 

the mean for the vertical and where the registration of 

the current meter may be affected by its proximity to 

the water surface or to the stream bed. To determine 

coefficients to be applied to measurements made 

under such adverse conditions, Survey hydraulic 

engineer C. H. Pierce investigated the performance of 

current meters in very shallow water experimentally at 

the National Hydraulic Laboratory at the National 

Bureau of Standards. The underregistration of current 

meters near the water suface is shown on the graph. 

(From C. H. Pierce, 1941.)

VELOCITY IN f EET PER SECOND

DISTANCE WATERSURFACE, BELOW FEET IN 

o o boifk 0 K) O ODO) 

1.4

5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

Bed

f/S ///////

^^

EXPLANATION

o Average of 4 series of observations 

by current meters 

X Average of 2 series of observations 

by Pitot-static tube 

Vertical velocity-curve at center of 

flume

Depth of water, 1.25 feet 

Mean velocity in flume 1.0 feet per 

second

Smooth concrete flume bed

^-J

>-

SSS/f/////

X

y"

I.I 1.

\

\

°T

1

7~

r

X

The Survey in its justification for the appropriation for geologic surveys, 

stressed the need for mineral inventories and intensive study of strategic and 

deficient minerals.

It is futile to wait for an emergency and then expect sound and complete 

information on essential war materials to be provided immediately. Such 

information should be systematically collected during periods of peace to 

be available when emergencies arise.

The Bureau of the Budget recommended no increase in the appropriation for 

geologic surveys and Congress accepted the recommendation.

The National Resources Committee recommended an acceleration of 

Alaskan studies and mapping. The Survey in its justification stated "More than 

half the Territory still remains entirely unsurveyed, and even in those areas that 

have been surveyed on exploratory or reconnaissance standards, there are many 

places that should be examined more thoroughly if adequate assistance and encouragement are to be given to the finding and development of the mineral 

deposits that are believed to lie undeveloped in the region." The Bureau of the 

Budget recommended an appropriation of only $60,000, Congress fretted 

about the amount of money that was being spent in Washington to support 

field work in Alaska, and accepted the recommendation.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, to the obvious dismay of its chairman, Senator Hayden, spent most of one morning worrying about the 

authorization to spend $6,000 for books for the Survey library. Where were the 

books bought, were they checked to be sure that they weren't foreign propaganda, even "how many people have you got down there engaged in reading 

books." The authorization to spend $6,000, however, was allowed to stand.

While the appropriations bill was making its way through Congress, Germany submitted an ultimatum to Austria, the German army invaded Austria

Report on Alaska 399
on March 12, and on March 14, Hitler took formal possession. England and 

France protested but were too deeply involved in internal problems to take action, Italy accepted the occupation without protest, and no international crisis 

ensued. The acquisition of Austria, however, left Czechoslovakia like a wedge 

in the heart of the new Germany. Although the German Government assured 

the Czech Government of its desire to improve relations between the two countries, Hitler had promised protection to German minorities in other countries, 

and there were more than three million Germans in the frontier regions of 

Czechoslovakia.

In the final version of the appropriation bill, which was approved on May 

9, 1938, a total of $3,164,680 was appropriated for the Survey, $14,200 less 

than the amount recommended by the Bureau of the Budget but $23,000 more 

than the appropriation for fiscal year 1931. With great optimism, Director 

Mendenhall said that "it was gratifying that for the fiscal year 1938-39 the 

direct appropriation was restored to its earlier level, although its distribution 

among the several activities of the bureau was somewhat changed. With this 

encouragement, which it is hoped foreshadows more adequate and less fluctuating support, projects could be planned and undertaken with more confidence and could be pursued in a more orderly and effective way."

The Water Resources Branch was the chief beneficiary of the redistribution 

of funds among Survey activities, its appropriation for the year beginning July 

1, 1938, more than double its appropriation for the year beginning July 1, 

1930. Cooperative and transfer funds had also increased and the total funds for 

water-resources investigations were approximately equal to the Federal appropriation for the entire Survey. The change in the branch as the result of the 

increased funds was far more than an increase in size; traditional data-gathering 

activities had been strengthened, but the data were also being gathered in new 

ways and analyzed to new purposes, and the whole research spectrum had 

broadened.

During the fiscal year, there was a net gain of 334 gaging stations in the 

Division of Surface Water, so the total at the year's end was 4,165, or 1,502 

more than on July 1, 1931. Nearly 3,000 of them were equipped with waterstage recorders. Flood investigations reached a new level of sophistication. Data 

were gathered on floods in Texas in January, June, and July 1938 and the hurricane floods in New England in September 1938, but several special investigations were also undertaken. Among the latter were studies of potential floods in 

the well-populated and industrialized Willamette Basin of Oregon where the 

Army Engineers had several multipurpose projects under consideration, of the 

effect of climate and topography on flood runoff in two basins in Washington 

west of the Cascade Mountains, of the erosion of stream channels by successive 

cloud-burst floods in Colorado and Utah and the relation of the transportation 

and deposition of flood debris to flood discharge. Under the auspices of the 

Works Progress Administration, data were compiled under Survey supervision 

on selected topographic features of drainage basins in Northeastern United 

States as a basis for quantitative studies of differences in flood behavior. The 

Quality of Water Division added to its activities studies of silt movement in 

streams in the Boise River Basin in Idaho and the St. Francis River Basin in 

Missouri for the Flood Control Coordinating Committee of the Department of 

Agriculture, and aided the Public Health Service in its investigation to determine if natural conditions were responsible for the high death rate from tuberculosis in Giles County, Tennessee.

Ground-water investigations were either systematic areal surveys or more 

intensive special investigations leading to the determination of hydrologic principles. O. E. Meinzer had divided the United States into four ground-water 

provinces: an East-Central old-rock region, which included about one-third of 

the Nation's area and two-thirds of its population; the Atlantic and Gulf

400 Astatic World, 1936-1939
In a summary report on ground-water conditions, 

resources, and utilization published in 1939, O. E. 

Meinzer noted that more than half the 123 million 

people living in the United States according to the 

1930 census were wholly or chiefly dependent on 

ground water for their water supply, and that ground 

water was also extensively used for irrigation. Survey 

investigations since 1903 provided data that enabled 

Meinzer to divide the United States into four major 

ground-water regions and to subdivide each region 

into one or more provinces, as shown in the illustration, with respect to the availability of ground water 

and the formations from which it was obtained. (From 

O. E. Meinzer, 1939.)

Coastal Plain region; the plains east of the Rocky Mountains; and the Western 

Mountain region, which also included about one-third the area and was chiefly 

arid. New or continuing investigations were underway in all four regions, in 37 

of the 48 States, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands, and periodic measurements of 

water levels or artesian pressure were being made in 5,000 wells. In the EastCentral region, new investigations were begun in Massachusetts, by M. L. 

Brashears, in Indiana, by C. L. McGuinness, and in Ohio, by David Thompson 

and F. H. Klaer, Jr. In the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain region, V. T. Stringfield supervised several projects: a statewide observation-well program in 

Mississippi by G. F. Brown, and special studies of areas in Georgia, Florida, and 

Louisiana by M. A. Warren, H. H. Cooper, Jr., and J. C. Maher where industrial use of ground water had caused a serious decline of water levels. In the 

plains east of the Rocky Mountains, T. W. Robinson and the Iowa State 

Geologist, H. G. Hershey, began an investigation to correlate pumpage of 

ground water, fluctuations in water levels, and the geologic source of water supplies. Robinson confirmed the semidiurnal fluctuations observed in two wells 

during the Pecos River investigation and correlated them with the transit of the 

Moon, and thus concluded they were earth tides. R. C. Cady and O. J. Scherer 

extended the Nebraska investigation to Box Butte County; S. W. Lohman 

supervised investigations in Kansas, including the search for a new source for 

the Wichita municipal supply and a supply for and economic feasibility of 

irrigation from deep wells in Ford County; and in Oklahoma, S. L. Schoff extended the Panhandle investigation to Cimarron County. In the Western 

Mountain region, H. E. Thomas began special investigations in three Utah 

valleys where ground-water conditions had become critical, Penn Livingston 

began a cooperative project in Nevada to determine if the decline in artesian 

head in wells near Las Vegas was due to leakage, and observation-well programs 

were begun in Oregon and the Spokane Valley of Washington under the supervision of A. M. Piper.

East-central region of Paleozoic and other old

Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain region 

Great Plains region 

*/ Western mountain region

Water Resources, 1938 401
The Federal appropriation for topographic surveys for the year beginning 

July 1, 1938, was slightly less than the appropriation for fiscal year 1931, but 

the Topographic Branch had total funds of $2.5 million, two-thirds as much 

again as it had in 1931. Some 70 percent of the funds came from 16 States, the 

Tennessee Valley Authority, the War Department, and the emergency public 

works funds. Despite the high proportion of outside funds, an effort was made 

to adhere to the national mapping plan, and mapping was done in 45 States 

and Puerto Rico. Of the 27,735 square miles covered by new topographic 

surveys, resurveys, and revisions, all but 1,377 were mapped at field scales of 

1:48,000 or larger for publication at standard scales. Photogrammetric methods 

continued to gain favor, and maps of 2,091 square miles were made during the 

year, 1,974 in the Chattanooga office and an additional 117 in the Washington 

office.

Total funds for the Conservation Branch were also approximately the same 

as for fiscal year 1931, but the distribution among branch activities was very different. Funds for classification of the public lands were only 56 percent of what 

they had been while those for supervision of mineral leasing were 125 percent 

of the 1931 funds. Yet most of the work of mineral classification consisted in 

determining areas subject to inclusion in plans for unit or cooperative development, consideration of oil and gas leases to be exchanged for outstanding oil 

and gas permits, preparation of reports on initial applications for oil and gas 

leases as well as classifying lands embraced in applications for surface rights 

under the nonmineral public-land laws, all work which required a knowledge 

of the geology. The number of properties under supervision was declining, and 

consequently there was also a slight decline in revenue.

Total available funds for the Geologic Branch in the year beginning July 1, 

1938, were about 12 percent more than in fiscal year 1931, although funds appropriated directly to the Survey for geologic investigations were slightly less, in 

large part because of an allotment from the Public Works Administration for 

strategic-mineral studies and for classification of mineral lands, an allotment 

large enough to finance 21 of the 73 field parties that worked in 30 States. The 

work of the year included continuing, revived, and new projects that covered a 

broad spectrum of research, much of it long-range, some of it new and urgent. 

There was, however, an air of something new even in the long-term projects. In 

several areas, field geologists were using aerial photographs as base maps or as 

aids in tracing certain features. In the laboratories, Survey chemists and 

mineralogists devoted much time to the study of new minerals, and W. E. 

Schaller was awarded the second Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of 

America "in recognition of his outstanding contributions to chemical 

mineralogy, to crystallography, to the paragenesis of the pegmatite minerals, 

and to systematic and descriptive mineralogy." W. H. Bradley, M. N. 

Bramlette and others who had been studying the North Atlantic deep-sea cores 

reported that the bottom sediments and their animal and plant life gave 

evidence of striking climatic changes during and since the latest glacial stage.

Some Geologic Branch projects that had roots deep in the past. W. C. 

Alden, who had joined the Survey in 1896, completed field work for his last 

major report, on the physiography and glacial geology of western Montana and 

adjacent areas. H. E. Gregory began systematic mapping of the Paunsaugunt 

region of southeastern Utah, where both the Powell and Wheeler surveys had 

mapped in the 1870's but at scales too small or without the detail needed in 

1938. In the East, Florence Bascom, Charles Butts, and George Stose, whose 

first Survey reports had been published near the turn of the century, were still 

unravelling the intricacies of Appalachian geology. The Survey made a major 

contribution to the science in publishing a new lexicon of geologic names, two 

volumes containing 2,396 pages, which Economic Geology called 

"indispensable."

402 Astatic World, 1936-1939
R.IOW. R.9W. R.8W. R.7W.

EXPLANATION 

o PUMPING WELL 

0 ABANDONED PUMPING WELL 

+ WINDMILL WELL 

9 O ^OBSERVATION WELL

RISE (*) OR DECLINE (-) OF

WATER LEVEL IN WELL IN FEET

____LINE SHOWING DECLINE OF GROUND - 

WATER LEVEL IN FEET 

AREA IN WHICH GROUND-WATER 

LEVEL DECLINED:

Y / \ 4 TO 10 FEET 

DOQCl MORE THAN 10 FEET

o ooupv A"2-63 'S«

LITTLE ''.

FLORIDA '''

MOUNTAINS I

In 1935, the Geological Survey began a program of 

systematic observation of water levels in wells as they 

registered changes in natural ground-water reservoirs 

and provided a yearly inventory of the water supplies of 

the areas covered by the program. In the part of the 

Mimbres Valley of New Mexico shown on the map, the 

observations showed that water levels declined in a 

7-year period from less than 1 foot to slightly more 

than 12 feet. An underground barrier between the Little Florida Mountains and Cooks Range apparently 

retarded eastward percolation of the ground water and 

thus water levels in wells northwest of the Little Florida 

Mountains declined less than those in wells farther to 

the west, and the largest decline was east of the barrier. 

(From U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 

845.)

The Fuels Section continued its methodical studies of stratigraphy and 

structure in California, the Colorado Plateau, the northern Rockies, and the 

Midcontinent region. One major new project was begun, an investigation of 

the surface and subsurface stratigraphy, structure, and lithology of the Santa 

Maria Basin in Santa Barbara County, California, and the bearing of the 

geology on the discovery and development of oil and gas in that area. Several 

members of the section were also called on to prepare chapters on coal, 

petroleum, and natural-gas reserves for a report on energy resources by the National Resources Committee.

The Metals Section continued its studies of mining districts in several 

Western States, the Tri-State region, and the Southern Appalachians. In Colorado, Q. D. Singewald mapped in the Beaver-Tarryall area in Park County, of 

renewed interest because of the increase in gold production from the Alma 

district just to the west. W. S. Burbank completed a manuscript on the structural control of ore deposition in the Uncompahgre district of Ouray County 

with suggestions for prospecting. In Idaho, work was completed in the Silver 

Belt of the Coeur d'Alene district and in the Boise Basin project; S. R. Capps 

continued his study of placer deposits in the Secesh Basin in Idaho County. 

James Gilluly continued work in Cochise County, Arizona before leaving the 

Survey to teach at the University of California in Los Angeles, and T. B. Nolan 

resumed mapping in the Eureka district of Nevada.

In the spring of 1938, as the political situation in Europe became critical, 

S. G. Lasky and R. J. Roberts began a field study of the manganese deposits in 

the foothills of the Artillery Mountains in western Arizona. The deposits had

Geology, 1939 403
been known for several years but were low-grade, and beneflciation by known 

methods appeared hopeless until the Bureau of Mines in 1936 reported a 

laboratory method for recovering manganese by leaching and electrolysis. Interest in the deposits was then renewed for they were within the zone of efficient transmission of electric power from Boulder Dam. During the summer of 

1938, several more strategic-mineral investigations were begun. E. F. Burchard 

investigated the manganese deposits in Perry and Lewis Counties, Tennessee, 

in cooperation with the State, and Josiah Bridge made a study of the MascotJefferson zinc district. C. P. Ross investigated the quicksilver deposits in the 

Mayacmas and Sulphur Bank districts in California, and G. A. Rynearson and 

C. T. Smith the chromite deposits in Siskiyou County.

The Geologic Branch laboratories, too, became increasingly involved in 

economic studies. Chemists devoted considerable time to analyses to determine 

the economic possibilities in different areas in the United States, mainly on the 

public lands, that contained such raw materials as phosphates, potash, 

manganese, and iron. More definite evidence was obtained of the existence at 

depth in Grand County, Utah, of a considerable bed of carnallite, a mineral 

well known in foreign potash fields but previously unknown in large quantities 

in this country. Clay studies were centered on the location and development of 

American clays equivalent to the special-purpose clays imported from Japan, 

Germany, and England.

Only the Alaskan Geology Branch had a serious shortage in funds in 

1938-39 in comparison with fiscal year 1931. Its appropriation was only 80 percent of the 1931 appropriation and there was no large transfer of funds from 

the Railroad as there had been in 1931- Only two combined geologictopographic parties took the field, F. H. Moffit and T. W. Ranta in the northern part of the Copper River Valley and John C. Reed andj. Mark Holmes on 

Chichagof Island in southeastern Alaska, where Reed sought detailed information on the geology of the gold lode mines that had long been productive in 

order to delimit the more favorable areas for prospecting. J. B. Mertie, Jr., 

unaccompanied by a topographer, investigated the old consolidated gravel 

deposits of Tertiary age in the Yukon Valley west of the international boundary 

that appeared to have been the source of much of the placer gold being mined 

in adjacent areas. Under the direction of Gerald FitzGerald, who succeeded 

R. H. Sargent in charge of Alaskan topographic surveys, the use of photogrammetric methods in mapping was extended, and aerial photographs were made 

of the Tanana Valley east of Fairbanks and of certain tracts on Admiralty Island 

in southeastern Alaska that could not be readily covered by ground methods.

By the beginning of September 1938, the Czech-German crisis had 

reached the critical stage. On September 12, Hitler demanded that the Sudeten 

Germans be given the right of self-determination. While the east coast of the 

United States was being battered by a hurricane, the European crisis reached its 

climax. French, Italian, and British ministers conferred with Hitler in Munich, 

and on September 29, a pact was signed calling for the cession to Germany of 

the Sudeten territory.

American opinion about the Munich pact was divided. A Gallup poll indicated that most Americans approved, but many worried about the future. 

Secretary Ickes wrote in his diary that the pact was probably not too great a price 

to pay if it insured permanent peace, but he doubted very much that it would, 

"Hitler being the maniac that he is." President Roosevelt, who had appealed 

to Hitler and Mussolini for the conference rather than war, did not comment 

publicly on the settlement although Ickes urged him to tell the country of the 

gravity of the situation because he knew isolationist sentiment was still strong 

and he thought people simply would not believe him. Moreover, Roosevelt was 

concerned about the upcoming elections. He had taken an active part in the 

campaign to effect the nomination of party liberals and lessen his dependence

404 Astatic World, 1936-1939
on conservative Democrats. His intervention, however, was far less successful 

that he had hoped. For the first time since 1928 the Republicans gained seats in 

the Congress, 81 in the House and 8 in the Senate.

American opinion began to consolidate in opposition to Germany shortly 

after the 1938 elections. The day after the election, November 9, has gone 

down in history as the Kristallnacht, named for the broken glass of shop windows as Hitler inaugurated his campaign to rid the world of the Jewish people, 

and German Jews were murdered, their synagogues burned, and $23 million 

worth of damage done. The American Ambassador was promptly ordered 

home from Berlin, and when the Conference of American States met in Lima in 

December, the American delegation made strenuous efforts to line up the 

Latin American nations against interference by European dictators. In his annual message to Congress in January 1939, President Roosevelt for the first time 

since taking office in 1933 proposed no new domestic reforms but stressed instead the danger to democracy and international peace by the forces of oppression. The budget message proposed a total of $9 billion, including $1.3 

billion for national defense, for fiscal year 1940, and a second budget message a 

few days later asked for additional appropriations of $525 million for an 

emergency program for national defense, including the facilitating of material 

procurement.

In the light of the growing threat to world peace, C. K. Leith tried, but 

without success, to persuade the American Institute of Mining and 

Metallurgical Engineers and the Mining and Metallurgical Society to revive the 

committees on industrial preparedness that had been established after the 

World War. In December 1938, however, the Mining and Metallurgical Society 

held a symposium on strategic minerals at its annual meeting and passed a 

resolution recommending to the administration and the Congress the accumulation of emergency stocks of specific strategic minerals for war 

preparedness. In the meantime, Leith had taken his case directly to the 

military. The Mineral Advisory Committee of the War Department was 

revitalized and placed under the Army and Navy Munitions Board, and in late 

December Leith was appointed chairman of the committee and given responsibility for preparation of studies on strategic minerals and metals and for 

recommendations, where domestic supplies were inadequate, as to the quantities of stocks of materials that the Government should purchase. Seventeen 

minerals were chosen as essential and subcommittees of industry and Government representatives set up to study them. D. F. Hewett of the Survey was a 

member of the committee on manganese.

On January 12, 1939, Senator Elbert Thomas, acting for the Committee 

on Military Affairs, filed the first of several bills to provide for the acquisition of 

stocks of strategic and critical materials. The Senate Committee began hearings 

immediately and on February 28 reported out an amended version of the 

Thomas bill and recommended it be passed. The preamble stated "that the 

natural resources of the United States in certain strategic and critical materials 

being deficient or insufficiently developed to supply the industrial, military, 

and naval needs of the country for common defense, it is the policy of Congress 

and the purpose and intent of this act to provide for the acquisition of stocks of 

these materials and to encourage the development of mines and deposits of 

these materials within the United States, and thereby decrease and prevent 

wherever possible a dangerous and costly dependence of the United States 

upon foreign nations for supplies of these materials in times of national 

emergency." Section 7 of the bill "authorized and directed" the Secretary of 

the Interior, through the Director of the Bureau of Mines and the Director of 

the Geological Survey, "to make scientific, technologic, and economic investigations concerning the extent and mode of occurrence, the development, 

mining, preparation, treatment, and utilization of ores and other mineral

Strategic Minerals 405
substances found in the United States or its Territories or insular possessions 

which are essential to the common defense or the industrial needs of the United 

States, and quantities or grades of which are inadequate from known domestic 

sources of supply, to devise new methods for the treatment and utilization of 

lower-grade reserves, and to develop substitutes for such essential ores and 

mineral products." Section 7 also authorized the exploration and development 

of deposits of such minerals on public lands and privately owned lands, with 

the consent of the owner, and the appropriation of $500,000 for each of the 

fiscal years 1940 through 1943, $350,000 for the Bureau of Mines and $150,000 

for the Geological Survey.

Before the Thomas bill was reported out, President Roosevelt sent to Congress a report on energy resources that contained one of the strongest endorsements of Federal research yet made. A subcommittee of the National 

Resources Committee, chaired by Ralph J. Watkins, Director of the Bureau of 

Business Research and Professor of Statistics, University of Pittsburgh, and 

including in its membership Director Mendenhall of the Geological Survey, 

A. C. Fieldner of the Bureau of Mines, Fred Tryon of the Bituminous Coal 

Commission, and Joel D. Wolfsohn of the General Land Office, was responsible for the report and several members of the Survey contributed to it. The 

report pointed out the obvious fact that energy resources are at the foundation 

of an industrial civilization and that, except for water power, they are exhaustible and water power at best can supply only a fraction of energy requirements. 

Coal reserves of the United States were ample estimated as 3,000 billion tons, 

in comparison with an annual production in 1937 of about 1/2 billion 

tons but proven reserves of petroleum and natural gas were meager 15 

billion barrels of petroleum compared to the 1937 consumption of 1 1/4 billion 

barrels, and 6 to 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in comparison to a 1937 

consumption of 2 1/2 trillion. In the interest of safeguarding the Nation's 

patrimony in energy resources, the committee recommended a national policy 

of conservation and prudent utilization, to be achieved by promotion of greater 

efficiency in the production of mineral fuels from the standpoint of recovery, 

promotion of greater economy in the use of fuels, and placing a larger share of 

the energy burden on lower-grade fuels and water power. The Federal Government, it said, must take responsibility for these actions as the only agency that 

represented all national interests and that could also cope with interstate 

problems. The report concluded:

Deposition of sediment in irrigation canals and in parts 

of the Boise River channel, as above the Diversion Dam 

shown in the photograph, had increased maintenance 

costs in many canals since the mid-1920's. During an 

18-month period in which Survey scientists measured 

the daily discharge and sediment loads in the drainage 

basin, they found that the sediment consisted largely 

of coarse material at stations above the active placer 

mines near Idaho City but entirely of fine material 

below the mines. They concluded that most of the 

coarse material passing the stations above Idaho City 

was deposited behind tailings from dredging operations in the placer mining area but that in earlier years 

when the spring runoff was greater a large amount of 

coarse material had been carried downstream, discharged into the Boise River, and deposited in the river 

channel or in the larger irrigation canals. Much of the 

fine material was carried through the canals and eventually deposited in diversion ditches or on farm land. 

(From S. K. Love and P. C. Benedict, 1948.)

406 Astatic World, 1936-1939
National policies must be formulated, and those policies are only as sound 

as the foundation of fact and deduction upon which they rest and then only 

to the extent that this foundation is utilized. Most well conceived Governmental action, if traced back to its source, will be found to spring from the 

work of one or many research workers, distributed among the Government 

offices and laboratories. They must supply the answers which are the tools 

and the material used in the formulation of sound policies. To be prepared 

to supply the answers to the complex questions that will be asked during 

the next year or the next decade, research workers must be continually 

engaged in advancing the frontiers of knowledge. This is research. It is 

essential through the Government and nowhere more so than in those 

agencies on whose work a program of conservation of energy resources 

must be based.

The Energy Resources Committee had considered coal, oil, gas, and water 

power as energy sources but while their report was in preparation fundamental 

research in Europe altered the long-term outlook. Nuclear physics had advanced dramatically in the early 1930's. Enrico Fermi's experiments in Rome 

with neutron bombardment had produced puzzling results with uranium, but 

late in 1938 Lisa Meitner recognized the phenomenon as nuclear fission and 

calculated the large amount of energy released. Fermi had just arrived in the 

United States, after receiving the Nobel Prize for Physics, when he received 

word of the discovery and recognized the possibility of a sustained chain reaction. Fermi and Leo Szilard, who had come to the United States from Hungary 

in 1937, began the experiments that led to atomic energy.

Meanwhile, the regular appropriations bills had begun their tortuous path 

through Congressional committees that were intent on cutting expenses and 

balancing the budget. Secretary Ickes challenged the House Appropriations 

Committee with the statement that "the people are demanding more and 

more services every year from the Federal Government, and Congress is granting more and more services. And you cannot give services unless you pay for 

them." For the Geological Survey, the Interior appropriations bill included a 

modest increase of $151,320, including $50,000 to match increased contributions from the States for water-resources investigations and $18,000 for more 

adequate operation of Federal stream-gaging stations; $50,000 to purchase new 

equipment and increase the capacity for printing maps; $15,000 for supervision 

of mineral-leasing operations; $9,000 for five new positions in Texts, the

In March 1936, extraordinary floods in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic States caused the loss of 

150-200 lives and hundreds of millions of dollars of 

property damage and completely disrupted transportation. The photograph shows the airport at Washington, D.C., covered by flood waters of the Potomac 

River. The magnitude of the problem of flood control, 

particularly in urbanized areas, and the necessity of 

adequate basic information for planning purposes was 

impressed on people as never before. In June 1936, 

Congress passed a Flood Control Act under which the 

Federal Government for the first time assumed responsibility for flood control throughout the country. 

(From N. C. Grover, 1937.)

Energy Resources 407
Library, and Accounts, and $5,000 for printing and binding because the 

Comptroller General had ruled that forms could not be reproduced by mimeograph but had to be printed at the Government Printing Office. For 

topographic and geologic surveys, the Bureau of the Budget recommended the 

same appropriations as those for fiscal year 1939-

The Chairman of the Committee on Surveys and Maps of the American 

Engineering Council, John S. Dodds, wrote to President Roosevelt protesting 

the inadequacy of the appropriation for topographic surveys. Roosevelt's 

secretary had replied that $115,000 had been included in the War Department 

budget for mapping strategically important areas but no large additional 

amounts had been asked for the Geological Survey and the Coast and Geodetic 

Survey "because of the possibility of giving subsequent consideration of an expansion of the mapping program in its relation to national defense needs." In 

late January 1939, Director Mendenhall told the House Appropriations Committee that the War Department was pressing the Geological Survey to increase 

the rate of mapping, that it wanted the Survey to spend $8 million and more in 

the next year or two to make maps in national defense areas. Although 

Mendenhall pointed out that the Survey could not do that much mapping 

under existing financial conditions, the House committee approved the recommendation of the Bureau of the Budget.

The next move was made by Senator Hay den by a resolution, passed on 

February 27, requesting the Secretaries of War, Commerce, and Interior "to 

confer and jointly to submit to the Senate as soon as practicable a report outlining the necessity for additional surveys and mapping in the United States, and 

to advise the Senate as to what would be proper expenditure for that purpose." 

The three Secretaries replied on March 23 that "Basic three-dimensional contour maps, made by modern methods in accordance with accurate engineering 

standards, are recognized as fundamental both to national defense and to the 

planning of internal improvements." They proposed an immediate acceleration of the mapping program, beginning with a 3-year expansion from $5 

million to at least $7 million and its continuation thereafter at that level. At 

least half the mapping should be done in strategic areas in accordance with 

priorities determined by the Secretary of War. The basic control work should be 

done by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, for which it should receive $1 million a 

year, the topographic mapping by the Geological Survey, which would receive 

the rest of the funds.

The Survey had again stressed the need for strategic-mineral studies in its 

justification for geologic surveys in fiscal year 1940, stating its intention "to 

give as much attention as possible to strategic and critical minerals without too 

serious an interruption to the regular program." The House committee decided the Survey could do that without an increase in appropriation. In fact, 

the House Committee made only one change in the recommendations of the 

Bureau of the Budget, eliminating the increase of $15,000 for supervision of 

mineral-leasing operations. The Senate passed the Interior appropriations bill 

on April 17 without any change in Survey approprations, and the bill was approved on May 10.

The Senate had already passed the strategic materials bill which authorized the appropriation of $500,000 for strategic-mineral studies when it took 

up the Interior appropriations bill. The Departments of State, War, Navy, 

Commerce, and the Interior had all recommended favorable consideration, and 

the Treasury Department had stated there was no objection to consideration of 

the bill on the ground that it was not part of the President's budget program, 

for the bill did not provide funds in the ordinary sense but simply authorized 

appropriations. The House passed an amended version of the bill on April 25, 

the conference committee took the month of May to iron out the differences,

408 Astatic World, 1936-1939
On January 25, 1939, part of the Badlands of South 

Dakota was set aside as a national monument because 

of its scenic and scientific interest. John Evans, who, in 

1849, had been the first geologist to visit the area, 

reported it to be "one of the most extraordinary and 

picturesque sights that can be found in the whole 

Missouri country," and that although in the summer 

"the scorching rays of the sun are reflected from the 

white or ash-colored walls, unmitigated by a breath of 

air, or the shelter of a solitary shrub," the "drooping 

spirits of the scorched geologist" did not flag for the 

"fossil treasures" well repaid him. Collectors visited 

the area regularly thereafter, and spectacular collections of vertebrate fossils were made by F. V. Hayden, 

O. C. Marsh, W. B. Scott, J. B. Hatcher, and H. F. 

Osborn. Evans' sketch of the Badlands, published in 

1852, is on page 88 of Volume 1. This photograph, by 

N. H. Dart on, is from the files of the U.S. Geological 

Survey.

and the bill was finally passed and approved on June 7. Once the bill was 

signed the process of obtaining funds through an appropriations act could 

begin.

In the few months since Congress had convened, the political situation in 

Europe had grown increasingly ominous. On March 15, 1939, while the House 

was considering the Interior appropriations bill, Germany occupied the rest of 

Czechoslovakia and demanded the surrender of Memelland from Lithuania. 

On March 23, when Secretaries Ickes, Dern, and Roper urged an immediate expansion of topographic mapping, Germany annexed Memel and demanded 

passage through the Polish corridor. On March 31, as the Senate passed the 

strategic materials bill, England and France, reacting to Hitler's demands on 

Poland, pledged help to the Polish people. Only a few days earlier, on March 

28, Madrid had fallen to Franco's forces and the Spanish Civil War had come 

to an end. By the time the Senate passed the Interior appropriations bill on 

April 17, Spain had joined Germany, Italy, and Japan in the anti-Communist 

pact and Italy had invaded Albania. In May, while the House and Senate ironed 

out their differences on the strategic materials bill, Great Britain and Turkey 

signed a mutual assistance agreement in case of aggression or war in the Mediterranean area, Esthonia and Latvia concluded a mutual nonaggression pact with 

Germany, which Finland, Norway, and Sweden declined to join, and Germany 

and Italy signed a political and military alliance.

The situation in the Pacific also became more critical. In May, serious 

fighting broke out on the Mongolian frontier between Russia and Japan. Then 

on June 14, the Japanese blockaded the British concessions at Tientsin and warned 

Great Britain that it must cooperate with Japan in establishing the new order 

in the Far East, thus straining relations between the two countries almost to the 

breaking point.

Spring 1939 409
The summer of 1939 slipped by. The King and Queen of England came 

for a visit in June. The World's Fair attracted large crowds in New York City 

and the Golden Gate Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay drew » 

others to the west coast. Transatlantic planes began carrying passengers to

Europe. Geological Survey parties took to the field endeavoring to carry on as ( 

normal a program as possible while plans were made to inaugurate strategicminerals and mapping programs if or when funds became available. On July 1, 

there was a major reorganization of the Federal Government in accordance with 

the provisions of the Administrative Reorganization Act, which Congress had 

passed on April 3. Three new agencies were established: the Federal Loan 

Agency, the Federal Security Agency, and the Federal Works Agency; major independent offices were consolidated, abolished, or placed in one of the new 

agencies or under an existing agency in the Executive Branch; some bureaus 

within the Executive departments were transferred to other departments. 

Under these provisions, the National Resources Committee became part of the 

Federal Works Agency, the Bureau of Fisheries was transferred from the 

Department of Commerce to the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of 

Biological Survey from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of 

the Interior. Secretary Ickes, however, did not get his dearest wish, the Forest 

Service.

Congress refused to appropriate all the funds requested for emergency 

relief because of the increased unemployment after the 1937 recession and 

brought on a nationwide strike of WPA workers; it passed the Hatch Act prohibiting active participation of Federal employees below the policymaking level 

in political campaigns. The Senate ratified the treaty with Panama, which had 

been pending since 1936. The Third Deficiency Appropriations bill, which 

provided $150,000 for strategic-minerals investigations by the Geological 

Survey, was passed on August 5. Off and on during the summer Congress 

debated the wisdom of new neutrality legislation or a repeal of the arms embargo but on August 5 it adjourned without taking any action. Senator Borah 

insisted that his sources of information were better than those of the State 

Department there would be no war in Europe that year.

Only 16 days after Congress adjourned, the world was startled by the 

reversal in relations between Germany and Russia as they announced they had 

signed a trade agreement and were about to sign a nonagression pact. The pact 

was signed in Moscow on August 23, and France and Great Britain began to 

mobilize. On September 1, as the United States prepared to enjoy the long 

Labor Day weekend, Hitler's armies moved into Poland, and on September 3, 

after Hitler had rejected Anglo-French demands that the troops be withdrawn, 

Great Britain and France announced that a state of war existed with Germany.

In the United States there was a sense of deja vu, of 1914 all over again. 

Most Americans were surprised by the outbreak of war in Europe but determined that this time we would remain out of the conflict. The United States officially proclaimed its neutrality on September 5 and under the terms of the 

Neutrality Act of 1937 prohibited the export of arms and munitions to the 

belligerent nations. Franklin Roosevelt, however, unlike Woodrow Wilson in 

1914, did not ask Americans to remain neutral in thought but more in the 

mood of Woodrow Wilson in 1917, declared that "when peace has been 

broken anywhere, the peace of all countries everywhere is in danger."

For the Geological Survey, the sense of deja vu must have included an element of resignation. At the end of its first 25 years the Geological Survey had 

been a highly successful research organization, but it had been transformed 

into an institution for applied science by the stress on conservation and the 

public lands under George Otis Smith, beginning in 1907. The basic research 

function, although subdued, continued to survive and was again becoming a 

recognizable part of the program when World War I, the energy crisis that

410 Astatic World, 1936-1939
followed it, and the years of emphasis on private enterprise intervened. Basic 

research was reinstated and a more balanced program developed under 

Mendenhall, first in the Geologic Branch and then in the rest of the Survey, 

until in 1939, despite the difficult years of the depression, the Geological 

Survey was once more a mature and successful research organization. After 

more than two decades of almost unchanged Federal appropriations and then 

several years of uncertain and fluctuating appropriations, Federal support for 

the Survey's work reached new high in 1939, and it had a staff of competent, 

even outstanding, scientists and engineers. A natural supposition was that with 

the coming of war, the Survey might once more be diverted into another period 

of applied science.

The Federal Government of 1939, however, played a very different and 

far greater role in national life than did that of 1904. Beginning with the 

Theodore Roosevelt administration, slowed by World War I and the years of 

Republican ascendancy, and reinvigorated by Franklin Roosevelt, the idea of 

strong Presidential leadership had been established and the growth of Federal 

power promoted. Under the second Roosevelt, too, economic and social planning by the Federal Government had become an established fact, and scientific 

research was accepted as a necessary Government function. The conservation efforts of the second Roosevelt had surpassed those of the first and done so much 

for the physical rehabilitation of the country and the husbanding of its resources 

that conservation was widely supported. Thus, as the Survey entered its 61st 

year, it was ready to begin a period not of decline but of extraordinary growth.

World War II 411
Notes and Bibliography

The chapter notes identify the sources of directly quoted material and 

a few indirect statements, and give the reference to the U.S. Statutes at 

Large for most applicable laws discussed in the text. These have been keyed 

to the relevant page and either to the first few words of the quotation or 

to a significant phrase. The bibliography, despite its length, is not all inclusive. Complete citations have been given for most published material 

used as background and for sources of quotations of illustrations. Citations are arranged alphabetically by author and include for congressional 

documents the serial number of the volume in which the document appears. Annual reports of the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey and 

the Secretary of the Interior are with few exceptions cited only in the notes.

To aid the reader in finding pertinent references in the bibliography 

or in seeking additional material on a particular topic, a simple index has 

been prepared, with references identified by author and date. Biographical 

material in the Dictionary of American Biography (DAB) and the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (DSB) have been included, with the pertinent volume number, in the index although the citations were not listed 

in the bibliography itself. Additional biographical material was also obtained from the National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Who Was 

Who in America, Who Was Who in American Politics by Dan and Inez 

Morris, or the Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1961.

Notes

Title.

"for the common defence and general welfare": Article I, Section 8 of 

the Constitution provides that "The Congress shall have Power to lay 

and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and 

provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United 

States.'' This section is the authorization for appropriation and expenditure of public funds for scientific research.

Chapter 1. The Third Stage

Page

1. "In the growth of the country * * *": National Conservation

Commission, 1909, p. 14. 

"classification of the public lands * * *": Organic Act of the U.S.

Geological Survey, 20 Stat. L., 394. 

"In geology the U.S. Survey * * *": American Men of Science,

1903 edition, p. 594. The arrangement in order of merit of the

starred scientists in the 1903 edition of American Men of Science

is on pages 1269-1278 of the 1933 edition.

2. "greatly expedited investigations * * *" and "been of the highest 

value * * *": U.S. Geological Survey, 1904, p. 14.

"Perhaps the immediate value * * *": U.S. Geological Survey, 

1904, p. 15.

"Our real industrial problem * * *": Clarence King, in Annual 

Report of the United States Geological Survey, 1880, p. 76.

3. "so effectively directed * * *"; "guided exploration * * *"; and 

"of even more beneficial results * * *": U.S. Geological Survey, 

1904, p. 16. 

"the unexampled rapidity * * *": S. F. Emmons, 1904, p. 1.

4. "No matter in which direction we may look * * *": IraRemsen,

1904, p. 3.

"profound changes in their environment * * *": S. E. Morison, 

1965, p. 888.

5. "placing the development of its coal * * *": U.S. Geological

Survey, 1904, p. 16.

"foundation for the more general acceptance * * *": E. L. 

DeGolyer, 1924a, p. 25.

7. "Unless by means of scientific investigation * * *": IraRemsen,

1904 p. 7.

"Coal is the fuel of the present * * *" and "although the amount 

of coal * * *": M. R. Campbell, in Introduction to Contributions to Economic Geology, 1906, Pan II, U.S. Geological Survey 

Bulletin 316.

8. "The serious problem from the economic side * * *": John L. 

Stewart, Ore-deposits and industrial supremacy, Economic 

Geology, v. 1, 1905, p. 264.

"report as soon as possible * * *": Theodore Roosevelt to E. A. 

Hitchcock, June 29, 1906, in The letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 

edited by Elting E. Morison and John M. Blum, v. 5, 1952, 

p. 324.

"the fundamental problem * * *": Theodore Roosevelt, Annual 

message to Congress, December 3, 1907, in Congressional Record, 

60th Congress, 1st session, p. 74.

"under the leadership * * *": Richard T. Ely and others, 1917,

p. 25.

10. "utilization with amaximum efficiency"; "heretical"; and "soulless trust": C. W. Hayes, 1910, p. 665.

12. "every form of investigation * * *": Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences, v. 2, 1916, p. 508. 

"recognition of the necessity * * *": C. K. Leith, 1918, p. I6a.

13. "in the mathematical, physical, and biological sciences * * *":

Executive Order 2859, May 11, 1918. 

"for the advancement of mineralogy * * *": E. H. Kraus, 1930,

p. 98.

"advancement of the science of geology * * *": Constitution and 

Bylaws of the Society of Economic Geologists, in Bulletin of the 

Geological Society of America, v. 32, 1921, p. 159.

15. "foster, promote, and develop": Organic Act of the Department 

of Commerce and Labor, 36 Stat. L., 825.

16. "one of the most fascinating fields * * *": H. B. Milner, Sedimentary petrology in retrospect and prospect, Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 1, 1931, p. 69- 

"intellectual imperialist * * *": W. C. Mendenhall, 1935, p. 382 ;

Notes 413
17- "proper development * * *" and "centralpoint * * *": Herbert 

Hoover, Annual message to Congress, December 3, 1929, in Congressional Record, 71st Congress, 2d session, p. 27.

18. "scientific research is an essential element * * *": Science Advisory 

Board, 1934, p. 269.

19. "Most well conceived Governmental action * * *": U.S. National 

Resources Committee, 1939, p. 15-

"no man's land": F. K. Richtmyer, 1935, p. 379.

"no matter in which direction * * *": Ira Remsen, 1904, p. 3.

"the geologic Alexander * * *": C. D. Walcott, Outlook of the 

geologist in America, Bulletin of the Geological Society of 

America, v. 13, 1902, p. 116.

"speculative geology" and "more exact knowledge * * *": E. L. 

DeGolyer, Future position of petroleum geology in the oil industry, Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum 

Geologists, v. 24, 1940, p. 1389.

Chapter 2. National Welfare and National Efficiency, 

1904-1907

Page

21. "The idea that our natural resources * * *": Theodore Roosevelt,

1924, p. 395.

"freedom from the encroachments * * *": Engineering and 

Mining Journal, February 24, 1904.

22. "present problems": SeeC. R. VanHise, 1904, and G. F. Becker,

1904.

"avast subject * * *": G. F. Becker, 1904, p. 549. 

"our nation needs * * * ": Simon Newcomb, in The North

American Review, quoted in Science, v. 19, 1904, p. 269.

26. "for continuing and enlarging * * *": Congressional Record, 58th

Congress, 2d session, p. 952.

"to determine their fuel values * * *": 33 Stat. L., 31 and 

412.

27. "with the application * * *": Economic Geology, v. 1, 1905,

p. 76. 

"inevitable" and "decry as mere luxuries * * *": Ibid., p. 75.

30. "the enlargement of scope of the functions * * *": Congressional 

Record, 58th Congress, 3d session, p. 10.

31. "This work has developed so rapidly * * *": Congressmanjam.es 

Hemenway, in Congressional Record, 58th Congress, 3d session, 

p. 280.

"I think these experiments * * *": Congressman Oscar Underwood, Ibid., p. 282.

32. "the large public works * * *": C. D. Walcott, in U.S. Congress,

58th, 3d session, House Document 195, p. 2. 

"It is the purpose of the Survey * * *": Ibid., p. 4. 

"for topographic surveys, $300,000": Congressional Record, 58th

Congress, 3d session, p. 3549. 

"miserable oriental colonistic foolishness": Congressman John

Williams, Ibid., p. 3552. 

"a more important work * * *": Senator Thomas Patterson, Ibid.,

p. 3836. 

"I am not generally for extravagance * * *": Senator William

Stewart, Ibid.

33. "every acre of American soil": Senator Henry Teller, in Congressional Record, 58th Congress, 3d session, p. 3843.

"contributed more in the last 10 years * * *": Senator John 

Morgan, Ibid., p. 3839.

"idealized bird's eye view": H. F. Osborn, 1909, plate III.

38. "affirmative action": Theodore Roosevelt, Annual message to 

Congress, December 5, 1905, in Congressional Record, 58th Congress, 1st session, p. 92.

39. "The carefully made analyses * * *": C. D. Walcott, in U.S. 

Congress, 1906, p. 3.

41. "For the general expenses * * *": Congressional Record, 59th 

Congress, 1st session, p. 8415.

42. "This is something more * * *": Congressman James Tawney,

Ibid., p. 8440. 

"respectfully suggested": Letter, C. D. Walcott to Congressman

Tawney, Ibid., p. 8440.

"When are we going to call a halt * * *": Ibid., p. 8442. 

"Why is it so valuable?" Ibid., p. 8449.

43. "It is a well known fact * * *": Congressman F. W. Mondell,

Ibid., p. 8487. 

"sound and safe doctrine": Ibid., p. 8489-

44. "For the investigation of the structural * * *" and "that in 

examinations, hereby authorized * * *": Congressional Record, 

59th Congress, 1st session, p. 8792.

"for the purpose of increasing the general efficiency * * *":The 

request to return the report to correct an error is in the Congressional Record, 59th Congress, 1st session, p. 9459. Several other 

changes were made in the Conference Report at this time.

45. "to report as soon a possible * * *": Theodore Roosevelt to 

Secretary of the Interior E. A. Hitchcock, June 29, 1906, in The 

letters of Theodore Roosevelt, edited by Eking E. Morison and 

John M. Blum, v. 5, 1952, p. 324.

48. "matter of far-reaching importance * * *" and "the attitude of 

the survey * * *":J. C. Branner, in Science, v. 24, 1906, p. 532.

49. "an outrage * * *": Ibid., p. 534.

"the right of any geologist * * *": C. D. Walcott, 1906b, p. 724.

"arbitrary and over-bearing administration * * *"; "the Great 

American Trust"; and "a hustling business manager * * *": 

W. H. Hobbs, in Science, v. 24, 1906, p. 657.

"There is among scientists in general * * *": C. D. Walcott, 

1906, p. 692.

50. "so the university professors of science * * *": J. C. Branner,

in Science, v. 24, 1906, p. 728.

"It is not wise * * *": Theodore Roosevelt, Annual message to 

Congress, December 4, 1906, in Congressional Record, 59th Congress, 2d session, p. 26.

51. "created the impression * * *": Senator Thomas H. Carter, 

in Congressional Record, 59th Congress, 2d session, p. 1934.

52. "unauthorized by law * * *": Congressman F. W. Mondell, Ibid.,

p. 2615. 

"utter and complete dissent": Theodore Roosevelt, in U.S.

Congress, 1907, letter of transmittal. 

"the necessity for care * * *": Ibid.

"That hereafter no forest reserve * * *": 34 Stat. L., 1271. 

54. "preparation of the geologic map * * *": Congressmanjam.es

Tawney, in Congressional Record, 59th Congress, 2d session,

p. 3781. 

"add them to his power and influence": Ibid.

56. "orders withdrawing practically all * * *": Congressman F. W. 

Mondell, in Congressional Record, 59th Congress, 2d session, 

p. 4471.

57. ' 'the ideal administrator": C. G. Abbot, in Smithsonian Institution,

1928, p. 19. 

"Snowshoes Charlie": Information supplied by E. L. Yochelson,

biographer of Walcott. 

"by his force, pertinacity, and tact * * *": Theodore Roosevelt,

1924, p. 393. 

"I have always found it a good plan * * *": C. D. Walcott to

E. C. Waters, April 1907, Walcott Collection, Record Unit 7004,

Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Chapter 3. Conservation: Not Prohibited By Law, 

1907-1909

Page

59- "The Secretary of the Interior * * *": James R. Garfield, in

414 Notes
Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year 

ended June 30, 1908, p. 13.

60. "bureau of information'' and ' 'duty to assist in law enforcement'': 

George Otis Smith, 1908, p. 147.

"however able his successor * * *": Economic Geology, v. 2, 1907, 

p. 221.

" to show what can be done * * *": T. C. Chamberlin, in Journal 

of Geology, v. 15, 1907, p. 410.

' 'reported to be a man of charming personality'': Mining and Scientific Press, April 13, 1907, p. 446.

67. "as in reality * * *": G. O. Smith, 1908, p. 144.

"a fair recognition * * *" and "even greater endeavor * * *":

Ibid., p. 139.

"the fuller recognition * * *": Ibid., p. 148. 

"in some respects the most valuable * * *":J. A. Holmes, 1908,

p. 272.

68. "every possible means * * *": Ibid., p. 275.

69. "Our inland waterways * * *": Theodore Roosevelt, Letter of 

appointment to members of the Inland Waterways Commission, 

March 14, 1907, in Inland Waterways Commission, 1908, p. 3.

"to have power to collect statistics * * *": Theodore Roosevelt, 

Annual message to Congress, December 3, 1907, in Congressional Record, 60th Congress, 1st session, p. 78.

"for the study of mining conditions * * *": Ibid.

70. "conservation of our natural resources * * *": Ibid., p. 74.

we are prone *": Ibid., p. 76.

"to carry out broad plans * * *": Inland Waterways Commission, 

1908, p. 24.

71. "hereafter plans for the improvement * * *": Ibid., p. 25. 

"large powers for the investigation * * *": Ibid., p. 24. 

"for electrical plants, poles, and lines * * *": 31 Stat. L., 791. 

"generations to come will pay tribute * * *": James R. Garfield,

in Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal

year ended June 30, 1907, p. 17.

72. "the filing of all claims * * *": George Otis Smith to James R. 

Garfield, February 24, 1908, in M. W. Ball, 1916, p. 104.

73. "for studying methods * * *": Theodore Roosevelt, Annual 

message to Congress, December 3, 1907, in Congressional Record, 

60th Congress, 1st session, p. 78.

"In no other country in the world * * *": Clarence Hall and 

Walter Snelling, 1907, p. 13-

"such investigations in the Territories * * *": 35 Stat. L., 226. 

The House Report on the bill makes no specific reference to the 

mine-accidents program but the Senate Report and the debate 

make it clear that the provision originated in the House.

74. "We have become great * * *": Theodore Roosevelt, in Newton

C. Blanchard and others, editors, 1909, p. 8. 

"So far as our mineral wealth * * *": Andrew Carnegie, Ibid.,

p. 24. 

"The problem of soil management * * *": T. C. Chamberlin,

Ibid., p. 79. 

"awful waste" and "to end the wild riot * * *": I. C. White,

Ibid., p. 36. 

"that our wise and courageous President * * *": C. R. Van Hise,

Ibid., p. 430-431.

75. "The right of the present generation * * *": J. A. Holmes, 

Ibid., p. 422.

"It is therefore reasonable * * *": Ibid.

"declaration of views and recommendations": Ibid., p. 192.

"firm conviction * * *" and "in the wisdom * * *": Ibid., 

p. 193-

"the conservation of water resources * * *" and "the prevention 

of waste * * *": Ibid., p. 194.

"equally important": Conference of State Geologists in Washington, D.C., May 11-13, 1908, as reported in Economic Geology, 

v. 3, 1908, p. 362.

76. "compensation or emolument": Congressional Record, 60th

Congress, 1st session, p. 5678. 

"a mere bagatelle": Congressman Oscar Underwood, Ibid.,

p. 5685. 

"take into consideration * * *": 35 Stat. L., 387.

77. "whereby the scientific research work * * *": Congressional

Record, 60th Congress, 1st session, p. 5681. 

"for the protection of the lives * * *": 35 Stat. L., 226.

78. "greatly impressed": The prevention of mine explosions, report 

and recommendations, by Victor Watteyne, Carl Meissner, and 

Arthur Desborough, published as U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 

369, 1908, p. 5.

79. "It seems to be * * *": Ibid.

"a stratified carbonaceous deposit * * *": David White, 1908, 

p. 292.

80. "an important service to science": American Journal of Science, 

4th series, v. 25, 1908, p. 458.

81. "a first approximation": C. W. Hayes, 1909a, p. 70. 

83- "If this erosive action * * *": R. B. Dole and Herman Stabler, 

1909, p. 83.

"only that proportion * * *": W. C. Mendenhall, 1909a, p. 69.

"These conditions must be met * * *": Ibid., p. 77.

84. "limited in quantity * * *": National Conservation Commission, 

1909, v. 1, p. 14.

85. "While the distribution * * *": Ibid., p. 17.

"To promote and perfect these plans * * *": Ibid., p. 24.

"Good business sense": Ibid., p. 19-

"in aid of proposed legislation * * *": James R. Garfield, Order 

of December 9, 1908 to Commissioner of the General Land Office withdrawing phosphate lands, in U.S. Congress, 1909, p. 3.

86. "It is the duty of the Executive * * *": James R. Garfield, in 

Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year 

ended June 30, 1908, p. 12.

87. "a radical and questionable departure * * *": U.S. Congress,

1909, p- 3.

"no necessity for alarm * * *": Ibid, 

"encouragement and an opportunity * * *": Ibid., p. 4.

88. "not much use": Congressman Tawney's dissatisfaction with the 

report of the National Academy of Sciences came out during a 

debate in the House on equipment for the Watertown Arsenal 

and the National Bureau of Standards. Tawney considered the 

Bureau of Standards the most satisfactory of the scientific bureaus 

because it collected fees for some of the tests performed and thus 

returned money to the Treasury. In the Congressional Record, 

60th Congress, 2d session, p. 3154, he complained that the report 

provided no data or information on which to base legislation to 

consolidate the scientific work of the government.

89- "development of strictly geological work" and "undivided devotion": See T. C. Chamberlin on p. 60.

Chapter 4. Conservation: Within Limitation of Authority, 

1909-1911

91. "One of the propositions that I adhere to * * *": W. H. Taft

to William Kent, June 29, 1909, quoted in Henry F. Pringle,

1939, p. 481. 

"assistant Democrats": W. H. Taft to Mrs. Taft, quoted in G. E.

Mowry, The era of Theodore Roosevelt, 1958, p. 247. 

"the whole conservation movement * * *": George Otis Smith,

in U.S. Congress, 1910b, v. 6, p. 3337.

98. "probably desirable * * *" and "with wisdom be dealt 

with * * *": Theodore Roosevelt, Annual message to Congress, 

December 3, 1907, in Congressional Record, 60th Congress, 1st 

session, p. 71.

99. "the waterpower entryman * * *": George Otis Smith, ProceedNotes 415
ings of the Irrigation Congress 1909, p- 289-290. 

"department watch service": George Otis Smith to Chief Clerk 

Henry C. Rizer, in U.S. Congress, 1910b, v. 6, p. 3336.

100. "a perfect bill * * *" and "a sincere effort * * *": W. H. 

Taft, New York Times, August 6, 1909, quoted in Henry F. 

Pringle, 1939, p. 445.

101. "if any faith is to be put * * *": Mining and Scientific Press,

October 16, 1909, p. 510. 

"These elusive products * * *": C. W. Hayes, in Mining and

Scientific Press, December 11, 1909, p. 797. 

"Any ideal or practical law * * *": Ibid.

102. "if material progress * * *" and "while development is the 

keynote * * *": R. A. Ballinger, in Annual Report of the 

Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1909, 

p. 6.

103. "naturally provoked the feeling * * *": Ibid., p. 5.

"the legal authority of the Secretary * * *": Ibid., p. 14. 

"be sufficiently broad and far-reaching * * *": Senator Wesley

Jones, in Congressional Record, 61st Congress, 2d session, p. 281. 

"pernicious activity of certain of its officers": Ibid, 

"glittering generalities" and "platitude upon platitude": Ibid.,

p. 315. 

"thorough, comprehensive, and wise" and "likely to reach the

evils * * *": Senator'Francis Newlands, Ibid., p. 316.

105. "I think Mr. Pinchot and I differ * * *": George Otis Smith,

in U.S. Congress, 1910b, v. 6, p. 3541. 

"With due respect * * *": Congressman F. W. Mondell, in

Congressional Record, 61st Congress, 2d session, p. 266. 

"an epitome of the recommendations * * *": W. H. Taft, in U.S.

Congress, 1910, Letter of transmittal.

106. "for public use, for examination * * *": Original wording of 

the Pickett bill, in U.S. Congress, 61st, 2d session, House Report 

983, p. 1.

107. "the President may, at any time in his discretion * * *":

36 Stat. L., 847.

"minerals other than coal * * *": Ibid, 

"in diligent prosecution * * *": Ibid. 

The act of June 22, 1910, providing for agricultural entries on

coal lands is 36 Stat. L., 583.

108. "foster, promote, and develop the mining industries * * *":

U.S. Congress, 6lst, 2d session, Senate Report 353, p. 1. 

"to make diligent investigation * * *": Organic Act of the U.S. 

Bureau of Mines, 36 Stat. L., 369.

109- "eschewed" and "7 feet of a better * * *": Senator Joseph M. 

Dixon, in Congressional Record, 61st Congress, 2d session, 

p. 1639. The Act establishing Glacier National Park is 36 Stat. 

L, 354.

"Bunkoed * * *" and "We fear that the Director * * *": 

Mining and Scientific Press, July 9, 1910, p. 37.

112. "maintains that every man * * *" and "words count for nothing * * *" : Theodore Roosevelt, Speech at Osawatomie, Kansas, 

August 31, 1910.

"I have concluded * * *": W. H. Taft to George Otis Smith, 

August 31, 1910. U.S. Geological Survey files.

113. "the preservation of our natural resources * * *" and "Most good 

causes * * *": W. H. Taft, Speech at the Conservation 

Congress, September 1910, appended to Annual message to Congress, December 7, 1910.

114. "The protection of natural values * * *": T. C. Chamberlin,

in Journal of Geology, v. 18, 1910, p. 468. 

"ventured the opinion" and "it would have been more logical * * *": R. A. Ballinger, in Annual Report of the Secretary 

of the Interior for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910, p. 5.

115. "the present laws have worked well * * *": W. H. Taft, Annual 

message to Congress, December 7, 1910, in Congressional Record, 

61st Congress, 3d session, p. 27.

"the latter depending largely * * *": R. A. Ballinger, in Annual 

Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ended 

June 30, 1910, p. 67.

116. "lead to an improvement in Alaska * * *": W. H. Taft, Annual 

message to Congress, December 7, 1910, in Congressional Record, 

61st Congress, 3d session, p. 28.

"to have had their origin in a strong feeling * * *": U.S. Congress, 1910b, v. 1, majority report, p. 89-

"true to the trust * * *": Ibid., minority report, p. 147.

"should be sustained": Ibid., dissent by Congressman Madison, 

p. 192.

"the result of a very earnest * * *": Congressman F. W. Mondell, 

in Congressional Record, 61st Congress, 3d session, p. 3232.

"mockery": Congressman James Madison, Ibid., p. 3234.

"menacing actions took place": Ibid., p. 3235.

The Weeks Forest Purchase Act, officially "An act to enable any 

State to cooperate with any other State or States, or with the 

United States, for the protection of the watersheds of navigable 

streams, and to appoint a commission for the acquisition of lands 

for the purpose of conserving the navigability of navigable rivers,'' 

is 36 Stat. L, 961.

117. "If I were to turn Ballinger out * * *": W. H. Taft to P. A.

Baker, May 21, 1910, quoted in Donald F. Anderson, 1968,

p. 76. 

"not satisfied to have him * * *": Senator Duncan Fletcher, in

Congressional Record, 61st Congress, 3d session, p. 1089. 

' "The L.C.B. is the biggest thing * * * ": Program of the Pick and

Hammer Club show, 1910.

119. "ventured upon": C. D. Walcott, in Economic Geology, v. 6,

1911, p. 7. 

"In certain ways Emmons * * *": Mining and Scientific Press,

April 22, 1911, p. 551. 

"Emmons'death * * *": Engineering and Mining Journal, April

8, 1911, p. 701. 

' 'What Lyell did for geology * * *": T. A. Rickard, letter quoted

in Mining and Scientific Press, April 22, 1911, p. 552.

120. "If two years ago * * *": Theodore Roosevelt to James R. 

Garfield, April 18, 1911, in The letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 

edited by Elting E. Morison and John M. Blum, v. 7, 1954, 

p. 246.

Chapter 5. The Furor for Practical Results, 1911-1914

Page

121. "There is, however, grave danger * * *": A. H. Brooks, 1912,

p. 48.

"so beyond all reason * * *" and "in an entirely dispassionate 

and respectful way'': Congressman F. W. Mondell to the Secretary 

of the Interior, June 30, 1911, in Congressional Record, 62d Congress, 1st session, Appendix, p. 55-62.

122. "for exploration and investigation * * *": Agriculture Appropriations Act, 36 Stat. L., 1256. 

"research on geological conditions * * *": 36 Stat. L., 1418.

124. "the evils of relative over-population * * *": A. H. Brooks,

1912, p. 46.

"If the spring of pure science * * *": Ibid., p. 48. 

"an apology for * * *" and "the concluding sentence * * *": 

W. H. Hobbs, in Science, v. 36, 1912, p. 477.

125. "of more than passing significance * * *"; "essentially European 

as one 

1911, p. 974.

126. "impressed with the pioneer * * *": A. L. Beekly, 1915, p. 9.

127. "The objects to be sought * * *": George Otis Smith, in 

Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Director of the United States 

Geological Survey, 1911, p. 8-9.

* * *"; "a remarkably rich fund * * *"; and "regarded 

* * *": Engineering and Mining Journal, November 18,

416 Notes
128. "the administration and disposition * * *" and "more effectively 

and economically * * *": Walter L. Fisher, in Annual Report 

of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ended June 30, 

1911, p. 2.

130. "checkered nomenclatorial history": E. L. Berry, 1916, p. 33. 

"There is no branch of the Federal jurisdiction * * *": W. H. 

Taft, Special message to Congress, U.S. Congress, 62d, 2d session, p. 3.

131. "an officer of the Engineer Corps * * *": Section 18 of An Act 

to create a legislative assembly in the Territory of Alaska, to confer 

legislative power thereon, and for other purposes, 37 Stat. L., 512.

132. "When the United States Geological Survey * * *": C. R. 

Van Hise, A national university, a national asset; an instrumentality for advanced research, Science, v. 36, 1912, p. 196.

"That the United States Geological Survey * * *": George 

Otis Smith, 1912, p. 402.

"the recognition of the applicability * * *": Ibid., p. 403.

"whenever this bureau becomes exclusively * * *": Ibid.

133. "the consideration of questions * * *": George Otis Smith,

in Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Director of the United

States Geological Survey, 1911, p. 85. 

139- "a full statement * * *" and "to be of value * * *": G. O.

Smith and others, 1913, p. 9. 

"inquiries and scientific and technologic investigations * * *":

37 Stat. L., 681.

140. "more closely in accord * * *": George Otis Smith, in ThirtyFourth Annual Report of the Director of the United States 

Geological Survey, 1913, p. 122. 

"charm of manner * * *": Charles Schuchert, 1937, p. 197-

141. "Now Geologs all * * *": Program of the Pick and Hammer 

Club show, 1915.

143. "The Survey has always taken pride * * *": N. C. Grover, 

Water Resources Branch Conference 1914, quoted in unpublished 

manuscript by Robert Follansbee on the history of the Water 

Resources Branch.

144. "basis of a new charter of liberty": Portland Oregonian, quoted

in Congressional Record, 63d Congress, 2d session, p. 1716. 

' 'We have a freer hand * * *": Woodrow Wilson, Annual message 

to Congress, December 2, 1913, in Congressional Record, 63d 

Congress, 2d session, p. 45.

145. "With all this enormous wealth * * *": U.S. Congress, 1914,

p. 8.

"crude, irreconcilable, inefficient * * *": Ibid., p. 9. 

"a jargon of Executive orders * * *": Ibid, 

"insure a proper development * * *": Ibid.

146. "to having the resources * * *" and "in violation of the

moral * * *": Ibid., Part 2, p. 1. 

"to provide for a more equitable means * * *": U.S. Congress,

63d, 2d session, HR 13045 and HR 13457. 

"I desire to compel the Director * * *": Congressman John J.

Fitzgerald, in Congressional Record, 63d Congress, 2d session,

p. 10884. 

"of the public lands": Congressman C. F. Curry, Ibid., p. 10890.

147. "So far as the development * * *": George Otis Smith, in 

Thirty-Fifth Annual Report of the Director of the United States 

Geological Survey, 1914, p. 10.

Chapter 6. National Efficiency and Security, 1914-1917

Page

149. "What we are seeking now * * *": Woodrow Wilson, Annual 

message to Congress, December 7, 1915, in Congressional Record, 

64th Congress, 1st session, p. 100.

150. "impregnable position": George Otis Smith, 1914, p. 10.

151. "cheering to know * * *": Ibid., p. 14.

152. "few, if any * * *": Hoyt Gale, Nitrate deposits, U.S. Geological

Survey Bulletin 523, 1912, p. 36.

156. "a great surprise * * *": J. S. Diller, 1914, p. 103.

157. "what geological results * * *": G. F. Becker, 1915, p. 185.

158. " interrupted the means of trade'' and '' processes of production'' : 

Woodrow Wilson, Annual message to Congress, December 8,

1914. in Congressional Record, 63d Congress, 3d session, p. 26.

"We have the resources * * *": Ibid.

"We have year after year * * *": Ibid.

"designed to relieve oil corporations * * *": U.S. Congress, 64th,

1st session, Senate Report 319, Part 2, p. 1.

162. "done much to increase * * *": Van H. Manning, in American 

Mining Congress, 18th, San Francisco 1915, Report of Transactions, 1916, p. 109-

"plain writing": George Otis Smith, Ibid., p. 114.

"popularly descriptive and instructive:" Ibid., p. 116.

164. "imperatively necessary" and "safeguard and conserve * * *": 

Woodrow Wilson, Annual message to Congress, December 7,

1915. in Congressional Record, 64th Congress, 1st session, p. 99.

165. "understanding": Senator Porter J. McCumber, Ibid., p. 500. 

"Were there fields * * *": Senator Thomas J. Walsh, Ibid, 

"percentage of exhaustion": U.S. Congress, 1916, p. 16. 

"financial influences": Ibid., p. 21.

167. Unrestrained competition in the public service * * *: George 

Otis Smith's address at the Centennial of the U.S. Coast and 

Geodetic Survey was published in Coast and Geodetic Survey 

Centennial Celebration booklet, in Science (George Otis Smith, 

1916), and in Congressional Record, 64th Congress, 1st session, 

p. 9939-9941, as an extension of the remarks of Congressman 

Simeon D. Fess of Ohio on duplication in Federal bureaus.

168. "true preparedness would best result * * *": Proceedings of the 

National Academy of Sciences, v. 2, 1916, p. 507.

173. "The subject * * *": A. H. Brooks, in]. W. Bagley, 1917,

Foreword.

"for the coordination of industries * * *": Establishment of the 

Council of National Defense, 39 Stat. L., 649, is Section 2 of 

the Army Appropriations Act.

174. "the location of railroads * * *": Ibid.

175. "peace without victory": Woodrow Wilson, Address to Congress, 

January 22, 1917, in Congressional Record, 64th Congress, 2d 

session, p. 1742.

177. "inadequate in quantity or quality * * *": H. D. McCaskey

and others, 1919, p. 6. 

"impregnable position": George Otis Smith, 1914, p. 10.

178. "to encourage optimism": J. D. Northrop, in H. D. McCaskey

and others, 1919, p. 193. 

"this famine can be deferred * * *": Ibid., p. 195.

Chapter 7. Mobilization of All Resources, 1917-1919

Page 

179- "It will involve the organization * * *": Woodrow Wilson,

Address to Congress, April 2, 1917, in Congressional Record,

65th Congress, 1st session, p. 103. 

"to vindicate the principles * * *": Ibid., p. 103- 

"to choose their way * * *" and "satisfied when those

rights * * *": Ibid., p. 104. 

"the utmost practicable cooperation * * *" and "the organization

and mobilization * * *": Ibid., p. 103. 

"Once lead this people * * *": Woodrow Wilson to Frank Cobb,

in Arthur Walworth, 1965, p. 97. 

180. "the full powers * * *": F. K. Lane, in Annual Report of the

Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1917,

p. 5.

"until he had become * * *": Ibid., p. 6. 

"and all the details * * *": Ibid., p. 6-7. 

"adjuncts and auxiliaries": Ibid., p. 5.

Notes 417
183. "act as a clearing-house * * *": W. Y. Westervelt, in Remarks 

at the War Smoker, February 19, 1918, Transactions of the 

American Institute of Mining Engineers, v. 59, 1918, p. xxxiv. 

"a voluntary committee * * *": Ibid.

186. The potash leasing act is 40 Stat. L., 297.

187. "to discover, develop, protect * * *": The authorization for 

exploration for desert watering places, August 21, 1916, is 39 

Stat. L., 518.

188. "in the present session of Congress * * *" and "imperatively 

necessary * * *": Woodrow Wilson, Annual message to Congress, December 3, 1917, in Congressional Record, 65th Congress, 2d session, p. 20.

192. "the following named mineral substances * * *": Section 1 of 

HR 11259, 65th Congress, 2d session, enumerates the different 

minerals and other products.

198. "in general, to stimulate research * * *" and "larger possibilities 

of science": Executive order 2859, May 11, 1918.

200. "the search for new oil fields * * *" and "our civilization * * *":

David White, Address at banquet during 4th annual meeting

of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Dallas

1919, published in Bulletin of the AAPG, v. 3, 1919, p. 29.

"Are we able to do that * * *": Ibid., p. 31.

202. "a sort of father-adviser * * *": H. L. Fairchild, in Science,

v. 48, 1918, p. 154.

"Those already old * * *": W. M. Davis, National Academy of 

Sciences Memoirs, v. 21 [Biographical Memoirs, v. 11], 5th 

memoir, 1926, p. 1. 

"doubtful whether * * *": T. C. Chamberlin, Grove Karl Gilbert,

Journal of Geology, v. 26, 1918, p. 375.

"With the possible exception * * *": A. L. Day, in Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 31, 1920, p. 14.

203- "fortunately the services * * *": David White, in Forty-First 

Annual Report of the Director of the United States Geological 

Survey, 1920, p. 51.

206. "within another generation * * *" and "what the Germans used 

were toys * * *": Woodrow Wilson, quoted in S. E. Morison, 

1965, p. 882.

"in destroying the moral idealism * * *": General Smuts, in 

New York Times, March 3, 1921, quoted in Herbert Hoover, 

1958.

Chapter 8. The Convergence of Science and Industry, 

1919-1922

Page

207. "Science and industry * * *": George Otis Smith, 1921, p. 635. 

"the biggest man * * *": London Nation, quoted in Richard

Hofstadter, 1948, p. 284. 

"was the only man * * *": John Maynard Keynes, also quoted

in Hofstadter, 1948, p. 283. 

"Out of the strain of war * * *": Herbert Hoover, in Transactions

of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, v. 63, 1920,

p. xvi. 

"in the region of economic activities * * *": Ibid., p. xxiii.

208. "scientific advisers on industry": Ibid., p. xv.

"been gradually reduced * * *", "the paucity * * *", and

"most serious defect": Eliot Blackwelder, 1920, p. 347. 

"not simply the ore minerals * * *" and "the smelted 

ore * * *": George Otis Smith, 1921, p. 627.

210. "scarcely fall" and "ideal distribution": F. L. Ransome, 1920a,

p. 103.

"cumulative and a direct and permanent gain * * *": Ibid., p. 94. 

"functioning badly * * *": Herbert Hoover, in Transactions of

the American Institute of Mining Engineers, v. 63, 1920, p. xxii.

211. "precarious": George Otis Smith, 1921b, p. 89. 

"more spectacular than safe": Ibid., p. 90.

"we have been draining * * *": Ibid., p. 92. 

"the premier position * * *": Van H. Manning, 1921, p. 84. 

"In these days * * *": David White, 1921a, p. 176. 

"Act to promote the mining of coal * * *": 41 Stat. L., 437. 

212. "within any known geological structure * * *": 41 Stat. L., 443.

The Federal Water Power Act is 41 Stat. L., 1063. 

215. "to coordinate the activities * * *": Executive order 3206,

December 30, 1919. 

217. "any known geological structure": Mineral Leasing Act, 41 Stat.

L, 443.

219- "Economic geology * * *": R. A. F. Penrose, 1921, p. 50. 

"It is perhaps premature * * *": W. T. Lee, 1922, p. 69.

220. "The prospector should effect * * *": Ibid., p. 71.

"not heroism but healing * * *": Warren G. Harding, Speech to 

the Home Market Club, Boston, May 1920. This speech, cited 

as an example of Harding's style, became famous when critics 

seized upon what they erroneously thought was his coinage of 

the word "normalcy."

221. "On the record * * *": Gifford Pinchot's appraisal of Secretary

Fall has been repeated in many publications. McGeary, I960,

gives the source as a confidential letter from Pinchot to S. M.

Lindsay, March 6, 1921.

"a sentence of major importance": Herbert Hoover, 1952, p. 40. 

"It shall be the province and duty * * *": Ibid., referring to the

Organic Act of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 

"unless he gets to be * * *": F. K. Lane to John W. Hallowell,

February 21, 1921, quoted in F. K. Lane, 1922. 

"seek no part * * *": Warren G. Harding, Inaugural address,

March 4, 1921. 

"supreme task"; "resumption of our onward, normal way"; and

"administrative efficiency * * *": Ibid.

222. "We have many idle men * * *": Herbert Hoover, 1952,

p. 41-42.

"an infinite amount of misery * * *": Ibid, 

"readjustments, reconstruction, and restoration * * *": Warren 

G. Harding, Address to Congress, April 11, 1921, in Congressional Record, 67th Congress, 1st session, p. 169. 

224. "All that we ask * * *": George Otis Smith, in Hearing before 

subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 66th Congress, 2d session, on the Sundry Civil appropriations bill, p. 1482.

226. "only as the utilitarian value * * *": George Otis Smith, 1921,

p. 624. 

' 'Once economic studies * * * ": Program of the Pick and Hammer

Club show, 1919. 

"practical" and "pure": A. H. Brooks, 1922, p. 97.

227. "basic to the formulation * * *": Report of the Committee on 

Foreign and Domestic Mining Policy, Mining and Metallurgical 

Society of America Bulletin 151, 1921, p. 195. 

"Any restrictions, national or international * * *": Ibid., p. 197.

228. "in sight" and "prospective and possible": U.S. Geological Survey, 

1922, p. 45.

"super-scientists"; "constantly measuring"; "very able 

writers * * *"; "wonderfully interesting articles"; and "anexaggerated viewpoint * * *": Thomas A. O'Donnell, in 

American Petroleum Institute Bulletin No. 195, p. 1 and No. 

200, p. 5, 1921.

"It behooves the geologist * * *": E. L. DeGolyer, 1922, p. 42.

"paradoxical position": A. C. Veatch, 1922, p. 133.

"Long before the world * * *": Ibid., p. 138-139.

229. "the geologic principles * * *": David White, 1921a, p. 176. 

Senator Kendrick's inquiry is Senate Resolution 277, 67th Congress, 2d session.

"The naval reserves * * *": U.S. Congress, 67th, 2d session, 

Senate Document 191, p. 1.

230. "as to what measures * * *": Herbert Hoover, in Congressional

Record, 67th Congress, 2d session, p. 8525. 

"epoch in industrial progress": Coal Age, June 8, 1922.

418 Notes
"living with the coal question" and "fully convinced * * *": 

George Otis Smith, in Congressional Record, 67th Congress, 2d 

session, p. 8529. 

232. "a great service * * *": L. C. Cramton, Ibid., p. 2403.

"not because of any lack of confidence * * *": Ibid.

234. "barely up to the requirements * * *": and "extremely 

hazardous": Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin 1271, 

October 1922, p. 32.

235. "menacing to the Nation's welfare": Warren G. Harding, 

Address to joint session of Congress, August 18, 1922, in Congressional Record, 67th Congress, 2d session, p. 11537. 

"searching investigation * * *": Ibid., p. 11538. 

"to investigate and ascertain fully * * *": 42 Stat. L., 1023.

236. "not only a deserved honor * * *": George Otis Smith, in 

Forty-Fourth Annual Report of the Director of the United States 

Geological Survey, 1923, p. 4.

Chapter 9. The Sound of a Different Drum, 1922-1925.

"This transfer presages

"Secretary Hoover said "

Club show, 1925.

" *": Ibid. 

* ": Program of the Pick and Hammer

Page

237.

239.

240.

244.

245.

248.

249.

250.

253.

254.

255.

257-

"If a man does not keep pace * * *": Henry David Thoreau,

Walden, Chapter 18, conclusion. 

"The business of America is business": Calvin Coolidge, Speech

to the Society of American Newspaper Editors, January 17, 1925. 

"That no part of the appropriation * * *": Congressional

Record, 67th Congress, 4th session, p. 1091. See also 42 Stat.

L., 1208.

"applying business methods * * *": Hubert Work, 1926, p. 7. 

"business * * * to do the best * * *": Calvin Coolidge, 1929,

p. 231- 

"a certain responsibility * * *"; "willing to advise * * *"; and

"they should make * * *": Ibid., p. 212. 

"In the discharge of the duties * * *": Ibid., p. 196. 

"If there has been any crime * * *": Calvin Coolidge, Statement

to the press, included in U.S. Congress, 1945, p. 16-17. 

"his year's absence * * *": George Otis Smith, in Forty-Fifth

Annual Report of the Director of the United States Geological

Survey, 1924, p. 7. 

"review the situation * * *" and "The purpose for which the

naval oil lands * * * ": Statement from the White House about

the establishment of the Naval Oil Supply Commission, March

25, 1924, in Congressional Record, 68th Congress, 1st session,

p. 5011. 

"recovery of the navy's oil reserves * * *": Progressive Party

platform, 1924.

"public ownership of the nation's water power * * *": Ibid. 

"Keep cool with Coolidge": Campaign slogan, 1924. 

"That this conference * * *": Transactions of the First World

Power Conference, London 1924, v. 4, p. 1809. 

"certain kinds of research * * *": George Otis Smith, in FortySixth Annual Report of the Director of the United States

Geological Survey, 1925, p. 30.

"the ever increasing demand for power * * *": Ibid, 

"through his long experience * * *": P. S. Smith, Administrative

report, in Mineral resources of Alaska. Report on progress of investigations in 1924, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 783, 1926,

p. 31.

"He was the associate * * *": George Otis Smith, 1925, p. 80. 

"had a genius for truth * * *": Ibid. 

"Our domestic problems * * *": Calvin Coolidge, Annual

message to Congress, December 3, 1924, in Congressional Record,

68th Congress, 2d session, p. 52. 

"a general utility topographical survey * * *": 43 Stat. L., 1011,

approved February 27, 1925. 

"The change is one * * *": Hubert Work, in Mining Congress

Journal, June 1925, p. 313.

Chapter 10. The Power of the Purse, 1925-1928

Page 

259.

260.

261.

262.

264.

265.

266.

267.

268.

270.

273.

277.

278.

280.

"The power over the purse * * *": Calvin Coolidge, Annual 

message to Congress, December 8, 1925, in Congressional Record, 

69th Congress, 1st session, p. 458.

"the year that nothing happened": Elizabeth Stevenson, 1967, 

p. 152.

"that the United States * * *": Statement of the Trustees 

of the National Academy of Sciences Research Foundation, 

February 1, 1926, in Science, v. 63, 1926, p. 158.

"that the funds now available * * *": Ibid.

"we must strengthen the first line * * *": Herbert Hoover, 1927, 

p. 27.

"the establishment of principles * * *": George Otis Smith, 

in Forty-Seventh Annual Report of the Director of the United 

States Geological Survey, 1926, p. 70.

"the romance of the unknown": E. C. Andrews, 1925, p. 189.

"prime necessities for progress:" F. L. Ransome, 1925, p. 490.

"Without any suggestion * * *": Ibid.

"at least a few simple precautions * * *": J. T. Pardee, 1927, 

p. 23.

"perhaps overconservative": T. W. Stanton, in M. G. Wilmarth, 

1925, Preface.

"too simple" and "inadequate for modern needs": Charles 

Schuchert, in American Journal of Science, 5th series, v. 10, 1925, 

p. 78.

"One of the purposes * * *": Gerald FitzGerald, in Mining Congress Journal, v. 11, 1925, p. 506.

"one of progress and prosperity": Calvin Coolidge, Annual 

message to Congress, December 5, 1925, in Congressional Record, 

69th Congress, 1st session, p. 457.

"perennial conflict": Ibid., p. 462.

"of great benefit * * *": Ibid., p. 464.

"for the purpose of determining * * *": 44 Stat. L., 768, 

approved June 25, 1926.

"During the fiscal year, 1927 * * *": Hearing before subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 69th Congress, 1st 

session, on appropriations for the Interior Department, p. 783.

"shall be used to reimburse * * *": Ibid., p. 784. These 

provisions appear in 44 Stat. L., 487.

"in accord with the spirit of the act": Letter from George Otis 

Smith, read by L. C. Cramton, in Congressional Record, 69th 

Congress, 1st session, p. 1712.

"that $445,000 of this amount * * *": Ibid.

"The immediate future * * *": C. H. Birdseye to the American 

Mining Congress, September 1926.

"geologic investigations": George Otis Smith, in Forty-Eighth 

Annual Report of the Director of the United States Geological 

Survey, 1927, p. 10.

"in some quarters * * *": Calvin Coolidge, Annual message to 

Congress, December 7, 1926, in Congressional Record, 69th Congress, 2d session, p. 29-

"clean up that mess": C. M. Fuess, 1940, p. 415.

"a splendid contribution * * *": Charles [Karl] Terzaghi, 

Compressibility and elasticity of artesian aquifers, Economic 

Geology, v. 24, 1929, p. 211 [discussion of Meinzer, 1928].

"be accomplished only * * *": O. E. Meinzer, 1928, p. 290.

"the definite contribution * * *": J. C. Merriam, in Carnegie 

Institution of Washington Yearbook 26, 1927, p. 4.

"with the object of determining * * *": David White, Ibid., 

p. 366.

Notes 419
"belonging more or less * * *": David White, in Carnegie 

Institution of Washington Yearbook 27, 1928, p. 389.

281. "Unless we remember * * *": F. L. Ransome, 1928, p. 127-128.

282. "The primary allegiance * * *": C. K. Leith, 1928, p. 453. 

"the adequacy of total supply * * *": C. K. Leith, 1927, p. 261.

283. "keep us out of war with Mexico": Calvin Coolidge to Dwight 

Morrow, as reported in C. M. Fuess, 1940, p. 413.

"no state has the right": Proposed resolution of the Havana 

Conference in 1928, quoted in Richard B. Morris, Encyclopedia 

of American History, 1961 edition, p. 323.

"not choose to run": Calvin Coolidge to a news conference at 

Rapid City, South Dakota, on August 2, 1927, the fourth anniversary of his accession to the Presidency.

"The country as a whole * * *": Calvin Coolidge, Annual 

message to Congress, December 6, 1927, in Congressional Record, 

70th Congress, 1st session, p. 103.

"without constructive economy * * *": Ibid.

"The Government is not an insurer * * *": Ibid., p. 106.

"After four years of effort * * *": Hubert Work, in Annual 

Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ended 

June 30, 1927, p. 1.

284. "The basic idea of the Survey's work * * *": George Otis Smith, 

in Hearing before subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 70th Congress, 1st session, on Interior Department appropriations bill, p. 940.

"Of course, I want my youngster * * *": L. C. Cramton, Ibid., 

p. 977.

"Well, I was asked * * *": George Otis Smith, Ibid.

"unmistakable evidence * * *": George Otis Smith, in FortyEighth Annual Report of the Director of the United States 

Geological Survey, 1927, p. 1.

"That no part of this appropriation * * *": U.S. Congress, 

70th, 1st session, House Report 255, p. 255. See also 43 Stat. 

L., 232.

"that this conference respectfully request * * *": Resolution 

adopted by the Conference of Governors on the Colorado River, 

Denver, Colorado, September 24, 1927, in Hearing before subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 70th Congress, 

1st session, p. 959-960.

285. "and other base-gauging stations * * *": U.S. Congress, 70th, 

1st session, Senate Report 192, p. 959-960.

286. "sense of Congress * * *": Section 10 of the Flood Control Act

of 1928, 45 Stat. L., 534.

"the classification of the public lands * * *": Organic Act of the 

U.S. Geological Survey, 20 Stat. L., 394.

Chapter 11. Research: Source of Power, 1928-1930

Page

287. "No scientific organization * * *": W. C. Mendenhall, in 

Fiftieth Annual Report of the Director of the United States 

Geological Survey, 1929, p. 11.

289. "such a dam * * *": California Commission to Investigate 

the Causes Leading to the Failure of the St. Francis Dam, 1928, 

p. 16.

"unfortunately in this case * * *": Ibid.

"With such a formation * * *": Ibid.

"No competent geologist * * *": C. R. Longwell, in Science, 

v. 67, 1928, p. 36-37.

290. "as to matters affecting the safety * * *": U.S. Congress, 70th,

1st session, Joint Resolution of May 29, 1928, 45 Stat. L., 1011.

"director of the U.S. Geological Survey * * *": 45 Stat. L., 1643.

292. "With the present realization * * *": Roy O. West, in Annual

Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ended

June 30, 1928, p. 38.

"somewhat nervous speculation": W. E. Wrather, 1928, p. 331.

"We have never * * *": Ibid., p. 331-332. 

"view with alarm": Ibid., p. 333. 

"of which we little dream * * *": Ibid. 

293. "reasonable:" Arthur Keith, 1928, p. 384.

295. "No Congress of the United States * * *": Calvin Coolidge, 

Annual message to Congress, December 4, 1928, in Congressional Record, 70th Congress, 2d session, p. 20.

"tranquillity and contentment" and "peace * * *": Ibid.

"a case of the U.S. v. Europe * * *": Memorandum drafted by 

J. Reuben Clark, of the Department of State, quoted in Richard 

B. Morris, Encyclopedia of American History, 1961 edition, 

p. 323-

"created by our enterprise * * *": Calvin Coolidge, Annual 

message to Congress, December 4, 1928, in Congressional Record, 

70th Congress, 2d session, p. 20.

296. "all of man's resourcefulness * * *"; "giving this aid * * *"; 

and "looked to, not to apply * * *": Hearing before subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 70th Congress, 2d 

session, on appropriations for the Interior Department, p. 39. 

"that the making of topographic maps * * *": Comptroller 

General decision, Ibid., p. 73.

297. "had been my constant friend * * *": Herbert Hoover, 1952,

p. 220. 

"no initiative and no imagination": Herbert Hoover, quoted

in David Burner, 1979, p. 209-

299. "From Nebraska west * * *": Ray Lyman Wilbur, in Annual 

Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the year ended June 

30, 1929, p- 7.

"man-made barrenness * * *": Ibid.

"to work out * * *": Herbert Hoover to the Conference of 

Western Governors, August 21, 1929, quoted in Herbert Hoover, 

1952, p. 239-

303. "the peculiar functions * * *": George Otis Smith, in Oil and

Gas Journal, v. 27, 1929, p. 143. 

"production studies from the geologic side * * *": Ibid.

304. "mother rocks": Taisia Stadnichenko, 1929. The usage is the 

author's and is unexplained.

306. "a fine example * * *": Ray Lyman Wilbur, in Annual Report 

of the Secretary of the Interior for the year ended June 30, 1929, 

p. 12. 

"see its activities strengthened * * *": Ibid.

307. "the Geological Survey has sort of * * *": Congressman L. C. 

Cramton, in Hearing before subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 71st Congress, 2nd session, on appropriations 

for the Interior Department, p. 919. The article referred to is 

by William A. DuPuy in World's Work for November 19, 1929.

"The Geological Survey comes into its own * * *": Congressman 

Cramton, in Congressional Record, 71st Congress, 1st session, 

p. 242.

"a fixed policy": Herbert Hoover, Annual message to Congress, 

December 3, 1929, in Congressional Record, 71st Congress, 1st 

session, p. 26.

"no proper development * * *": Ibid., p. 27.

314. "The origins of this depression * * *": Herbert Hoover, in 

Annual message to Congress, December 2, 1930, in Congressional Record, 71st Congress, 2d session, p. 33-

"A look ahead": George Otis Smith, in Fifty-First Annual Report 

of the Director of the United States Geological Survey, 1930, 

p. 1-4.

"the degree to which * * *": Ibid., p. 3.

"In the 20 years * * *": Ibid.

315. "The work that produced * * *": Ibid.

"The investigations of water resources * * *": Ibid.

316. "It is significant * * *": Ibid., p. 2.

"The present accumulation * * *": Ibid., p. 3- 

"a fact-finding agency * * *": Ibid., p. 4.

carry on commerce "": Ibid.

420 Notes
"in the light of better science * * *": Ibid, 

"the one hundredth report * * *": Ibid.

Chapter 12. Research: Useful to the Social Organism, 

1931-1933

Page 

317.

318.

319.

321.

325.

326.

328.

329.

333.

334.

335.

336.

337.

"The normal and proper objective * * *": W. C. Mendenhall, 

1937, p. 363.

"Insofar as my part * * *": W. C. Mendenhall to Secretary of 

the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur, quoted in 1. B. Nolan, 1975, 

p. 320.

"its specialists * * *" and "in embarrassing demand": W. C. 

Mendenhall, in Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior 

for the year ended June 30, 1934, p. 217.

"To have combined * * *": Editorial in Engineering and 

Mining Journal, v. 144, no. 3, 1943, p. 18.

"investigation of mineral and other resources of Alaska * * *": 

Interior Department Appropriations Act, 46 Stat. L., 1158.

"All portions of the unreserved * * *"and "the Nation is committed * * *": in Report of the Committee on the Conservation and Administration of the Public Domain to the President 

of the United States, January 1931, U.S. Government Printing 

Office, p. 2.

"present conservation policy * * *": Ibid., p. 6.

"The Geological Survey performs * * *": Ray Lyman Wilbur, 

in Hearing before subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 72d Congress, 1st session, on Interior Department 

appropriations bill, p. 9.

"a marked decrease * * *": U.S. Congress, 72nd, 1st session, 

House Report 273, p. 7.

"the belief of the committee * * *": Ibid.

''utterly remote from the business world * * *": Hearing before 

subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 72d Congress, 1st session, p. 733.

"while no one can predict * * *": Ibid.

"little 5-toed creature * * *": Ibid.

"just as if you took a chicken * * *" and "so that it would just 

creep": Secretary Wilbur, in Supplemental hearing before subcommittee of Senate Appropriations Committee, 72d Congress, 

1st session, on Interior Department appropriations bill, p. 108.

"continued existence * * *": Herbert Hoover, Annual message 

to Congress, December 6, 1932, in Congressional Record, 72d 

Congress, 2d session, p. 540.

"maintenance of State * * *": Ibid.

"allow free play * * *": Ibid.

"permit of no privilege * * *": Ibid.

"act as a regulatory agent * * *": Ibid.

"With the free development * * *": Ibid.

"The already heavily burdened taxpayer" and "very integrity of 

the finances * * *": Budget message, Ibid., p. 84.

"existing economic conditions * * *": U.S. Congress, 72d, 2d 

session, House Report 1792, p. 7.

"is very sympathetic * * *": Congressman Edward Taylor, in 

Congressional Record, 72d Congress, 2d session, p. 929.

"two countries that are supposed * * *": Senator Carl Hayden, 

in Hearing before subcommittee of Senate Appropriations Committee, 72d Congress, 2d session, on H. R. 13710, Interior 

Department appropriations bill, p. 129.

"group, coordinate, and consolidate": 47 Stat. L., 1517.

"a strange assortment": J. M. Burns, 1956, p. 150.

"the most fanatical * * *": Jane D. Ickes, in Preface to v. 1 

of The secret diary of Harold L. Ickes, p. ix.

"sociological and scientific" and "the protection and enlargement 

of life": Congressional Record, 73d Congress, 1st session, p. 3096.

"to improve the navigability * * *": 48 Stat. L., 58.

338. "determining where to look * * *": T. B. Nolan, personal 

papers.

339. "with authority, acting through the machinery * * *": Executive order 6238, July 1, 1933.

"recovery program of science progress": Science Advisory Board, 

1934, Appendix 11.

340. "scientific research is an essential element * * *":Ibid.,p. 269. 

"knowledge applicable to the satisfaction * * *": Ibid., p. 270.

342. "growing like a mushroom * * *": Congressman Edward Taylor, 

in Congressional Record, 73d Congress, 2d session, p. 2832. 

"is well designed * * *": Science Advisory Board, 1934, p. 105. 

"scientific and technical standards * * *": Ibid.

343. "desirable and justifiable" and "balance and emphasis": Ibid, 

"has to do with the finding * * *": Ibid., p. 114. 

"the core of the Survey * * *": Ibid., p. 105. 

"vital part * * *": Ibid., p. 103. 

"invite the Director * * *": Ibid., p. 116. 

"The Geological Survey * * *": Ibid., p. 104.

Chapter 13. The End of the Pioneering Period, 1933-1936

Page 

345.

347.

348.

349.

351.

352.

358.

359.

14.

* *": U.S. Congress, 73d, 

. The full text is in U.S. Con-

"We have reached the end * * *": Harold L. Ickes, 1933, as

reprinted in F. E. Smith, editor, 1971, p. 384. 

"collective and largely cooperative * * *": National Conservation Commission, 1909, v. 1, p. 

"the production, importation *

2d session, House Resolution 441

gress, 1935, p. 1. 

"The United States * * *": C. K. Leith to Franklin D. Roosevelt,

February 8, 1934. Copy in U.S. Geological Survey files, 

"the first step * * *": Ibid. 

"The position of our mining industry * * *": Reno Sales, 1935,

p. 405.

"that there are undiscovered * * *": Ibid, 

"present-day application * * *": Ibid., p. 393. 

"Because of increasing difficulties * * *": Ibid., p. 406. 

"The Government should provide funds * * *": Ibid, 

"a defiant and fractious servant * * *": A. M. Schlesinger, Jr.,

in a review of v. 1 of The secret diary of Harold L. Ickes, New

Republic, December 7, 1953, p. 15. 

"The basis of a comprehensive plan * * *" and "fragmentary and

scattered": U.S. Congress, 1934, p. 9. 

"to demonstrate that the impoverishment * * *": Annual Report

of the Department of the Interior, 1934, p. 353. 

"Land Resources and Land Use * * *": Science Advisory Board,

1934, Appendix 9-

"as a matter of national welfare": Carl O. Sauer, Ibid., p. 174. 

"whether we have appropriated * * *": Ibid, 

"laid in its grave * * *": R. G. Tugwell, Our new national

heritage, Scribner's Magazine, v. 99, March 1936, p. 164. 

"to stop injury * * *": House bill 6462, filed January 5, 1934,

Congressional Record, 73d Congress, 2nd session, p. 167. 

"from settlement, location, sale or entry * * *": Executive

order 6587, February 6, 1934. 

"high handed, outrageous, and infamous * * *": Congressman

Edward Taylor, in Congressional Record, 73d Congress, 2d session, p. 6364.

"nobody would think * * *": Ibid, 

"cancelled without prejudice": Geological Society of America

Proceedings for 1936, p. 405-416. 

"although the expansion * * *": David White, in U. S.

Congress, 1935, part 2, p. 895.

"David White came * * *": Charles Schuchert, 1937, p. 189. 

"a striking example * * *": W. C. Mendenhall, in Annual

Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ended

Notes 421
June 30, 1935, p. 234.

"to prepare and present to the President * * *": Executive 

order 6777 establishing the National Resources Board.

360. "it is no longer possible * * *": Report of the Water Planning 

Committee, U.S. National Resources Board, 1934, p. 255.

361. "surveys, inventories, and records * * *": Ibid., p. 286-287.

362. "orderly and efficient use * * *": Report of the Planning 

Committee for Mineral Policy, U.S. National Resources Board, 

1934, p. 392.

363. "The exhaustibility of minerals * * *": Ibid., p. 439.

"structural defects": Science Advisory Board, Report for September 

1, 1934 to December 31, 1935, Appendix 4, p. 147.

364. "owing to defects of organization" and "sufficiently alert * * *": 

Ibid., p. 233.

"total past production"; "present pioneering activities"; and 

"commensurate with * * *": Ibid.

"where urgent Federal needs * * *": Ibid., p. 155.

"in principle": Ibid., p. 159-

"influential elements * * *": Ibid., p. 159.

"the major mapping organization * * *": Secretary Ickes to 

the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, December 10, 1934, 

in Hearing before subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 74th Congress, 2d session, p. 235-239 and 75th Congress, 1st session, p. 341-344.

365. "a landsman's job * * *": Ibid.

"to place our land mapping activities * * *": Ibid, 

"ensigns and commanders * * *": Ibid. 

"At once perceptive scholar * * *": Quoted in R. J. Lund, 

1957, p. 152.

367. "study of our national resources * * *": Franklin D. Roosevelt, 

Annual message to Congress, January 4, 1935, in Congressional 

Record, 74th Congress, 1st session, p. 95.

"without solicitation or expectation": W. C. Mendenhall, in 

Hearing before subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 74th Congress, 1st session, on appropriations for the Interior Department, p. 165-

"Not on this money.": Ibid.

368. "avoid the twin horrors * * *": Robert Engler, 1961, p. 141.

369. "they are not far wrong * * *": H. L Ickes, 1953, v. 1, p. 350.

374. "a two-fold neutrality * * *": Franklin D. Roosevelt, Annual 

message to Congress, January 3, 1936, in Congressional Record, 

74th Congress, 2d session, p. 28.

375. "to lay and collect taxes * * *": Constitution of the United States,

Article VIII.

"to declare that local conditions * * *": U.S. v. Butler, 

Majority opinion, 1936.

376. "a staggering blow * * *": A. M. Schlesinger.Jr., I960, p. 478.

"Expediency in dealing with our natural resources * * *": 

Secretary Ickes, in Hearing before subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 74th Congress, 2d session, on Interior 

Department appropriations, p. 4.

"not only for the surveys * * *"; "for the mineral inventories * * *"; and "Obviously much more concentrated attention * * *": Ibid., p. 240.

Chapter 14. Astatic World, 1936-1939

Page

379. "If we were known to be dealing * * *": John C. Merriam,

in U.S. National Resources Committee, 1937b, p. 91. 

"economic royalists" and "created a new despotism * * *": 

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Speech accepting nomination for a second 

term as President.

380. "safe to say * * *": W. C. Mendenhall, 1937, p. 361.

"those past contributions * * *": Ibid.

382. "vacation studies": H. E. Gregory, in U.S. Geological Survey 

Professional Paper 220, 1950, p. 2.

385. "unfortunate civil strife * * *": Franklin D. Roosevelt, Annual

message to Congress, January 6, 1937, in Congressional Record,

75th Congress, 1st session, p. 84. 

"one-third of a nation * * *": Franklin D. Roosevelt, Second

inaugural address, Ibid., p. 317. 

"legislative and judicial action * * *": Franklin D. Roosevelt,

Annual message to Congress, January 6, 1937, Ibid., p. 85. 

"so as matters turned out * * *" J. M. Burns, 1956, p. 315.

386. "Nature has given * * *": Franklin D. Roosevelt, Special message 

to Congress, June 3, 1937, in Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st session, p. 5280.

"this work of husbandry": Congressional Record, 75th Congress,

2d session, p. 7.

387- "In the light of past experience * * *": U.S. National Resources 

Committee, 1936, letter of transmittal, p. v.

"absolutely essential": Ibid., p. 25.

"reasonable program for present consideration": Secretary Ickes, 

z'wU.S. Congress, 75th, 1st session, Senate Document 14, p. 3.

"the need for a general inventory * * *": Hearing before 

subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 75th Congress, 1st session, p. 345.

388. "only one real central source * * *": Testimony of Julian D. 

Conover, Secretary of the American Mining Congress, Ibid., 

p. 394.

389. "where ground water is available * * *": D. G. Thompson and

A. G. Fiedler, 1938, p. 1049.

391. "Our future is limited * * *": A. I. Levorsen, 1936, p. 530. 

"I am sure * * *": I. M. Goubkin, 1939, p. 178.

394. "theoretical merit"; "not advisable * * *"; and "it is admitted * * *": U.S. Congress, 75th, 1st session, Senate Report 

1275, p. 394.

"laudable" and "insofar as they apply * * *": Congressman Edward Taylor, in Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 2d session, Appendix, p. 597.

"the entire delegation in Congress * * *": Ibid.

"Certainly war with Japan * * *": Harold L. Ickes, 1953, v. 2, 

p. 274.

395. "would cripple any President * * *": Franklin D. Roosevelt,

in Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 3d session, p. 277. 

"modern successors rather than * * *": F. E. Matthes, 1939, p. 20.

396. "wholly insufficient * * *"; "surveying, mapping, land classification * * *"; and "to insure that the Government * * *": 

U.S. National Resources Committee, 1938, p. 30. 

"Anticipation of the future * * *" and "a great disturber": U.S. 

National Resources Committee, 1937b, Foreword, p. viii.

397. "aside from the hazard of war * * *": Ibid., p. 176.

The speeches by Congressman Scrugham and Director Finch are in 

Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 3d session, Appendix, 

p. 1419-1420 and 1827-1830.

399- "It is futile to wait * * *": Hearing before subcommittee of 

House Appropriations Committee, 75th Congress, 3d session, 

on appropriations for the Interior Department, p. 390. 

"More than half the Territory * * *": Ibid., p. 392. 

"how many people * * *": Senator Kenneth McKellar, in 

Hearing before subcommittee of Senate Appropriations Committee, 75th Congress, 3d session, on appropriations for the 

Interior Department, p. 63.

400. "it was gratifying * * *": W. C. Mendenhall, in Annual 

Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year ended 

June 30, 1939, p. 139. 

402. "in recognition of his outstanding contributions * * *": E. S.

Larsen, Jr., in American Mineralogist, v. 24, 1939, p. 53- 

"indispensable": Economic Geology, v. 34, 1939, p. 122.

404. "Hitler being the maniac * * *": Harold L. Ickes, 1953, v. 2, 

p. 480.

405. "that the natural resources of the United States * * *": Preamble to Senate bill 572, to acquire stocks of strategic and critical

422 Notes
materials, p. 1.

"authorized and directed" and "to make scientific, technologic, 

and economic investigations * * *": Ibid., Section 7.

407. "National policies must be formulated * * *": National Resources Committee, 1939, p. 15.

"the people are demanding * * *": Secretary Ickes, in Hearing 

before subcommittee of House Appropriations Committee, 76th 

Congress, 1st session, on Interior Department appropriations bill, 

p. 17.

408. "because of the possibility * * *": Letter of Marvin Mclntyre 

to John S. Dodds, in Hearing before subcommittee of House 

Appropriations Committee, 76th Congress, 1st session, on Interior Department appropriations bill, p. 459-

"to confer and jointly to submit * * *": U.S. Congress, 76th, 

1st session, Senate Resolution 87, February 27, 1939-

"Basic three-dimensional contour maps * * *": U.S. Congress, 

76th, 1st session, Senate Document 54, p. 1.

"to give as much attention as possible * * *": Ibid., p. 476.

409. "one of the most extraordinary * * *"; "the scorching 

rays * * *"; "drooping spirits * * *"; and "fossil treasures": 

John Evans, in David Dale Owen, Report of a geological survey 

of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota and incidentally of a portion of Nebraska Territory, Philadelphia 1852, p. 196 and 197.

410. "when peace has been broken * * *": Franklin D. Roosevelt, 

Radio address to the Nation, September 3, 1939, in Congressional Record, 76th Congress, 2d session, Appendix, p. 40.

Notes 423
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_____ 1906a, Relation of Government reclamation work to private

enterprise: National Irrigation Congress, 14th, Boise 1906, Proceedings, p. 50-54.

1906b, The policy of the U.S. Geological Survey and its bearing

on science and education: Science, v. 24, p. 722-725. 

Walworth, Arthur, 1965, Woodrow Wilson, 2d ed., revised: Boston,

Houghton Mifflin, 436, 439p.

Webb, Walter Prescott, 1931, The Great Plains: Boston, Ginn, 525 p. 

Wegemann, C. H., 1911, The Salt Creek oil field, Wyoming: U.S.

Geological Survey Bulletin 452, p. 37-83. 

Wells, F. G., 1933, Ground-water resources of western Tennessee: U.S.

Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 656, 319 p. 

Wells, J. W., 1952, Thomas Wayland Vaughan (1870-1952): American

Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 36, p. 1495-1497. 

Wells, R. C., 1938, Present trends in geochemistry: Journal of Chemical

Education, v. 15, p. 524-532. 

Westervelt, W. Y., 1921, War problems in minerals, I: The War Minerals

Committee, 1917-1918: Engineering and Mining Journal, v. 112,

p. 500-502.

Wheat, J. H., 1920, Airplane photography as an adjunct to military mapping: Military Engineer, v. 12, p. 11-12. 

White, David, 1908, Some problems of the formation of coal: Economic

Geology, v. 3, p. 292-318. 

_____ 1914, Resins in Paleozoic plants and in coals of high rank: U.S.

Geological Survey Professional Paper 85, p. 65-96. 

_____ 1915, Some relations in origin between coal and petroleum:

Washington Academy of Sciences Journal, v. 5, p. 189-212. 

_____ 1916, Charles Willard Hayes: Science, v. 44, p. 124-126. 

_____ 1917, Late theories regarding the origin of oil: Geological Society

of America Bulletin, v. 28, p. 727-734. 

_____ 1917a, Organization and cost of geological surveys: Pan-American

Scientific Congress, 2d, Washington 1915-1916, Proceedings, Section 7, v. 8, p. 605-612. 

__ 1920, The petroleum resources of the world: American Academy

of Political and Social Science Annals, v. 89, p. 111-134. 

__ 1921, Federal cooperation: American Mining Congress, 23d,

Denver 1920,Report of the Proceedings, p. 456^70. 

__ 192 la, Genetic problems affecting search for new oil regions:

American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers Transactions, v. 65, p. 176-198. 

__ 1924, Gravity observations from the standpoint of the local

geology: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 35,

p. 207-277. 

__ 1924a, Proposed oceanographic research by the Navy: Journal of

Geology, v. 32, p. 690-695. 

__ 1924b, Some needed peat investigations: American Peat Society

Journal, v. 17, p. 45-56. 

__ 1925, Public geology and national mineral wealth: International

Geological Congress, 13th, Belgium 1922, Comptes Rendus,

p. 1711-1718. 

__ 1927, Memorial of Frank Hall Knowlton: Geological Society of

America Bulletin, v. 38, p. 52-70. 

__ 1935, Outstanding features of petroleum development in

America: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin

v. 19, p. 469-502.

1935a, Metamorphism of organic sediments and derived oils:

American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 19,

p. 589-617. 

White, David, and Thiessen, Reinhardt, 1913, The origin of coal, with a

chapter on the formation of peat by Charles A. Davis: U.S. Bureau of

Mines Bulletin 38, 390 p. 

White, I. C., 1921, Important epochs in the history of petroleum and natural

gas: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 32, p. 171-186. 

White, William Alien, 1940, A puritan in Babylon. The story of Calvin

Coolidge: New York, Macmillan, 400 p. 

Wilbur, Ray Lyman, 1929, Annual report of the Secretary of the Interior for

the fiscal year ended June 30, 1929: Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 167 p. 

_____ I960, Memoirs of Ray Lyman Wilbur, edited by Edgar Eugene

Robinson and Paul Carroll Edwards: Stanford, California, Stanford

University Press, 687 p. 

Wilbur, Ray Lyman, and DuPuy, William Atherton, 1931, Conservation in

the Department of the Interior: Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 253 p. 

Williamson, Harold F., Andreano, Ralph L., Daum, Arnold R., and Klose,

Gilbert C., 1963, The American petroleum industry: The age of

energy 1899-1959: Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University Press,

928 p. 

Willis, Bailey, 1929, Continental genesis: Geological Society of America

Bulletin, v. 40, p. 281-336. 

Wilmarth, M. Grace, 1925, The geologic time classification of the United

States Geological Survey compared with other classifications, accompanied by the original definitions of era, period and epoch terms:

U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 769, 138 p. 

Wilson, R. M., 1941, Claude Hale Birdseye: American Society of Civil

Engineers Transactions, v. 106, p. 1549. 

Winchell, N. H., 1912, Progress of opinion as to the origin of the Lake

Superior iron ores: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 23,

p. 317-328. 

Winchester, D. E., 1916, Oil shale in northwestern Colorado and adjacent

areas: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 641, p. 139-198. 

_____ 1919, Oil shales: Franklin Institute Journal, v. 187, p. 689-703. 

_____ 1922, Distribution and importance of the oil-shale deposits of the

United States: American Mining Congress, 25th, Cleveland 1922,

Report of the Proceedings, p. 756-758. 

Wood, H. O., Alien, M. W., and Heck, N. H., 1939, Earthquake history of

the United States: Pt. 2, California and western Nevada: U.S. Coast

440 Bibliography
and Geodetic Survey Serial 609, pt. 2, 24 p. Woolley, R. R., 1924, Water powers of the Great Salt Lake basin: U.S.

Wooddy, Carroll H., 1934, The growth of the federal government Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 517, 270 p.

1915-1932: New York, McGraw Hill, 577 p. _____ 1930, The Green River and its utilization: U.S. Geological Survey

Woodring, W. P., Brown, J. S,, and Burbank, W. S., 1924, Geology of the Water-Supply Paper 618, 456 p.

Republic of Haiti: Port-au-Prince, Republic of Haiti, Department of Work, Hubert, 1926, The Department of the Interior. A three years' review:

Public Works, 631 p. Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 52 p.

Woodring, W. P., Stewart, Ralph, and Richards, R. W., 1940, Geology of Wrather, W. E., 1928, What of our future oil supply?: Economic Geology,

the Kettleman Hills oil field, California; stratigraphy, paleontology, v. 23, p. 331-333.

and structure: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 195, Yerkes, R. M., editor, 1920, The new world of science: Its development dur170 p. ing the war: New York, Century, 443 p.

Woodward, R. A., and others, 1909, Conduct of scientific work under U.S. Zieger, R. H., 1965, Pinchot and Coolidge: The politics of the 1923 anGovernment: U.S. Congress, 60th, 2d session, House Document thracite crisis: Journal of American History, v. 62, p. 566-581.

1337, p. 2-5(5557).

Bibliography 441
Index to Bibliography

Biography

Albright, Horace M.: D. C. Swain, 1970.

Arnold, Ralph: H. J. Steiney, 1961.

Ashley, George H.: S. H. Cathcart, 1952; R. W. Stone, 1952.

Bagley, J. W.: E. J. Raisz, 1947.

Bascom, Florence: I. H. Ogilvie, 1945; E. B. Knopf, 1946. See also DAB 3.

Bastin, Edson S.: A. L. Anderson, 1955.

Becker, G. E: G. P. Merrill, 1926. See also DAB II, DSB I, and additional 

references in Volume 2.

Birdseye, C. H.: R. M. Wilson, 1941; R. H. Sargent, 1942; Heinz Gruner, 1972.

Brooks, A. H.: G. O. Smith, 1925; P. S. Smith, 1926a. See also DAB III and 

DSB II.

Burbank, W. S.: R. G. Luedke, 1979.

Campbell, M. R.: G. B. Richardson, 1940, G. H. Ashley, 1941.

Capps S. R.: P. S. Smith, 1950.

Chamberlin, T. C: R. T. Chamberlin, 1934. See also DAB III, DSB III, and 

additional references in Volume 2.

Clarke, F. W.: W. T. Schaller, 1931. See also DAB 1 and DSB III.

Collier, A. J.: G. B. Richardson, 1940.

Coolidge, Calvin: Calvin Coolidge, 1929; Claude M. Fuess, 1940; William Alien 

White, 1940. See also DAB 1.

Cross, C. W: N. L. Bowen, 1950; E. S. Larsen, Jr., 1958. See also DAB 4 and 

DSB III.

Darton, N. H.: N. H. Darton, 1941; P. B. King, 1949; W. H. Monroe, 1949. 

See also DAB 4.

Day, David T.: N. H. Darton, 1934. See also DAB V and additional references 

in Volume 2.

DeGolyer, E. L: A. R. Denison, 1958; Lon Tinkle, 1970. See also DSB IV.

Emmons, S. E: Arnold Hague, 1912. See also DAB VI, DSB IV, and additional references in Volume 2.

Ferguson, H. G.: T. B. Nolan, 1968.

Gale, H. S.: D. D. Condit, 1953; D. F. Hewett, 1954.

Gannett, Henry: N. H. Darton, 1917. See also DAB VIII.

Gardner, Julia: H. S. Ladd, 1962.

Gilbert, G. K.: S. J. Pyne, 1980. See also DAB VII, DSB V, and additional 

references in Volume 2.

Hague, Arnold: J. P. Iddings, 1919. See also DAB VIII, DSB VI, and additional references in Volume 2.

Harding, Warren G.: S. H. Adams, 1939; Francis Russell, 1968. See also DAB

VIII.

Hatcher, J. B.: H. F. Osborn, 1907.

Hayes, C. W: David White, 1916; A. H. Brooks, 1917. See also DAB VIII. 

Hewett, D. E: R. H. Jahns, 1975. 

Holmes, J. A.: Joseph H. Pratt, 1916. 

Hoover, Herbert: Richard Hofstadter, 1948, p. 283-314; Herbert Hoover, 1952;

David Burner, 1979. See also DAB 5. 

Ickes, Harold L.: H. L. Ickes, 1943, 1953. See also DAB 5. 

IrvingJohnDuer: Waldemar Lindgren, 1918; J. F. Kemp. 1919. See also DAB

IX. 

Jaggar, T. A.: G. A. Macdonald, 1953; T. A. Jaggar, 1956. See also DAB 5

and DSB VII.

Keith, Arthur: A. C. Swinnerton, 1944; E. S. Larsen, Jr., 1945. See also DAB 3. 

Knopf, Adolph: R. G. Coleman, 1968. 

Knopf, Eleanora Bliss: John Rodgers, 1977.

Knowlton, Frank H.: E. W. Berry, 1927; David White, 1927. See also DAB X.

LaFollette, Robert M.: R. M. LaFollette, 1913. See also DAB X.

Lane, F. K.: F. K. Lane, 1922. See also DAB X.

Lee, W. T.: W. C. Alden, 1927.

Leith, C. K.: R. J. Lund, 1957; D. F. Hewett, 1959; S. W. McGrath, 1971.

Lindgren, Waldemar: L. C. Graton, 1933, 1939; B. S. Butler and others, 1950.

See also DAB 2 and DSB VIII.

Loughlin, G. E: W. S. Burbank, 1947; E. F. Burchard, 1947. 

Mansfield, G. R.: P. B. King, 1949a.

Mather, Stephen: Robert Shankland, 1970. See also DAB XII. 

Meinzer, O. E.: A. N. Sayre, 1949. See also DAB 4 and DSB IX. 

Mendenhall, W. C.: M. M. Leighton, 1959; T. B. Nolan, 1975. 

Mertie, J. B., Jr.: Evelyn Mertie, 1982. 

Miser, H. D: G. V. Cohee, 1969; T. A. Hendricks, 1973. 

Moffit, F. H.: J. B. Mertie, Jr., 1959- 

Nutting, P. G.: L. A. Jones, 1950; R. E. Stevens, 1950. 

Parker, E. W: C. E. Lesher, 1944.

Pinchot, Gifford: Gifford Pinchot, 1947; M. N. McGeary, I960. See also DAB 4. 

Ransome, F. L.: Waldemar Lindgren, 1937. See also DAB 1. 

Reeside, J. B., Jr.: R. W. Imlay, 1959. 

Richardson, G. B.: R. W. Richards, 1952. 

Roosevelt, Franklin D: Richard Hofstadter, 1948, p. 315-351; J. M. Burns, 1956.

See also DAB 3.

Roosevelt, Theodore: Theodore Roosevelt, 1924. See also DAB XVI and additional references in Volume 2. 

Ross, C. P.: B. F. Leonard, 1971. 

Ross, C. S.: T. P. Thayer, 1977. 

Roundy, P. V: G. H. Girty, 1937.

Schaller, W. T: J. J. Fahey, 1968; Michael Fleischer and G. T. Faust, 1969. 

Sears, J. D: W. H. Bradley, 1973. 

Smith, George Otis: C. E. Dobbin, 1944; P. S. Smith, 1945; G. M. Gressley,

1977; T. G. Manning, 1979. See also DAB 3. 

Smith, P. S.: M. F. Burrill, 1949; E H. Moffit, J. C. Reed, and A. L. Washburn,

1950.

Stanton, T. W: J. B. Reeside, Jr., 1955 

Stearns, H. T: H. T. Stearns, 1983. 

Stose, Anna I. Jonas: R. V Dietrich, 1977. 

Stose, G. W: H. D. Miser, 1962. 

Taft, William Howard: H. F. Pringle, 1939; D F. Anderson, 1968; P. E. Coletta,

1973. See also DAB XVIII. 

Ulrich, Edward O.: R. S. Bassler, 1945; Rudolf Ruedemann, 1947. See also DAB

3 and DSB XIII. 

Van Hise, C. R.: T. C. Chamberlin, 1924. See also DAB XIX, DSB XIII, and

additional references in Volume 2.

Vaughan, T. W: J. W. Wells, 1952; T. G. Thompson, 1958. See also DAB 5. 

Veatch, Arthur: W. B. Heroy, 1942. See also DAB 2. 

Walcott, C. D.: Smithsonian Institution, 1928. See also DAB XIX, DSB XIV,

and additional references in Volume 2. 

White, David: W. C. Mendenhall 1935, 1935a, 1937a; Charles Schuchert, 1937.

See also DAB 1 and DSB XIV 

Wilbur, R. L.: R. L. Wilbur, I960. See also DAB 4. 

Wilson, Woodrow: Josephus Daniels, 1924; Richard Hofstadter, 1948,

p. 238-282; Herbert Hoover, 1958; Arthur Walworth, 1965. See also DAB

XX.

Index to Bibliography 443
Geological and geographical sciences

Adsorbent clays: P. G. Nutting, 1943.

Advancement through cooperative research: W. T. Thorn, Jr. and R. M. Field, 

1930.

Aerial photography in: W. T. Lee, 1922; G. H. Matthcs, 1928.

Alaska: Alaska Range: S. R. Capps, 1934a; Aleutian Islands: S. R. Capps, 1934; 

Cape Lisburne region: A. J. Collier, 1906; coal: A. H. Brooks, 1905a, 

1910; future: A. H. Brooks, 1925; Goodnews platinum region: J. B. Mertie, 

Jr., 1940; Katmai eruption: G. C. Martin, 1913; Kodiak Island: S. R. Capps, 

1937; mineral resources: A. H. Brooks, 1905, 1909; Mount McKinley 

region: A. H. Brooks, 1911; Peninsula: S. R. Capps, 1934a; petroleum: 

G. C. Martin, 1921; Point Barrow region: Sidney Paige, W. T. Foran, and 

James Gilluly, 1925; Prince William Sound: U. S. Grant and D. F. Higgins, 1910; Railroad Belt: S. R. Capps, 1933; Willow Creek gold-lode 

district: J. C. Ray, 1933; Yukon-Tanana region: J. B. Mertie, Jr., 1937.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists: Sidney Powers, 1929.

And public service: G O. Smith, 1917c.

Antillean region: Charles Schuchert, 1929.

Applied: A. H. Brooks, 1912; C. R. Van Hisc, 1912a; G. O. Smith, 1921.

Arizona: Ajo region: James Gilluly, 1937, 1937a; Gila River-San Simon Creek 

valley: M. M. Knechtel, 1938; Colorado Plateau stratigraphy: C. R. 

Longwell, H. D. Miser, R. C. Moore, Kirk Bryan, and Sidney Paige, 1925; 

Jurassic formations: A. A. Baker, C. H. Dane, andj. B. Reeside, Jr., 1936; 

Navajo country: H. E. Gregory, 1916; Oatman gold district: F. L. Ransome, 1923; Permian formations: A. A. Baker andj. B. Reeside, Jr., 1929; 

Ray and Miami districts: F. L. Ransome, 1919; Shinumo quadrangle: L. 

F. Noble, 1914.

Arkansas: Caddo Gap and DeQueen quadrangles: H. D. Miser, 1918; southwestern, water-laid volcanic rocks: C. S. Ross, H. D. Miser, and L. W. 

Stephenson, 1929.

An agent in human welfare: R. A. F. Penrose, Jr., 1931.

As background to history: J. C. Merriam, 1920, 1939-

Atlantic Ocean, North, deep-sea cores: W. H. Bradley and others, 1942.

California: Amargosa region nitrate deposits: L. F. Noble, G. R. Mansfield, 

and others, 1922; Carrizo Creek reef-corals: T. W. Vaughan, 1917; Coalinga district, oil resources: Ralph Arnold and Robert Anderson, 1910; 

Death Valley potash: H. S. Gale, 19l4a; earth movements: A. L. Day, 

1925; Kcttleman Hills oil fields: W P. Woodring, Ralph Stewart, and 

R. W. Richards, 1940; Klamath Mountains chromitc: J. S. Dillcr, 1921; 

Lassen Peak eruptions: J. S. Diller, 1914, 19l4a; Mother Lode system: 

Adolph Knopf, 1929; Owens, Searles, and Panamint Basins salines: H. S. 

Gale, 1915; St. Francis dam: California Commission, 1928; C. R. Longwell, 

1928a; San Francisco earthquake: G. K. Gilbert, 1906a; G. K. Gilbert, 

R. L. Humphrey, J. S. Sewell, and Frank Soule, 1907; California State 

Earthquake Investigation Commission, 1908-1910; San Joaquin Valley oilfield waters: G. S. Rogers, 1917; Shasta Route and Coast Line guidebook: 

J. S. Diller, 1915; Sierra Nevada hydraulic mining debris: G. K. Gilbert, 

1917; Tertiary gravels: Waldemar Lindgren, 1911; Sunset-Midway oil field: 

G. S. Rogers, 1919; Yosemite Valley: F. E. Matthcs, 1930.

Canal Zone: Landslides: G. F. Bcckcr, 1916; C. R. Van Hisc and others, 1916; 

Madden Dam: Frank Reeves and C. P. Ross, 1931.

Central America and West Indies: T. W. Vaughan, 1918.

Coal: formation: David White, 1908; high rank: David White, 1914; origin: 

David White and Reinhardt Thiessen, 1913; relation to origin of petroleum: David White, 1915, 1935a; proximate analysis: M. R. Campbell, 

1911a; summary of geology of: W. T. Thorn, Jr., 1929.

Colorado: Arkansas Valley: N. H. Darton, 1906; Book Cliffs coal field: G. B. 

Richardson, 1909; Breckenridge mining district: F. L. Ransome, 1911; T. S. 

Lovering, 1934; Colorado Plateau: Jurassic formations, A. A. Baker, C. H. 

Dane, andj. B. Reeside, Jr., 1936; Permian formations, A. A. Baker and 

J. B. Reeside, Jr., 1929; Cripple Creek district: G F. Loughlin, 1927; eastern, Upper Cretaceous rocks: C. H. Dane, W. G Pierce, andj. B. Reeside, 

Jr., 1937; Georgetown quadrangle: J. E. Spurr and G. H. Garrey, 1908; 

Gilpin County: E. S. Bastin andj. M. Hill, 1917; Green River formation: W. H. Bradley, 1931; Hucrfano Park: W. S. Burbank, 1937; Leadville district: S. F. Emmons andj. D. Irving, 1907; G. F. Loughlin, 1918,

1926; S. F. Emmons, J. D. Irving, and G. F. Loughlin, 1927; Mosquito 

Range, Paleozoic formations: J. H. Johnson, 1934; North Park: A. L. 

Beekly, 1915; east-central, oil-bearing sands, continuity: W T. Lee, 1925; 

oil shale: D T. Day and E. G. Woodruff, 1914; D. E. Winchester, 1916; 

Park County gold placers: Q. D Singewald, 1950; Raton Mesa: W. T. Lee, 

1917; San Juan Mountains: W W. Atwood, 1918; W W Atwood and 

K. F. Mather, 1932; Uncompahgre district: W S. Burbank, 1940.

Continental drift: AAPG, 1928.

Continental genesis: Bailey Willis, 1929-

Earth movements: A. L. Day, 1925, 1926.

Earthquakes: cause and nature: G. K. Gilbert, 1906; forecasts: G. K. Gilbert, 

1909; Montana, 1925: J. T. Pardee, 1927; San Francisco: G. K. Gilbert, 

1906a; G. K. Gilbert, R. L. Humphrey, J. S. Sewell, and Frank Soule, 

1907; California State Earthquake Investigation Commission, 1908-1910; 

U.S.: N. H. Heck, 1938; H. O. Wood, M. W Alien, and N. H. Heck, 1939.

Eastern Gulf region: L. W. Stephenson, 1914.

Economic geology: as profession: Waldemar Lindgren, 1919; E. L. DeGolyer, 

1924; C. K. Leith, 1928; geophysical methods in: E. L. DeGolycr, 1926; 

in United States: S. F. Emmons, 1910; progress: F. L. Ransome, 1928; 

relation to general principles of geology: R. A. F. Penrose, Jr., 1921; special 

problems: Waldemar Lindgren, 1910; textbook: C. K. Leith, 1921.

Education for: Waldemar Lindgren, 1923.

Engineering geology: Heinrich Ries and T. L. Watson, 1931.

Field geology: C. W. Hayes, 1909-

Force to move particles on stream bed: W W. Rubey, 1935.

Geochemistry: F. W Clarke, 1908; R. C. Wells, 1938.

Geologic map of United States: T. W. Stanton, 1935.

Geologic reports, preparation: G. O. Smith, 1922; E. C. Andrews, 1925.

Geologists: in litigation: J. F. Kemp, 1920; C. K. Leith, 1920; F. L. Ransome, 

1920; number: Sidney Powers, 1921.

Geophysical methods in economic geology: E. L. DeGolyer, 1926; J. B. Eby, 

1932, 1937, 1937a; J. B. Eby and R. P. Clark, 1935; S. F. Kelly, 1938.

Geophysics, present problems: G. F. Becker, 1904.

Geosynclines: Charles Schuchert, 1923.

Gravity observation and local geology: David White, 1924.

Great Basin: Quaternary lakes: H. S. Gale, 1914.

Gulf Coast, petroleum possibilities: D. C. Barton, 1930.

Haiti: W P. Woodring, J. S. Brown, and W. S. Burbank, 1924.

Hawaii: Kilauea eruption, 1924: H. T. Stearns, 1925.

Heat conduction applied to geologic problems: T. S. Lovering 1935, 1936.

Heat energy: W S. Burbank and E. N. Goodard, 1936.

History: G. P. Merrill, 1924; E. B. Mathews, 1927; W C. Mendenhall, 1937; 

Geological Society of America, 1941.

Idaho: phosphate deposits: H. S. Gale and R. W. Richards, 1910.

In national and everyday life: G. R. Mansfield, 1934.

In partnership with American industry: G. O. Smith, 1921.

In World War I: C. W Cross, 1919.

International Geological Congress: W. C. Mendenhall, 1933.

Iron-depositing bacteria: E. C. Harder, 1919-

Isostasy: A geologic problem: William Bowie, 1922; and applied geology: J. F. 

Kemp, 1922; and radioactivity, G. F. Becker, 1915.

Kansas: Bartlesville and Burbank oil sands: N. W. Bass, Constance Leatherock, 

W. R. Dillard, and L. E. Kennedy, 1937.

Lake Superior iron ores: N. H. Winchell, 1912.

Lake Superior region: C. R. Van Hise and C. K. Leith, 1911.

Louisiana: oil and gas: G. D. Harris, 1910.

Marine sediments: recent: AAPG, 1939.

Metamorphism: C. R. Van Hise, 1904a.

Mineralogy: clay minerals: C. S. Ross and E. V Shannon, 1926; C. S. Ross and 

P. F. Kerr, 1931; drill cores from potash field: W. T. Schaller and E. P. 

Henderson, 1932; lithium pegmatites: W. T. Schaller, 1925; mineral relations from laboratory viewpoint: A. L. Day, 1910; present trends: Charles 

Palachc, 1938.

Military: H. E. Gregory and others, 1918.

Mineral deposits: Waldemar Lindgren, 1913, 1921, 1922.

Mineralogical Society: E. H. Kraus, 1931.

Mississippi Valley; lead and zinc deposits: E. S. Bastin, 1939-

444 Index to Bibliography
Montana: Ashland coal field: N. W. Bass, 1932; earthquake of June 27, 1925: 

J. T. Pardee, 1927; eastern, physiography and glacial geology: W. C. Alden, 

1932; Glacier National Park: M. R. Campbell, 1914; manganese deposits: 

J. T. Pardee, 1922.

Movement of fluids in porous solids: P. G. Nutting, 1927.

Natural gas, geology of: AAPG, 1935.

Navajo country: H. E. Gregory, 1917.

Nevada: Goldfield: F. L. Ransome, 1909; mining districts: H. G. Ferguson, 

1929; Muddy Mountains: C. R. Longwell, 1928; Silver Peak Marsh: R. B. 

Dole, 1913; Tonopah: E. S. Bastin and F. B. Laney, 1918; T. B. Nolan, 

1930, 1935a.

New Mexico: geologic structure: N. H. Darton, 1922; Jurassic formations: A. 

A. Baker, C. H. Dane, andj. B. Reeside, Jr., 1936; ore deposits: Waldemar 

Lindgren, L. C. Graton, and C. H. Gordon, 1910; Permian rocks: A. A. 

Baker andj. B. Reeside, Jr., 1929; Raton Mesa: W. T. Lee, 1917; San Juan 

Basin, southern part: J. D Sears, 1934; Mount Taylor volcanic field: C. B. 

Hunt, 1938.

Nonmetallics, problems of: Heinrich Ries, 1930.

Oceanography: T. W. Vaughan, 1924; David White, 1924a.

Ohio: Steubenville, Burgettstown, and Claysville quadrangles: W. T. Griswold 

and M. J. Munn, 1907.

Oil: See Petroleum.

Oil fields: AAPG, 1926, 1929, 1936, 1941.

Oil-field waters, chemical relations: G. S. Rogers, 1917.

Oil sands, physical analysis: P. G. Nutting, 1930.

Oklahoma: Bartlesville and Burbank oil sands: N. W. Bass, Constance 

Leatherock, W. R. Dillard, and L. E. Kennedy, 1937; Foraker quadrangle: 

K. C. Heald, 1917; Howe-Wilburton district: T. A. Hendricks, 1939; 

geologic map: H. D. Miser and others, 1926; Osage Reservation: K. C. 

Heald, 1922; water-laid volcanic rocks: C. S. Ross, H. D. Miser, and L. W. 

Stephenson, 1929.

Ore deposition: S. F. Emmons, 1904, 1910a; Waldemar Lindgren, 1907a, 1909, 

1928, 1928a.

Ore deposits: S. F. Emmons and others, 1913; formation: Waldemar Lindgren, 

1925, 1926; present tendencies in study of: Waldemar Lindgren, 1907b; 

research needed: F. L. Ransome, 1925; Western States: AIMME, 1933.

Oregon: Klamath Mountains chromite: J. S. Diller, 1921; Sparta albite granite: 

James Gilluly, 1933.

Ore minerals, history of study: J. E. Thomson, 1939.

Paleobotany: E. W. Berry, 1916; N. M. Fenneman, 1923.

Paleontology: reef-coral fauna: T. W. Vaughan, 1917; Ceratopsia: J. B. Hatcher, 

1907; development in America: W. B. Scott, 1927; Foraminifera: J. A. 

Cushman, 1928; future: Charles Schuchert, 1920; invertebrate, development in America: R. S. Bassler, 1933; microfossils in petroleum exploration: Charles Schuchert, 1924; micropaleontology, principles of: M. F. 

Glaessner, 1947; titanotheres: H. F. Osborn, 1929; vertebrate, recent 

trends: W. D. Matthew, 1923; since 1888: W. B. Scott, 1939-

Paleozoic systems: E. O. Ulrich, 1911.

Peat: C. A. Davis, 1909; David White and Reinhardt Thiessen, 1913; David 

White, 1924b.

Petroleum: accumulation: M. J. Munn, 1909, 1909a; M. R. Campbell, 1911; 

J. V. Howell, 1934; A. I. Levorsen, 1936a; genetic problems: David White, 

1921a; habitat: AAPG, 1958; microthermal studies of "mother rocks": 

Taisia Stadnichenko, 1929; origin: David White, 1915, 1917, 1935a; source 

beds: P. D. Trask and H. W. Patnode, 1942; summary of geology of: W. T. 

Thorn, Jr., 1929.

Petroleum geology: and AAPG: A. I. Levorsen, 1936; and National Research 

Council: K. C. Heald, 1923; and science: K. C. Heald, 1924; carbonratio theory in: W. T. Thorn, Jr., 1934; in relation to valuation: Ralph 

Arnold, 1920; past and future: AAPG, 1921; problems: AAPG, 1934; 

source book: R. H. Dott, Sr. and M. J. Reynolds, 1969; two decades of: 

Ralph Arnold, 1923-

Phosphate deposits of the United States: F. B. Van Horn, 1909-

Physiographic provinces in the United States: F. E. Matthes, 1915; N. M. Fenneman, 1917, 1929(?).

Political and commercial: J. E. Spurr, 1920.

Present tendencies: Adolph Knopf, 1919.

Precambrian: C. R. Van Hise, 1909; C. R. Van Hise and C. K. Leith, 1909.

Problems of: C. R. Van Hise, 1904.

Radioactive substances: A. L. Day, 1908.

Related to western mining: F. L. Ransome, 1933.

Reservoir and dam sites: W. W. Atwood, 1918; Kirk Bryan, 1929, 1929a; California Commission to Investigate the Causes Leading to the Failure of the 

St. Francis Dam, 1928; F. L. Ransome, 1928a.

Sedimentary deposits: E. W. Shaw, 1920.

Sedimentary petrology: F. H. Hatch and R. H. Rastell, 1938.

Sedimentation: E. W. Shaw, 1919; T W. Vaughan, 1920; W. H. Twenhofel, 1926.

Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists; R. D. Russell, 1970.

Southeastern States, gold deposits: J. T. Pardee and C. F. Park, Jr., 1948.

Southern Appalachians, copper deposits of Ducktown type: C. S. Ross, 1935.

Southwest, date of channel trenching: Kirk Bryan, 1925.

Status in U.S.: E. B. Mathews and H. P. Little, 1921.

Stratigraphic chronology, basis: Charles Schuchert, 1937a.

Stratigraphic names, T. W. Stanton, 1930.

Stratigraphy: Cenozoic mammal horizons: H. F. Osborn, 1909; classification 

and nomenclature of rock units: G. H. Ashley and others, 1933.

Subterranean temperatures: G. K. Gilbert, 1905.

Structural symmetry in North America: Arthur Keith, 1928.

Tectonic map of the United States: C. R. Longwell, 1934, 1939-

Tennessee: Ducktown mining district: W. H. Emmons and F. B. Laney, 1926.

Texas: Catahoula sandstone: M. I. Goldman, 1915; Marathon region: P. B. King, 

1937; Mississippian formations, San Saba County: P. V Roundy, G. H. 

Girty, and M. L. Goldman, 1926; salt domes, Smith and Van Zandt Counties: Sidney Powers and O. B. Hopkins, 1923.

Trends: W. C. Mendenhall, 1926.

Use on Western Front: A. H. Brooks, 1921.

Utah: Book Cliffs coal field: G. B. Richardson, 1909; Colorado Plateau formations: C. R. Longwell, H. D. Miser, R. C. Moore, Kirk Bryan, and Sidney 

Paige, 1925; Gold Hill: T. B. Nolan, 1935; Green River formation: W. H. 

Bradley, 1931; Jurassic formations: A. A. Baker, C. H. Dane, andj. B. 

Reeside, Jr., 1936; manganese ore deposits: J. T. Pardee, 1922; oil shale: 

D. T. Day and E. G. Woodruff, 1914; Permian: A. A. Baker andj. B. 

Reeside, Jr., 1929; phosphate deposits: H. S. Gale and R. W. Richards, 

1910; San Juan Canyon: H. D. Miser, 1924; Stockton and Fairfield 

quadrangles: James Gilluly, 1932; Uinta and Wasatch Mountains glaciation: W. W. Atwood, 1909; Wasatch Plateau coal field: E. M. Spieker, 1931.

Virginia: Shenandoah Valley: D. F. Hewett, G. W. Stose, F. J. Katz, and H. D. 

Miser, 1918.

Volcanoes, applying physics to: A. L. Day, 1938.

Washington: manganese ore deposits: J. T. Pardee, 1922; Latah formation: J. T. 

Pardee and Kirk Bryan, 1926.

Western United States, guidebooks: M. R. Campbell and others, 1915; N. H. 

Darton and others, 1915; J. S. Diller, 1915.

Wyoming: Lost Soldier-Ferris district oil fields: A. E. Path and G. F. Moulton, 

1924; Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3: W. T. Thorn, Jr. and E. M. Spieker, 

1931; oil-bearing sands, continuity: W. T. Lee, 1925; phosphate deposits: 

Eliot Blackwelder, 1911; Salt Creek oil field: C. H. Wegemann, 1911.

Geological surveys

Government: David White, 1917a, 1925; F. L. Ransome, 1920a; W. C. 

Mendenhall, 1931; G W. Bain, 1935; B. S. Butler, 1935; R. H. Sales, 1935.

State: C. W. Hayes, 1911; Sidney Powers, 1924; E. L. DeGolyer, 1925; M. M. 

Leighton, 1932; G. H. Ashley, 1935.

U.S.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1904; C. D. Walcott, 1905, 1906, 1906b; Henry 

Gannett, 1906; G. B. Hollister, 1905; U.S. Congress, 1906a; G. K. Gilbert, 

1908; G. O. Smith, 1908, 1911b, 1912, 1913, 1913a, 1916, 1921c; F. W. 

Clarke, 1909; Institute for Government Research, 1919; E. S. Bastin, 1918; 

E. S. Bastin and H. D. McCaskey, 1920; Eliot Blackwelder, 1920; F. L. 

Ransome, 1921; P. S. Smith, 1918, 1924, 1928, 1933, 1935; David White, 

1921; M. G. Wilmarth, 1925; T A. Jaggar, 1926, 1928; C. H. Birdseye, 

1928; W. C. Mendenhall, 1932, 1933a; G. R. Mansfield, 1934; Science 

Advisory Board, 1934; P. S. Smith, 1935; U.S. Congress, 1937; F. W. Lee, 

1939.

Index to Bibliography 445
History of the United States

General: S. E. Morison, 1965; Allan Nevins and H. S. Commager, 1966. 

Periods: Since 1865: F. R. Dulles, 1959. 

1885-1914: S. P. Hays, 1957.

1897-1917: H. U. Faulkner, 1951.

1898-1914: H. U. Faulkner, 1931.

Theodore Roosevelt era: G. E. Mowry, 1958.

1914-1928: P. W. Slosson, 1930.

1914-1932: W. E. Leuchtenberg, 1948.

1917-1929: G. H. Soule, 1947.

1919-1933: H. U. Faulkner, 1950; A. M. Schlesinger, Jr., 1957.

1920's: F. L. Alien, 1931; Burl Noggle, 1966; H. T. May, 1966; Elizabeth 

Stevenson, 1967; D. R. McCoy, 1973.

1921-1933: J. D. Hicks, I960.

1930's: F. L. Alien, 1940; Daniel Aaron and Robert Bendiner, 1970; D. R.

McCoy, 1973.

Topics: American petroleum industry, 1899-1959: H. F. Williamson, R. L. Andreano, A. R. Daum, and G. C. Klose, 1963.

Ballinger-Glavis dispute: Winifred McCulloch, 1952.

Ballinger-Pinchot controversy: U.S. Congress, 1910b, R. M. Stahl, 1926; 

J. T. Ganoe, 1934; H. L. Ickes, 1940; A. T. Mason, 1941.

Boulder Dam: B. B. Moeller, 1971.

Colorado River Compact: U.S. Congress, 1923; Norris Hundley, 1975. 

Conservation: S. P. Hays, 1959; J. L. Bates, 1963; D C. Swain, 1963; G. B.

Dodds, 1965; J. L. Penick, 1968.

Economic: H. U. Faulkner, 1949; John Chamberlain, 1974. 

Federal Government, growth 1915-1931: C. H. Wooddy, 1934. 

Federal water-power legislation: J. G. Kerwin, 1926. 

Great Plains: W. P. Webb, 1931. 

Hoover and coal problem: Ellis Hawley, 1968. 

Hoover, Roosevelt, and brains trust: E. A. Rosen, 1977. 

House of Representatives: R. W. Boiling, 1968; G. B. Galloway, 1976. 

Interior Department: Hubert Work, 1926; U.S. Department of the Interior, 1936. 

Law: L. M. Friedman, 1973-

New Deal: A. M. Schlesinger, Jr., 1959, I960; W E. Leuchtenberg, 1963. 

Navy use of petroleum before World War I: J. A. DeNovo, 1955. 

Political tradition: Richard Hofstadter, 1948. 

Politics: of conservation: F. E. Smith, 1966; of 1923 coal crisis: R. H. Zieger,

1965; of oil: Robert Engler, 1961.

Progressive era: Richard Hofstadter, 1963; L. L. Gould, 1964. 

Public-land law: P. W. Gates, 1968. 

Reform: E. F. Goldman, 1952; Richard Hofstadter, 1955. 

Taft era: K. W. Hechler, 1940. 

Teapot Dome: Burl Noggle, 1962; J. L. Bates, 1963. 

Wilson and New Freedom: A. S. Link, 1956. 

Wilson and Progressive era: A. S. Link, 1954. 

World War I: military contribution of engineers: G O. Smith, 1919; industrial

America in: G. B. Clarkson, 1923.

Land utilization

Agricultural: R. S. Kirkendall, 1963-

Classification: U.S. National Resources Board, 1934; U.S. National Resources

Planning Board, 1941. 

Classification maps: L. R. Brooks and others, 1933; A. E. Aldous andj. F. Deeds,

1929.

Cities: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1937a. 

Documentary history: F. E. Smith, 1971. 

Economics: R. T. Ely and E. W. Morehouse, 1924. 

Great Plains: U.S. Great Plains Committee, 1936; W P. Webb, 1931. 

Resources and use: Science Advisory Board, 1934.

Mining and mineral resources

Bauxite: W. C. Phalen, 1912.

Chromium: W. C. Phalen, 1912a; J. S. Diller, 1919.

Coal: classification: M. R. Campbell, 1905, 1908, 1930; A. C. Fieldner, 1929, 

1929a, 1929b; W. T. Thorn, Jr., 1932; cost: G. O. Smith and C. E. Lesher, 

1916; U.S. fields: M. R. Campbell and E. W Parker, 1909; U.S. reserves: 

M. R. Campbell, 1907, 1913, 1917; E. W. Parker, 1908; Henry Gannett, 

1909a.

Coal Commission: U.S. Congress, 1923a.

Coal dust, explosibility: G. S. Rice, 1910.

Coal industry, Herbert Hoover and: F. R. Wadleigh, 1928; W. T. Thorn, Jr., 1929.

Coal-mine accidents: Clarence Hall and Walter Snelling, 1907; U.S. Congress, 

1907a, 1908.

Conservation: J. A. Holmes, 1908, 1909; C. K. Leith, 1931, 1935.

Copper: Waldemar Lindgren, 1909a; B. S. Butler, 1921.

Domestic independence: G. O. Smith, 1914, 1918.

Essential raw materials: G. O. Smith, 1920a.

Fuel testing: U.S. Congress, 1904, 1905a, 1906.

Gasoline, production, consumption and price: U.S. Congress, 1916.

Gold: Waldemar Lindgren, 1908, 1909a, 1916, 1920; G. F. Loughlin, H. G. 

Ferguson and others, 1930.

International mineral problems: C. K. Leith, 192 la.

Iron: C. W. Hayes, 1909a, 1909b; E. C. Harder and F. T. Eddingfield, 1920; 

Max Roesler, 1921.

Lead: Waldemar Lindgren, 1909a; C. E. Siebenthal, 1917.

Magnesite: W. C. Phalen, 1919.

Manganese: D F. Hewett, 1917; E. C. Harder and D. F. Hewett, 1920; Committee on Industrial Preparedness, 1924; C. K. Leith, 1927.

Metal mining industry in Western States: Waldemar Lindgren, 1907.

Metal production, cycles in: D F. Hewett, 1929-

Mineral economics: Brookings Institution, 1932.

Mineral exploration: C. K. Leith, 1931a.

Mineral industry: importance to prosperity: G. O. Smith, 1922a; in cosmic 

scheme of things: G. O. Smith, 1920; relation of Federal Government 

to: C. W. Hayes, 1906; C. K. Leith, 1932; R. H. Sales, 1935.

Mineral policy: Mineral Inquiry, 1933; C. K. Leith, 1932a, 1935a; U.S. National Resources Board, 1934.

Mineral resources: Boulder Dam region: D. F. Hewett, Eugene Callaghan, B. N. 

Moore, T. B. Nolan, W. W. Rubey, and W. T. Schaller, 1936; conservation: U.S. Congress, 1910; world: U.S. Geological Survey, 1921.

Minerals: international control: C. K. Leith, 1918; role in international situation: G. O. Smith, 1919a; C. K. Leith, 1939-

Natural gas: D. T. Day, 1909a.

Oil, foreign supply for the U.S.: G. O. Smith, 192Ib.

Oil fields, development 1934-1938: H. D. Miser and others, 1939.

Peat: C. A. Davis, 1909.

Petroleum and natural gas, history: I. C. White, 1921.

Petroleum: developments in Alaska: P. S. Smith, 1926; exploration for, history: 

E. W. Owen, 1975: future in U.S.: E. L. DeGolyer, 1937; status in U.S.: 

U.S. Congress, 1935.

Petroleum geologist, public-service opportunity: G. O. Smith, 1920b.

Petroleum industry: and competitive system: G. W. Stocking, 1925; development in America: David White, 1935; fundamentals: Dorsey Hager, 

1939; general conditions: Ralph Arnold, 1917; W. T. Thorn, Jr., 1929; 

international aspects: V. H. Manning, 1921; in U.S.: H. B. Soyster and 

others, 1934; relation of geology to: J. C. McDowell, 1917; E. L. 

DeGolyer, 1921, 1923, 1924a; D. C. Barton, 1937.

Petroleum resources: Americas: Ralph Arnold, 1916; Mexico: C. W. Hayes, 1909c; 

U.S.: D. T. Day, 1909b; Ralph Arnold, 1915; R. W. Pack, 1917; U.S. 

Geological Survey, 1922; E. L. DeGolyer, 1922; A. C. Veatch, 1922; W. E. 

Wrather, 1928; Ralph Arnold and W. J. Kemnitzer, 1931; V. R. Garflas, 

1936; J. E. Thomas, 1937; H. D. Miser, 1939; world: Ralph Arnold, 1917; 

J. D Northrop, 1919-1920; David White, 1920; J. E. Pew and others, 1936; 

I. M. Goubkin, 1939-

Platinum: J. M. Hill, 1919.

Potash: G. O. Smith, 1912a; R. B. Dole, 1913; H. S. Gale, 1913, 1914, 19l4a, 

1915.

Public interest: G. O. Smith, 1917b.

Silver: Waldemar Lindgren, 1909a, 1916.

Slate: T. N. Dale, 1906.

446 Index to Bibliography
Structural materials, testing: U.S. Congress, 1906.

Tin: J. M. Hill, 1920.

Tungsten: F. L. Hess, 1917, 1919.

U.S. resources: G. O. Smith, 1914; H. D. McCaskey and others, 1919.

War minerals: C. K. Leith, 1918a; J. E. Spurr, 1918; U.S. Congress, 1918.

War problems in minerals: C. K. Leith, 1921b; P. N. Moore, 1921; G. O. Smith,

1921c; J. E. Spurr, 1921; W. Y. Westervelt, 1921. 

World minerals and world politics: C. K. Leith, 193lb. 

Zinc: Waldemar Lindgren, 1909a; C. E. Siebenthal, 1917.

Natural resources (sometimes including but not exclusively on 

mineral or water resources)

Alaska: A. H. Brooks, 1925; US. National Resources Committee, 1938. 

Cities, role of: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1937a. 

Classification: N. M. Fenneman, 1925. 

Conservation: Conflict and accomplishment in America: D. C. Coyle, 1957.

Crusades and controversies, 1897-1913: E. R. Richardson, 1962

Documentary history: W. T. Doherty, Jr., 1971; F. E. Smith, 1971.

Federal policy, 1921-1933: D. C. Swain, 1963.

Fight for: Gifford Pinchot, 1910.

Foundation of national prosperity: R. T. Ely, R. H. Hess, C. K. Leith, 

and T. N. Carver, 1917.

Historiography: G. B. Dodds, 1965.

H. M. Albright and: D. C. Swain, 1970.

In Department of the Interior: R. L. Wilbur and W. A. DuPuy, 1931.

John Muir and: S. R. Fox, 1981.

Land and water, 1900-1970: F. E. Smith, 1971.

Minerals: W. T. Doherty, Jr., 1971; C. K. Leith, 1931, 1935.

Oil and fuel oil supply: National Industrial Conference Board, 1930.

Politics of: F. E. Smith, 1966.

Progressive conservation movement: C. W. Hayes, 1910; S. P. Hays, 1959.

Progressive politics and: J. L. Penick, 1968.

Soil, in perspective: R. B. Held and Marion Clawson, 1965.

U.S.: National Conservation Commission, 1909; C. R. Van Hise, 1910; 

WJ McGee, 1911; Loomis Havemeyer, 1930.

White House Conference on: N. C. Blanchard and others, 1909. 

Energy resources and national policy: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1939. 

National Resources Committee: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1936. 

Public works: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1936. 

Regional factors: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1935. 

Trust problem: C. R. Van Hise, 1912. 

See also references under Land use, Mineral resources, and Water resources.

Public lands and public-land policy

Administration: W. C. Mendenhall, 1913.

Classification: W. R. Calvert, 1911; W. B. Heroy, 1913; G. O. Smith and others,

1913.

Coal-land legislation needed in West: G. O. Smith, 1911a. 

CoaMands, classification: W. R. Calvert, 1911; valuation: G. H. Ashley, 1910;

W. L Fisher, 1911.

Disposal and reservation policies, 1900-1950: E. L. Peffer, 1951. 

Forest: John Ise, 1920. 

Grazing: P. O. Foss, I960. 

History, 1776-1936: R. M. Robbins, 1942. 

Law development: P. W. Gates, 1968.

Messages from Theodore Roosevelt on: U.S. Congress, 1906b, 1907. 

Mineral lands exploration, U.S. Congress, 1914, 1915. 

Mineral Leasing Act: J. L. Bates, 1963. 

Mining industry and: G. O. Smith 1911.

National parks: T. A. Jaggar, 1927; R. L. Wilbur, 1929; John Ise, 1961. 

Naval petroleum reserves: U.S. Congress, 1922, 1922a, 1945. 

Oil and gas operations on: T. E. Swigart and C. E. Beecher, 1923. 

Oil lands: W. E. Colby, 1915; M. W. Ball, 1916; John Ise, 1926; C. D. Avery

andj. C. Miller, 1934. 

Oregon land fraud trials: John Messing, 1966.

Phosphate lands, U.S. Congress, 1909. 

Second commission on: U.S. Congress, 1905. 

Under New Deal: H. L. Ickes, 1933. 

Withdrawn: U.S. Congress, 1906c.

Science (sometimes including but not exclusively on geology)

Applied: G. O. Smith, 1917.

Borderland fields: F. K. Richtmyer, 1935.

Bureau of Mines: U.S. Congress, 1910a.

Development during World War I: R. M. Yerkes, 1920.

Federal: R. A. Woodward and others, 1909; G. O. Smith, 1916; E. B. Rosa, 

1920; A. H. Dupree, 1957.

Importance to Nation: Herbert Hoover, 1927.

Industrial research: F. B. Jewett, 1918.

National Bureau of Standards: E. B. Rosa, 1905.

National Research Council: N. M. Fenneman, 1922; K. C. Heald, 1923; A. C. 

Lawson, 1924; W. H. Twenhofel, 1933.

Progress in: Ira Remsen, 1904.

Research: a natural resource: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1938a; Federal 

relations to: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1939b; function in 

regulation of natural monopolies: E. B. Rosa, 1913.

Technological trends and national policy: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1937b, 1937c.

Surveying and mapping

Aerial photography in: J. W. Bagley, 1917; J. H. Wheat, 1920; R. H. Sargent,

1928.

Grand Canyon: C. H. Birdseye, 1924; C. H. Birdseye and R. C. Moore, 1924. 

Idaho-Washington boundary: R. B. Marshall, 1911. 

Methods: Henry Gannett, 1906; C. H. Birdseye, 1928. 

National plan for: U.S. National Resources Board, 1934. 

Panoramic camera in: J. W. Bagley, 1917.

Photogrammetry: J. W. Bagley, 1917, 1924; C. H. Birdseye, 1935, 1940. 

Tennessee River Basin: T. P. Pendleton, 1935, 193 5a. 

Topographic mapping: for military purposes: H. E. Gregory and others, 1918;

history: G. S. Smith, 1924; progress in: J. D. Sears, 1935. 

Topographic maps: G. O. Smith, 192 5 a.

Water resources

Alaska: C. E. Ellsworth and R. W. Davenport, 1915.

Arizona: Gila River and San Simon Valleys: M. M. Knechtel, 1938.

Basic hydrologic data, deficiences in: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1936; 

U.S. National Resources Planning Board, 1940.

California: W. C. Mendenhall, 1905, 1905a; C. H. Lee, 1912; J. S. Brown, 1920; 

H. T. Stearns, T. W. Robinson, and G. H. Taylor, 1930; H. C. Troxell 

andj. Q. Peterson, 1937.

Catchment areas: H. N. Parker, 1909.

Coastal Plain: O. E. Meinzer, 193 5a.

Colorado: N. H. Darton, 1906.

Colorado River: E. C. LaRue, 1916; Robert Follansbee, 1929; C. S. Howard, 1930.

Connecticut: H. E. Gregory and A. J. Ellis, 1916; J. S. Brown, 1925.

Denudation by: R. B. Dole and Herman Stabler, 1909.

Drainage basins, problems and programs: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1937.

Flood prevention: M. O. Leighton, 1908.

Floods: M. O. Leighton, 1909; H. D. McGlashan and F. C. Ebert, 1918; H. B. 

Kinnison, 1930; W. C. Alden, 1928; N. C. Grover, 1937; U.S. National 

Resources Committee, 1936a; H. C. Troxell andj. Q. Peterson, 1937.

Florida: V T. Stringfield, 1936.

Great Salt Lake Basin: R. R. Woolley, 1924.

Ground water: conservation: W. C. Mendenhall, 1909a; geophysical methods 

of investigating: O. E. Meinzer, 1937a; hydrology, history: O. E. Meinzer, 

1934; legal use of: D. G. Thompson and A. G. Fiedler, 1938; in observation wells: O. E. Meinzer, 1935; occurrence: M. L. Fuller, 1905; history 

of ideas on origin: M. N. Baker and R. E. Horton, 1936; plants as inIndex to Bibliography 447
dicators of: O. E. Meinzer, 1927; quantitative estimation of: O. E. Meinzer,

1920; 1932; relation to sea water along coasts: J. S. Brown, 1925: U.S.:

M. L. Fuller, 1906; O. E. Meinzer, 1939; Western States: W. C.

Mendenhall, 1909; O. E. Meinzer, 1923- 

Hydrology, development as science: O. E. Meinzer, 1934. 

Idaho: R. W. Davenport, 1922; H. T. Stearns, Lynn Crandall, and W. G. Steward,

1938; S. K. Love and P. C. Benedict, 1948.

Inland Waterways Commission: Inland Waterways Commission, 1908. 

Irrigation: Elwood Mead, 1903; C. D. Walcott, 1906a; F. H. Newell, 1909. 

Montana: B. C. Renick, 1929. 

National planning: U.S. National Resources Board, 1934; U.S. National

Resources Committee, 1938b. 

Navajo country: H. E. Gregory, 1916. 

Nebraska: A. L. Lugn and L. K. Wenzel, 1938. 

Nevada: W. O. Clark and C. W. Riddell, 1920. 

New Mexico: W. M. Reed, 1905; O. E. Meinzer, 1911; O. E. Meinzer and R. F.

Hare, 1915; O. E. Meinzer, B. C. Renick, and Kirk Bryan, 1927; A. G.

Fiedler and S. S. Nye, 1933.

New York: D. G. Thompson, F. G. Wells, and H. R. Blank, 1937. 

Oklahoma: D. G. Thompson, 1921. 

Oregon: F. F. Henshaw, J. H. Lewis, and E. J. McCaustland, 1914; A. M. Piper,

T. W. Robinson, and C. F. Park, Jr., 1939-

Pecos River joint investigation: U.S. National Resources Planning Board, 1942.

Pennsylvania: G. M. Hall, 1934; S. W Lohman, 1937.

Pollution: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1935a, 1939c.

Potomac River Basin: H. N. Parker, Bailey Willis, R. H. Bolster, W. W. Ashe, 

and M. C. Marsh, 1907.

Present and future uses: F. H. Newell, 1920.

Quality: field assay: M. O. Leighton, 1905; industrial utility: W. D. Collins, 

1923, 1926.

Rainfall, distribution: Henry Gannett, 1909.

Rainfall-runoff relations: W. G. Hoyt and others, 1936.

Rio Grande joint investigation: U.S. National Resources Committee, 1937d.

Rivers, development: U.S. Congress, 1934.

Stream-gaging equipment: H. K. Barrows and J. C. Hoyt, 1905; H. K. Barrows and R. H. Bolster, 1910; G. L. Lyon, 1915; C. H. Pierce, 1941.

Tennessee: F. G. Wells, 1933.

Texas: A. N. Sayre, 1937.

Transportation of debris by: G. K. Gilbert, 1914.

Utah: G. B. Richardson, 1906; R. M. Leggette and G. H. Taylor, 1939.

Water power: M. O. Leighton, 1909a; W. M. Steuart and M. O. Leighton, 1909; 

G. O. Smith, 1917a; U.S. Geological Survey, 1921; Herman Stabler, 1927; 

C. B. Daugherty, A. H. Horton, and R. W. Davenport, 1928.

Wyoming: N. H. Darton, 1909; W C. Alden, 1928.

448 Index to Bibliography
Name Index

Adams, C. E, Jr ........_..__._. .........................._..._... ...__.....__. 297

Adams, E D ........._................ ._.........._..__............................ 27

Adamson, William ..................................__..............._.._.. 32

Airy, G. B _.___..._....____._____________________________....._....__.___._......_.. 157

Albright, Horace ..__........__..................___......_....._. 144

Alden, W C.:

glacial geology of Wisconsin .................................__... 27, 80

heads Glacial Geology Section .................._...._........__ 134

glacial geology of the Northern Rockies ................. 203, 281, 293,

303, 382, 402 

investigates Gros Ventre landslide ........__........__.._ 263-264

Aldous, A. E ....................................................................... 258

Aldrich, N. W ..................................................................... 100

Alien, E. T ........................................................... 27, 36, 48, 65

Allison, W B ..________. .. ..... ....._...__........__.....__....__....._..__... 32

Alschuler, Samuel _........_......................_....................... 235

Anderson, Robert .......__.......__.._..__........__................ 93

Andrews, D. A .............................................................. 356, 371

Andrews, E. C ........._.....__...........___..__........__....... 261

Arnold, Ralph:

takes up Eldridge's work ..__........__.....__........__._.... 35

in Santa Maria and Summerland districts .............................. 46

asks action on oil-land frauds ......__._.__........__...... 61-62

in Coalinga district ........__............_........................ 64-65

presses Director for action on oil lands .__........__.....__.... 72

in southern California .__......_........___........_........... 79

at AAAS-GSA correlation symposium ..._.__.....__.....__.. 80

member of Oil Classification Section .....__........__.....__... 86

resigns from Survey ....................__..___.._..__..___ 93

on Kettleman Hills oil ..._............__..__.__..__._._ 311

Ashley, G. H ........................ 46, 62, 93, 133, 161, 169, 170, 189, 332

Atwood, W W ........................................... 27, 29, 65, 80, 94, 172

B

Bagley, J. W . . . . . . 123, 142, 156, 161, 173, 187 

Bailey, R. K ............................................................ 136, 185, 193

Bain, H. F ........ . ............ ..._....__...... .._.... 23, 36, 46, 222, 300

Baker, A. A ............... 232, 274, 281, 293, 311, 323, 327, 332, 359, 382

Baker, N. D .__........._....__.__...... .._........ ..__..._.......... ._....._. 174

Ball, Max ..................................................................... 110, 167

Ball, S. H _...._.__.__.._ ...........__...__._...____.___._.._..__.__.....__... 46, 232

Ballinger, R. A.:

portrait ............____.....__........__.....__.....__....._ 95

named Secretary of the Interior _.__..__........__..__...... 87

strict obstructionist of law ..................................... 91, 103-104

relations with Gifford Pinchot .........__.....__......._ 92, 93, 98

action on water-power sites ....___......_..__....____.._ 96

at 1909 Irrigation Congress ........................................... 98-99

on Cunningham claims in Alaska __........__.__..__...._ 99

Taft rules in his favor ._____.._..__.....__.....__..__ 100

calls for reform of public-land laws ..__..__._..._ 102-103, 114 

reacts to Glavis article ..................................................... 103

investigation by Congress ......................... 92, 103, 105, 107, 116

Holmes unacceptable to ......__..__._...._...........__... 109

on Alaska coal-land laws _.....__..................___........_ 115

Senate resolution to dismiss ....__.............._.._........_... 117

resigns ...........___.__...............___.....__......._..... 119

Ickes' defense of ............................................................ 120

Bancroft, Howland ___........___.....___.....__..__........... Ill

Bankhead, John _________________________________ 69 

Barnard, E. C ............................................................ 66, 111, 112

Barrell, Joseph ..................................................................... 264

Barrows, H. K ....................................................................... 29

Baruch, B. M ............................................. 174, 177, 178, 179, 193

Bascom, Florence ............................................................. 27, 402

Bass, N. W .................................. 264, 293, 323, 359, 371, 386, 393

Bassler, Harvey ..................................................................... 195

Bassler, R. S ......................................................................... 27

Bastin, E. S.:

aids F. L Ransome ...........__....._...__.....__................ 94

maps in Creede district ....__....._.___.__................... 123

maps Central City quadrangle ....__........__....._._....... 133

collaborates with Chase Palmer ............._....__................. 136

studies Tonopah ores ._.....__........__.................._..... 155

studies enrichment of silver ores ...........__._.................... 161

wartime search for pyrite .__..___...............___._........ 185

heads committee on mineral information exchange _______ 191 

heads Section of Cooperation .__.....................__........_ 192

heads Division of Mineral Resources ..........__.....___....... 198

resigns from Survey ..._.....____....__.................._.... 218

completes report on silver ores .__.....................__._.._ 234

Baxter, G. P ........................................................................ 303

Bayley, W. S .................................................................. 59, 242

Beach, W N ....................................................................... 275

Beal, C. H .......................................................................... 222

Beam, J. C ......................................................................... 262

Beaman, W. M .................................................................... 393

Bean, R. K ................................................................... 354, 384

Becker, G. F:

ranks 13th among American geologists ..............__..........._.. 1

at International Congress on Arts and Sciences .....__........._. 4

on problems in geophysics ..__.___._............_____...... 22

geophysical investigations ...__._.___.....__..___ 27, 48, 65

calculates age of the Earth ..__....._._._.__._.___...... 94

on origin of oil _____________________________ 102 

at 1910 International Geological Congress ....__.__........._ 112

California work referred to ..__..___._.___..___. 118, 252 

research in 1911 ............................................................. 124

designs apparatus for temperature measurements ....___._... 137

investigates mechanics of Panama Canal slides __.._ 142-143, 163 

studies isostasy __........___..__........__.....__..... 157, 161

on formation of salt domes ...____....__......................... 186

dies ........................................................................... 202

succeeded by Steiger and Van Orstrand __.....__........._... 203

Becket, F. M ........................................................................ 342

Bedford, A. C ..................................................................... 180

Beekly, A. L ...................................................................... 126

Name Index 449
I, James T ____....____._......._............................................... 239

Behre, C. H ..................................................... 295, 312, 322, 371

Bell, Robert .......................................................................... 27

Bennett, H. H ......................................................... 291, 351, 371

Berkey, C. P ........................................................................ 290

Berry, E. W ......................................................................... 130

Birdseye, C. H.:

portrait ...___.....__.._............._._.....__..__....... 185

begins topographic survey in Hawaii ..................__....._.... 97

maps for waterway development in Texas ....._..._........._ 158

in charge of Rocky Mountain Division ....._......_....__....... 166

service in World War I .................................................... 196

Acting Chief Geographer ...........__..__.__..._.....__... 204

Chief Topographic Engineer _.........................._.....__. 205

Secretary, Board of Surveys and Maps .................................. 215

leads Colorado River expedition ........................................ 243

resumes supervision of Rocky Mountain Division ................... 251

addresses 1926 American Mining Congress ........................... 270

resigns from Survey ........................................................ 301

returns to Survey .......................__..............._......._.. 321

first president, American Society of Photogrammetry _........... 354

councilor, Section E, AAAS .............................................. 380

Blackwelder, Eliot ..................................................... 110, 122, 208

Bliss, Eleanora ............................................................... 184, 193

Borah, W. E ........................................................................ 410

Boutwell, J. M ....................................................... 23, 36, 46, 80

Bowen, C. F ........................................................................ 170

Bowen, N L ....................................................................... 322

Bowie, William .................................................................... 157

Bowles, Oliver ..................................................................... 397

Bowman, Isaiah ................................................ 339, 351, 363, 388

Bradley, W. H ........................ 252, 274, 292, 311, 358, 372, 382, 402

Bramlette, M. N ............................................... 253, 312, 382, 402

Branner, J. C .............................................................. 48, 49, 50

Brashears, M. L .................................................................... 401

Bratton, S. G ................................................................ 268, 336

Breckenridge, L. P .................................................................. 26

Breger, C. L ........................................................................ 110

Briand, Aristide ............................................................. 277, 295

Bridge, Josiah ...................................................................... 404

Bridges, J. H ....................................................................... 110

Bridgman, G. T ................................................................... 300

Bridgman, P. W ............................................................ 157, 262

Briggs, Lyman ..........................__....................................... 345

Brodt, H. H ........................................................................ 154

Brooks, A. H.:

portrait .._......__.........................._...._.................. 182

head of Alaskan Mineral Resources _..............._................ 22

on development of Alaskan resources .........__..................... 25

National Conservation Commission report ....................._..... 82

on Alaska coal .............................................................. 104

in Ballinger-Pinchot hearings ............................................ 105

Land Classification Board advisory committee ........................ 118

on applied geology ._..._......__..___............._.... 121, 124

offered position of Chief Geologist ...__.............. . .... . 121

inspection trip to Alaska with Secretary ............................... 126

Alaskan Railroad Commission ........................................... 131

on photogrammetry ...._..........................................._.. 173

war service .....__..__............................................ 190, 196

member, NRC Division of Geology and Geography ................. 13

chairman, Secretary's committee on Alaska ...................._.... 219

on Federal science ........__.....__........__.....__........_ 226

Chief Alaskan Geologist .................................................. 232

dies ............................................................................ 254

Brooks, Franklin .................................................................. 44

Brown, G. F ........................................................................ 401

Brown, J. S ............................................................ 187, 203, 220

Brown, R. W ....................................................................... 310

Bryan, Kirk ............................................... 138, 217, 224, 243, 290

Bryan, L. L ................................................................... 225, 233

Bryan, W. J ............................................................ 114, 159, 164

Buchanan, James ..__.................._._..__..............._...... 146

Burbank, W S.:

maps geology of Haiti .........._................._............_.. 220

magnetite of New Jersey and Pennsylvania _....................... 242

completes work on Michigan copper .........................__.... 262

Bonanza district, Colorado ........................._..__..... 273, 282

San Juan Mountains ................. 295, 304, 312, 371, 372, 381, 403

geologic map of Colorado ............__........_....__........... 322

Burchard, E. F.:

iron investigations, Southeastern States .....___.._.......... 24, 46

structural materials investigations ........._........................... 95

iron investigations, southern Appalachians ......... 123, 137, 154, 161

iron investigations, Louisiana and Texas ............................... 154

heads Section of Geology of Iron and Steel Alloy Metals ......... 184

seeks war minerals in Cuba ........._........_.........._......... 193

in Philippine Islands ........_............._........................... 218

Tennessee iron ores .................................................. 235, 263

iron deposits of Alabama ...............__......._................... 242

prepares report for Corps of Engineers ................................ 283

maps in Alabama .......................................................... 382

strategic-mineral investigations ......_....__._.................... 404

Burleigh, H. P ..................................................................... 356

Burton, Theodore .................................................................. 68

Bush, R. D ......................................................................... 245

Butler, B. S.:

assists R. S. Tarr in Alaska ........................._..._............. 36

field work in 1907 ........................................................... 64

ore deposits of Utah ............................................ 80, 111, 161

resigns from Survey _..............................._.................. 218

studies Lake Superior copper ............................................ 235

returns to Survey ....._.................._............................. 252

completes copper report ................__.._........................ 262

Colorado cooperative survey .._......................................... 273

to University of Arizona ...._........_............................... 295

on ore deposits of Southern Rockies ........................_........ 304

mapping in Colorado ............................................... 312, 322

maps Tombstone area, Arizona .................__............._... 371

Butts, Charles ................................................ 35, 46, 63, 310, 402

Buwalda, J. P ...................................................................... 195

Cady, R. C ................................... 320, 331, 355, 357, 373, 390, 401

Calkins, F. C ....................................... 122, 162, 185, 273, 303, 371

Callaghan, Eugene ................................ 312, 322, 332, 357, 358, 381

Calvert, W R ................................................................. 93, 122

Campbell, lan ..........__..................__..__................_..... 313

Campbell, M. R.:

first party chief of Mendenhall and White ._......................... 16

chairman, Geologic Names Committee _........__................. 23

subsurface structural mapping .............................................. 2

member, committee on fuel testing ............................._..... 26

editor of Economic Geology ........_..._.............................. 27

committee on utilization of fuel resources _____________ 35 

on relative importance of coal and oil ....__........................... 7

heads Section of Geology of Fuels _..__............................. 46

heads coal-land classification and valuation ..................... 62, 122

prepares map of U.S. coal fields .......................................... 63

estimates coal reserves of U.S. ............................................. 82

prepares guide to Glacier National Park .._.......................... 118

tribute to David White .._._......................................... 141

prepares geologic guides to railway routes ...................... 156, 162

heads Western Coal Section .............................................. 169

450 Name Index
member, wartime NRC subcommittee .....__....................... 177

begins geologic map of Wyoming ..................................._ 203

retires as head of Coal Section ___________________ 241 

on metamorphism of coal ........__............__.....__...._ 303

prepares guidebook for 1933 IGC _..__......___.._._..... 310

retires from Survey ..__....._.........__...._...............__. 33

Campbell, W. W ............................................................ 78, 339

Canfield, G. H .................................................................... 161

Cannon,J. G ........................................................ 37, 91, 98, 105

Capps, S. R.:

first summer with Survey ..................._.................._...... 48

in less well known Alaska ................................__..__...... 16

in minerals for peace program ....__...............__.._........ 193

metal deposits along Alaska Railroad route .......................... 241

in upper Matanuska region _____________________ 254 

mapping in Alaska Range ................ 265, 272, 280, 295, 302, 313

Alaska Railroad mineral investigations ....._........... 321, 357, 382

accompanies Navy expedition ...........................__........... 333

maps Kodiak Island ..__........_........................__..__. 372

in central Idaho ...................................................... 390, 403

Caraway, T. H _.....................__...............__....._............ 244

Carnegie, Andrew .....__........................................._.... 9, 74, 78

Carpenter, Everett .........._......__........__..._......._.....__ 125

Carpenter, Farrington ._......__..................__.....__........... 353

Carranza, Venustiano .........._........_................._......... 149, 165

Carter, Thomas ................................................................. 51, 52

Cathcart, S. H ............................................................... 225, 235

Cederstrom, D. J .................................................................. 390

Chamberlin, R. T .........................................................__.... 64

Chamberlin, T. C:

ranked 1st among American geologists ......._...............__.... 1

on conservation ............................................... 9, 74, 113, 120

heads Glacial Geology Section ...__................_.._...__.. 23

contributions to study of continental glaciation ...................... 39

on opportunity of new Director r..........................__..... 60, 89

son joins Survey ............................__...............__..__.. 64

supervises Alden's work _...._........................._.............. 80

on C. W. Hayes ............................................................. 124

on G. K. Gilbert ........................................................... 202

on geologic time classification ...............__...............__... 264

Chambers, A. A ............................................................ 173, 187

Chapin, Theodore ........................................................... Ill, 185

Chapline, W. R .................................................................... 291

Clapp, F. G ........................................................................ 244

Clark, Champ ............................................................... 129, 130

Clark, F. R .......................................................................... 154

Clark, W. B .............................................................. 56, 64, 264

Clark, W. O .................................. 138, 163, 173, 187, 204, 217, 225

Clarke, F. W ........................................................ 47, 80, 94, 124

Clarke, J. M ........................................................................ 175

Cleveland, Grover .....__....._........._...__........__..__..... 138

Cobb, Frank ........................................................................ 179

Coburn, Grace _________________________________ 59 

Coffin, H. E ........................................................................ 174

Collier, A. J ......................... 24, 46, 62, 162, 170, 195, 225, 293, 303

Collins, Floyd ...................................................................... 259

Collins, Ross ....................................................................... 388

Collins, W. D ................................................................. 96, 217

Compton, Karl .................................................................... 339

Condit, D. D ................................................... 153, 170, 195, 199

Cooke, C. W ............................................. 199, 235, 264, 310, 359

Coolidge, Calvin:

becomes President ................__.............................. 237, 244

Hoover a key adviser to ............................................. 221, 287

and Teapot Dome ................................................... 244, 245

on Bureau of Mines ......__...........__............................ 246

stresses economy _.....__...................... 17, 247, 254, 259, 260

nominated for President ....._........__..__..__.............. 248

elected President ........................................................... 249

establishes Federal Oil Conservation Board ...................... 15, 257

signs Temple Act ............._.........._............_._....._ 255

issues Executive order transferring bureaus ........_.....__..... 257

annual messages to Congress .._.........__........... 266, 283, 295

receives letter from AASG .......__.....__....._........._... 268

relations with Latin America ........................_.......... 277, 283

appoints Hoover to head Mississippi flood relief ................._ 278

declines to run for another term ...............__........__....... 283

Cooper, H. H., Jr ................................................................. 401

Covert, C. C .................................................................... 65, 80

Cox, James .........................__........__.....__.................... 220

Cramton, L L .............................. 232, 247, 267, 268, 284, 307, 336

Crandall, Lynn ..................................................................... 289

Cross, C. W ...................................... 13, 27, 80, 112, 252, 295, 312

Crowder, Enoch .............__............................__................. 213

Crumpacker, Edgar ..................._.........._............................ 41

Cummings, H. S ....................__........__................_......... 336

Cunningham, Clarence ....................._.........._......_ 99, 103, 104

Currier, L. W ................................................... 322, 332, 358, 382

Curry, Charles ._............___...............__.................._... 146

Cushman, J. A _...........__.....___....._......_................. 382

D

Dale, T N ................................................................. 24, 35, 95

Dall, W H .......................................................................... 80

Dalzell, John .................................................... 44, 54, 56, 78, 85

Dana, J. D ........................................................................... 56

Dane, C. R:

assists L G. Westgate _.....__........__...............__...... 235

Gulf Coastal Plain stratigraphy ................................... 274, 279

Colorado Plateau stratigraphy ............._.................... 281, 327

San Juan Basin ................__........._............_._........ 293

supervises C. B. Hunt ..................................................... 303

Colorado High Plains stratigraphy ......................... 323, 328, 332

contributes to Congressional document on petroleum ......_... 359

Daniels, Josephus .............__.....__........_......................... 222

Darton, N. H.:

heads Section of Western Hydrology ....__.....__................. 28

field studies in South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado ................. 29

returns to Geologic Branch ................................................ 48

structural materials investigations ................................... 64, 95

defines High Plains ......................................................... 87

studies New Mexico red beds ....__..................__............ 141

prepares geologic guide to railway route .................._........ 156

Midcontinent oil-and-gas investigations ................................ 170

begins geologic map of New Mexico .................._.............. 203

stratigraphic studies in New Mexico ............................. 220, 253

prepares guidebook for 1933 IGC ...................................... 310

retires ......._............_.............._............__........._. 382

photographs by ................................................... 54, 87, 409

Davenport, R. W ................................. 142, 225, 289, 320, 355, 380

Davis, A. P ................................................ 47, 157, 166, 246, 269

Davis, C. A .................................................................. 137, 153

Davis, D. W ................................................................. 246, 247

Davis, J. W .................................................................. 248, 249

Davis, W M .................................................................... 4, 202

Davison, P. A ............................................................... 322, 372

Dawes, C. G ....................................................................... 248

Day, A. L .......................................... 27, 36, 48, 65, 163, 202, 226

Day, D T ............................................ 2, 22, 82, 87, 112, 151, 153

Deeds, J. F ................................................................... 352, 353

DeGolyer, E. L .......................................................... 5, 228, 294

Delano, F. A .......................................................... 300, 339, 359

Demaray, A. E .___........_._.._.........._..__........_...... 166

Name Index 451
Denby, Edwin ......................................................... 222, 229, 245

Bern, George ......................................................... 336, 359, 409

Desborough, Arthur ....__...........__.....____.__.....___...... 78

Deussen, Alexander __....._.___...._.................__........_ 222

Dewey, E P ......................................................................... 157

DeWolf, Frank ......................................... 46, 62, 93, 183, 342, 369

Devine, Edward _.....__...........__..__........__....__....... 236

Diaz, Adolfo ....................................................................... 277

Dick, Charles ........................................................................ 72

Diller, J. S ............................................ 27, 156, 162, 169, 184, 190

Dixon, J. M ................................................................... 78, 109

Dobbin, C. E ...................................................................... 380

Dodds, J. S ......................................................................... 408

Doheny, E. L ....................................................................... 230

Dole, R. B ............................................... 29, 82, 83, 111, 138, 172

Dolliver, Jonathan __....._____........_.__.__..__..__....... 104

Douglas, E. M ................................................................. 30, 66

Dowell, Norah ..................................................................... 234

Dudley, C. B ........................................................................ 41

Dunn, Gano ....................................................................... 339

Dutton, C. E ................................................................ 324, 329

Dwight, A. S ...................................................................... 227

Eakin, H. M .................................................................... 65, 80

Eckel, E. B ................................................ 304, 312, 356, 371, 380

Eckel, E. C ....................................................... 23, 24, 35, 46, 82

Eldridge, George .......__...........__........__..__................... 35

Elkins, S. B .......................................................................... 26

Ellis, A. J ..................................... 125, 138, 143, 163, 173, 217, 225

Ellsworth, C. E ............................................................... Ill, 242

Ely, R. T ......................................................................... 8, 234

Emery, W. E ........................................................................ 195

Emmons, S. E:

ranked 5th among American geologists ........__.....__.....__ 1

GSA president, AIME vice president ........._......._....._._. 3

importance of Leadville report ..._...__..__............. 3, 22, 262

heads Metals Section ........_....................__..__........_. 23

begins Contributions to Economic Geology ........................... 26

field work in Arizona .....__.....__.................._.........__ 36

resigns as head of Metals Section ...__..............._.........._ 53

Tintic project included G. O. Smith ..._..........__......._..... 60

succeeded by Waldemar Lindgren ._.........__......._........... 64

busy with reports ..__........................__....................... 79

association with W. E Hillebrand ........................................ 80

J. D. Irving associated with _...............____.__........__. 93

called back to supervise mining district studies ....................... 94

attends 1910 IGC ........................................................... 112

dies suddenly March 28, 1911 ............................................ 119

Irving takes on completion of report ..........__.................... 123

Loughlin follows in footsteps of .......__.__....................... 252

Leadville work extended __.....__.............._...._....__. 295

Leadville stratigraphy revised .__._.__.........._.._........ 324

definition of Survey's economic work recalled .__.................. 349

Emmons, W. H ................... 23, 36, 46, 64, 80, 94, 111, 137, 255, 323

Engelbright, William _........._.._........_...._.._................ 56

English, W. A ............................................................... 170, 195

Erdmann, C. E .............................................................. 274, 281

Erickson, E. T ...................................................................... 219

Evans, J. M ......................................................................... 326

Evans, John ..........__....._.___..__........__..__.....___.. 409

Fahey, J. J ........................................................................... 303

Falck, Depue ....................................................................... 266

Fall, Albert ............... 221, 222, 224, 229, 230, 232, 240, 244, 245, 246

Path, A. E ................................................. 141, 160, 170, 186, 222

Feis, Herbert ....................................................................... 350

Fenneman, N. M ................................................... 24, 35, 46, 162

Ferguson, H. G.:

in Manhattan district, Nevada _............__.__.__..__... 168

seeks war minerals in Dominican Republic .........____.__... 195

maps central Nevada quadrangles .__..__ 226, 235, 282, 295, 312 

Alleghany district, California ..___..__..__.__.._.. 252, 274 

attends 1926 IGC .......................................................... 276

helps plan Annotated Bibliography of Economic Geology ........ 294

reports on ore deposits of Nevada _.._...._._....._........ 304

coauthor, U.S. gold report for 1929 IGC .............................. 305

committee chairman for 1933 IGC _..._........__._......... 310

assistant secretary, 1933 IGC ............................................. 338

receives grant from Penrose Fund ....__..__.._................. 358

Fermi, Enrico ..._......__.....__.....__.....__........__.......... 407

Fernald, R. H ....................................................................... 26

Ferris, Scott ...................................................... 146, 164, 166, 188

Fiedler, A. G .......................... 266, 289, 301, 320, 331, 356, 389-390

Fieldner, A. C ..................................................................... 406

Finch, J. W .................................................................. 350, 397

Findlay, G. I ......................................................................... 65

Finney, E. C ................................................................. 188, 229

Fisher, C. A .................................... 29, 35, 46, 62, 86, 93, 105, 265

Fisher, D. J ......................................................................... 274

Fisher, W. L ...................... 119, 120, 121, 122, 126, 128, 129, 130, 139

FitzGerald, Gerald:

Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 ............................ 253, 265, 272

Yukon Basin ................................................................. 280

Alaska Range ............................................ 295, 302, 372, 382

southwestern Alaska ......___.....__....._._..__..... 313, 322

Kodiak Island ............................................................... 333

Aleutian Islands .....___........__..__........_....___.... 357

Goodnews Bay platinum deposits ...................................... 393

in-charge, Alaskan topographic surveys ................................ 404

Fitzgerald, John ...._.._......................__.....__.......... 134, 146

Fletcher, D. U ...................................................................... 117

Flint, E P ............................................................................ 78

Foran, W. T .................................................................. 241, 253

Foster, Martin ...................................................................... 200

Franco, Francisco ..........__........__..__.._...._..__.......... 409

Frazer, Persifor .....__.....___......_........_....__.__.... 63, 393

Frelinghuysen, J. S _.._......_._.....__..._........................ 222

Fuechsel, C. F ............................................................... 322, 333

Fuller, M. L ...................................................... 28, 45, 48, 64, 66

Furness, J. W ...................................................................... 350

Gale, H. S.:

reconnaissance of western coal fields ............._................... 35

classification of western coal lands _____________ 46, 47, 62 

phosphate-land classification ..__.....__......................._... 93

supervises Northern Pacific lands classification ..........._.. 110, 122

heads Nonmetals Section .......__..________..__.._.... 141

on colemanite ......__.....___.........__........__.....__.. 143

on nitrate salts ......___.....___......__.__..__...._... 152

prepares geologic guide to railway route ._...._.........__.... 156

to Guatemala and Chile for potash and nitrates .................... 195

resigns from Survey .......__.....__....._......__............... 218

succeeded by Mansfield ......___..__.....___........._.... 219

returns to Survey __.....__.....__.....__....._...._......... 320

Gannett, Henry ................................................. 30, 37, 74, 78, 82

Gannett, S. S ....................................................................... 112

Gardner, J. H ....................................................................... 62

Gardner, Julia .................................................. 274, 276, 310, 358

452 Name Index
Garfleld, Harry ..._........._..._...._..__.......__..____..._....._____. 59, 113, 230

Garfield, J. R.:

portrait _________________________________________________________________________ 61

proposes Committee on Departmental Methods ._..__........... 37

nominated as Secretary of the Interior ........._........__........ 52

reinstates title of Chief Geologist ........................................ 56

chooses George Otis Smith as Director .............__.......... 10, 56

concept of Executive power ......_...............___. 59, 86, 92, 104

attends convention of protest ................................__......... 61

withdraws California oil lands ..............._..__.._.__....... 62

reorganizes Department of the Interior ............._..__......... 64

succeeded by H. K. Smith at Commerce ._._.....___..__.. 69

on public control of water power ...__..___......._............. 71

on Rainey River dam ...._......................_......_.....___ 72

receives Smith's recommendation on California oil lands __...... 72

advises Survey against cooperative funds _______________ 81 

orders withdrawal of phosphate lands _____________ 85, 107 

orders withdrawal of Caddo field public lands ..................._. 85

expects to be retained as Taft's Interior Secretary ...._.._._.... 87

asks Survey to classify enlarged-homestead lands ..........__...... 88

water-power site withdrawals questioned ______________ 96 

relation to Pinchot .......................................................... 98

disposition of public lands under _.....__........__............ 103

endorses Glacier National Park bill .......__........__............ 109

accompanies Roosevelt to Osawatomie .....__........__.......... 112

letter from Theodore Roosevelt ._......__........__..__...... 120

chairman, Hoover's Public Lands Commission ......__.....__.. 299

Public Lands Commission report by ....__..................._... 325

Garner, J. N ....................................................................... 326

Garrey, G. H ................................................................... 22, 36

Gerdine, T. G ......................................... 65, 66, 138, 186, 251, 321

Gibson, Russell .............................................................. 304, 313

Giffin, C E ........................................................................ 123

Gilbert, G. K.:

ranked 2nd among American geologists ._..........__.....__.... 1

heads Section of Physiographic and Glacial Geology ......__..... 23

studies glacial phenomena in Sierra Nevada .._.__.._......... 27

hydraulic-mining-debris investigation .........__..... 36, 65, 80, 131

San Francisco earthquake investigation ________________ 47 

on Hobbs' manuscript ........._.........__......................._.. 49

first Chief Geologist (under Powell) ..........__.................._ 57

retains interest in seismology ______________________ 65 

work on ancient lakes--as basis of potash studies .._..__........ 125

on gravity anomalies ................__.....__........_..... 143, 157

dies ............................................................................ 202

thermal springs study updated ..._.................................... 251

Mendenhall's attitude toward ...............__........................ 273

river-hydraulics data used by Rubey ............._..........._..... 373

Gillett, F. H .................................................................... 32, 41

Gillson, J. L ........................................................................ 234

Gilluly, James:

in northern Alaska ..................._.........................__.... 24l

maps Stockton-Fairfield quadrangles, Utah __.....__.... 273, 282

maps Baker quadrangle, Oregon ............__........__.... 304, 312

studies Sparta albite granite ......_........__........__..___ 322

maps Ajo district, Arizona ................._.._.................... 332

helps prepare copper report for 16th IGC ...._....._.__...... 338

receives Penrose Fund grant .............................__.._...... 357

member, NRC interdivisional committee ______________ 381 

leaves Survey ........_..................._.............................. 403

Girty, G. H .......................................................................... 80

Glavis, Louis ................................................ 99, 100, 103, 105, 116

Goddard, E. N .............................................................. 304, 371

Godfrey, Hollis .................................................................... 174

Goldman, Marcus .............................................. 203, 219, 276, 338

Gompers, Samuel ...........___.._.._.....__..__................_ 174

Good, James ....................................................................... 201

Goode, R. U ......................................................................... 29

Goubkin, I. M ..................................................................... 391

Grabau, A. W ..................................................................... 264

Grange, Red ........................................................................ 259

Grant, U. S ..................................................................... 36, 69

Graton, L. C .................................. 24, 36, 46, 64, 80, 110, 111, 235

Gray, G. A ......................................................................... 143

Gray, L. C .......................................................................... 325

Gregory, H. E ..................... 97, 99, 125, 204, 293, 310, 355, 382, 402

Griswold, W. T ........................................... 24, 28, 46, 64, 93, 102

Grout, F. F ................................................................... 141, 154

Grover, N. C ...................... 29, 118, 133, 140, 143, 163, 188, 351, 371

Gufifey, J. F ............................................................ 370, 376, 385

Guggenheim, Daniel .................................................. 99, 103, 126

H

Hague, Arnold ........................................................ 112, 126, 202

Hale, E. C ........................................................................... 73

Hale, G. E ................................................................... 167, 174

Hall, Clarence .................................................................. 64, 73

Hall, G. M ............................................................. 225, 251, 266

Hall, Philo ........................................................................... 78

Hammond, J. H ............................................................. 78, 236

Hancock, E. T ............................................................... 170, 186

Hansbrough, Henry ..._.__.....__........__........................... 52

Hapsburg, F. F ..................................................................... 149

Harder, E. C ................................................ 64, 154, 161, 191, 218

Harding, W. G ............................. 220, 221, 230, 235, 236, 287, 337

Harold, L. L ........................................................................ 355

Harrell, M. A ...................................................................... 356

Harrington, A. W ................................................................ 351

Harrington, G. L .....................___........._..............._..... 185

Harris, C. T ........................................................................ 350

Hatcher, J. B ............................................................. 35, 47, 409

Hayden, Carl ................................ 131, 284, 335, 378, 387, 394, 408

Hayden, F. V ................................................... 122, 126, 328, 409

Hayes, C. W.:

ranked 12th among American geologists .....__..__................ 1

on conservation ..................__........__.._.........__. 10, 113

heads Division of Geology and Paleontology .......................... 22

also heads Nonmetals Section _......................................... 23

compiles Contributions to Economic Geology ................_..... 26

committee on fuel utilization ..........._........................_... 35

Hobbs complains about ...........__................_................ 49

named Chief Geologist .............._........._....................... 57

studies bauxite deposits ___..__................_................. 64

makes field review in Ouachita uplift ................................_ 80

iron report for National Conservation Commission .......__....... 81

reports waste of natural gas at Caddo field ..............._.......... 85

on withdrawal of oil lands .......................__..._........._. 101

on origin of petroleum __..__........__..__..............._ 102

resigns from Survey ___...............__......................__. 124

Lindgren profits by his experience .......__.................. ..... 125

on Panama Canal slides ________________________ 143 

contemporary of Woodrow Wilson at Johns Hopkins .._.......... 151

Cartersville, Georgia, district study updated ....._......__...... 382

Hayford, J. F .................................................................. 94, 157

Heald, K. C ........................... 160, 170, 219, 222, 224, 231, 251, 397

Hemenway, James _........__.....__........__..__......_. 31, 38, 73

Henbest, L G ..................................................................... 382

Henderson, E. P ..................................................... 274, 279, 303

Henderson, Leon _...........__.....__....._............................ 350

Hendricks, T. A .................................... 303, 311, 323, 371, 383, 393

Henshaw, F. F ....___........_...__........__.._......_.......... 65

Herbert, Hilary ..................................................................... 33

Heroy, W. B ........................................................... 137, 188, 190

Name Index 453
Herron, W. H ....................................... 66, 166, 185, 186, 251, 302

Hershey, H. G ..................................................................... 401

Hess, Frank ................................... 24, 35, 36, 64, 111, 123, 154, 169

Hewett, D. E:

visits Virginia and Maryland manganese mines ...__..__....... 159

proposes origin of manganese deposits ........__..__...... 184, 189

supplies data for Leith committee __.._...__.__..____. 191 

studies western manganese minerals ._........__..__..___.. 263

maps Ivanpah quadrangle _______________________ 273 

attends 1926 IGC .......................................................... 276

"ideal economic geologist" __.....__..............__..__._ 282

dolomitization study _.......__.........................__......... 293

helps plan Annotated Bibliography of Economic Geology ........ 294

updates 1914 study in Oregon __.__...............__........_ 304

continues survey of manganese deposits _______________ 312 

aids Alaska Railroad investigation ..............__..._.._._... 321

makes special study of U.S. manganese deposits _..__......... 323

Warm Springs, Georgia, investigation ..................__......._ 356

Boulder Dam mineral-resources investigation ..........__....._ 358

heads Metals Section ....................................................... 371

president, Society of Economic Geologists ._....._............... 380

War Department's Mineral Advisory Committee ...__......_... 405

Hibbard, Benjamin ........................................................ 300, 325

Hicks, W. B ........................................................................ 136

Hilgard, E. W ....................................................................... 84

Hill, J. M ......................................................... Ill, 123, 133, 154

Hillebrand, W. F .................................................... 28, 47, 80, 94

Hitchcock, E. A .................................. 6, 38, 42, 45, 51, 52, 53, 103

Hitchcock, G. M .................................................................. 103

Hitler, Adolf .................................................... 336, 400, 404, 410

Hobbs, W. H ................................................................. 49, 124

Hodgeson, H. H ............................................................ 302, 321

Holmes, J. A.:

portrait ......__...........__....._...._........__....._........ 70

heads mining and metallurgy exhibit at St. Louis .......__.__.. 25

committee on coal testing ...._......................................... 26

committee on fuel utilization ..__........._......__..__........ 35

letter incenses Tawney ..__.....__...............__................. 42

heads Technologic Branch __.....__.._____..__.......... 57, 62

attends 1907 American Mining Congress _.._..__........__.. 67

on waste of fuel ...__........___..__...............__........_ 68

attends White House Conference ...__........__..__........_ 74

calls conservation matter of economics .__._....__.._._..... 74

member, National Conservation Commission _.....__...... 77, 78

organizes mine-accidents work _____________________ 78 

takes part in structural-materials surveys _..__..__._...___ 95 

at 1909 American Mining Congress _.._.__....__.....___ 101

works for establishment of Bureau of Mines ....__.._............ 108

supported and opposed as Director of Bureau ....__........__. 109

appointed Director .._...._.....................__............_.. 112

assumes office ............._.._..........................__...._.. 113

accompanies Secretary to Alaska ......_......._......__......... 126

ill .................................................................... . ... 153

dies ............................................................................ 162

Holmes, J. M ...................................................................... 404

Hoots, H. W ................................................................ 274, 281

Hoover, Herbert:

portrait ._........__._.... . ................... ..... - 288

heads Food Administration in World War I ...........__......... 183

protege heads Oil Division of Fuel Administration ......___... 188

status in 1919 ................. ................... ...... 207

AIME presidential inaugural address ............................. 207-208

potential candidate for President in 1920 ............................. 220

Secretary of Commerce ......__.................. .. ...... 15, 221

on postwar unemployment _________________ 221, 222 

Colorado River Compact commission ............................ 224, 240

calls coal operators together .__..__........_.................. 230

on need for reorganizing Government ...........__..__......... 239

characterizes Coolidge ...__.....__..__........__..__........ 242

reorganization plans supported by Joint Committee .._......_ 247

Pick and Hammer's view of reorganization .......__......_...... 257

member, National Academy of Sciences ..__.._.........__... 259

on research in pure science ._._...._....._._..__...... 15, 160

chairman, Mississippi flood relief ___________________ 278 

elected President in 1928 ................................................. 287

as President-elect .................................................... 295, 297

chooses Cabinet _____________________________ 297 

helps Survey celebrate 50th anniversary ....____....__......_ 298

committed to support conservation and science ._.................. 17

conservation program inaugurated __________________ 299 

friend Requa joins Mineral Inquiry .__.__..__................. 300

effect of policies on Geologic Branch ________________ 302 

action on economic crisis in 1929 ............_.__..__..... 305-306

on conservation in 1929 annual message _................__..... 307

reorganization of Federal Power Commission ..............._ 307-308

effect of policies on Conservation Branch ...._._.....__._.... 313

annual message to Congress, 1930 ..__..__........................ 314

appoints Mendenhall Survey Director ....._......_............ 17, 310

supports Smith in controversy with Senate _...._........._.... 319

results of oil-conservation policy .....__.....___........... 324-325

influence on topographic mapping legislation ..._..._........... 326

and bonus army in 1932 ........_.........................____.... 330

on science in reelection campaign _._................._.... 18, 333

thwarted in effort at reorganization .....__.__........__...... 335

Hopkins, Harry .................................................................... 359

Hopkins, O. B .................................................. 160, 161, 170, 186

Horner, W. W ..................................................................... 355

Horton, A. H ...................................................................... 351

Hotchkiss, W. O ............................................................ 171, 183

Houston, D. F ............_.__........__.._.................__........ 140

Howard, C. S ......................................................... 267, 384, 389

Howell, Clark ...................................................................... 236

Howell, R. W ................................................................. 93, 141

Hoyt, J. C .................................................... 47, 88, 249, 319, 333

Hoyt, W G ............................................................ 251, 258, 355

Huerta, Victoriano ....__......_.........._.__................_..... 149

Hughes, C. E ................................................................ 221, 240

Hull, Cordell ...................................................................... 336

Humphrey, R. L ............................................................... 35, 54

Hunt, C. B ...................................................... 311, 323, 329, 332

Hurley, W. E ....................................................................... 222

Hyatt, Alpheus ...................................................................... 27

Hyde, A. M ........................................................................ 297

I

Ibn Saud, A. A ................................................................... 277

Ickes, H. L.:

portrait ..___..__...............__..__........__..__....._ 349

Secretary of the Interior _...............__...._......_....... 337

Public Works Administrator ......................................... 18, 338

sets up National Planning Board ....__........._..__..... 18, 339

on recovery program of science progress ....._._......_... 18, 340

receives report on Geological Survey ...__........__.._......_ 342

characterization of the time ........__................................. 345

chairman, National Resources Committee .....__............__. 346

approves Leith's letter to President ..._..__....................... 347

chairman, mineral policy planning committee ....._........_... 350

chairman, National Resources Board .................__.._........ 359

on central mapping agency ______________________ 364 

proposes Department of Conservation _________ 368, 369, 376 

chairman, enlarged National Resources Committee ._.....__.. 370

program for topographic mapping ______________ 387, 398 

on Survey appropriations in 1937 ...__....__._.._............ 388

on Panay incident ....__........._.__..__.....__......_... 394

454 Name Index
on Munich Pact ..........._..................__...........__....... 404

responds to Hayden resolution on mapping .._.........._...... 408

declares Ballinger not guilty ............................................. 120

Irving, J. D .............................................. 23, 27, 93, 118, 119, 123

Trying, R. D ........................................................................ 115

J

Jaggar, T A ........................................................... 267, 273, 324

Janin, Charles ............................................................... 154, 195

Jenison, H. A. C ....._.....................__..............._............. 220

Jennings, Hennen _._____________________________ 195

Jewett, E B ......................................................................... 339

Johnson, D. W ............................................................... 28, 363

Johnson, H. R ....................................................................... 81

Johnson, Hiram ............................................................. 220, 319

Johnson, Hugh ........................__........__..................__... 338

Johnson, J. H ...................................................................... 312

Johnson, Roswell ............................__.........................__... 222

Johnston, W. D., Jr ............................... 289, 301, 308, 312, 322, 357

Jonas, A. I .......................................................................... 310

Jones, A. E ...........__........._.....................__......_.._... 324

Jones, B. E ............................................................. 225, 251, 258

Jones, Bobby .............................__.............__..............._ 259

Jones, E. E ......................._........__..................__........... 251

Jones, E. L .............................................................. 171, 184, 218

Jones, H. P ......................................................................... 245

Jones, W. D ........................................................................ 300

Jones, Wesley ....................................................................... 103

K

Katz, F. J .............................................. 65, 111, 184, 192, 218, 252

Keith, Arthur ............................ 27, 80, 263, 276, 281, 293, 329, 332

Kelley, P H ........................................................................ 146

Kellogg, F. B ................................................................ 277, 295

Kemp, J. F .......................................................................... 113

Kendrick, J. B ..................................................................... 229

Kennedy, William ................................................................. 102

Kent, William ............................................................... 165, 166

Kerr, Paul ........................................................................... 311

Kesler, Thomas .................................................................... 381

Ketcham, J. C ..................................................................... 329

Kettering, C. F .................................................................... 339

Kew, W. S. W ..................................................................... 195

Keynes, J. M ....................................................................... 207

Kilmartin, J. O .................................................................... 272

Kindle, E. M ................................................................... 36, 80

King, Clarence:

plan of Survey program in 1879 _____________________ 2 

achievements of mineral-resource program ......................_.... 3

on use of mineral resources ......._..__...._..................__.. 5

on waste of mineral resources ______________________ 9 

considered Survey a national bureau of research ..._..__...._. 10

precious-metal reports updated by Lindgren ............__.......... 23

on glaciation in the Uinta Mountains __._____________ 39 

policy cited by Walcott _________________________ 49 

recognized zonal arrangement of mineral deposits ................... 94

plan for mining-geology studies misunderstood ...............__.. 119

40th Parallel work in Colorado updated ....._...............__. 126

cited by George Otis Smith ........__..__........__.._....... 147

mineral-resources program of value in World War I .....__...... 197

King, P. B .............................................................. 310, 321, 358

Kinnison, H. B .................................................................... 286

Klaer, Fred, Jr ..................................................................... 401

Knappen, H. S .................................................................... 199

Knappen, R. S .................................................................... 265

Knechtel, M. M ............................................................. 355, 356

Knopf, Adolph:

aids L. M. Prindle in Alaska ........................._........__..... 36

surveys tin deposits of Seward Peninsula _______________ 65 

maps in Eagle River region ........................._................... Ill

begins study of Mother Lode ______________________ 161 

studies mineral production of world ......................__........ 193

resigns from Survey _____________________._____ 218 

field work in Nevada with wife Eleanora Bliss ....................... 219

resumes Mother Lode investigation _.._......_............. 252, 256

in Pioche district, Nevada _______________________ 273 

copper deposits of Plumas County, California ...._.....__...... 283

works on guidebook for 1933 IGC .........__..__........_..... 310

Knopf, E. B .................................................................. 219, 310

Knowlton, F. H ........................................................... 47, 62, 80

Knox, Philander ............................................................... 73, 87

Koschmann, A. H .................................................... 294, 312, 371

LaFollette, R. M.:

proposes withdrawal of coal lands .._._.._........_.........__. 8

consults Hitchcock and Walcott on Indian lands ..................... 38

offers resolution authorizing withdrawal _______________ 44 

founder, National Progressive Republican League ................... 129

has presidential ambitions ................................................ 130

against preparedness program ........................................... 164

resolution on leasing in naval petroleum reserves _____ 229, 230 

nominated for President ........................................... 237, 248

platform written by ......_..........._._............_._........ 248

loses to Coolidge ____________________________ 249 

LaForge, Laurence .............__............__........__.......__...... 27

Lament, Robert ........._......................._............................. 297

Landes, K. K ................................................................ 254, 265

Landon, A. M ..................................................................... 379

Lane, A. C .................___.....__................_.................... 27

Lane, F. K.:

portrait ....................................................................... 152

Secretary of Interior in Wilson Cabinet _______________ 140 

aids national park movement ..................._.._................ 144

holds conference on war's effect on mineral supplies _._____ 150 

proposes bill to reserve radium-bearing lands ........................ 154

invites Mather to run national parks _________________ 164 

appoints Marshall general superintendent of parks _............. 166

on the war effort ......................................._................. 180

problems caused by Committee on Coal Production ............... 182

urges passage of potash-leasing bill ........_................_.... 186

testifies on minerals control bill ........................................ 193

appoints committee on gold production ______________ 195 

appointed Minerals Control Administrator ........................... 200

asks appropriations for power surveys _________________ 213

observation on Hoover _______________________._ 221

Laney, F. B ................................................. Ill, 154, 155, 219, 255

Lansing, Robert ____________________________ 167, 176 

LaRocque, G. A ................................................................... 390

Larsen, E. S., Jr ....................... 134, 185, 242, 253, 282, 310, 312, 382

LaRue, E. C .................................. 125, 137, 157, 166, 224, 233, 251

Lasky, S. G ................................................ 304, 312, 322, 371, 403

Lee, C. H ............................................................... Ill, 125, 138

Lee, W. T:

in Western Section of Hydrology ____________________ 29 

reconnaissance of western coal lands ...._.......................__. 35

coal-land classification _________.________________ 62 

stratigraphy of coal-bearing formations ._............... 110, 127, 135

prepares guide to railway route ____________________ 156 

aerial photography in geology and geography _____ 219-220, 233 

stratigraphy of oil sands in Rocky Mountains .._______ 226, 249

Name Index 455
Leggette, R. M ........... 278, 289, 301, 308, 320, 331, 340, 354, 357, 373

Leighton, M. Q:

portrait ............__.._..__..........................__....___ 77

heads Hydro-economics Division ...__........___..__.....__ 28

investigates pollution of Lake Champlain ....._....__........__ 29

becomes Chief Hydrographer ...__..__..................___.... 48

flood-relief plan ....__...___.__..__._....._..____...... 71

attends White House Conference __.._...._.....__._._________. 74

National Conservation Commission reports ..._....._......... 82, 83

Land Classification Board __........_....._.....__..___..... 88

field examinations for land classification .._....._....___..... 125

resigns as Chief Hydrographer _..__...............__....... 11, 140

Leith, C. K.:

portrait ____.....__........__..__........._..............._. 364

reconnaissance of western iron deposits ..............._.........__ 24

editor of Economic Geology ......__.._._............_........... 27

U.S.-Canadian stratigraphic commission ...._.............._......... 27

examines western iron districts ...__.._._.....__..__.... 35, 46

considered for Director ..._..__..__...............__........__ 57

student Harder joins Survey ..........__..............._.......___ 64

on Lake Superior iron ores ______________________ 115 

mineral adviser in World War I .................................... 12, 192

urges passage of minerals control bill .._._......__.............. 193

adviser at Peace Conference ...__..__..............._............. 198

Committee on Foreign Mining Policy .......__..__........ 222, 227

at Williamstown Institute of Politics ..................__.....___ 262

on duty of economic geologists ...__........__............... 281-282

on manganese problem .....__...............__.. ................ 282

chairman of Mineral Inquiry _______._____________ 300 

member, Science Advisory Board .__...............__............. 339

chairman of its committee on Geological Survey _.... 342-343, 358

plans Boulder Dam survey ............__.............................. 343

writes to President on mineral policy .......__.....__...... 347-348

rejects plan for Assistant Secretary .........._..__.....__........ 350

member, land use committee, Science Advisory Board ............ 351

minerals committee, National Resources Board ...__..___.... 360

Science Advisory Board committee on surveying

and mapping _........__............_._.....__..__ 363-364

on waste of mineral resources __...._........__..__........... 368

suggests post-NIRA legislation .............._................... 369-370

arranges Brookings' mineral conservation study ...__..___.... 371

chairman, War Department's Mineral Advisory

Committee ........................................................... 19, 408

Leonard, A. G ............................................................ 35, 46, 62

Lesher, C. E ............................................... 135, 159, 184, 198, 218

Leverett, Frank ........................................ 27, 80, 141, 253, 281, 293

Levorsen, A. I ___.......__.__..__..__..................__...... 391

Lewis, J. G ......................................................................... 244

Lillie, E R .......................................................................... 370

Lindgren, Waldemar:

portrait ....................................................................... 132

starred in 1903 American Men of Science ........__..___....._ 2

discusses precious-metal production ..__.........._.....__....... 23

editor of Economic Geology ........................__..__.......... 27

supervises'collection of precious-metal statistics ...__......_..... 36

at 10th IGC ................................................................... 47

heads Metals Section _________________________ 64 

at 1907 American Mining Congress _................................. 67

occupied with reports _._......__..........._._........._...... 80

reports for National Conservation Commission ..........._.......... 82

elected to National Academy of Sciences ....__...............__. 93

on ore deposits of New Mexico __..__........__..__...... . 110

on study of large geographic areas _________________ 111 

attends 1910 IGC ........................................................... 112

on methods of investigation in economic geology .............. 118-119

becomes Chief Geologist .......__..__........__..__..... 124-125

on Sierra Nevada gold ........__...._........__................... 133

resigns from Survey .........__.........................__...... 140, 169

succeeded by Ransome as head of Metals Section ..__..__..... 141

completes work in Arizona ...................__.._.....__....... 234

Loughlin follows in his footsteps ...__..___.__..__....._. 252

chairs NRC Division of Geology and Geography ...._ 16, 280, 281

succeeded by Arthur Keith at NRC .................................... 293

helps Survey celebrate 50th anniversary ..........__..__....._. 298

Grass Valley, California, study updated ................................ 312

honored on 70th birthday _........__..__........__.....__.. 331

Livingston, Penn ............................................... 308, 331, 390, 401

Lloyd, J. V .......................................................................... 166

Locke, Augustus ............__........__...._....._._._.__....... 261

Lodge, H. C ................................................................... 33, 141

Lohman, K. E ............................................................... 358, 382

Lohman, S. W ..................................... 308, 331, 356, 357, 390, 401

Longwell, C. R .............................................................. 224, 289

Lord, N. W .......................................................................... 26

Louderback, G. D ................................................................. 289

Loughlin, G. E:

studies ore deposits of Utah ............_..........__.....__...... 161

Magdalena district, New Mexico ...__.....__........_..... 171, 304

searches for war minerals _______________________ 195 

heads Metals Section, Division of Mineral Resources ............... 198

heads Division of Mineral Resources __.._______.__....... 218

heads Metals Section, Division of Geology and

Paleontology .........__........__.....__...........__......... 252

Leadville reports ...................................................... 262, 273

Cripple Creek studies ........................................ 262, 273, 282

helps plan Annotated Bibliography of Economic Geology ..__ 294 

coauthor, U.S. gold report for 1929 IGC .............................. 305

studies Utah-Colorado carnotite deposits ........._......__...... 312

appointed Chief Geologist ............_.._..............._....... 371

Levering, T. S ............ 262, 273, 282, 294, 304, 312, 322, 357, 371, 381

Ludlow, L L ........................................................................ 394

Lugn, A. L ......................................................................... 336

Lull, R. S .......................................................... ................ 47

Lupton, C. T .......................................................... 110, 160, 222

Lyell, Charles ....................................................................... 119

Lynt, R. K ............................................................. 232, 253, 295

M

McCaskey, H. D ............................................ 86, 94, 159, 195, 198

McCoy, Alexander .................................................................. 22

McCumber, Porter ......_......_._..__.._.........__.....__... 165

MacDonald, D. F ........................................................... 143, 154

McGee, WJ .................................................................... 68, 69

McGuinness, C. L ................................................................. 401

McHenry, John ........__....._...__..__.. ....... .......__....... 73

Mackenzie, Alexander ....__...........__........._._............... 68, 71

Mackenzie, J. H ................................................................... 195

McKinley, C. P .................................................................... 332

McKinley, W. G ............................................................ 220, 221

McKnight, E. T .......................................... 274, 281, 312, 371, 382

McNair, E. L ....................................................................... 204

McNary, Charles ................................................................... 297

Maddren, A. G ....................................................... 123, 135, 185

Madigan, J. J ....................................................................... 307

Madison, James ......__.....__...............__...._...._............. 116

Maher, J. C ......................................................................... 401

Maier, C. G .................................................................. 303, 304

Manning, V. H.:

Acting Director, Bureau of Mines __.................................. 153

succeeds Holmes as Director .._..__......_................. 162, 166

at 1915 American Mining Congress ..__..__...................... 162

represents Interior on National Research Council _..._......... 168

member, Committee on Coal Production _........__............ 181

member, Committee on Oil Production .__........_......._. 188

urges passage of minerals control bill ..__......._................. 193

456 Name Index
letter to Fuel Administrator .........__.....__........__....._ 199

on need to develop foreign oil sources __....._._............... 211

joins American Petroleum Institute _....._.........__.......... 217

member, Leith committee on foreign mining policy ........__.. 222

Mansfield, G. R.:

phosphate-land classification _........__.....___..__.. 110, 122

Idaho phosphate deposits __........___..___._.. 172, 219, 235

search for nitrates ....__._____...............___.............. 185

heads Nonmetals Section .__..........._.........__..__....... 219

report on southwestern Idaho ......__............. ................ 269

chairman, NRC committee on tectonics .........___..__....... 302

aids Hewett's manganese investigations _______________ 312 

studies Ohio flood deposits ..........__.._......................... 384

Mansfield, Joseph ........__.....___...............__................... 386

Marsh, G. P ........................................................................... 6

Marsh, O. C ................................................................... 47, 409

Marshall, Robert:

portrait ............_......__..................__........__........... 75

heads Topographic Branch reorganization committee ................ 56

becomes Chief Geographer .._..__..__..__..................... 66

detailed to Secretary's Office .......__......_....................... 164

superintendent of national parks ....._......__................... 165

serves with National Park Service ......................._.....__.. 166

commissioned Major in World War I __........................._ 186

Central Valley plan ....__...........__..__........__..... 204, 225

resigns from Survey ....................__._.__..................... 205

Marshall, T. R ..................................................................... 235

Martin, Franklin ....................................._..................._... 174

Martin, G. C ............................ 24, 27, 36, 86, 93, 111, 134, 135, 24l

Martin, Lawrence .........._......__.__..__.............................. 36

Mather, K. F ................................................................ 222, 258

Mather, S. T ................................................................. 152, 164

Matson, George ....................................................... 110, 160, 222

Matthes, F. E ............. 162, 203, 253, 275, 281, 293, 303, 310, 382, 395

Matthes, Gerard .._.............................................._............ 355

Matthew, W. D .................................................................... 264

Mead, Elwood ......................................................... 247, 343, 371

Mead, D. W ....................................................................... 289

Mead, W. J ......................................................................... 290

Meek, F. B .......................................................................... 328

Meinzer, O. E.:

portrait ................................................_................... 299

summer employee of Survey _______________________ 48 

studies ground water in three Utah counties ...................._.. 81

studies ground water in Utah and New Mexico ....................... 97

Sulphur Spring Valley, Arizona ......................_................ Ill

Tularosa Basin, New Mexico ..............._............... 125, 138, 145

head of ground-water projects ......................................_.. 137

special projects in Montana _____________________ 138 

Guantanamo Bay naval station ........._................__........ 164

Pecos Valley, New Mexico .......................................... 172, 265

exploratory drilling for ground water ..__.....__........_ 187, 201

organizes field work in Idaho cooperative ............................ 225

honorary member, North Dakota Well Drillers ...................... 225

completes major report on hydrology ....._.........__........... 243

completes paper on large springs ....................................... 251

continues Mendenhall's fundamental work .............._........... 14

devises method to determine annual yield ........................... 266

organizes well-drillers' associations ..................................... 278

presents paper to Society of Economic Geology ....__............ 289

presents paper at AIME symposium ................................... 290

Advisory Council, American Association of Water Well

Drillers ..................................................................... 301

first chairman, AGU Section of Hydrology ........................... 310

committee of river-development plans ........_...................... 351

cooperates with CCC ...................................................... 356

sets up committee on observation wells ............................... 357

president, Washington Academy of Sciences __......_.......... 380

outlines ground-water provinces ________________ 400, 401 

Melcher, A. F ....................................... 157, 161, 170, 195, 219, 252

Mellon, A. W ............................................................... 221, 244

Melton, F. A ....................................................................... 253

Mendenhall, W. C.:

portrait __........__.__..__...............__..__.__..__ 319

in M. R. Campbell's party ...__..___...._........................ 16

joins Western Section of Hydrology _....._...__........_..... 29

ground water in Southern California ________ 14, 51, 111, 356 

in charge of ground-water projects ..............__.................... 66

work in Alaska supplemented _____________________ 69 

reports for National Conservation Commission ................... 82-83

Land Classification Board .......__...............__........__..... 88

heads Land Classification Board ..........__.................... 118, 121

Mesa Verde National Park .....__........__...._.................. 125

heads Land Classification Branch ............__................_... 133

on David White ...................................................... 140, 359

Siderastrea mendenhalli ........__......_............._._....._ 158

San Jacinto Valley work taken up by Waring ___________ 163 

appointed Chief Geologist __.....__.....__..__........__.. 238

influenced by Gilbert _.....__..__........__................... 273

on basic research ____________________________ 287 

aids plans for Annotated Bibliography ofEconimic Geology ..... 294

General Secretary, 1933 IGC ...................................... 310, 338

named Acting Director ...___..__........__..................... 316

Director ........................................................... 17, 317, 326

difficult first years .........................................._............. 318

joins P. S. Smith in Alaska __..................................._... 322

elected to National Academy of Sciences .......__................ 329

meets with Congressmen and mining men ....__.._............ 350

member, Agriculture-Interior land planning committee _____ 351 

Land and Minerals Committees, National Resources Board ....... 360

letter on surveying and mapping ............................._....... 364

in appropriations hearings, 1935 ...__...........-........... .._ 367

in appropriations hearings, 1936 ........................................ 377

president, GSA ....._............._.................................... 380

presidential address .................................................. 380, 381

influence on Water Resources Branch ________________ 383 

on cooperative funds for topographic mapping ...................... 387

on appropriations for fiscal year 1939 .................................. 400

report on energy resources ............................................... 406

on topographic mapping in 1939 ..................................._ 408

influence on Survey ________________________. .._. ._-- .-.. .. 411

Meissner, O. E ...................................................................... 78

Meitner, Lisa ._........._........._.......................................... 407

Merriam, C. E ............................................................... 339, 359

Merriam, J. C ...................................... 259, 280, 339, 351, 370, 379

Merrill, O. C .................................................... 183, 213, 215, 250

Mertie, J. B., Jr.:

searches for antimony and tungsten in Alaska ....................... 169

investigates heavy placer minerals ....................................... 185

production of cameras for aerial surveying ............._............ 187

explores area north of Fairbanks __________________ 241 

mapping in the Yukon ................... 265, 272, 280, 302, 313, 322

begins comprehensive report ....._........__........................ 333

Ruby-Kuskokwim region ......__........._.............._......... 357

Nushagak region ...........................__..............._........ 372.

difficulties in field in 1936 .............................................. 382

Goodnews platinum deposits ................__..__....._. 389, 393

Yukon Valley ................................................................ 404

Miller, A C ........................................................................ 144

Miller, W. G ......................................................................... 27

Millikan, R. A ..................................................................... 339

Mills, R. V. A ...................................................................... 170

Miser, H. D:

examines Arkansas manganese deposits ................................ 162

Name Index 457
Virginia manganese survey ....__...._........_................... 184

Paleozoic sections along Colorado and San Juan ...._............ 224

heads Areal Geology Section ._..__..............._......._... 273

Coastal Plain water-laid volcanic material ...................... 274, 279

heads Fuels Section ........................................................ 280

reviews Avalon Dam report ..............................__........... 290

committee on stratigraphic nomenclature ..__...................... 310

supervises preparation of Ashley code ........__..__............. 332

contributes to Congressional document on petroleum ............. 359

Mitchell, Billy ..................................................................... 259

Mitchell, John ....................................................................... 78

Mitchell, W. C .............................................................. 339, 359

Mitchell, W. D .................................................................... 297

Moffit, F. H.:

investigates Kenai Peninsula gold placers ............................... 24

Seward Peninsula __.................................................. 36, 47

Kasaan Peninsula copper deposits ........................................ 65

cameras for aerial surveying .............................................. 187

Prince William Sound mineral deposits ......................... 241, 265

Copper River ................... 273, 280, 295, 302, 322, 333, 393, 404

Kantishna district .__........_......................................... 313

Alaska Range ................................................... 357, 372, 382

Mondell, F. W.:

explains relation of topographic map to geologic map ........_.. 42

on appropriation for stream gaging .........__.........__..... 43, 76

on coal testing ......__.............................._.._........_... 44

objects to coal-land withdrawals _____._________ 51, 54, 55 

bill for phosphate-land disposal ..._.........._..__......... 85, 87

on water-power development .__...._...............__........... 105

on structural-materials investigations ................................... 108

on coal-land leasing in Alaska ..................._..__.._......... 116

complains about coal-land evaluation __.............._......._ 121

proposes Survey potash investigation ...................__....._... 122

Monical, Doska ................................................................... 193

Monroe, James ..................................................................... 379

Monroe, W. H ............................................................... 310, 393

Moore, B. N ........................................................... 312, 322, 358

Moore, P. N .................................................................. 183, 200

Moore, R. C .................................................................. 222, 310

Morgan, A. M ..................................................................... 389

Morgan, J. P .................................................................. 99, 126

Morgan, J. T ......................................................................... 33

Morison, S. E ......................................................................... 4

Morrow, D. W ..................................................................... 283

Muller, S. W ....................................................................... 313

Munn, M. J ........................... 28, 64, 79, 93, 102, 123, 137, 141, 160

Murata, K. J ........................................................................ 310

Murphy, E. C .......................................................... 125, 131, 137

Murray, Sir John ....__........................._.......__.._........._ 47

Murray, W. S ....................................................................... 216

Mussolini, Benito ........................................................... 276, 404

N

Needham, James .__......_.........__..__.......................... 75, 76

Neill, C. P ......................................................................... 236

Newcomb, Simon ..._........__................_..__._............... 22

Newell, F. H.:

member, 2d Public Lands Commission ..................__........_. 6

Survey's Chief Hydrographer and Chief Engineer, Reclamation

Service .................................................................. 28, 77

relinquishes direction of Hydrographic Branch .....__....._...... 48

2d Director of Reclamation Service ........_...__..__........_ 57

attends convention of protest with Garfield _................._.. 61

member, Inland Waterways Commission ............__....._..... 69

attends White House Conference ........................................ 74

estimates amount of reclaimable land _........._..._............. 83

selects water-power sites _..............._......._......_.......... 88

makes inspection trip with Ballinger _.._.........__............ 99

Newlands, Francis ............................................ 38, 69, 71, 103, 104

Nichols, E. L ....................................................................... 88

Noble, L F ................................... 117, 185, 226, 302, 310, 357, 382

Nolan, T. B .............. 252, 263, 273, 282, 305, 313, 332, 338, 358, 403

Norris, George ......................................... 43, 88, 91, 105, 350, 386

Northrop, J. D .................................................................... 258

Notman, Arthur .................................................................. 338

Noyes, A. A ......................................................................... 88

Nutting, P. G ............ 252, 263, 275, 282, 293, 303, 312, 324, 387, 393

Nye, S. S ............................................................... 301, 320, 331

O

Oakey, Warren ............................................................... 233, 251

Oddie, T L ......................................................................... 246

O'Donnell, T. A .................................................................. 228

Olmsted, Marlin .............................__..........._........_........ 56

Osborn, H. F .................................................. 33, 47, 50, 53, 409

Overman, L S ........_......._.........._...........__.._............ 78

Pack, R. W ......................................................................... 170

Pahlavi, Reza ....................................................................... 277

Paige, Sidney:

investigates placer mining in Alaska _______________ 24, 25 

Prince William Sound area ............._.........__..._..... 36, 69

Silver City quadrangle, New Mexico ..............._...._.......... Ill

Burro Mountains copper, New Mexico _______________ 161 

heads Western Areal Geology .__..............._.............._.. 169

resumes study of Homestake Mine ._..._.._.................... 219

geologic studies along Colorado River ..........._......__....... 224

leads expedition to NPR-4 ...................._._...._....._... 241

begins mapping Stockton-Fairfield quadrangles ......__.......... 263

resigns from Survey ....__........__....._...._....__.......... 273

Palache, Charles .................................................................... 35

Palmer, Chase .............................................. 94, 136, 160, 170, 186

Palmer, H. S ....................................................................... 217

Pardee, George ................................................................. 54, 98

Pardee, J. T.:

Northern Pacific Lands classification _...__....................... 122

Latah formation near Spokane, Washington ____________ 246 

glacial features of southwestern Montana ............................. 253

restudies Washington manganese ores ..._..........._............ 263

investigates earthquakes in Montana and Wyoming .......... 264, 285

in Pacific Northwest .................................... 282, 295, 304, 322

aids Hewett's manganese investigation ................................. 312

southern Appalachian gold ........................................ 369, 371

Park, C. F, Jr ....................................... 309, 312, 321, 369, 371, 381

Parker, E. W ....................................... 26, 35, 67, 82, 109, 112, 159

Parker, F. S ............................................................. 311, 323, 332

Parker, G. L ................................................................... Ill, 143

Parker, H. N .................................................................... 43, 96

Pasteur, Louis ..........__.....__._.__...............__................ 210

Patterson, Thomas ......__....._._......................_......__..... 32

Paul, E. G ........................................................................... 29

Paulsen, C. G ................................................................ 319, 351

Payne, J. B ................................................................. 200, 219

Peale, A. C ......................................................................... 251

Pendleton, T. P ................................................ 216, 270, 302, 354

Penrose, R. A. F ...................................................... 219, 252, 294

Penta, M. A ........................................................................ 356

Perkins, Frances ............................................................. 337, 359

458 Name Index
Pershing, J. J ....................................................................... 167

Phalen, W. C ................................................................. 64, 170

Pickett, C. E ....................................................................... 106

Pierce, C. H ........................................................................ 399

Pierce, W. G ................................. 303, 311, 323, 328, 332, 358, 371

Piggot, C. S .................................................................. 382, 391

Pike, Albert .................................................................. 204, 302

Pinchot, Gifford:

portrait ..........._......._.........__..__......................_. 93

member, 2d Public Lands Commission _............................... 6

architect of Roosevelt conservation policy _______________ 8 

proposes Committee on Departmental Methods ...__.............. 37

controls grazing lands in forest reserves ....__.....__.............. 53

accompanies Garfield to convention of protest ........................ 61

relation to Inland Waterways Commission ............__.._...... 68

member, Inland Waterways Commission __.._._............_ 69

attends White House Conference .........__......................_ 74

chairman, National Conservation Commission ___________ 78 

wants Garfield retained in Interior __________________ 87 

decides withdrawal of water-power sites needed .......__.....__. 88

rejected by National Academy of Sciences ...........__............. 89

confrontation with Ballinger ._........_............................... 91

concept of Executive power ................................... 92, 103, 104

at 1909 Irrigation Congress .............._.............................. 98

provides help for Glavis ...........................__............_... 100

dismissed as Chief Forester ............................................... 104

in Joint Committee hearings ...................................... 103, 107

association with Holmes ..._............................................ 109

goes abroad to consult Roosevelt ........................................ 112

Joint Committee report ._............................................... 116

association with Walter L. Fisher ........................._............ 120

Lane "satisfactory" to ......................._........................... 152

valued Hague's service on Forest Policy Committee ................. 201

on Secretary Fall ............................................................ 221

Congressman Taylor avowed opponent of .....................__... 326

Piper, A. M ............................ 289, 308, 310, 320, 331, 389, 390, 401

Poindexter, Miles .................................................................. 139

Pomerene, A. S .................................................................... 25

Pope, James .....................__....................._.................... 386

Postley, O. C ....................................................................... 359

Powell, John Wesley:

abandons King's mission approach ........................_............. 2

Report on Lands of the Arid Region ...................................... 6

conceives Survey as national bureau of research ...........__....... 10

administration criticized by Congress _________________ 33 

administration admired by Hobbs ........._............__.......... 49

Branner's experience with ............................._.................. 50

first used "Chief Geologist" ..............................._........... 56

end of his administration and Walcott's compared ................... 57

1878 map revised by Gannett ............................................. 82

his Grand Canyon group further divided by Noble ................. 117

Lindgren began Survey career under ..__..._...................... 125

insistence on general before economic work ____________ 146 

expedition down Colorado recalled __......_.............. 238, 274

"useless" science recalled ....................._........................ 329

work in southeastern Utah updated .................................... 402

Powers, Howard ............................................................. 303, 356

Powers, Sidney ............................................................... 161, 186

Pratt, John H ...................................................................... 157

Pratt, Joseph Hyde ...........__......_........................................ 26

Pratt, W. E .................................................................. 222, 404

Prindle, L M ................................................................... 24, 36

Pumpelly, Raphael ................................................................. 27

Purcell, W. E ....................................................................... 117

Purdue, A. H ....................................................................... 80

Purington, C. W .............................................................. 24, 25

R

Randall, S. J ........................................................................ 105

Ransdell, Joseph ._............__..__........__.........___.._._ 68

Ransome, F. L.:

in Coeur dAlene district _________________________ 23 

editor of Economic Geology ..__........._.._................._. 27

in gold districts of Nevada _______________________ 36 

begins work in Arizona ...__....____..__..__.....__....... 46

occupied with reports ..._.....__...................................... 64

in Goldfield district, Nevada __..............._................. 68, 80

on Land Classification Board ...__........._..._..............._ 86

Breckenridge district, Colorado ................................ 80, 84, 112

Miami-Ray district, Arizona __........__............................ Ill

heads Western Areal Geology Section .._..._.................... 134

heads Metals Section .................__.........................._... 141

relieved of supervision of Western Areal Geology ________ 169 

surveys quicksilver deposits ......._.................................... 195

on functions and ideals of a geological survey ..._........... 208, 210

ore deposits of Nevada .............................__......_......... 218

surveys dam sites on Colorado River ........_....................... 233

Oatman, Arizona, gold district ._.............................. 230, 234

on leave to teach .........................._............._............. 242

resigns from Survey ........__....._.................................. 252

on theories of ore genesis ................................_............. 261

president, Society of Economic Geologists ............................ 281

investigates St. Francis Dam failure .................._.............. 289

Breckenridge study updated ...._.................................... 295

Ranta, T. W ........................................................................ 404

Rawles, William ................................................................... 300

Rayburn, Sam ._..............__.............................................. 326

Read, C. B ......................................................................... 323

Read, T. T .......................................................................... 397

Reavis, C. F ........................................................................ 208

Redfield, W. C .................................................................... 140

Reed, J. C ........................ 312, 321, 333, 357, 371, 381, 382, 393, 404

Reeside, J. B., Jr ......... 226, 233, 249, 253, 293, 312, 327, 328, 332, 381

Reeves, Frank ................................................................ 195, 225

Reid, H. F .......................................................................... 322

Reid, Walter ........................................................................ 388

Remsen, Ira ................................................................... 4, 7, 18

Renick, B. C ....................................................................... 266

Renshawe, J. H .............................................................. 144, 186

Requa, Mark ........................................................... 188, 199, 300

Rice, G. S .......................................................................... 397

Rich, J. L ........................................................................... 355

Richards, J. H ....................................................................... 67

Richards, J. W ..................................................................... 113

Richards, R. W ........................................... 122, 311, 312, 321, 359

Richards, W. A ....................................................................... 6

Richardson, G. B.:

in Western Section of Hydrology ......................................... 29

western coal field reconnaissance ..........__......................_ 35

western coal field investigations ..................................... 46, 62

maps in western Pennsylvania ________ 170, 195, 274, 293, 311 

prepares map of Wyoming oil fields and pipelines ................. 203

contributes to Congressional report on petroleum ............._.. 359

Rickard, T. W ...................................................................... 109

Riddell, C. W ..................................................................... 187

Ridgway, Robert ................................................................... 289

Ries, Heinrich ...................................................................... 195

Roberts, A. C ....................................................................... 37

Roberts, O. J ....................................................................... 245

Roberts, Ralph ..................................................................... 403

Robinson, H. M ................................................................... 186

Robinson, T. W ................................................ 301, 309, 373, 401

Name Index 459
Rockefeller, J. D . ....... . . ... . ... . ...... . ..... .. 16, 275

Roesler, Max .._____...._..__......_.................................... 193, 194, 195

Rogers, G. S .. ..... . .. .. ...... .... ..... . ... 153, 170, 186

Roosevelt, F. D.:

portrait ._._._.__.____..__. ..__...___..__.__....._.._..._._.___-..____._ ._ 347

chairman of Federal Club in 1920 ................................ 208

nominated for President ._..___..__........__..__......... 330

elected President ..___.._._...___.-.._..._.._.....__._..._.__.-....__.__.._. 333

chooses Cabinet ...................................................... 336-337

committed to conservation but neutral on science _........__. 345

Survey funds under .......__....__..___......__..__.......... 18

considers replacing Mendenhall ......................................... 318

appoints Science Advisory Board .....__........__..__.......... 339

nonrenewable resource problems .._.._....._.__._._.... 346

special monetary message ........_................._....__......... 346

letter from Leith on mineral policy .__.................._........ 347

inner circle includes Ickes ....._....._...............__........_ 349

appoints Ickes chairman of mineral policy committee _.......... 350

issues Executive order withdrawing lands in Utah .......__..... 353

creates National Resources Board by Executive order _....._... 359

asks Ickes to evaluate Science Advisory Board program for

science ...__.....__........_..__........__.................. 365

on National Resources Board in 1935 annual message ............. 367

receives complaint from Wallace about Ickes ......................... 369

post-NRA policy .__............................__.....__....._... 370

dedicates Boulder Dam ......._....__.....__...................... 374

in Italian-Ethiopian crisis ......__.........._..__..__........... 374

legislation for National Resources Board stalled ..................... 376

reelected in 1936 ........................................................... 379

annual message to Congress in 1937 ................................... 385

in Japanese-Chinese conflict ..__..__........__..............._ 394

annual message to Congress in 1938 ................................... 395

in German-Czech crisis .........................__...............__ 404

annual message to Congress in 1939 _....__...............__.. 405

sends report on energy resources to Congress __...._............ 406

receives protest on appropriation for mapping __.....___..... 408

on outbreak of war in Europe __......................__........... 410

role of science in Federal Government recognized _.....__..... 411

Roosevelt, Theodore:

sets up 2d Public Lands Commission . ....................__.....__. 6

beginning of conservation program _________________ 21 

elected President in his own right _........__....._.......__... 30

on forest reserves in 1904 annual message __....._....___..... 30

asks Survey to investigate hydraulic-mining debris .................... 36

Advisory Board appointed by ................__..__........_ 40, 42

coal-land withdrawals _........__..__.__..__..__. 8, 50, 353

conservation program causes Survey difficulties ..........._ 5, 21, 61

special messages on mineral-land laws .........__..__........ 50, 52

nominates Garfield as Secretary of the Interior .....__............. 51

appoints Lane to Interstate Commerce Commission ...._...__. 140

creates additional forest reserves ....._.......__..__..........._ 52

refuses to accept Walcott's resignation _.......__..___.......... 53

inner circle includes Garfield .................__.....__.....__... 59

sets up Inland Waterways Commission ............................. 68-69

on conservation in 1907 annual message _..__..__..... 69-70, 73

on tariff in 1907 annual message __........__..__.._.......... 98

on Rainey River dam __..__.....__.....__.._...__.._.... 72

convenes White House Conference of Governors _._.._....._ 74

National Conservation Commission appointed by ..__...... 78, 345

annual message to Congress in 1908 ..........__..__.....___. 86

advice on Cabinet not sought by Taft .__.__............__...... 87

leaves for Africa _..__.__..__..__........__..__........_ 91

concept of Executive power differs from Taft's ....__.._._...... 92

views on conservation compared with Taft's .__.__.....___ 100

Pinchot symbol of his conservation program .......__.....__... 104

returns from Africa ..........__..__.._...__..__.._._..... 112

New Nationalism speech _..__..__........__............___ 112

at Conservation Congress, 1910 .......................................... 113

letter to Garfield ..__....._._............_._..__.....__.. 120

alienated by Taft's antitrust actions ..................................... 130

supporters excluded from 1912 convention ......_.......__..... 131

in 1912 campaign .................................................... 138, 139

Wilson takes similar view on conservation .........._......__... 150

leader in preparedness movement ......................__........... 159

militantly pro-Allies ........................................................ 164

discredited in 1920 by some Republicans .............._........_ 220

associate of his Secretary of Agriculture in Harding

Cabinet .......__.....__........__.._................_....... 221

corollary to Monroe Doctrine repudiated ..........__.............. 295

his Secretary of the Interior heads Hoover's Public Lands

Commission ..................._.....__......................__... 299

his conservation interests followed by FDR ....._.....__......... 347

strong Presidential leadership begun by ..........__.._........... 411

Roper, Daniel .................................................. 337, 339, 359, 409

Rosa, E. B .......................................................................... 208

Rosenwald, Julius _......__......___......_..___.._......._... 174

Ross, C. P.:

explores for desert watering places ............___............__. 187

geologic reconnaissance of Santo Domingo .............._......... 199

geologic mapping in Arizona ._......__......._.................. 234

geologic studies in Idaho ................. 242, 282, 295, 304, 313, 371

special survey, Alaska Railroad Belt .._...._.........._.....__ 321

strategic-mineral investigations in 1938 .._...__.._....__..... 404

Ross, C. S .............................. 274, 279, 281, 311, 312, 322, 323, 380

Roundy, P. V .......................................................... 203, 222, 274

Rubey, W W .............. 226, 253, 310, 311-312, 332, 358, 359, 373, 381

Ruth, Babe ......................................................................... 259

Russell, I. C ........................................................................ 125

Rynearson, G. A ..__......_................__........__..__......... 404

Sales, Reno ................................................................... 348, 349

Salisbury, R. D .................................................................... 264

Sampson, Edward .................................................... 219, 234, 242

Sargent, R. H.:

maps in Fairbanks district, Alaska ...__.._.........__........_ 65

mapping in Alaska Peninsula oil fields ........._............. 232, 265

Alaska Range ................................................................ 280

compiles bases for mapping from aerial photographs ...__ 295, 313 

attached to Navy aerial expedition .__..__.................._... 302

mapping in southeast Alaska ............ 295, 313, 322, 333, 357, 382

transfers to Topographic Branch .................._............_.... 393

succeeded in Alaskan Branch by FitzGerald .......................... 404

Sauer, Carl ................................................................... 351, 352

Sayre, A. N ......................................... 301, 320, 331, 339, 373, 390

Schaller, W. T:

crystallographic studies ................................................ 27, 94

vanadium-minerals study .........__..__........__..___..... 154

search for mica and zircon ....._......__...._.__..__._... 195

lithium-pegmatite study ......._....__........__..__... 253, 257

saline-mineral investigation .........__..__.__..__...... 274, 279

petrography of drill cores from potash deposits ............__.... 303

borate minerals, Boulder Dam region .__........__.....__.... 358

awarded Roebling Medal .....__..__..__.__..__....._... 402

Scherer, O. J ....................................................................... 401

Schlesinger, A. M., Jr ...................................................... 349, 376

Schoff, S. L .................................................................. 390, 401

Schrader, F. C .............................. 24, 35, 69, 111, 184, 295, 313, 331

Schuchert, Charles ......................................................... 264, 359

Schultz, A. R ....................................................... 35, 46, 93, 122

Schwennesen, A. T ___________________________ 163, 172 

Scopes, J. T ........................................................................ 259

Scott, W. B ......................................................................... 409

460 Name Index
Scrugham, James ........................................ 350, 367, 376, 388, 397

Sears,J. D ....................................................... 252, 303, 307, 310

Shafroth, John ..................................................................... 200

Shaler, M. K ............................................................... 35, 46, 62

Shaw, E. W ................................................................... 141, 143

Shenon, P. J ............................................... 312, 322, 332, 371, 381

Shields, John ....................................................................... 165

Sherley, Swagar .__........._.........._............_._....._ 42, 56, 76

Shortridge, S. M .................................................................. 246

Sibert, W. L ........................................................................ 289

Siebenthal, C. E ............................................. 29, 64, 111, 123, 137

Silcox, F. A ......................................................................... 350

Sinclair, H. F ...................................................................... 229

Singewald, Quentin ..................................... 304, 312, 322, 380, 403

Sinnott, Nicholas ........................................................... 286, 297

Sisson, T. U ........................................................................ 201

Slayden, J. L ......................................................................... 78

Slichter, C. S ........................................................................ 28

Small, John ............_.....................__..__.__..__..__...... 76

Smith, A. E ................................................................. 288, 337

Smith, A. T ........................................................................ 269

Smith, C. D ........................................................................ Ill

Smith, C. T ........................................................................ 404

Smith, Carl ......___.....__..................__........__..__....... 62

Smith, G. E. P ..................................................................... 217

Smith, George Otis:

portrait ...__..._........................._......_..........__...... 60

early career ......_............_..._...__.....___............ 59-61

supervises geologic surveys in New England and New 

Jersey ___.........._......_.........__........__..__....._ 27

condemns Hobbs' manuscript ...............__..................__. 49

named fourth Director, USGS .................................... 5, 10, 57

Chief Geologist appointed at same time ...__................. 57, 124

concept of Survey ___._.........__.....__...._..........._.. 10

accompanies Garfield to convention of protest _._................. 61

faces internal problems _________________________ 62 

makes Marshall Chief Geographer .......__........__..__....... 66

at 1907 American Mining Congress ..................____.__... 67

joins Inland Waterways trip .._.......................__......_.... 68

pressed for action on California oil lands ....._._..__....__ 72

attends White House Conference ........................................ 74

accepts responsibility for enlarged-homestead classification ......... 88

changes in Survey during first 2 years _....._...............___ 89

supports Ballinger _.....__.............._..__..._..__.......... 91

places priority on public-lands States ......__........__......._. 97

at Irrigation Congress in 1909 ...__...._.....__........__.. 98-99

renews plea for oil-lands reservation _________________ 100 

attends 1909 American Mining Congress .....__..._.._........ 101

testifies in Ballinger-Pinchot investigation _____________ 105 

opposes Bureau of Mines _.__.__..__.....___.....__.... 108

controversy over directorship, Bureau of Mines ___.....__...... 109

receives letter from Taft __.......__...___........__.....__ 112

IGC committee on world geologic map ______________ 113 

faces more internal problems .....__.....__............___.... 117

makes first examination under Weeks Act _____________ 120 

serves under Democratic and Republican administrations ___.. 121 

changes requirements on cooperative funds ....___......__.... 126

on revision of public-land laws _________________ 127-128 

reacts to Van Hise's criticism .................__........__.......... 132

on new building for Survey _____________________ 139 

discovers wisdom of first Director _.....__.....__._.__...... 147

on mineral raw materials in 1914 ..........__........__. 11, 150-152

at American Mining Congress in 1915 _..__.._..__.......... 162

at USC&GS centennial .............................................. 167-168

member, wartime NRC subcommittee _______________ 177 

1914 report on mineral raw materials revised ..___.............. 177

Advisory Committee on Coal Production ...__.....__..... 181, 182

considers War Minerals Committee unneeded .......__.....__. 183

helps draft water-power bill .............................................. 188

letter on petroleum to Fuel Administrator __...............__... 199

"head of high-grade employment agency" _...............__... 202

on convergence of science and industry ___............_........ 207

says new type of geology needed ..........__..__.....__....... 208

on petroleum reserves _......__........__..__....__.... 14, 211

member, peacetime NRC ....___.....__............__......_. 13

member, Committee on Foreign Mining Policy __________ 222 

on size of Survey to Appropriations Committee ....___.._.. 224

proclaims partnership of geology and industry ......___....._ 226

Brooks' comments on _....._.........__.....__...........__ 226

on coal strike .........._._.__.__........__..__........__. 230

complimented by Cramton .__.___.....__..__............. 232

appointed to Coal Commission ....___..__.....__............ 236

resigns as Director .........__.....__.....__..__....__ 236, 238

plans radical reorganization of Geologic Branch ...._._.. 238, 240

resumes directorship ....__.....__........._..._......_...... 245

attends 1st World Power Conference ................................... 249

on A. H. Brooks ........................................................... 254

Advisory Committee, Federal Oil Conservation Board ........ 15, 257

on volcanologic investigations _.__.....__......................... 267

special plea for illustrations funds ...........................__...... 269

basic idea of Survey work, 1928 ._.................................... 284

needed geologic investigations, 1928 __.....__...._............. 286

Avalon Dam project _........._...........__.....__.....__.... 290

on budget for fiscal year 1930 ........................................... 296

at celebration of Survey's 50th anniversary ....._................... 298

on Survey's oil studies .........___.....__..__.....__......... 303

named to Federal Power Commission ......__.....__.. 17, 287, 314

reviews his directorate _............__........._............... 315-316

and Mendenhall compared .._....__.....__...............__... 317

as Federal Power Commission Chairman ________ 318-319, 326 

transformation of Survey under ._.........___.................... 410

Smith, Glenn ................... 166, 176, 180, 185, 196, 199, 251, 302, 321

Smith, H. I .................................................................. 258, 324

Smith, H. K ......................................................................... 69

Smith, P. S.:

Seward Peninsula .................................................. 47, 65, 80

northwest Alaska ......_.__..__..__.__.._......_...__. 123

Administrative Geologist _...............__............__.....__ 161

special study of sulfur deposits __.................._....__.._ 170

Acting Director ............................................................. 238

resumes work in Alaska ........__........__.__........_..__. 252

heads NPR-4 expedition .................................................. 253

on A. H. Brooks ........................................................... 254

Chief Alaskan Geologist ..................__.................... 254, 265

second NPR-4 expedition ..__...............__..._......._..... 272

Alaska Railroad investigations .__...............__..__........_ 313

accompanied by Mendenhall in Alaska ...............__._.__.. 322

at 5th Pacific Science Congress _........__.._................._ 382

on oil resources of Alaska ..__..__.......__.__.....__.... 393

Smith, Sylvester ......__.._..___............__..__.......__..... 72

Smith, W. I .......................................................................... 76

Smith, W. R ................................................................. 232, 265

Smoot, Reed ....................................................................... 255

Smuts, Jan .......................................................................... 205

Snelling, Walter .................................................................... 73

Sollas, W. J ......................................................................... 264

Soyster, H. B ....................................................................... 324

Spencer, Arthur:

iron, zinc, manganese deposits _______________ 23, 35, 46 

iron-resources studies .......__..__...._........__.....__...... 64

Alaska work continued ......__................__.__............... 69

in central Texas ..........._______.....__..__.................... 79

Ely quadrangle, Nevada _......__....._...__..__....... 94, 111

examinations under Weeks Act ....__.........................__... 120

Name Index 461
Santa Rita, New Mexico, copper ............................ 154, 161, 283

wartime search for pyrite ___..__..__........__............... 185

mineral production of world .__.._................_........_... 193

reviews Avalon Dam report ......__.._.............................. 290

Spieker, E. M .......................................................... 311, 323, 332

Spurr, J. E ..................... 22, 23, 36, 155, 191, 192, 263, 300, 305, 377

Staack, J. G ........................................................................ 302

Stabler, Herman ................... 82, 83, 111, 188, 213, 238, 258, 261, 332

Stadnichenko, Taisia ....................-. ...... .-.... ...........-. 303, 324

Stafford, W. H ...................................................................... 41

Stalin, Josef ......................................................................... 176

Stanton, T. W .............. 2, 23, 27, 62, 80, 118, 253, 264, 310, 322, 371

Stearns, H. T ............ 225, 233, 247, 269, 270, 289, 301, 309, 331, 356

Stearns, N. D ...................................................................... 251

Stebinger, Eugene .............................................. 160, 170, 186, 193

Steiger, George .................................... 136, 154, 203, 235, 242, 310

Stephenson, L W ........................... 84, 186, 235, 274, 279, 310, 359

Stevens, R. E ....................................................................... 310

Stewart, B. D ................................................................ 313, 322

Stewart, John .......................................__............_........... 7

Stewart, R. B ............................................. 311, 358, 359, 382, 393

Stewart, W. M ....................................................................... 32

Stimson, Henry .........__........__..__..............._...._. 277, 283

Stokes, H. W ...................................................................... 235

Stone, R. W ...................................................... 63, 122, 156, 195

Story, I. F ........................................................................... 166

Stose, G. W .................................... 27, 36, 184, 198, 275, 302, 402

Stringfield, V. T ............................ 298, 308, 320, 331, 356, 357, 401

Sullivan, E. C .................................................. 27, 47, 80, 94, 136

Sundstrom, R. W ................................................................. 357

Sutton, Frank ........................................................... 66, 196, 251

Swanson, C. A .............................................................. 336, 394

Szilard, Leo ......................................................................... 407

T

Taber, Stephen .............................-............-.........-- ............ 372

Taff, J. A ............................. 24, 35, 62, 79, 80, 86, 93, 111, 311, 383

Taft, W. H.:

portrait ......._.........................__............................... 92

elected President ............................................................. 86

does not consult Roosevelt on Cabinet ............................_... 87

inaugurated as President .........................._...................... 91

agrees with Ballinger on water-power-site withdrawals ............... 96

political problems ......................_......-......... ....... ..... 97

calls special session on tariff ...._........................................ 98

acts on Glavis charges against Ballinger ..............__...... 100, 105

speaks on conservation ............................................... 100-101

first annual message to Congress ..............._...................... 102

asked for documents in Glavis case ..................................... 103

dismisses Pinchot as Chief Forester ..................................... 104

special message on conservation .................................._... 105

breaks with insurgents ....................................._............ 106

approves bill to establish Bureau of Mines ..................... 108, 109

approves Glacier National Park Act .................................... 109

appoints G. O. Smith Acting Director, Bureau of Mines .......... 109

appoints Holmes Director, Bureau of Mines ._..................... 112

speaks at Conservation Congress, 1910 .................__.....__. 113

annual message on public lands, 1910 ................_........ 114-116

continues to support Ballinger _................................__... 116

accepts Ballinger's resignation ..__.._.................__..... 92, 119

appoints Fisher Secretary of the Interior .....__............... 119-120

political troubles increase ..._....__........__..................... 129

special message on Interior Department .......__................... 130

nominated for second term .....__.._.................._........... 131

loses election in 1912 ...................................................... 138

signs bill for new Survey building ...................................... 139

national budget recommended by ._....__......................... 208

success of conservation policies ...__..__.....__....._........ 345

Tarr, R. S ............................................................................. 36

Tatum, Sledge ..................__........__..__.....__.......... 112, 165

Tawney, James:

chairman, House Appropriations Committee ..._..__.....__... 37

in House debate on fiscal year 1907 appropriations .................. 42

in debate on fiscal year 1908 appropriations __.........._... 53-54

misadvises House on mine-accidents bill _...............__....... 73

on Survey appropriations for fiscal year 1909 ..._..__........... 76

opposes Bureau of Mines bill ..............__...._........_....... 77

on conservation commission ______________________ 86 

on National Academy of Sciences' report ........_................... 88

attacks Van Hise _...............__..__........__................. 98

supported by Taft ....................................._....._......... 100

again opposes Bureau of Mines ___________________ 107 

opposes Holmes as Director .............................................. 109

loses election in 1910 ...................................................... 134

Taylor, Edward ....................... 146, 284, 326, 334, 342, 352, 367, 394

Taylor, F. B ........................................................................... 27

Taylor, G. H .................................................... 310, 320, 340, 373

Taylor, H. C ........................................................... 234, 300, 325

Taylor, W. C ....................................................................... 350

Teller, H. M .................................................................... 33, 73

Temple, H. W .............................. 222, 239, 247, 255, 268, 286, 328

Theis, C. V .................................. 308, 310, 320, 331, 356, 373, 384

Thorn, W. T ................................. 184, 222, 225, 241, 251, 252, 280

Thomas, Elbert ............................................................. 405, 406

Thomas, Elmer .................................................................... 347

Thomas, H. E .................................................. 320, 355, 373, 401

Thompson, D. G ........ 187, 243, 266, 289, 308, 320, 331, 387, 390, 401

Thompson, F. J .................................................................... 269

Thoreau, H. D .................................................................... 237

Thorp, W. L ........................................................................ 350

Tillman, Benjamin .........._.........__..__............................... 38

Tower, G. W ......................................................................... 60

Trask, Parker ............................................. 304, 324, 358, 382, 393

Trimble, K. W ..................................................................... 272

Tryon, F. G ............................................................ 218, 397, 406

Tuck, Ralph .................................................................. 332, 357

Tugwell, Rex ........................................................................ 352

Turner, H. W ...................................................................... 252

Turner, S. F ..................................................... 301, 308, 357, 390

Turner, Scott ..............__.................................................... 350

Twenhofel, W. H .................................................................. 331

U

Ulrich, E. O ........................................... 27, 80, 264, 276, 310, 331

Umpleby, J. B ........................... Ill, 141, 161, 171, 184, 198, 203, 218

Underwood, Oscar ....................................................... 31, 42, 130

Vaksik, K. N ....................................................................... 301

Vanderwilt, J. W ..................................................... 304, 312, 322

Van Devanter, Willis ............................................................. 385

Van Hise, C. R.:

ranked 4th among American geologists ......................._........ 1

on present problems of geology ...._..........................._. 4, 22

becomes president, University of Wisconsin ........................... 23

U.S.-Canadian commission on Precambrian ............................ 27

relations with LaFollette .................................................... 38

concept of depth zones used by Lindgren .............................. 47

declined appointment as Director _.................................... 56

at White House Conference _............__..................... 9, 74

member, National Conservation Commission ......................... 78

462 Name Index
recommendations on phosphate lands ..._........._..__....... 85

National Academy committee on scientific work ..................... 88

published "Conservation of Natural Resources" ..............._..... 8

attacked by Tawney ..........._.........................__............. 98

addresses 1910 IGC ......................................................... 113

on Lake Superior iron ores ______________________ 115 

"Concentration and Control" ................................._..._ 131

criticizes Survey ................................................._........ 132

Van Horn, F. B ........................................................... 82, 85, 86

Van Orstrand, C. E ........ 48, 65, 124, 137, 157, 203, 219, 252, 263, 293

Van Winkle, Walton .............................................................. 138

Vaughan, T. W.:

working on monograph ____________________________________________________ 47

Atlantic Coastal Plain project ............_..._......_............. 64

extends work to Canal Zone, Bahamas, Florida Keys _........... 123

heads Coastal Plain Subsection ................_............... 134, 137

heads Section of Coastal Plain Geology _______________ 141 

identifies Mendenhall's coral collection _______________ 157 

plans Santo Domingo survey ............................................. 199

studies Caribbean and Central American faunas ...._............. 203

member, peacetime NRC .........................._.................... 13

chairman, NRC committee on sedimentation ........................ 220

sedimentation studies ............................................... 235, 250

leaves Survey for Scripps ..........._............__......_.._... 242

Veatch, Arthur ....................... 28, 35, 46, 86, 118, 222, 228, 356, 362

Villa, Pancho ....................................................................... 167

Vinson, F. M ....................................................................... 385

W

Wagner, R. F ....................................................................... 370

Wake, H. A ........................................................... 356, 373, 390

Walcott, C. D.:

ranked 3d among American geologists ________________ 1 

revives mission approach ..................................................... 2

concept of Survey .................._...................................... 10

on future of geologic sciences ......................_.................... 19

urges investigations of coals and cokes ........................ 5, 25, 253

fuel-testing program begun ._........................................... 26

on fuel- and structural-materials testing _________ 32, 39-40 

letter to Tawney ______________________________ 42 

controversy with Branner .............................................. 49-50

resigns as Director of Reclamation Service _____________ 51 

elected Secretary of Smithsonian Institution ...................... 10, 53

resigns as Director of Survey .............................................. 53

appraisals of directorate ............................................... 57, 60

barred from Academy Committee on scientific work ................ 77

change in Survey effected by successor .................................. 89

date of Cambrian base used by Clarke .................................. 94

interest in Glacier National Park .................................. 109, 118

work in Grand Canyon cited ______________________ 117 

takes part in discussion of economic geology ................_..... 119

photograph of "Alcatraz Island," Nevada ............................. 125

presents Academy resolution to President Wilson ................... 167

First Vice Chairman, wartime NRC .................................... 174

Academy committee on forest policy, 1924 ........................... 259

dies February 9, 1927 ...................................................... 280

his proposal for Grand Teton National Park enacted _______ 297 

similarities between Mendenhall regime and .................. 322, 329

Wallace, Henry A ....................................... 337, 339, 359, 369, 374

Wallace, Henry C ................................................................. 221

Walsh, T. J ............................................................. 165, 318, 336

Waring, G. A ............................. 81, 97, 161, 164, 172, 321, 332, 356

Warner, William .................................................................... 69

Warren, M. A ...................................................................... 401

Waters, A C ....................................................................... 312

Watkins, R. J ...................................................................... 406

Watson, James ....................................................................... 41

Watteyne, Victor .................................................................... 78

Weed, W. H ............................................................... 23, 36, 46

Weeks, E B .......................................................................... 64

Weeks, J W ......................................................................... 43

Wegemann, C. H .................................... 93, 106, 141, 160, 230-231

Wells, F. G .......................................... 278, 301, 308, 312, 321, 331

Wells, R. C.:

appointed to succeed Hillebrand ....................................._. 94

studies physicochemical methods in geologic problems ............ 136

studies salts in oil-field waters _.......... .................... 170, 186

begins investigation of sediments ....._..............__........... 220

resumes Stokes' work on copper ......_......_......._......._ 235

measurement of geologic time ..._.......... 242, 265, 281, 303, 310

experimental work on dolomitization ....__............_......... 293

chief chemist ............__............................................... 310

Wenzel, L. K ............................................ 308, 320, 336, 357, 373

Westervelt, W. Y .................................................................. 183

Westgate, L. G .............................................................. 235, 273

Wheat, J. H ................................................................. 215, 270

Wheeler, B. K ..................................................................... 248

Wheeler, G. M .................................................................... 402

White, A. G ................................................................. 183, 300

White, David:

portrait ....................................................................... 136

starred in 1903 American Men of Science .........................._. 2

Appalachian stratigraphic studies ........................................ 27

works on paleontologic papers ............................................ 47

investigates origin of coal ............................._............. 63, 79

at GSA-AAAS symposium on correlation ............................... 80

supervises Pennsylvania quadrangle mapping .......................... 93

continues microscopic study of coal ....._............................. Ill

heads Eastern Section of Fuels ..............._............._........ 134

elected to National Academy of Sciences ............................. 134

broadens Section program ______________________ 137 

studies oil shale ...................................................... 138, 153

appointed Chief Geologist .......................................... 140-141

presents carbon ratio theory ........................................ 153-154

takes charge of all oil-and-gas investigations ____________ 169 

War Minerals Committee ................................................. 183

continues as Chief Geologist ....................._.................... 184

on petroleum reserves ............................................... 199-200

member, peacetime NRC .................................................. 13

on basic research ................................__.................. 14, 211

yields supervision of oil-and-gas studies ............................... 219

estimate of petroleum reserves .................................... 222, 229

quoted on Teapot Dome ................................................. 230

retires as Chief Geologist ............................................ 14, 238

active in Academy, Research Council, GSA ........................... 241

papers on radioactivity and gravity ....._............................ 241

NRC Central Petroleum Committee ................................... 275

and development of petroleum geology ............................ 15-16

Grand Canyon studies ......._.......................................... 280

origin of oil ........................................................... 292, 329

coal classification symposium ...._..................................... 303

stratigraphic problems in Colorado ..................................... 312

awarded Mary Clark Thompson Medal ................................ 329

contributes to "Treatise on Sedimentation" .......................... 331

contributes to Congressional document on petroleum ............. 358

dies February 7, 1935 ...................................................... 359

White, I. C ..................................................................... 74, 78

White, W. F ....................................................................... 389

White, W. N ................................ 137, 266, 289, 301, 308, 320, 331

Whitney, J. D ........................................................................ 3

Wickersham, James ............................................................... 116

Wilbur, C. D ...................................................................... 245

Wilbur, R. L ................... 291, 297, 298, 299, 306, 307, 325, 326, 329

Name Index 463
Wiley, William _____________________....... ................................... 41, 56

Willard, Daniel __________________........................................... 174, 176

Williams, C. C .. . . ..... ... .. ....... .. . ..... ..... . . .. 363

Williams, H. S __. ............................................................... 264

Williams, James S ........................................................... 310, 312

Williams, John S ................................................................... 32

Willis, Bailey:

heads Areal Geology ..._..__..__.._..__.....__.....__... 23

compiles geologic map of North America ......_...... 36, 47, 64, 94

on Hobbs' manuscript ............._.............._...._........._ 49

Director one-time assistant to .._........_......__.._...._... 60

succeeded by Keith as head of Areal Geology ...__........._... 80

color scheme for world map rejected ..__........__..__........ 113

member, IGC committee on world map ...__.....__........_ 143

on damsites in Boulder and Black Canyons ....................._. 243

on Santa Barbara earthquake .__....._......__.................. 264

Wilmarth, M. G .................................................................. 264

Wilson, E. B ....................................................................... 370

Wilson, H. M ............................................................. 30, 42, 57

Wilson, James ..................................................... 54, 87, 140, 221

Wilson, Woodrow:

portrait ._.......___._.......__..__........__.__.......... 151

begins political career _..__..........._....................... 151, 347

candidate for President .....__..__...._.__.................._ 130

nominated in 1912 .........._....__.._..__...............__.. 131

elected President ...................................................... 138-139

chooses Cabinet _....._____..__..................__..... 139-140

approves Lane's public-lands policy __...............__........_ 144

Mexican crisis _.___........__.................._....__......... 149

calls for neutrality in World War I ............................... 150, 347

annual message to Congress in 1914 __........__..__.......... 158

on public lands legislation ........................ 11, 158, 164, 188, 345

reaction to Lusitania sinking .__._._............................... 159

annual message to Congress in 1915 ________________ 164 

approves National Park Service bill ...__..................__...... 166

ultimatum against submarine warfare ._..__.....__........_ 167

accepts offer of National Academy of Sciences _..__........_ 167

approves National Research Council .._..........__..__......... 168

reelected President ......................................................... 175

asks authority to arm merchantmen _.........._..__....._... 176

calls special session of Congress __.........................__...... 177

war message ........__........._......__.._..__.__......... 179

annual message to Congress in 1917 __..__........__....._.. 188

Fourteen Points for peace ......__.....__......_..__.....__ 193

planning for peace conference __...._...._._..__........... 198

Peace Conference and League of Nations ........__.. 201, 205, 259

crippled by stroke .....__........__..__.....____.__.........205

approves Water Power Act ........................................_.... 212

Harding reacts against leadership style ._.......___............. 221

FDR chooses political lieutenant for Cabinet .._.........._.... 337

Winchell, A. N .................................................................... Ill

Winchell, Horace ................................................................. 222

Winchester, D E ..................................................... 153, 169, 195

Wingate, E. W .................................................................... 324

Wix, O. L ........................................................................... 253

Wolfsohn, J. D .................................................................... 406

Wood, H. O ....................................................................... 226

Wood, R. H .................................................................. 160, 170

Woodin, William ................................................................. 336

Woodring, W. P ................ 220, 234, 274, 281, 293, 311, 323, 332, 371

Woodruff, E. G ............................................ 93, 110, 122, 141, 153

Woodward, R. S .................................................................... 88

Woolley, R. R ................................................................ 233, 390

Work, H. L ........................... 240, 246, 247, 254, 257, 269, 277, 283

Wrather, W E .............................................................. 222, 292

Wright, C. W ............................................................ 24, 36, 322

Wright, F. E .................................................................... 24, 36

Yard, Robert ........................................................................ 164

Yeatman, Pope ............................................................... 191, 222

Young, C. C ....................................................................... 289

Zimmerley, Stuart ........................................................... 303-304

464 Name Index
Subject Index

Administrative Reorganization Act _....__..__........__..__..... 410

Aerial photography for topographic mapping _._.... 14, 214, 216, 321

Aerial photography, in geologic and geographic studies ...... 219-220, 233

Age of minerals and rocks ....__........__...............__..__..... 265

Age of the Earth __.__................_..................__.__.......... 94, 264-265

Age of the ocean ___.....__................._....._.........._...... 94

Agricultural Adjustment Act ............................................. 374, 395

Agriculture, Department of ........... 4, 6, 17, 37, 96, 124, 140, 213, 222,

234, 261, 291, 297, 367, 383, 400 

Agriculture, Secretary of................................. 66, 116, 166, 297, 386

Alabama:

coal .................................................................. 35, 46, 111

geologic map _______________________________ 242 

gold deposits .....___..___........__.._.........__..__ 369

ground-water resources .............................................. 301, 308

iron ............................................................. 24, 35, 46, 242

manganese deposits __________________________ 184 

oil and gas investigations _........_...__........__.....__... 170

Russellville district ......................................................... 282

tin prospects ..._.....__..___........__..__..............._ 358

Alaska:

Admiralty Island ................................. 357, 372, 382, 393, 404

aerial photography of ...____....__.....__...._.__..__.. 216

aerial reconnaissance by Navy ____________________ 333 

Alaska Peninsula ............................................... 241, 265, 333

Alaska Range ...... 265, 272, 280, 295, 302, 313, 357, 372, 382, 393

Aleutian Islands ...................................................... 333, 357

Beach Expedition ____.________..._.___._.____...._...._.________.__._ .._._ 275

Broad Pass region .._........___..__.....__.....___.._ 142

Cape Lisburne .........__....._._......__........__..__....... 31

Chichagof Island ____________________________ 404 

Chisana district gold placers ..._..__._.__.....__.....__. 157

Chitina Valley _......__........_.............__........__...... 65

Chugach National Forest .._____.._......__............... 99, 104

Circle mining district ..._._.........._.....__.....__..___ 382

coal ................................................... 24, 31, 36, 80, 82, 104

coal-land laws ____..__........__..__...._._._.__. 11, 24

coal lands ............................................................. 115, 116

Commerce Department Expedition ....__....._._____._... 232

Cook Inlet ._..._............._..._..._...... _......_........... .......... 161

Controller Bay ........................................................... 36, 47

Copper River ................................. Ill, 123, 147, 156, 161, 169,

273, 280, 295, 302, 322, 332, 404 

Curry district ................................................................ 332

development and resources of _._.....__..._._..__.. 387, 396

Eagle district .........___.__.....__....._...._.__..__ 332

earthquake of 1899 .......................................................... 36

Fairbanks district ...................................................... 65, 169

forms of government ...___...._.__.._......_.. 102, 116, 131

Fortymile district .___..___.....__.__.............._.__ 382

Glacier Bay ............................................................ 322, 382

glaciers __________________________________ 36 

gold ........................................................................ 24, 36

Goodnews Bay ........................................................ 389, 393

Hyder-Ketchikan region .......__._....__.._.........._...... 280

Innoko-Iditarod _____________________________ 111 

Juneau district ................................................. 156, 302, 357

Kaiyuh Hills ................................................................. 357

Kasaan Peninsula .....__..................__..___.....__....... 65

Katmai eruption ._.._................__...............__.. 134, 135

Kenai Peninsula ._._....................................___....._ 123

Ketchikan district .................................................... 295, 357

Kodiak Island ............................................ 135, 333, 357, 372

Kotsina-Chitina copper belt _..._......_................__....... 157

Kuskokwim ............................................................ 161, 275

Matanuska coal field ......................... 36, 111, 142, 254, 265, 357

mineral springs _...........__.....__.....__....._......__.... 81

Moose Creek area _.__...._.......__..__.....___........ 332

Moose Pass region ......_..................._..__........._..... 123

mother rocks of petroleum _....._._.._......__............. 304

Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 ................ 240, 241, 253, 265, 272

northwestern ............__......_.....__.....__........_ 111, 123

Nushagak region _.__......_..__.......__.....___. 322, 372

oil ............................................................................... 24

oil, exploration for ____......_.........__..__........__.... 218

oil fields ...................................................................... 232

permafrost .............___..___.....__.....__........__... 372

photogrammetric methods ....__........___.._................ 404

phototopographic methods ._.............................._........ 156

placer mining ___.__.....__._....._..__._....__... 24, 47

platinum _.....__.___.____..........._.__.....___.... 393

Port Valdez mining district ....__.......__..__.....___..... 123

Prince William Sound ............................. 36, 69, 142, 147, 157,

161, 169, 173, 241, 265 

Railroad Belt ................................ 321, 322, 330, 332, 357, 382

railroads ..................................................... 25, 130, 131, 144

region tributary to railroad .................................. 203, 241, 313

Revillagigedo Island .._.....__..__.._.._......__.....__ 313

Ruby-Kuskokwim region ......___.....__...............__...... 357

Secretary Fisher's inspection trip ._.........__..__........__. 126

Secretary Payne's Commission on __._______________ 219 

Seward Peninsula ........................... 36, 47, 65, 80, 111, 161, 169

southeastern ........... 36, 47, 111, 169, 241, 254, 273, 322, 333, 357

southwestern .................................................... 254, 313, 322

stream measurements .__.....__._._._.....__...... 47, 65, 80

sulfur deposits .............................................................. 185

Susitna Basin .............................................. Ill, 123, 156, 161

Taku district ......__.__....._.._....__._.._....._ 313, 322

Tanana Valley ____._________________________ 404 

tin ......._____........__........__.....__..___........___ 65

topographic mapping ...____...._._..__ 24, 65, 80, 142, 156

volcanological studies _________________________ 293 

war minerals investigations _.__.__..__._.___......_. 185

water power _.______.....__.....___.__........_ 147, 161

Willow Creek-Kashwitna region _........__..___.....__.... 357

Yakutat Bay .............................................................. 36, 47

Yukon Basin ................................. Ill, 123, 161, 169, 241, 265,

272, 280, 313, 322, 404

Subject Index 465
Yukon-Tanana ......................... 36, 47, 65, 80, 111, 302, 333, 377

American Antiquities Act ........................................................ 35

American Association for the Advancement of Science _........ 4, 7, 65,

80, 260, 380 

American Association of Petroleum Geologists ............ 11, 15, 199, 222,

226, 228, 310, 323, 332, 359, 380, 391 

American Association of Water Well Drillers ............................... 301

American Engineering Council ................................................ 297

American Geographical Society .__.....__.._.........__.._._.... 13

American Geophysical Union ......................................... 13, 14, 309

American Institute of Mining Engineers ............... 3, 4, 12, 14, 16, 183,

207, 227-228, 262, 281, 282, 290,

300, 303, 323, 331, 348, 349, 405

American Journal of Science ..... .. ........... ......... .......... 264

American Men of Science .......___..__........__..__...__....... 1

American Mining Congress .................... 21, 67, 69, 101, 126, 162, 227

American Museum Association .....__......................_............. 275

American Petroleum Institute ....................... 183, 217, 228, 257, 275,

292, 293, 303, 323, 391 

American Portland Cement Manufacturers .._...__.............. 5, 31, 35

American Society for Testing Materials ................................. 41, 393

American Society of Civil Engineers ..................................... 32, 296

American Society of Photogrammetry ..__......... .. ........... 380

Antilles ......._........__............................................. ..- -. 137

Antimony ..................................._..._.........._..__.. 168, 169

Antitrust actions ................................................. 30, 129, 130, 131

Appalachian region:

areal geology ...................................................... 27, 80, 402

bauxite ......................................................................... 24

coal, regional variations ..__..__..__..............._........... 123

copper deposits _..................__...__.............._...... 23

oil and gas fields .................................................. 24, 64, 79

See also the individual States of the region. 

Arizona:

admission to statehood ......__..__...............__.. 38, 102, 106

Ajo region ....__....._..._......_.__.........__.. .. 332, 381

Aravaipa mining district ._............___............__......... 235

Boulder Canyon ..__.....__....._.........__..__.....__... 231

channel trenching _..........__..__...............__._......... 355

Christmas quadrangle ...........__.._.........__.............. 235

coal lands __.....__........__..__....... . .__............... 93

Colorado River surveys ..........._...____............__......... 223

desert watering places ....__.........__........__................. 187

geologic map ....................__....._......__..__..... 235, 242

Gila Valley-San Simon Creek ............................................ 355

Globe district ................................................................. 94

ground-water resources ............................. 97, 99, 163, 355, 356

High Plateaus ............................................................... 356

manganese ............................................................. 403-404

Miami-Ray district ................................................ Ill, 129

Navajo country ............................................................... 99

Oatman district ...................................................... 230, 235

oil lands ...................................................................... 100

ore deposits ..__...._...__................_..__........_..... 123

Permian rocks ....................................._......._....... . 293

river surveys _____________________________ 216 

Salt River project ............................................................ 29

San Carlos project ..........._................._........................ 204

San Pedro Valley ............................................................ 217

Shinumo quadrangle ........_....__........__..__............... 117

silver ores ....__....._................._._.....__.._........... 235

Stanley mining district .................................................... 235

Sulphur Spring Valley ........__....._.......__..__........_... Ill

Tombstone district ................................................. 46, 371

war minerals investigations ....__..._....__....._.......__. 195

Yavapai County ..........____...................._............_... 235

Arkansas:

Batesville area ............................................................... 184

bauxite __.._.....__.....__..__..__........__.....__.. 358

Caddo Gap-DeQueen quadrangles ..____........__..__...... 162

coal ....................................................................... 46, 358

El Dorado field ....................................................... 225-226

Grand Prairie region .......................................... 278, 289, 301

ground-water investigations .......__........._._..__.... 289, 301

manganese deposits .....__....______..__.....__...... 162, 184

oil and gas investigations ...............__..__.....__..... 203, 308

Ouachita uplift ............................................................... 80

Ouachita Mountains ...__........__.........___..__.......... 332

quality of water _..___.....__......................__........... 138

quicksilver .......__......................__........__............... 358

Army Air Corps ......_.................._..__............................. 321

Army Engineers ........................ 68, 71, 176, 267, 277, 278, 283, 286,

288, 290, 313, 321, 328, 341, 373, 400 

Asia, political developments in ....__.................... 276, 385, 394, 409

Asbestos ........................__...............__......_..__........... 169

Association of American Geographers _..__...................... 4, 13, 162

Association of American State Geologists ............ 75, 183, 268, 310, 331

Atlantic Coastal Plain ................................... 64, 66, 80, 81, 84, 137

Atlantic Coast States ................................._....__..__....._.. 51

Atomic energy .....................___..__..._....._....__......... 406

Australia, coal-land laws ...__......................_._..__............. 62

B

Bahamas .._............_.........__.........__...............__...... 123

Ballinger-Pinchot investigation. See Congress, U.S., Interior Department

and Forest Service, Joint investigation of. 

Bauxite ......................................................................... 24, 358

Beryllium ........................................................................... 310

Bituminous Coal Act .........._.........................._.................... 17

Bituminous Coal Labor Board .............._............._............... 370

Bleaching clay. See Clay.

Board on Geographic Names .................................._............... 37

Board of Surveys and Maps ....__.........................__. 215, 363, 364

Boulder Canyon dam site .................................................. 289-290

Boulder Canyon Project Act .................................................... 297

Boulder Dam ...................................................................... 374

Boulder Dam region .......................................... 342, 343, 358, 366

Boundary surveys ........_.......................__.... 66, 76, 112, 123, 135

British Empire Mining and Metallurgical Congress ............__....... 300

Brookings Institution ....._................__._........._....... 300, 371

Budget and Accounting Act ............................................. 222, 230

Bureau of Education ...........................................__............... 59

Bureau of Fisheries .......................................................... 29, 162

Bureau of Internal Revenue .........._.........__........_....__..... 195

Bureau of Lighthouses .......__........__..__.....__..__.......... 162

Bureau of Mines, U.S. ................ 5, 12, 15, 19, 67, 69-70, 73, 77, 106,

107, 108, 112, 113, 128, 134, 153, 156, 162,

167, 168, 192, 193, 200, 212, 230-231, 246,

257, 267, 278, 305, 342, 343, 381, 382, 393-394

Bureau of Plant Industry _..___.....__..__......................... 162

Bureau of Public Roads .......................................................... 216

Bureau of Reclamation ....... 245, 246, 271, 278, 298, 299, 342, 343, 358

Bureau of Soils _.__................_......_........................._.. 162

Bureau of Surveys and Maps, proposed ...................................... 343

Bureau of the Budget ............................................................ 222

California:

Alcatraz Island ...................__..__........._..._........... 164

Alleghany district .................................................... 252, 274

466 Subject Index
Amargosa Desert ..................................................... 185, 191

Angel Island ................................................................. 164

Belridge-Lost Hills district ................................................ 170

Central Valley project .....__.._.._..._.................__... 299

chromite ............................................................... 190, 404

Coalinga district ............................................... 10, 61, 64, 65

Death Valley .......................................................... 310, 382

desert watering places ..................................................... 187

earthquake prediction investigations .........._........__..__. 226

Edison field .................................................................. 371

Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve .................. 230, 274, 281, 293

floods ............................................................ 157, 170, 384

gold deposits .............__.............................................. 133

Grass Valley district .................................................. 312, 322

ground-water resources ... 29, 37, 51, 52, 66, 111, 138, 270, 301, 320 

hydraulic mining .......................__.._................._...... 36

Imperial Valley, irrigation _........._........................__.... 213

Ivanpah quadrangle _..................__...............__... 273, 282

Kettleman Hills ................ 303, 311, 314, 323, 330, 332, 371, 375

Klamath Mountains ........................................................ 190

Klamath-Shasta Valley ...................................................... 23

La Canada Valley .................................................... 360, 384

Lassen Peak ............................................................ 156, 162

land frauds ......___....._.__..__.._..__..__........... 61

lithium pegmatites ...................._.........................._... 257

Los Angeles, water supplies ......_............__...............__ 205

Los Angeles-Ventura region .........._........_....._......__.. 203

Los Angeles County, oil and gas investigations ......._............ 235

magnesite resources ..........................__........__............. 35

Mojave Desert ............__..................__.....__......_.... 81

Mokelumne River dam .................................. 269-270, 301, 320

Mono Basin ........................................................... 314, 330

Monterey formation __________________________ 312 

Mother Lode ........................................................... 161, 256

Mountain View field ......____................__............__ 371

nitrates ........................................................................ 191

oil-field mapping ................................. 203, 252, 303, 382, 403

oil-field temperatures ...._...................__...............___ 293

oil-field waters ...._............._..._................._.......... 160

oil-fields ................................................................ 153, 159

oil lands .......................................... 35, 79, 93, 100, 135, 141

Owens Valley ground water .......__......................._......_ 111

Owens Valley land utilization ..................................... 314, 330

Plumas County copper .................................................... 283

quicksilver ......_.........................__..............._........ 404

Randsburg quadrangle ...................................................... 11

reef corals ................................................._............... 157

Reef Ridge ............................................................. 382, 393

Sacramento Valley ....................................... 138, 158, 163, 204

St. Francis Dam ............................................................ 289

Salinas Valley ......................................................... 170, 173

San Andreas fault .............................................. 226, 302-303

San Diego County ....._........__............___..__.._... 158

San Francisco, earthquake ...._..........__.._._..__.._ 47, 53

San Francisco, water supply ........._................__.._ 205, 233

San Jacinto Valley ......__........._..._..__........__.. Ill, 163

San Joaquin Valley ...................................... Ill, 205, 274, 281

San Pedro Hills ...................................................... 332, 357

Santa Barbara earthquake __.._..........__.._.........__... 264

Santa Clara Valley ....................................... 138, 158, 163, 205

Santa Maria oil field .................................................. 46, 403

Santa Monica Mountains .................................................. 281

Searles Lake potash reserve .........__........._........__ 136, 186

Shasta County copper ....__._..__.._..._....._.__ 46, 111

Shasta Valley topographic surveys ....................................... 225

Sierra Nevada ................................ 27, 133, 253, 293, 382, 395

southern, batholith ........................................................ 382

southern, ground water ............................................... 51, 138

springs ..................................................................... 81, 97

Summerland oil field ......__..__.......__...._........__... 46

Sunset-Midway oil field .........__.....__.....__....._._.... 153

Taylorsville region ............................................................ 27

volcanological studies ___.._._............__........__...... 293

war minerals investigations ................................... 185, 194, 195

Canada, relations with U.S. ..................................................... 129

Canal Zone .................................................................. 123, 297

Carey Act ........................................................................... 103

Carnegie Institution of Washington ... 22, 48, 50, 65, 162, 226, 280, 373 

Cement .......................................................................... 24, 27

Census, Bureau of .........__.....__...........__..__..___........ 240

Census of 1920 .................................................................... 218

Central America, geologic history ._.._.....__......................... 137

Challenger Expedition ......__.....__.._..........__......._.......... 47

Chemical investigations:

analytical methods for lead, thorium, and uranium _............. 281

atomic weights ........__.....__........__....._.......__....... 94

Chromite .................................................. 168, 185, 190, 195, 404

Cities, role in national economy .__........_................_......... 396

Civilian Conservation Corps ......................................... 18, 337, 345

Clay ........................................................ 303, 312, 358, 388, 393

Clay minerals .............................................. 274, 281, 310, 311, 324

Classification Act .................................................................. 239

Coal:

Advisory Committee on Production .................._......_ 181-182

ash and moisture content _............................__.....__... 135

classification ......................................... 63, 189, 303, 383, 393

distribution, zoning system __........__..............._......... 189

in World War I ............................................................... 11

investigation proposed __...............__............................_ 5

metamorphism of .........._......_.................._.............. 303

need for research _.__........__..........._............_.... 253

origin ............................................................... 63, 79, 137

production ...__........__._.__........_........... 159, 167, 174

resolution to investigate _.....__...............__.................. 44

reserves, estimates of _..............._._............__........_ 406

statistics ........__........___..__........_......._._......... 184

U.S. resources ._____..............._._....._....._........._. 3

world resources .._.._.....__.._.........__.._......... 113, 143

Coal Age ............................................................................ 218

Coal Commission ................................. 222, 235-236, 238, 240, 266

Coal fields of U.S. ........................................................... 63, 154

Coal industry .................. 5, 13, 38, 237, 240, 337, 346, 347, 370, 385

Coal lands. See Public lands.

Coal Lands Act of 1873 ............................................ 10, 13, 51, 211

Coal strike of 1922 ................................................... 210, 230, 235

Coal testing ................................................... 5, 25, 26, 31, 35, 39

Coastal Plain ................................................................. 123, 186

Coast and Geodetic Survey, US. ................... 4, 16, 167, 226, 276, 286

Collier's Magazine ................................................................. 103

Colorado:

Alma district .......................................................... 273, 304

Bonanza district ...................................................... 273, 282

Boulder County tungsten .................................................. 46

Breckenridge district ................... 80, 94, 112, 273, 282, 295, 309

carnotite ores ....__........__....____............__ 47, 156, 312

Central City district .................................................. Ill, 133

Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties ........__.....__.....__....... 23

Climax district ..__._....__.....___...__.....___.._... 304

coal fields ........................................................... 35, 46, 62

coal lands ............................................................ 45-46, 93

cooperative metals program ....__........__.... 263, 332, 357, 358

correlation of coal-bearing rocks .......__..__.._............... 127

Subject Index 467
Creede district ..... . .. . . . . . .. ... 123, 137, 282

Cripple Creek district ............... 252, 262, 273, 282, 312, 358, 371

Douglas Creek ........................................................... 358

Englewood ____.___._.._._ __________.___... ........ ..._............ 358

Front Range ........................................ 304, 312, 322, 371, 381

geologic map ___.._____..__..__._..__..__... 312, 322 

Georgetown quadrangle ......__..__...............__..____.. 22

Green River shale ............................................. 138, 274, 305

ground-water resources _.___..__.._._.._._....__ 29, 356

Gunnison Valley coal ._____..__._....__..__..___..... 110

High Plains stratigraphy ..................................... 323, 328, 332

High Plateaus ground water _..__..__.__..__..__....... 356

La Plata region ........................................................ 371, 381

land classification map ........___.._.........__..__......... 330

land utilization studies .....__.....__.._..__..__.._ 261, 280

Leadville district ........ 3, 22, 23, 123, 252, 262, 273, 276, 304, 322

Little Book Cliffs ........................................................... 274

Montezuma quadrangle ......__.._...._.__.___.._ 273, 282

North Park ................................................................... 136

Mosquito Range ......................................... 273, 324, 371, 381

oil shale investigations ____..__....._._............___... 195

oil shale lands ..._.__..._._.__...........__..___....._ 252

ore deposits, origin ___._..___.____..__.....__......... 22

Ouray district ............................................ 258, 295, 304, 312

Park County gold placers ................................................. 380

Raton Mesa ..........__..._..__..__........__..__........_ 127

Rico district ......................_......................................... 312

Rio Blanco County carnotite _..__..__.__............___... 47

San Juan Mountains 23, 27, 47, 171, 172, 258, 295, 304, 312, 371, 391 

South Platte River .......................................................... 243

Southern Rockies, ore deposits ___.__.....__.....__....._ 304

stratigraphy, Carboniferous _._....__..........._.__......._ 312

stratigraphy, Mesozoic ..__.._______....__..__........_ 312

stratigraphy, oil sands ......__.....__........_....__..__..... 226

Tenmile district _....._.__..__..__........_....__........ 273

type section of Dakota group ___..__.....__..__........__ 249

Uinta Basin oil shale .........__.....__.....__..__........._. 141

Uncompahgre district .........__....__...............__......... 372

water-power investigations .__..__..__........__......... 225, 243

Yampa coal field .....____...........__........_....__.......... 135

Colorado Metal Mining Fund ..................................... 260, 262, 273

Colorado Plateau:

geologic mapping ..__..._..__..__.......__..__..... 274, 281

Jurassic stratigraphy .__........__.__........._..__.....__ 327

oil fields ...................................................................... 252

Permian sedimentation _..__..__._....__.._..._...__. 293

Colorado River:

expedition of 1923 ....................... ................... 238, 243-244

Governors' Conference on __......................__..___....... 284

river measurements ...._.._....__.._..__..__..__. 284-285

sediment and suspended matter in ...__........__..__.. 207, 389

special surveys .......__.__..__..............._ 224, 233, 242, 243

stratigraphic studies along _......_..__.......__..__....._ 224

utilization .............................. 150, 157, 166, 213, 216, 223, 233

Colorado River Basin, agricultural utility of land .....__..__... 300, 314

Colorado River Basin States _...._.__..__........__................. 213

Colorado River Commission ________________________ 240 

Colorado River Compact __........__.....___............_...... 17, 299

Colorado Scientific Society ..__.__..__.._____..__.._____. 322 

Columbia Basin project _......_._....__........__.....__... 243, 299

Columbia River __.....__...........__..__...............__........_ 70

Columbia University ....................................................... 119, 274

Columbium ._.....___.._..___..__........__..__.....__... 94

Commerce, Department of _._.........___.........__.. 221-222, 297

Commerce and Labor, Department of ........................................ 140

Commission to study oil needs of Navy ...........__.....__.....__. 245

Committee on Departmental Methods ..___....._......_.......__ 37

Committee on Foreign and Domestic Mining Policy ... 222, 227-228, 262 

Committee on Industrial Preparedness ....... 227-228, 262, 281, 323, 405

Committee on Mineral Imports and Exports ................... 191, 192, 197

Committee on Organization of Scientific Work of the Government _ 77 

Comptroller General ..................................... 95, 222, 236, 296, 334

Congress, U.S.:

58th .................................................................... 7, 30-33

59th ......................................................... 37-46, 50-54, 56

60th ............................. 69-70, 72-73, 75-77, 86-87, 88, 97-98

61st ............................................... 102-109, 114-117, 122, 129

62d ......................................................... 129, 130, 131, 139

63d .......................................................... 139, 144-147, 158

64th ............................................................... 164-166, 173

65th ................................................... 179, 188, 192-193, 201

66th ......................................................... 201, 211-213, 224

67th ........................................... 222, 229-232, 235, 239-240

68th ..................................... 244-245, 246, 247-248, 254-256

69th ........................................................ 266-269, 277, 286

70th ............................................ 283-286, 289-290, 295-297

71st .................................................... 307-308, 314, 318-319

72d ......................................................... 326-329, 333-336

73d ............................................ 337, 342, 347, 350, 352-353

74th ..................................... 367-368, 369, 370, 374, 376-378

75th ..................................... 385-388, 394, 395-396, 398-400

76th .................................................. 405-406, 407-408, 410

Agriculture and Forestry, Committee on _..........__..__.... 277

Alaska Railroad, Senate Select Committee on ........................ 313

Appropriations Committees ... 37, 76, 138, 147, 267, 283-284, 286,

296, 307, 326, 329, 341, 342, 376 

Bill for topographic map of U.S. ........................... 247, 255-256

Bill to establish Department of Mines _.._...................__ 246

Bills for more equitable distribution of Survey work .__......... 146

Executive Agencies, Senate Select Committee to investigate ...... 394

Executive Branch, Joint Committee on reorganization of ... 239, 247 

Foreign and Interstate Commerce, Committee on ........... 222, 247,

286, 326, 358 

Interior Department, Committee on Expenditures in _.....__. 146

Interior Department and Forest Service, Joint investigation of _. 82,

103, 104, 105, 116 

Minerals control bill ...__.....__.........................__. 193, 196

Mines and Mining, Committee on ......................... 108, 146, 193

Naval petroleum reserves, investigation of leasing _.......... 244-245

Petroleum, 1916 inquiry on ___.....__..__.....__._._... 165

Petroleum, 1934 investigation of ........................................ 370

Public Lands, Committee on ........ 45, 146, 211, 231, 244-245, 326

Revolt against the Speaker ............__..__........._........... 106

Rivers and Harbors, Committee on .................._......._...... 68

Rules, Committee on .....__....._........_......_.._... 91, 106

Strategic and critical materials bill ................... 405-406, 408-409

Connally "Hot Oil" Act ........................................................ 368

Connecticut:

ground-water resources .............. 125, 133, 142, 143, 202, 204, 373

war minerals investigations _.....__..__......_................. 194

Connecticut River, salinity _..___.....__.._.......__..__...... 389

Conservation and Works, proposed Department of .......__.._ 369, 376

Conservation of natural resources:

and ownership _....__........__.._....__..............._ 113-114

annual message of 1907 .....___..__..__...............__. 69-70

Ballinger's recommendations on ......................................... 105

Conference of Governors _.....__..__................_....... 74-75

national program .__..__........__..__........................... 21

Theodore Roosevelt's policy _.....___.._.......__................ 5

Taft's views on ..___..__........_.__..............__.... 92, 100

under Franklin D. Roosevelt __..__..__........................... 18

Conservation Congress ...__._.___..__..__.....__..__........ 113

Conservation League of America ......__..__..__...............__.. 120

Continental drift .....__..__.....__.....__..__.....__..__..... 293

468 Subject Index
Copper:

chemical changes in nature ._....__.....__.___..___... 235

disseminated deposits ...__.._____..__._....__..__ 94,tl29

metallic ore deposits ......__........___.__...............__. 242

secondary enrichment __..__..._..__._.__.....___..__ 28

statistics ............__..__...............................__.__..... 46

U.S. deposits .................................................................. 23

wartime production ........................................................ 193

world resources ............................................................. 338

Copper Producers Association ......._..__..__._....__..__...... 80

Corning Glass Works .............................................................. 80

Council of National Defense ............... 173, 174, 175, 177, 180, 181-182

Cuba .................................................................... 164, 193, 199

D

Dam and reservoir sites ......... 71, 72, 171, 224, 239, 242, 243, 245, 269,

271, 289-290, 297, 308, 325, 330, 390

Delaware, areal geology ___________________________ 64 

Desert watering places ..................................................... 187, 203

Development and Conservation, proposed Department of _..__.... 336

District of Columbia:

geologic mapping .__........___._.__.__.....__._._ 281

water supply ___.....__........_............_.__._.__._ 43

Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo) ........ 30, 167, 193, 199, 203, 204

Drainage basin problems .......__..............._.........__.__.... 385

Droughts ..................................................................... 333, 356

Dust storms ........................................................................ 351

Earth:

age ................................................................. 94, 264-265

chemical denudation .......__........__...___.....__........... 94

effect of radioactivity on cooling .__..__.....__.....__....... 124

tides ........................................................................... 401

Earthquakes ........................................... 36, 47, 263, 264, 281, 332

Economic Geology ..................... 4, 27, 60, 93, 118, 119, 261, 278, 402

Economic geology (general):

annotated bibliography ................................................... 294

development as science ..................._......__....._............ 3

field of .................................................................. 281-282

future .......................................................................... 93

ore deposits, origin ......................___..__.....__.....__. 47

progress in ....___......................__....._................... 281

special problems in .................................................... 118-119

See also entries under commodity and geographic headings. 

Economy, national ...................... 8, 237, 277, 283, 287, 305-306, 317,

325-326, 329-330, 336, 394, 395 

Economy Acts ...................................... 329, 331, 337, 338, 339, 341

Elections, national .......... 86, 91, 114, 138, 175, 220-221, 237, 248, 277,

287, 295, 314, 330, 333, 379, 405 

Emergency Banking Act ....__....._._............__.....__....... 346

Energy and energy resources .................... 4, 5, 199, 212, 403, 406-407

See also Coal, Petroleum, Water power. 

Engineering and Mining Journal............. 3, 21, 108, 119, 125, 244, 246

Engineering geology ._.....___.._................__.....__._._ 163

Enlarged Homestead Act ..................... 87, 88, 158, 260, 300-301, 314

Europe, political situation in ......................... 374, 399-400, 404, 409

Executive Reorganization Act .......__........__..__..............._ 335

Fair Labor Standards Act ........................................................ 395

Federal Government:

reorganization .................................... 208, 221, 239, 256, 257,

266, 307, 335-336, 394, 410

retirement system ...__..___.................._....__.....__ 208

salaries ........................................................... 202, 208, 239

Federal Oil Conservation Board ........................ 15, 245, 257, 291, 292

Federal Power Commission ............ 13, 17, 212-213, 216, 225, 233, 267,

278, 287, 307, 314, 318, 326, 383 

Federal Trade Commission .....____.__.....__....__........ 231, 240

Federal Water Power Act ........................................ 13, 212-213, 225

Federated Societies on Planning and Parks __.....__.._____..... 300

Flood control .......................................................... 283, 286, 288

Flood Control Acts ......................................................... 286, 378

Flood forecasting .................................................................. 320

Flood magnitude and frequency __..__...............__......... 354-355

Floods ....................................... 14, 71, 82, 157, 170, 286, 360, 407

Florida:

areal geology ..___.__............___..__..____..___ 64

geologic processes ........__..___........__..__.....__...... 123

ground-water investigations ........ 308, 320, 331, 355, 356, 373, 400

marine deposition ...___............_.................._._....... 141

oil and gas investigations ...__._.___..__...............__. 170

phosphate lands ...................................................... 110, 358

physical geography _........__.....___..__..................... 390

quality of water ........__....._.........__..__.._._........ 138

Sarasota area .......................................................... 320, 331

Food Administration .__........___..___....__...............__ 183

Force required to move particles on stream bed _........_........__ 373

Forest commission of 1896 .....__.....__.....__.._........_....._. 6

Forest Lieu Land Act __.._..__..............._.............___... 6, 7

Forest Management Act ._____.....__.....__............__............ 6

Forest policy ........................................................................ 100

Forest reserves ................................ 6, 21, 30, 37, 50, 52, 66, 70, 115

Forest Service ........................................ 7, 8, 37, 38, 45, 52, 71, 92,

97, 98, 99, 100, 103, 116, 157, 161,

222, 232, 233, 278, 295, 302, 337, 369

Forestry, Bureau of ...___........__..__..........._.__........__. 29

Fuel Administration ..................................... 183, 188, 189, 197, 199

Fuel testing ..................................................................... 63, 94

Gasoline, substitutes for ........__..__........__.........__.......... 217

General Accounting Office ..................................................... 222

General Land Office ................. 35, 59, 62, 92, 99, 103, 105, 108, 110,

121, 133, 161, 212, 234, 291, 298 

Geochemical investigations ___..__..__....._.. ...__.__...__... 293

Geodetic work, proposed transfer to USGS ........................... 286, 297

Geologic names, lexicon ........___..__.__..__.._................ 402

Geologic time ......................................................... 242, 264, 281

Geological Society of America .............. 3, 4, 12, 13, 80, 220, 241, 281,

293, 310, 332, 357-358, 380, 381 

Geological Society of Washington ....................................... 153, 380

Geological survey, functions and ideals of a national ............__..... 210

Geological Survey, U.S.:

The entries below refer to administrative and organizational matters. 

For surveys, investigations, and research by the U.S. Geological 

Survey, see the appropriate subject matter or geographic heading. 

Administrative Geologist .....__.._____..__............ 132, 133

Advisory Board _...........__..__.....__.....__............ 40, 76

aerial photography, contracting for ........_..__.................. 296

Agricultural Division ..__................................_....__... 353'

Alaskan Geology Branch ........................ 232, 254, 265, 393, 404

and progress of science ......__..._.....___..__.....__....... 4

and Weeks Act .............................................................. 116

appropriations ....... 4, 17, 19, 30, 32, 38, 41-45, 53-54, 56, 73-74,

75, 88, 108, 134-135, 146, 147, 201, 213,

215, 230, 239-240, 247-248, 254, 260,

267-269, 270, 278, 284, 285, 295-297,

307, 308, 318, 325-329, 334, 338, 342,

367-368, 376-378, 387, 398-400, 407, 410

Subject Index 469
at the end of 60 years ................................................ 410-411

attack by Branner and Hobbs .................._._.....__.... 48-50

Branch of Mining Technology, proposed ...__.............._...... 73

building for ........................................................... 109, 139

Chief Alaskan Geologist .................................................. 265

Chief Geologist ..................................... 56, 124, 125, 140, 238

Chief Hydraulic Engineer ................................................. 140

Chief Hydrographer ........................................................ 140

coal lands withdrawal .............................................. 50, 51-52

Coal Section .....__....__.__..__..__......... ............. 215

coal-testing plant __.__.._..__.__.............._.......... ......... ..... 26

Conservation Branch ................ 257-258, 260, 271, 279, 290-291,

298, 300, 308, 313, 324, 330,

353, 372, 384, 393, 402

Cooperative and repay or transfer funds ......... 15, 81, 96, 125, 144,

157, 163, 164, 172, 173, 187, 197, 201, 215,

225, 240, 287, 302, 310, 313, 318, 322

district offices ............................................ 288, 289, 308, 320

Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources ....._.........__.... 215, 218

Division of Chemical and Physical Research ....._...........___ 215

Division of Engraving and Printing .__.__........__.......... 364

Division of Water Utilization _.........................__..__... 319

Division of West Indian Surveys ......__..__.......__..___ 199

enlarged homestead designations __________________ 125 

50th anniversary ...................................................... 284, 298

Geologic Branch ............. 5, 14, 22, 23, 27, 62, 77, 134, 141, 150,

167, 184, 197, 215, 238, 240, 241, 251,

260, 261, 273, 280, 310, 322, 371, 381

Geologic Names Committee .....__..__.._..__............... 264

geologists, number of _..................__.....__....._........ 258

Geophysics Section ............................................ 343, 376, 381

George Otis Smith's review of progress ..._.......__....._ 314-316

Hydrographic Branch ........................................ 28, 29, 37, 48

Land Classification Board ................. 11, 56, 88, 93, 100, 117, 118

Land Classification Branch ...................... 121, 187, 197, 215, 238

library .................................................................. 388, 399

manpower problems .................................... 202, 208, 215, 239

Map Information Office .__...................................__..... 215

Mine Accidents Division ..____...........__........__..___... 7

Mineral Leasing Division ..___..__..............._......__.. 257

Mineral Resources Division ........................... 159, 240, 247, 257

mission approach .....__........__...._..................__......... 2

nature and purpose of work ..........__..__........__............ 10

organization and operations ___..__........._.............___. 2

Pick and Hammer Club ...................................... 140, 257, 317

Pittsburgh explosives experiment station ..._....__.....__...... 78

program in 1879 .__....._..............................._.............. 2

publications:

Bulletin on rock analysis .__....._............._.__........ 47

Classification of the Public Lands .........._............_... 139

Contributions to Economic Geology ............_ 5, 26, 47, 142

Data of Geochemistry .................................... 47, 80, 124

Explosives Circular .__._..__.........._.................... 95

geologic guides to railway routes ...__........__.._ 102, 156

Geologic Time Classification .............................__.... 264

Handbook for Field Geologists ................................... 124

Lexicon of Geologic Names ..__............................... 402

Mineral Resources of the United States .....__.....__. 23, 36

Our Mineral Reserves ........_.....__........_............... 150

Our Mineral Supplies .....__...............__.....__....... 177

policy statement by Director Smith on .........__..__.... 162

Shorter Contributions to General Geology ......_....__... 143

PWA allotments to ......................................................... 358

reorientation of work ......._..........__......._.____..__.. 381

river hydraulics laboratory _..__..__..__........_...._.. 36, 47

Technologic Branch ..................... 56, 62, 64, 77, 78, 79, 94, 108

Topographic Branch ............... 14, 29-30, 37, 51, 66, 77, 112, 132,

143-144, 166, 176, 177, 186, 197,

215, 216, 238, 270, 290, 301-302,

308, 313, 321, 333, 364, 374, 384, 393

25th anniversary ..__....___............._..................... 1, 21

war service ...................................... 12, 180, 181, 182, 186, 196

Water Resources Branch ..................... 11, 14, 48, 62, 66, 77, 125,

137, 143, 163, 187, 197, 215, 238,

260, 319, 330, 354, 372, 383, 400

Well sample program .................................................. 28, 37

Geologic der Erde .............._...._.__..__ ...___........._........_....__._. 293

Geologists, leading American, 1903 _.........__..._................... 1-2

Geology (general):

applied ................................................................. 113, 123

borderland investigations ........._..__.._.........._......... 381

commercial ...........__.....__........................_...._..... 208

development and status in North America ......_.__............ 380

in partnership with industry _............_................... 226-227

military applications ............___..__......_.............. 182-183

present problems .........................._..........__..__......... 22

Geophysical exploration ____________________________ 15 

Geophysical investigations:

age of cooling globe _......__.............___..................... 65

elasticity ............................................................. 27, 48, 65

gravity ............................................................. 16, 157, 241

movement of fluids through porous solids ......_.....__........ 263

present problems ....__...............__........__.................. 22

radioactivity ........._......._................___............__... 65

slaty cleavage ..__.......__....__...............__....._....... 65

Geophysical Laboratory .._............__..._......_..__........... 137

Georgia:

areal geology .......__........._..__.._..._.._............... 64

Cartersville district ......................................................... 382

geologic map ..__.....__....._......._........................... 302

gold deposits __.....__...._...................................__ 369

ground-water investigations .........................__.......... 356, 401

iron ___....__.............._......._.._................_ 46, 64

manganese ....._.......__....._.................__................. 184

oil and gas investigations ___....._................................. 170

proposed forest tracts ...................................................... 120

quality of water ...................__.............._.................... 138

Savannah River ._......__................_.....__............... 389

Warm Springs ___................_..._................__......... 356

Geothermal studies .__.....__................................_........... 219

Gila River ........................................................................... 204

Glacial geology .............. 27, 39, 80, 203, 281, 293, 303, 382, 395, 402

Gold .................................. 24, 35, 36, 133, 142, 195, 230, 369, 380

Gold Reserve Act .................................................................. 346

Gold resources of the world __...............__.....__............_ 305

Gold standard ....._..__....._......__..__........__..__...... 346

Graphite ............................................................................ 159

Gravity and local geology ....__........._..._....._...__......... 241

Grazing lands. See Public lands.

Grazing Service ......__.....__........__..__....._....__..... 17, 353

Great Lakes, modern earth movements ..__.._............................ 27

Great Plains ................................... 82, 234, 261, 271, 280, 291, 385

Green River ........................................................................ 233

Green River formation ..................................................... 292-293

Guffey-Snyder Act .................................................... 370, 375-376

Guffey-Vinson Bituminous Coal Act .......................................... 385

Gulf Coast oil fields ......................................................... 24, 159

Gulf Coastal Plain ................................................... 130, 137, 279

H

Haiti .............................................................. 199, 203, 204, 220

470 Subject Index
Harvard Tercentenary Conference ..........__............__.__....... 381

Hawaii:

ground-water investigations ............... 204, 217, 225, 251, 301, 331

Kilauea ................................................................. 247, 276

Kona district ................................................................ 303

Mauna Loa ............................................................ 204, 276

Oahu .......................................................................... 309

seismological laboratory ............_...._.__....__..__...... 324

Volcano Observatory ._..__..._.........__....__.....__... 263

volcanological investigations .......__.__.__.__.__ 293, 324

Helium .............................................................................. 196

Hydrologic data, deficiencies in .........__._.__.....__..__...... 387

I

Idaho:

alluvial deposits __.....__.__........__..__.....__..__ 390

Bay Horse region ........................................................... 295

Boise Basin ......................................... 332, 371, 400, 403, 406

Buffalo Hump, Elk City, and adjoining districts .................... 332

Clearwater River, South Fork, drainage basin ..__.._..__... 322 

Coeur d'Alene district .......................................... 23, 381, 403

Coeur d'Alene Lake .__.._____..__..__.__..__..__... 225 

cooperative metals program .......__.._.__..............._. 358

Florence mining district _........_..........__........__..__. 381

ground-water investigations .................... 225, 234, 289, 294, 320

Idaho County ...._........._....__..__.....___.._........ 371

Kootenai River investigation .........__.._...............__.... 371

land utilization studies .......__..........._.___..__......... 261

manganese deposits .._..__..__....____....................... 312

Malad and Curlew Valleys ................................................ 320

metals investigations ............................. 203, 242, 283, 304, 313

Mud Lake Basin ............................................................ 225

north-central, gravel deposits .....__..__.._____..__....... 357

ore deposits ................................... Ill, 123, 161, 171, 218, 235

phosphate deposits ....................................... 64, 172, 219, 235

phosphate lands ..._...............__..__..__.._..__.. 93, 110

Secesh Basin ................................................................. 403

silt movement in streams ......___......................__. 400, 406

Snake River .................................................................. 216

Snake River Plains ................................................... 289, 294

water-power sites __..__..__.__..__...............__..__. 216

Illinois:

coal-field mapping .................................. 62, 123, 137, 141, 171

fluorite ................................................................. 358, 372

geologic mapping ...._......___.__..__........._..._..... 83

topographic mapping ......................................... 148, 216, 225

Indian Affairs, Bureau (Office) of ............................ 59, 97, 157, 278

Indian Territory:

admission to statehood ._.__...._....____....._..__...... 38

coal-land classification _._...........__._...._.__._.__.... 24

coal-land leasing .__...............__.__....._._..__........ 38

Indiana:

coal-field mapping ......__.._._................._..__....._ 63

ground-water investigations ........__..__..__.__.__ 373, 401

Industry, U.S., expansion in _....._._..__...............__.._... 209

Inland Waterways Commission _............................. 8, 68, 70, 71, 78

Inquiry, The ........................................................................ 193

Institute for Government Research ................................__._... 246

Interior, Assistant Secretary for Minerals ._...........___...__....... 350

Interior, Department of the ...................... 12, 17, 59, 62, 69, 92, 103,

128, 130, 196, 208, 212, 213,

240, 296, 297, 352, 353, 376

Interior, Secretary of the .................................. 71, 78, 164, 196, 213,

222, 246, 297, 307, 346 

Internal Revenue Service __.____.....__..__........__..__..... 202

International Association of Scientific Hydrology ..................... 14, 309

International Congress of Arts and Sciences ....__.....__.....__. 4, 22

International Control of Minerals ............_........_.__._.__... 262

International Geological Congress ........... 36, 47, 64, 113, 143, 305, 310

International Research Council __.....__.....__............__.. 13, 198

International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics ...........___... 13, 309

International Well Drilling Congress ......................................... 270

Interstate Commerce Commission, investigation of Eastern railroads ... 50 

Interstate Oil Compact ........................................ 17, 298, 325, 368

Iowa:

coal-field mapping ___..__.........._..__..__................ 123

early Paleozoic rocks ........__.__......._............__....._ 310

ground-water investigations ...__......_._...._..........._... 401

Iron:

Alabama ................................................................ 46, 242

Cuyuna Range ..__...._.__..__........__..._....._ 154, 161

Europe ........................................................................ 194

Georgia ........__...._.__.....__.....__..__......_.... 46, 64

Idaho ......................................................................... 242

Lake Superior region ......._.....__.....__........_............. 115

Louisiana ......__.......__.__.....__................._._._ 154

New Jersey and New York ......__......_..____........... 35, 242

Pennsylvania .__........__.....__.....__.._.......... 46, 64, 242

southern Appalachians __._.__.....__..__.....__.... 154, 161

Tennessee .................................................. 46, 235, 252, 263

Texas ..................................................................... 79, 154

U.S. resources ..................................................... 3, 7, 35, 81

U.S. industry ....._.........__.....___..__..__.....__...... 24

Utah ............................................................................ 46

Virginia ___.....___....._................_............_.......... 46

Washington .................................................................. 242

Wyoming _..................__....__..__._...........__...... 46

world resources ...................__..___..__................_. 113

Iron-depositing bacteria ......__..................__................. 156, 161

Irrigation .....___..__..._..__.....__....__................__. 6, 70

Irrigation Congress __........_.._.__.................................... 98

Irrigation laws .....___........__..__...............__.._............. 61

Irrigation Survey ...__........__................_....._._.........__.. 6

Isostasy and gravity _.......__..__._....__..__..__........_ 157

Isthmian Canal Commission .__..__.._................__....... 95, ,143

J. K

Joint Information Board on Minerals and Derivatives ............... 191, 197

Journal of Geology ...__.__..__.....__............._.....__... 9, 60

Journal of Sedimentary Petrology ...................._..._................ 16

Kansas:

Bartlesville and Burbank sands .........._..__................_... 386

coal-field investigations _...._.................................. 154, 358

El Dorado field ............................................................. 186

Equus beds .................................................................. 390

Ford County ...___....____.__.....__..__..___....... 401

glacial geology .....___.....__._.__....._.............._... 253

ground-water investigations ...__..___.._.......... 356, 390, 401

Independence quadrangle ....__.._._..__..._................ 24

lead and zinc deposits ........................................ 358, 371, 372

Mississippian limestones _................_...__.._. 371-372, 393

oil and gas investigations .............___............................ 170

shoestring sands .._........_................._...................... 323

Wichita water supply __............__.....__............__..... 401

Kentucky:

coal fields .................................................................... 358

Elkhorn coal field .......__......................__............__.... 46

fluorite ....................................................................... 358

fuel investigations ................__......_...._..__............... 35

Henderson coal field .....__._...........__..__..___..___ 63

Subject Index 471
oil and gas developments ............................................... 123

oil and gas investigations __.__.___.......__..__.....__. Ill

Lake Champlain pollution .._____..__.__.____.___......... 29

Lake Superior region:

copper deposits __..__._____..__...._.__.__.___ 235

iron ......................................................................... 3, 115

Lakes-to-Gulf Waterway ........................................................... 68

Land planning, conference on .................................................. 352

Land planning, report on ..._._..__..__.__..__.__.......... 360

Land planning committee ....................................................... 351

Land resources .....................-............ .......................... 300, 314

Land Resources and Land Use in Relation to Public Policy _.....__. 352

Land Use Committee ............................................................. 351

Landslide, Gros Ventre, Wyoming ....................................... 263-264

Latin America, relations with ...____._______..__..__.. 277, 283 

Latin America, war-minerals investigations .._____.__..__... 12, 193 

Lead:

Mississippi Valley ____.._.___.__.....__._.__..___. 23

statistics ...........__._....__..__..___._.__..__......... 46

InState area .............................................. 123, 358, 371, 382

U.S. resources ..___..___..__..__........__._......... 24, 82

League of Nations _.....__........_____.....__.__....._.. 12, 205

Lever Act .................................................................. 12, 182-183

Lindgren Volume ..___..__.__..__..__.......__..__....._ 331

Lignite ....................................................... 26, 31, 32, 35, 39, 44

Louisiana:

Caddo oil field ..................................................... 10, 73, 85

ground-water investigations _.....__.....__.._____._...... 401

iron ores .___._._____..__.__........__..__.....__ 154

oil and gas investigations ._..__..__........_ 153, 160, 170, 203

sulfur deposits .............................................................. 169

Louisiana Purchase Exposition ....__..__.._____..__._... 5, 25, 31

Ludlow resolution ....................._................................ .. 304-305

M

Maine:

geologic map ......__.__..____._.......__..__........__ 332

pyrite .......................................................................... 185

Magnesite ...................................................................... 35, 194

Manganese .................... 15, 35, 64, 159, 162, 168, 169, 184, 189, 195,

237, 263, 281, 282, 294, 312, 323, 403-404

Maps:

Alabama geologic .................................................... 242, 275

Arizona geologic ....__._.....__.._.__..__..__. 242, 275

Arkansas geologic .................................................... 275, 302

Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain geologic ............................. 162

California geologic __..._..__..__........____.__....._ 302

Colorado geologic ....__.__....._.......__..__.....__ 275, 322

Florida geologic ............................................................. 275

Georgia geologic ..__........__....__....__..__._....__ 302

Kentucky geologic __........___..__........__..__.....__ 302

Maine geologic .....__...._.__.__...._.__..__........_ 332

New Mexico geologic .........__.____....__.__._....__ 275

North America geologic __..___..___..__._ 36, 47, 64, 94 

Oklahoma geologic __.___..____.___..__..___..... 275

Pennsylvania geologic .....___..__.._.__..__..__ 275, 302

State geologic ......___._..__...__....____..__.....__ 15

Texas geologic _._.__........__..__...............__.... 275, 302

Texas oil fields and pipelines .___.._.__..__..__........ 240

US. geologic ........................................ 15, 275, 302, 322, 332

U.S. military ................................................................. 187

U.S. oil and gas fields ..................................................... 170

U.S. tectonic ................................................................. 302

U.S. topographic ..................................................... 200, 222

Virginia geologic _.____.___..__..__.....___..___ 275

world geologic ...____.._____._____.....__....._ 113, 143

Wyoming geologic ...____....__..__..__._.__.....___ 203

Wyoming oil fields and pipelines ...................................... 203

Maryland:

areal geology .._............___..__..__........__..__...... 64

chromite prospects ...__..___..__.__........__..__..... 185

Savage River dam site ..__._....__._...._._..__......... 390

Massachusetts:

areal geology ......___.____....__.__....__.....__..... 80

ground-water investigations _.___..__..____....__._._ 401

peat bogs ..................................................................... 137

Taconic Mountains .....__.____._.__.__._..__.....__.. 27

Massachusetts Institute of Technology ..................................... 48, 66

Metal production in Europe ....__.....__.__........__..___... 294

Metallographic studies ...__.....___..__..__.._.._....__... 154

Mexico:

Cananea copper mining district _..__...____..__............ 64

relations with U.S. ................................................... 149, 167

Michigan:

copper ........................................................................ 252

early Paleozoic rocks ....__...._.__............__................ 310

glacial features ................................................................ 27

ground water to fight forest fires ................................. 331, 355

observation-well program .._____..__..__.....___..___ 357

Schoolcraft quadrangle .............__..............__.._... 214, 216

Microlithology ___.__.....___.....__..__.....__............... 203

Micropaleontology ........................................ 16, 203, 221, 235, 392

Midcontinent oil fields .................................... 79, 93, 159, 225-226

Military Engineer ........__....__.....__....._.......__..__...... 215

Mine accidents and mine safety ........................ 64, 72, 73, 77, 78, 95

Mineral Advisory Committee of War Department ..........__..__... 405

Mineral fuels. See Coal, Petroleum, and Natural gas.

Mineral industry ............................... 13, 19, 200, 237, 348-349, 397

Mineral Inquiry _.__..___.._.___........._._..__....._.. 300

Mineral lands. See Public lands.

Mineral Leasing Act ....................... 11, 14, 15, 185, 211, 212, 267, 307

Mineral policy ............................................................... 347-348

Mineral Policy Planning Committee ........... 350, 362-363, 368, 369-370

Mineral resources:

conservation ....................................................... 7, 8, 67, 68

economics _.__.____.___..__..___._..__........... 342

foreign ....._._._______.....__..__........__..__...... 194

international control _.._____.__......................__..... 180

national policy for use of ___..__..__..__.__.._...... 12, 19

U.S., statistics ............................................ 3, 11, 12, 240, 242

world production ........................................................... 193

Mineralogical Society of America _......._..__........_... 13, 380, 402

Mineralogy:

clay minerals ........................................ 274, 281, 310, 311, 324

crystallographic studies __....._______.___..__........_ 27

Franklin, New Jersey ........................................................ 35

eutectic series __.________..__......___..__..__...... 36

lithium pegmatites ..____....__...._...____........._.... 257

mineral synthesis ___._____..__._.......__.....__....... 48

potash cores .................................................... 274, 279, 303

thermal dehydration .....___....__.__._....__.............. 324

thermal properties ........................................................... 27

vanadium minerals __..___.____..__......................... 154

Mining and Metallurgical Society .......... 12, 16, 183, 222, 228, 262, 405

Mining and Scientific Press ................... 10, 60, 101, 108, 109, 119, 124

Mining Congress Journal ........................................................ 253

Mining laws .................................................................. 101, 128

Minnesota:

Chippewa lands leveling surveys ._______....__..__........ 66

Cuyuna Range iron __........__.___.__._.._ 154, 155, 161

472 Subject Index
Pleistocene deposits ....____...._______._________... 137

Rainey River dam ............................................................ 72

Roseau River investigation ................................................ 288

structural materials ____.___.____.__...._.__..___ 141

water quality _._______.__.__._____________._ 29

Mississippi:

Jackson area _.....___.___.______.__.____.___ 393

observation-well program ................................................. 401

oil and gas investigations .................................... 160, 170, 393

Mississippi River .............................. 70, 141, 277-278, 293, 303, 384

Mississippi River Commission ___....________.________ 286

Mississippi Valley:

geologic mapping __._____________.__.__.__ 47, 80 

lead and zinc deposits _._____..__.______.__.____ 24

Mississippi Valley Committee ____........__.____..____. 338, 341

Missouri:

coal-field mapping ____...._____.__._____ 123, 137, 141

Joplin district ................................................................ Ill

lead-zinc deposits ........................... Ill, 123, 127, 358, 371, 382

Missouri River, water-power investigations _______________.. 243

Molybdenum ....................................................................... 185

Montana:

Belt Mountains _._.__.__._____.____________ 295 

Blackfeet Indian Reservation __....__.__._____.____. 137

Butte ........................................................................... 36

coal-field mapping ......................... 281, 293, 303, 311, 323, 332

coal lands, classification .____.___.__.__..__... 46, 62, 93 

coal lands, withdrawal ______.________.__.____ 45-46 

earthquake, June 1925 .............................................. 264, 285

glacial features .._.________._______.________. 253 

gold placers ........__....____.....__.____....__..__... 322

ground-water investigations ............... 138, 164, 173, 217, 225, 242

Helena region ............................................................... 295

Hill, Chouteau, and Liberty Counties ................................. 332

Libby quadrangle ..._______._____..________ 304, 313 

Little Rocky Mountains ................................................... 382

manganese deposits ___.________.____.....___ 312, 322

metals ......................................................................... 283

oil and gas investigations ........... 153, 186, 203, 217, 225, 235, 393

oil lands, withdrawal ...................................................... 160

ore deposits _._____.____._._______.___.... Ill, 123

Philipsburg quadrangle __..__.___________..______ 46 

phosphate ..__._____.___._..__.________.__. 322 

physiography and glacial geology ................................. 382, 402

Pioneer district .............................................................. 322

regional carbonization __.___________....._______ 219

Rosebud County ..................................................... 242, 262

vermiculite ..._______________.____________._ 322 

water-power sites __.____._._________._..______ 216

N

National Academy of Sciences ..... 76, 80, 88, 93, 94, 134, 163, 167, 198,

241, 259-260, 275, 293, 329, 339, 364, 371

National Bituminous Coal Commission ._.____.._____.___... 370 

National Bureau of Standards ............................... 4, 5, 80, 108, 345

National Coal Association ____.._..._____.________._ 218 

National Conference on Land Utilization ..___....________._ 325

National Conservation Association ___________....__.___ 120

National Conservation Commission ..... 8, 77, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 345

National Domain League ......._.__._._______....__.___. 98

National Defense Act _____.._____._____.._________ 162 

National Forest Reservation Commission ._____......._______. 110

National forests, topographic mapping in ______._________ 279 

National Geographic Society _______..____._.____.___ 13 

National Industrial Conference Board ....__...________.__... 300

National Industrial Recovery Act ................ 18, 337, 338, 346, 368, 369

National Museum, U.S. ............................................. 162, 274, 275

National park movement ___.___________..___..__ 144, 164 

National Park Service ............................ 130, 150, 166, 175, 233, 275,

278, 290, 321, 337, 371, 382 

National parks and monuments:

Badlands ..................................................................... 409

Bryce .......................................................................... 321

Crater Lake ..___..._____.___._____.__.___... 6 

Craters of the Moon ....................................................... 294

Devils Tower ___...._._______._.._____....__.__ 55

Glacier .................................................................. 109, 118

Grand Teton ........................................................... 297, 311

Grand Canyon .................................................. 275-276, 280

Great Smoky ...................................... 276, 278, 290, 296, 313

Hawaii ........................................................... 166, 175, 276

Mammoth Cave _______._____._.____..__._.___ 313 

Mount McKinley ............................................................ 175

Mount Rainier ....________________..__..._______ 6

Lassen Volcanic ___.________....._____.._.__ 166, 175

Sequoia ..___....__.__.__.....____...._____.... 6, 371

Shenandoah .............................................. 279, 290, 296, 313

White Sands ................................................................. 145

Yellowstone .................................................................. 203

Yosemite ............................................... 6, 162, 234, 281, 371

Zion .................................................. 290, 313, 321, 371, 372

National planning and development, regional factors in .......__.... 385

National Planning and Public Works

in Relation to Natural Resources __.._____.....__........__. 360

National Planning Board ............................................'18, 339, 345

National Progressive Republican League _.____._.......__.__ 129

National Public Works, Engineers, Architects,

and Constructors, Conference on ___.....__..__.__..___.... 200

National Research Council .......... 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 168, 174, 183, 198,

220, 242, 270, 274, 275, 280, 281, 292, 293,

300, 302, 303, 309-310, 331, 339, 380, 381

National Resources Board ........... 19, 345, 359, 360, 366, 367, 376, 394

National Resources Committee ............... 346, 370, 372, 380, 383, 385,

387, 396, 398, 399, 403, 406

Natural resources, conservation and development __..._______ 266 

Natural resources, in preparedness program _____..__...____. 150 

Natural resources, regional authorities for conservation ____.....__ 386

Naval Expansion Act ..__.____.__._.__...__.....__..__ 395

Naval Oil Shale Reserve No. 1 ................................................. 252

Naval petroleum reserves. See Public lands.

Navy Department ....................................... 222, 240, 273, 296, 302

Navy, Secretary of ____________....____.......__........_ 296

Navy, U.S. .......................................................................... 357

Nebraska:

Boxelder County ._____.....__.._______....__.____. 401

ground-water investigations ___.._____._ 173, 308, 320, 336,

355, 373, 390, 401

observation-well program ___.__.____..______._ 356, 373 

oil and gas investigations .__.___.________........_... 170

Platte Valley .................................................... 308, 320, 336

Neutrality Acts .............................................................. 374, 385

Nevada:

Black Rock Desert .......................................................... 152

Big Smoky Valley ........................................................... 158

Boulder Canyon ............................................................ 231

Bullfrog district ___....._.__.......____..________._ 46

Cedar Mountain earthquake ............................................. 332

Chief district __.__________....._____...._.____ 332

Comstock district ........................................................... 371

Comstock mine ..._....____.__.____..________...... 161

Delamar district ............................................................ 332

Ely district ........................................................ 94, 111, 294

Eureka district .................................................. 294, 332, 403

Subject Index 473
exploratory drilling for ground water ____..__.____.. 187, 204 

Goldfield ................................................... 23, 68, 80

gold districts ..____..__.__.........___.. _. ..... 35

Goodsprings quadrangle . .. .. ....... ......... ....... 263, 282

Hamilton district . .. . . ........... ..... .. .......... 294

Hawthorne quadrangle .......................... 235, 282, 295, 312, 371

Humboldt River valley .................................................... 173

land utilization studies .................................................... 261

Las Vegas ............................................................... ... 401

Manhattan district ...................................................... . 161

mining regions ._____.......__..__....__...._..... 80, 313

Mountain City district . .. .. . ... . .. ....................... 332

Muddy Mountains ....................................................... 231

Omco district ............ ................................... ....... - 219

ore deposits ......................................... Ill, 123, 210, 304-305

Paradise Valley .............................................................. 234

Pioche mining district .............................................. 235, 274

potash reserve ___..__.__..__.__....... ...._....... 136

Reese River valley ........................................................... 173

river surveys ...__....._..__.. ...__..... ............. 216

rock alteration .___........_.... ...._ ......... . ~ 294

Searchlight district .......... ... .............. .................. 332

Silver Peak Marsh ........................................................... 125

southeastern ground water ......__..__..............__..... 138

Steptoe Valley ........................................................ 187, 204

Tonopah district ......................... 23, 66, 155, 161, 305, 306, 313

Tonopah quadrangle ................................... 226, 235, 282, 371

Truckee-Carson irrigation project ........................................ 173

war minerals investigations ___..__.___..___.__ 185, 195

New England:

floods .................................................. ..... 286

slate, granite, clay ..... ............... ............................ .... 24

See also the individual States of the region.

New Jersey:

areal geology ___._....__.......___....... ..... ...... 27, 64

Franklin Furnace __.._____......._..._.._...__........ . 23

glaciated areas _._.__......._............... .. . .... 281

ground-water investigations ..................... 251, 266, 269, 320, 355

iron, zinc, manganese ................................................ 35, 242

Sterling Hill .................................................................. 23

New Mexico:

admission to statehood .................................. 38, 102, 106, 131

Avalon River reservoir ..................................................... 290

Burro Mountains copper ........................................... .... 161

Central district ........................................................ 312, 322

coal-bearing rocks, correlation ........................................... 127

coal fields ........................................................... 35, 46, 62

coal lands, examination .._..___._.......__..__._... 93

coal lands, withdrawal .......___.___....__..__........_ 45-46

Estancia Valley ................................................................ 97

Gallup district .............................................................. 303

geologic map ....__........__..__........__.........__........ 203

Grant County .__.__.__..__..__.__... ...__......... 158

ground-water investigations .......... 97, 99, 158, 172, 251, 265, 266,

269, 278, 289, 301, 320, 331, 355, 373, 406 

Guadalupe Mountains .................................................... 253

High Plateaus ............................................................... 356

Lake McMillan reservoir .................................................... 52

Lea County ............................................................ 301, 331

Little Hatchet Mountains ................................................. 371

Magdalena district ....................................... 110, 172, 294, 304

metal-mining districts ..................................................... 357

metals investigations ................................................ 203, 358

Mimbres Valley .......................................... 278, 289, 301, 406

mining districts ........................................................ 36, 110

Mount Taylor region ................................................ 323, 329

Navajo country ............................................................... 99

oil and gas investigations ................................................. 303

oil lands, withdrawal _.....__.____.._.......__..__._.. 100

oil prospects ................................................................. 220

Pecos Valley ........................................................... 172, 271

Portales Valley ............................................................... 320

Raton Mesa .................................................................. 127

red beds reconnaissance ................................................... 141

Roosevelt and Curry Counties ..................................... 320, 331

Roswell artesian basin ............................................... 265, 266

San Juan Basin ....................................................... 304, 357

Santa Rita ....................................................... 154, 161, 283

Silver City quadrangle .___.....__.._...._._............__ 111

Socorro County .__..__........__..__.._______..__.... 283

stratigraphy and structure ................................................ 220

Tularosa Basin .................................................. 125, 138, 145

war minerals investigations ......................................... 185, 195

New Nationalism ..._...___........__..____...__..___.... 112

New York:

Adirondack Mountains ..................................................... 47

gas resources ................................................................. 372

ground-water investigations ........................... 320, 331, 355, 373

iron, zinc, manganese ..__.....___....._______..___. 35

Lake Champlain, pollution ................................................ 29

Long Island, ground water .................................... 28, 320, 362

oil and gas fields ..____.....__.._...__.....__....._...... 358

New Zealand, coal-land laws ...__.....__.___.___..__..___. 62

Nickel ................................................................................ 152

Nitrates ........................................................... 152, 168, 185, 191

North America, geologic map .................................... 36, 47, 64, 94

North Atlantic deep-sea cores ............................... 382, 391, 392, 401

North Carolina:

areal geology ...._.__..__...........__......__.............._ 64

gold deposits ................................................................ 369

manganese ____..___..__.................._.._..__..... 184

tin deposits ................................................................... 24

North Dakota:

coal fields .......................................................... 35, 62, 358

coal lands, examinations ___.__.__..__.__.__..__... 93 

coal lands, withdrawal _.__...........____._______... 45-46

Fort Union and associated formations ...__....._...__....._ 310

ground-water resources .___._..__..__....._....__.....__ 37

oil lands, withdrawal ...__.....__.........___..__..__..... 160

well drillers' association ...___..__..__.....__.....__.._ 225

Northern Pacific Railroad grant .................................... 108, 110, 122

Northern Rockies, physiography and glacial geology ... 281, 293, 303, 382

O

Ohio:

Berea sandstone __.__.....___._....____.._....__..... 153

coal-field mapping ......................................................... 171

Flushing quadrangle ...................._................................. 46

ground-water investigation .....__..__.._____..__.__.... 401

oil-field waters ......__._.__..__..__........__..__....... 170

structure contour maps ...___..__.__........__..__..._ 274

Summersfield and Woodsfield quadrangles ........._....__...... 153

Ohio River flood .................................................................. 384

Oil. See Petroleum.

Oil and gas fields, State maps .____..._..__......................... 218

Oil and gas fields, U.S. map ................................................... 170

Oil and gas properties, tax on _____..__..__.....__..__....... 195

Oil-field waters ................................................... 153, 170-171, 186

Oil industry ............................................ 13, 19, 38, 324, 337, 368

Oil pools, cooperative development .............................. 292, 314, 330

Oil sands ............................................ 170, 219, 241, 275, 282, 324

Oil shales ......................... 138, 141, 145, 153, 160, 195, 219, 241, 292

Oil States Advisory Committee ................................................ 325

474 Subject Index
Oklahoma:

admission to statehood _.._..__..__.__.....__.__..... 38

Bartlesville and Burbank sands ..._______....______...... 386

Caddo County .......................................................... 203

Cimarron County ...__.._..__.__.__.....__..__..__ 401

coal fields ................................................. 311, 323, 358, 383

Cushing field ......................................................... 137, 169

Ellis County ............................................................... 229

Foraker quadrangle .._.__..__...............__.....__.__.. 160

geologic map __._.__........__.__..__......_..__..... 242

ground-water investigations ___....__..__.....__ 229, 390, 401

Indian lands, leasing ...__........__..__._._..__..__.. 186

lead and zinc deposits ................................. 123, 358, 371, 382

oil and gas investigations ........... 141, 153, 160, 170, 192, 235, 358

Osage Nation ................................................... 160, 192, 195

Ouachita Mountains ........_...._....._.__.......____ 371, 373

Panhandle ................................................................... 390

Pennsylvanian rocks .__.....__.....__............__..__...... 311

Red River region ...__.._................__._._..__.._.. 137

temperatures in oil fields ...__.....__..__......._.............. 293

Ore deposition, Committee on processes of _..__..._................ 281

Ore deposition, laboratory investigations of ..............__. 124, 293, 310

Ore deposits, magnetic methods of detecting ......................__... 172

Ore genesis ................................................................... 261, 294

Oregon:

Baker quadrangle .................................................... 304, 312

Cascade Mountains ..__.....___..__............__............ 322

coal lands, examinations ________________________ 93 

coal lands, withdrawal _______________________ 45-46 

Deschutes River _..__....._._........__.....__..__....... 76

ground-water investigations ..................... 278, 289, 341, 373, 401

Harney Basin ............................................. 309, 320, 331, 341

Keating copper ....................._...............___.........._ 396

Klamath River .............................................................. 243

mining districts __ ___.___._ ____._.____________.._______..___.___.__ 304, 312

nonmetallic minerals _..__....__._...........__..__ 312, 322

observation-well program ..........._.........__.....__.... 373, 401

platinum placers ............................................................ 322

quality of water .__._...........__..__.__.....__..__.... 138

Snake River .................................................................. 216

Sparta albite granite __..__...._.....___.....__..__...... 322

Sumpter quadrangle ...__........__..__............__.......... 304

The Dalles ............................................................. 308-309

Umpqua River .............................................................. 243

Walla Walla Basin .................................................... 331, 355

war minerals investigations ...................................._. 185, 195

water-power sites ................................................ 96, 216, 243

Willamette Basin ........................................................... 400

Willamette Valley ....................................... 278, 289, 301, 308

Pacific Coast, black sands ..__....._._..__...........__.._._... 36

Pacific Science Congress .__...............__..__.._._..___.... 382

Paleontological Society _._.__........__..__..___..__..___ 13

Paleontology:

Caribbean and Central American faunas ................._....._. 203

ceratopsian dinosaurs __......___...................__........ 34, 47

conodonts ..__.................._.._..__......................__. 221

Cryptozoon .................................................................. 192

Dendraster ................................................................... 375

diatoms ....................................................................... 392

Eglobella longipes Bradley .......................................... 305

Grand Canyon Precambrian ..._._..__....._._..__.._.. 280

Kettleman Hills Pliocene ................................................. 375

lower Eocene floras ....__..__....__.____............__.... 130

mammalian faunas and stratigraphy _________________ 33

Pacific Coast Tertiary marine faunas ....___.______.____. 27

reef corals ___.....___..__.._._...._._.____.__... 157

titanotheres .__......._______.....__..__..___.......... 315

Triceratops calicornis Marsh _.__.....__.__.._____..__. 34

Panama Canal ........................................ 30, 142-143, 156, 163

Panama-Pacific International Exposition .......__....._...._....__. 156

Paris Peace Conference .............................................. 180, 198, 205

Patent Office ........................................................................ 59

Payne-Aldrich tariff ............................................................... 100

Peat .................................................................................. 137

Pecos River joint investigation _.__.._._..__..__.......... 389, 401

Pennsylvania:

fuels investigations ......___..__.....__..__.._._........... 35

coal ..................................................................... 46, 62

coal-field mapping ....................................... l4l, 154, 171, 311

geologic mapping ........___..__.....__..__......_.......... 93

glaciated areas __.__..__..__.....__.__...............__ 281

ground-water investigations .................... 241, 266, 269, 278, 289,

301, 308, 335, 355, 373 

iron .................................................................. 46, 64, 241

northern anthracite coal basin ____________________ 382 

observation-well program .__..__.....__..__............. 320, 356

oil and gas investigations _.____.....__........._....... 195, 303

oil-field waters ___.....___..__............__.._._......... 170

Somerset and Windber quadrangles ................__............... 311

structure contour maps __.....__............_..................... 281

temperature measurements in wells ........................._....... 137

topographic mapping _............__.........__........ 30, 48, 225

war minerals investigations ...__.._._.......................__.. 185

Petroleum:

accumulation .__...._........__................................. 28, 102

carbon-ratio theory ......__.___.......__..__...._ 153-154, 359

conservation ...................................................... 17, 291, 292

consumption and production for fuel .........__........__.._ 300

discovery rate of new fields ..__......._.._......__............. 391

early Survey work _____________________________ 4 

estimated reserves ................................. 82, 199, 222, 228-229,

267, 359, 370, 391, 406 

exploration .............__............_._..__...................... 186

importance .............___..__.._._............._......__.... 7

movement ___........__.._...._._..__................_.... 293

origin ................... 16, 102, 138, 153-154, 186, 292, 303-304, 324

physics, chemistry, and geology of.....__..__..__.............. 275

production ................................... 149, 152, 159, 169, 176, 218,

237, 257, 292, 300, 346 

reservoir rocks .....___..___..___...__....................... 235

resolution to investigate .......__......___..__._................ 17

resources .......___....._...__........__._..................... 170

secondary recovery ............................................. 263, 275, 282

shortage after World War I ................................... 13, 189, 222

source materials ................................... 235, 312, 324, 382, 393

stratigraphic traps .......................................................... 391

trade in Wyoming and Montana __________________ 231 

during World War I ......................................................... 11

Petroleum geology ..................................................... 15, 203, 391

Petroleum industry .................................... 13, 19, 38, 346-347, 368

Phosphate ................................................... 64, 172, 219, 235, 310

Photogrammetry. See Topographic mapping.

Physics of the Earth ........................................................ 324, 380

Physiographic divisions of the U.S. __..___._........__.....__. 162

Pickett Act ....................................................... 106, 127, 131, 352

Placer Act ...................................................................... 13, 211

Placer deposits of the U.S. ......__..__.....__.......................... 154

Platinum ............................................................... 185, 389, 393

Pleistocene geology __........__..__......_.....__.....__.. 137, 141

See also Glacial geology. 

Political economy and conservation _____________________ 9

Subject Index 475
Portland Oregonian ............................................................... 144

Potash, search for .............. 122, 123, 125, 136, 141, 152, 159, 168, 169,

170, 183, 185-186, 197, 203, 219, 235, 267, 274, 293, 303 

Potash Act .......................................................................... 267

Potash drilling program ......................................................... 323

Potash Leasing Act ................................................................ 186

Potomac River drainage basin investigation .............................. 29, 43

Power resources, survey __..__.__..__..___._..__..__ 213, 216 

Precambrian:

Canadian-U.S. Commission on nomenclature _..__.....__ 27, 47

Grand Canyon ........................................................ 117, 280

Precious metals:

in political arena ........................................................... 346

production from geologic standpoint .................................... 23

statistics ........................................................................ 46

See also Gold and Silver. 

Public buildings, structural materials for ..__.....___..__.....__ 95

Public Health Service ............................................................ 400

Public-lands States, oil prospects ................................................ 95

Public lands:

authority to withdraw _.____.__.._.___._..... 11, 102, 106

business policy for ........................................................... 10

classification according to highest use ................................. 262

closed to entry by Executive order .__........__..__.....__. 353

Coal Lands Act of 1873 ..................................... 10, 13, 51, 211

coal, classification .............................. 10, 24, 100, 122, 127, 154

coal, contested, Utah ....................................................... 35

coal, disposition ............................................. 11, 70, 103, 211

coal, evaluation ................................................. 100, 121, 139

coal, leasing in Alaska ...................................................... 11

coal, regulations .............................................................. 62

coal, Theodore Roosevelt on ..................................... 50, 52, 70

coal, withdrawal ................................. 8, 38, 44, 45, 46, 50, 51

convention of protest ........................................................ 61

cooperative development of oil pools in ...__._...... 303, 370, 388

enlarged homesteads __._.._____...._.__..__...___ 187

grazing lands ..... 17, 61, 70, 166, 277, 291, 298, 299, 301, 326, 352

Indian lands ....................................................... 10, 61, 186

mineral lands, disposition .............................. 145, 150, 164-165

Mineral Leasing Act ................. 11, 14, 15, 185, 211, 212, 217, 263

mineral leasing operations, supervision ____..___.._ 257, 260 

naval petroleum reserves .......... 135, 152, 160, 222, 229, 230, 232,

240, 241, 279-280, 290-291 

oil, cooperative development _____........__.__._.___ 307

oil, disposition .............................................. 70, 73, 102, 212

oil, efficient and economic development ...__..__..___..... 262

oil, production from ....................................................... 324

oil, reserved for Navy ...................................................... 102

oil, withdrawal ................................................... 10, 100, 106

phosphate .................. 19, 73, 85, 87, 93, 102, 107, 135, 141, 154

Pickett Act ................................................ 106, 127, 131, 352

potassium ......................................................... 11, 136, 186

PWA funds for upkeep of ................................................ 341

radium-bearing ............................................................. 154

rangelands. See grazing lands.

rights-of-way on .............................................................. 71

Secretary Lane's policy on _._____...._______..___... 144

stockraising homesteads ................................ 164, 165, 187, 234

water-power sites .................................... 11, 150, 164, 165, 188

Public Lands Commission

First ......................................................................... 7, 10

Second _..___.__.____.__......_____.._____.. 6, 21

Third .................................................. 17, 299, 301, 307, 325

Public Works Administration ....... 18, 328, 340, 341, 342, 353, 383, 403

Puerto Rico .................................................................. 193, 340

Pyrite .................................................................... 159, 185, 195

Q, R

Quicksilver .............................................................. 94, 358, 404

Radioactivity in relation to oil fields ......_____.__.__...__. 241

Radium ..................__.....___......_____....__.....__..... 154

Rainfall-runoff relations ............................................. 354-355, 361

Rare earths ........................................................................... 94

Reclamation Act ...................................................................... 6

Reclamation policy ........................................................... 17, 298

Reclamation Service ........... 6, 7, 28, 29, 37, 48, 51, 52, 56, 57, 59, 66,

88, 96, 150, 157, 204, 213, 233, 242, 243, 246 

See also Bureau of Reclamation. 

Reconstruction Finance Corporation .__.....__....__..___.._. 346

Regional planning .......................................................... 394, 396

Reservoir sites. See Dam and reservoir sites.

Rio Grande, investigation of upper basin ....................... 383, 389, 398

Rio Grande Compact Commission ___.__.____._______... 383 

River development ______....._______.._____..__.___. 70

River hydraulics .__._.________..__.._____..__.____... 80 

River surveys ....................................... 216, 233, 270, 290, 325, 330

Rivers, dissolved and suspended matter in ..__.......___.___...... 83

Rivers, improvement and development of ............................. 350-351

Roads .................................................................................. 14

Rocky Mountains:

iron .....______.___.___._.__.___..___..__ 24

stratigraphy _..__...._____.__..__.....__.____...... 110

Salt domes ................................................. 161, 186, 219, 235, 241

San Juan River Survey _______._._______.....__..___..... 224

Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) ........ 30, 167, 193, 199, 203, 204

Science .................................................................. 3, 48, 49, 50

Science:

borderlands ............................................................. 19, 381

effect of World War I on ............................................... 12-13

Federal .............................. 13, 17, 167, 208, 224, 260, 306, 397

future ......______.__.....______.....__.___..___ 4

political issue in 1932 ................................................ 18, 333

practical and pure __._____..__.______.__..__..... 227

President Hoover's views on ................... 15, 17, 18, 160, 310, 333

President F. D. Roosevelt's attitude toward ..________....... 345

revolutionary effect of ....___._.__._....___..___.... 334

"useless" ..................................................................... 329

Science Advisory Board ......... 18, 19, 339-340, 342, 343, 345, 347, 351,

352, 363-364, 365, 366, 371, 381, 393 

Sedimentary petrology __.__...._.__.____________.___ 311

Sedimentation ............................................................... 220, 235

Sediments ....................................................... 220, 235, 242, 250

Seismological Sociery of America ___._______.__._.__... 65 

Sherman Antitrust Act __.________..____.______....._ 129

Shipping Board ................................................. 174, 190, 191, 222

Silver .................................................................... 161, 235, 346

Smithsonian Institution ___..____.__.__.......__.... 10, 50, 53

Snake River ......................................................................... 216

Society of Economic Geologists ....... 13, 14, 219, 281, 289, 294, 303, 380

Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists ................ 15, 16

Society of Exploration Geophysicists ____.__.___.....__...._ 15

Society of the Sigma Xi ......................................................... 260

Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act _..___.....__.... 374

Soil Conservation Service ........................................................ 369

Soil Erosion Control Service ..__....___..__.._ 351, 354, 357, 368

South Carolina:

areal geology .................................................................. 64

gold deposits ................................................................ 369

manganese _._____.____._____._.____.__........ 184

476 Subject Index
tin deposits ...__.....__.......____..__....__.____...... 24

South Dakota:

Badlands ....................................................................... 33

Black Hills .......................................................... 253, 311

coal-land examinations .............._........_....._.__.......... 93

Cretaceous rocks ............................................................ 311

ground-water resources .......................................... 29, 37, 373

Homestake Mine ............................................................ 219

James and Cheyenne River valleys _..___..___..__.___ 373 

Rosebud Indian Reservation _____.__._...._____..__. 301

Southern Appalachians:

copper-bearing pyrrhotites ................................................ 323

gold deposits .......................................................... 358, 371

iron ores ................................................... 123, 137, 154, 161

ore deposits ......__._.__.__..__..__.....__..___.... 323

pyrite .......................................................................... 169

See also the individual States of the region. 

Southern Pacific Railroad Company ......____.__.....__..... 135, 136

State Department .................................................... 278, 288-289

State Geologists, 1906 meeting ..........__..__._....__..___..... 51

See thereafter Association of American State Geologists. 

Stockraising Homestead Act .............. 234, 260, 272, 277, 300-301, 314

Strategic Materials Act .................................... 19, 405-406, 408-409

Strategic minerals .............................. 11, 19, 150, 179-180, 376, 387,

388, 397, 402, 403-404, 405, 408, 410 

Stratigraphic code ......____.___....__.____............__.... 332

Stratigraphy:

Atlantic Coastal Plain ..__._....__..__._....__..__........ 84

Black Hills ................................................................... 253

Colorado .................................................. 323, 324, 328, 332

Colorado Plateau _...._.__.__.__.__.....__.....__... 327

Colorado Springs to Bighorn Basin .._____.__.__..___ 249 

commission on nomenclature __.__..__.__.__..__..... 310

Gulf Coastal Plain ................................................... 130, 274

Guadalupe Mountains ..._.___.__.____.....__..__..... 25

High Plains of Texas ....................................................... 253

Stream measurements, progress report ..__..__.___.___....__ 96

Structural materials:

testing ................................................... 5, 31, 32, 35, 39, 40

field studies ................................................... 24, 29, 64, 141

Sulfur and sulfuric acid ....................................... 159, 169, 185, 195

Sulphur Leasing Act ._._.__..__.__._.....__....____..__ 267

Superpower Survey .......................................................... 213, 216

Supreme Court .................................... 368, 369, 374-375, 379, 385

Taylor Grazing Act ......................................................... 352-353

Teapot Dome. See Congress, U.S., naval petroleum reserves leasing;

Public lands, naval petroleum reserves; or Wyoming. 

Temple Act ............................................... 247, 266, 268, 272, 287

Tennessee:

coal-field investigations _.__..._..__..__.....__. Ill, 154, 171

Ducktown ores ................................................... 94, 111, 255

Giles County tuberculosis _.....__..__........__..__....... 400

ground-water investigations .............. 278, 289, 298, 301, 309, 320

iron .......................................................... 46, 235, 242, 263

manganese prospects ....__........__..._.._._..__.. 184, 404

Mascot-Jefferson zinc district ............................................. 404

oil and gas developments ...__.__..__..__....__._...._ 123

oil and gas investigations .................................................. Ill

Perry and Lewis Counties ...__.__.__...........___.......... 404

proposed forest reservation ............................................... 120

Tennessee River Basin, iron ..................................................... 283

Tennessee Valley Authority .................. 18, 71, 337, 338, 341, 345, 352,

353-354, 374, 375, 376, 384

Texas:

Balmorhea area __.__..__.....___.....__..___..__... 320

Big Springs area ............................................................ 390

Bryan area ................................................................... 390

coal fields .................................................................... 358

Dallas area ................................................................... 203

Damon Mound, gravity measurements ......__..__.....__...... 16

Dimmit County ...................................................... 301, 308

Duval County ........................................................ 320, 330

East Texas oil field ................................................... 324, 325

floods ......................................................................... 334

geologic mapping ............................................................ 79

ground-water resources ........................... 37, 301, 308, 320, 331,

339, 355, 373, 390 

Guadalupe Mountains .................................................... 253

Harris County __........__..__........__..__.....__....... 158

High Plains .................................................................. 253

Houston ...................................................................... 308

iron .................................................................. 24, 79, 154

Kleberg County ............................................................. 331

Marathon Basin ....................................................... 310, 321

Medina County ....................................................... 301, 308

oil and gas investigations ....................... 170, 186, 203, 303, 358

oil fields and pipelines, map _........__..__.._......__... 240

Panhandle .................................................................... 160

potash ......................................................................... 160

quality of water _.__.__..__........__..__..___.._... 138

quicksilver ................................................................... 358

Ranger district ............................................................... 219

red beds region ............................................................. 203

Sabine and Trinity River projects ..__.__.._....._.....__.. 158

salt domes ............................................................. 161, 170

San Antonio .__.._____.__........._..__..__.....__.. 331

Somervell County .................................................... 301, 308

temperatures in oil fields ................................................. 293

Terlingua .__..____.....__.....__....._....__._.__._ 94

Uvalde County ........................................................ 301, 308

war minerals investigations .__..__.__.__..__.............. 195

Zavala County ........................................................ 301, 308

Thorium .............................................................................. 94

Timber and Stone Act ._____..__...._.__..__..__.....__... 102

Tin ............................................................ 24, 65, 152, 185, 358

Titanium ......_.___._____..____.____.__.__............ 94

Topographic mapping:

AASG resolution on ........................................................ 75

aerial photography for ............................................... 173, 216

American Engineering Council letter on .............................. 408

cooperative funds, criteria for accepting ............................... 126

during World War I ....................................................... 187

Engineers, Architects, and Constructors resolution _.....__.._ 200

field surveys ........... 30, 37, 48, 66, 81, 97, 112, 126, 138, 143-144,

160, 216, 225, 243, 251, 270, 278, 290,

302, 313, 321, 353, 374, 384, 390

in connection with road building _.....__..__........__.._ 216

national mapping program ................................................ 19

National Resources Board plan for ....._.__.__.....__._ 363

panoramic camera for ______......._.__._....._.__.. 173

photogrammetry ......... 173, 187, 216, 321, 333, 374, 384, 396, 402

phototopographic methods __....._._..__..__.....__..... 173

Science Advisory Board plan for __........_.__..___.. 363-365

Secretary Ickes' plan for .__._.__.....__..__............__ 387

Secretaries of Commerce, Interior, and War on ...................... 408

Senator Hayden's 1938 request for plan ..__..__................. 378

Senator Hayden's 1939 resolution on .......__............__..... 408

status of in 1937 ........................................................... 390

Temple Act .................................. 247, 266, 268, 270, 272, 287

Subject Index 477
under Director Walcott ..................................................... 40

Treatise on Sedimentation .._._..__..__........__...._.... 242, 301

Tungsten ...................................................... 46, 94, 168, 169, 185

U

Uranium-vanadium deposits _......................_.......__..__..... 154

Utah:

Antelope Valley .............................................................. 81

Book Cliffs ............................................................ 274, 281

Boxelder County ............__..__..__........__..__....._ 125

carnotite ores ...................__...._.._...__.._.. 156, 312, 404

coal fields ........................................................... 35, 46, 62

coal lands, examinations ......__..__........__..__......_... 93

coal lands, withdrawal _........__..__......._........... 45-46, 93

Cottonwood-American Fork district ............__..__..___... 161

Escalante Valley ......__.._..__.....__......................__ 266

floods ...........................................................-....-.. 400

Frisco district .................................................................. 50

Gold Hill district .............................................. 263, 273, 282

Grand County ......__........_..............................__.... 404

Great Salt Lake Basin ..................................................... 239

Green River Desert ................................................... 311, 323

Green River shales ............................................ 138, 274, 305

ground-water resources .................. 37, 81, 97, 99, 266, 269, 320,

331, 340, 355, 356, 373, 401 

Hanksville-Cainsville area ._.........__........__..__.......... 371

Henry Mountains ........................................................... 371

High Plateaus ............................................................... 356

iron ................................................................... 35, 46, 81

Juab County .....___................................__................ 81

land utilization studies ________________________ 261 

Little Cottonwood Canyon ................................................. 39

Marysvale district ....._........__..__.............................. 381

metals projects ...__.........._..............__..__.....__.... 203

Millard County ............................................................... 81

mountain glaciation ........__..__...............__.._............ 39

Navajo country __........__............___..__..............._ 99

Ogden Valley .......................................................... 331, 340

oil and gas investigations .......................__.. 203, 303, 382, 393

oil shales ..................................................................... 195

ore deposits ................................................. 23, 111, 123, 161

Park City area ................................................................ 23

Parowan Range .......__........__..__.............................. 110

Paunsaugunt region ............__...............__.._...._._.. 402

phosphate deposits ..........__..........._.__..__..__......... 64

phosphate lands ...__........__..__........__..__.._._.... 93

plateau country ..__........................_.__..__.._......... 382

Salt Lake City ............................................................... 320

San Juan County ...........__......................__................ 293

San Juan River .............................................................. 224

southeastern, structure contour map ............._.._......_..... 332

Stockton-Fairfield quadrangle .........._................ 253, 273, 282

Strawberry Valley ....................._........._.............__..... 382

Tintic district .................................................... 60, 123, 294

Uinta Basin ............................................................ 141, 243

Uinta Mountains ............................................ 27, 39, 110, 311

uranium-vanadium deposits .............................................. 154

Wasatch Mountains ............__............._.....__..........._ 39

Wasatch Plateau ......................................... 248, 311, 323, 332

water-power sites ..._........__..__........__..__ 216, 239, 243

V

Vanadium ......................................................... 94, 123, 154, 185

Vermiculite .......__.....__.._._.__..__....__.....__........ 322

Vermont:

areal geology .................................................................. 80

Green Mountains ....___.....__..__..__.__..__..__.... 27

Lake Champlain, pollution _._.....__..__.....__..__....... 29

Virginia:

Appalachian Valley ......................................................... 319

cement resources .__...............__..__.._____............_ 27

coal-field investigations ._._.......__..__.__ 117, 141, 154, 171

Dickinson County coal field ._.....__..__....__.....__..... 46

geologic map ................................................................ 275

gold deposits ......__.....__............__.....___..__...... 369

ground-water investigations ..................... 251, 320, 331, 355, 390

iron ........................................................................ 35, 46

lead and zinc deposits _........__..__..__...............__. 322

manganese prospects _....._._..__..__.__..__.._ 184, 189

Popes Creek ................................................................. 233

Shenandoah Valley ......................................................... 331

tidewater area ...................__..__..__........__..__..... 390

water supply for oyster industry ..............__.....__....__.. 251

Volcanic eruptions:

Katmai ................................................................. 134, 135

Kilauea ....................................................................... 247

Lassen Peak .................................................................. 156

Volcanoes, mechanism of .......__........................._....__....... 324

W

War, Secretary of ............................................................. 71, '296

War College ........................................................................ 176

War Department ... Ill, 164, 197, 204, 213, 216, 227, 281, 296, 323, 405 

War Industries Board .................................... 185, 191, 192, 195, 196

War Minerals Committee ................................ 12, 183, 190, 191, 192

War minerals investigations ............................ 185, 189, 193, 194, 195

War minerals relief claims ....................................................... 200

War Trade Board ............................................................ 191, 192

Washington:

coal lands, withdrawal ..._____............___........._.... 45-46

flood runoff, effect of climate and topography on .................. 400

ground-water resources ..............__..._........__..__ 173, 390

iron .........................._..........................__.....__..... 242

land utilization studies ...........................___.._........... 261

Latah formation ......__........__...............__.._........... 246

magnesite ..___.....__......_............_._..__....._... 194

manganese _.__....__.....__................_.................. 263

Metaline quadrangle ...............................___................. 381

mineral deposits ............................................................. Ill

observation-well program ._....................................... 389, 401

Quincy Valley ............................................................... 173

Spokane area _.....__....._._..__.....___..__......_ 246

Tacoma area _.....__....._.......__....._._..__....._... 390

Walla Walla Basin .................................................... 331, 335

Washington Academy of Sciences ................................. 153, 226, 380

Water, key to western future ....................._........__..__...... 299

Water, running, transportation of debris by ........................_..... 131

Water policy .................................................................. 350-351

Water power ....... 71-72, 82, 103, 128, 130, 147, 217, 243, 250, 251, 269

Water resources:

basic data, deficiencies in .......__.....__.......................... 387

ground (general):

bibliography ._....._._.....__..__.......................... 28

Bacillus coli in .._.....__.....__................_.......... 234

conservation ..........__............__............................ 83

districts, Eastern U.S. ...............__............................. 45

drilling methods __.....__....................................... 37

geophysical techniques in study of ..__.__.._............. 383

hydraulics of artesian regions _________________ 278

478 Subject Index
hydrology of _.__.....___............___..__..__.. 243

legal control .................................................... 389-390

manual on _.....__._...........__..__.__.__.._ 164

movement ..__...............__..__........__..___.... 28

nonequilibrium formula ..................................... 373-374

observation-well program .............._............. 356-357, 383

occurrence in U.S. ............__..__..__.....__.......... 243

plants as indicators ...._...__..__..........._.............. 251

provinces _....._................_............._..__... 400-401

relation of law to .............__......................__....._ 28

supplies, Mexican border and Atlantic and

Gulf Coastal Plain ................................................ 176

thermal springs .__....._......_.................__....._ 251

For the various field investigations, see the geographic headings, 

quality ........................................................ 37, 52, 173, 217

surface:

gaging stations ......... 157, 203, 225, 233, 242, 251, 269, 278,

284, 288, 301, 308, 320, 331, 340,

341, 354, 372, 383, 388, 400

methods of stream-flow measurement ........_...... 44, 81, 399

Water storage and utilization, arid and semiarid areas ....__..__... 386

Waterway development plan _......__..._.............................. 267

Weather Bureau .......................................... Ill, 157, 278, 339, 341

Weeks Forest Purchase Act ................................................ 116, 120

Well drilling .................................................... 225, 278, 289, 301

Well records and samples .................................................... 28, 37

Western Conservation League ............_................__..__........ 98

Western States:

coal-field reconnaissance .._...........__......................__.... 35

iron deposits ........_.............._..__............__.....__... 35

manganese prospects .._.__...._........._.....__..__....... 184

West Indies, topographic mapping ............................................ 225

West Virginia:

areal geology ....._........__........__......._._.....___.._ 27

coal-field investigations ..__._....__.........___.....__.._ 154

structure contour maps _.._.___..__......................._.. 274

temperature measurements in wells ..__..__............__..... 137

White House Conference of Governors _..__..__........... 8, 9, 74, 75

Williamstown Institute of Politics ............................................. 262

Wisconsin, glacial features ...__..........._........__.....__...... 27, 80

Works Progress Administration ................._...........__.....__... 400

World Power Conference ........................................................ 249

World War I ................................... 11, 147, 149, 158, 164, 167, 173,

175, 177, 179, 188, 196, 205 

World War II ....................................................................... 410

World's Work ........................................................................ 98

Wyoming:

Afton quadrangle .......................................................... 310

Beckwith Hills .............................................................. 107

Bighorn Basin .................................................... 9), /Cn , 371

chromite .......__..._._......._.........__.._............... 185

coal fields ........................................................... 35, 46, 62

coal lands, examination ...__....._._...................__...... 93

coal lands, withdrawal __.........................__..___ 45-46, 93

Devils Tower .................................................................. 55

earthquake, June 1925 .................................................... 264

Elk Basin field .............................................................. 160

Encampment River __.....__....._._..__....__....._... 243

geologic map ___...._.__..__...............__.....___... 203

Gros Ventre landslide .......__........__..__..__........ 263-264

ground-water resources ...............___..__..__.__.._ 29, 37

iron ..___.....__.__._.__.._._............._.....__.... 46

Little Buffalo Basin gas field ............................................. 314

Lost Soldier-Ferris district _............._........_.__.....__... 217

oil and gas investigations .__..__.....__ 106, 153, 195, 217, 225,

235, 252, 303, 393 

oil fields ...................................................................... 159

oil fields and pipelines map ..._........__..__.......__...... 203

oil lands, withdrawal .._.__............__......_....._..._ 100

oil shale lands ............................................................... 357

phosphate deposits ....__......................__......_...... 64, 107

phosphate lands ................................................ 107, 110, 357

Pitchfork field .................................................._............ 330

Salt Creek field ................................... 106, 160, 229, 230, 231

Shoshone project ..............._.__.....__..___................. 29

stratigraphy of oil sands ..__.....___......................__... 226

Sweetwater River __.__............___...._.....___.._... 243

Teapot Dome ...................................... 106, 225, 229, 230, 231

water-power investigations ..__.....................__. 216, 225, 243

Wind River Basin .......................................................... 195

Zinc:

Mississippi Valley .......__....._.........................._......... 23

statistics .................__.....__........._..__.._..........._ 46

li-iState area .............................................. 123, 358, 371, 382

U.S. resources ............................................................ 24, 82

Zircon ............................................................................... 197

*U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1986-^91-^05:^-0021

Subject Index 479
See page x for identification of portraits.
Hh-
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 interests 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.