Minerals, Lands, and Geology 

for the Common Defence 

and General Welfare

Volume 2, 

1879-1904

UNITED STATES 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Mineral, Lands, and Geology 

for the Common Defence 

and General Welfare, 

Volume 2, 1879-1904

U.S. Geological Survey party on the way to study the gold deposits at 

Cripple Creek, Colorado, in 1893. (Photograph by Whitman Cross 

from the files of the U.S. Geological Survey'.)

See page viii for identification of portraits
a'M'. *l ^m*' A^'^I^^ ' ' *j1 ' #2-'\ti^%'?i

. v \ .«

./v
Minerals, Lands, and Geology 

for the Common Defence 

and General Welfare 

Volume 2, 1879-1904

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 

During the First 25 Years of the U.S. Geological Survey

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1980
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

H. William Menard, Director
Preface

John Wesley Powell told the Allison Commission in 1885 that "Sound 

geologic conclusions cannot be reached by following a few narrow lines of investigation, but all such lines of research must be followed that each may shed 

light upon the other. Unless this principle is fully recognized, a geologic survey 

might lead to conclusions of no value to the people at large, or conclusions 

might be reached so erroneous as to be misleading." The principle is sound, 

but Powell, like many others of his time, did not fully comprehend the 

magnitude of the task that he proposed of encompassing all knowledge of a 

given science before applying any part of it.

The same principle may be applied to history but would obviously produce 

the same impossible task, and therefore, it is customary to deal with limited 

portions of history or with a particular aspect. Nonetheless, as explained in 

Volume 1, it was decided not to treat Survey history from a thematic point of 

view, although it would have been possible to consider the Survey in that way, 

as a Government agency, as a research institution, in terms of its-contribution 

to the industrial development of the country, or to the conservation of its 

natural resources and preservation of its environment. All of these are only 

facets of the total Survey, and rather early in the study of Survey history it was 

discovered that focusing on a particular aspect could easily, and in fact has, led 

to conclusions far different from those drawn from consideration of the whole.

In the traditional view of the Survey's first 25 years, which are the subject of 

much of this volume, John Wesley Powell, with his broad view of science and 

advanced ideas of land and water in the West, is the heroic figure. Clarence 

King is dismissed as brilliant but with a limited view of science as mining 

geology, and Charles D. Walcott is regarded primarily as a brilliant paleontologist chosen by Powell to succeed him. The Survey's first quarter century, 

however, spanned a watershed in American history that separated a primarily 

rural and agrarian nation and a primarily urban and industrial nation, a nation 

intent on conquering the continent and isolated from the Old World and a nation involved in world politics, a nation that believed in the virtues of competition and limited government and a nation that saw the virtue of cooperation 

and insisted on reform and regulation to ensure equal opportunities to all. 

Science itself changed during this period. The age of instruments was just 

beginning when the Survey was established; by the turn of the century, instruments had almost revolutionized science and the era of the lone investigator 

had to give way to an era of organized effort in the solution of problems.
When these facts are taken into consideration, it can be concluded that the 

importance the Geological Survey achieved in its first 25 years, in fact its 

longevity, should be attributed not to the broad view of science taken by John 

Wesley Powell, but to the foresight of Clarence King in organizing the Survey's 

research to aid in the industrial progress of the country while seeking ultimately 

the advancement of science and to the perspicacity, administrative skill, and 

seemingly limitless energy of Charles D. Walcott, who held that the Survey's 

field was geology and not all science, who directed its research toward the aid of 

not just the mineral industry, as envisioned by King, but of all industries and 

practical undertakings that would benefit from a knowledge of the Earth and 

its resources, and who insisted that basic research and applied science cannot be 

separated. The development of economic geology as a science and not just applied geology must be considered one of the achievements of this era, and to 

this development, the Geological Survey was a major contributor.

Economic geology, however, was not the sole achievement. There were advances in other fields, sometimes as part of economic geology, sometimes apart 

from it, to name but a few: the growth of petrography and petrology, the 

development of glacial geology, the definition of mapping units, stratigraphic 

classification, and geologic time divisions, the conservation of water, changing 

standards of topographic mapping, the emergence of geophysics and 

geochemistry. Each of these could fill a separate book. The detailed indexes will 

help those who wish to follow a particular development or to obtain a 

bird's-eye view of the variety.

Basic to all, however, is the idea that Federal science must respond to national needs as perceived at the time in order to remain healthy. And so the 

presentation must be chronological rather than thematic. In time-honored 

Survey fashion, the facts are presented and a conclusion drawn, but acceptance 

of the conclusion must rest of the facts, not on any special pleading.

I should like to acknowledge my indebtedness to many members of the 

Geological Survey for their help in preparation of this volume. In particular, I 

wish to thank Thomas B. Nolan, Director, 1956-1965, for his interest, encouragement, advice, and many useful discussions; Arthur A. Baker, former 

Associate Director, Vincent E. McKelvey, Director, 1971-1978, and Clifford 

M. Nelson, Associate Historian, 1976-1980, for thorough and detailed reviews 

of the manuscript; and other reviewers, including R. H. Lyddan, R. P. 

Southard, Morris Thompson, George H. Brett, G. D. Robinson, and E. Roy 

Hendricks for valuable suggestions.

VI
Preface __________________________ v

1. A New Order ______________________ 1

2. The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881 ________ 17

3. The Broad View, 1881-1884 ____________ 57

4. Measures of Reform, 1884-1886 __________ 87

5. Civilized Competition, 1886-1888 _________ 127

6. The First Great Problem, 1888-1890 _______ 157

7. A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892 __________ 189

8. Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894 __ 215

9. In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897 ________ 241

10. The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900 269

11. The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900 

1902 ________________________ 299

12. Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904 _________ 329

Notes and Bibliography ___________________ 357

Notes _________________________ 357

Bibliography _____________________ 367

Index to Bibliography __________________ 381

Name Index ______________________ 385

Subject Index _________________________ 399

VII
Keys to portraits on end Papers

	Inside Front Cover:

1. Clarence King

2. Francis A. Walker

3. S. F. Emmons

4. Arnold Hague

5. Grove Karl Gilbert

6. George F. Becker

7. Raphael Pumpelly

8. Alien D. Wilson

9. Andrew A. Blair

10. Clarence E. Dutton

11. John Wesley Powell

12. Charles Abiathar White

13- Lester Frank Ward

14. Henry Gannett

15. Othniel C. Marsh

16. Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin

17. Roland D. Irving

Inside Back Cover: 

18. W. J. McGee 

19- Grover Cleveland

20. Almon Harry Thompson

21. Joseph P. Iddings

22. Israel Cook Russell

23. Edward O. Wolcott

24. Carl Barus

25. Charles D. Walcott

26. Charles Whitman Cross

27. Frederick Haynes Newell

28. Arthur Powell Davis

29- Charles Richard Van Hise

30. Bailey Willis

31. George H. Eldridge

32. Charles Willard Hayes 

33- Theodore Roosevelt 

34. Arthur L. Day

VIII
Chapter 1. 

A New Order

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or 

more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new 

order of things.

 Niccolo Machiavelli

On March 3, 1879, the U.S. Congress established the U.S. Geological 

Survey, placing it in the Department of the Interior and charging it with 

responsibility for the classification of the public lands and examination of 

the geological structure and mineral resources and products of the national 

domain. In the same act, Congress created a public lands commission and 

asked it to provide a codification of laws relating to the survey and disposition of the public lands, a system of land-parcelling surveys, and recommendations in relation to the best method of disposing of the public lands 

to actual settlers.

The United States was then a primarily rural and agrarian nation, consisting of 38 States, 8 Territories, the District of Columbia, Indian Territory, Alaska, and a piece known as Public Land or Land Strip southwest of 

Kansas and north of Texas, unattached to any State or Territory. The edge 

of settlement, or frontier, was at about longitude 102° West; beyond the 

frontier were only isolated pockets or belts of settlement, many of which 

owed their initial existence and some their continued existence to miners 

and prospectors. In vast areas beyond the frontier, the population was officially less than 1 per square mile. The Federal Government still held title 

to more than 1.2 billion acres of land, only 200 million of which had been 

surveyed. Nearly all the public lands were in the Territories and States west 

of the Mississippi River; only 26 million acres in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana were still part of the public domain.

Agriculture was the principal occupation of nearly half the working force. 

Thirteen States Delaware, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, 

Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and 

Wisconsin were classed as successful agricultural regions by the Census of 

1880. About half as many people were employed in the manufacturing, 

mechanical, and mining industries combined as in agriculture. Only two 

States Rhode Island and New Jersey were regarded as industrialized, 

although eight others Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan were more industrialized 

than agricultural.

There were very few Federal scientific and mapping agencies when the 

U.S. Geological Survey was established in 1879. The oldest were the mapping agencies. The Office of the Surveyor General had been established in 

1796 to map the public lands, but since 1836, it had been part of the 

General Land Office, which came under the Department of the Interior in 

1849. The Coast and Geodetic Survey in the Treasury Department had been 

authorized in 1807 to chart the coasts in aid of commerce. In 1832, it had 

acquired responsibility for standardization of weights and measures, and 

under its second and third superintendents, Alexander Dallas Bache and 

Benjamin Peirce, it had begun various scientific studies as well. In 1871,

A New Order 1
the Coast Survey was authorized to make a coast-to-coast triangulation, and 

in 1878, its name had been changed to Coast and Geodetic Survey. The 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been responsible for mapping the western 

Territories. The Naval Observatory had been established in the early 1840s, 

and the Naval Hydrographic Office had been set up during the Civil War.

The Department of Agriculture had been established in 1862 and authorized to make practical and scientific experiments in order to acquire and 

diffuse useful information on subjects connected with agriculture. In establishing the department, Congress acknowledged that its power to provide 

for "the common defence and general welfare" warranted sponsorship of 

continuing scientific research in the older of the two basic industries. In 

1869, Congress authorized the Army Signal Corps, which had collected 

meterological information during the Civil War, to continue the service, 

again sanctioning continuing scientific investigations. Then in 1871, as a 

conservation measure, Congress established the Fish Commission to study 

the diminishing fish population in the Atlantic.

In addition to these continuing organizations, Congress had in earlier 

years also ordered commissions or surveys to perform certain tasks, such as 

the surveys of mineral lands or various exploring and mapping expeditions. 

In 1867, two surveys had been authorized: the Geological Exploration of 

the Fortieth Parallel, administratively under the War Department but directed by a civilian, Clarence King, and a survey under the General Land 

Office of the resources of the new State of Nebraska. The latter, headed by 

Ferdinand V. Hayden, had developed into the Geological and Geographical 

Survey of the Territories. In 1871, two other western surveys were authorized. One was the outgrowth of the daring exploration of the Colorado River 

by Major John Wesley Powell in 1869; it was at first under the Smithsonian 

Institution but in 1874 was transferred to the Department of the Interior 

where it was first the second division of the Geological and Geographical 

Survey of the Territories and later the Geographical and Geological Survey 

of the Rocky Mountain Region. The second survey authorized in 1871 was 

the Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian, directed 

by Lieutenant George M. Wheeler of the Corps of Engineers. None of these 

surveys was regarded as permanent; they had been established to accomplish 

certain tasks. The Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel had in fact 

completed its fieldwork in 1872 and its reports in 1878.

Rivalries among the remaining surveys had led Congress to ask the National Academy of Sciences in June 1878 to consider all surveys of a scientific character under the War or Interior Departments and to report to 

Congress a plan for surveying and mapping the Territories of the United 

States on a system that would secure the best possible results at the least 

possible cost. A committee of the National Academy of Sciences concluded 

that it was absolutely essential that there be only one geodetic system, one 

topographic system, and one land-parceling system, all under one head, and 

had recommended that the Coast and Geodetic Survey be transferred from 

the Treasury Department to the Interior Department, renamed the "Coast 

and Interior Survey," and given responsibility for all mapping and surveying. The committee also recommended that a second survey, the United 

States Geological Survey, be established to obtain a thorough knowledge of 

the geological structure, natural resources, and products of the public domain to meet the requirements of existing law on the disposition of the 

public lands, and that a public lands commission be formed. The committee 

noted:

2 A New Order
By far the larger part of the public domain lies in the region where, from geological and climatic causes, the lands are for the most part not valuable for 

field culture, and where the system of homestead pre-emption and sale in accordance with existing laws is both impracticable and undesirable.

The prairies and Rocky Mountain country had been passed over in early 

westward migrations, as farmers sought new land to replace land that had 

lost its fertility, but by the end of the Civil War, suitable new land was 

becoming difficult to find. During the 1870's, therefore, farmers had settled 

large areas in Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, moving the frontier 

westward scores of miles. The plains and prairies country into which they 

were moving was especially suited to the growing of grains and cereals, a 

type of agriculture that had begun to change from a subsistence to a commercial operation with the introduction of farm machinery in the 1850's. 

To be successful, however, such agriculture required large farms and many 

workers, and therefore a substantial investment in lands, buildings, and 

equipment. As early as 1875, the Commissioner of the General Land Office 

reported that the lands most desirable for homestead settlement, because of 

the fertility of the soil and the presence of conditions necessary for honest 

observance of the requirements of the homestead law, had already passed 

into private ownership.

Farmers who had to borrow money were at a disadvantage, for farm prices 

had been declining since 1869. Although the principal crops were produced 

in ever-increasing quantities, the total value of farm products in 1879 was 

less than it had been a decade earlier. Farmers in two sections of the country 

were especially affected by the problem of credit: those in the South, who 

lacked both land and capital, and those moving into the Great Plains, who 

needed large amounts of capital.

The farmers had begun to organize shortly after the end of the Civil War, 

at first simply to promote agricultural interests, but when prices began to 

decline, some of the farmers' associations, particularly the Patrons of Husbandry, more commonly known as the Grangers, began to lobby politically 

against monopolies, especially the railroads, and for farm credit.

The farmers tended to look toward politics rather than science for aid, 

for agriculture had not as yet greatly benefited from science. Although 

scientists in the private sector had made studies of soil chemistry, fertilizers, 

plant nutrition, diseases, and pests, their work had not had any great impact 

on farming practices. The Department of Agriculture had been authorized 

to conduct scientific experiments, but the first commissioner had organized 

the scientific work along the lines of the scientific disciplines. Appropriations lagged, and by 1879, many despaired of any useful scientific contributions from that department.

Crop yields were more dependent on weather conditions than any other 

factor, and that was a matter of particular importance to those moving into 

the Great Plains area. Cyrus Thomas of the Interior Department's Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories had pointed out early in the 

1870's that the 100th meridian was a dividing line between two regions of 

very different climate, and he urged that climatological studies be undertaken. It was well known, he said, that on the eastern side of the plains, 

the average rainfall was sufficient to supply the moisture necessary for growing grains; it was almost as well known that irrigation was necessary at all 

points on the plains along the east base of the Rocky Mountains, and it was 

very important to determine the exact boundary between the two regions. 

In 1878, John Wesley Powell of the Interior Department's Geographical 

and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountains had pointed out in his Report 

on the Lands of the Arid Region that two regions were involved: The Arid

Agriculture, 1879 3
Region proper, where the mean annual rainfall was less than 20 inches and 

therefore insufficient for agriculture on the basis of the traditional patterns 

of the Humid Region; and a Subhumid Region, where the mean annual 

rainfall was 20 to 28 inches. Most of the region west of the 100th meridian 

was part of the Arid Region proper. The Subhumid Region extended eastward from that meridian to about the 97th meridian. Powell pointed out 

that droughts would be frequent in the western part of the Subhumid Region 

and that irrigation would be undertaken at an early stage, whereas in the 

eastern part of the region, droughts would be less frequent and farming 

could be undertaken for long periods without irrigation.

A slightly different definition of the Arid Region was given by Henry 

Gannett, geographer for the Tenth Census. Gannett said that irrigation was 

necessary for cereal crops where rainfall was less than 20 inches annually or 

less than \2Vi inches during the growing season. This limit was reached 

along a line described as running approximately along a meridian passing 

through the middle of Dakota, western Nebraska, western Kansas, and 

central Texas, or presumably between longitude 100° and 101° West. Near 

this line and perhaps a degree on either side of it, according to Gannett, 

was debatable ground Powell's Subhumid Region.

In the plains country where influx of people had been heaviest, rainfall 

had been sufficient for successful agriculture for several years, and there was 

a widespread belief that the Timber Culture Act, which encouraged the 

cultivation of trees, had actually changed the climate. However, in Kansas 

«nd Nebraska, ribbons of settlement progressing toward the western boundaries of the States clung to the South Platte, Republican, Kansas, and 

Arkansas Rivers where water would be available for irrigation.

In most of the belts and pockets of settlement west of the frontier where 

agriculture was practiced, irrigation was already a recognized necessity. The 

Mormons of Utah had developed a highly successful agriculture based on 

irrigation. Many settlements in Colorado, Idaho, and Montana followed the 

streams. In California and Nevada, where mining had ceased to flourish and 

agriculture had become more important, the problem of irrigation had been 

recognized early. In 1873, Congress had appointed a commission to investigate the possibilities of irrigation in the San Joaquin, Tulare, and Sacramento Valleys in California. The commissioners concluded that extensive 

systems of irrigation could be built only by the State or by private capital 

and could be built only after a complete instrumental survey had been made 

to determine the location of dams, canals, and ditches and to divide the 

country into different irrigation districts.

Major Powell in his 1878 report on the Arid Region went beyond the 

commissioners. He included drafts of two bills for the organization of irrigation and pasturage districts by homestead settlements, following classification of the lands. Major Powell's proposal, like that of the commissioners 

in 1874, was essentially a political solution of the problem.

The farmers' groups had some success in securing enactment of State 

legislation controlling railroad freight rates, but the problem of money and 

credit was more intractable. At first, the farmers favored the continued use 

of greenbacks. During the Civil War, the Government had issued about 

$450 million in paper currency, greenbacks, not redeemable in gold or 

silver. After the war, public opinion had been almost unanimously in favor 

of retiring the greenbacks from circulation until the postwar depression 

caused a decline in prices.

Eventually sentiment changed from support of greenbacks to support of 

silver-based money. Monetary legislation had undervalued silver for many 

years. Silver prices had remained high; silver dollars, being worth more

4 A New Order
than gold dollars, had gone out of circulation, and the Coinage Act of 1873 

had dropped silver dollars from the list of coins. Silver production had begun 

to rise, however, with the discovery of the Comstock in 1859; the price of 

silver had begun to drop, and in 1873, gold and silver reached parity. A 

month after silver dollars were dropped, a new bonanza was discovered at 

the Comstock, production soared, and silver prices declined still more, so 

that by 1876 the bullion in a silver dollar was worth less than 90 cents on 

the market. Several European governments had by this time adopted the 

gold standard, but American currency was still on a bimetallic standard. 

Silver money would satisfy the demand that the currency have a metallic 

base, coining silver at the ratio of 16:1 would expand the money supply, 

so a combination of silver interests, inflationists, and farmers brought about 

passage of the Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act in February 1878, directing the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase not less than $2 million nor 

more than $4 million worth of silver bullion each month at market value.

The West was particularly interested in silver legislation, for almost all 

the precious metal resources came from the Western States and Territories, 

whereas almost all the minerals needed by industry, then chiefly coal and 

iron, were mined in States east of the 100th meridian. There were, in effect, 

two distinct mining industries, separated geographically and by product. 

Mining laws were also different. In the Eastern States, English common law 

was the rule for transfer of property, and surface rights carried with them 

the minerals vertically below. In the public-land States and Territories, 

mineral land could be obtained from the Federal Government under the 

Mining Law of 1866 and the Mining Law of 1872, which recognized local 

customs and regulations and other relations between surface and mineral 

rights.

The larger and more profitable mining industry was in the States east of 

the 100th meridian; of the top 10 mining States and Territories in 1880, 

6 were east of that line. Pennsylvania was the leading mining State of the 

Union, the value of its mineral products more than three times that of the 

second State, Colorado, and more than that of the next three States, Colorado, California, and Nevada, combined. In the census year of 1880, when 

28.6 million tons of anthracite and 42.7 million tons of bituminous coal 

were mined, nearly all the anthracite and 45 percent of the bituminous coal 

came from Pennsylvania, and nearly 70 percent of the bituminous coal came 

from the Appalachian fields. Nearly 8 million tons of iron ore were produced 

in 1880, about half of it in Pennsylvania and Michigan. New York and 

New Jersey ranked third and fourth, and these four States produced more 

than 75 percent of all the iron ore produced in the United States.

Copper, lead, zinc, and petroleum were then of far less importance in 

industry, but of these, copper, zinc, and petroleum also came chiefly from 

States east of the 100th meridian. More than 90 percent of the 55.8 million 

pounds of copper mined in 1880 came from the eastern part of the country; 

more than 90 percent of eastern copper came from the Lake Superior district 

and more than 50 percent, from the Calumet and Hecla mines alone. Nearly 

half the zinc came from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, most of the rest from 

the Mississippi Valley. Nearly all the petroleum came from northwestern 

Pennsylvania, only small amounts being obtained elsewhere in Ohio, West 

Virginia, and Kentucky. Petroleum production in 1880 was only about 7 

million barrels, but petroleum was the subject of a special report by the 

Tenth Census. It was then used chiefly for illumination, lubrication, and 

medicinal purposes. S. F. Peckham reported, however, that there had been 

some theoretical consideration of its use as a fuel and that a "novel application" had been made by exploding petroleum vapor behind the piston

Mining Industry, 1879 5
of an engine and that the expansive force had been made available as a 

motor. Such uses, if developed, could affect future production.

Lead was the only one of the nonprecious minerals that came chiefly from 

west of the 100th meridian, and the lead industry was troubled by overproduction. After 1849, the United States had been a lead-importing nation 

until 1877, when the large new production from the silver-lead industry 

of Nevada and Utah once more made it independent. The new production, 

however, brought about a decline in the price of the metal, and in 1878, 

the American Pig Lead Association had been organized in an effort to hold 

the price at not less than 4 cents a pound. The effort was unsuccessful. 

Toward the end of the year, an increase in domestic consumption coupled 

with a falling off in production and the shipment of Nevada's surplus to 

China gave rise to optimism until reports began coming in of the developments at Leadville, Colorado.

Gold and silver, iron, coal, copper, lead, zinc, and petroleum were the 

only minerals given special consideration by the Tenth Census of 1880. 

Lumped together, and valued at little more than 1 percent of the total 

mineral production of that year, were asbestos, asphaltum, barytes, chromic 

iron, cobalt, corundum, garnet, glass sand, graphite, hydraulic cement, 

hydraulic lime, infusorial earth, kaolin, magnesian limestone, manganese, 

mica, mineral soap, nickel, nickel and cobalt matter, ocher oilstone, pyrite, 

quartz and feldspar, scythestones, shoemakers' sandstones, soapstone, talc, 

and whetstone.

The mineral industry, unlike agriculture, had had a long and close relationship with science. The study of minerals was the oldest phase of the 

earth sciences. Chemistry had its beginnings in the alchemists attempts to 

transmute base metals into precious metals. Geology began to separate from 

natural history as a distinct science in the mining school at Freiberg in 

Saxony. Government geological surveys, which began in the eastern part of 

the United States, were first inaugurated to aid agriculture but very quickly 

shifted to investigations of mineral resources. The Federal Government also 

employed geologists in the evaluation of mineral resources, particularly in 

the classification of mineral lands. These surveys in turn led to advancements 

in the science of geology. Thus Josiah Dwight Whitney was led to say in 

1875:

It is chiefly through its intimate connection with the art of mining and the 

development of the mineral resources of the country that geology has acquired 

the importance it now has.

The mineral industry of the United States had not neglected political 

action. Some of the earliest efforts to establish the protective tariff system 

originated in the iron industry. The copper industry had also resorted to 

the tariff. However, the American Institute of Mining Engineers was established in 1871 because, in the words of one of its first members:

The time has come when scientific research is to assume its true position the 

day of 'sheer force and blind stupidity,' whose only protection was a high tariff, 

has gone by forever. *** the physicist, the geologist and mineralogist, the chemist, the engineer and mechanic, are as essential to success as the furnace itself, 

or the labor that works it.

Congress did not follow all the recommendations of the National Academy 

of Sciences in the legislation of March 3, 1879. The Coast and Geodetic 

Survey was not transferred to the Interior Department. The West was opposed to any change in the public-land surveys that might hinder development. A decision on national-mapping policy was thus postponed, and 

the hope of the Eastern States for Federal assistance in topographic mapping

6 A New Order
to aid in the development of natural resources was left unfulfilled. The Coast 

and Geodetic Survey would continue to survey the coasts and to extend 

triangulation from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but for the time being, the 

States would have to do the mapping within their own boundaries.

In establishing a public lands commission, Congress acknowledged that 

the public lands of 1879 were very different from those of the early years 

of the Republic and that it was time for a new look at public-land law. The 

inclusion of the Director of the Geological Survey as one of the commission 

of experts conceded the usefulness of science in the formulation of publicland policy.

Federal geologic work was given an entirely new status, for Congress 

went beyond the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences 

when it established the U.S. Geological Survey. The Academy had recommended that the Survey be established to obtain a thorough knowledge of 

the geological structure, natural resources, and products of the public domain; Congress required the Survey to classify the public lands but to examine the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. The change was significant. Congressman A. S. Hewitt of 

New York, author of the legislation and a well-known ironmaster and former 

president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, told Congress in 

February 1879 that the Geological Survey was needed to determine,

What is there in this richly endowed land of ours which may be dug, or gathered, 

or harvested, and made part of the wealth of America and of the world, and 

how and where does it lie?

His friend, Clarence King, said that the "discontinuance of the several 

Geological Surveys under personal leadership, and the foundation of a permanent Bureau charged with the investigation and elucidation of the geological structure and mineral resources and production of the United States" 

was the "step necessary to give the highest efficiency and the most harmonious balance to the National geological work." The Organic Act of 

the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879 thus acknowledged the increasing importance of the second basic industry in the national economy and so marked 

the beginning of a new era.

Within the next 25 years, the United States was transformed from an 

isolated, rural, and agrarian nation into an urban industrial world power. 

The population increased from 48.9 million in 1879 to 81.8 million in 

1904; settlement of the West proceeded so rapidly that by 1890 the frontier 

had disappeared. The number of manufacturing establishments and the value 

of manufactured products more than doubled in the period. Money in circulation per capita increased from $16.75 on July 1, 1879, to $30.77 on 

July 1, 1904.

Transportation was an important factor in the change. There were 35,000 

miles of steam railroads in the United States and more than five times as 

much at the turn of the century. The first transcontinental railroad was 

completed in 1869, and only 15 years later, three other lines had been 

completed to the west coast. Railroads were especially important in developing the West, increasing its population and transporting its products, 

both mineral and agricultural, to eastern centers.

A second factor in the transformation was the development of science and 

technology. The use of electricity, improvements in the quality of steel, and 

new metallurgical processes that made available the ores of precious and 

industrial metals previously considered intractable, all aided in the industrial 

revolution. An agricultural revolution during this same period was similarly 

aided by science. Federal scientific bureaus in the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior contributed to both revolutions.

Change in United States, 1879-1904 7
Political and economic conditions were also important. Laissez faire 

which has been described"as a shorthand abbreviation for a whole complex 

of economic and social thought, economic organization, political policy, 

judicial theory and decisions, and popular belief was then at its height. 

As first formulated in Europe, laissez faire was a reaction against mercantilism and its strict governmental regulation of the economy. Laissez faire 

promoted the interests of a rising class of farmers and business entrepreneurs 

by stressing the virtues of competition in the economic well being of the 

community. Implicit in the system was the idea that the State should not 

interfere with the economic life of the community. After the Civil War, 

laissez faire came to have a new meaning in the United States. Charles 

Darwin's Origin of Species had been a major revolution in scientific thought 

when it was published in 1859. By 1879, the theory of natural selection 

had been translated into other spheres of thought, notably into what has 

been called Social Darwinism, the idea that the evolution of society and 

social institutions also came about by competitive struggle and survival of 

the fittest exactly as did biological evolution. Social Darwinism originated 

with Herbert Spencer in England but was widely accepted in the United 

States, where it reinforced an old American belief that that government 

governed best that governed least and also justified the actions of the captains 

of industry. By the tenets of Social Darwinism, the rich achieved their 

wealth because they were superior, more industrious, or more virtuous, and 

the poor were poor because they were inferior, lazy, or evil. If the most fit 

survived in the struggle for business success, their methods were sanctioned 

and the Government should in no way interfere. Thus, businessmen used 

ruthless tactics to destroy competition and establish monopoly, and bankers, 

to extend control over railroads and industries and build up interlocking 

financial empires. Thus, also, the railroads and the large industrial combinations were able to acquire vast holdings in land, timber, and mineral 

resources.

There were dissenters to the theory from the 1870's on. On the intellectual level, one of the most eloquent was Lester Ward, pioneer sociologist 

and paleobotanist of the U.S. Geological Survey, who pointed out that 

competition in the economic sphere did not assure survival of the fittest and 

often had the opposite effect. Ward was a firm advocate of economic planning. So were Richard T. Ely and other young economists critical of orthodox economics, who formed the American Economic Association in 1885 

with a declaration that the positive assistance of the State was one of the 

indispensable conditions for human progress. The popular revolt against the 

philosophy of laissez faire began with the farmers, in the Granger movement 

of the 1870's, and with industrial workers, in the formation of labor unions. 

Others, mostly Easterners, were concerned with tariff reform, the merit 

system in government, and later with anti-imperialism. The philosophic 

response to the ferment was a distinctly American system of philosophy, 

pragmatism, which regards truth as not absolute but relative and tested by 

its consequences. After 1890, nearly all aspects of American life political 

practices, economic institutions and practices, social relationships were 

examined and changed. Not even science was exempt.

Science, which was the root cause of much of the change, was itself in 

a transitional state in 1879. Many scientists still reflected the influence of 

the naturalists of earlier decades, who collected and classified objects by 

collecting and classifying facts, sometimes only to add to the sum of human 

knowledge without further synthesis and application. There were scientists 

who believed it possible to learn everything about a particular subject; there 

were even those who thought that everything had already been learned about

8 A New Order
some subjects except, perhaps, a few details. The use of tools, such as 

petrographic microscopes and cameras, which added new dimensions, was 

then in its early stages.

Scientists themselves, consciously or unconsciously, often subscribed to 

the current philosophy. Most scientists in 1879, in a sort of scientific laissez 

faire, cherished the right to select and pursue their own interests in investigations and resisted direction and standardization. Scientists who accepted 

the Darwinian theory for biological evolution were among the most critical 

of Social Darwinism. Curiously, however, some of them, bureau chiefs not 

excepted, in their enthusiasm for science and its potential for contributing 

to human welfare, accepted a role as superior products of evolution, and like 

their business counterparts attempted to establish scientific monopolies. 

Progress in science, however, was so great and so rapid that organization 

and cooperation became necessary and accepted.

Clarence King, who became the U.S. Geological Survey's first Director, 

organized the Survey into two independent divisions, Mining Geology and 

General Geology, and then into geographic divisions after the fashion of the 

Coast and Geodetic Survey. Conceiving it to be his duty to obtain immediate 

results of strictly practical value, he allotted most of the funds to mining 

geology and planned a two-fold program: a study of mining districts and 

the collection of mineral statistics. Although general geology had the lesser 

role, basic research was not neglected. In addition to the work of the General 

Geology Division, some of the earliest geophysical and geochemical studies 

were undertaken in support of mining geology. The Survey was thus mission 

oriented in its first years.

King remained Director of the Geological Survey for only 2 years, and 

in 1881, John Wesley Powell succeeded him. Powell, who had favored a 

single survey for topographic and geologic mapping in 1878, immediately 

initiated an independent topographic-mapping program. In 1882, he obtained from Congress authorization to continue preparation of the geologic 

map of the United States and took that as authorization to prepare a topographic map of the United States as well. This brought about some overlap 

with the work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. In that same year, the 

Treasury Department fought off an attempt by the Navy Department to 

take over the Coast Survey.

With the authorization to prepare a geologic map of the United States, 

the Geological Survey reverted to an older tradition of science. The geologic 

map was a task that could be completed; it would develop the science, add 

to human knowledge, and ultimately provide the basis for application to 

practical problems. Stratigraphic and paleontologic studies were expanded, 

and mining geology investigations were limited. Coincidentally, there was 

a return to individualism, most scientists being allowed to choose their own 

investigations if such investigations fitted into the overall plan for a geologic 

map.

In 1884, Congress called for a joint commission of the Senate and House 

of Representatives to consider the organizations of the Signal Service, Geological Survey, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Hydrographic Office of 

the Navy Department to secure greater efficiency and economy of administration of these scientific bureaus. The proposed investigation, ostensibly 

a general one, was actually a combination of two investigations. One was 

an attempt to save the Coast and Geodetic Survey from the encroachment 

on its functions by the Geological Survey and from another attempt by the 

Navy to take it over; the other investigation was the Signal Service, in 

particular of the meteorological investigations. Many people questioned 

whether a weather bureau was properly a military function. The Naval

Change in Science 9
Observatory was not included in the investigation, but the struggle to make 

that agency a civilian one was an internal affair.

The National Academy of Sciences was called on for advice and suggested 

that the topographic work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Geological Survey be combined under one executive department and that the 

civilian and military functions of the Signal Service be divided. The Academy went on to suggest that the scientific functions of the Federal Government be divided among four bureaus: the Coast and Interior Survey, concerned chiefly with geodesy and hydrography; the Geological Survey; the 

Meteorological Bureau; and a physical laboratory, which would include the 

Office of Weights and Measures, then part of the Coast Survey. The Academy also suggested that a Department of Science be established, or alternatively, that all scientific bureaus be transferred to one executive department.

The congressional investigation spanned two sessions of Congress and a 

change of administration. The majority report in 1886 did not recommend 

any immediate changes in the organization of any of the bureaus and specifically accepted the wisdom of a geological survey of the entire country. 

Publication funds, however, were thereafter restricted. The minority report, 

signed by two members of Congress from the newly industrializing Southeast, attempted to restrict research in general geology and paleontology.

The congressional committee made no investigation of the scientific work 

of the Department of Agriculture. That Department had begun to develop 

as a scientific organization when it became more mission oriented, after the 

Entomological Commission, which had investigated the locust plagues of 

the Great Plains in the 1870s, became its Division of Entomology in 1880. 

A Bureau of Animal Husbandry was established in 1884 to study a specific 

problem of animal diseases, and a Division of Mycology the following year 

to study the problem of plant fungi. All three divisions aimed investigations 

at the solution of a practical problem, using whatever means were necessary 

or practicable. As the prestige of the Department grew, farmers demanded 

that it be raised to Cabinet status, and in February 1889, Congress passed 

the necessary legislation.

During the early part of the 1800's, agricultural production continued 

to increase. Prices, however, did not, and agriculture on the whole lagged 

behind other segments of the national economy. The portion of the national 

income earned by farmers and their share of the national wealth declined. 

Then in 1886, for the first time in several years, rainfall on the Great Plains 

was inadequate for farming and crops were a failure. During the following 

winter, blizzards and ice storms devastated the cattle ranches. The drought 

continued, and a series of crop failures together with declining prices dealt 

the farmers west of the 97th meridian crushing blows. Many soon realized 

that their land was worth less than the mortgages and let the loan companies 

foreclose, and large areas of the plains from Kansas northward became almost 

depopulated as farm families moved back east. Protest movements that had 

declined at the end of the 1870's again became important.

Irrigation of the arid lands, especially of the Great Plains, became a 

matter of importance. Congress at first turned to the Department of Agriculture for information, and that Department submitted a lengthy report 

in December 1886, stating that the area of irreclaimable arid land was quite 

moderate in extent, but in a large part of it, the water supply was both 

inadequate and irregular. In 1888, Congress turned to the Department of 

the Interior. Major Powell proposed that a topographic map be made of the 

arid region to determine the hydrographic basins and that this map be 

supplemented by stream-gaging and engineering surveys to designate reservoir sites, irrigable lands, and canal lines. Congress authorized the U.S.

10 A New Order
Geological Survey to make such a survey and, to prevent speculation, withdrew all irrigable lands from entry until the survey could be completed.

In the spring of 1890, officials of the Department of Agriculture questioned the concentration of the Survey's work in the area west of the Rocky 

Mountain front rather than in the Great Plains area. In the summer of 

1890, the Department of Agriculture issued a report on the water problems 

of the Great Plains that suggested geologic studies, rather than topographic 

maps, were needed and that underground water resources should be investigated. Many of the engineers of the Irrigation Survey had already discounted the usefulness of topographic mapping for designating reservoir 

sites or laying out canal lines. The Attorney General also ruled that the 

entire public domain had been closed to entry by the reservation clause in 

the 1888 legislation because no one knew which lands were irrigable until 

the Geological Survey designated them. Western interests raised a storm of 

protest, and Congress discontinued the Irrigation Survey and amended the 

1888 legislation to reserve only the reservoir sites. Two months later, 

Congress separated the civilian and military functions of the Signal Corps, 

as the National Academy of Sciences had recommended in 1884. The civilian functions were transferred to the Department of Agriculture, there to 

become the Weather Bureau, with responsibility, among other duties, for 

climatological studies and for gaging streams.

In the following spring, Congress made major revisions in the publicland laws, in accordance with the recommendations of the Public Lands 

Commission of 1879, bringing to an end most cash sales of public lands, 

repealing the Preemption and Timber Culture Acts, and providing more 

stringent conditions for entries under the Desert Land Act. In a major step 

toward the conservation of natural resources, the President was authorized 

to create forest reserves. Mineral-land laws, which had been a major concern 

of the Public Lands Commission, were unchanged.

Industrial progress had continued unimpeded, and therefore, most of the 

mineral industry in the Eastern States had prospered during the decade. In 

1890, the value of the nonprecious minerals produced was nearly double 

that of 1880. The United States had become the world's leading iron- and 

steel-making country. In fact, the United States in 1890 produced more 

than 34 percent of all the pig iron produced in the world and more than 35 

percent of all the steel; it mined more than 28 percent of the iron ore and 

nearly 28 percent of the coal. James M. Swank of the American Iron and 

Steel Institute said proudly:

Such industrial progress in a brief time as is here illustrated the world has 

never before known.

Mining of iron and coal remained very much an eastern affair, although 

a shift westward and southward from the original centers had taken place. 

Pennsylvania was still the leading mining State in 1890; the value of its 

mineral product more than double that of the second-ranking State, Michigan. Pennsylvania and the Appalachian fields in general dominated the coal 

industry, producing all the anthracite and 65 percent of the bituminous 

coal. The Central coalfield of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky produced 

another 18 percent of the bituminous coal. Only 17 percent came from west 

of the Mississippi. Michigan had become the leading iron-producing State, 

by itself producing nearly 45 percent of all the iron ore mined in the United 

States in 1890. Owing to the rapid industrial progress in the Southeast, 

Alabama had outstripped Pennsylvania and was the second-ranking ironproducing State. Wisconsin and Minnesota had also made rapid strides in 

iron mining and ranked fifth and sixth.

Industrial Progress 11
Copper had become important because of the rapid progress of the electrical industry. Copper production had more than quadrupled during the 

decade, and the United States had become the world's leading copper producer. The Lake Superior mines had produced more copper in 1890 than 

the whole country had produced in 1880 but had yielded first place to the 

Montana mines, which produced more than 43 percent of the copper mined 

that year. Arizona was a distant third. As the West for the first time became 

an important producer of an industrial mineral, so industry became involved 

in western mining law, resulting in epoch-making litigation with the war 

of the copper kings.

Among the other minerals, lead and zinc were still of less importance. 

Aluminum was produced commercially for the first time in 1882, and the 

newspapers had written glowingly of the advent of the age of aluminum. 

Its future, however, was still uncertain, for although 61,000 pounds were 

produced in 1890, aluminum was not being used as widely as expected.

The future of petroleum was also still uncertain. Production had more 

than doubled in the decade, and petroleum was being found in nearly every 

State and Territory, but it was being produced in quantity only in western 

Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio and in small amounts in Colorado 

and southern California. A leading observer thought it highly unlikely that 

any other State, with the possible exception of Wyoming, would ever become a large producer, but took the precaution of adding that there had 

been so many surprises in petroleum that his statement should be regarded 

as only setting forth current indications.

The production of gold had continued to decline during the 1880's and 

the value of gold mined in 1890 was only $32.8 million. California's 

annual production had declined to only $12.5 million chiefly because of the 

prohibition of hydraulic mining, and the other leading gold-producing 

States produced at the most $3 to $4 million each. Silver production, on 

the other hand, had increased to $70.5 million, about 1.7 times that of 

1880. The monetary situation was thus even more precarious than it had 

been in 1879.

The year 1890 was a turbulent one in American politics. The increasing 

agrarian unrest organized itself into powerful farmers' alliances, which 

plunged into politics with a vigor that alarmed business and industrial 

interests. The farmers' parties opposed the moneyed interests of the East 

and again joined with western silver interests who were pressing for silver 

coinage.

The protective tariff had become a partisan issue after President Cleveland 

called for lowering of duties in his annual message to Congress in 1887. 

The Democratic party was thereafter opposed to the existing system, and 

the Republicans felt constrained not only to support the protective tariff but 

to advocate its extension.

When the Republicans regained control of Congress after the elections of 

1888, they felt compelled to propose new tariff legislation; to make the 

measure more palatable to the agrarian West, Republican leaders decided 

first to accede to western desires for antitrust and silver legislation. The 

Sherman Antitrust Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act were passed in 

July 1890, the latter requiring the Treasury to purchase 4.5 million ounces 

of silver, the estimated total production, each month at the prevailingmarket price and to issue in payment legal tender Treasury notes redeemable 

in gold or silver. The McKinley Tariff Act was then passed in September.

In 1892, a Presidential election year, Congress again took a hard look at 

the scientific agencies. Passage of the Silver Purchase Act of 1890 had not 

provided the ample money supply that the farmers demanded, and a new

12 A New Order
downward spiral of commodity prices began. There was a drain on the gold 

reserve, and the Treasury announced, for the first time in 20 years, an 

impending deficit. In a mood for economy, Congress slashed appropriations 

for scientific agencies, especially items that seemed to have little immediate 

practical purpose. The Geological Survey's appropriations for geologic surveys, for paleontology, and for chemistry and physics were drastically reduced; only the appropriation for the report on mineral resources went 

unscathed. The Survey became principally a mapping agency. Appropriations for the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Fish Commission, and the 

Smithsonian Institution were cut, and the Bureau of American Ethnology 

came close to being eliminated altogether. Appropriations for the Department of Agriculture, then even more mission oriented, were unchanged.

In 1893, Grover Cleveland succeeded Benjamin Harrison as President as 

the worst depression of the 19th century was beginning. Scientific bureaus, 

remembering the difficulties of the first Cleveland administration, were 

fearful, and at first, their fears seemed justified. The Secretary of the Navy 

and the Secretary of the Treasury came to an early agreement on a dismemberment of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, part of its mapping functions 

to go to the Hydrographic Office, part to the Geological Survey. In the 

Department of Agriculture, Secretary J. Sterling Morton announced that he 

would drop all "useless scientists" from the Department. There were, 

however, no drastic changes. Congress refused to go along with the proposed 

changes in the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Secretary Morton chose as his 

Assistant Secretary a German-trained chemist, Charles Dabney, who, as 

head of the North Carolina agricultural experiment station, had discovered 

the phosphate deposits of eastern North Carolina and tin deposits of the 

western part of the State and had helped to revitalize the economy of North 

Carolina. Dabney directed an expansion of the scientific work of the Department. In the Geological Survey, Powell remained nominally Director 

until 1894, but Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith named Charles D. 

Walcott geologist in charge of geology and paleontology on July 1, 1893- 

In the field season of 1893, the geologic-mapping program was related to 

economic problems. Walcott became Director of the Geological Survey a 

year later. He revived the mission orientation of the Survey's work as outlined by King in 1879, but at the same time, he broadened the mission. 

The Survey would aid not just the mineral industry, but any industry, in 

fact any practical object that could be aided by a knowledge of geology. 

Both Walcott and Dabney succeeded in placing the scientists in their agencies under civil service, thus removing the threat of patronage.

Walcott emphasized at first that the principal work of the Geological 

Survey was geology, and although he stressed the practical aspects, he made 

it clear that basic and applied science could not be separated, that basic 

science would be undertaken when and where it was needed in the solution 

of a problem. Mining geology studies were resumed and extended into the 

Eastern States, and in view of the gold crisis, an intensive study of gold 

deposits, including exploration for new sources, was begun. An appropriation for gaging streams and determining the water supply of the United 

States was obtained, and the importance of the geologic aspects of water was 

indicated by assigning some of the most experienced geologists to waterresources investigations. When a congressional commission recommended 

transfer of the Geological Survey's topographic-mapping program to the 

Coast and Geodetic Survey, the move was forestalled when Congress accepted 

instead the Geological Survey's proposal to map Indian Territory, including 

the subdivisional surveys, and to make a geological survey at the same time.

Expansion of Science in 1890's 13
With an upturn in the economy in 1896, Federal science and mapping 

programs were able to expand. In both the water-resources investigations 

and the topographic-mapping programs of the Geological Survey, cooperation with the States and with the Department of Agriculture was extensive. 

In 1895, an interdepartmental committee on irrigation was formed. In 

1897, the Geological Survey was given responsibility for surveying, mapping, and classifying the forest reserves of the United States; for the work 

of classification, there was close cooperation with Agriculture's Forestry 

Division. When James Wilson of Iowa became Secretary of Agriculture in 

1897, he took for himself the role of its chief scientific officer. Under 

Wilson's guidance, the Department quadrupled in size in the next dozen 

years. Studies of soils, grass and forage plants, and the use of fertilizers, and 

investigations of dry-land farming were begun. In the Coast and Geodetic 

Survey, the new Superintendent, Henry Pritchett, made plans for increasing 

the scope and the support of the work of the Office of Weights and Measures.

Although general geology was not neglected, it was the Geological Survey's work in economic geology that won for it increasing recognition. The 

production of precious metals increased dramatically during the 1890's. The 

deposits at Cripple Creek in Colorado, first recognized in 1891, were studied 

by the Geological Survey in 1893 1894. By 1900, the value of annual 

production there was $18 million. The gold ores at Mercur, Utah, were 

investigated in 1894, just about the time development of the cyanidation 

process made its ores practicable. Investigations of the gold resources of 

Alaska began in 1895, a year before the big strikes. By 1900, the value of 

gold produced annually in the United States had reached a record $79.2 

million, and the United States adopted the gold standard as its monetary 

base. The silver yield in 1900 was one of the largest in history, but twothirds of it was a byproduct of mines that would be operated regardless of 

the price of silver, so the currency issue ceased to be controversial.

Copper production in 1900 was 600 million pounds, more than 10 times 

what it had been in 1880, but it still could not meet the demands. The 

Geological Survey began a study of the Montana mines in 1896 and of Utah 

copper in 1897; as the decade ended, it began studies of eastern copper 

deposits and the Arizona deposits. Aluminum was replacing copper in the 

electrical industry and also replacing iron and steel in parts of industrial 

machinery, as well as being used for such diverse purposes as railway cars 

and household utensils. As a result, production had increased nearly 1,000- 

fold in just 10 years. In 1893, the Geological Survey had begun a study of 

the aluminum ores of Georgia and Alabama, which were the major source 

of the metal, and in the spring of 1900, it began a study of the Arkansas 

deposits, which had just begun to produce.

The metal-mining industry called for greater support of the Geological 

Survey, and there was a move to establish a Cabinet-level Department of 

Mines with the Survey as a nucleus. The gold discoveries spurred congressional interest in additional studies of the precious metals, but the Survey 

took a broader view and suggested that studies of coal, coke, petroleum and 

asphalts, building stones and clay be undertaken as well.

Walcott said that the work of the Geological Survey had just begun and 

that the task would take decades if no changes were made in either the 

scope of the work or the size of the working force. He predicted, moreover, 

that the standards of the future would be progressively higher, that the 

scope of investigations would become broader, and that as the science pro14 A New Order
gressed and new uses were found for mineral resources, the number of facts 

to be determined would increase. Geologists would never lack worlds to 

conquer.

By the turn of the century, however, Federal science was more and more 

oriented toward the utilitarian. In 1901, the National Bureau of Standards 

replaced the Office of Weights and Measures, which had been part of the 

Coast Survey since 1832. The new bureau was not modeled after the national 

physical laboratory of Germany, as Pritchett had hoped, but was an American model drawn up on the basis of consultation with both scientists and 

manufacturers. A Bureau of Plant Industry was established in the Department of Agriculture, and the Divisions of Chemistry, Soils, and Forestry 

were raised to the status 'of bureaus. The Department of Agriculture and 

the Department of the Interior, largely through the Geological Survey, were 

by that time cooperating in the effort to preserve forests on watersheds and 

to develop waterpower. In 1902, when the Federal Government assumed 

responsibility for construction of irrigation works to water the lands of the 

arid West, the Reclamation Service was made an adjunct of the Geological 

Survey. In 1903, when the Department of Commerce and Labor was formed 

to foster and promote industry, the Bureau of Standards, the Coast and 

Geodetic Survey, and the Fish Commission were all made part of the new 

Department. Recognizing that the trend was not easily reversed, Walcott 

and several other scientists persuaded Andrew Carnegie to donate $10 million as an endowment for an institution for the promotion of pure research.

In 1903, a committee on the organization of the scientific work of the 

Government appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt concluded that in 

general the work of scientific research on the part of the Government should 

be limited nearly to utilitarian purposes and that research in pure science 

on broad and general grounds should be within the scope of private institutions. As a basic principle, the committee stated that the scientific work 

of the Government should be organized so that an administrative unit comprised all the elements necessary for the solution of a distinct scientific 

problem or group of closely related problems, and that, in general, individual sciences should not be segregated in separate bureaus or offices. The 

committee also recommended that several bureaus be transferred to the 

Department of Agriculture, which already included one-third of all Federal 

scientific bureaus, received three-fifths of all appropriations for scientific 

work, and employed two-thirds of all Federal scientific investigators. The 

transfers would have concentrated the scientific bureaus in one department 

and in effect would achieve the recommendation of the National Academy 

of Sciences in 1884, but few of them were ever made.

The second Public Lands Commission, appointed later that year, more 

effectively altered the relations of the scientific agencies. President Roosevelt 

asked it to report on the condition, operation, and effect of the land laws 

and to recommend such changes as were needed to effect the largest practicable disposition of the public lands to actual settlers, requests not unlike 

those Congress had made of the Commission of 1879. To them he added 

a further charge, to recommend changes in the public-land laws "to secure 

in permanence the fullest and most effective use of the resources of the 

public lands."

As in 1879, most of the public lands were west of the Mississippi River; 

the Federal Government still held title to 1 billion acres. The West, however, was no longer a thinly populated little-known area. The Reclamation 

Act had dramatically increased the availability of western lands for agriculTurn of the Century 15
ture by irrigation. The vast wealth of western mineral resources was better 

known, not only the precious metals but other metalliferous and nonmetalliferous minerals as well. The mineral industry began looking toward its 

iron and coal resources. In 1904, the West produced more petroleum than 

the East. Steps had already been taken to conserve the forests and to make 

the best use of water and land. Classification of the public lands in advance 

of disposition before long became an important element of the Geological 

Survey program for the first time, and research and mapping programs were 

altered accordingly. The shift in priorities in accord with national policy 

brought about a new order within the Geological Survey and among the 

Federal scientific agencies that lasted for many years.

16 A New Order
Chapter 2.

The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881

Indeed, the subject of mining is a very extensive one, and one very difficult 

to explain; no part of it is fully dealt with by the Greek and Latin authors whose 

works survive; and since the art is one of the most ancient, the most necessary, 

and the most profitable to mankind, I considered that I ought not to neglect it.

 Georgius Agricola

The appointment of the first Director of the new U.S. Geological Survey 

was critical to the success of the new agency, for the first director would 

create as well as direct the organization. Ferdinand V. Hay den, director of 

the older of the two Interior surveys discontinued by the legislation establishing the U.S. Geological Survey, was at first considered the leading 

candidate; however, a small group considered Clarence King, who had directed the Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, better qualified tor the position and worked to obtain his appointment. On March 20, 1879, President Hayes sent to the Senate the nomination of Clarence Rivers King as 

first Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. The nomination was confirmed 

by the Senate on April 3, and King took the oath of office on May 24, 

1879, although no funds would be available for the new agency until July 1.

King represented a new professionalism in American geology. He had 

studied under James Dwight Dana and George Brush at Yale's Sheffield 

Scientific School as a member of the first class to receive the degree of 

bachelor of science. He had studied briefly under Louis Agassiz and had 

spent 3 years with the California Geological Survey under Josiah Dwight 

Whitney before undertaking the Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel in 

1867. The King survey had completed its fieldwork in 1872, and the last 

of its reports, King's Systematic Geology, had been published in 1878. King 

had been only 25 when placed in charge of the Exploration ot the Fortieth 

Parallel; in the dozen years since, he had achieved an extraordinary position 

for a young man. Acclaimed for his literary as well as his scientific talents, 

he was the youngest member of the National Academy of Sciences, and had 

a wide circle of friends in positions of influence in political, educational, 

and literary circles as well as among scientists.

Although the Organic Act of the Geological Survey assigned what seemed 

to be very specific duties to the new agency, the brevity ot the legislation 

actually left much to the judgment of the Director. King decided that the 

initial work of the Survey should be directed toward production of immediate results of strictly practical value. His own experience in the Fortieth 

Parallel Exploration had shown the wisdom of early publication of a volume 

on the mining industry and engagement in pure science in later years. He 

laid out the work of the Geological Survey on the same basis.

Almost immediately, however, he was confronted with problems in interpretation of the Organic Act. The first duty enjoined on the new bureau 

was the classification of the public lands, but Congress had at the same time 

asked the Public Lands Commission to determine a system and standard of 

classification and had not made any changes in the General Land Office, 

which had for more than 90 years made the classification ot the land in

The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881 17
advance of disposition. Moreover, the National Academy of Sciences committee in its 1878 report had stated that investigation and classification of 

the public domain was needed to meet the requirements of existing law but 

had proposed only that the Geological Survey be responsible for investigation 

of the public domain. King therefore decided that the Survey's classification 

was not meant to supersede that of the General Land Office but was to be 

a scientific one that would provide information for all the people. He 

planned a series of land maps which would show "all those features upon 

which intelligent agriculturists, miners, engineers, and timbermen might 

hereafter base their operations," and which would also be of value for 

"students of the political economy and resources of the United States." 

That decision was later confirmed by the Public Lands Commission, which 

concluded after careful study that it would be impracticable for the Survey 

or any other branch of the Interior Department to classify the lands in 

advance of sale without seriously impeding settlement.

The remaining tasks were the examination of the geological structure, 

mineral resources, and products of the national domain; of these, King chose 

to emphasize first the examination of mineral resources. Americans could 

take pride in the development of their natural resources, he said, but the 

methods of the past were no longer enough, and only the Federal Government could do what was needed. Because of the size of the country, information was lacking on the primary industries those that yielded the raw 

materials, mineral, vegetable, and animal. The Agriculture Department had 

begun the systematic collection of information on crops, but the only efforts 

to acquire knowledge of mineral production were the "highly useful but 

feebly endowed" mining commissions, and those had been ended in 1874 

for lack of appropriations.

There were at the time some outstanding problems. The year 1878 had 

been one of great monetary uncertainty. The Secretary of the Treasury had 

to buy silver each month as required by the Bland-Allison Act. At the same 

time he had to accumulate a gold reserve of about $200 million in anticipation of the resumption of specie payments for greenbacks on January 1, 

1879. The gold product of the United States had been as high as $53 

million in 1853 but had been steadily declining; in 1878, it was less than 

$39 million. The silver product, on the other hand, had been increasing 

since 1859 and in 1878 had a coining value of almost $41 million. Knowledge of the precious-metal resources of the Nation could clearly be of great 

value at such a time.

At the same time, industry was growing at a phenomenal rate. Since the 

Civil War. the natural resources most in demand for industry had been iron 

and coal. Although there was general optimism that these resources were 

well nigh inexhaustible, certain problems were becoming evident. Steelmaking processes in common use required a low-phosphorus, low-sulfur pig 

iron, and pig iron was being imported because steelmakers were finding it 

difficult to obtain sufficient American iron of suitable composition.

In King's mind:

In the history of the United States, whatever may be the final adjustment of 

the machinery of National government upon one great field of American activity, the pride of to-day and the judgment of the future will agree. That field 

is the development of our material resources. In the industrial conquest of a 

continent the tide of victory has never ebbed.

In possessing ourselves of this broad, virgin area, we have shown a power 

unprecedented in the slower past to discern, to seize, and to utilize the national wealth with which the United States is so liberally endowed. With an 

energy never relaxed, with an originality which has revolutionized and improved 

nearly all industrial methods, we grasp the problem of material development, 

and grasping, solve it.

18 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
He went on

Every intelligent student of the country knows that we are yet at the very threshold of the industrial life of the Republic.*** The modern method of distributing 

population by means of the network of railroads which is rapidly threading the 

last remaining wilderness, greatly accelerates the progress of the industries.*** 

Our fifty millions will equalize its grasp on the different sections by rapid migration, till the population finds an equilibrium with the local resources. That 

equilibrium will soon be attained. Our real industrial problem is then to utilize 

with the highest technical skill and with the utmost scientific economy, all 

elements of national wealth.

The decision about program having been made, King organized the Survey first into two independent divisions, Mining Geology and General Geology, and then into geographic divisions, after the fashion of the Army and 

the Coast Survey. In each geographic division, there would be a permanent 

corps under a geologist whose personal experience and background fitted 

him to undertake the chief problems of that division.

The region west on the 101st meridian was divided into four districts on 

geological, rather than political, lines. The Rocky Mountain District, with 

its headquarters at Denver, Colorado, included Colorado, New Mexico, 

Wyoming, Montana, and a small part of Dakota, "an area enclosing the 

whole great chain of the Rocky Mountains, whose geographical function is 

the dividing of the watershed of the Atlantic from that of the Pacific." 

The Division of the Colorado, embracing the plateau and canyon country 

between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin, was a temporary one 

until such time as the extensive work that Major Powell had been carrying 

on could be completed. Its headquarters were at Salt Lake City, Utah. The 

Division of the Great Basin, which also had headquarters in Salt Lake City, 

included the region of primarily interior drainage between the Rocky Mountains and the Colorado Plateau on the east and the Sierra Nevada, Cascade, 

and Pacific Coast Ranges on the west, a region of great importance because 

of its abundant silver districts. The Division of the Pacific included all of 

Washington Territory, Oregon west of the Blue Mountains, and all of California, except the desert region east of the Sierra Nevada and south of the 

38th parallel, which belonged to the arid region of the Great Basin. Pacific 

Division headquarters were in San Francisco.

King also planned four divisions east of the Rocky Mountains. The 

Appalachian Region would be divided into two districts, one embracing 

Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and New England, and the other, West Virginia, Virginia, North and South Carolina, 

Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The Mississippi 

Basin, although geologically, he said, but one field and one problem, would 

also be divided into two districts. The boundary line between the two would 

be the Ohio River east of the Mississippi and the southern boundaries of 

Missouri and Kansas west of the river.

A problem arose, however, about the meaning of the term "national 

domain" in the Organic Act. The Academy committee had consistently 

used the term "public domain" it considered its field of inquiry limited 

to the surveys that pertained to the public domain, concluded that a thorough investigation and classification of the of the public domain was needed, 

and recommended the establishment of a survey to study the geological 

structure and economic resources of the public domain. The law as passed 

by Congress, however, had used two different terms, charging the Geological Survey with classification of the "public lands" and examination of the 

geological structure, mineral resources and products of the "national domain." The latter term, King said, was "supposed by the first framers of 

the law to cover the entire United States." That language was chosen,

Organizing the U.S. Geological Survey 19
according to Dutton, to "authorize by a reasonable construction the survey 

of the states without making it obligatory upon the Survey to go into each 

and every one of them." Opponents of the Survey took advantage of the 

ambiguity to incite the fears of several State geologists and other leading 

scientists that the national survey would override the State surveys. The 

Attorney General was asked for an opinion and ruled that the term "national 

domain" meant the public lands to which the United States had not parted 

title. If the Director had to use that opinion as his guide, Dutton said, "he 

might as well 'shut up shop & take in his sign' at once. It puts him in the 

position of the little girl who asked

Mother may I go out to swim? 

O? Yes my darling daughter 

Hang your clothes on a hickory limb 

But don't go near the water."

King turned to Congress for clarification. On June 28, Congressman J. 

D. C. Atkins introduced a joint resolution to amend the Sundry Civil 

Expenses Act by adding after "national domain" the three words "and the 

States," explaining that "the Geological Director desires to make surveys 

of the mineral resources of the entire country, not only in the Territories 

and in the States where there are public lands." "And," Congressman 

Joseph Hawley of Connecticut added, "to collect what the States have already 

done for themselves.* **In order to make a correct estimate of the mineral 

resources of the country, it is necessary that the information which has 

already been collected by the States be secured." Congressman A. J. Warner of Ohio wanted reassurance on the intent. "We should know before 

acting on this measure whether or not it is a proposition for a general 

geological survey of the States." "Not at all," Atkins insisted, "the object 

I had in offering this joint resolution was simply to enable the Geological 

Director to make in his next report a practical presentation of the mineral 

resources of the entire country." The problem of Federal-State relations 

and the possible trespass of State rights by a national survey was thoroughly 

aired, and the amendment was changed before being passed, first to "and 

he may extend his examination into the States," and finally to "and he 

may extend his examination into the States, not to interfere, however, with 

any geological survey now being made by the State." In the Senate the 

resolution was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, but Congress 

adjourned on July 1 before it was acted upon.

King deemed it wise to choose the conservative course and to restrict the 

first year's operations to the public-land States. In any event, the size of 

the appropriation would not permit any extensive operations. He still felt 

that it "was his duty to bend the energies of the Bureau first of all to the 

production of immediate results of strictly practical value," the emphasis 

would be on mining geology and only "a very small proportion" of the 

funds and force would be "diverted" to pure geology. The mining geology 

program would be twofold; a study of mining districts and the collection 

of mineral statistics.

With regard to mining district studies, King wrote:

There can hardly be two opinions on the desirableness of immediately working 

out such problems in these great districts which in their past and present 

history offer examples of instructive geological structure and great bullion 

yield, and which have required of mining men special mechanical skill and large 

outlay of capital. Proper scientific reports on such typical districts become 

records of remarkable phenomena in the field of industrial geology, and chronicles of distinguished success in the department of mining engineering.

20 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
The first three great mining districts investigated 

by the U.S. Geological Survey included Leadville, 

Colorado, which had sprung from a comparatively 

unknown mining camp to a great mining center 

with almost unexampled rapidity in the late 1870's. 

Its annual production in 1879 was probably greater 

than that of any other single district in the West 

with the exception of the Comstock. Fryer Hill was 

the site ot some of the richest mines. (From Frank 

Fossett, 1879.)

Restriction to the public-land States would not be a handicap to the 

mining-district studies, for among the districts that deserved study, he was 

able to choose three in public-land States that "more than others seemed to 

offer harvests of technical information, of which the mining population 

stands in immediate need." The first districts to be studied were: "Leadville, that extraordinary district in middle Colorado, Eureka, Nevada, which 

for fifteen years has been the most productive silver-lead district in America, 

and the incomparable Comstock Lode."

Of the three districts, Leadville was new. Eureka was in its prime, and 

the Comstock was apparently declining. Leadville was just coming into 

production its first big year was 1878 but the excitement engendered 

by the discoveries there was reminiscent of the early days of the Comstock. 

Almost overnight it seemed, an abandoned gold camp had been transformed 

into a roaring mining town. The Leadville discovery was the beginning of 

the Colorado era of western mining.

The ore causing all the excitement was a silver-lead ore. Miners in the 

early gold-mining days at Leadville had been troubled by a heavy gray rock 

that had to be picked out of the sluices by hand, but not until long after 

the camp had been abandoned was it recognized. In 1874, A. B. Wood of 

Detroit identified this heavy rock as a lead ore and made a quiet search for 

its source. When the titles to abandoned placer claims expired in 1875. he 

and his associates located claims on Iron Hill. In 1876, ore was shipped to 

St. Louis for smelting and yielded a profit in spite of high transportation 

costs. Thereupon prospectors, miners, promoters, and the usual camp followers rushed to Leadville.

The richest orebodies on Fryer Hill were discovered by somewhat less 

scientific methods. S. F. Emmons, who, in his precise way, called the 

discovery "a singular accident," said: "At this point there is no outcrop, 

the whole surface of the hill being covered to an average depth of 100 feet

A Program in Mining Geology 21
The lead-silver ores at Eureka, Nevada, had been 

discovered in 1864, but the mining did not become 

profitable until 1869 when smelting methods were 

introduced. The silver-lead deposits at Eureka were 

found in limestone, and the question of whether 

limestone formed a lode, in terms of mining law, 

had been the subject of litigation that was carried 

all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Photograph 

of Eureka about 1880, courtesy of Thomas B. Nolan.)

.,rts3-

by detrital material. Tradition has it that two prospectors were 'grubstaked,' or fitted out with a supply of provisions, by Tabor [H.A.W. 

Tabor, later Lieutenant Governor and briefly Senator], half of all they discovered to belong to him. Among the provisions was a jug of whiskey, 

which proved so strong a temptation to the prospectors that they stopped 

to discuss its contents before they had gone a mile from town. When the 

whiskey had disappeared, though its influence might probably still have 

been felt, they concluded that the spot on which they had thus prematurely 

camped was as good a one to sink a prospecting hole on as any other. At 

a depth of 25 to 30 feet their shaft struck the famous ore body of the Little 

Pittsburg mine, the only point on the whole area of the hill where rock in 

place comes so near the surface." The era of discovery of ore deposits by 

scientific methods was still somewhat in the future.

The Eureka district had been more completely developed than any of the 

other silver-lead deposits and offered an opportunity for a complete investigation of such deposits. The litigation at Eureka also was undoubtedly a 

factor in the selection. The question was whether or not the Ruby Hill 

deposits formed a lode, in terms of mining law, and on this, there had been 

a great difference of opinion. The lawsuit between the Eureka and Richmond mining companies had been argued in July 1877, celebrated geologists testifying for both sides. The crux of the matter was the continuity of 

a particular limestone zone between levels in an area where there was faulting. T. Sterry Hunt, W. S. Keyes, R. W. Raymond, T. J. Reid, and I. 

E. James testified in favor of the Eureka Company that the zone in question 

was a lode in the miner's sense of the term; however, King, J. D. Hague, 

J. D. Whitney, William Ashburner, and N. Wescoatt had all declared that 

in their opinion, the limestone could not be regarded as a lode either from 

a practical or a scientific point of view.

At the "incomparable" Comstock, the problems were primarily scientific. The mines were the deepest in North America, and they contained 

about 185 miles of galleries, offering an unparalleled opportunity for sci22 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
entific study. The origin of the deposits, from which more than $300 million 

of bullion had been extracted since their discovery, was of course the principal subject of investigation, but there were other features of interest. The 

nature of some of the rocks associated with the ores was still a moot point. 

Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen had examined the deposit in 1865 for the 

Sutro Tunnel Company and had identified one of the enclosing rocks, a finegrained greenish rock containing crystals of feldspar and hornblende, as 

propylite. King had studied the deposit in 1867 1868 and had accepted 

von Richthofen's designation, although he distinguished two forms of propylite, one of which he called quartz propylite. He noted an affinity between 

certain propyite and andesites and said that it would not be at all surprising 

if the propylite should finally prove to be chemically identical with, and in 

reality only a different form of, andesite. Zirkel had also accepted the term 

propylite and had confirmed the independence of quartz and hornblende 

propylite. Church had accepted the lithology of his predecessors with minor 

modifications. The nature of propylite was, however, unknown. Propylite 

resembled ancient rocks but was apparently of very recent origin. Another 

subject of interest was the cause of the high temperature observed in the 

mines, which some had attributed to extensive kaolinization.

The mineral statistics that King planned to collect were more than production data. Geographical, geological, mineralogical, and chemical data 

were needed on ores, fuels, and fluxes; not even an accurate knowledge of 

the mineral resources of a given State was enough, for "the mechanical arts 

in a multitude of instances depend on an artificial association of mineral 

products from widely separated regions." The iron industry of Michigan 

and Wisconsin, for example, depended on the utilization of its ores in 

distant States, in combination with ores of other States, and the coal and 

flux of still others. Silver ores, "valueless from their rebellious nature at the 

mines which yield them," could be taken to a neighboring State, mixed 

with others of different chemical composition, and profitably worked. ClosThe incomparable Comstock, as King referred to it, 

had been discovered in 1859 at a point north of the 

town of Gold Hill. By 1879, more than $300 million worth of bullion had been extracted from Comstock mines. (From Dan DeQuille, 1876.)

A Program in Mining Geology 23
ing the quicksilver mines of California would close a greater number of gold 

mines in Georgia. In a few instances, he said, minerals occurred in such 

restricted areas that private or State enterprises might ascertain all the needed 

information.

But as a whole it is true, and can never be refuted, that the Federal Government 

alone can successfully prosecute the noble work of investigating and making 

known the natural mineral wealth of the country, current modes of mining and 

metallurgy, and the industrial statistics of production.

Until Congress authorized the Survey to conduct investigations in the 

region east of the 100th meridian, the Survey could collect mineral statistics 

only in the Western States. King, however, was able to make the study of 

mineral statistics national through the cooperation of the Tenth Census, 

authorized on the day the Survey was established. The Tenth Census legislation provided that the data were to be collected by a field force supervised 

by the Superintendent, rather than by Federal marshals and their assistants 

as in earlier censuses, and also greatly extended the scope of the census. The 

Superintendent, moreover, was authorized to withdraw certain classes of 

statistical inquiry from the ordinary enumerators and place them in the 

hands of experts and special agents who would be permitted to investigate 

"in their economic relations" the industries on which they were to collect

Clarence King

Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879- 

1881. King's administration was brief, but his 

influence, exercised at a critical period of the Survey's existence, left a lasting impression upon it. 

The broad general principles he outlined for its 

work anticipated the mission orientation that guides 

most federal scientific agencies today. Though some 

latter-day historians have tended to be critical of 

King, his contemporaries held him in great esteem. 

(Photograph of oil portrait by George Howland in 

the Directors' Conference Room, U.S. Geological 

Survey, National Center, Reston, Virginia)

24 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
Francis A. Walker

As superintendent of the Tenth Census, Walker 

made it possible for the Survey to make a complete 

appraisal of the Nation's mineral resources during 

its first year. Walker succeeded William B. Rogers 

as president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1881. In 1884 he was a member of the 

Commission that supervised the cooperative arrangement for topographic mapping of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (Courtesy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Historical 

Collections.)

information. Francis A. Walker was appointed Superintendent of the Tenth 

Census in April 1879. Walker, who had been among the group pressing 

for King's nomination as Director of the Geological Survey and who, like 

King, was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, arranged with 

several fellow members of the Academy to undertake these special studies: 

Spencer Baird, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, a census of the 

fisheries; Professor John S. Newberry, a report on the building-stone and 

quarry industry; Professor W. P. Trowbridge, a survey of power and machinery; and Professor C. S. Sargent of Harvard, a study of forestry and the 

lumbering industry. For the collection of mineral statistics, Walker observed, the creation by the act of Congress at the same session of the Geological Survey seemed to offer a most fortunate opportunity. The collection 

of the statistics and studies of the economic relations of the precious metals, 

iron, coal, petroleum, copper, lead, quicksilver, and zinc be entrusted to 

Clarence King.

The census inquiry offered an opportunity to appraise the character, extent, and influence of the entire mining industry in a way that had never 

been done before, and King proposed to make full use of it. West of the 

100th meridian, the investigation could be organized as part of the regular 

Survey program in mining geology, but in the Eastern States, the investigation had to be organized in a different fashion. On July 1, 1879, the first 

day of the fiscal year, Director King was appointed expert special agent of 

the census, to serve without pay from the Tenth Census appropriation. 

Arrangements were made whereby other geologists of the Survey would be 

similarly appointed as unsalaried special agents, and still others would be 

appointed, paid from census funds, and detailed to the "Geological Director." East of the 100th meridian, only census agents would be employed; 

west of that line both Survey and census employees would engage in the 

investigation.

The program having been determined, the staff was then recruited. The 

qualifications for appointment to the staff and the salaries were established 

by Director King in consultation with Secretary of the Interior, Carl Schurz. 

Their standards were high. Applicants for appointment to the Division of 

Mining Geology were expected to have a good working knowledge of mathematics, mechanics, mining geology, chemistry, metallurgy, and the mineralogy of economic mineral products, evidence of which could be furnished 

by university degrees, the testimony of experts in the required branches, or 

a written examination. For appointment under the Division of General Geology, applicants were expected to furnish equivalent evidence of a working 

knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology, and mineralogy.

The first appointments were made on July 8, 1879; as geologists at 

$4,000 a year, S. F. Emmons, Arnold Hague, Grove Karl Gilbert, and F. 

V. Hayden; and as geologist at $2,500 a year, George F. Becker. A few 

days later Raphael Pumpelly was appointed geologist at $4,000 a year and 

Charles D. Walcott as assistant geologist at $600 a year. To the topographic 

staff were appointed Alien Wilson at $3,000 a year; Frederick A. Clark at 

$2,500; Sumner Bodfish and John H. Renshawe at $1,800 and $1,700 

respectively; Richard U. Goode at $1,200; and Philo B. Wright at $800. 

A clerical staff of four and two messengers completed the first list. In 

September, Andrew A. Blair was appointed chemist at $3,000.

Most of those appointed had been associated with one or another of the 

predecessor surveys. Of the geologists, Emmons and Hague had been with 

King's Fortieth Parallel Exploration, Gilbert with the Wheeley and Powell 

surveys, and Hayden had been geologist in charge of the Geological and 

Geographical Survey of the Territories. Alien Wilson had been a valued

Staffing the Survey 25
member of the Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel group and later a member 

and then chief topographer of the Hayden survey. F. A. Clark had also been 

with both the Fortieth Parallel and Hayden surveys; Sumner Bodfish, John 

H. Renshawe, and Philo Wright had been with the Powell survey; and R. 

U. Goode had been an aide in the Engineer Corps.

Of those who had not been members of predecessor surveys, both Becker 

and Pumpelly were clearly experienced in mining geology. Becker was 32, 

born in New York City. When he was still very young, his family had 

moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, a preference for science rather 

than sports had brought him into contact with such scientific luminaries as 

Benjamin Gould, Jeffries Wyman, Benjamin Peirce, and the elder Agassiz. 

He was graduated from Harvard in 1868 and went abroad at once to continue his education, taking advanced degrees at Heidelberg and the Royal 

School of Mines in Berlin. On his return to the United States, he became 

an engineer at the Joliet steelworks, and from there moved to California, 

where he became an instructor in mining and metallurgy at the University 

of California. In 1878, Becker had accompanied James Hague, the U.S. 

Commissioner to the Paris Exposition, and had contributed extensively to 

Hague's report on the mining industry of the world.

Pumpelly had been born in Owego, New York, in 1847. At 17, after 

graduating from General Russell's school in New Haven, he chose not to

26 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881

S. F. Emmons

Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879 

19H- Emmons, who had been a member of the 

King survey, shared with King an interest in mining geology and became the leading economic geologist of his day. His contributions to economic 

geology have been likened to those of Charles Lyell 

in general geology. When Emmons died in 1911, 

George Becker said there was not a geological society or even a mining camp from Arctic Finland 

to the Transvaal, or from Alaska to Australia, where 

his name was not known and his authority recognized. (Photograph courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)
Arnold Hague

Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879 

1917. Hague, who began as a mining geologist, 

later turned to general geology and devoted many 

years to study of the Yellowstone area. He also took 

an active role in the forest conservation movement. 

J. P. Iddings who was his assistant for several years, 

noted that "Hague took a lively interest in discovery, whether a bit of geological structure or the lay 

of new or little-known country. He delighted to 

follow an elk trail through a difficult region as well 

as to unravel a complex piece of stratigraphy, but 

when he had solved the riddle his interest in it 

ceased." Hague's publication record is consequently short. (Photograph courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

go to Yale with the rest of his classmates but went instead to Europe. After 

a period of travel, he entered the Bergakademie at Freiberg and studied 

there from 1856 to I860 at the same time as James Hague. After returning 

to the United States, he had been in charge of the Santa Rita mine in 

Arizona for a year and then had spent 3 years as adviser to the Japanese and 

Chinese Governments on the development of natural resources. He later 

became closely associated with Josiah Dwight Whitney and through his influence was invited to become Sturgis-Hooper Professor of Mining at Harvard University, a position that he accepted because the endowment was not 

sufficient to pay a professor's salary and therefore the duties were light. For 

several years he had been engaged in studies of the iron and copper deposits 

of Michigan, for private industry and for the Michigan Geological Survey 

after its reestablishment. In 1871, he had become State Geologist of Missouri and directed a study of the iron and coal resources of that State before 

resigning in 1873.

Blair's experience was also valuable in the Mining Geology Division. He 

had been born in Kentucky in 1848 and had graduated from the Naval 

Academy at 18 but had later turned to chemistry. Since 1875, he had been 

the Chief Chemist of the U.S. Commission for Testing Iron, Steel, and 

Other Metals, at the Watertown Arsenal, New York.

Staffing the Survey 27
Charles Doolittle Walcott, the lowly assistant geologist, came to the U.S. 

Geological Survey on the recommendation of James Hall. Walcott was born 

in 1850, the youngest child of a wealthy millowner near Utica,New York. 

He had become interested in fossils at the age of 11, and by the time he 

was 17, he was determined to become a geologist, despite family opposition. 

His spectacular collection of fossils brought him to Louis Agassiz's attention, and he planned to study at Harvard, but Agassiz's death in December 

1873 put an end to that plan. In 1876, he became James Hall's assistant 

at the New York State Museum, and when he joined the Survey in 1879 

he had already published several important papers on the details of the 

appendages of trilobites.

Pumpelly was placed in charge of the Mining Geology Division, the 

collection of mineral statistics east of the 100th meridian, and the discussion, for the census, of the statistics of all mining industries except the 

precious metals. King retained for himself the collection and discussion of 

the precious-metal statistics. Major Powell acted as head of the General 

Geology Division, or Geologic Map Division, although he did not then

28 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881

Grove Karl Gilbert

Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879 

1918. Gilbert, who had been a member of both 

the Wheeler and Powell surveys, was a close friend 

and adviser to John Wesley Powell. Gilbert served 

as Chief Geologist from 1889 to 1892. Gilbert was 

described as "An authority in many fields and yet 

one who never assumed authority; a leader in science 

and yet one who never assumed leadership; neither 

power nor glory did he seek, but the satisfaction of 

contributing his share to the sum of human knowledge." (Photograph courtesy of the Smithsonian 

Institution Archives.) I
Andrew A. Blair

First Chief Chemist of the U.S. Geological Survey. 

Blair later became a member of the firm of Booth, 

Garrett & Blair, analytical chemists, which had 

been founded by James C. Booth, of the First Pennsylvania Survey and the first Geological Survey of 

Delaware. Blair developed many new methods for 

analysis of iron and steel, and published a text on 

the chemical analysis of iron which was a classic in 

its day. (Photograph courtesy of Booth, Garrett & 

Blair, Inc., Philadelphia.)

receive a formal Survey appointment. In the Sundry Civil Expenses Act, 

$20,000 had been appropriated "for completing and preparing for publication the contributions to North American ethnology, under the Smithsonian Institution" in addition to the appropriation for completion of the 

reports of the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain 

Region; Major Powell preferred an appointment under the Smithsonian Institution to direct the ethnologic work.

Emmons was named geologist in charge of the Rocky Mountain Division, 

G. K. Gilbert, geologist in charge of the Division of the Great Basin, and 

Arnold Hague, geologist in charge of the Pacific Division. Captain C. E. 

Dutton, whose detail from the Army to the Interior Department had been 

continued, was placed in charge of the Colorado Division. Becker was assigned to the Division of the Great Basin for studies in mining geology. 

Alien Wilson was named Chief Topographer of the Department of Topographic Engineering, and F. A. Clark, the Chief Topographer of the Division of the Pacific. Blair became Pumpelly's chief assistant in the Mining 

Geology Division.

Although it is nowhere spelled out, it is evident that there were various 

grades in the service, and terms had been carefully chosen. Pumpelly, Emmons, Gilbert, and Hague were all heads of divisions, and all received 

salaries of $4,000 a year. Wilson was head of a department, which was 

evidently of lesser status than a division, and received a salary of $3,000 a 

year, as did Blair, who was the chief chemist. Becker and Clark, assigned 

to geographic divisions, were somewhat lower in the scale than department 

heads and received salaries of only $2,500.

Pumpelly was give a free hand by the Director and the Superintendent 

of the Census when he agreed to undertake the Census work, and he had 

concluded that in the time and with the means available it was not possible 

to make a special study of each of the mineral industries for which the 

Survey was to be responsible. Coal and iron were the most important in the 

industrial development of the country; of the two, Pumpelly decided to 

concentrate on a study of the iron ores because of the rapid advances in iron 

manufacture during the preceding decade, especially the new steelmaking 

processes. In the original Bessemer process, only pig iron that was practically 

free from phosphorus could be used, and there had been many failures when 

domestic pig iron was used. Large quantities of Bessemer pig iron were 

being imported, and American manufacturers were uncertain whether 

American iron ores could ever make good Bessemer pig iron. A thorough 

knowledge of the chemical composition of iron ores was therefore most 

important, and Pumpelly planned that "every mine and known outcrop of 

iron ore from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic to the 

Pacific" would be examined geologically and systematically sampled and 

that the samples would be chemically analyzed and studied under the microscope. The headquarters of the Mining Geology Division were set up in 

Newport, Rhode Island, where "work could be carried on without the necessity of long summer vacation" and where several Government offices 

were already located. A chemical laboratory was equipped with provision for 

mechanical preparation of samples, including the crushing and grinding of 

ores, and everything necessary for rapid and careful chemical analysis.

Several appointments were made to the census staff so that work on the 

iron project could begin. First on the list was Bailey Willis, appointed a 

special agent on July 10. Willis was fresh out of the Columbia School of 

Mines, and Professor Newberry had sent him to Washington to look for a 

job with the newly established U.S. Geological Survey. While Willis was 

waiting to see the Director one day, Pumpelly breezed by and into the

Tenth Census Iron Investigation 29
Director's office unannounced. Willis, who did not recognize the "redbearded giant," was astonished that anyone would so unceremoniously 

approach the Director of the United States Geological Survey. King and 

Pumpelly discussed plans for sampling iron ores. "You will want young 

men," said King. "There is Willis, you can have him." In this offhand 

manner began the long association of Willis and Pumpelly and of Willis 

and the Geological Survey. In August, Major T. B. Brooks, who had been 

a pioneer in the geologic study of the Michigan iron districts, and Charles 

F. Johnson were added to the census staff. Johnson was to be responsible 

for the statistical work. F. A. Gooch, who had a Yale Ph.D. in chemistry, 

became Blair's principal assistant in October; later, Captain J. Pitman of 

the Ordnance Corps, J. F. White, Edward Whitfield, W. R. Richmond, 

and C. F. King joined the chemistry staff. Bayard T. Putnam and E. R. 

Benton, both Harvard graduates, and William Chauvenet, an 1879 graduate 

of Washington University, were added to the staff to collect iron-ore samples 

along with Bailey Willis.

Pumpelly's objective in the iron-ore investigation was to determine the 

classification, geographic and geologic distribution, manner of oc urrence, 

and chemical character of the different varieties of iron ores. The yo ing men

Raphael Pumpelly

Pumpelly was head of the Mining Geology Division 

of the U.S. Geological Survey from 1879 to 1881 

and of its Archean Division from 1884 to 1892. 

From 1881 to 1884, he headed the Northern Transcontinental Survey. Pumpelly was primarily a mining engineer (King accounted him the best of his 

day), but Bailey Willis placed him among the great 

explorers. "He used his profession of mining engineer but never devoted himself to it. He served his 

adopted science, geology, but not exclusively. He 

cherished for forty years a dream of carrying out 

investigations in archeology and ethnology of the 

Asiatic and European races and at the age of three 

score and ten realized it with the same thoroughness 

and devotion to truth which characterized all his 

scientific studies." (Photograph courtesy of the 

Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

30 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
Alien D. Wilson

First Chief Topographical Engineer of the U.S. 

Geological Survey. The unequaled accuracy and rapidity of his work, according to S. F. Emmons, 

could be adequately appreciated only by those who 

put it to the test of actual instrumental verification. 

Wilson left the Survey in 1881 to join the Northern 

Transcontinental Survey. (Photograph from the files 

of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

were sent out to collect hand samples and commercial samples, the latter 

consisting of 10 to 20 pounds of small chippings from the mines and from 

the stockpiles, a method of sampling proposed and used by Brooks in Michigan and by Pumpelly in Missouri. After detailed information about each 

sample was recorded, they were then to send the samples to Newport for 

chemical analysis and microscopic study. Putnam visited the iron mines in 

Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, part of Pennsylvania, 

Michigan, and northern Wisconsin. Benton visited the mines in Maine, 

New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, and Virginia. Chauvenet collected 

samples in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Missouri. Willis was sent 

to eastern Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and 

Alabama, where with some ingenuity, he obtained the aid of mountaineers 

and moonshiners to find the ore banks from which the Confederates had 

made iron. Willis was also sent to run down reports of iron ore north of 

Lake Superior, a trip that was made under exceptionally difficult circumstances, beginning in canoes and ending on snowshoes. One party spent the 

autumn of 1879 and the following winter making geologic and magnetic 

observations in an attempt to trace the connection between the iron-bearing 

formation of the Marquette district in Michigan and the new iron fields on 

the Menominee River, and in tracing the continuation of the Menominee 

iron ore range eastward under the overlying rocks. A steady stream of samples was shipped to the laboratory, by mail under Government penalty label 

for postage. The samples caused great consternation to some of the postmasters of small country offices who supposed them to be precious metals 

and kept them guarded overnight.

Emmons, on the other hand, was given detailed instructions by King:

1. "You will devote the first years of the administration of your division 

exclusively to a study of mineral wealth of the Rocky Mountains.

2. "Personally you will confine your investigations, till further orders, to the 

metallic minerals of Colorado, their geological connection, mode of occurrence and association. District by district you will acquaint yourself 

with the minutest features of lodes, with the legal aspect of mining, and 

you will prepare to furnish for the year 1880 such statistical tables as 

may be necessary to show, as far as practicable, gross and net product 

of each district and region, summing up in one general table and entire 

precious-metal product of Colorado.

"As far as possible you will check mine,mill, and furnace returns by 

the receipts of the various transportation companies, and, in general, 

trace the metals into actual market. In the case of base bullion, refining 

returns should be obtained, if the process is completed in America; if 

not, note to that effect should be made.

3. "You will prepare to execute, and, if possible, within two years complete, 

under your own personal supervision, monographs of the Leadville region, of the mining districts on the waters of Clear Creek and the West 

Mountain Valley group of districts. You will accompany your reports on 

these districts with topographical, geological, and mine maps, with full 

diagrams and sections illustrating all interesting points of lode structure. 

You will carefully describe all methods of mining, and make full reports 

of all metallurgical processes, with plans and working drawings of all 

establishments which present peculiar interest."

Leadville, which was Emmons' first assignment, was about 75 miles from 

Denver, on the foot of one of the western spurs of the Mosquito Range at 

an altitude of 10,000 feet. The mines were between the city and the crest 

of the range, a few hundred to two to three thousand feet higher. The season 

for fieldwork was therefore very short. Moreover, the position of Leadville,

Mining Geology, Rocky Mountains 31
George F. Becker

Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1879 

1919. Becker early established himself among the 

front rank of mining geologists, but his interests 

lay more in abstruse physical and chemical problems. He himself said that next to being a student 

of the interior of the Earth, he would choose to be 

an army officer in the field. 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 

and such breadth of view." (Photograph courtesy 

of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

Emmons said, was one that presented many difficulties in the way of geological research. The spur on which the mines were situated was traversed 

in every direction by a perfect network of folds and faults. Since the folding 

and faulting, long ages of erosion had passed, the upper beds had been worn 

away, and glaciers had carved out deep ravines and deposited debris on the 

intervening spurs so as to practically hide the effects of all previous action. 

No wonder mining men were puzzled to know the right place to look for 

minerals, and that courts, in endeavoring to decide the rights of the many 

claimants to one piece of valuable ground by the rules of mining law which 

never contemplated such a class of deposits, should give decisions that, from 

a geological standpoint, were utterly without reason.

Emmons had his own ideas as to how a mining-district study should be 

conducted. The first requisite was an accurate map. A comprehensive view 

of the larger features of the geology of the whole region was also essential. 

Then a systematic examination should be made of all the deposits, tracing 

them step-by-step in the mines so that the position, form, and relation of 

the deposits to the enclosing rock could be accurately determined, their 

horizontal extent and shape delineated on maps, and their positions in the 

rock masses represented on cross sections and profiles. Then the question 

could be asked, "Whence did they come?"

32 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
Emmons said:

Clarence E. Button

Captain Dutton, Ordnance Corps, U.S. Army, was 

detailed to the Public Lands Commission in 1879 

and to the U.S. Geological Survey from 1880 to 

1890. Dutton, who had been detailed to the Powell 

survey in 1875, shared Major Powell"s interest in 

the Canyon country, and also had a long-standing 

interest in volcanism and earthquakes. He differed 

with Major Powell on the administration of the Irrigation Survey, and was recalled to the Army just 

before the Irrigation Survey was discontinued in 

1890. Dutton was one of the clearest, most impressive, and entertaining of writers. (Courtesy of 

the Library of Congress.)

The study of the origin of ore deposits is one upon which comparatively little 

systematic scientific work has been done; and which presents peculiar difficulties in its prosecution. Its results may not be of immediate practical value 

for any particular district, but for the advancement of the interests of mining, 

in general, they are of the utmost importance.

It was his wish "not to content (himself) with the simple expression of 

an opinion that the ore came from below or from above, but by patient 

research and investigation to prove definitely that it could or could not have 

proceeded from this or that source." For such a study, chemical investigations and microscopic examinations would be necessary.

King approved his plans. Alien D. Wilson, the Chief Topographer, was 

dispatched to Denver and spent the remaining summer and fall months in 

making a detailed map of the region covered by the Leadville mines. While 

he was so engaged, Emmons made a trip from the Laramie Plains through 

North and Mineral Parks studying the general geology; then during the 

winter he began a study of the underground workings at Leadville.

Becker was instructed to make a reconnaissance of the San Francisco 

district in southern Utah, the Eureka district in Nevada, and the Bodie 

district in California to lay plans for the comprehensive studies of each and 

then to make a detailed investigation of the geology of the Comstock Lode. 

He went into the field in October visiting first the San Francisco district, 

spending November in Eureka, and moving on to an examination of the 

principal mines of the Bodie district in December.

Mining Geology, Great Basin 33
Before geologic work could begin at Eureka, where the third of the three 

principal mining district studies that King had proposed would be undertaken, a topographic map was needed. As Hague, the geologist in charge 

of the Division of the Pacific, was still in China and not expected to report 

for some months, Frederick A. Clark, the Chief Topographer of that division, was sent to Eureka with a small party to make a survey of a 20-square 

mile area.

Gilbert was allowed to choose his own field of investigation in the Division of the Great Basin. With the limited means at the Survey's disposal, 

he said,

it was manifestly impossible to occupy the entire field at once and carry on the 

work in a way that would be both geologically and geographically symmetric. 

It was necessary to restrict attention, and the question arose whether this 

should be done by selecting a limited district for initial work and beginning in 

it the study of every topic to which it might contribute, or by choosing a specific 

line of inquiry and carrying it through the entire area. The latter course was 

decided on, and the theme of study selected was the Quaternary history of the 

valleys of the Great Basin.

He already had on hand a considerable body of unpublished material on

Lake Bonneville, the Pleistocene ancestor of Great Salt Lake; the history of

Lake Bonneville would be nearly identical with the Quaternary history of

the valleys around Salt Lake City, and thus the choice was made. Gilbert's |

study, however, was much broader than the Quaternary history of valleys ;

in Utah. He believed the history of Lake Bonneville to be the history of the

ancient climate of Utah and thereby closely linked to the material interests

of the territory. He said:

The secular cycles of climate, whereby the water-level was raised and lowered 

a thousand feet, and the water surface increased and diminished, as compared

to the present surface, a thousand per cent, finds its modern counterpart in I 

oscillations whereby the level of Great Salt Lake has recently varied through 

a range of twelve feet, and its area through a range of fifteen per cent. Whatever 

we can learn as to the character and cause of the greater change will contribute 

directly to an understanding of the lesser, and the public domain presents no 

more important problem to the Survey. In a dozen States and territories, agriculture is restricted by the insufficiency of the water supply, and in half of them, 

it is only here and there that a spot can be found to repay cultivation. The 

supply of water for a few years shows a flattering increase, and then for a like 

period discourages by its decrease. It is a matter of the utmost importance to 

determine what, on the whole, is the tendency of the climate. Is it growing moist 

or dry? And are there any means by which precipitation can be increased? 

Upon the solution to these problems will ultimately depend the population of 

a great district, and if the logic of events can be anticipated, and the conditions 

of the future told or modified, the immigration that has begun can be duly 

stimulated or discouraged, and the investment of the great capital which appears to be demanded for works of irrigation can be wisely directed or wisely 

limited. It is partly by the study of causes and effects in meteorology, and partly 

by the empirical study of the history of storms, that the scientific weather 

prediction of the day has been achieved. It may fairly be hoped that a critical 

investigation of the secular oscillations of climate in the past will help to solve 

the problems of secular change which is of such vital importance to the agriculture of an arid domain.

Hayden was asked, as his contribution to the Geological Survey, to prepare a digest of the results of the fieldwork and of the geological reports of 

the Hayden survey. The area to be considered was that part of the Rocky 

Mountain region north of New Mexico and west of the 94th meridian; an 

historical account of earlier work and the general geography of the areas 

were to be included along with the discussion of the stratigraphy and the 

igneous and metamorphic rocks.

34 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
The Survey's Division of the Colorado embraced 

the plateau and canyon country which had been the 

field of exploration of the Powell survey. Powell 

had called it the "Plateau Province," a land of 

nearly or quite horizontal platforms and terraces 

abruptly terminated by long lines of cliffs. The Land 

of the Standing Rocks is in the very heart of the 

plateau country. (From C. E. Button, 1882.)

Investigations in general geology were not pressed with such vigor as 

those in mining geology. Gilbert spent the summer of 1879 in Washington, 

somewhat to King's dismay, and did not get into the field until October. 

His report on the Henry Mountains was finally published. (Although the 

report bears the date 1877, in the spring of 1878, Powell said it was in 

the hands of the binder, and Dana, in the January 1880 issue of the American 

Journal of Science, stated that despite the date it had only been issued within 

the preceding 3 months.) Gilbert proposed for the Henry Mountains, to use 

his own word, a novel structure. "It is usual," he wrote, "for igneous rocks 

to ascend to the surface of the earth, and there issue forth and build up 

mountains or hills by successive eruptions. The molten matter starting from 

some region of unknown depth passes through all superincumbent rockbeds and piles itself up on the upper most bed. The lava of the Henry 

Mountains behaved differently. Instead of rising through all the beds of the 

earth's crust, it stopped at a lower horizon, insinuated itself between two 

strata, and opened for itself a chamber by lifting all the superior beds. In 

this chamber it congealed, forming a massive body of trap. For this body, 

the name laccolite(Xo:KKav cistern, and Ai0OY stone) will be used."

Dana said that "Mr. Gilbert presents much that is new to Geology in his 

account of the Henry Mountains." He allowed that "The quaquaversal dip 

in the strata appears to indicate, as Mr. Gilbert states, that the dome-like 

elevations were produced through force acting directly beneath each, and

 ft'^S^H""Jfcj5R.''T^W1 SSPcSi«*Il-iV5>" ~J,lS*' iSl^ ^^,

General Geology 35
from the position of the trachyte, the natural inference is drawn that the 

force was connected with the eruption of this igneous rock," and that "The 

facts appear to sustain Gilbert's conclusion that the mountains were made 

such, out of horizontal strata, by the ascending trachyte, which 'insinuated 

itself between the strata***'," but that the explanation "appears to be 

complete without reference to this difference in density" which Gilbert 

had invoked to explain the action. Privately, Professor Dana wrote to Professor Geikie that the report contained an "account of queer facts which 

although I appear to accept them all in the notice, I confess I accept only 

with questionings."

Dutton was fully occupied during the year with the work of the Public 

Lands Commission and did not do any geologic fieldwork. To complete the 

reports on the Colorado Plateau region, maps of the Uinkaret Mountains 

and a portion of the Grand Canyon and its subsidiary canyons were needed, 

so a topographic party was sent into the field. S. H. Bodfish made the 

survey of the Grand Canyon district, and J. H. Renshawe, the survey of the 

Uinkaret district. In addition to this work, C. D. Walcott was sent out, 

instructed to make a stratigraphic section from the summit of the Pink 

Cliffs, at the source of the Kanab along its course through canyons to the 

junction with the Colorado River. The section was supposed to contain a 

nearly unbroken series from the Eocene to the base of the Carboniferous, 

with Devonian and Silurian rocks lying unconformably below the latter. 

The detailed section would be used as a standard of comparison for various 

other subordinate sections that had been made in adjacent country.

Hayden retired to Philadelphia to work. However, the first manifestations 

of the illness that eventually caused his death appeared, and by midwinter, 

he was nearly blind and brooding on the injustice that had been done him.

After completing his plans for the Geological Survey, King turned his 

attention to the Public Lands Commission, which began its work early in 

July also. The Commission, consisting of the Commissioners of the General 

Land Office and the Director of the Geological Survey, ex officio, and three

36 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881

The Division of the Great Basin included, in addition to rich silver districts, the remnants of ancient lakes, the largest of them ancient Lake Bonneville, of which Great Salt Lake is the shrunken 

remnant. The history of Lake Bonneville was linked 

to the material interests of the region because it was 

the history of the ancient climate. The outlet of the 

ancient lake, source of long-standing interest to 

geologists and explorers, Gilbert found at Red Rock 

Pass. (From G. K. Gilbert, 1890.)
Several reports of the predecessor surveys were published during the Survey's first year. In his report 

on the Henry Mountains, which he had investigated 

for the Powell survey in 1875 and 1876, G. K. 

Gilbert gave the first explanation of laccoliths, 

formed when lava instead of rising to the surface 

stopped at a lower layer, insinuated itself between 

two strata, and opened for itself a chamber by lifting 

all superior beds. Laccoliths were later found to be 

fairly common in the West although almost unknown elsewhere. (From G. K. Gilbert, 1877 

[1879].)

civilians to be appointed by the President, was charged with reporting to 

Congress: "first, a codification of the present laws relating to the survey and 

disposition of the public domain; second, a system and standard of classification of public lands as arable, irrigable, timber, pasturage, swamp, coal, 

mineral lands and such other classes as may be deemed proper, having due 

regard to humidity of climate, supply of water for irrigation, and other 

physical characteristics; third, a system of land parcelling surveys adapted 

to the economic uses of the several classes of lands; and fourth, such recommendations as they may deem wise in relation to the best method of 

disposing of the public lands of the western portion of the United States to 

actual settlers." King asked that Major Powell be appointed one of the 

three civilian commissioners, "because he is the originator of the reform and 

has more facts than any one else" and President Hayes appointed him along 

with Thomas Donaldson of Philadelphia and Alexander T. Britton, a former 

clerk in the Land Office and a member of an influential law firm then 

practicing before the Land Office.

The Commission met on July 8, chose Commissioner James A. Williamson, Commissioner of the General Land Office, as chairman, and divided its work into two principal parts the codification of laws and an 

investigation looking to recommendation of new legislation. Captain Dutton 

joined the Commission as secretary and disbursing agent on July 22. In the 

performance of its first duty, the Commission found it necessary to collate 

all the laws relating to the disposition of public lands, about 3,500 in all, 

to digest the land decisions of all the Federal courts, the supreme courts of 

the several States, and the Interior Department. To ascertain the practical 

working of the existing laws and their adaptation to settlement of the public 

domain and to learn the views thereon of the people of the West, the 

Commission spent from August 18 to December 1 visiting all the States 

and Territories west of Kansas and Nebraska except Washington Territory. 

The chairman of the House Committee on Public Lands, George Converse, 

accompanied them. The Commissioners conducted some personal interviews, but relied greatly on printed questionnaires widely distributed with 

the aid of State and Territorial Governors, congressional delegations, and 

land officers. A comprehensive preliminary report was submitted in late 

February with recommendations in the form of a land bill covering the 

entire public land system in its permanent and general features, which would 

take the place of all of Title 32 of the Revised Statutes and so much of Title 

11 as applied to the General Land Office.

In determining its recommendations, the Commission said it gave controlling weight to the following considerations: (1) The existing land system 

had been tried for many years, on the whole was believed to be sound in 

principle, and was based on a wise and beneficent policy; (2) Government 

policy had been to devote the public lands to settlement by industrious 

citizens; and (3) Government policy limited the amount of land that one 

person could acquire directly from the Government. The laws and the machinery of their execution, however, had not been constructed in all respects 

to attain these ends, and the people in the western regions had "to a certain 

extent framed customs which take the place of laws" or had taken the law 

unto themselves. Laws had also been passed to meet special necessities or 

to counteract special abuses and had not been coordinated to the general 

system.

The Commission recommended that the staff of the General Land Office 

be increased (except the office of receiver, which should be abolished), and 

that the salaries of the Commissioner and certain other officials be increased.

Public Lands Commission 37
C. E. Dutton's report on the geology of the High 

Plateaus of Utah, which he studied for the Powell 

survey during the summers of 1875 1877, was 

published in 1880. The principal subject of his 

investigation had been the volcanic phenomena, 

which he said was the most difficult of all geological 

investigations. The Markagunt Plateau, the southernmost of the High Plateaus, was bounded by the 

Hurricane fault, which separates the Plateau Province from the Great Basin. The tufa forming the 

Markagunt Plateau Dutton described as material 

derived from the complete decay of lavas accumulated as a deposit in the bed of a small lake, consolidated, and subsequently eroded. (From C. E. 

Dutton, 1880.)

The machinery of the land system lies at the threshold of the successful administration of the law. If defective and incomplete in its organization, it will not be 

operative from inherent weakness, and the law will, in the ratio of such weakness, remain a dead letter upon the statute book. If cumbersome and complicated it will, by cumulative delays and excessive cost, impair and retard the 

operation of the law it was intended to execute. The commission has sought 

to put the officers of the land system on such footing in point of numbers and 

powers as would, at a minimum expenditure, secure a maximum efficiency.

The land-parceling system was also satisfactory, but there were objections 

to the manner in which it had been executed: surveying swamp and arid 

lands into small subdivisions which might not soon or ever by used in tracts 

less than a township; surveying areas long before settlement, without adequate monumentation, so corners could not be found and lines had to be 

retraced; and letting contracts for surveys without providing for an adequate 

system of inspection, so that inaccuracies resulted. The Commission recommended that lands that were notoriously swamp, which had been granted 

to the States, and pasturage lands be surveyed and patented by townships; 

that a proper system of monumentation be prescribed by the Commissioner 

of the General Land Office; and that all surveys of public lands be made by 

salaried deputies except in such places where it would be manifestly in the 

interest of the Government to have the work performed under contract. It 

also recommended that thereafter, all boundary lines of States and Territories 

that remained to be surveyed, and corrections of those already surveyed, be 

surveyed under the direction of the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic 

Survey.

With regard to the classification of lands, the Commission proposed that 

there be only five classes: arable, mineral, irrigable, pasturage, and timber 

lands. Primacy, however, was given to mineral lands, which were defined 

as "all lands which contain veins or lodes of quartz or other rock in place 

bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, coal, iron, or other valuable 

deposit (and which are rendered thereby more valuable for mineral than for 

agricultural purposes)." Timberlands were defined as "all lands, excepting 

mineral, which are chiefly valuable for timber of commercial value, for

38 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
sawed or hewed timber." Arable lands were all nonmineral lands that 

would produce agricultural crops without irrigation and that were not chiefly 

valuable for timber for commercial purposes. Irrigable lands were all lands, 

excepting mineral lands, and excepting lands chiefly valuable for timber of 

commercial value, that could not, without irrigation, produce some agricultural crop, except grass, for the reclamation of which sufficient water 

could be obtained. Pasturage lands were all lands, excepting mineral lands, 

and lands chiefly valuable for timber, that could not produce crops without 

irrigation, and that were chiefly valuable for pasturage. The practical application of this system was left to the surveyors.

With regard to the disposal of the public lands, the Commission recommended that all the arable lands of the western part of the United States 

be held for the benefit of actual settlers under the Homestead Act but 

recommended that the Preemption Act be stricken from the statutes. Irrigable lands should be sold in unlimited quantities, subject only to the condition that the purchasers actually redeem the lands by constructing the 

hydraulic works necessary thereto. As an alternative, the Commission noted 

that the general Government or State goverments might construct the necessary hydraulic works, although such a method was not "in consonance 

with the traditions of the American people." Pasturage lands should be 

sold in quantities large enough to establish a home and at prices low enough 

that men could afford to take them solely for pasturage purposes. The 

Commission concluded that the farm unit should not be less than 4 square 

miles and recommended a graduation in the price with time. Timberlands

The last of the reports of the King survey was Professor O. C. Marsh's volume on Odontornithes. Its 

34 plates included a magnificent one, at half size, 

of a restoration of Hesperornts regalis, a Middle Cretaceous toothed bird, whose skeleton, if extended, 

would measure about 6 feet from the point of its 

bill to the tip of its toes. The figure shown here is 

a smaller version from the third annual report of 

the U.S. Geological Survey. (From O. C. Marsh, 

1883.)

Public Lands Commission 39
as defined by the Commission covered only a small area; the Commission 

recommended that they be retained by the Government and that the standing timber be sold. Timber on arable or pasturage lands could be taken 

with the land.

The mineral-land laws were subjected to critical attention, and King's 

experience and pen are clearly evident in the report. The "early Californian" 

theory that a mining claim consisted of a certain number of running feet of 

vein, with a strip of land covering the surface length of the claim, was the 

obvious foundation of the Mining Laws of 1866 and 1872. East of the 

Mississippi River, common law had been the only rule, and there the surface 

tract always carried with it all minerals vertically below it. California was 

"one of those extraordinary historic exceptions that defy precedent and create 

original modes of life and law. And since the developers of the great precious 

metal mining of the far West have for the most part swarmed out of the 

California hive, California ideas have not only been everywhere dominant 

over the field of industry, but have stemmed the tide of Federal-land policy 

and given us a statute-book with English common law in force over half the 

land, and California common law ruling in the other."

As a result, there was a characteristic difference between mineral development east and west of the Missouri. East of the Missouri, almost no 

litigation grew out of the conditions of Government conveyance; west of it, 

litigation was frequent, vexatious, and costly. The two features that caused 

the most litigation were the recognition by the law of local customs and 

regulations, and the "attempted conveyance of a lode, ledge, or deposit of 

rock in place bearing mineral, as a thing separate from and independent of 

the surface tract of ground." The net result was that the law "might be 

fitly entitled 'An act to cause the government to join, upon unknown terms, 

with an unknown second party, to convey to a third party an illusory title 

to an indefinite thing, and encourage the subsequent robbery thereof.'" 

The Commission suggested that the time had come when Congress should 

formulate legislation to govern the changed conditions of an occupation that 

had passed from a frontier experiment into a national industry.

If mining is to be continued as an experiment, or for speculative purposes 

alone, an adherence to the existing customs is desirable. If it is to be continued

40 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881

The Hayden survey published in 1880 a monograph on the walruses, sea lions, sea bears, and seals 

of North America, the second volume in a systematic History of North American Mammals. Among the 

illustrations was one ofCystophora cristata by H. H. 

Nichols, who also made many illustrations for the 

Geological Survey. (From J. A. Alien, 1880.)
as a business, upon settled principles and with expectation of legitimate returns, it should be governed by the same rules which the wisdom of centuries 

has formulated for the definition of all real property titles.

The Commission also recommended that the mineral lands include subclasses of coal and iron lands. Coal did not occur in the same manner as 

gold, silver, and similar minerals; iron sometimes occurred in the same way 

as coal and sometimes in the same way as gold. Coal and iron lands should 

be sold in larger tracts than gold and silver lands and without the conditions 

and restrictions imposed on the latter.

The Commission noted that there was a serious and increasing conflict 

in California between miners and farmers on mining debris. Facilities for 

running off tailings were indispensable to the successful working of the 

mines, but it was claimed that agricultural lands on the lower parts of the 

streams were being destroyed and that the shoaling of rivers and bays was 

destroying navigation and restricting commerce. The Commission recommended that another commission be created to ascertain the facts and to 

propose a remedy to Congress.

The report was signed by all five members of the Commission, but Major 

Powell qualified his endorsement of the report with a letter to the Secretary 

in which he suggested amendments to two sections of the proposed new law 

to prevent the severance of water property from land property and to provide 

that the right to use the water for irrigation purposes would inhere in the 

land and pass with the title to the land; he also proposed amendments to 

sever the mineral rights from surface rights in pasturage lands.

H. H. Dunham, later a Commissioner of the General Land Office, said 

of the report, "It is impossible to compute the benefits which prompt 

adoption of wise laws and suggestions for efficient machinery would have 

created for purposes of distribution in the land rush of subsequent decades." 

President Hayes sent the report to Congress on February 25, 1880, with 

a message commending it to "the prompt and earnest consideration" of 

Congress. For several years, however, little was done except for printing the 

report.

King had hoped to supervise the collection of statistics of precious metals 

for the Tenth Census himself, but he found that the work of the Public 

Lands Commission and direction of the Survey would not allow him sufficient time. Emmons and Becker were therefore summoned to Washington 

in January 1880 to begin the preparations. The two met for the first time 

while waiting outside King's office, and by the time he was ready to 

introduce them, they had already become firm friends. For a time they were 

in almost daily consultation with King and also had many conferences with 

the Superintendent of the Census, but in the end, their plans were accepted 

almost without change. Emmons took responsibility for the State of Colorado and the Territories of Dakota, Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming, 

and Becker, for the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada and the Territories of Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and Washington. Precious-metal statistics 

for the area east of the 100th meridian would be gathered by Professor Shaler 

and his assistants in the New England States and by George H. Eldridge, 

a former student of Professor Shaler and recommended by him, in the Southern States.

The objective of the survey of precious metals for the Tenth Census was 

to obtain a complete picture of the industry, not only an estimate of the 

actual product that was more accurate than any previously obtained but also 

data on the occurrence of the ores and the processes by which the ores were 

made to yield their metals. It was well understood that it would be difficult. 

Precious-metal mining was usually carried on in regions that were remote

Tenth Census Precious Metals Investigation 41
and difficult of access, and by business methods that were not probably 

systematic, and precious-metal mining tended to make those engaged in it 

somewhat uncommunicative.

As the Geological Survey approached the last quarter of its first year, all 

seemed well. Dutton wrote to Sir Archibald Gelkie: "I cherish the belief 

that the Survey in the course of a few years will accomplish much for 

geology. The spirit which has been infused into it is most gratifying. There 

is a disposition to sink all personalities & to subordinate all efforts to the 

single end the benefit of science. No man seems to desire anything more 

than to promote that one object. Mr. King is more than justifying all the 

high expectations which attended his appointment & his skill & ability to 

organize & administer have proved to be of the highest order. He succeeds 

in everything his influence in Congress is adequate to the magnificent 

plans he has conceived & he is enthusiastically loved by everybody. He has 

drawn into the survey the best geological talent of the country; he gives to 

every assistant the fullest latitude & discretion which is admissible & judges 

them by the results they furnish. A man who does not return handsome 

dividends may be sure of being put into bankruptcy. I think the whole tone 

& temper of the Survey augurs well for the future. The contrast with the 

state of affairs which prevailed a little more than a year ago when the rule 

was every man to gain what notoriety he could (as distinct from honest 

fame) & to repress all honest rivalry is most complete."

However, there were personnel problems and financial worries. Hague 

returned from China and entered on duty on April 1, 1880, but instead of

42 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881

The first reports of the infant U.S. Geological Survey were published in its second annual report. Emmons' first geologic map of Leadville and vicinity, 

on a scale of 2 inches to the mile, covered an area 

of about 27 square miles. The part shown includes 

some of the richest mines. Ore was found on the 

contact of the White porphyry (s) and the Blue 

limestone (e). (From S. F. Emmons, 1882.)
becoming geologist in charge of the Pacific Division as originally planned, 

he went to the Division of the Great Basin to begin the Eureka district 

study. Though Gilbert was geologist in charge of the Division, he was 

completely occupied with his Lake Bonneville study. Becker, who had been 

expected to take charge of mining geology in the division, was just beginning the Comstock project and would be thoroughly busy with that and the 

census investigation. Gilbert, more accustomed to the freedom of the Powell 

survey than the highly organized ways of King, had assumed that the work 

in the Great Basin had been divided between him and Becker, and the 

decision to divide it three ways, he said, was "partly in accord with his 

request and wholly in accord with his desire."

Powell had just about decided to withdraw from geology and concentrate 

wholly on ethnology. During the summer of 1879, James Stevenson had 

made an extraordinary collection of Pueblo Indian material, and Powell 

wanted to undertake fieldwork in the area. The appropriation on March 3, 

1879, had been for completion of the ethnological research begun under the 

Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, and 

there was a question about who would support the fieldwork. King wrote 

to A. S. Bickmore, the director of the American Museum of Natural History 

in New York, suggesting that there ought to be enough public-spirited 

men in New York to contribute the $30,000 a year he would require. 

Powell prepared a plan for continued ethnologic research, which Secretary 

Baird of the Smithsonian Institution endorsed and submitted to Congress, 

recommending an appropriation of $50,000.

Becker's first geologic map of Virginia, Nevada, 

and immediate vicinity covered an area of only 8 

square miles on a scale of 1 inch to 1,500 feet. The 

part shown includes the site of the original discovery. The symbol qz is used for quartz vein, hi, the 

earlier hornblended andesite, aa,augite andesite, qp, 

quartz porphyry, and dt,diorite.(From G. F. Becker, 

1882.)

Personnel Problems 43
Professor James Dwight Dana, apparently under the impression that the 

original version of the extension resolution proposed by Mr. Atkins 

had been passed, and admitting that he did not know the nature of 

the discussion in the House, complained in an editorial in the American 

Journal of Science that the National Academy of Sciences committee's plan 

"had in view the economy of expenditure, suggested in the act of Congress; 

while the new scheme with the proposed enlargement of its scope, would 

involve as State geological surveys have shown millions of outlay for the 

strictly geological party and indefinite millions besides for the economical 

branch.** *A change so great in the administration of the affairs of the 

government should have a full discussion before it is accepted. It will appear 

to many that the Constitution has left to the States the making of their own 

geological surveys and the study of their own economical resources as past 

history seems to attest and that such an infringement on State rights and 

assumption of State responsibilities would be politically wrong."

Dana also took Congress to task for not providing for topographic surveys 

as proposed by the Academy committee.

Topographical surveys are needed in every State as well as Territory; and for 

this purpose there is manifestly required the establishment of a Department of 

Mensuration Surveys under the General Government, whose geodetic work 

over the breadth of the country shall, in accordance with some well devised 

plan, be supplemented by topographical work at the expense, and under the 

united superivison, of the State and General Government. This done, the States 

could easily carry forward their own scientific and economical surveys.

Then he added candidly that he was a member of a committee that had 

petitioned the Connecticut State legislature for a scientific survey of the 

State but urged that a topographic survey be made first so that a satisfactory 

geological survey could be made.

The extension resolution passed by the House in June 1879 did not come 

up for discussion in the Senate until May 10, 1880. It had been amended 

by the Committee on Appropriations so that it now read "and he may extend 

his examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products 

into the respective States when requested by the authorities thereof." In 

general, the Republicans seemed opposed to the measure. Senator Henry L. 

Dawes of Massachusetts thought it would be very convenient for the States 

to be able to invite the bureau in to carry on work; it would save the States 

a lot of money. Senator W. B. Allison of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate 

Appropriations Committee, said it meant the Director could organize a force 

and go into a State to examine its mineral resources. Then Senator Dawes 

concluded they were amending the original act to permit private surveys at 

public expense. Senator William Eaton of Connecticut protested that it 

merely meant that when the Director thought it necessary to go into the 

State, he first had to get permission from State authorities. It was a matter 

of States' rights. At that point, Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York, 

leader of the Senate oligarchy, announced that if that were what was meant, 

he for one was opposed and would not vote for it. And there the matter 

ended.

The appropriation for Survey expenses in the Sundry Civil Expenses bill 

came up for floor debate on May 28. The Department had requested 

$354,000, but the Appropriations Committee had approved only $150,000. 

Mr. A. H. Buckner of Missouri moved that the amount be increased. The 

Survey was meant for scientific investigation of the great iron and coal fields 

of the Appalachians, the salt of West Virginia and Ohio, the phosphates of 

the South. . . "wherever else there was mineral deposit wherever, in fine, 

in behalf of the interests and welfare of the people and the Government, 

our country required examination and scientific development at the hands

44 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881

Becker's monograph on the Comstock was published in 1882. From a petrographic study of Comstock rocks, he concluded that the so-called propylite of earlier investigators was actually several 

Tertiary and pre-Tertiary rocks that had been reduced to a nearly uniform appearance by decomposition. The erroneous determination of these 

rocks as an independent species was mainly due to 

confusion between green and fibrous hornblende 

and chlorite. Sections of minerals shown here are 

magnified 170, 48, and 50 diameters respectively, 

and show hornblende passing into chlorite, a pseudomorph of chlorite after hornblende with epidote 

being developed from five distinct centers, and a 

pseudomorph of epidote after hornblende. (From G. 

F. Becker, 1882a.)
Because of the importance of faulting in the Cornstock area, Becker also made a mathematical study 

of strain in a sheet or plate of rock under the influence of friction of a relatively opposite character on 

its two faces. Strain in faulted sedimentary rocks, 

indicated by a permanent flexure of the ends of 

strata shown here, is a phenomenon long known to 

miners. In massive rocks, the strain will cause a 

shearing off of one or more sheets. Becker concluded 

that the sheeted structure of the Washoe country 

was due to faulting rather than eruptive bedding 

and on the basis of this conclusion proposed rules 

for prospecting. (From G. F. Becker 1882a.)

of these scientists, there it was intended this Geological Survey should 

operate and submit reports for the information of Congress and the people." 

Mr. James Chalmers of Mississippi thought the Survey should be given all 

it asked for. Unless it was given the full amount, it might as well be struck 

out all together. It was a waste of money to leave it as it stood, for the 

Survey could not do justice to the work on that amount. The Territorial 

delegate from Montana, Martin Maginnis, however, announced that he was 

happy to pay tribute to the character and ability of the eminent gentleman 

at the head of this survey but that "Geology never has discovered mines or 

profitably worked them in the Territories, nor will it do so in Mississippi, 

West Virginia, or Missouri." Mr. Maginnis was very disturbed by the 

report of the Public Lands Commission on mining laws. Eventually, Buckner's motion was defeated by a vote of 84 72. Then, Eppa Hunton of 

Virginia moved that the appropriation be increased to $200,000, but that, 

too, was rejected 62 57.

The House Appropriations Committee proposed an appropriation of 

$20,000 "for the purpose of continuing ethnologic researches among the 

North American Indians, under the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution." Mr. Adlai Stevenson of Illinois made a long speech on 

behalf of the work and proposed that the appropriation be increased to 

$40,000, but others complained that the ethnologic work of the great surveys had been done by using money appropriated for other purposes and the 

appropriation in March 1879 was to complete such work. In the end, 

$20,000 was appropriated for ethnologic research. The Senate made no 

change in either the appropriation for the Geological Survey or for ethnologic 

research, and so for fiscal year 1881, the Survey's appropriation for expenses 

was $150,000.

President Hayes had announced at the start of his term that he would 

not seek reelection, and as convention time drew near in 1880, there was 

no obvious choice of a successor. The Democrats controlled the solid South, 

and 135 of the 185 electoral votes needed to win. The Republicans had to 

hold nearly all the Northern and Western States in order to win, and the 

loss of even one or two of the bigger States would mean the loss of the 

election. The electoral votes of New York and the Midwestern States of 

Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were critical to both parties. The Republicans 

were divided, the Stalwarts under Senator Conkling of New York supported 

a third term for General Grant; Senator Blaine and his Half Breeds favored 

John Sherman of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury. So evenly balanced were 

the two forces that the convention was deadlocked for 33 ballots. Finally, 

on June 8, on the 36th ballot, James A. Garfield of Ohio, who had been 

floor manager for Sherman, was nominated for President. The ticket was 

then balanced by the nomination of Chester A. Arthur, Conkling's lieutenant, as the Vice Presidential candidate. The Democrats had almost as 

much difficulty in nominating a candidate but finally settled on General 

Winfield Scott Hancock, a military hero with no political experience.

King thus had a double disappointment in the first 10 days of June. Not 

only was the appropriation less than half what he had hoped for, but it was 

also clear that there would soon be a new Secretary of the Interior. It was 

no secret that Schurz did not approve of Garfield and would not be a member 

of the Cabinet even if the Republicans won the election. Schurz himself 

made it certain by his letter early in July to Garfield on the subject of civil 

service reform.

King apparently at this time decided to resign but, when he told Schurz 

of his desire, was persuaded to stay on. It might have been difficult to 

forestall the appointment of Hayden as his successor if Hayes were to make

Appropriations for 1881 45
the appointment, but Garfield would surely appoint Powell who was on 

very friendly terms with him, so friendly in fact that he had just released 

his stenographer, Joseph Stanley-Brown, to be Garfield's secretary during 

the campaign. The plan was supposed to be kept quiet so that Hay den 

would not find out about it. Hayden did, however, and early in August 

wrote to Geikie: "I understand that the defeat of King's great plans has so 

disgusted him that he will resign soon and place Powell in the chair. Powell 

has been his devoted parasite, but I cannot hold any position. King, although he knows he has lost ground, is a man of ability and the opposition 

he has encountered made him disgusted. He intends to put Powell in his 

place. I could not serve under such a fraud."

On the 1st of July 1880, the first day of the Survey's second year, four 

additions were made to the Survey staff: William R. Eckart, civil engineer, 

at $4,000 a year; and 3 young men, still in their 20's: William F. Hillebrand, Chemist, at $2,000 a year; Ernest Jacob, assistant geologist, at 

$1,200 a year; and Carl Barus, physicist, at $1,200 a year. Hillebrand had 

studied at Cornell, Heidelberg (from which he received the Ph.D. in 1875), 

Freiberg, and Strasbourg. Jacob, who had been a volunteer assistant to 

Emmons, was a graduate of the Royal School of Mines in London. Barus 

had studied at the Columbia School of Mines and Wiirzburg from which he 

received the Ph.D. in 1879. He had then spent a year as assistant to 

Professor Kohlrausch.

Jacob and Hillebrand joined Emmons in the Leadville project. In October, 

Whitman Cross was appointed as assistant geologist at $1,200 a year and 

also joined the Leadville project. Cross had studied under B. K. Emerson 

at Amherst, who had awakened his interest in microscopic petrography, and 

then had gone to Gottingen and Leipzig where he had received a Ph. D. in

1880. The season at Leadville was very short that year, snow having covered 

the ground before October 1. Some of the map work had been entrusted to 

private engineers because of the lack of appropriation, and that caused delays; 

the laboratory had to be built before Hillebrand could get to work, and the 

draftsmen were leaving regularly for higher salaries elsewhere. Despite all 

these frustrating causes of delay, however, Emmons managed to complete 

the fieldwork so that the Leadville office could be discontinued on April 1,

1881.

King was so pleased with Becker's work that on July 1 his salary was 

raised to $4,000, and Eckart and Barus were both assigned to work with 

him. Eckart was instructed to prepare a report on the mechanical appliances 

used in mining and milling on the Comstock lode, designed to present to 

the general mining world an insight into the magnitude, cost, and extent 

of the machinery that was used only there in all the world. Eckart divided 

his work into two parts: one, accurate drawings and descriptions of the 

appliances; the other, experimental determinations of the work accomplished 

by the various appliances, which Eckart himself thought would form a sound 

basis from which engineers and mining men might understand the limit of 

their expectations in the mechanical and practical accomplishment of large 

mining undertakings. Barus, under Becker's supervision, was to make experimental determination of electric currents around ore bodies.

Hague began work at Eureka in July with C. D. Walcott and Joseph P. 

Iddings as assistant geologists. Walcott had done so well in the first year 

that King had doubled his salary. Iddings was appointed assistant geologist 

at $75 a month in July 1880.He had graduated from Yale at the age of 20 

and had then studied at Yale, the Columbia School of Mines, and Heidelberg. He was especially interested in the new art of microscopic petrography, 

an interest which he attributed to a lecture King had given at Yale. Hague

46 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
was instructed to make a geologic survey of a tract of country embracing 

not only the productive mines of the Eureka mining district but all those 

in the same broad mass of mountains, including the Secret Canon district 

to the south and the Silverado district to the southwest. Clark had mapped 

only about half the area during the preceding season, so the topographers 

continued while the geologic mapping got underway. Like Emmons, Hague 

began with a rapid survey of the entire region to determine the nature of 

the country, but Hague had an additional objective: to determine the best 

way to accomplish the survey with the least loss of time and the least labor. 

Hague was never one to waste effort. He stayed in the field until December 5 and then sent Iddings off to work briefly with Decker at Virginia City 

and Walcott to New Mexico to collect some plant material, while he went 

to New York to get the office work underway.

A new project was begun under Pumpelly's direction. Professor Roland 

D. Irving of the University of Wisconsin was appointed to trace a continuation of the copper-bearing rocks of Michigan and Wisconsin through 

northeast Minnesota to the British boundary. The formations had been studied on the American side by both the Michigan and Wisconsin surveys and 

on the north shore by the Geological Survey of Canada, and it was thought 

desirable to trace the formations through the little-studied region of Minnesota to a point where the results obtained by the American and Canadian 

Surveys could be compared intelligently. Because of the interpretation of 

national domain, Trving was appointed as a census expert, although Pumpelly, in what was apparently a Freudian slip, referred to his assignment as 

being the work of the Geological Survey (proper).

The survey of the minerals industry for the Tenth Census got underway 

in the spring of 1880. It was deemed impracticable to obtain information 

on the precious metals by mailing lists of questions to those in charge of 

mining operations, because of the difficulty of obtaining all addresses and 

because many questions would probably be overlooked or incorrectly answered. Therefore, it was decided to send technically trained men to all 

mines and reduction works to gather the necessary information personally. 

Ideally, these expert special agents would be men of considerable experience, 

thorough training, and recognized ability. Unfortunately, the census could 

offer only a small salary, so they had to settle for gentlemen who were 

"honest, faithful, well educated, and able," a few of whom had had some 

experience.

To help the agents prepare the best possible report in the shortest possible 

time, schedules of questions, as many as 150, were prepared for each branch 

of mining and reduction works. The questions were arranged under the 

general headings of position, ownership, geology, development, system of 

working, accidents, plant consumption of labor, power, and material, production, and disposition of product; they were framed so that the more 

important data were involved in the answers to several of them in order to 

guard against errors in recording and mistakes in statement as well as intentional misrepresentation. The agents were also instructed to obtain from 

each mine, specimens of the ore, gangue, and country rock on both hanging 

and footwalls of the vein or deposit and to obtain full and accurate copies 

of all State and district mining laws and regulations.

Emmons and Becker were themselves unable to take much part in the 

collection of data. They found that in addition to their regular duties "much 

time and labor were involved in advice to the experts as to routes, in the 

decision of doubts* * *, the approval of expenditures, and the multifarious 

matters of administration implied in keeping twenty men ((all of them 

unfamiliar with the conditions and restrictions of government work) moving

Precious Metals Investigations 47
without delay and performing their duties to the advantage of the service." 

The "honest, faithful, well educated, and able" gentlemen recruited as 

experts included several who later became successful or well-known mining 

engineers. Perhaps best known was John Hays Hammond, Yale '76, and 

Freiberg, who had just been appointed superintendent of the Homestake 

mine when he was offered the position. George Hearst advised him to take 

it and complete his education at Government expense.

As it happened, there were more difficulties in the field examinations 

than Emmons and Becker had anticipated. When John Hays Hammond 

arrived at Bodie, California, which was the center for 40 or more mines, he 

was greeted as he walked down the street by a sudden blaze of gunfire. In 

the exchange of shots a bystander was inadvertently killed. A brief trial was 

held immediately by the vigilance committee, the killer was severely reprimanded for his poor markmanship, and without further formality swung 

from a nearby tree. Hammond reported that during his first week on the 

job, there were eight murders.

Hammond completed his mine examinations within 6 months by working 

at a terrific speed, but he had an incentive. The sooner he finished, the 

sooner he could get married. Charles Potter was not so fortunate. Potter was 

assigned to gather information on the mines in New Mexico. On October 

14, he left Tejera, in Bernalillo County, for Santa Fe, but never arrived 

there. His fate was disclosed a few months later. The Daily New Mexican 

for February 2 reported that "as the sun came up from behind the peaks of

4B The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881

Dutton said the Plateau province is characterized by 

long lines of lofty and brilliantly colored cliffs, each 

marking the boundary of a geographical terrace and 

the termination of a geological series. Each sedimentary group has its own style of sculpture and 

architecture. The profile of the Vermilion Cliffs that 

terminates the Triassic terrace consists of a series of 

vertical ledges and intervening slopes covered with 

talus. (From C. E. Dutton, 1882.)
the Sandias and shed its bright rays over the roofs of the flat topped adobe 

buildings, they fell on three human forms, stark and stiff, dangling from 

a wooden beam in front of the county jail. They were those of the three 

prisoners brought in last evening by Sheriff Armijo and placed in jail to 

await trial for the murder of Col. Chas. Potter, of which they had confessed 

themselves guilty."

Pumpelly was able to organize the collection of statistics on a different 

basis because of the availability of so many professors, mining engineers, 

and State employees on a part-time basis. Most of them were paid $5 a day 

for their services, although Professor Edward Orton of the University of 

Ohio and the Ohio Geological Survey was paid $6 a day, and some received 

as little as $1 a day. Among those assisting Pumpelly were Professors N. 

S. Shaler of Harvard, John C. Smock of Rutgers, L. B. Hall of Johns 

Hopkins, N. W. Lord and A. G. Wetherby of the University of Ohio, and 

W. B. Potter of Washington University, St. Louis; State Geologists Eugene 

A. Smith of Alabama, George A. Little of Georgia, John R. Proctor of 

Kentucky, and T. C. Chamberlin of Wisconsin; and Andrew Roy, Ohio 

State Inspector of Mines.

In Button's monograph published in 1882, he 

discussed the development of the architectural forms 

displayed in the cliffs. The key to the development 

was in the formation and functions of the talus. A 

hard rock (A) yields little fragmental material, 

which is quickly removed, and the canyon is narrow 

with vertical or nearly vertical walls. A soft rock 

(B) yields more debris, which accumulates at the 

base, but overlying hard rocks are undermined, and 

as the talus mounts higher the rate of recession in 

the softer beds is checked. As the river cuts through 

lower layers, the profiles are more complicated because all layers above furnish debris, but as soon as 

the talus is established on the lowest slope, the cliff 

may be said to have attained its normal profile. 

(From C. E. Dutton, 1882.)

nlyf Profiles by Jtecession.-Vjpjper and lann&r Jlubrey

Iron Investigations 49
In the East, the schedules were distributed to the mines in each State by 

the special census agents, and when they were returned, properly filled in, 

they were sent on to Newport, Rhode Island. When the schedules were 

incorrectly filled in, which was more common, they were returned to the 

mines, and after sufficient time had passed, the agents then traveled through 

the State, visiting the delinquent mines, and filling in the schedules. The 

statistics on the coalfields of Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas were 

gathered by the regular census enumerators, and those on the nonprecious 

metals west of the 100th meridian were collected by the western divisions 

of the Geological Survey, but all schedules were sent to Pumpelly's office 

to be tabulated.

The census investigation ran into problems despite all the careful planning. Becker and Emmons had underestimated the time necessary to collect 

the census data, and the fieldwork had to be discontinued before it was 

completed because of lack of funds. The compilation of the data was put in 

charge of Albert Williams, Jr., who had shown special ability in his examinations in Idaho and northern Nevada. The compilation was also hampered by lack of census funds, and King advanced the necessary money so 

that time would not be lost.

Pumpelly too had difficulty in carrying out the iron-ore investigation. 

When the fieldwork was nearly finished and more than 1,300 samples had 

been collected from all except the carbonate ores of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, it became apparent that the census appropriation was 

inadequate to carry out the complete plan. Only a few more complete chemical analyses could be made, partial analyses were limited to iron and phosphorus determinations, and the microscopic study was abandoned. In all, 

93 complete and 1,157 partial analyses, embracing more than 4,400 determinations were made, and, in addition, through the courtesy of Director 

Lesley of the Pennsylvania Survey, several analyses of Pennsylvania ores were 

obtained. Despite the curtailment, enough data had been gathered, together 

with the material from the statistical canvass proper, to prepare a classification of the iron-ore fields and an analysis of the broader economic aspects 

of the industry.

Gilbert went back into the field in mid-July of 1880 with instructions 

from the Director to continue the investigations of Lake Bonneville and 

stayed until mid-November. With him were I. C. Russell and H. A. 

Wheeler as geological assistants, F. D. Owen, an artist, and a topographic 

party with Gilbert Thompson in charge, assisted by Albert Webster. Russell 

was a well-educated but restless man. He had graduated from New York 

University in 1872, studied photography in order to qualify for a place on 

the Transit of Venus expedition to New Zealand, and had spent 2 years as 

professor of geology at Columbia and 1 year with the Wheeler survey. 

Thompson was also new to the Survey, appointed in May as topographer "at 

$2,500 a year, on the same rank as Clark. Thompson had also been with 

the Wheeler survey.

Gilbert planned that the geological party would trace the outline of Lake 

Bonneville in southern Utah more carefully than had been done before and 

would also make special studies of the interrelations of the various shorelines 

and of the relation of the lake phenomena to glacial phenomena of the lake 

to the volcanism of the region. Climatic considerations of a very general 

character had given rise to a belief that the ancient lake was coincident in 

time with the system of glaciers in the Wasatch and other mountains of the 

western territories, but up to that time no geologist had been able to study 

the phenomena produced by the lake and glaciers in juxtaposition. However, 

Emmons had told him that at least one glacier, that of Little Cottonwood

50 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
In the first annual report of the Survey, Gilbert 

explained in classic prose "There is a topography of 

the land and a topography of the water. The forms 

of the land are sculptured by the beating of rain 

and by the flow of rills, and creeks, and rivers, and 

they have peculiar characters accordant with their 

origin. The forms of the beds of lakes and oceans, 

and especially the forms of shores, are sculptured 

by the sway of waves and currents, and are distinguished by characters equally peculiar. All the hills 

and mountains above the shore line of Lake Bonneville bear witness of the play of subaerial agents, 

while below that line the slopes betray their subaqueous shaping." The contrast is shown along the 

mountain front near Wellsville, Utah. (From G. K. 

Gilbert, 1890.)

Canyon, had extended as far as the shore of the lake, and the relation of its 

moraines to the lake formations might confirm or controvert the age equivalence of Bonneville and the glacial epochs. The work of the topographic 

party was partly topography and partly geology. Thompson and his assistants 

first made a triangulation from points established, completed the necessary 

topographic work in the Escalante Desert area, and then occupied themselves 

in tracing the ancient shoreline of the lake.

In the summer of 1880, Button went back into the field to continue the 

investigation of the Plateau Province in the area to the south of that covered 

in his years with the Powell survey. From Kanab, which Dutton, Sumner 

Bodfish, R. U. Goode, and two assistant topographers reached on July 29, 

Bodfish set out to complete the survey of the part of the Grand Canyon that 

extends through the Kaibab Plateau, and the Plateau itself, and Goode to 

make a survey of the San Francisco Mountains and their vicinity. Dutton 

himself studied the Uinkaret and Kaibab Plateaus and traveled along the 

front of the Vermilion Cliffs and the Hurricane fault. W. H. Holmes who 

had distinguished himself as a geologist-illustrator with the Hayden survey, 

was given a temporary appointment as assistant geologist on August 1 and 

joined him in the field.

Button's purpose was simple: in his own words to study the geology of 

as much of the district as he could cover, seeking evidence of its geological 

history. "As for problems to be solved, " he wrote, "I went there to find 

them as well as to solve them. The great chasm, the faults and flexures of 

the strata, the vast erosion of the region, its cliffs and canyons, its strata 

and extravasated rocks, surely would furnish problems enough. But it 

seemed to me that whatever question they might bring up and whatever 

answers they might suggest were merely subsidiary to one comprehensive

First Annual Report 51
inquiry: what have been the stages, the chief successive steps and the physical 

causes of the evolution of this strange region?" Dutton, who had a flair for 

words that complemented Holmes' ability as an artist, drew inspiration 

from the mining-geology studies when he said that the geologist "picks up 

his facts much as the vagabond prospector picks up float ore or pans for a 

few colors in every gulch and when he finds them seeks to trace them back 

to their sources, dreaming always of bonanzas. Every accessible feature, 

therefore, was studied and pondered in the hope that it might be traced 

back to its origin."

The first annual report was prepared in the fall of 1880 to accompany 

the Secretary's annual report. In it, King recounted the beginning of the 

Survey, its organization, and appointments; he included reports of the work 

done and a list of expenditures from fuel and forage to horses and mules,the 

bulk of expenditures, of course, being for the services of assistants and 

employees.

He promised a series of publications. The first field season had been short, 

and at the end of the 1880 season, there would be only \Vi seasons a very 

short time to complete special work. "Realizing very fully, however," he 

wrote, "the natural desire of Congress and the Administration to see actual 

results and apply the test of a critical examination to the fruits of the new 

Bureau, I have called upon the members of the corps for an energy and 

intensity of labor which should not be greatly prolonged, and which affords 

no measure of the rate of progress on small appropriations hereafter. The 

gentlemen of the corps have responded with such cheerfulness and enthusiasm, that I am able to promise, between the close of field-work this 

autumn and the opening of next spring's campaign, the completion of 

twelve volumes of practical and general geology and palaeontology." 

The 12 would be:

Geology and mining industry of Leadville, Colorado, by S. F. Emmons.

Geology of Eureka mining district, Nevada, by Arnold Hague.

The copper rocks of Lake Superior and their continuation through Minnesota, 

by Professor Roland D. Irving.

The Comstock lode, by George F. Becker.

Mechanical appliances used in mining and milling on the Comstock lode, 

W.R. Eckart.

Coal of the United States, by Raphael Pumpelly.

Iron in the United States, by Raphael Pumpelly.

The precious metals, by Clarence King.

Lesser metals and general mineral resources, by Raphael Pumpelly.

Uinkaret Plateau, by Capt. C. E. Dutton.

Lake Bonneville, by G. K. Gilbert.

Dinocerata, by Professor O. C. Marsh.

In addition, he promised a volume on the history of the Comstock mines 

by Eliot Lord, one of the series of three he had planned on the Comstock 

lode, and he stated that the statistical parts of the four volumes on coal, 

iron, the precious metals, and the lesser metals would be combined in one 

volume on the mineral resources of the United States, the first of an annual 

series.

There was still a possibility that the extension resolution might be passed 

by the Senate in the last session of the 46th Congress and that the appropriation requested might be made, so he added a plea for the future of the 

Survey.

Provided Congress extends the field of the Geological Survey over the whole 

national territory, and appropriates the comparatively small amounts necessary 

for the maintenance of the organization, it will be entirely practicable to carry

52 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
forward this work and contribute powerful aid to the mineral industries. Of the 

desirableness from every point of view of the results of a general geological 

survey, I conceive there can not be two opinions. That these results can only 

be attained by an organization under federal patronage, is, in my opinion, scientifically certain.

Granting these two propositions, which the foes of progress may vainly strive 

to disprove, and there remain but two questions worthy of serious consideration regarding the future policy of this Bureau. These are, first, Has the Federal 

government the constitutional authority to make a Geological Survey over the 

State? and, secondly, Can this nation afford the money to maintain such a 

Survey?

In regard to the question of authority, it may be said that the Federal right 

derived from the Constitution to regulate internal commerce could hardly fail 

to carry with it the correlative right to gain a knowledge of those commodities 

and products which are the very material and basis of commerce: without this 

knowledge, commerce is mere transportation.

From every analogy of past legislation, Congress has clearly assumed to 

possess the requisite authority. If it can investigate agricultural industry and 

maintain a Department to execute that branch of inquiry, why not investigate 

mineral industry? If it can make a Coast and Geodetic Survey over the whole 

United States, why not a Geological Survey?

Since the Constitution empowers the Federal government to levy taxes upon 

the industries of the nation, there would seem to be a failure in the logic which 

should deny to it the implied power of informing itself as to the nature and 

extent of those industries.

King promised that if the Geological Survey were organized upon a permanent basis, with its jurisdiction extended over the entire United States, 

there need be no apprehension of the necessity for extravagant amounts. Five 

hundred thousand dollars a year, the sum that had been a long time annually 

appropriated for the Coast and Geodetic Survey for many years, would be 

sufficient to carry on all the work that was either necessary or desirable over 

the whole United States.

He predicted that "the mineral industries of the United States would 

soon reach an annual money yield of a thousand million dollars of value. 

The small Federal appropriation of half a million a year toward the development of this great field of American enterprise would certainly not be an 

excessive contribution."

The Secretary supported the plea. In his report, Schurz called the "especial 

attention of Congress to the remarks made by the Director on the important 

benefits which the extension of the Geological Survey over the whole area 

of the United States would confer on the industrial interests of the American 

people." Schurz added: "The importance of the results of the collection 

and dissemination of such information as the geological survey would gather 

can scarcely be overestimated. Being now so fortunate as to have in the 

service of the government a corps of scientific men of signal ability and 

energy to undertake this important work, under a direction eminently capable to give system of action and harmony of purpose to their operations, 

there is but little doubt that the American people would willingly approve 

an expenditure small in proportion to the general benefit to be expected." 

It was a forlorn hope, however, Congress had other things on its mind as 

it prepared for the inauguration of a new President.

The election campaign of 1880 had not been one of the most edifying 

on record. Garfield and Hancock were both plagued by intrigues within 

their own parties, charges and countercharges of fraud and deceit filled the 

air, and great efforts were made by both parties to arouse ethnic or religious 

prejudices. The election was close; Garfield had a plurality of less than 

10,000 out of more than 9 million votes, but he carried New York with

Appropriations for 1882 53
its 35 electoral votes, and all the Northern and Western States except New 

Jersey, Nevada, and California.

Garfield had difficulty in forming a Cabinet because of the demands made 

by Senator Conkling and the New York machine and turned more and more 

to the Blaine faction, even to the extent of appointing Blaine as Secretary 

of State. For Secretary of the Interior, he chose Senator S. J. Kirkwood of 

Iowa, a former Ohioan who had served as Civil War Governor of Iowa and 

who in private life had had a variety of occupations, including farmer, 

teacher, miller, lawyer, banker, and railroad president.

Senator Henry G. Davis, Democrat of West Virginia, tried several times 

to bring up the extension resolution, but the Republicans were preoccupied 

with other matters. Once it lost place to a discussion of applying part of 

the proceeds of the sale of public lands to educational purposes, and another 

time, to a discussion of placing General Grant on the retired list of the 

Army; the session ended before the resolution was voted on.

The Sundry Civil Expenses bill was introduced on February 16, 1881, 

and the Committee on Appropriations recommended for the Survey the same 

amount as in the current fiscal year. The House passed the bill on February 

28 without any floor discussion of the Survey appropriation. It was not for 

lack of time but lack of interest. The appropriations of $25,000 for continuing ethnological research, $150,000 for continuation of the Washington 

Monument, and $60,000 for cases, furniture, and fixtures to display collections of geology and mineralogy at the National Museum were all subject 

to caustic comments although all were passed. The Senate took up the bill 

on March 2 and passed it on March 3, again without any discussion of the 

Survey appropriation. For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1881, the Survey 

would receive the same amount $150,000 for expenses, $6,000 for salary 

of the Director.

King had said little about resigning for some months, and some members 

of the Survey hoped that he had changed his mind. However, early in 

January 1881, James Stevenson, who was Powell's right hand in the ethnoloical work, was appointed Executive Officer of the Survey at a salary of 

$250 a month. On Monday, March 7, the first business day of the new 

administration, the temporary appointments of Stevenson and Holmes were 

made permanent by the Secretary, and on Friday, March 11, 1881, King 

submitted his formal resignation:

'To the President of the United States. 

Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C.

Sir: Finding that the administration of my office leaves me no time for 

personal geological labors, and believing that I can render more important 

service to science as an investigator than as the head of an executive bureau, 

I have the honor herewith to offer my resignation as Director of the Geological Survey

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

CLARENCE KING"

The President did not delay in accepting the resignation. On March 12, he 

wrote in reply, thriftily using up his Congressional stationery on which he 

carefully marked out House of Representatives and substituted Executive 

Mansion:

"Dear Sir: In accepting your resignation, which I do with reluctance, permit 

me to express my appreciation of your efficient services to the government 

during your term of office, and my regret that you do not find it possible 

to longer remain in charge of the Geological Bureau."

54 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
King served such a short time as Director that his contribution to the 

Geological Survey has sometimes been minimized or overlooked entirely. 

The tangible results of his 2 years may perhaps be measured in terms of the 

six reports in the second annual report, four of which were abstracts of 

monographic treatments which appeared later, part of the report of the 

Public Lands Commmission, and the Tenth Census reports. Both Emmons' 

report on the Leadville district and Decker's report on the Comstock demonstrated a concept that is sometimes forgotten, that a single paper can 

contribute both to the advancement of science and the solution of practical 

problems. Emmons' report included some general conclusions on the origin 

of the ore deposits and the beginning of the development of the theory of 

secondary enrichment and pointed out that the ore was localized along the 

contact of the Blue limestone and the White porphyry. Decker based his 

report on a study of nearly 2,500 samples and 500 microscope slides of 

Comstock rocks, identified the propylite as a decomposed form of previously 

known rocks, concluded that the immediate neighborhood of the Comstock 

was an almost extinct solfatara and suggested that the ore was deposited by 

lateral secretion at or near the contact between the diorite of the footwall 

and the diabase of the hanging wall. King's own paper compressed a large 

amount of statistics on the precious metals into 68 pages and demonstrated 

the importance of a knowledge of geology in the analysis of such statistics.

King's contribution, however, was greater than these papers. As Rossiter 

Raymond had remarked in 1879, the manner in which the Survey was 

conducted for its first 2 years would either establish it as a recognized and 

esteemed branch of the public service or expose it to utter overthrow. King, 

during his 2-year tenure, set standards and goals for the Survey that are still 

valid. Several years before the Civil Service law was passed, he and Secretary 

Schurz established educational and professional requirements for appointment to the Survey that differ only in detail from those that are in effect 

today. As chief of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, King 

had set standards for geologic work that profoundly influenced the work of 

others. As Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, his goal was to continue 

to raise standards and at the same time to apply known principles in the 

survey and service of the country. That is still a Survey goal. The realization 

of the importance of mineral resources in the national economy and the 

initiation of systematic work in economic geology, as well as the beginning 

of work in experimental geophysics, were part of the King years. In the 

opinion of S. F. Emmons:

It was not until the truth that geological studies could not be profitably confined within State lines or other artificial boundaries had been proved by practical demonstration that the aid of the general government was freely and permanently enlisted and thereby geological science in America raised to its 

present high position.

To the accomplishment of this result the late Clarence King was the foremost 

and one of the most active contributors. His influence on the development of 

geological science in this country was exercised at a critical point in its history, 

when the personality of the man, aside from his purely scientific ability, played 

a much greater part than it would at the present day, when the labors of men 

of his type have already borne abundant fruit in impressing upon the people 

at large the practical importance of a scientific guidance in the development of 

their material resources.

Another contribution to the Survey was the spirit instilled in the organization; a spirit sometimes subdued but never overwhelmed. King was a 

man of administrative ability, but much of his success as an administrator 

was due to the fact that he was "enthusiastically loved by everyone" and 

so each one did his best. King put it somewhat more diffidently; he had

King's Legacy to the Survey 55
made the corps uniformly "harmonious and patient" by a "natural spirit of 

command and personal sympathy with all hands and conditions, from geologists to mules."

King's greatest legacy to the Survey was undoubtedly the staff not only 

Emmons, Gilbert, Hague, Pumpelly, and Dutton, all of whom had established reputations by 1879, but also the younger men who were beginning 

their careers, among others, Becker, Walcott, Hillebrand, Barus, Iddings, 

and Cross, all of whom were later elected to the National Academy of 

Sciences. In a very special way, King's influence persisted for the next 30 

years or more through Emmons and Becker and their work in the development of economic geology and geophysics.

56 The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881
Chapter 3-

The Broad View, 1881-1884

It is not local work which demands the attention or should command the 

endowment of the nation. The study of the individual mine may safely be intrusted to the interests of the mine owner and the study of the structure of a 

restricted locality may be left to the zeal and enterprise of the private geologist; 

but the higher walks of science and all the great economic interests of the 

country are replete with problems which can only be comprehended through 

the broad view.

 S. J. Kirkwood

On March 12, 1881, President Garfield accepted King's resignation and 

nominated John Wesley Powell to be the second Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. The Senate spent 45 minutes in executive session on Friday, 

March 18, during which it officially received from the President a great 

number of nominations, including that of Powell. The Senate had been 

unable to organize itself as there were 37 Democrats and 37 Republicans; 

consequently, no committees had been appointed. Most of the nominations 

were carried over, but on the motion of individual Senators, a few were 

confirmed without being referred to committees for evaluation. Among 

them, on the motion of Senator John Logan of Illinois, was that of John 

Wesley Powell of Illinois. On the following day, Saturday, March 19, Powell took the oath of office as the second Director of the Survey.

The editor of the Engineering and Mining Journal, disappointed at King's 

resignation, qualified its endorsement of his successor. "The principal doubt 

is simply whether Major Powell will receive a hearty support from the 

scientific public. Personally he is not merely unobjectionable, but, as far as 

we know, generally acceptable. We hope and believe that his appointment 

will not revive any of the jealousies which were laid to rest by that of Mr. 

King. Professionally, he has had, like his predecessor, long experience in 

the direction of field-work, and possesses an extensive knowledge of the 

public domain in the West. His report on the exploration of the Colorado 

River, which appeared some years ago, contained much interesting topographical and geological material, clothed in somewhat superabundant rhetoric. His paper on the Arid Lands of the West was able and effective. His 

assistants have done excellent work, and bear strong testimony to his good 

judgment and executive skill as a Director."

The notice in the American Journal of Science was short but pointed. "Major 

J. W. Powell has been appointed Director of the Geological Survey of the 

National Domain in place of Clarence King resigned. His various reports 

on the Rocky Mountain region, geological, ethnographic, and economical, 

show that he is well fitted for the position." Apparently Dana had not yet 

accepted the idea of a geological survey of the United States, although he 

no longer insisted that it was a survey of the public domain.

Powell's background, education, and scientific interests were so different 

from King's that it was inevitable that there would be a change in the 

Survey, although probably no one expected either a rapid or radical change. 

Within 3 years, however, King's original plans and organization were completely altered; mining geology and mineral statistics became minor appenThe Broad View, 1881-1884 57
dages in an organization that concentrated on topographic and geologic 

mapping and paleontology and also on problems related to the irrigation of 

the arid lands, the relief that would be afforded the lower valley of the 

Mississippi by utilizing the waters from the Rocky Mountains in irrigation, 

and the distribution of forests problems of more interest to agriculture 

than to the mineral industry.

A few days before Powell became Director, President Garfield in his 

inaugural address had said,

The interests of agriculture deserve more attention from the Government than 

they have yet received. The farms of the United States afford homes and employment for more than one half our people, and furnish much the largest part 

of all our exports. As the Government lights the coast for the protection of 

mariners and for the benefit of commerce, so it should give to the tillers of the 

soil the best lights of practical science and experience.

The sentiment was one to which John Wesley Powell thoroughly subscribed. 

In his own survey work in the 1870's, he had shown only slight interest 

in mineral resources and had stressed the plight of settlers in the arid lands.

58 The Broad View, 1881-1884

John Wesley Powell

Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1881 

1894. Under Powell, general geologic research was 

emphasized, the topographic-mapping program was 

expanded, and investigations of forests and of irrigation were carried on. Opinions were divided in 

his own time Powell was the subject of extravagant praise and strong opposition, but opinions 

since his rediscovery by Walter Prescott Webb in 

1930 have generally been favorable. (Photograph of 

an oil painting by Edmund C. Messer, 1889, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian 

Institution.)
The farming community needed scientific help, to be sure. Agriculture 

was far less prosperous than other sectors of the economy, and the Department of Agriculture, though established in 1862, had not yet made any 

significant contribution to its advancement through scientific means. In an 

editorial in one of its early issues in 1881, Science complained that the 

results obtained by the Department of Agriculture had been small in proportion to the expenditure and doubted that the Department was competent 

to carry on continuous scientific research. The Department of Agriculture, 

however, was the bureau designated by Congress to carry on research in aid 

of agriculture.

The development of general geology at the expense of mining geology 

was not, as might appear at first glance, an emphasis on pure rather than 

applied science, for the experimental work in geophysics, which was surely 

pure science, received the same treatment as mining geology. Powell, like 

King, realized the importance of an economic basis to the work; in 1878, 

he had said, "a geographical and geological survey divorced from economic 

considerations and devoted to research valuable for abstract science would 

always be weak and have an uncertain tenure of existence."

The change may have been more the result of a difference in his practice 

than in his theory of the administration of science. Major Powell believed 

in the cherished right of the individual scientist to choose his own field of 

work. King, on the other hand, believed that the Director should establish 

the program and that the individual scientists should then plan and conduct 

their own work. Because of economic conditions, King had chosen to emphasize a few lines of investigations in mining geology, where the Survey 

could make an immediate contribution and solidify its position.

There was another notable difference. Although he found little time for 

his own research, King himself did engage in the work of the Survey as well 

as in its administration. When Powell became Director, however, he had 

all but abandoned geologic work. Although he maintained an interest in 

the Southwest and talked occasionally of going back into the field, he was 

personally involved only in ethnologic research and in the attempt to develop 

a philosophy of science. He was active in the Anthropological Society of 

Washington and the Biological Society of Washington, both of which he 

had helped found. His program for ethnologic research under the Smithsonian Institution had been tacitly approved by Congress by the appropriation of funds, and he continued to direct and engage actively in that work. 

In the Geological Survey, he would have to depend largely on others. G. K. 

Gilbert and C. E. Dutton, who had been members of the Powell survey, 

became his closest advisors. Emmons and Becker, who had been closest to 

King, Hague and the others, who were stationed outside in Washington, 

had less influence.

A change in the composition of the staff, prelude to a change in the 

program, began very soon after Major Powell became Director. He retained 

direction of the Bureau of Ethnology, although he drew no salary from the 

Smithsonian Institution, and simply merged the administrative staffs and, 

to a degree, the work of the two bureaus. On July 1, 1881, James C. 

Pilling, clerk of the Bureau of Ethnology and former clerk of the Powell 

survey, became Chief Clerk of the Survey at $2,400 a year; George Shutt 

was named general assistant at $200 a month; Jack Hillers was appointed 

photographer at $1,800 a year with an assistant at $720 a year; Clay 

MacCauley was appointed editor at $1,800 a year. Women also joined the 

Survey for the first time, Julia McCord as clerk and Georgie Marvine, 

Gilbert's sister-in-law and the widow of Archie Marvine, as librarian. The 

appointments of an Executive Officer (Stevenson), general assistant (Shutt),

Powell Administration 59
and Chief Clerk (Pilling) in addition to the existing clerical staff of the 

Survey might seem excessive unless it is understood that all three were 

engaged for part of the year in ethnological work.

The appointments to the scientific staff included some planned during 

King's term of office: Joseph S. Curtis as geologist at $3,000 a year on 

March 21, 1881, to work with Becker; and T. C. Chamberlin, Tenth 

Census "expert" and also professor of geology at Beloit College and chief 

geologist of the Wisconsin State Survey, on July 1 as geologist at $2,500 

a year. On July 1, 1881, also, C. A. White, curator at the National 

Museum, former State Geologist of Iowa and paleontologist with both the 

Powell and Hayden surveys, was appointed geologist at $2,000 a year, 

Lester Frank Ward as paleobotanist at $1,800 a year, and Vincent Strouhal, 

as geologist at $ 1,200 a year. There were also departures from the scientific 

staff. Pumpelly left to become director of the Northern Transcontinental 

Survey, and Alien Wilson, the Chief Topographical Engineer, joined him, 

as did several members of Pumpelly's census staff, including Bailey Willis, 

George Eldridge, and F. A. Gooch. Andrew Blair left to become a consulting chemist. The Mining Geology Division was thus dismembered, and 

no one was appointed to succeed Pumpelly as head of the division. Gilbert 

Thompson, however, became Acting Chief Topographer at the end of the 

field season.

Of the new appointments, that of Lester Frank Ward is especially interesting. Ward was then a clerk in the Treasury Department, although he 

held three degrees, including one in law, from Columbian University (now 

George Washington University). He had been briefly a member of the 

Powell survey, and his report on timber and grasses was incorporated in 

Powell's Report on the Lands of the Arid Region. Major Powell was greatly 

interested in Ward's sociological and philosophical writing, wished to encourage him, and so offered him his choice of a position in either the Bureau 

of Ethnology or the Geological Survey. Ward was one of the first critics of 

Social Darwinism proposed by Herbert Spencer and developed by Yale's 

Professor William Graham Sumner; Spencer had applied the Darwinian 

theory of evolution to men and concluded that competition led to the survival of the fittest, a theory that appealed to those who wished to preserve 

the status quo. Ward argued that the struggle for existence inhibited full 

development, that human beings had shown that competitive forces could 

be constructively manipulated, and that civilization was the result of man's 

not leaving things alone. Government, which was an invention of the human 

mind, could be made to help mankind, and the key to good government 

was knowledge.

The allotment of funds altered the program. King had set up headquarters 

at the American Museum of Natural History in New York after leaving 

Washington, and Becker and Emmons joined him there for several months 

to work on the statistics of the precious metals. Barus also came east to 

work with King, and together they were planning extensive research on the 

effect of heat and pressure on the materials of the Earth. The newly appointed 

geologist Vincent Strouhal was given responsibility for testing and purchasing equipment for the new laboratory, most of which had to come from 

Europe and most of which was paid for from King's personal funds as 

Powell could spare little more than Strouhal's salary from Survey funds.

In Emmons' division, the only fieldwork undertaken was an examination 

of the Tenmile district in Summit County, Colorado, and a study of the 

region around the basaltic mesas at Golden, chosen, Emmons said, "more 

because, being within easy reach of the Denver office, and a portion of the 

necessary topography being already prepared, they could be carried on by

Charles Abiathar White

Paleontologist of the U.S. Geological Survey from 

1881 to 1892. White had been State Geologist of 

Iowa, 1866 67, and had served as paleontologist for 

the Wheeler, Powell, and Hayden surveys. Much 

of his work was pioneer descriptive work, and the 

mass of his publication is very considerable. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

60 The Broad View, 1881-1884
Lester Frank Ward

Paleobotanist of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1881 

1907. Ward, a close associate of Major Powell, was 

an ardent advocate of the evolutionary hypothesis 

and enlisted with enthusiasm in the conflict between science and theology. He became the great 

pioneer of modern and evolutionary sociology in the 

United States. Ward argued that the human mind 

is a factor in evolution, that the intellect, when 

rightly informed with scientific truth, enables the 

individual to plan intelligently for future development, and that this ability would usher in an age 

of systematic planning for human progress. (Courtesy of the John Hay Library Archives, Brown 

University.)

my present corps of assistants with but little additional expense over and 

above their regular salaries, than because of their intrinsic interest." In 

Becker's division, only Joseph S. Curtis was sent into the field, to begin 

the long-planned study of the ore deposits at Eureka.

Hague, Iddings, and Walcott also spent most of the year in New York. 

Hague worked on the Eureka monograph, making only one short trip to 

examine some disputed points. Iddings completed his monograph on the 

microscopic petrography of the crystalline rocks, including six plates of 

microphotographs, which had required months of experimentation. Thereafter, he took up a study of the Fortieth Parallel rocks that had been stored 

at the American Museum. Walcott completed his monograph on the paleontology of the Eureka district.

Gilbert did not go into the field but spent the summer of 1881 in 

Washington in administrative matters concerned with the central office, to 

no small degree the preparation of reports that bore the Director's name. 

In the Great Basin region, however, I. C. Russell completed the reconnaissance of the basin of ancient Lake Lahontan.

Chamberlin was instructed to devote himself principally to the part of 

the terminal moraine in Dakota Territory and other parts that had not been 

previously traced. During the summer of 1881, he and Professor J. E. Todd 

worked in the Dakota area while Professor L. C. Wooster studied the morSurvey Work, 1881 61
aine in Michigan. In September, Chamberlin began a study of the moraine 

in New York and eastern Ohio.

Lester Ward spent most of his first month on the Survey writing a sketch 

of Powell, which was published in the Popular Science Monthly for January 

1882. He then went west to learn something about paleobotany, or vegetable paleontology, as it was more commonly known. C. A. White was 

expected to work with him, but early in August 1881, White was given 

an appointment in the Department of Agriculture as commissioner for the 

location of artesian wells, so Ward arranged with Lawrence Bruner, an 

assistant entomologist of the Department of Agriculture, to accompany him.

The largest project undertaken in the summer of 1881 was in the Colorado Plateau region, and it was not geologic but topographic. King had 

announced his intention of discontinuing the Colorado Division as a separate 

organization once Dutton finished the report, but Powell reversed that 

plan. Two reasons were given that the Survey had "inherited from its 

predecessors a large amount of good topographic material" and "for the 

study of certain important geologic problems this region is unrivaled." An 

unmentioned factor was Powell's -plan for continuing the ethnologic work 

in the area.

Relations were also more cordial with the Coast and Geodetic Survey 

since Julius Hilgard had been appointed Superintendent. Hilgard and Powell had become friends during the campaign to consolidate the surveys, and 

Hilgard had been one of Powell's sponsors when he was elected to the 

National Academy of Sciences in 1880. Professor J. Howard Gore of Columbian University was sent to Fort Wingate, New Mexico, to measure a 

base line and determine its geographical position with equipment borrowed 

from the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Gilbert Thompson received orders to 

organize and outfit a party in Salt Lake City and report to the Director at 

Fort Wingate. Gore had planned to leave Washington on July 5, and apparently Powell with him, but plans were changed when President Garfield 

was shot. Gore finally left Washington on July 25, but Powell did not go 

into the field at all. After many difficulties Thompson arrived at Fort Wingate on August 27 with a party consisting of A. L. Webster, assistant 

topographer, J. K. Hillers, G. W. Shutt, 4 teamsters, 2 cooks, a helper, 

4 wagons, and 34 animals. James Stevenson was already in the field for 

ethnologic work, and Webster spent 3 weeks with him mapping the Moko 

towns. The topographic fieldwork continued until late December 1881.

Major Powell submitted a report on geologic nomenclature and cartography, for most of which Gilbert was probably responsible, to the second 

session of the International Congress of Geologists at Bologna, Italy, in 

September 1881. In April 1880, J. P. Lesley, who was the U.S. member 

of the committee on maps appointed at the first session of the congress in 

1878, had asked King to undertake some work on map colors, but King 

wrote that he was personally unable to begin, being fully engaged in the 

census work as well as the Survey. Powell, in his 1877 report of the Geographic and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, had stated 

that a special investigation of geologic cartography was underway; presumably, the work continued in the General Geology Division of the Geological 

Survey. The formal statement sent to the International Congress in 1881 

referred to rules relating to general geologic nomenclature and cartography 

"adopted" in the U.S. Geological Survey. A large body of material was 

ready for publication, he said, and it was "unfortunate that advantage cannot 

be taken of the deliberations of so great a body of savants in the publication 

of these monographs, but the exigencies of the work will not permit of 

longer delay even for so important a purpose."

62 The Broad View, 1881-1884
SKA OK SYSTEM.

of Man . - . - .

[

i

Period nr Group.

Quaternary

Pliocene

Innssio

Cambrian . ......

E|>ocli or Formation.

To be formulated in various districts as the

fiiets (leuiiintl.

In a report submitted to the second session of the 

International Congress of Geologists in 1881, Major Powell attempted to establish an American norm 

for stratigraphic nomenclature and cartographic 

representation. The geologic time scale proposed 

was based on that adopted by King in his Systematic 

Geology (1878). It followed Dana (1863) in the use 

of Archean divided into Huronian and Laurentian 

but departed from his terminology in recognizing 

the Cambrian in place of Lower Silurian and in dividing the Cenozoic into Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene. (From the second annual report of the U.S. 

Geological Survey.)

The statement was prefaced with a warning:

The adoption of a nomenclature is to an important extent an attempt to establish 

the categories of classification; but every stage in the progress of knowledge 

is marked by a stage in the progress of classification, and any attempt to fix 

permanently the categories for a nascent science must be futile. Insofar, then, 

as proposed uniform methods of nomenclature and representation are designed to establish the fundamental categories, no good can be accomplished.

On the other hand, useful results could be obtained by the use of a uniform 

nomenclature and system of representation in the preservation of like facts.

In general geologic nomenclature, American practice was substantially 

uniform, at least with respect to the major divisions of time the eras and 

periods. Dana had divided periods into epochs and subepochs, but American 

practice in that regard was widely divergent, and in the present state of 

knowledge, such refined distinctions could not be made or correlated 

throughout an area as vast as America. The New York section had been 

established first, but attempts to correlate the formations of other areas with 

those of New York had in general not been successful, "and the assumption 

that such correlation should be made" had"led to unnecessary and unseemly 

controversy," and finally, the attempt had been virtually abandoned. In 

the various districts, various schemes of formations had been made to present 

the facts discovered. So there were a number of series of names for geologic 

formations, each representing a special district.

This state of affairs represented the logical and necessary growth of the 

science. From district to district, a typical series would not be reproduced, 

but new series, having new structural, lithologic, and biologic characteristics 

would be discovered, and these facts should be represented in the nomenclature.

Such being the state of affairs in the districts most thoroughly studied, it seems 

especially unwise for the exploring geologist to commit himself in early stages 

of investigation to refined and exact correlations, *** until further research demonstrates approximate identity or establishes diversity. Thus the names of formations are ultimately fixed by a process of selection.

The terms used for rock masses were also in a state of confusion. The 

term "system" was generally used for the series of formations included in 

an "era," but sometimes for the series included in an "age." The terms 

"epoch," "formation," and "group" were used synonymously, but sometimes the term "group" included the series of formations of a "period," 

and sometimes the term "formation" was synonymous with the term "series." "Perhaps it would be well," Powell said, "if Era, Period, and Epoch 

could be used in speaking from the standpoint of history, and System, 

Group, and Formation as their synonyms, severally, from the standpoint of 

structural geology; Time to be used as a general historic, Series as a general 

structural term." The general scheme adopted by the Survey recognized 

5 Eras or Systems: Archean, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic or Tertiary, and 

Era of Man; and 14 periods or groups; in the Archean, the Laurentian and 

Huronian; in the Paleozoic, the Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian; in the Mesozoic, the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous; in the 

Cenozoic, the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene; and in the Era of Man, the 

Quaternary.

American practice, the report said, had also been diverse as regards colors 

for geologic cartography. The Survey's color scheme was planned to represent common usage as far as possible but not to force the geologist to 

make distinctions and correlations not warranted by the facts at his command. The colors were chosen to be easily distinguished on the maps but

Geologic Nomenclature 63
at the same time printed with the greatest economy. Grays were selected 

to represent the Quaternary; variations of yellow for the Cenozoic; green for 

the Mesozoic; blue for the Permian and Carboniferous; and purple for the 

Devonian, Silurian, and Cambrian. Browns were reserved for the Archean, 

and reds for the igneous rocks. By using three tones of gray, yellow, green, 

purple, red, and brown, and two of blue, and two tints of each, one dark 

and the other light, many distinctions could be made. Further distinctions 

could be made by using the light tint as a base and the dark tint as an 

overprint in patterns of lines and dots.

Professor C. H. Hitchcock of Dartmouth, State Geologist of New Hampshire and a member of the American Committee for the International Congress of Geologists, had published a geological map that had an entirely 

different color scheme earlier in the year. Hitchcock used lemon-yellow for 

Quaternary, yellows for Tertiary, yellow-green for the Laramie, blue-green 

for Cretaceous, burnt siena for Jura and Trias, medium blue for Permian, 

two shades of sepia for Coal Measures, light blue for the lower Carboniferous, 

light purple for Devonian, cobalt blue for Upper Silurian, reddish-purple 

for Cambrian, shades of pink and red for Archean, bright carmine for granite, and vermillion for volcanic rocks.

The Bologna meeting of the International Congress of Geologists considered proposals from several sources and voted to use as time terms "Era," 

"Period," "Epoch," and "Age" and for rock masses, the corresponding 

terms "Group," "System," "Series," and "Etage." Below the rank of 

Etage was assise, several of which constituted a sub-etage. For colors, they 

voted to use rose-carmine for crystalline schists, violet for the Triassic, blue 

for the Jurassic, deep blue for Lias, green for Cretaceous, and yellow for 

Tertiary. Other decisions were left to a committee on the map of Europe, 

which met subsequently and decided to use gray for the Permo-Carboniferous, brown for the Devonian, greenish-gray for the Silurian, and seven tints 

of red for eruptive rocks. James Hall was the only American present, and 

the terms chosen were largely of European derivation.

In his annual report to Congress in November 1881, Secretary of the 

Interior S. U. Kirkwood urged the new Congress to extend the domain of 

the Survey to the entire area of the United States so that the most valuable 

contributions could be made to geology, both pure and applied. The Survey, 

he said, was "unable to carry on work simultaneously in the several districts 

where important mining industries are prosecuted, and at the same time 

maintain such a standard of excellence as shall give a true and permanent 

value to its results." Senator Henry Davis of West Virginia promptly filed 

a bill to provide for extending the Survey into the States. It was referred to 

the Committee on Mines and Mining and was not heard of again.

Within the Survey, a new view of mining geology was already developing. 

When the American Institute of Mining Engineers met in Washington in 

February 1882, Major Powell told them that the work of the Survey was 

intimately related to mining engineering but that geologists and mining 

engineers (whom he called "scientific artisans") complemented each other. 

Mining engineering must have a sound basis in structural geology, which 

could only be discovered and delineated by the great agencies of Government. In the work of mining geology, the Geological Survey sought to 

discover:

First. The geological structure of the country.

Second. The geological relations and palingenesis of ores and other mineral 

deposits, and to discover the laws and modes of their occurrence. Here the 

work of the official geologist ends, and here the work of the mining engineer 

begins. It is for him to develop individual mines and to discover the sites of

64 The Broad View, 1881-1884
ore-bodies and other valuable deposits, and to develop the machinery for the 

working of mines, and metallurgical processes by which crude materials may 

be wrought into forms best adapted to the wants of man.

Major Powell held that progress in mining had been made by industrial 

corporations rather than by Government agencies. In the growth of civilization, corporations had been the most important element, and technology 

had done more for mankind than sociology, institutions of art more than 

institutions of government. "Technology," he concluded, "is the father of 

science, and science is again the father of technology. Arts give birth to 

sciences and sciences give birth to arts, and thus in alternating generations 

they multiply to bless mankind."

S. F. Emmons took issue with the Major in a paper on The mining work 

of the United States Geological Survey published in the AIME Transactions. 

Emmons said:

the duty of the mining engineer toward his employer, the actual or prospective 

owner of a mining property, is to place before him in an intelligible manner the 

character, mode of occurrence, and probably quantity and value of the mineral 

deposits which his property may contain, and the best method of utilizing them. 

The duty of the government mining geologist, whose field of observation is 

wider, and whose facilities for carrying on work are greater, differs only in this, 

that his views should be more comprehensive and his study should take in the 

general interests of a group of mines or of a whole mining region, rather than 

a single mine.

He agreed that trustworthy results could not be obtained "except they be 

founded on a sound and accurate knowledge of the geological structure of 

the region in which the deposits are found," but also said that while the 

geological branch of mining engineering occupied a prominent place in the 

work of the Survey, the more technical branches would by no means be 

neglected. The monograph on Leadville would be accompanied by an elaborate discussion of the processes of lead smelting. W. R. Eckart was at work 

on a report on the mechanical appliances used in mining and milling on the 

Comstock. "Such papers," he said, "prepared by specialists best fitted for 

the particular work, should accompany every monograph, whenever there 

is any particular process or mechanical appliance in the district examined 

of sufficient importance to justify the labor and expense."

By March 1882, when Major Powell testified before the House Committee on Mines and Mining, which was considering bills for the establishment of a bureau of mines, mining geology had already lost precedence. He 

told them that the work of the Survey was " 1st. Topography; 2d. Structural 

Geology; 3d. Mining Geology," although in describing the results of the 

Survey's work, he spoke only of the Leadville, Comstock, and census reports. A bureau of mines, he suggested, would only duplicate Survey work, 

and he proposed instead that for an appropriation of $50,000 a year the 

Survey could continue the statistical work that had begun under the census. 

The committee, impressed, reported to the House that in their opinion "the 

geological survey is, to all intents and purposes, practically a bureau of 

mines and mining, and that all the legislation that is needed is to enlarge 

somewhat its jurisdiction." The Committee on Mines and Mining recommended to the Committee on Appropriations that the $50,000 be appropriated.

In mid-April, Major Powell submitted his estimate for the regular expenses of the Survey for the coming year. It was similar to King's budget 

for the Survey's second year, and like it, included funds to begin work in 

the States east of the Mississippi River even though the resolution to extend

Powell's View of Mining Geology 65
the work into the Eastern States had not been passed. The total was 

$350,000: $150,000 to continue the work underway; an additional 

$ 100,000 to begin work in Minnesota, Dakota Territory, Wisconsin, and 

Arkansas; and the $100,000 for the Eastern States. To the House Committee 

on Appropriations, he stated that the work of the Survey was geography, 

general geology, and economic geology, in that order, and that the appropriation would be divided four ways with approximately equal amounts for 

general geography, the topography of mining districts, general geology, 

and economic geology. On that basis, mining geology and general geology 

would receive the same amounts, and mining geology would not fare too 

badly if the full amount were received. As the Treasury had a large surplus 

at the time, there was reason to hope that the increased appropriation might 

be granted. In every year since 1875, revenue had exceeded expenditures, 

and by 1882, the Treasury surplus was becoming something of a political 

issue.

Rather than reduce income, or increase the size of Government operations, 

to use the surplus, Congress had begun to appropriate larger sums for such 

items as pensions and rivers-and-harbors bills. In fact, Congress was so 

intent on limiting Government operations that the House Committee on 

Appropriations wanted to appropriate a specific salary for each and every 

employee and to prohibit the employment of anyone for whom an appropriation had not been made. For fiscal years 1881 and 1882, the $6,000 

for the salary of the Director had been included in the Legislative, Executive, 

and Judicial Expenses bill. When the House Committee on Appropriations 

prepared the bills for fiscal year 1883, they transferred the salaries of the 

Executive Officer, Chief Clerk, Chief Disbursing Clerk, four photographers, 

six clerks, four copyists, five watchmen, one janitor, and four messengers 

to the Legislative bill, making a total of $34,540 with the Director's salary, 

and in the Sundry Civil Expenses bill instructed the Secretary of the Interior 

to

organize the force for which this appropriation is to be expended and to fix the 

salaries and compensation to be paid to the members thereof, and to make his 

estimate for the fiscal year commencing July 1,1881, in detail, in reference to 

the force to be employed with its grades and compensation in the respective 

grades, and specifying the branches of work in which it should be employed 

and the amount to be expended in each branch.

The Committee on Appropriations recommended for the expenses of the 

Survey only $122,000 ($150,000, the amount appropriated for the preceding year less the salaries transferred to the Legislative bill). The extension 

into the Eastern States was clearly not approved.

When the Sundry Civil. Expenses bill came up in the House, Mr. Atkins, 

no longer chairman but the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, moved to amend the item for the Geological Survey by adding "and 

to continue preparation of the geological map of the United States." It was 

immediately recognized for what it was, an attempt to extend the operations 

of the Survey into the Eastern States. Congressman Frank Hiscock of New 

York, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, made a point of order 

against it as changing existing legislation, saying, "This amendment, 

couched in so few words, is most pregnant with meaning." There was an 

immediate protest that no point of order had been made against a provision 

in the same bill for the Coast and Geodetic Survey to make a map of the 

Eastern United States, and the chairman explained that as that provision 

did not change existing legislation, the Coast and Geodetic Survey having 

previously been authorized to do mapping on land, no point of order could

66 The Broad View, 1881-1884
be made. Several of the representatives from Eastern States were quite outspoken about their desire for economic geology studies and about the fact 

that the Eastern States paid most of the taxes. Congressman Joseph G. 

Cannon of Illinois pointed out that the Survey could, under the existing 

legislation, go into Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas, where 

there were public lands, and probably would if the money were available, 

and that moreover the Survey could go outside the public lands where it 

was necessary to complete mapping of a geologic structure. With that, Mr. 

Atkins amended his motion to read "and complete preparation of a geologic 

map of the national domain," Congressman E. C. Willits of Michigan 

moved to increase the appropriation from $122,000 to $222,000, and both 

motions were approved.

The Senate, as had the House, took up the Legislative Expenses bill first. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended that the Director's 

salary be reduced from $6,000 to $5,000 and that the salaries of the Chief 

Clerk and the Chief Disbursing Clerk, which the House had set at $2,000, 

be increased to the $2,400 they were currently receiving. Senatorial opinion 

on the merits of the Director was divided. There was a long discussion 

whether he should receive more than Senators, or the Assistant Fish Commissioner, all of whom received $5,000; although there seemed little question that he deserved more than the Assistant Fish Commissioner, there was 

considerable doubt that he was worth more than Senators. Both Senator 

John Logan of Illinois, who reminded the Senate that Powell was his friend, 

and Senator James Beck stated that the salary had been set at $6,000 to 

obtain the services of Clarence King, and both Senators thought the ends 

of justice would be better served by reducing the Director's salary and 

restoring those of the two clerks. Senator W. B. Allison reported that the 

committee had been dismayed to learn, when the Executive Officer, James 

Stevenson, came to them seeking a salary of $4,000 for himself, that several, 

including Professor Hayden, were receiving that amount. They had concluded that they could not reduce the subordinates' salaries without reducing the Director's also. The Senate then agreed to the changes.

The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended two changes in the 

Survey appropriation in the Sundry Civil Expenses bill: to use "United 

States" rather than "national domain" in the clause about preparation of 

the geologic map, and to add that not more than $20,000 of the total could 

be spent for "procuring of statistics in relation to mines and mining, and 

in making chemical analyses of iron, coal, and oil." The Senate itself passed 

the measure without discussion of the Survey appropriation.

The Senate and House conferees on the Legislative bill compromised, 

leaving the Director's salary at $6,000 and raising the clerks' salaries to 

$2,200. The House debated both Senate amendments in the Sundry Civil 

Expenses bill before accepting one and compromising on the other. Appropriations Committee Chairman Hiscock said that he understood from the 

highest authority that the clause authorizing completion of the geologic 

map of the United States would not be taken to mean authorization of 

surveys of lands outside the Government domain but would permit utilization of maps prepared by the States. If the House desired to authorize the 

compilation of maps depending on geological surveys other than those of 

the national domain, it would concur in the Senate amendment, but if it 

did not desire surveys of private property, it would nonconcur. Congressman 

John E. Kenna of West Virginia said that the friends of the measure knew 

what they intended it to mean and what it did mean, and the amendment 

was accepted. The amendment to permit collection of mineral statistics was 

more extensively debated and amended to exclude collection of statistics on

Extension into Eastern States 67
gold and silver, for which the Mint was responsible, and to reduce the 

amount to $10,000. No geographic restriction was placed on the collection 

of mineral statistics.

Whatever the intent of those who voted for the amendment on the geologic map, it was interpreted to mean that the Survey's field as regards 

geologic mapping was national in scope. The Sundry Civil Expenses bill 

authorizing (or, as Powell preferred to say, "requiring") the geologic map 

was approved on Monday, August 7, 1882. The Director's plans had been 

well laid in advance. A topographic map must be made before the geologic 

map, so a few topographers had been added to the staff in July, among 

them Congressman Atkins' son. By the close of business on Friday of the 

week following passage of the bill, 78 topographers of various grades had 

been added to the staff, and the appointments of Henry Gannett, as Chief 

Geographer at $2,700 a year, and Almon H. Thompson, Powell's brotherin-law, as geographer at $2,500 a year, had been approved by the Secretary. 

By the first of September, the topographic staff of the Survey outnumbered 

the geologic staff.

All the topographic work was placed under the supervision of the Chief 

Geographer. A scale of 1:250,000, or 4 miles to the inch, was decided on 

as "necessary for the intelligent presentation of the principal facts of strucHenry Gannett

Until 1879 a member of the Hayden Survey, Gannett was appointed Chief Geographer of the U.S. 

Geological Survey in 1882 and remained with the 

Survey in various capacities until his death in 1914. 

He was Chairman of the U.S. Board of Geographic 

Names from 1894 to 1914 and also supervised the 

forest investigations of the Geological Survey from 

1897 to 1905. Gannett was geographer of the 10th, 

llth, and 12th Censuses, assistant director and 

statistician of the Philippine Census of 1903, a 

founder of the National Geographic Society and its 

President from 1910 to 1914. (Photograph courtesy 

Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

68 The Broad View, 1881-1884
Othniel C. Marsh

Marsh, a professor at Yale University, had been 

acting president of the National Academy of Sciences in 1878 and chairman of the committee that 

recommended the establishment of the Geological 

Survey. He became the Survey's vertebrate paleontologist in 1882, and remained associated with the 

Survey until his death in 1899, serving after 1892 

without compensation. (Photograph courtesy of the 

Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

tural geology." Vertical relief would be shown by contours drawn at intervals of 200 feet in mountainous country down to 25 feet as the topographic features became more plain (The pun is Powell's.). The map would 

be published in atlas sheets, each 1° of longitude by 1° of latitude, in areas 

bounded by parallels and meridians. The sheets were to be designated by 

the number of the parallel and meridian west of Greenwich intersecting at 

the southeast corner of the sheet.

For convenience of administration, the United States was divided into 

seven districts, essentially those outlined by King in the first annual report; 

centers were chosen from which the work could be expanded outward, and 

fieldwork was begun in five of the seven districts. There were three parties 

in the southern Appalachians under W. C. Kerr, who had been appointed 

as a geologist on August 18, 1882, two in western North Carolina and 

eastern Tennessee, and one in southwestern Virginia and eastern Kentucky. 

Professor Gore was sent to measure a base line and begin a reconnaissance 

survey near Hot Springs, Arkansas, in the South Central district. A. H. 

Thompson was placed in charge of the work in the southern part of the 

Rocky Mountain district and instructed to complete the map of the Plateau 

region, and work was begun in the northern part of the Rocky Mountain 

district near Bozeman, Montana, J. H. Renshawe in charge. Albert Webster 

headed a geographic party in the Great Basin. Gilbert Thompson was placed

Organizing Topographic Work 69
in charge of work in the district of the Pacific and began mapping in the 

southern Cascades.

To complete the topographic map in the shortest possible time, others 

were set to work compiling and adjusting the results of previous surveys by 

the "general government, by the several states, counties, townships, by 

industrial corporations and individuals." Useful information was obtained 

even from the parceling surveys of the General Land Office that Powell had 

described in 1878 as "absolutely valueless for scientific purposes."

Several new appointments were made in 1882 to the scientific staff; the 

principal ones were Professor O. C. Marsh of Yale as paleontologist at 

$4,000 a year and Professor Roland D. Irving of the University of Wisconsin 

as geologist at $2,700 a year. Marsh's appointment added vertebrate paleontology to the Survey's capabilities. Professor Irving was to continue 

studies of Archean rocks begun under the Tenth Census program.

The lateness of the appropriation made a distinct difference in some plans 

for fieldwork, none at all in others. Marsh's appointment was dated August 

18, but he had a full field season. Under instructions dated July 1, he 

organized five parties for the collection of fossils: one in the Tertiary of 

Oregon, two in the Eocene of western Wyoming, and two in the Jurassic 

of Wyoming. Irving's appointment was also made in mid-August, but, 

unlike Marsh, he was unable to begin work before that time for lack of 

funds. He proposed to make a comprehensive study of the Archean rocks 

that extended from the northern end of Lake Huron westward across Wisconsin and around Lake Superior to the southeastern part of Dakota Territory, including microscopic examination of specimens, in which he would 

be assisted by C. R. Van Hise, one of his students.

Gilbert did not go into the field in the summer of 1882, his time again 

being taken up with administrative work in the Washington office. However, two parties began work in the Great Basin at the beginning of the 

season: a geologic party under I. C. Russell with Willard D. Johnson as 

topographer, and the geographic party under Albert Webster. Early in July 

they were joined by W J McGee, geologist, and Eugene Ricksacker, topographer. In the latter part of August, after the appropriations became 

available, Russell's force was increased by the arrival of yet another geologic 

assistant. The chief subjects of investigation were the Quaternary history of 

the western part of the Great Basin as revealed by the vestiges of Lake 

Lahontan and the history of the ancient lake and glaciers of the Mono Basin.

Dutton spent several months in the Hawaiian Islands in preparation for 

a study of the Cascade Range in northern California and Oregon. Work 

could not begin until the topographic mapping under Gilbert Thompson 

made some progress. Dutton's monograph on the Tertiary history of the 

Grand Canyon district had been completed, and finding himself with about 

a year's time on his hands, he concluded that it would be "a well-founded 

criticism" to entrust the Cascade study to "one who had never seen a live 

volcano." The Hawaiian Islands were not U.S. territory, so Major Powell 

obtained funds from the Smithsonian Institution to pay for Dutton's travel.

Professor Chamberlin continued the investigation of glacial moraines and 

associated deposits with the aid of several assistants, including Professor 

Todd, F. H. King, and Professor Wooster. Chamberlin himself, with the 

assistance of R. D. Salisbury, continued the study of the moraines of southern and south-central New York State, a study that he had begun the 

previous season.

C. A. White, having completed his report as artesian-well commissioner, 

left on July 1, 1882, for Montana Territory to make geological and paleontological investigations in the valleys of the Yellowstone and Missouri

70 The Broad View, 1881-1884
When Marsh joined the Survey, he had in preparation his second great monograph on the extinct 

higher vertebrates, the Dinocerata, which King had 

planned for Survey publication. He had found the 

first remains of the Dinocerata in an Eocene lake 

basin in Wyoming in 1870 and had begun a systematic investigation in 1872. In this restoration 

of the skeleton, the animal is represented as walking. (From O. C. Marsh, 1884.)

Rivers, where the only sedimentary formation was believed to be the Laramie 

group, the age of which was a matter of controversy. King had given the 

name Laramie to a series of shales, sandstones, and coal beds lying conformably over the Fox Hills strata and widely present in Colorado, Utah, and 

Wyoming. He considered it to be Cretaceous, and the last deposit of that 

age. Hayden accepted the name for his Lignitic group, which he considered 

as a transitional formation between Cretaceous and Tertiary. White had 

worked in northwestern Colorado in his first season with the Hayden survey 

in 1877 and had committed himself to a post-Cretaceous age for the beds. 

However, he had suggested that as none of the American Cretaceous could 

be considered as equivalent to the Lower Cretaceous of other parts of the 

world but must be considered Upper Cretaceous, the Laramie rocks must 

represent a great and important period wholly unrepresented in any other 

part of the world.

Ward did not go into the field, being fully occupied with the study of 

the Laramie flora, serving as honorary curator of the Department of Fossil 

Plants in the National Museum, beginning a catalogue of American fossil 

plants, and publishing his first book, "Dynamic Sociology," which was 

dedicated to Major Powell.

One of the busiest members of the Survey staff that year was Charles D. 

Walcott, who was released from New York exile on July 1, 1882. He went 

first to Nevada, to make observations and collections at Eureka and White 

Pine, requested by Hague. At the end of August he went to Kanab, and 

early in September, with the necessary camp outfit, he moved out to study 

the stratigraphy of the Permian and to collect fossils. Snow drove them from 

the field in late October. Early in November, instructions arrived from the 

Director to accumulate supplies and a force of men for work in the Grand 

Canyon. A trail ("a perfectly frightful trail," according to Dutton) was built 

down into the canyon at the head of Nunkoweap Valley, and on November 

26, Walcott was left at the trail camp, with instructions to study the preCarboniferous strata as far south in the canyon as possible, provisions for 3 

months, 9 saddle and pack mules, and 3 assistants, one of whom soon 

succumbed to depression from living in the depths of the canyon and had 

to be sent home. Walcott and the others, however, stayed in the canyon 

until February 5.

In the Grand Canyon, above the great unconformity between Precambrian 

and Paleozoic rocks, is some 4,500 feet of conformable beds, the upper part 

of which is Carboniferous. Dutton thought that the lowermost beds just 

above the unconformity were Silurian. Some years before, however, Gilbert 

had inferred that they were Cambrian, basing his inference on a single

Stratigraphic Studies 71
specimen of a very uncertain fossil, and had given the name Tonto group 

to the lower part of the horizontal beds. If Gilbert was right, then the 

Silurian and Devonian were missing in the series, even though just west of 

the canyon they were present in great thickness, and the rocks below the 

unconformity, which appeared fresh and unmetamorphosed, were Precambrian. Powell and Dutton found this a bit too much to believe, but Gilbert 

was right. Above the unconformity for several hundred feet, Walcott found 

an abundant fauna, unquestionably Cambrian, and of many types. Below 

the unconformity, he found only a thin layer containing Stromatopora , on 

which no age determination could be based.

Hague and Iddings spent the entire year in the office in New York. 

Hague continued to work on the Eureka report, and he and Iddings continued their investigation of the Fortieth Parallel rocks. A good deal of time 

was given to the nature of the pyroxene in the andesitic rocks, and Hague 

reported that their results tended to confirm those reached by Cross in 

Colorado.

Emmons had only a brief field season. At the beginning of the year, he 

had said that the possible fields of work in the Rocky Mountain division 

were "almost bewildering from the multitude of points of scientific interest 

and economical importance" but had chosen the silver deposits of the Silver 

Cliff region as the next investigation. As soon as the appropriations became 

available, he laid out the work for the topographers there, then joined Jacob 

and Cross in the Tenmile district. The geology there had turned out to be 

unexpectedly complicated, and the topographic map that Bien had completed after Wilson's resignation was inadequate, so time was lost in improving it. Emmons also spent several days at Crested Buttes in the Gunnison region. The valuable coalbeds there he thought would make that 

region in the future the center of the mining industry on the west slope of 

the Rockies, so he decided that that would be the next area of investigation. 

At the end of August, he returned to New York to assist Becker in com72 The Broad View, 1881-1884

Paleobotany in the early 1880's was in an infantile 

state according to Lester Ward. The term "paleobotany" he thought was preferable to "vegetable 

paleontology" or "phytopaleontology," being 

shorter, and equally legitimate, being derived from 

two Greek words. In this diagram, he attempted 

to show the origin or geologic age of the first appearance of each type of vegetation, the period of 

its maximum development, and the rank it occupies 

in the living flora relative to its maximum. (From 

L. F. Ward, 1884.)
When T. C. Chamberlin joined the Survey in 

1882, he was instructed to begin a study of the 

terminal moraines that stretch from Dakota to the 

Atlantic. It soon became apparent that the moraines 

and associated glacial deposits were more complicated than anticipated. The terminal moraine of the 

second glacial epoch, for example, consists of a series of 12 great loops, each of which embraces a 

broad valley-basin formed by the ice tongue that 

occupied it. The moraine near Eagle, Wisconsin, 

was left by the Green Bay glacier, one of the smaller 

ice tongues. (From T. C. Chamberlin, 1883-)

pleting the compilation of the census material. King had settled most of 

the major problems but had resigned from the Tenth Census in May 1882. 

Because of the wealth of material available, they found it difficult to restrict 

the volume to the thousand pages that the Superintendent of the Tenth 

Census insisted was the absolute limit; they finally transmitted the manuscript on February 1, 1883.

The volume included approximately 100 pages describing the geology of 

the mining regions of the Rocky Mountain and Pacific regions, statistics on 

the products of deep mines and placer, amalgamating mills, smelting works, 

bullion production, mints, and a directory of mines. King contributed an 

introductory statement on the peculiar conditions affecting American mining, in which he stressed the originality and ingenuity of many of the 

methods adopted, which those trained in Europe tended to look askance at 

as crude and wasteful. The Engineering and Mining Journal took more note 

of his introduction and the geological sketches than of the statistics, commenting that King was "right in his main contention, the rapidity and 

apparent wastefulness of American mining are not altogether bad economy. 

No one can lightly judge in any such case without taking into account the 

elements of transportation and wages, which so greatly affect the problem." 

King had also completed a compilation of the mining laws of the United 

States, which was published as volume 14 of the Tenth Census reports.

Barus spent most of the year finding a new site for the laboratory, moving 

it to New Haven, and getting the new laboratory set up. There had been 

indications that newly approved projects of the American Museum of Natural History would in time crowd out his operations in New York, and on 

the advice of Becker and Hague, who maintained an interest in his work 

after King left, the move was made before work progressed to the stage at 

which such a disruption would be serious.

Becker left for the West when the census manuscript was completed. Curtis had been in the field at Eureka, and his work on the ore deposits there 

was well advanced. Becker noted that one of the most important conclusions

Mining Geology 73
^^

The glaciers on Mount Shasta in northern California, which had been discovered by Clarence King 

in 1870 (see volume 1, p. 190), were investigated 

by Gilbert Thompson who began a topographic survey of the region in 1882. Thompson made a largescale topographic map of the summit area, using 

hachures to denote differences in elevation, and also 

several sketches. Thompson concluded after examining the photographs taken by C. E. Watkins at 

the time of King's visit that there had been more 

snow on the mountain in 1870 than there was in 

1883. (Both illustrations from I. C. Russell, 

1885.) y

to be drawn from Curtis' work was "the hopelessness of defining ore deposits 

of various classes in such a manner as to render the terms employed convenient or suitable as a basis for legislative enactment." Once back in 

California, he began an investigation of the geology of quicksilver, which 

was becoming increasingly important in the reduction of ores. His first step 

was to establish a chemical laboratory in San Francisco, where W. H. Melville, who had been an instructor in chemistry and mineralogy at Harvard, 

would assist him.

74 The Broad View, 1881-1884
Albert Williams assumed charge of the collection of mineral statistics for 

the Survey in late December, 1882. With only $10,000, he could not build 

a staff of the size needed to collect the statistics, so he made arrangements 

with members of State surveys, universities, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and the staff of the technical journals to provide him with 

material at a few dollars a page. Emmons had suggested that preliminary 

reports be prepared from time to time with the aid of material gathered by 

those engaged in the statistical work and published in relatively cheap form 

as bulletins of the Survey. Williams arranged for papers on the metallurgy 

of copper, lead, zinc, and iron, the geology of the coalfields of Pennsylvania, 

and the iron ores of Alabama. They were published, however, not as separate 

bulletins but as part of the report on "Mineral Resources of the United 

States, 1882" that was submitted to the Director on July 2, 1883-

A Bulletin series was established to include papers to the general purpose 

of Survey work that could not properly be published in the annual reports 

or as monographs. Each bulletin was to contain but one paper and be 

complete in itself. They were, however, to be numbered in a continuous 

series and in time united into volumes of convenient size. The bulletin series 

thus would be not unlike the bulletins of the Hayden survey. Bulletin No. 

1 of the U.S. Geological Survey came from the Rocky Mountain division; 

it was submitted on October 1, 1882, and published on March 1, 1883: 

"On Hypersthene Andesite and on Triclinic Pyroxene in Augitic Rocks," by 

Whitman Cross, With a Geological Sketch of Buffalo Peaks, Colorado, by S. F. 

Emmons. It was not the first publication of the Division. Emmons had 

already instituted a series of "Communications from the U.S. Geological 

Survey, Rocky Mountain Division" as "preliminary notices of interesting 

facts, in cases where the publication of the report which would embrace 

them is necessarily delayed for a considerable length of time." Whitman 

Cross and W. F. Hillebrand had analyzed and identified several zeolitic 

minerals in the basalt of Table Mountain, near Golden, Colorado, and their 

paper had been published in the June 1882 issue of the American Journal 

of Science.

For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1883, the Sundry Civil Expenses 

bill passed in March 1883 provided a substantial increase in funds: $64,700 

for "salaries of scientific assistants" in addition to $240,000 for expenses. 

The scientific assistants composed the force organized in accordance with 

the requirements of the act of August 7, 1882. When Congress had instructed the Secretary to organize the force and fix the salaries, it was with 

the limitation of Government operations in mind rather than civil service 

reform. In the Senate, as well, there had been an evident desire to reduce 

the $4,000 salaries, and Senator Allison had reported that the Director was 

content with the proposed reduction in his own salary, which was a prerequisite to the other reductions. When it came time to organize the force, 

however, the salaries were not reduced. The Director explained to the Appropriations Committees that for the position of "chief geologists," men 

of outstanding ability for original research were needed, the Survey had to 

compete with universities and industry for their services, and Survey employees were, by the Organic Act, prevented from undertaking private work 

to supplement their income.

The civil service, however, had been patently in need of reform. Politicians in both parties clung to the patronage system, but it was no longer 

practical to try to operate the Federal Government, which had more than 

100,000 employees, with a system that resulted in a complete turnover 

every few years. The assassination of President Garfield in 1881 by a demented would-be officeholder aroused a public clamor for civil service reCivil Service Reform 75
form, but Congress still procrastinated. President Arthur said that he favored 

a civil service law, but he questioned the practical proposals and opposed 

competitive examinations. Congress debated but passed no bills. Public 

irritation mounted when the Republicans levied assessments against officeholders during the campaign of 1882. When the votes were counted, the 

Democrats outnumbered the Republicans in the House 197 to 118. The 

handwriting was on the wall. When Congress returned in December, President Arthur urged it to take prompt action on the civil service problem, 

and the Pendleton Act was passed and approved on January 16, 1883. It 

provided for a bipartisan three-man Civil Service Commission to draw up 

and administer competitive examinations to determine the fitness of appointees to Federal office on the basis of merit. A limited civil service list 

was set up, and the President was empowered to extend it at his discretion. 

The act affected immediately only about one-tenth of the total number of 

Federal employees and governed only future appointments.

The Survey's scientific staff, as specified in the Sundry Civil Expenses 

Act of 1883, included 23 positions: 5 geologists at $4,000 a year; 2 

geologists at $3,000; 1 geologist at $2,700; 2 geologists at $2,400; 2 

geologists at $2,000; 1 paleontologist at $4,000; 1 paleontologist at $2,000; 

1 chemist at $3,000; 1 chemist at $2,000; 1 Chief Geographer at $2,700; 

3 geographers at $2,500; and 3 topographers at $2,000. In addition to 

these scientific officers, the Director told the Appropriations Committees, 

the Survey had four kinds of temporary employees who were paid from the 

appropration for expenses: (1) packers, cooks, teamsters, and others employed in field work; (2) copyists and other assistants for the scientific officers 

when they were in the office; (3) college professors who were specialists in 

particular fields and worked for the Survey for short periods; and (4) young 

men on trial until they could demonstrate their ability to do scientific work.

The new civil service law did not apply to the scientific assistants of the 

Survey, and there were a few unexpected appointments to the statutory positions. Emmons, Hague, Gilbert, Hayden, and Decker were the five chief 

geologists at $4,000, Curtis and Chamberlin the two at $3,000, Irving the 

one at $2,700 and Williams one of the two at $2,400; all were simply 

reappointed to the positions they had been holding. The other position as 

geologist at $2,400 went to W. H. Holmes, who had been a geologistillustrator for Hayden but was now in charge of illustrations, and those as 

geologist at $2,000 went to Joseph Stanley-Brown, who was serving as the 

Director's secretary, and Washington Kerr, the State Geologist of North 

Carolina, who was making topographic surveys in the southern Appalachians. Joseph P. Iddings, C. Whitman Cross, and I. C. Russell, all of whom 

had been with the Survey longer and presumably had demonstrated ability 

to do geologic work, were left in the category of temporary employees, or 

young men on trial. The two positions as paleontologists went to O. C. 

Marsh and C. D. Walcott. C. A. White and Lester Ward were therefore 

also still on trial, not yet having demonstrated ability to do scientific work, 

but were nonetheless given increases in salary. F. W. Clarke and W. F. 

Hillebrand were appointed to the statutory positions as chemists. Clarke 

was then a professor at the University of Cincinnati and had not previously 

been employed by the Survey. Decker's chemist, W. H. Melville, was 

retained as a temporary employee, as were the two physicists, Carl Barus 

and William Hallock.

Henry Gannett was named Chief Geographer, Gilbert Thompson, J. H. 

Renshawe, and A. H. Thompson the geographers at $2,500, and Sumner 

Bodfish, Anton Karl, and Henry Walling, topographers at $2,000. All but 

Walling, who had been employed by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, were

76 The Broad View, 1881-1884
confirmed in the position that they had been holding. Several of the topographic staff thus remained in temporary status, including Powell's nephew, 

Arthur Powell Davis.

The reasons for the choices of those to occupy the statutory positions were 

not stated, but personal and(or) program factors evidently entered into the 

selection. During the House's consideration of the appropriation, Congressman John A. Anderson of Kansas had suggested that the Survey's functions 

of "examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products 

of the national domain" should be changed to "examination of the geological structure, mineral, agricultural and other industrial resources, and 

products of the national domain," saying that, if his amendment was out 

of order, then the Survey was also out of order because they were making 

reports on arable land and the flow of rivers. It is not clear what reports 

Congressman Anderson had in mind, but clearly a change in program was 

underway. With the increase in funds, many new temporary appointments 

were made: 27 topographers of various grades, 20 geologists of various 

grades, 6 paleontologists, and 2 chemists. The programs in topographic 

mapping and general geology were then expanded.

Topographic work began in the North Atlantic district with H. F. Walling in charge and W. T. Griswold, recently graduated from the Columbia 

School of Mines, his principal assistant. Field work began in the northwestern 

part of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and proceeded southward. In the 

South Atlantic district (or Appalachian division), there were parties in western Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. In 

the Rocky Mountain district, three parties began work in the Wingate 

division at the start of the season, and a fourth was organized early in July 

with Arthur Powell Davis in charge. Davis' party, which was sent to map 

an area north of the San Juan and east of the Colorado, had to be recalled 

because of threatened difficulties with the Navajo Indians. In the Montana 

division, a survey of Yellowstone National Park was begun at a mile-to-theinch scale. In the Great Basin district, Willard Johnson mapped under the 

supervision of the geologist in charge of the field party, and in the Pacific 

district, work continued under Gilbert Thompson, although hampered by 

haze, smoke, and stormy weather.

Nineteen of the new geologists were assigned to general geology, and 

that work was greatly expanded. A very large project, expected to last several 

years, was organized in Yellowstone Park and the adjacent regions of Wyoming and Montana. The annual report of the Hayden survey for its last 

year of 1878 had finally been completed and printed. It was a two-volume 

affair, one volume devoted entirely to the work in Yellowstone, but there 

still remained much to be done. The topographic survey of the western and 

northwestern parts of the park had not been completed, and much was yet 

to be learned about the volcanic rocks, hot springs, and geysers. The park 

was already attracting large numbers of tourists, and access to it and accommodations therein were much less difficult than in Hay den's day.

Hague was selected to take charge of the project. With him was a large 

field party, consisting of Iddings; newly appointed assistant geologists 

W. H. Weed, J. M. Wright, and C. D. Davis; William Hallock, who had 

been working with Barus; W. H. Jackson, the photographer, who had been 

associated with the Hayden survey; as well as an assistant photographer and 

a volunteer assistant. Nearly all of Iddings' time, and much of Wright's, 

was spent in determining the varieties of volcanic rock present and their 

areal relations. Hague himself studied the phenomena connected with geysers and hot springs and the relation of the rhyolite extrusions to the centers 

of thermal activity. Weed was occupied in a careful examination of the

Survey Fieldwork, 1883 77
thermal springs and geysers and in collecting a complete suite of specimens 

illustrating the form of deposition and mode of occurrence of the travertine 

and geyserite. Hallock spent most of his time determining subterranean 

temperatures in geyser pipes and reservoirs, using both maximum thermometers and thermoelectric methods.

The organization of a central chemical laboratory that would make routine 

analyses for other divisions of the Survey and also conduct scientific research 

in geological chemistry and mineralogy was begun when F. W. Clarke 

entered on duty on July 1, 1883- Clarke was then 36, a graduate of the 

Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard in 1867. He had stayed on at Harvard 

for another year and published his first paper in March 1868 on A New 

Process of Mineral Analysis, had been an instructor at Cornell for a year, a 

professor of chemistry at Howard University, and, from 1874 until his 

appointment to the Survey, professor of chemistry at the University of Cincinnati.

A good chemical laboratory had already been established at the National 

Museum, so Director Powell and Secretary Baird made arrangements to start 

the new division of chemistry on a cooperative basis. Clarke was appointed 

honorary curator of minerals of the U.S. National Museum, the existing 

laboratory was placed in his "custody," and additional apparatus and supplies were imported so that regular chemical work could begin in December. 

In January 1884, Dr. Thomas M. Chatard, who had a Ph.D. from Heidelberg and several years' experience as a mine and mill manager, was added 

to the staff. F. A. Gooch returned to the Survey from the Northern Transcontinental Survey in April 1884.

Compilation of the geologic map of the United States was begun in 

earnest under the Director's supervision by W J McGee, who had been 

appointed assistant geologist at $1,200 a year on July 1, 1883- McGee's 

geologic experience was confined to a study of the glacial deposits of Iowa, 

which he had worked out on his own initiative, and as a field assistant to 

Russell in the Great Basin. When not engaged in compiling the map, he 

was to study the surface deposits of the District of Columbia and contiguous 

territory. McGee began a study of American geologic publications, as a 

necessary preliminary to the compilation of the map, and spent intervals of 

leisure in fieldwork around Washington. The Director was impatient, however. The next session of the International Congress of Geologists was scheduled to meet in Berlin in the summer of 1884, at which time he wanted 

to present the claims of American geology for consideration, especially as 

represented by the Geological Survey. So on November 20, 1883, McGee 

was given instructions to prepare a hand-colored map at the earliest possible 

date, and Professor C. H. Hitchcock, whose geologic map of the United 

States had been published in 1881, was employed to assist him. The handcolored map, on a double-atlas sheet at a scale of 1:7,115,000, was completed in January 1884, largely, McGee confessed, because of Hitchcock's 

"energy, his experience and skill in geologic cartography, his extended personal knowledge of American terranes, and his familiarity with American 

geologic literature." The map was colored in 11 age groups: Archean (all 

nonvolcanic crystalline rocks) and Volcanic (all eruptive rocks) of the Azoic 

Era; Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous of the Paleozoic Era; 

Jurasso-Triassic and Cretaceous of the Mesozoic Era; and Eocene, Neocene, 

and Quaternary of the Cenozoic Era. The colors were extended over nearly 

the entire United States, although McGee said the "coloration was to an 

extent hypothetic."

Powell immediately ordered McGee to recompile the data in a form suitable for publication, and this task was completed in April, although on this

W J McGee

Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1883- 

1893. McGee, a protege of Major Powell, was a 

largely self-educated lowan. He was only 30 when 

appointed to the Survey and given the task of compiling the geologic map of the United States. After 

leaving the Survey, McGee was a member of the 

Bureau of American Ethnology while Major Powell 

was its Director. He was later active in the conservation movement under Theodore Roosevelt. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

78 The Broad View, 1881-1884
McGee's geologic map for the third International 

Geological Congress used a different and less sophisticated time scale than that proposed to the 

1881 Congress. The term "Azoic" had been revived to include the Archean and Volcanic rocks, 

the Carboniferous included the Sub-Carboniferous, 

Coal Measures, and Permian, the Triassic and Jurassic were combined as the Jurasso-Triassic, and the 

Cenozoic comprised the Eocene, Neocene, and Quaternary. (From W J McGee, 1884.)

map, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, 

Texas, Utah, and Washington were left either partially or wholly uncolored. 

The map was published as plate II of the fifth annual report. McGee said 

it represented "perhaps an ultra expression of the conviction of the author 

that the scale commonly adopted for maps printed in colors is too large, 

and that geologic maps and atlases are in consequence unnecessarily cumbrous and expensive." He also reported that the cartography was so fine 

that the lithographer had great difficulty in transferring it, and six successive 

proofs required revision. The congress for which it was prepared was postponed because of an outbreak of cholera in Europe.

Geologic Map of United States 79
Even before the recompilation was finished, the Director gave McGee 

instructions to invite the cooperation of the State Geologists of New York, 

Pennsylvania, and New Jersey in compiling a local map to test the suitability 

of the Survey system for larger scale maps. James Hall, J. P. Lesley, and 

George H. Cook met with McGee on April 14, 1884 to devise a uniform 

stratigraphic scheme, and Gannett supervised preparation of a base map of 

the region on a scale of 6 miles to the inch.

McGee found that the records of his study of geologic publications naturally assumed a form readily expansible into a thesaurus of American formations. He sorted his material into four categories, relating respectively 

"to the phenomena classified, the method of classification, the terms used in 

classification, and the bibliothecal place of classification." He then began 

four treatises, which he referred to as a compend, a conspectus of classification, a dictionary, and a bibliography of American formations. The Survey's librarian, C. C. Darwin, also began preparation of a catalogue of 

publications on North American geology, and a series of topical bibliographies was proposed. A comprehensive plan seemed desirable, so a scheme 

of topics was devised to cover the field of geology.

At the June 7, 1884, meeting of the Philosophical Society of Washington, G. K. Gilbert presented a plan for the subject bibliography of North 

American geologic literature, and Major Powell presented a slightly different

f/g.3

fjg.6

G. K. Gilbert, in studying the shorelines of ancient 

Lake Bonneville, investigated not only surface 

forms, (in which civil engineers engaged in construction of engineering works along shorelines were 

interested) but the internal structure of the various 

features as well. In the modeling of shore features, 

waves were the agent of erosion, waves and currents 

acting together provided transportation, and deposition was the result of increasing depth. The results shown in the illustration are, in order, a wavecut cliff and terrace in hard and in soft material, a 

beach, a barrier at two stages in its development, 

and wave-built terraces. (From G. K. Gilbert, 

1885.)

80 The Broad View, 1881-1884
;

I. C. Russell, who had been Gilbert's assistant, 

made a special study of Lahontan Lake, the ancient 

lake that was the complement of Lake Bonneville; 

Lahontan filled a depression along the western border of the Great Basin as Bonneville occupied the 

depression on the eastern side. Lahontan Lake was 

smaller and more shallow than Bonneville but, unlike Bonneville, did not overflow. Thus, all the 

mineral matter supplied by tributary streams and 

springs remained in the lake and the deposits of 

lacustrine sediments and calcareous tufa,or the desiccation products formed when the lake evaporated, 

could be studied. The tufa crag at Alien's Ranch, 

Nevada, shows the successive deposits of mineral 

matter. (From I. C. Russell, 1885.)

plan. Both plans proposed to establish at the outset a limited number of 

divisions of the subject matter of the literature. A long discussion ensued, 

in the course of which the plans were vigorously criticized by Dr. John Shaw 

Billings, who had prepared the index catalogue of the library of the Surgeon 

General's office. Dr. Billings maintained that any classification would be 

found to require continual modification and would be ultimately unsatisfactory. He advocated adoption of the subject index method and the accumulation of a large body of references before classification was attempted. 

The fifth annual report nonetheless contained a list of 14 proposed subject 

categories, all of which reflect Powell's preference for the shorter "-ic" 

ending of words, and many of which showed Gilbert's training in Greek 

and propensity to coin terms on a Greek derivation. The 14 categories into 

which it was proposed that all geology be divided were: Volcanic, Diastrophic, Hydric, Glacic, Eolic, Biotic, Anthropic, Lithic, Petromorphic, 

Geochronic, Choric, Geomorphic, and Economic Geology and Geologic 

Technology.

Another project undertaken was the collection of an "Educational Series 

of Rocks," a collection of type specimens that would be valuable to educational institutions for teaching purposes. The first plan was to collect 200 

suites of 100 specimens each, belonging about equally to the 2 great groups, 

sedimentary and igneous. Becker, Hague, and Emmons were to collect the 

crystalline rocks and Gilbert, Powell, Chamberlin, Hague, and Kerr, the 

sedimentary rocks.

Gilbert was able to spend a few weeks in the field in the summer of 

1883, and I. C. Russell and Willard Johnson spent full field seasons mapping in the Lahontan and Mono Basins. At the close of the field season,

Bibliography of Geology 81
KK 

Shaft

\

\VERTICAL <CROSS SKCTION Jfo.3. 

\ PHOKNIX MtNE.THHOl'GH E.F.

VERTICAL CROSS SECION No* 

KJK

<io«l«. :*«N» fi - I Inch

however, Gilbert regretfully followed Director's orders and closed out the 

field operations in the Great Basin. He hoped that the work might some 

day be resumed and pointed out three lines of inquiry that should be followed: an economic study of the brines and desiccation products deposited 

in the playas, a study of the Quaternary history of the southern part of the 

Great Basin, and a study of the deformation of ancient shorelines. For the 

fifth annual report, he prepared a paper on the topographic features of 

lakeshores, pure research that unexpectedly turned out to have great value 

in the planning of engineering works.

Dutton remained in Washington to write a memoir on his trip to the 

Hawaiian Islands. ]. S. Diller, one of the new assistant geologists, was sent 

out to begin the study of the Cascade Range by making a preliminary 

reconaissance between the head of the Sacramento Valley and the Columbia 

River.

Chamber!in had three parties in the field. He and Professor Todd continued their work on moraines, and R. D. Salisbury, one of his students 

who had been appointed an assistant geologist, began an investigation of 

the driftless area in the upper Mississippi Valley. Chamberlin had intended 

to use the Missouri River as a base of operations and to extend lines of 

observation westward, but the Sioux were restless and on the advice of the

The Eureka district was an unusually rich source of 

material for study. ]. S. Curtis, who investigated 

the mining geology, found that nearly all the productive mines were in a wedge of shattered limestone between the main Ruby Hill fault and a secondary fissure formed along the contact of the 

quartzite and limestone. Ore solutions rising from 

below into the limestone precipitated the metals 

because of the changed conditions of temperature 

and pressure. Curtis thought that the ores were substituted for country rock rather than deposited in 

preexisting cavities. (From ]. S. Curtis, 1884.)

82 The Broad View, 1881-1884
C. D. Walcott identified more than 500 fossil species, many of them new to science, in the rocks of 

the Eureka district. In the lowest fossiliferous stratum of the Cambrian, he found a species of the 

trilobite genus Olenellus, 0. howelli, which had several unusual features and certain embryonic characters that showed the relation of Olenellus to the 

genus Paradoxides. The specific identity of two of 

the three species of Olenellus with 0. gilberti and 0. 

howelli from Pioche, Nevada, and their close resemblance to species of Olenellus found in Vermont and 

Newfoundland suggested that Olenellus might provide a basis for correlation of the different parts of 

the Cambrian system on the North American continent. (From C. D. Walcott, 1884.)

J. P. Iddings studied several hundred thin sections 

of rocks from the Eureka district. Although the 

variety of volcanic rocks was great, there was a 

marked similarity between the individual crystals 

of a given mineral species wherever they occurred 

with but a few exceptions. This similarity linked 

together the various kinds of rocks and suggested 

to Iddings the possibility of a common source. The 

thin section shown is of a feldspar crystal in a hornblende-mica-andesite magnified 45 times. (From 

Arnold Hague, 1892.)

16

15*

Indian agents, the excursions were confined to routes and methods least 

likely to excite attention, and after mid-July all work was moved eastward.

The Laramie problem received a great deal of attention in the summer of 

1883. Hayden was able to go back into the field and, with A. C. Peale as 

his assistant, made a reconnaissance along the line of the Northern Pacific 

Railway from Bismarck, Dakota, to Helena, Montana, studying the relations 

of the Laramie and the immediately underlying Cretaceous. C. A. White, 

with John B. Marcou and Melvin Wade as assistants, started from Fort 

Benton, Montana, crossed the Missouri and traveled southward to the Judith 

River and then northward to the point where the Judith empties into the 

Missouri, also studying the Laramie and its relation to the underlying Cretaceous. White made excursions to the Bear Paw Mountains and to the 

Great Falls of the Missouri for the same purpose. Lester Ward went to 

Glendive and spent some time investigating the localities from which fossil 

plants belonging to the Fort Union had been obtained; then in mid-August, 

he joined White at Fort Benton. Together, they descended the Missouri 

from Fort Benton to Bismarck in an open boat, making the journey of 1,059 

miles in 30 days.

Professor Marsh had several parties collecting in Oregon, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. Paleontologic work began in earnest in the 

East under Walcott's direction. Walcott himself began a study of the Cambrian of New York, and Professor H. S. Williams of Cornell, of the Devonian sections of New York. H. R. Geiger, Ira Sayles, and A. M. Gibson 

made paleontologic studies in the Appalachian area in preparation for geologic work in the area.

Mining Geology, 1883 83
Mining geology fared less well. Emmons' field season was a disappointment. He had planned work in three areas: topographic mapping of the 

Gunnison region, continuation of the Silver Cliff investigation, and a topographic and geologic survey of an area around Denver. Because the field 

season at high altitudes was so short, he had decided that it would be wise 

to have some investigations going on at lower altitudes as well, which could 

be carried on in the spring and fall. Anton Karl and his assistants began the 

topographic map of the Gunnison district but were withdrawn in September 

to assist in the Land Office survey of the Maxwell grant in New Mexico, 

leaving the Gunnison map incomplete and the Denver map not begun; Jacob 

had had to resign because of ill health brought on by hard work at high 

altitudes and was not replaced; and, as a result of the depression in mining 

interests, many of the mines at Silver Cliff were abandoned or inaccessible.

Becker had one new assistant, H. W. Turner, to aid in the field investigation of the quicksilver deposits while Melville concentrated on the chemical work. Curtis, however, had no funds for fieldwork, and once he finished 

his monograph on the Eureka silver-lead deposits, he occupied himself with 

making a model of the Eureka mines for the National Museum.

84 The Broad View, 1881-1884

The investigation of the Leadville mining district 

in Colorado also went beyond mining geology. 

Whitman Cross made a petrographic study of the 

andesites from Buffalo Peaks, which at first glance 

appeared to be typical augite andesite. Cross found, 

however, that the chief pyroxene was hypersthene. 

He found the same hypersthene in samples of andesite from other areas and concluded that the chief 

subdivision of the andesites was properly called hypersthene andesite. The illustration is the frontispiece of Bulletin 1 of the U.S. Geological Survey. 

(From C. W. Cross, 1883.) |
The appropriations act had made no specific mention of the statistical 

work, and no funds were allotted. The volume on mineral resources for 

1882 was issued on October 15, 1883, and 527 copies were sold before 

the end of the fiscal year, in addition to the official distribution; however, 

no volume was prepared for 1883.

During Major Powell's first 3 years as Director, the Survey prospered. 

Its field had been extended to the entire United States, and its appropriation 

had grown steadily. In the appropriations bills carrying funds for the fiscal 

year beginning July 1, 1884, there was no separate appropriation for expenses of the Geological Survey in the Sundry Civil Expenses bill. The 

appropriations for "Surveying the public lands, geological survey, and Yellowstone National Park" were lumped together as one item, and from this 

appropriation, the Survey received $386,000, an increase of more than 60 

percent over the previous year.

In October 1884, the Survey moved into a new headquarters in the new 

Hooe Building at 1310 F Street Northwest. The Survey had first been 

quartered in a house on the northwest corner of 8th and G Streets Northwest, near the Interior Department Building (now the National Collection 

of Fine Arts). In 1881, the Smithsonian Institution had provided space in 

its new National Museum. The move to the Hooe Building permitted a 

consolidation of offices in Washington and the transfer of Hague's division 

from New York and Barus' laboratory from New Haven to Washington. 

The 12 rooms in the northeast pavilion of the National Museum that became 

vacant when the Survey moved were placed at the service of the Chemistry 

Division; 9 were fitted up for laboratory purposes, permitting an expansion 

of the chemical work, and 3 were assigned to the physical laboratory. Becker 

and Emmons, however, retained their offices in San Francisco and Denver.

New Headquarters 85
Chapter 4.

Measures of Reform, 1884-1886

Each head of a scientific organization is now, practically, absolutely independent, and in his individual judgment of what his organization shall do is controlled only by Congress itself acting only through its annual appropriations 

bills. We conceive that this state of things calls for measures of reform.

 National Academy of Sciences

The Sundry Civil Expenses Act of July 7, 1884, included two items, in 

addition to the appropriation of funds, that would profoundly affect the 

Survey and its future. In the section pertaining to the Public Printer, there 

was a provision "that it shall not be lawful for the head of any Executive 

Department or of any Bureau, branch, or office of the Government, to cause 

to be printed, nor shall the Public Printer print, any document or matter 

of any character whatever except that which is authorized by law and necessary to administer the public business, nor shall any Bureau officer embrace 

in his annual or other report to be printed any matter not directly pertaining 

to the duties of his office as prescribed by law." The Joint Committee on 

Public Printing was directed to look into the numbers of the various 

Congressional documents printed and also to investigate the printing and 

binding for the Executive Departments and to report bills in the following 

December to reduce the cost of public printing.

The second provision, under the appropriation for the Signal Service, 

called for a Joint Commission of the Senate and House of Representatives 

to

consider the present organizations of the Signal Service, Geological Survey, 

Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Hydrographic Office of the Navy Department, with a view to secure greater efficiency and economy of administration 

of the public service in the said Bureaus.

The Commission was directed to report on or before the third Monday in 

December.

Named to the Joint Commission were Senators W. B. Allison, Eugene 

Hale, and George Pendleton, and Representatives Hilary Herbert, Robert 

Lowry, and Theodore Lyman. Senators Allison and Hale were members of 

the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Allison its chairman and 

Senator Hale a specialist in naval affairs. Senator Pendleton was an advocate 

of civil service reform and had sponsored the act passed in January 1883 

that established the Civil Service Commission. Representatives Herbert and 

Lowry were members of the House Appropriations Committee, Mr. Herbert 

specializing in naval affairs and Mr. Lowry in the expenditures of the Treasury Department of which the Coast and Geodetic Survey was then part. 

Mr. Lyman had been elected to Congress as an advocate of civil service 

reform, but his selection was understood to be due to his membership in 

the National Academy of Sciences. Mr. Lyman was a graduate of the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard, where he had studied under Louis Agassiz. He had helped establish the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, served as its treasurer, secretary of its faculty, and instructor. He was

Measures of Reform, 1884-1886 87
Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin

Chamberlin first worked for the Survey as an expert 

special agent of the Tenth Census and in 1882 was 

appointed a geologist. He worked only part of the 

year for the Survey, being also a professor at the 

University of Wisconsin, president of the University from 1887 to 1892, and founding chairman 

of the Department of Geology at the University of 

Chicago after 1892. His work greatly stimulated 

the development of glacial geology in the United 

States and led him to investigate some of the most 

fundamental problems in geology. (Courtesy of the 

Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

The driftless area of the Upper Mississippi basin, 

Chamberlin and Salisbury pointed out, provides a 

standard of comparison and contrast between glaciated and unglaciated areas. For example, as the 

result of glaciation the drift-covered region has renewed its youth, and streams that cross it tumble 

in cascades and falls, whereas the driftless area has 

passed beyond youth and the streams move placidly. 

The driftless area also provides a means of estimating the amount of glacial planation and the quantity 

of glacial drift. (From T. C. Chamberlin and R. D. 

Salisbury, 1885.)

88 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
a close friend as well as associate of Alexander Agassiz, the president of the 

museum, and he and Agassiz had married sisters. Mr. Lyman also claimed 

the credit for the provision in the Sundry Civil Expenses bill calling for the 

investigation.

The proposed investigation was ostensibly a general one but was actually 

a combination of two investigations, one of the Signal Service and the other 

an attempt to save the Coast and Geodetic Survey from the encroachment 

on its functions by the Geological Survey and the Hydrographic Office. 

Common to both was the old argument of civilian versus military control 

of science.

The Signal Service was then the target of much unfavorable publicity. 

During the Polar Year 1882 1883, it had been responsible for manning 

two stations at Point Barrow and Ellesmere Island. Supporting expeditions 

did not reach Ellesmere Island in 1883, and a Navy rescue mission sent 

out in the spring of 1884 found only seven weak survivors. The Signal 

Service, though bearing the military name, was actually a weather bureau, 

as the meterological observations for military purposes authorized in 1869 

had expanded into research. In 1881, a departmental task force had concluded that there was no natural connection between the military and the 

weather bureau, but a bill to transfer the function to the Interior Department 

had never emerged from committee.

The Coast and Geodetic Survey, which was the oldest of the bureaus, had 

taken on several functions in addition to its original one of a survey of the 

coast, including the supervision of weights and measures, magnetic and

Roland D. Irving

Irving also began his career with the U.S. Geological Survey as an expert special agent for the Tenth 

Census and later served as geologist until his untimely death at 41 in 1888. Irving also combined 

a career of teaching at the University of Wisconsin 

and research for the U.S. Geological Survey in the 

difficult and controversial areas of Lake Superior 

geology. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution 

Archives.)

Investigation of Scientific Bureaus 89
hydrographic studies, and geodetic surveys and mapping. The Navy had 

been collecting hydrographic information since the 1840's and had had a 

separate Hydrographic Office since 1865. Though a division of work had 

been made, the Coast and Geodetic Survey being responsible for domestic 

waters and the Navy for foreign waters, in actual practice naval officers were 

detailed to the Coast Survey for hydrographic work. An aggressive Secretary 

of the Navy, intent on modernizing his department, thought that the Coast 

Survey's hydrographic work should be under the Navy. The Geological 

Survey and the Coast Survey were apparently in competition in mapping the 

interior. In 1882, the Geological Survey had begun an extensive topographic mapping program in preparation for the geological map of the 

United States. In that same year, the Coast Survey had received Congressional authorization to make the map of the Eastern United States, and in 

1884, it had been given authorization to make the map of the whole 

country.

Before going home for the summer, Mr. Lyman began the investigation 

by asking the National Academy of Sciences for advice, suggesting that it 

consider: (1) the organization of the government surveys and signal services 

in the chief countries of Europe and whether any parts thereof could be 

adopted in this country; (2) in what way the scientific branches could be 

best coordinated; and (3) what changes in or additions to these branches 

were desirable.

The Survey's work in the summer of 1884 was not affected by the 

proposed investigation. Topographic surveys were continued in all areas 

where they had been underway in the preceding year; new surveys were 

begun in Missouri, Kansas, and Texas; and the field of operations in the 

southwest was extended into southeastern Utah and southern Nevada. On

The most ancient rocks, which contained no fossils, 

were classified only with difficulty by structure or 

lithology. Irving studied the ancient rocks between 

Lake Huron and the Dakotas by petrographic methods and found that all quartzites provisionally considered Huronian, including the type Huronian, are 

sandstones that have received various degrees of induration by interstitial deposition of a siliceous cement, generally in the form of enlargements of the 

original quartz fragments. The quartzite at Sioux 

Falls, South Dakota, had been given various ages 

from Huronian to Cretaceous, but [rving concluded 

that it was Huronian. (From R. D. Irving, 1885.)

90 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
The nature of the contact between the Keweenawan 

Series and the Eastern Sandstone in northern Michigan had various interpretations by different geologists. Alexander Agassiz and M. E. Wadsworth of 

Harvard said that the Eastern Sandstone and the 

detrital rocks in the Keweenawan were the same 

formation but R. D. Irving and T. C. Chamberlin 

concluded from a detailed structural study that the 

Keweenawan was much older than the Eastern 

Sandstone. They held that the latter had been laid 

down in Potsdam seas unconformably against a fault 

line which developed during a long period of erosion 

following deposition of the Keweenawan. (From R. 

D. Irving and T C. Chamberlin, 1885.)

July 16, the topographic work of the State survey in New Jersey was taken 

over by the Federal survey and its personnel transferred to the Federal 

payroll.

The Massachusetts survey became a cooperative enterprise. During the 

spring, the State legislature appropriated $40,000, which was estimated to 

be half the necessary amount, to make a map of the State for publication 

on the mile-to-the-inch scale, on condition that the U.S. Geological Survey 

pay the other half. The interests of the State were placed in the hands of a 

commission consisting of Francis A. Walker, president of the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology, Professor N. S. Shaler of Harvard University, and 

H. L. Whiting of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Under a proposition made 

by the Director and accepted by the commission, work was begun by the 

Survey and carried on for 2 months, the results to be accepted or rejected 

by the commission. The work was accepted in October, and was thereafter 

carried on with financial support from both the State and the Survey.

Gilbert Thompson came east to take charge of the work in the southern 

Appalachians. Gannett said that this region was perhaps the most difficult 

for the surveyor to be found upon the continent, and the work called forth 

"all of a man's best qualities" and required "most unwearied energy and 

activity" to make even a fair rate of progress. Because of the prospective 

development of the region and the intricacy of the geology, the mapping 

would henceforth be at a scale of 1:125,000 and a contour interval of 100 

feet.

A. H. Thompson was placed in charge of the work in Kansas, Missouri, 

and Texas as well as that in the plateau country. For Missouri and Kansas,

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Topographic Surveys, 1884 91
it was concluded that the work could be expedited greatly without sacrificing 

accuracy by a proper use of the plats of the General Land Office the "proper 

use" to include a system of correction, supplying the missing drainage 

wherever it appeared to be necessary, and adding the vertical element. R. 

U. Goode was directed to take charge of the work in Missouri and Kansas. 

E. M. Douglas was put in charge of the projected work in Texas. 

Major Powell explained to the National Academy of Sciences that,

Sound geologic research is based on geography. Without a good topographic 

map geology cannot even be thoroughly studied, and the publication of the 

results of geologic investigation is very imperfect without a good map; but with 

a good map thorough investigation and simple, intelligible publication is possible. Impelled by these considerations the Survey is making a topographic 

map of the United States.

Because geologic work could not be done successfully until the maps were 

made, Powell said, the Survey was "necessarily diverting much of its force 

to the construction of maps, and cannot with present appropriations expand 

the geologic corps so as to extend systematic work in the field over the 

entire country," especially into areas where the terranes were composed of 

fossiliferous formations. Nonetheless, the work in general geology, previously defined as structural geology and paleontology, had so increased by 

1884 that it became necessary to organize it into several divisions.

The Director explained that in organizing the general geologic work, it 

was necessary: "first to consider what had already been done in various 

portions of the United States; and for this purpose, compilation of a general 

geologic map of the United States was begun, together with a thesaurus of 

American formations;" and then to consider the best method of apportioning the work. The strictly geographic apportionment of work on the 

geologic map was "not deemed wise, from the fact that an unscientific 

division of labor would result and the same classes of problems would to a 

large extent be relegated to the several corps operating in field and in the 

laboratory." Instead the Director thought it best to divide the work as far 

as possible by subject matter, although he acknowledged that to some extent 

the two methods of division coincided.

In practice, however, the division of work seems to have been dictated by 

personnel more than by any other factor. The new organization simply made 

several geologists "chief geologists" who would originate the plans for 

work. At first, five divisions were established: glacial geology, under T. C. 

Chamberlin; volcanic geology, under Captain Dutton; a division to work on 

the Archean rocks and metamorphic crystalline schists of the Lake Superior 

region under Professor Irving; a division to study the areal, structural, and 

historical geology of the Appalachian region under G. K. Gilbert; and a 

topographic and geologic survey of Yellow-stone National Park under Arnold 

Hague. The Appalachian Division, as originally defined, extended "from 

the Atlantic westward to the zone which separates the mountain region from 

the great valley of the Mississippi." Shortly afterward, two new divisions 

were created in the same area. When Pumpelly returned to the Survey after 

the Northern Transcontinental Survey was discontinued in 1884, he began 

a study of the geology of New England, and a new division was created for 

study of the "crystalline schists and associated rocks of the Appalachian 

region from New England to Georgia." Matters were further confused 

when Pumpelly adopted the term "Archean Division," and Professor Irving 

used the name "Lake Superior Division." Later, when Professor Shaler 

began work on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, also within the Appalachian 

Division as originally defined, he used the term "Atlantic Coast Division." 

On the other hand, no provision was made for Hayden in the table of

The age of the Laramie Group, which King had 

called the last great formation of the Cretaceous, 

was also a subject of controversy. Lester Ward 

agreed with those who said it was impossible to 

assign the group either to the Cretaceous or to the 

Tertiary, although he conceded that its geological 

age could not be proved by its flora alone. The 

Sparganium shown was collected from the Fort 

Union beds, which Ward considered part of the 

Laramie, near Seven Mile Creek, Montana. (From 

L. F. Ward, 1885.)

92 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
Secretary of the Interior Henry Teller and Major 

Powell shared an interest in improving the conditions under which the Indians lived. In the summer 

of 1884, a field party led by Bailey Willis attempted to determine whether coalbeds of economic 

value existed within the Great Sioux Reservation,^, 

but they searched in vain for fuel. They found that 

the valleys of Cottonwood Creek and the Moreau 

slope directly south of it were of badland character 

but that the remainder of the region was grass-covered and seemed favorable for stock-raising. (From 

Bailey Willis, 1885.)

In 1884, Dutton was sent to investigate the striking features near Mount Taylor in northwestern 

New Mexico that the topographic mapping parties 

had reported. Dutton was less excited than the topographers had been. From the edge of the Mount 

Taylor,mesa could be seen a broad valley, a confused 

patchwork of bright colors representing the lower 

and middle Cretaceous rocks, out of which rose several inaccessible eyries of black rock, easily recognizable by the experienced geologist as volcanic 

necks. (From C. E. Dutton, 1885.)

Geologic Surveys, 1884 93
36' The Asheville, North Carolina-Tennessee, sheet was 

one of the first in the Eastern United States mapped 

by the U.S. Geological Survey. (From Bailey Willis, 1888.)

organization announced by the Director, who also said that no provision 

had been made for studying the crystalline schists of the Rocky Mountains. 

Hayden and Peale, working in an area where "presumably Archean 

gneisses" existed, adopted the name "Montana Division."

The organization of the work in paleontology was an extreme case of 

organization by personnel. The paleontological divisions obviously represented different areas of specialization and each had its own corps, but they 

were distinguished in the table of organization by the name of the head of 

the divisions: O. C. Marsh, C. A. White, C. D. Walcott, L. F. Ward, and 

W. H. Dall.

Mining geology, now the lesser part of the Survey's work was organized 

into two divisions. The Director said that "under the organic law of the 

Geological Survey, investigations in economic geology are restricted to 

those States and Territories in which there are public lands; the extension 

of the work into the eastern portion of the United States included only that 

part relating to general geology." Emmons, who had been named geologist 

in charge of the Rocky Mountain Division by King, would henceforth be 

in charge of a small division of mining geology in Denver. Similarly, Becker, 

who had been promoted by King to be geologist in charge of the Pacific 

Division, found himself in charge of a small division of mining geology in 

San Francisco.

94 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
The mapping by Emmons and his party in the 

Crested Butte region of Colorado confirmed the 

substantial accuracy of Holmes' description of the 

great fault fold of the Elk Mountains after his reconnaissance in 1873, but added many details and 

complexities in the structure. The section shown is 

close to Holmes' Section I shown on page 227 of 

volume 1. (From S. F. Emmons, 1894.)

There were, in addition, several "accessory divisions." Included among 

them were the five paleontological divisions, the Chemic Laboratory under 

F. W. Clarke, the Division of Illustrations under W. H. Holmes, the 

Division of Mining Statistics under Albert Williams, Jr., and the Library 

under C. C. Darwin. The physical laboratory under Barus was in an anomalous unmentioned position.

In the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior to Congress in the 

fall of 1884, the economic basis of all the work was stressed in describing 

the new organization. The explanations were obviously oversimplified: Captain Dutton's division had been organized "for the study of the volcanic 

rocks of the United States, especially in relation to the occurrence of gold 

and silver ores;" Professor Irving's division had been organized "for the 

study of metamorphic rocks, in which a large part of the iron and copper 

ores of the United States are found;" and another division, presumably the 

Appalachian Division, had been organized "for the general study of the 

sedimentary rocks, embracing the great coal-fields of the country."

In the summer of 1884, Dutton sent Diller off to the Cascades to begin 

a detailed study of Mount Shasta and the surrounding area, while he himself 

went to New Mexico. The topographic parties that had been mapping in 

northwestern New Mexico had brought back such tales of the wonderful 

things to be seen near Mount Taylor that Powell, who shared with Gilbert 

and Dutton a never-ending enthusiasm for the "geologic wonderland" of 

the Southwest, sent Dutton off to investigate. At the end of the season, 

Dutton reported that "if the cone of Mount Taylor were all that this locality 

[had] to present for study it would hardly have repaid the trouble of a visit. 

But the volcanic district of which it is the culminating point presents matter 

of great interest and instruction when viewed as a whole, for it discloses 

clearly the origin of the great lava caps which form such a conspicuous 

feature in many parts of the West, and offers a wide range of information 

concerning the modes of accumulation of lavas in the basic group."

Professor Irving had four parties in the field, in addition to his own in 

northeastern Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in work that 

he described as "a general investigation of those formations of the Northwestern States which underlie the basal fossiliferous sandstones of the Mississippi Valley."

Gilbert again spent most of the year in Washington. He proposed to 

make use of the copious literature on the Appalachian area and to do no 

unnecessary fieldwork. The only geologists of the Appalachian Division in 

the field that summer were H. R. Geiger, studying the section near White 

Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and Ira Sayles, in east Tennessee. Professor 

I. C. White of the University of West Virginia spent the summer studying 

the stratigraphy of the coal measures in the valley of the great Kanawha 

River in West Virginia.

The work in glacial geology was expanded. Professor Chamberlin added 

several lines of investigation to those already underway, among them monographic studies of drumlins, osars (now called eskers), boulder trains, the 

chemical composition of the drift, and the petrographic study of glacial

7 .,,&.

Geologic Surveys, 1884 95
deposits. Professor G. F. Wright joined the division to study the southern 

limit of the drift in Illinois, Ohio, and western Pennsylvania; Professor 

George H. Stone began a study of the osar systems of Maine; and William 

Morris Davis, an instructor at Harvard, began the study of drumlins.

Hague, along with Iddings, Weed, Wright, Davis, Gooch, Hallock, and 

W. E. Sanders, a student at the Columbia School of Mines and volunteer 

assistant, spent the summer of 1884 in and around Yellowstone Park. 

Gooch collected water samples while Hallock continued his investigations 

of the physics of geyser action and Hague made a general reconnaissance of 

the Gallatin Range for indications of mineral deposits "in order that, if the 

boundaries of the Park were to be defined anew by law of Congress, the 

propriety of still including the range within the reservation might be fully 

understood." Hague then made a reconnaissance of the area between the 

southern boundary of the park and the 44th parallel to examine the country 

with reference to the advisability of extending the area of the park to that 

line. Hague thought that valuable as the park undoubtedly was as a place 

of recreation and desirable as it was that the incrustations and sediments 

around the geysers and hot springs and other objects of scientific interest 

should be preserved, there were other very important reasons why the park 

should be maintained the protection of the forests and the preservation of 

game. The Yellowstone region contained many natural reservoirs that would 

vanish if the forests did not restrain the runoff and protect the water supply. 

And if the Yellowstone River valley was ever to support any considerable 

population, it could stand no diminution of its water supply.

Hayden and Peale worked in the area between the Bridger or East Gallatin 

Range and the Three Forks of the Missouri River, north of Yellowstone 

Park, continuing the work begun by the Hayden survey. The area was 

selected "because it contained within its limits probably some of the best 

exposures of the rocks of the Northwest, representing the entire geologic 

scale extending from the presumably Archean gneisses to the sands and loose 

superficial deposits of the Quaternary, thus affording one of the best opportunities for the study of the formations of the Upper Missouri region, 

and facilitating the making of the most complete section of the various 

beds." Hayden and Peale could thus make their own geologic column. 

Among the fossils that they collected that summer, Walcott identified 12 

species identical with those in the Upper Devonian of the Eureka district

Becker found in his study of the quicksilver deposits 

of the Pacific slope that the cinnabar was deposited 

in preexisting openings in the rocks, probably from 

hot sulfur springs. Before the ore bodies were deposited, silica, in part amorphous, replaced some 

of the country rocks; the miners recognized the clue 

by referring to silicified serpentine as "quicksilver 

rock." (From G. F. Becker, 1888.)

96 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
Backer found that the study of the quicksilver deposits of the Pacific slope also afforded an opportunity for the investigation of the metamorphism 

of Mesozoic rocks. A. sandstone from near Knoxville, seen under a high-power microscope, had numerous unaltered grains of granitic quartz and feldspar but some of the minerals had been converted 

into aggregates of new minerals, especially important among them augite and hornblende. The augite in the left-hand figure is marked A, the hornblende in the right-hand figure is marked c. (From 

G. F. Becker, 1888.)

and two similar to Upper Devonian species in New York State. Hayden and 

Peale were thus able to make the first positive identification of the Devonian 

in the Rocky Mountains of Montana.

Pumpelly did no fieldwork in the summer of 1884 beyond a reconnaissance in the Monadnock and Kearsage districts of southern New Hampshire. 

Most of his year was spent, with Bayard Putnam as his assistant, in completing the volume on the mining industries for the Tenth Census, which 

he had left unfinished when he resigned in 1881.

Becker had reached a point in his studies of the quicksilver deposits at 

which it became absolutely necessary to determine the age of the metamorphic rocks of the Coast Ranges and the time relations of the epoch of 

metamorphism. C. A.. White joined Becker and corroborated on paleontological grounds the tentative conclusions that Becker had reached on the 

basis of structure. Together, Becker and White made some studies in Oregon, and they then prepared two bulletins with their conclusion that the 

first uplift of the Coast Ranges dated at least as far back as the great uplift 

to which an important part of the Sierra Nevada was due. Becker believed 

that the Cascades must be regarded as a continuation of the united Sierra 

Nevada and Coast Ranges to the north, structurally as well as topographically.

Curtis was unable to get into the field in 1884. He spent the first part 

of the year on the proofs of the Eureka report and on the construction of a 

glass model of the mines for an exposition in New Orleans; he then occupied 

himself in the laboratory preparing a method for the determination of minute 

quantities of silver. Emmons finally got the Gunnison project underway, 

and a mixed party of topographers and geologists began work in the Crested 

Butte region. Emmons said that the reconnaissance observations made by 

Holmes in 1874 were in themselves sufficient to show the necessity of a 

detailed study of the region from a purely structural point of view; in 

addition, he said that the great number of intrusive masses older than the 

Tertiary volcanic rocks and their relation to the formation of ore deposits 

had great importance from the purely scientific as well as economic point 

of view and that the many ore deposits and coal beds in the region made 

its examination of the greatest importance. The work would take considerable time because the geology was complex and only a short field season 

was possible at such high altitudes. George Eldridge had been assigned to 

Emmons' division after his return from the Northern Transcontinental Sur-

'J&^?1$£m

Mining Geology, 1884 97
vey, and Emmons planned to have him study the stratified rocks while 

Whitman Cross studied the eruptive rocks. However, when the topographic 

work was finished early in September, Anton Karl was recalled and assigned 

to work in Massachusetts rather than on the Denver Basin map, and when 

the geologists came in from the field after the first snowfall, Eldridge was 

sent to make sections of the Paleozoic formations in the Arkansas River 

valley to establish a geological connection between the eastern and western 

slopes of the Rockies. Whitman Cross had to go to the Leucite Hills of 

Wyoming to collect specimens for the Educational Series of Rocks. Albert 

Williams, however, was given a small allotment so that a volume of Mineral 

Resources of the United States for 1883 and 1884 could be prepared.

During the summer of 1884, Professor Marsh had two parties collecting 

in the Jurassic of Wyoming and a third in the Jurassic of southern Colorado. 

Another party spent most of the year collecting in the Pliocene of Kansas 

and Nebraska, and during the winter months, a party began collecting in 

the Permian of Texas. Dall and Ward spent most of the year in the office, 

busy with the study of previous collections. From the Paleozoic group, 

Professor Williams investigated sections of Devonian strata in western New 

York, northwestern Pennsylvania, and eastern Ohio, and Cooper Curtice 

made collections of Cambrian fossils in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, 

and Texas. Walcott himself began a study of the Cambrian in Vermont but 

was recalled to examine a coalfield in the San Carlos Indian Reservation in 

Arizona for the Secretary of the Interior.

In the fall of 1884, another field of investigation was added to the Survey 

program. Two light but widely felt earthquakes in the Eastern States in 

1884 had called attention to the lack of any organized attempt to observe 

them in this country. Science, in its issue of October 3, 1884, suggested 

that the U.S. Geological Survey provide instruments and observers and that 

students of "this branch of physical geography" form an earthquake club. 

In November the Director, with Gilbert and Dutton, met in conference 

with Professor C. C. Rockwood of Princeton, who had been collecting 

accidental records of earthquakes, Professor W. M. Davis of Harvard, Cleveland Abbe and C. F. Marvin of the Signal Service, and H. M. Paul of the 

Naval Observatory to consider the best way to arrange for systematic observations. They agreed that the only practicable scheme was to rely on 

voluntary cooperation and to work toward collection of noninstrumental 

observations by distributing circulars and blanks to be filled in and toward 

the establishment of stations for instrumental observations. Marvin undertook to design an instrument that would be simple and inexpensive and that 

would require a minimum of care and attention. Rockwood and Davis, and 

Abbe were constituted a committee to determine the best geographic distribution of stations. The Geological Survey was to furnish the instruments 

to observers and receive reports. The seismological investigations were made 

part of the work of the Division of Volcanic Geology under Captain Dutton.

A petrographic laboratory was also set up as part of the Division of 

Volcanic Geology. Petrographic studies were part of the investigations underway in several divisions, notably by Cross, Iddings, and Irving and Van 

Hise. Captain Dutton had also had a long-standing interest in petrography, 

and at the end of the field season, when Diller returned to Washington, the 

petrographic laboratory was fitted up under his direction. The laboratory 

consisted of two rooms, one solely for mineral analyses by heavy solutions, 

chemical reagents, or similar techniques, and another for microscope work. 

During the remainder of the year, Diller identified and described rocks for 

various geologists of the Survey.

98 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
The electrical researches which King had permitted 

Carl Barus to undertake, provided that they did not 

take too much of his time, disclosed information of 

interest to metallurgists. After five years of experiment and analysis, Barus and Vincent Strouhal 

found a relation between electrical conductivity and 

temperature of steels in different states of hardness, 

of wrought iron, and of cast iron. This relationship permitted a classification of these substances 

and enabled Major Powell to report to the Allison 

Commission that the difference between iron and 

steel, a matter of debate at the time, had been determined in the laboratories of the U.S. Geological 

Survey. (From Carl Barus and Vincent Strouhal, 

1885.)

(4"

0,5

0,i

0.3

0,2

0,1

0,0

Stetl

10 40 70

Without benefit of formal organization, certain other problems were also 

being investigated, as the Director told the National Academy of Sciences 

in the fall of 1884. The most important related to the irrigation of the arid 

lands; the second to the relief from floods that would be afforded the lower 

valley of the Mississippi by utilizing the waters from the Rocky Mountains 

for irrigation; and the third, the geographic distribution of the great forest 

areas. No reason was given for not according these investigations formal 

status, nor was any detailed explanation of the work given. The forestry 

investigations were the work of George Shutt, the general assistant. At least 

in the beginning, these studies were made in the southern Appalachians, 

but no report on them was ever published, although Shutt continued to 

work for the Survey until 1890.

The irrigation investigations, Major Powell later said, were, from the 

beginning, part of the topographic work of the Survey. Survey geologists, 

however, were also interested in water supply and irrigation. Emmons had 

said that the geologic survey of the Denver region would provide information 

on the water supply for Denver and vicinity, but its practical hearing would 

extend far beyond Denver to the whole plains region.

While the existence of a synclinal basin has long been known to us from the 

hasty observations one makes in simply passing over the country, accurate 

and reliable maps and profiles are an indispensable basis for the observations 

which shall determine the true source of the water supply, the amount and 

quality that may be expected from different geological horizons, and the most 

favorable points for sinking artesian wells; it is in large degree owing to the 

want of this accurate preliminary knowledge that the money already appropriated by Congress and spent in sinking artesian wells upon the plains of Colorado has been so barren of practical and definite results.

Chamberlin took time from his glacial studies to refurbish a paper on 

artesian wells, which he had prepared for the Wisconsin Survey, for publication in the fifth annual report of the U.S. Geological Survey. Its aim 

was "to gather into a simple and convenient form such information relative 

to the necessary and qualifying conditions of artesian wells as may be capable 

of brief, general statement, and may seem to be serviceable alike to citizen, 

driller, and geologist." The seven essential features of artesian wells, he 

said, were: (1) A pervious stratum to permit the entrance and passage of 

water; (2) a watertight bed below to prevent the escape of the water downIrrigation Studies 99
ward; (3) a similar impervious bed above to prevent escape upward; (4) an 

inclination of the beds so that the edge at which the waters entered would 

be higher than the surface of the well; (5) a suitable exposure of the edge 

of the porous stratum so that it might take in a sufficient supply of water; 

(6) adequate rainfall to furnish this supply; and (7) absence of any escape for 

the water at a lower level than the surface of the well. 

He was constrained to point out,

Artesian wells do not manufacture water. They do not even bring to the surface 

more than goes down from the surface. The total water supply of any given 

region is not, therefore, increased by them. They merely pour out at one point 

what had fallen and sunk elsewhere. If the total fall is inadequate to the agricultural wants of the total region, artesian wells cannot make it adequate. They 

may concentrate a sufficient supply upon a part but cannot supply the whole.

Still, he thought it wise to "urge as large a development of artesian wells 

in arid regions as practicable. While it is useless to think of them as a 

resource competent to restore productiveness to the total dry area, or even 

any great percentage of it, they form one of several means for its amelioration.

100 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886

Grover Cleveland

President of the United States, 1885-1889 and 

1893 1897. In his first inaugural address, Cleveland put himself on record as in favor of strict economy, protection of the Indians and security of freedmen, and the value of civil service reform. Reputed 

to be opposed to science, his attitude was probably 

colored by his interest in economy and in civil service reform. He went against the advice of some of 

his Cabinet in promoting the status of the Department of the Agriculture. (Courtesy of the Library 

of Congress.)
William B. Allison

Senator from Iowa, 1873-1908; Chairman of the 

Senate Appropriations Committee, 1881 1908; 

and chairman of the joint commission to investigate 

the scientific bureaus of the Government, 1884 

1886. Allison, although from the farming state of 

Iowa, was identified with the nationwide expansive 

business urge of the time, and one of the few western Congressmen popular with eastern financiers. 

One of his most notable characteristics was his mastery of the arts of conciliation. (Courtesy of the 

Library of Congress.)

"If the great volumes of water which the Colorado, Columbia, Missouri, 

and other streams, above and below ground, bear away from the arid provinces could be led out upon the thirsty plains, absorbed, and given again 

to the atmosphere, very notable direct and indirect benefits would follow." 

And more than that, "Professor Powell has suggested that the utilization 

of the Missouri and other detritus-laden streams in irrigation would furnish 

at least a partial solution of the serious engineering problems they present."

Paleobotanist Lester Ward had also been giving thought to the problems 

of irrigation but from a sociological rather than a scientific point of view, 

and Ward differed with Major Powell on how irrigation should be accomplished. For the lower parts of the Missouri River region, irrigation was 

essential to successful agriculture, and agriculture was the only permanent 

and reliable basis of population. An extensive system of irrigation would 

require an immense outlay of capital, which the settlers themselves could 

not provide. Private enterprise might, but that would lead to monopoly. 

State action would be better, but again the means would not be available 

until the territory was well peopled. The only unobjectionable plan was 

national action. Ward said:

If we could obtain the same degree of collective foresight in the general 

government as exists in the average capitalist, nothing could be easier than for 

the United States, acting as a corporation that seeks only its own interest, not 

only to secure the particular end of which we are now speaking, but to develop 

its own resources and increase its own wealth and prosperity.

In the national elections in November 1884, a Democrat was elected 

President for the first time since 1856. There had been a resurgence of 

agrarian discontent during the year as the prices of agricultural commodities 

began to decline. The farmers began to band together in State or regional 

organizations and aimed their attack against the eastern moneyed interests, 

the middlemen, the railroads, and the advocates of the gold standard. The 

nomination by the Republicans of James G. Blaine for President alienated 

the independent Republicans, among them Carl Schurz, who regarded 

Blaine as inimical to the cause of good government. Grover Cleveland, 

Governor of New York, was nominated by the Democrats, and he was 

elected with the aid of the independents. The Republicans gained in both 

houses of Congress, but they did not win control of the House from the 

Democrats.

The lameduck Congress that met in December 1884 had to face serious 

economic problems. Under the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, the Government 

had minted nearly $200 million in silver dollars, and much of it had gone 

into circulation. During the depression in 1884, the silver began to come 

back to the Treasury as obligations due the Government were paid. The 

Government, however, had to pay out gold to its creditors, so the gold 

reserve was threatened. Congressman A. S. Hewitt, chairman of the House 

Ways and Means Committee, and other sound money men thought legislation to stop the coinage of silver would solve the problem, and an amendment to the Sundry Civil Expenses bill was drafted. Silver men from the 

West and South protested, and though President-elect Cleveland endorsed 

the proposal, the House with its Democratic majority defeated the amendment by a decisive margin.

The Joint Committee on Public Printing did not submit a bill to reduce 

the cost of public printing, as required by the act of July 7, 1884, but left 

it for the new Congress which had been elected in November. The Public 

Printer, in his report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, refrained 

from comment on a subject under congressional study but clearly felt that 

some measures were necessary. The most expensive reports were the scientific

The Cost of Public Printing 101
reports. The total spent for Geological Survey reports that year had been 

close to $100,000, and another $41,000 had been spent for the Bureau of 

Ethnology. At the end of the year, the Printer had on hand seven volumes 

on ethnology that he estimated would cost $104,000 to print and bind, and 

five volumes of the Hayden survey reports that he estimated would cost 

more than $110,000.

By the end of 1884, the Survey had published in addition to the annual 

reports, each of which since Powell became Director had been several 

hundred pages long 7 monographs and 12 bulletins. Dutton's monograph 

on the Grand Canyon district and Becker's on the geology of the Comstock 

lode had been published in 1882. Eliot Lord's report on Comstock mining 

and miners, part of the Tenth Census investigations, Irving's report on the 

copper-bearing rocks of Lake Superior, and a Contribution to the Knowledge of 

the Older Mesozoic Flora of Virginia by Professor W. M. Fontaine of the 

University of Virginia had been published in 1883. In 1884, Curds' report 

on the silver-lead deposits of Eureka and Walcott's on the paleontology of 

the Eureka district were published. The 12 bulletins included papers by 

Whitman Cross, Albert Williams, H. S. Williams, C. A. White, Henry 

Gannett, R. D. Irving and C. R. Van Hise, C. D. Walcott, a report of 

work done in the Washington laboratory, a catalogue of geological maps of 

North and South America by the Marcou brothers, a compilation of Elevations in the Dominion of Canada, by Professor J. W. Spencer of the University 

of Missouri, a report On the Quaternary and Recent Mollusca of the Great Basin, 

by R. E. Call, and A Crystallographic Study of the Thinolite of Lake Lahontan, 

by Professor E. S. Dana of Yale.

Another of the quarto volumes of the Hayden survey reports was also 

published in 1884 Cope's report on The Vertebrata of the Tertiary Formations of the West. It was a volume of 1,009 pages, which soon became known 

as "Cope's Bible" or, in some circles, as "Cope's Primer." Cope still had 

more to say, but the appropriation for completion of Hayden Survey reports 

was long since exhausted.

The Joint Commission on the Organization of the Scientific Work of the 

Government, informally known as the Allison Commission from the name 

of its chairman, convened knowing that two of its members, Senator Pendleton and Congressman Lyman, had not been reelected. The report from 

the National Academy of Sciences, which Mr. Lyman had requested, had 

been submitted in mid-October. Professor O. C. Marsh, who had been 

elected president of the Academy in 1883, appointed a committee consisting of General M. C. Meigs, recently retired as Quartermaster General, 

chairman; Simon Newcomb and W. P. Trowbridge, who had been members 

of the 1878 Academy committee whose report led to the establishment of 

the U.S. Geological Survey; Francis A. Walker, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and chairman of the Massachusetts Commission 

for the Topographic Map; Colonel Cyrus Comstock of the Army Engineers; 

Professor William Brewer of Yale; and three astronomers S. P. Langley, 

E. C. Pickering of Harvard, and C. A. Young of Princeton. Although the 

military had complained that they had not been represented on the Academy 

committee in 1878, the War and Navy Departments refused to allow Comstock and Newcomb to serve to avoid the possibility of requiring them to 

comment on the policy of their superiors.

The National Academy of Sciences Committee found that the land maps 

of European countries were, as a rule, made under the direction of the war 

departments and that the hydrographic surveys of the coasts of Europe appeared in every country to be the work of the naval establishment, but the 

committee did not find that the European surveys offered anything to im102 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886

Hilary A. Herbert

Congressman from Alabama, 1877 1893, Secretary 

of the Navy, 1893-1897. Herbert was three times 

chairman of the House Committee on Naval Affairs 

and was largely responsible for the increased appropriations which led to the revival of the American 

Navy. Herbert was identified with those promoting 

the industrialization of the South following the Reconstruction period, and was also a determined advocate of economy in government. (Courtesy of the 

Library of Congress.)
prove those of the United States except, perhaps, the economy in time and 

money to be achieved by greater use of photography and zincography in 

printing maps.

Rather tartly, the committee called attention to the recommendation of 

the Academy Committee in 1878 for two surveys, a coast and interior 

survey and a geological survey. Congress had not provided for the transfer 

of the Coast and Geodetic Survey nor had it made any other provision for 

the topographic work necessary for the Geological Survey. Consequently, 

under different provisions in appropriations acts, both the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Geological Survey were making trigonometric surveys 

of the whole United States. The committee was not entirely confident that 

just placing the two surveys under either one of the executive departments 

would, without other measures, lead to the unity of work that was desirable, 

but the members were entirely clear in the opinion that one executive department should control both. The Signal Service, they thought, could be 

divided between its civil and military functions. The Coast and Geodetic 

Survey and the Hydrographic Office might well remain separate until the 

survey of the coast was completed at which time the consolidation of the 

hydrographic work might be reconsidered.

The Academy Committee then sought to establish some general principles. First, the Government should not undertake any work that could be 

equally well done by the enterprise of individual investigators, and it should 

confine itself to the increase and systematization of knowledge tending "to 

promote the general welfare" of the country. Secondly, the scientific bureaus should be under one authority. Administration of a scientific bureau 

or department involved greater difficulties than those of a purely business 

department. The connection between the work done and the results ultimately to be attained were not at all obvious to the people and the press, 

and thus the "great benefit of vigilant watching and constant criticism" 

was wanting. Moreover, administration of a scientific bureau required a 

combination of scientific knowledge and administrative ability that was 

more difficult to command than either of those qualities separately. These 

difficulties were intensified by the absence of any central authority to control 

the work of a Government scientific organization. Thus, the head of each 

scientific organization became almost completely independent, and his individual judgment of what his organization should do was controlled only 

by Congress acting through the annual appropriation bills. The committee 

proposed a Department of Science, but realizing that Congress was unlikely 

to act on such a proposal, suggested as an alternative that all scientific 

bureaus be transferred to one executive department and that the work be 

coordinated by a permanent commission attached to the office of the secretary of that department and with the secretary as president ex officio.

The Academy Committee also recommended that the scientific functions 

of the Federal Government be divided among four bureaus: the Coast and 

Interior Survey, to be concerned principally with geodesy and hydrography; 

the Geological Survey; the Meteorological Bureau; and a physical laboratory 

to investigate the laws of solar and terrestrial radiation and their application 

to meteorology along with other investigations in the exact sciences. The 

functions of the bureau of weights and measures, performed by the Coast 

and Geodetic Survey, would be transferred to the physical laboratory and 

extended to include electrical measurements.

Dutton wrote to Sir Archibald Geikie that there was no probability that 

the Academy's plan would be carried out at any early date, although it 

might be some years in the future. Dutton did not believe in much organization for scientific work. Some was necessary, but it ought to be a minNational Academy of Sciences 103
imum. "The scientific worker must be as untrammeled as possible. Any 

scientific results depend upon the efficiency of the man who does the scientific work & all that an organization ought to do for him is to give him 

men, money & room and let him alone otherwise." Dutton was pessimistic 

about the future. "Gov't scientific work always has & always must grow 

more & more perfunctory. It must grow more expensive & less efficient & 

that continuously. Our Survey is now at its zenith & I prophesy its decline. 

The 'organization' is rapidly 'perfecting,' i.e. more clerks, more rules, 

more red tape, less freedom of movement, less discretion on the part of the 

geologists & less outturn of scientific product. This is inevitable. It is the 

law of nature & can no more be stopped than the growth & decadence of 

the human body."

104 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886

The Geological Survey under Powell maintained an 

interest in irrigation. Although the drilling of wells 

for water had benefited from improved methods 

developed by the petroleum industry, drilling of 

wells for artesian supplies was not always successful. 

The requisite geologic conditions, Chamberlain explained, included a porous stratum, inclined so that 

the edge at which water entered would be higher 

than the surface at which the well was drilled, and 

impervious beds above and below to contain the 

water. The diagram shown was one of the most 

frequently repeated illustrations in Survey reports. 

(From T. C. Chamberlin, 1884.)
Powell was the first witness when the commission began hearings on 

December 4. He was questioned on the Survey's authority to do geodetic 

work and to extend its work into the "old" States, the nature of topographic maps, and even the necessity of topographic maps as the basis of 

geologic maps and the relation of the Survey maps to those of the land 

surveys. Powell explained that the Geological Survey made use of the Coast 

and Geodetic Survey's work wherever possible, but that the Coast Survey 

work would have to be greatly extended in order to serve the purposes of 

the geologist. The Geological Survey, he said, expected to complete its 

geologic map in about 24 years.

Powell was invited back the next day to present his views on the organization of the scientific work of the Government. There were two guiding 

principles to its proper organization, he said. The first was that all the 

scientific bureaus should be under one general management. Scientific investigations were by their nature interrelated and interdependent, and the 

official organizations should be coordinated so that they might work together 

and aid each other, but not in such a way that one would be compelled to 

do what was the proper function of another, nor should one be permitted 

to encroach on the functions of another. His second guiding principle was 

that the bureaus engaged in research should be free of dictation from superior 

authority regarding the methods of research. Scientific investigations had 

to be controlled by the facts discovered; therefore, the investigations could 

only be controlled by the men doing the work. The Director of the Geological Survey, for example, could not lay out the work for his assistants in 

detail; he could only set forth in a general way the object to be reached and 

the general methods to be pursued. The most important function a director 

had to perform was to select the proper men, those with a genius for research.

Major Powell objected to the National Academy of Sciences committee's 

proposed board of commissioners as the alternative to a Department of 

Science. Such a board would be composed of incongruous elements, for civil 

and military officials had diametrically opposing views of administration. 

Apparently, he overlooked the proviso that all the scientific bureaus be 

transferred to one executive department, whose Secretary would preside over 

the board, for he complained that the relations to the various departments 

would be impracticable, that officers subordinate to the Secretaries would 

control the work and transmit instructions to the bureaus through the Secretaries, and that, he feared, would be irksome to the members of the 

President's Cabinet. He suggested instead that the bureaus be placed under 

the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

He thought too that instead of establishing a new bureau, the Coast and 

Geodetic Survey could take on the electrical researches and those relating 

to solar and terrestrial radiation. When the survey of the coast was completed, the Coast and Geodetic Survey's hydrographic work should be transferred to the Hydrographic Office. Then the Coast and Geodetic Survey 

would have for its functions investigations relating to geodesy, gravity, solar 

and terrestrial radiation, magnetism, and electricity. As for the Signal Service, it should not be associated with the other bureaus unless it was reorganized on a civil basis.

Secretary of the Navy William Chandler had a different view. He told 

the Allison Commission that all the scientific work that was necessary or 

convenient to carry on the Government should be conducted within and 

under the direction of the Department that needed the scientific assistance. 

On that basis, he said, the Navy claimed everything belonging to the water

Allison Commission Hearings 105
(although they had no desire for the Fish Commission.) The Coast and 

Geodetic Survey's hydrographic work belonged in the Navy; the land part 

should be placed under the Interior Department.

Secretary of War Robert Lincoln, on the contrary, said he entirely agreed 

with the Academy's recommendation that the Meteorological Service be 

transferred to a civil bureau. Military signaling, he said, was now being 

done by the Army without the slightest assistance from the Signal Corps.

Superintendent Hilgard of the Coast and Geodetic Survey testified that 

the existing relations between the Coast Survey and the Navy were working 

smoothly, efficiently, and economically, and he saw no reason for a change. 

The plan had satisfactorily stood the test of time. There was no lack of 

coordination between the work of the Geological Survey and that of the 

Coast Survey in the interior of the country, nor was there duplication of 

work or useless expenditure, because of the willing cooperation of the two 

chiefs. However, he said, it was obvious that the functions of the two 

organizations should be clearly defined and that the mode in which their 

operations were to be coordinated should be firmly established.

Hilgard told the Allison Commission: "I do not like to have the work of 

the Coast and Geodetic Survey considered in the light of what you properly 

call scientific. I consider that it is economic, of practical value. I consider 

that we are not fomenting science, but that we are doing practical work for 

practical purposes, though some science comes of it. A great deal of high 

science comes into requisition and is incidentally advanced by it, such as 

the general figure and size of the earth, its density, magnetism, tides, and 

so on, but I expect to follow out our work in a way that will tend to public 

usefulness. That is what I take as the reasons for its existence. I consider 

the Coast and Geodetic Survey instituted to meet a public want and not as 

work so strictly scientific as paleontology or something of that kind."

Hilgard said:

To this end, I am now, as I have always been, frankly in favor of the plan 

submitted by the Academy to Congress in 1878, according to which the Coast 

and Geodetic Survey should be transferred to the Interior Department, 'retaining its original field of operations, and assuming also, the entire mensuration 

of the public domain,' and to be known hereafter as the Coast and Interior 

Survey. I see no objection on the part of the Coast and Geodetic Survey to 

such transfer to another civil department, provided its present scope is preserved, and there is added to its functions the gradual execution of a trigonometrical network over the whole country (as a basis for all economic or property surveys and maps), and likewise all accurate topographic surveys.

Powell came back to argue against the transfer of the Geological Survey's 

topographic work to the Coast and Geodetic Survey. The maps of the Coast 

Survey were very elaborate and represented a vast system of cultural details; 

they were very expensive, and they were also difficult to understand. The 

geological organizations of the Government had invented new methods of 

surveying and new methods of presenting the results on maps, so that now 

the maps could be more easily understood by geologists, engineers, and the 

common people. He said,

The experience in the United States, up to the present time, warrants this statement, that if the topography is kept under the control of geologists it will be 

executed better and at less expense than if placed under some other organization.

Moreover, geologic problems did not appear in some systematic geographic 

order, as from east to west or north to south, but in a geologic order, and 

geologic problems had to be taken up in the order demanded by that science. 

Unless the Geological Survey could conduct its topographic work according 

to its own needs, its work would be greatly hampered.

106 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
l$er Limestones

F. V. Hayden and A. C. Peale returned to the Three 

Forks region of Montana in 1884, where Peale and 

W. H. Holmes had made a reconnaissance as members of the Hayden survey in 1871 and 1872. The 

area was believed to contain Archean rocks, but 

Hayden and Peale found many fossils, which C. D, 

Walcott identified as Upper Devonian, in shaly 

beds, which are easily eroded and usually marked 

by a ravine between two belts of limestone. (From 

A. C. Peale, 1893.)

Powell was called back early in January 1885 to elaborate on this testimony, and told the Allison Commission that he was unable to state any 

useful purpose which the cadastral or artificial element in the coast charts 

subserved first because it was not executed so as to form a complete cadastral 

map and second because the artificial topographic features were ephemeral 

and changed from year to year in such a manner that the charts speedily 

became misleading. The topographic maps made by the Geological Survey, 

on the other hand, represented natural features, such as streams and bodies 

of water, valleys, hills, and mountains and showed only certain cultural 

features such as important highways, canals, railroads, and wagonroads, the 

sites of cities, towns, villages, and railway stations. The purposes served by 

such topographic maps were many. They were used first of all as bases for 

geologic maps. They could be used for the purposes of the Signal Service 

and for all purposes of military maps except battle maps. They were valuable 

to cities and towns in securing a proper supply of water. As the maps were 

constructed with grade curves and every elevation and depression was represented "with mathematic accuracy," they could be used in laying out the 

courses of aqueducts and in planning and protecting waterworks so that the 

catchment areas would not be "corrupted by foul and pestilential agencies." 

The maps showed the relative levels of all parts of the country to each other 

and to the level of mean tide, so they could be used to determine the 

possibility and practicability of draining marsh- and swamplands. They were 

useful in planning and laying out highways, such as wagonroads, canals, 

and railroads. In conjunction with geologic maps, they could be used for 

determining the sites of artesian wells. The topographic maps were of the 

highest importance in areas where agriculture was dependent on artificial 

irrigation and streams had to be conducted from their natural channels by 

canals. As an illustration, he said that every town in Utah had been moved, 

perhaps twice on an average, after it had been built, when it was found that 

the water could not be economically brought to it or economically controlled. The studies that he had made of topographic methods and of the 

economics of topographic surveys grew out of his interest in these arid lands,

Allison Commission Hearings 107
While the Allison Commission was in progress, the 

Geological Survey published 2 annual reports, 3 

monographs, and 17 bulletins, a total of more than 

3,500 pages on scientific and technical subjects. 

Monograph 9 on the fossil Brachiopoda and Lamellibranchiata of the Raritan clays and greensand 

marls of New Jersey was a reprint of a New Jersey 

Survey publication. The fossils came from a limited 

district in the United States, but one that had been 

studied longer than any other so that it was a classic 

ground for all American geologists. (From R. P. 

Whitfield, 1885.)

for he found in traveling through that region the people were searching for 

an economic but simple and practical means of learning how the streams 

could be utilized. The topographic map would have a high value in furnishing data to engineers to make plans for protecting the flood plains, the 

parts of the country that were annually or occasionally inundated by the 

great rivers. The flood plain of the Mississippi, could it be properly protected 

from inundation, would be one of the most fertile districts in the United 

States. The great floods of the lower Mississippi had their chief, though not 

their whole, origin in the Missouri River and its western tributaries, and 

the floods of these streams came from the melting of the snow in the Rocky 

Mountains in the spring and early summer. If the waters that resulted 

therefrom could be taken out of their natural channels and poured out on 

the arid plains and used in the irrigation of lands that were practically 

deserts, the relief from floods thus afforded to the lower valley of the Mississippi would in large part redeem these valuable lands, and at the same 

time, would redeem twice as large an area in the great plains. The maps 

were also used by local surveyors, for general information, in the schools 

and for a variety of scientific purposes by naturalists, ethnologists, and 

archeologists. In fact, it was impossible in a reasonable space to set forth all 

the purposes subserved by the maps made by the Geological Survey. The 

coast charts of the Coast and Geodetic Survey did not subserve these purposes 

because they were constructed on another plan and for another purpose.

108 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
Powell's final statement to the Allison Commission was "that the map 

can be completed on the present plan, with the present organization, within 

twenty-four years, but the demands for such a map are so urgent that the 

work ought properly to be completed in a shorter period. Since the organization of the Geological Survey, Congress has, by increased appropriations, 

expanded its work from year to year, and the Director has earnestly desired 

and hoped that this growth would continue, so that a map of the whole 

country could be completed by the year 1900, and he has steadily and 

vigorously worked to that end. He has tried hard to develop a plan which 

should not be impracticable on account of excessive cost and which should 

not be without substantial value by reason of imperfect methods and results. 

He has also endeavored to develop the plan in such a manner that no work 

would be lost, even though the needs of the distant future should demand 

more elaborate work than the wants of the present time, and that all work 

done should have enduring value."

The Allison Commission did not complete its investigation in the short 

session that ended on March 4, 1885, so permission was sought and obtained to continue the hearings in the new Congress. By his testimony in 

the first year, Major Powell had established himself as one of the leading 

scientists in Washington, and his testimony was reprinted in Science and 

given wide circulation.

The plan for the topographic surveying and cartographic systems described to the Allison Commission was formally announced in the Survey's 

next annual report. Map sheets would be published at three scales, 1:62,500, 

1:125,000, and 1:250,000, the choice of scale depending on the present or 

prospective density of settlement, the economic importance of the area, the 

complexity of the geology, and the degree of detail in the topography. Relief 

would be shown in contours with vertical intervals of 10, 20, 50, 100, or 

200 feet, depending on the scale of the map and the magnitude of the relief. 

On the 1:250,000 scale, the maps would be engraved in sheets, 1° square, 

designated by the latitude and longitude of the southeast corner, as, for 

example, 40 100. On the 1:62,500 scale, 16 sheets would be required for 

the same area and the designation then became a bit complex, as, for example, 40 100 SEl/4 of the SEV4. The sheets were to be engraved on copper, 

with three plates for each the hydrography in blue, the hypsography in 

brown, and the projection lines, lettering, and culture in black. A prime 

consideration in developing the systems, the Director said in the announcement, was that "the map once constructed should be enduring, that the 

expense of frequent resurveys may be avoided."

The topographic work had been reorganized into three divisions: an astronomic and computing division, a triangulation division, and a topographic division; in turn the topographic division was organized into parties 

that worked in various parts of the United States. During the summer of 

1885, mapping continued in Massachusetts, New Jersey, the southern 

Appalachians, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Arizona, the Cascade Range, and 

Yellowstone National Park. Work was begun in the area around the District 

of Columbia and in the Gold Belt of California where Becker planned to 

work next.

In the Division of Volcanic Geology, Dutton and Diller hoped to be able 

to put most of the geology of the Lassen Peak area on photographic copies 

of the topographic maps that included Lassen Peak and the area immediately 

to the west. The maps, however, were found to be wholly unsuited for 

geologic work, so Dutton left Diller to make the best of it and went off to 

make a reconnaissance of the Cascade Range and its relation to the Sierra 

Nevada and Coast Ranges in the light of Becker's conclusions.

Survey Fieldwork, 1885 109
Gilbert had divided the work in the Appalachian Division into three 

parts: an investigation of the structure and stratigraphy of the folded Paleozoic rocks immediately west of the Archean belt, a study of the Triassic 

formations, and a study of the Tertiary and Quaternary history of the district. The last he reserved for himself, and during the summer of 1885, he 

spent 6 weeks investigating the former extent of Lake Ontario and then 

joined Professor Chamberlin in a study of the terrace system of the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers, covering much of the ground over 

which McGee had traveled the summer before.

The study of the Triassic was assigned to I. C. Russell, but one season 

in the field convinced Russell that the work could not be done until better 

maps were available, so the Triassic work was temporarily discontinued. For 

the Paleozoic work, Gilbert planned that four sections crossing the 

Appalachians at right angles would be studied: one within the basin of the 

Potomac; one including portions of the Greenbrier and New Rivers in West 

Virginia and Virginia; the third in eastern Tennessee, crossing the Holston 

and including part of the French Broad River; and the fourth in Alabama, 

crossing Coosa Valley at latitude 34°. During the summer of 1885, Geiger 

was assigned to the Potomac section and Bailey Willis, to the French Broad, 

but work was not begun in the other sections. In addition to these studies, 

Professor I. C. White was asked to prepare a comprehensive review of the 

sedimentary structure of the Appalachian coalfield in West Virginia, western 

Pennsylvania, and eastern Ohio, which he had been studying for several 

years both as professor at the University of West Virginia and assistant on 

the Pennsylvania Survey.

In the Archean Division, Pumpelly and his assistants spent most of the 

1885 field season studying the structure of the Green Mountains, which, 

Pumpelly was convinced, contained the key to the geology of New England. 

Irving and the Lake Superior Division were occupied with petrographic 

studies. Professor G. H. Williams of Johns Hopkins had been added to the 

staff on a part-time basis, and he and Van Hise were tracing the development 

of the chloride and mica schists by metasomatic alteration. Although a large 

part of the records and samples had been lost in a disastrous fire in December 

1884, the work was beginning to produce results. The studies of the Penokee-Gogebic region were essentially complete, and the general geological 

structure of northern and northeastern Minnesota had been satisfactorily 

determined. The ferruginous schists of the Lake Superior region and their 

accompanying iron ores were reported with some confidence "to have arisen 

in the main from the silicification of ferruginous carbonates, which were, 

in some measure, analogous to those of the Coal Measures." The conclusion 

that the Archean formations were divisible into two discordant members 

was confirmed.

The work in glacial geology in 1885 was described as related to the 

classification of soils with respect to their agricultural capabilities. The 

principal project was a reconnaissance of the drift margin from near Bismarck 

in Dakota Territory through largely unsettled territory to the international 

boundary line at the foot of the Rocky Mountains by Professors Chamberlin 

and Salisbury. At the end of the season, Chamberlin continued on to study 

glacial phenomena in western Montana, northern Idaho, and northern Washington. During part of the year, Warren Upham of the Minnesota Survey 

also joined the U.S. Survey to continue a study of former Lake Agassiz, 

which was practically equivalent to the basin of the Red River of the North.

Professor Shaler's investigations in the Atlantic Coastal Plain Division 

were described as being made to guide engineering operations for the reclamation of what might be the most valuable of all agricultural lands, the

110 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886

Monograph 10 was Professor Marsh's long-awaited 

report on Dinocerata. Among the many extinct animals discovered in the Tertiary of the Rocky Mountain region, none, said Professor Marsh, were more 

remarkable than the huge mammals of the order 

Dinocerata, whose remains had been found in the 

single Eocene lake basin in Wyoming and nowhere 

else. The skull of Dinoceras mirabile, the type of the 

genus Dinoceras on which the order was based, was 

exceptionally well preserved. (From O. C. Marsh, 

1886.)
inundated lands along the coast. Shaler mapped glacial deposits and studied 

changes of sea level on the islands of Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard and 

in Maine and found that the front of the ice during the last glacial advance 

had remained for some time over Nantucket; the region had been suddenly 

elevated above sea level after the disappearance of the ice but had since been 

depressed 20 feet or more.

Hague and a large entourage, including Iddings, Weed, Wright, Davis, 

and S. L. Penfield of the Sheffield Scientific School as a volunteer assistant, 

spent the summer in Yellowstone National Park. A committee of the House 

of Representatives visited the park to investigate its condition and to consider what legislation was needed; Hague presented to them his views on 

the necessity for enlarging the park and on the great importance of the 

region as a forest reservation. Hague also advised the special agent sent by 

the Secretary to examine the park on the changes necessary to ensure its 

efficient administration. Hayden and Peale again worked in the area north 

of the park, extending their previous season's work in the Gallatin Valley.

In the paleontologic divisions, Professor Marsh continued the systematic 

collection of vertebrate fossils in the West. Walcott's division had several 

studies of the Paleozoic underway, and C. A. White with R. T. Hill as his 

assistant was studying the stratigraphy and paleontology of the later Cretaceous and earlier Tertiary formations of Utah. Dall did not go into the 

field, being busy with referred collections. Lester Ward accompanied two 

expeditions, both of which had for their object the study of the Potomac

Monograph 11 recorded the geological history of an 

ancient water body in northwestern Nevada, Lake 

Lahontan. Pyramid Lake is a recent freshwater lake 

that covers part of the site of the ancient lake. Pyramid Island in that lake has fascinated all explorers 

since Fremont who named it for its resemblance to 

the pyramids of Egypt. This romantic sketch was 

made by adding the sailboat and the setting sun to 

a photograph by I. C. Russell. (From I. C. Russell, 

1885.)

Fteldwork, 1885 111
formation. One new man, constituting a new division, was added to the 

organization: S. H. Scudder, the editor of Science, began a study of insects 

from the peat deposits of Nantucket, and the Division of Fossil Insects was 

thereby established.

Another new division was added to the table of organization, the Geologic 

Map Division, and McGee and Stanley-Brown were assigned to it in the 

plan of operations. McGee, however, spent comparatively little time on the 

map, and Stanley-Brown left in September to begin the study of geology 

at Yale. McGee was sent to Berlin in September to present a discussion to 

the International Geological Congress of the principles of geologic taxonomy and cartography as developed in the Survey; unfortunately he arrived 

late and was unable to present the paper, as it was written in English rather 

than French, the official language of the congress.

McGee's geologic investigation of the District of Columbia was still 

awaiting completion of the topographic map, but he continued to collect 

photographs and specimens and to examine "evanescent exposures." During part of the summer, he accompanied Lester Ward and Professor W. M. 

Fontaine in a study of the Potomac formation in eastern Virginia and central 

Maryland, where it was practically destitute of organic remains. Even though 

the formation had a unique flora in the area north and south of Washington, 

its correlation with formations elsewhere had so far been found impossible. 

McGee, however, had come to the conclusion that it was Cretaceous in age, 

basing his conclusion on an investigation of physical relations of land and 

sea when the formation was deposited.

McGee also spent part of the year revising a manuscript by E. A. Smith, 

the State Geologist of Alabama, and L. C. Johnson on the Tertiary and 

Cretaceous strata of the Tuscaloosa, Tombigbee, and Alabama Rivers. One 

of the formations described in their report was a series of peculiar sands, 

clays, and gravels, in which no fossils had been found, typically exposed on 

the Tuscaloosa River near the city of Tuscaloosa. McGee suggested that it 

be named the Tuscaloosa formation and stated that the description corresponded so closely to that of the Potomac formation "as to suggest like 

conditions of genesis and (the stratigraphic relations being identical) presumptive chronologic equivalence of these formations." He therefore elaborated the portion of Smith and Johnson's report relating to the Tuscaloosa 

formation in accordance with his hypothesis on the Potomac formation and 

returned the manuscript to the senior author with directions to test the 

hypothesis in the field and either disprove or corroborate it by additional 

observation and study. Smith was a dozen years older than young McGee. 

He had a Ph.D. from Heidelberg, and he had been State Geologist of 

Alabama since 1873. He was also one of the more sensitive State Geologists. 

Less than 2 years before, he had protested that the Federal survey was 

intruding upon the work of the State survey, and it had taken a personal 

letter and a meeting with the Director to soothe his feelings. McGee's 

review of his work did not improve matters.

The work in mining geology in California was very different from that 

in Colorado as Becker's mathematical bent led him into new areas of 

investigation. He completed the field studies for the quicksilver investigation and began preparation of a monograph with the assistance of Melville, 

Turner, and Waldemar Lindgren, a young graduate of Freiberg who had 

joined his staff in November 1884. His notes on the stratigraphy of California led him to consider the fundamental shape of volcanic cones; on the 

premise that additions were made at or near the top and that the cone would 

constantly tend to the loftiest form that the amount of material it contained 

could assume consistent with stability, he found that he could determine

112 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
Among the bulletins were several on paleontology. 

C. A. White prepared a general discussion of all 

freshwater invertebrates yet discovered in North 

American Jurassic strata. All specimens of Unio 

found, including that of Unio felchii, belonged to 

the simpler types, which had unornamented surfaces 

and departed but little from the transversely oval 

shape common among both living and fossil species 

in other parts of the world. A considerable part of 

the Laramie species, however, were of distinctively 

North American types. (From C. A. White, 1886.)

mathematically the form that would coincide with surveys and photographs 

of actual cones in America and Japan. He also investigated the mechanical 

conditions of faulting, showing that the results he reached in an analysis of 

the faulting of the Comstock were necessary deductions from the nature of 

friction, and that frictional problems were part of the general problem of 

elasticity. Chemical questions involved in the quicksilver investigation led 

him to a new law of mechanics, which he called a "theorem of maximum 

dissipativity." The chemical interpretation of the law, Becker said, meant 

that chemical energy would be degraded at the highest possible rate, and 

this would affect the order of succession of minerals in volcanic rocks.

Emmons was allowed no fieldwork in the summer of 1885, being instructed to remain in the office to attend to the preparation of reports.

Fieldwork, 1885 113
Eldridge and Cross were able to work in the Crested Butte region of Colorado 

until late October when snow made the work impracticable. Eldridge then 

began mapping the Denver Basin while Cross, Hillebrand, and Eakins carried on several interesting mineral investigations, the results of which were 

published in scientific periodicals. On November 1, however, Hillebrand 

was transferred to Washington, and he was thereafter occupied chiefly in 

routine work in the chemical laboratory.

Williams completed the volume Mineral resources of the United States 

1883-1884 which was finally published in December 1885. The Engineering and Mining Journal complained that,

Anything that is worth doing at all is worth doing well, and every intelligent 

man must recognize the immense importance and value to the country of full 

and accurate reports of our mineral production. That the report is disappointing, both in the date of its issue and in the incompleteness of the information 

it gives, is painfully apparent, and it must be especially discouraging to Mr. 

Williams, whose herculean efforts, though they have accomplished much, have 

not been able to effect the impossible. That this most important department, 

whose work has perhaps a more immediate measurable commercial value than 

that of any other portion of our Geological or Scientific Survey, should be so 

neglected and starved, is a blunder that has not been explained, and as far as 

we know can not be justified.

This was a direct challenge to Major Powell's direction of the Survey, but 

it was not the first, for both the political and scientific climates had changed 

markedly since the inauguration of Grover Cleveland on March 4, 1885. 

Cleveland had faced special problems in forming his Cabinet. The only 

Democrats with political experience, except a few Governors, were in Congress, and he could not afford to weaken the party in Congress by removing 

too many. Yet he was determined to have the Cabinet represent all sections 

of the country and all factions of the party. In the end, he chose three 

conservatives, two Southerners, and two from the reform wing of the party. 

Senator Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar of Mississippi, one of the two 

Southerners, became the Secretary of the Interior. Lamar was a scholar and 

had been at various times professor of mathematics, political economy, and 

law in the University of Mississippi. He had drafted Mississippi's ordinance 

of secession and had served in the Confederate Army, but after the war had 

distinguished himself as a champion of reconciliation. From the reform wing 

of the party, Cleveland chose William F. Vilas of Wisconsin for Postmaster 

General. Vilas had a distinguished war record, on the Union side, and had 

been a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin. Before the end of 

Cleveland's first Administration, he succeeded Lamar as Secretary of the 

Interior.

Cleveland was also faced with the problem of patronage. He had been 

backed by the Independent Republicans, including Carl Schurz, who valued 

civil service reform above party loyalty. In response to a letter from the 

National Civil Service Reform League, he issued a public reply in December 

that he believed in the new Civil Service law and had repeatedly promised 

to enforce it. He would not only enforce the terms of the law but would 

observe its spirit in dealing with employees who were not within the letter 

of the statute but so far removed from the policy of the Administration that 

they should not be replaced on partisan grounds. Efficient employees would 

be kept and only inefficient employees, offensive partisans, and unscrupulous 

manipulators of local politics would be removed. Of the approximately 

126,000 Federal employees, however, only 16,000 were as yet under Civil 

Service, and there was a horde of hungry officeseekers. Despite Cleveland's 

statement on civil service, the demands for offices persisted, and in the 

spring, there were rumors of many changes. Among the rumors were several

C. A. White also found that some fossils collected 

by C. R. Orcutt of San Diego at Todos Santos Bay, 

60 miles south of the southern boundary of the State 

of California, indicated a fauna of decidedly Cretaceous character but quite different from any other 

Cretaceous fauna known on the Pacific coast. 

Among them, he identified a new species, Coralliochamaorcutti. (From C. A. White, 1885)

114 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
stories that Powell would be replaced. Once such even named Shaler as his 

successor. Shaler, however, wrote to his sister that "Nothing could induce 

me to take the place of Director U.S. Geological Survey. As Hosea Bigelow 

says, 'Taint a knowin' kind of cattle that is ketched with mouldy corn.' "

The first great task that Cleveland wanted to undertake was the reform 

of the executive departments, which he believed had grown lax and inefficient under a quarter of a century of uninterrupted Republican administrations. Cleveland thought that general administrative reform was more important than civil service reform. Good government was the main object, 

civil service reform a means to that end. The first meetings of the Cabinet 

were devoted almost entirely to departmental reform. The Treasury and 

Navy Departments seemed particularly open to reform, but the Interior 

Department, with its responsibility for the public domain and the Indians, 

was not far behind.

Within 3 weeks after entering office, the Secretary of the Treasury appointed a commission under the Assistant Secretary to investigate the whole 

Department and recommend means of placing it on a business basis. The 

greatest public attention was given to the Navy Department which was in 

the midst of a transition from old to new methods and equipment, and a 

complete reorganization was undertaken.

In the Interior Department, Secretary Lamar was not overly fond of 

administration but was aided by very capable assistants. His First Assistant 

Secretary was Henry L. Muldrow, whose committee assignments in Congress 

had given him an insight into Interior affairs. The new Commissioner of 

the General Land Office was William Andrew Jackson Sparks, also a former 

member of Congress and a born crusader. Former Congressman John D. C. 

Atkins of Tennessee became the new head of the Indian Bureau. Within 60 

days after the new team took over, orders disposing of public or Indian lands 

issued in the last days of the Arthur Administration were countermanded, 

and in midsummer, cattlemen were ordered to remove their cattle from 

Indian Territory.

Early in August, 1885, the Treasury investigators appointed under Cleveland's plan for departmental reform released their report. Some irregularities 

had been found in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Superintendent 

Hilgard had been dismissed. The report was critical of the work of this 

Survey, much of which it considered expensive and of little value. The 

August 14 issue of Science contained a three-page editorial that was, in turn, 

highly critical of the contents of the report and the manner in which the 

news of it was released. It might have been more reasonable, Science suggested, to allow Hilgard to retire, inasmuch as he was ill, in pain, and had 

served faithfully and well for more than 40 years. C. S. Peirce, whose work 

on gravity was one of the projects the Treasury investigators deemed of 

meager value and too expensive, promptly resigned with less temperate 

remarks for all to read.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science at its August 

1885 meeting passed a resolution that although it was "in earnest sympathy" with the Government in its intent to secure the greatest possible 

efficiency of the public service, the value of scientific work could be best 

judged by scientific men. The AAAS expressed its "earnest approval" of 

the extent and high character of the work of the Coast Survey and stated 

that the head of the Coast Survey should have the highest possible standing 

among scientific men and should command their entire confidence.

Early in September, Professor Alexander Agassiz of Harvard, in a long 

comment on an article in the New York Evening Post on "political scientists," said that "a committee of treasury experts, however competent to

Cleveland Administration Reforms 115
judge business methods, cannot be expected to know the value of the scientific work upon which, from their point of view, money has been squandered." Professor Agassiz further complained that men of science were 

being left out of the decisionmaking. The National Academy of Sciences 

had tried to reorganize the scientific bureaus so that the evils of the system 

might be remedied, but the Academy had been largely ignored, and officials 

had been appointed without their advice. The Allison Commission had 

accomplished nothing.

Professor Agassiz concluded by saying, "While criticizing the article of 

the Evening Post, so far as it related to the Coast-Survey, let me express my 

complete agreement with its condemnation of the 'political scientist.' It is 

time that the system thus attacked should be abandoned, and that indiscriminate scientific assistance given by the heads of bureaus to institutions 

and individuals, and never contemplated or sanctioned by Congress, should 

be discontinued. It has brought nothing but discredit upon the official 

science of the country. Let the most liberal appropriations be made for the 

work of our scientific bureaus, but let the requisition be so complete and 

detailed as to invite a fair and open criticism."

The last undoubtedly referred to the Geological Survey and its lump-sum 

appropriation, which the Director could spend as he chose. Professor Agassiz, who had personal and family interest in mining enterprises and the 

Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, knew as well as 

anyone that while the Secretary of the Interior was emphasizing mining 

geology in his reports to Congress on the Geological Survey, most of the 

funds were being spent on general geology, paleontology, and topography 

and that the work of several professors, Harvard professors included, was 

being aided by the Geological Survey.

The Boston Advertiser on September 25, 1885, published a story that a 

report had been issued on the mismanagement of the Geological Survey, 

but the Department of the Interior denied that any such report existed. The 

stories persisted, however, and Powell was accused of extravagance, of unduly influencing the National Academy of Sciences, and of patronage of 

favored members of the scientific community. In October, Fred Endlich, 

formerly a member of the Hayden survey and one of Professor Cope's associates wrote to former members of the Hayden survey asking for information to add fuel to the fire, and early in November, Major Powell wrote 

a long denial of the various charges for Secretary Lamar.

The grounds on which some of the inferences had been drawn were easily 

determined. It was clearly an exaggeration to say that Powell had packed 

the National Academy of Sciences with his own supporters when only three 

members of the Survey had been elected, but two of the three were those 

closest to him, Gilbert in 1883, and Dutton in 1884. The charge of 

patronage of favored members of the scientific community stemmed from 

the employment of professors during part of the year, although a ruling by 

the Treasury Department required that they be rated in terms of an annual 

salary.

In 1883, after the force had been organized in accordance with the requirements of the Sundry Civil Expenses Act, the Survey had two classes of 

employees, permanent, or those in the statutory positions, and temporary. 

The temporary employees included young men on trial, as well as professors 

who worked for the Survey for short periods, those who worked during the 

field season as cooks, teamsters, and so on, and copyists and others who 

assisted the scientists during the office season. By 1885, however, three 

types of appointments were in use. Scientific employees were selected by the 

Director, subject only to approval of the Secretary of the Interior, exclusively

116 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
Much attention had been given to the finer subdivision of the Devonian on strictly paleontological 

evidence. John M. Clarke of New York had had an 

unusual opportunity to study the Devonian fauna 

of Ontario Country, New York, the results of which 

the Survey published. The figure shown is a 

reproduction of the lower right mandible of 

Dinicthys newberryi, which he described as a sort of 

monstrous fish. (From J. M. Clarke, 1885.)

for their professional qualifications, if these scientists had established a 

reputation. In asking for their appointment, the Director stated his reasons, 

the work in which the person was to be employed, together with his qualifications, especially his published works, and the Secretary invariably made 

the appointment. Young men who had not established a reputation in scientific research were selected through the agency of the Civil Service Commission by special examination, the papers for which were prepared in the 

Survey. The remaining employees, about half of the staff, were temporary, 

being engaged for services lasting for a few days or a few months only, 

largely in the field, and coming under two classes: skilled laborers and 

common laborers. The temporary employees were employed by the Director 

or by the heads of divisions and discharged when no longer needed.

When the new Congress met in December 1885 and the Allison Commission reconvened, Senator John T. Morgan, Democrat of Alabama, and 

Representative John T. Wait, Republican of Connecticut, replaced Senator 

Pendleton and Congressman Lyman, who had not been reelected. Attention 

was focused on the Coast and Geodetic Survey. President Cleveland in his 

state of the Union message alluded to the "irregularities" which had been 

found and said: "This service has never been regulated by anything but the 

most indefinite legal enactments and the most unsatisfactory rules. It was 

many years ago sanctioned apparently for a purpose regarded as temporary 

and related to a survey of our coast. Having gained a place in the appropriations made by Congress, it has gradually taken to itself powers and 

objects not contemplated in its creation, and extended its operations, until 

it sadly needs legislative attention. So far as a further survey of our coast is 

concerned, there seems to be a propriety in transferring it to the Navy 

Department. The other duties now in charge of this establishment, if they 

cannot be profitably be attached to some existing Department or other 

bureau, should be prosecuted under a law exactly defining their scope and 

purpose, and with a careful discrimination between the scientific inquiries 

which may properly be assumed by the Government and those which should 

be undertaken by State authority or by individual enterprise."

President Cleveland had offered the position of Superintendent of the 

Coast and Geodetic Survey to Professor Agassiz, who had declined for reasons 

of health and also because he believed the Superintendent should be not just 

a scientist but one expert in the Survey's field. The head of the Treasury 

team that investigated the Coast Survey was then placed in charge. The 

Coast Survey assistants held a meeting, and a committee of three was appointed to protest the transfer or dismemberment of the service. Before 

Congress convened. Professor Agassiz with Messrs. B. A. Colonna, Boutelle, 

and Hergesheimer of the Coast Survey met with Congressman Herbert for 

a discussion of the Coast Survey's position and its work and scientific accomplishments. The discussion prompted Mr. Herbert to write to Professor 

Agassiz on November 27, 1885, asking about the work of the Geological 

Survey. It seemed to him that Major Powell was transcending the rule that 

Agassiz had laid down about the Government's role in science, and he asked 

specifically about the various studies of the Comstock lode, about paleontology, and about topography. Mr. Herbert's interest may have been 

aroused by the many newspaper stories, but the specific nature of his inquiries suggests a more authoritative source, and it must be noted that the 

State Geologist of Alabama was no friend of the Geological Survey and was 

associated with Professor Cope, a member of the American Committee of 

the International Congress of Geologists.

Professor Agassiz replied promptly on December 2; he was getting ready 

to leave for Egypt for the winter. Private individuals had learned nothing

Coast and Geodetic Survey 117
from the works on the Comstock, and the scope of the investigations on the 

mining industries of Comstock, Eureka, and Leadville were all such as 

seemed to him to fall within the limits of individual investigation. There 

was no more reason why the Government should publish a history of the 

mining enterprises of the country than that they should publish a history 

of manufacturing processes. All that was in the province of private historians. The methods of publication adopted by the various bureaus, the mode 

of distribution, and the size of the editions were all wasteful and extravagant. 

Paleontology was one of those things that private individuals and learned 

societies could do just as well as the Government. They would, in fact, do 

it more cheaply. There were people in the universities who would do it and 

get the gist of their results published by scientific societies to which they 

belonged. As for topography, a geologic map without it was impossible, 

but if the States did not want a topographic map enough to pay for it, it 

seemed plain that they did not want the Government to pay for it either.

Agassiz was more concerned about the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and 

on the next day dashed off another letter about its contributions to zoology, 

which had begun in 1849 when Superintendent Bache had invited his father, 

Louis Agassiz, to join the Coast Survey schooner and make some dredgings 

off Cape Cod. His own work, beginning in 1877 when Superintendent 

Patterson asked him to take charge of some oceanographic work, had also 

produced valuable results. Professor Agassiz's reply taken at face value was 

the quintessence of laissez faire the Government should in no way do any 

scientific work that could be done by individuals except when it provides 

aid to my work.

On December 16, there appeared before the Allison Commission four 

gentlemen from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to present their case against 

its dismemberment. On the morning of the 19th, B. A. Colonna, the 

Assistant in Charge of Office of the Coast Survey, and Director Powell 

argued the merits of the topographic work of the respective surveys. Mr. 

Colonna said that the topographic work of the Geological Survey cost little, 

and its worth was commensurate with its cost. Major Powell countered that 

the work of the Coast Survey was so expensive and its maps on such a large 

scale and so detailed that they would have to be done over every few years.

On the afternoon of the 19th, without making any reference to the Agassiz 

letter, Congressman Herbert questioned Director Powell about the various 

reports on the Comstock. Powell answered that Becker's work could not 

have been done by a private individual because no private individual could 

have afforded the expense of the paleontologic and chemical laboratories and 

the various experts. His answer applied to Becker's later work on the quicksilver deposits of the Pacific slope but not to his report on the Comstock, 

which was based chiefly on microscopic petrography. Pressed about Eliot 

Lord's report on Comstock mining and miners, Powell reluctantly admitted, 

"I should not have inaugurated the work." Lord's work, of course, had 

been done under the Tenth Census appropriation. The Geological Survey 

had been responsible only for its publication.

Mr. Herbert was curious about a recent publication on copper metallurgy 

in Mineral Resources of the United States. Could not that work have been done 

just as well by individuals as by the Government? And what relation did 

it have to geology? Major Powell explained that the publication was intended 

to add to the general knowledge, and that copper ores throughout the 

country might be better utilized if the information were available. Mr. 

Herbert did not doubt the usefulness of the information, but he wondered 

why the Geological Survey should do such work and if that might be one 

reason why the appropriations had increased so rapidly. Major Powell ex118 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
plained that the short papers on metallurgy were part of the investigations 

on mineral resources and cost perhaps $1,500 to $2,000 a year. In fact, in 

the tabulated account of Survey expenses which the Allison Commission had 

before them, James Douglas, the leading copper metallurgist in the country, 

was recorded as having received $86.40 for preparation of the article.

Senator Morgan took over the questioning and led the Director to say 

that there were large copper ore bodies in the Territories and that the 

information on metallurgy would be for the benefit of the public. He asked 

about work on iron metallurgy and learned about chemical analyses of iron 

ores to determine their availability for steel manufacture. He asked about 

discoveries on borax, soda, and petroleum. The Director said that the quantities of petroleum in the United States were enormous, with no possibility 

of exhaustion within any reasonable length of time, but the difficulty was 

that only a very small percent of the petroleum could be used. Senator 

Morgan asked, "Suppose you could use it as economically as coal or other 

fuel, would that be important to this country?" The Director replied, "It 

would be of the utmost importance." Senator Morgan asked about fertilizers, about the usefulness of topography in forest conservation and flood 

prevention. He was interested in Major Powell's idea that floods on the 

lower Mississippi could be relieved by diverting the water in the upper 

streams, and the Director was given a chance to expatiate on a subject in 

which he was deeply interested. There was a lively exchange about the cost 

of dams for such purposes, a subject which the Director thought would most 

likely be found in the reports of the Engineers.

Finally, Mr. Herbert broke in: "You have spoken, in reply to Senator 

Morgan, of the usefulness of the work under you, which, of course, is not 

denied. I think nobody denies the usefulness of geological investigations." 

However, he went on to ask whether these discoveries had not been made 

by parties in the field, aided by the work in the laboratories, and had not 

all the topographic work, map making, and bookmaking been simply to 

illustrate and locate the discoveries? Would not the geologic work and the 

laboratory work be sufficient?

The Director explained that the maps were necessary. The facts discovered 

could not be conveyed to the public without the maps, and the maps were 

necessary to the geologist as part of his means of investigation. Then he 

asked permission to go on to say a word about the practical economic results 

that flowed from scientific research.

There are many investigations that may not at first seem to lead to economic 

results, but ultimately and indirectly are of importance even for economic purposes. The scientific man, especially the geologist has to do with a vast complexity of problems. To select a part of these problems and work upon them 

may not lead to substantial results when other problems are neglected that 

have relation to the first. The whole body of research in geology has a very 

important practical value, because geologic investigation reveals the wealth 

buried beneath the surface of the earth. Sound geologic conclusions cannot 

be reached by following a few narrow lines of investigation, but all such lines 

of research must be followed that each may shed light upon the other. Unless 

this principle is fully recognized, a geologic survey might lead to conclusions 

of no value to the people at large, or conclusions might be reached so erroneous as to be misleading. It, therefore, often happens that in determining to 

inaugurate investigations in a particular line the one question asked is 'Are we 

likely thereby to discover facts that will shed light upon the general problems 

of geology?' feeling assured that ultimately all such research will be of economic value.

Before adjourning for Christmas, the Commission addressed some inquiries to the Director regarding the scientists who received salaries of 

$4,000, those who worked part time, and the general assistants. Senator

Allison Commission Hearings 119
Allison read the replies into the record when they reconvened on January 2. Major Powell stated that the scientists who received salaries of $4,000 

were all in charge of important divisions, all had a full corps of assistants, 

and all devoted their full time to the work of the Survey. A list of 69 who 

worked part time for the Survey was supplied, together with the amounts 

paid to them. Powell called attention to the fact that in accordance with 

Treasury regulations, persons employed by the month were rated by annual 

salaries. There were actually two general assistants, he said. One was called 

the Executive Officer. Their duties were the same. They simply divided the 

country between them.

Mr. Herbert then questioned the Director about the work in ethnology. 

Major Powell answered that, "The ethnologic work of which I have charge 

is not part of the work of the Geological Survey, but a part of the work of 

the Smithsonian Institution." However, he went on to explain that the 

clerical work was done by the Geological Survey, that the topographers of 

the Geological Survey mapped the archeological data, and that the geologists 

collected archeological material. The salaries of the specialists in ethnology 

and their field expenses were paid from the appropriation for ethnology, 

although the ethnologists sometimes traveled with the geological parties to 

keep their expenses down.

The investigation continued on into January but was concerned almost 

entirely with the Signal Service. Major Powell made only one brief appearance, to supply information on expenditures for topographic work in New 

England. As the hearings were drawing to a close, Senator Allison sought 

the views of Simon Newcomb, who had not been permitted to serve on the 

National Academy of Sciences committee in 1884. Newcomb wrote that 

it appeared to him "that the evils in the scientific bureaus of the Government, the correction of which is your main object, have their origin in the 

want of adequate administrative supervision of these bureaus." There was 

only one remedy, which the Academy had proposed, that they all be under 

one head. The heads of the bureaus must be scientists, but the head of the 

whole department would represent the public, see to it that the work was 

conducted economically, and that no work was undertaken of which the 

value could not be made evident. He did not think that the Navy by itself 

could do the hydrographic work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey as economically and effectively as they were doing it with the guidance and control 

of the civilian organization. Nor did he think the successful management 

of the land work of the Coast Survey by the Geological Survey was practicable. The head of the Geological Survey had to be a geologist, but no 

geologist was qualified to conduct the work of the Coast and Geodetic 

Survey, which was mainly geodetic and astronomical.

Newcomb's letter was read to the Commission on January 2 1 and inserted 

in the record. Mr. Herbert also presented for the Commission's record a 

memorandum of the conversation between himself, Alexander Agassiz, and 

Messrs. Colonna, Boutelle, and Hergesheimer of the Coast and Geodetic 

Survey, and his correspondence with Professor Agassiz.

Major Powell felt that he could not let the Agassiz letter go unchallenged it was a "censure of the administration" of the Geological Survey 

and "a condemnation of its existence as a governmental institution." He 

therefore sent Senator Allison a criticism of the Agassiz statements and asked 

that it too be placed on record. The criticism was 25 times as long as the 

letter that provoked it, and it was written not to convince the sinner of the 

error of his ways but to demolish him. The Agassiz charges were not "clearly 

and specifically formulated"; they seemed to "condemn the entire work of 

the Survey as being of a character which should not be prosecuted by the

120 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
Professor George Huntington Williams of the Johns 

Hopkins University, one of the pioneers in microscopic petrography, undertook a study of the metamorphism of igneous rocks. Near Baltimore, he 

found a hypersthene gabbro metamorphosed to a 

gabbro diorite by secondary alteration of its pyroxene constituents to fibrous hornblende. The section 

shown is of a rock in the transitional zone between 

the gabbro and the diorite. (From G. H. Williams, 

1886.)

General Government, but only by private individuals and institutions" 

but the letter was not entirely clear. Perhaps Mr. Agassiz meant to condemn 

geologic investigation "when it had for its ultimate purpose the development 

of industrial utilities," or perhaps he meant to condemn "that part of the 

investigation by which it was sought to apply the facts and principles discovered to economic purposes."

He asked, "Did the general work of the Geological Survey fall within the 

limits of individual investigation as its exclusive province?", and answered 

that topographic surveying had been recognized as the proper work of the 

General Government ever since the adoption of the Constitution and geologic surveying, ever since the development of the science. Powell's claim 

was clearly an exaggeration. Surveying, but not topographic surveying, had 

been the work of the Federal Government since the adoption of the Constitution. Federal work in geology, as Powell knew full well, was much 

more recent. Powell added that many states had provided for topographic 

and geologic surveys, but he knew of no private institutions that had undertaken to do fieldwork in topography and geology. Some individuals, 

notably college professors, had done geologic work in the field and had 

made important contributions, but they were small in proportion to the 

great works of the official surveys. The principal geologic publications were 

all official, and had to be, because proper publication called for illustrations, 

maps, and diagrams too expensive for private publication.

Powell asked, were the Comstock, Eureka, and Leadville districts unwisely selected as the subjects for thorough investigation? He defended the 

choice and said that the publications on them were great contributions to 

geologic science.

Powell's Rebuttal of Agassiz's Letter 121
I

Was economic geology unworthy of the patronage of the Federal Government? The organic act of the Geological Survey required it to do economic geology."The purpose for which the Geological Survey is organized 

is not to develop science at large, but to develop that branch of science 

which relates to one class of the great industries of the country in order that 

industry may be the gainer thereby." Yet Powell had made it clear that 

investigations were undertaken not for immediate practical results but to 

shed light on the general problems of geology, feeling assured that ultimately they would be of economic value.

Then Powell counterattacked:

It is hardly appropriate to present to statesmen an argument in favor of the 

importance of directing scientific research to purposes of industrial utility. 

There is a sentiment current among ignorant men that profound science is 

incompatible with practical business, and this arises from the fact that it is 

difficult to demonstrate the immediate and direct utilitarian purpose of scientific 

investigation. It is often that such results are not proximate, but only ultimate. 

When the ignorant challenge the learned for the 'practical,' or 'economic,' or 

'utilitarian' value of their knowledge, the answer is not always rendered in terms 

within the comprehension of the questioner, and he scoffs at all answers that 

he cannot understand. Now, there are narrow and dilettant scientists who retort 

that science is too exalted to be in any manner interested in utilitarian results, 

and sometimes these wiseacres boast of their devotion to 'pure science.' But 

great scientific men, like great statesmen and great men in all departments of 

society, clearly recognize the fact that knowledge is a boon in itself and in its 

utilitarian consequences alike that wisdom is exalting and knowledge is 

power.

Specific allegations were taken up, and the sarcasm grew more cutting 

with each. "Mr. Agassiz says: It is an impossible thing to make a good 

geologic map of the country without having as a groundwork a good topographical map of the country. In this statement Mr. Agassiz exhibits a 

knowledge of the subject under consideration not manifest in his other 

statements, and hence he occupies high ground; but on that pinnacle of 

truth he becomes vertiginous and falls into the error of saying that 'if the 

States are not willing to go to that expense, it seems plain that they do not 

wish the Government to go to that expense for them,' thus by implication 

asserting that the people do not want a topographic map of the country. 

The representatives of the people in Congress assembled have provided for 

a topographic map of the United States, and it is reasonable to suppose that 

the statesmen of the country fairly represent public opinion." Mr. Agassiz's statement that the publications of the Survey were worthless implied 

that eminent scholars were but pretenders and the Director the chief of 

pretenders. It was not fitting that the name of "Agassiz the Great" be 

appended to the defamation of such men. The charge that editions of reports 

were too great smacked of the Eurpean idea, rarely found in America, that 

the people at large should be excluded from a knowledge of the progress of 

scientific research.

Whitman Cross and W. F. Hillebrand, at intervals 

of leisure from their regular duties, made studies 

of minerals from the Rocky Mountain region, including optical studies and very careful chemical 

analyses. The figures show optical anomalies in 

apophyllite from Table Mountain, Colorado. (From 

C. W. Cross and W. F. Hillebrand, 1885.)

122 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
Mr. Agassiz has devoted many years to the accumulation of a great fortune, and it had been his ambition to make the museum over which he 

presided the American center of scientific research, and the agency that 

should "create, control, and diffuse the increase of knowledge of the New 

World." Due honor should be accorded him for the brilliancy of his 

scheme, but a hundred millionaires could not do the work of scientific 

research now being done by the General Government. Should the work of 

scientific research and the progress of American civilization wait until the 

contagion of his example inspired a hundred millionaires to engage in like 

good works?

In conclusion, Powell restated his principles of scientific work to be 

pursued by the Government and asked consideration of three important 

questions:

"The first is this, Are the relations of the Geological Survey to the other 

scientific institutions of the Government such as will best subserve their 

interests? Of this you are now to judge.

"The second is, Is the Survey now wisely organized so that there may be 

reasonable assurance that the appropriations made by the General Government are honestly and economically applied to the work in hand? Of this 

also you are now to judge.

"The third question of importance to statesmen is this: Has the Survey 

reached its proper limit in magnitude so as to fully supply the wants of the 

country for the work which it is doing? I think that a fair examination of 

this question will reveal the fact that the wants are great and that the 

agencies for the supply are inadequate, and that the Survey itself should 

have a slow, normal, and healthy growth from year to year until the reasonable demands of the people in all portions of the country, now so urgent, 

shall be met in a manner worthy of the General Government, by which so 

great a people are organized into one body politic."

For 2 months, the Survey and the other bureaus under investigation 

awaited the Allison Commission report. Then on April 26, Mr. Herbert 

filed a bill in the House. After June 30, 1886, the Geological Survey shall 

not expend any money for paleontology except for the collection, classification, and proper care of fossils, nor for general discussion of geologic 

theories, nor for the compilation and publication of monographs or bulletins 

or other books except the annual report, and that was to be a report of 

operations only. Authors might publish at their own expense and copyright 

their publications. All printing and engraving for the Geological Survey, 

and for the other bureaus as well, was to be estimated separately and appropriated in detail. The Secretary of the Interior was to dispose of in 

accordance with law the laboratories of the Geological Survey that would no 

longer be needed.

The bill was, naturally, looked on as disastrous. Major Powell wrote a 

letter to the Commission, which was somehow published in the New York 

Tribune of May 3. The principal properties to be sold in accordance with 

the bill were portions of the buildings of the Smithsonian Institution, the 

National Museum, a rented building used as headquarters and office, and 

the Peabody Museum of Yale College. Such a sale was impossible and the 

provision was "nugatory." On May 5, Mr. Herbert quietly submitted an 

amended bill, omitting the provision for the sale of the laboratories.

The report accompanying the bill, signed by Mr. Herbert and Senator 

Morgan, dealt at length with the expenditures of the Survey, and especially 

the expenditures for printing. The total cost of engraving and printing 

Survey reports to March 24, 1886, had been $289,732.76, and the estimated cost of printing the material in the hands of the printer on that date

Allison Commission Report 123
was another $177,550. The cost of printing was thus another 20 percent 

over and above the total that had been appropriated for the Survey to that 

time. But no geologic quadrangle maps had yet been published. "It is the 

intention of the Commission," the report said, "to allow the Survey to 

continue the collection of material but to inhibit it from paleontological 

discussion and also from discussing the general principles of geologic science. 

These the Commission believes may be well left as in England to private 

enterprise. This will result in a large saving to the Government, and it is 

hoped will tend to expedite the preparation of the geologic map of the 

United States." Then Mr. Herbert felt free to wax a little sarcastic. "It 

would appear to us, however, that if the map we have appropriated so much 

money for is to be of any practical value, it should make its appearance in 

a reasonable time. But come when it may, it will have its uses. Should it 

continue its present progress toward completion, then, although geology 

may perhaps keep pace in improvement with other sciences, and although 

it may become antiquated before it is published, yet we can console ourselves 

with the thought that our map when finished will be of value to those who 

wish to study the archeology of geologic research."

The report concluded with a quotation from the historian Buckle on the 

stifling of independent thought and the repression of the spirit of individual 

enterprise through patronage by Louis XIV. The Director of the Geological 

Survey had a corps of more than 150, all of whom were no doubt loyal to 

their chief. There were, in addition, 69 scientists scattered over the country 

who were also on the Survey payroll. When so many geologists were sustained by the Government treasury, was there any room in the field for 

individual enterprise? If not, then "all American geology must be under one 

man, whose favor must be retained, whose theories must be sustained, and 

so there can be no independent thought. Monopoly that gives absolute 

control, that puts in the hands of one the power to say who and who only 

shall pursue geology profitably, will most assuredly put science in bondage, 

and its votaries, in the language of Buckle, to 'scrambling in miserable 

rivalry for the sordid favors of a court.'

So loud was the outcry of protest from scientists throughout the country 

(Science was particularly outraged) that the Allison Commission held another 

session, and in the full Commission report, filed in the Senate on June 8, 

1886, a substitute bill was recommended, one that would limit the cost 

of printing and engraving and enable Congress from year to year to judge 

the amount and character of printing and illustration work to be done on 

the basis of estimates prepared in advance of publication. "It is not the 

purpose of the Commission," the majority report said, "to recommend the 

withholding of the publication of the full results of the Survey, as it is plain 

that if it is wise to make the survey it is not unwise to provide for the fullest 

publication of its results."

The Commission did not present a unanimous report. A majority report, 

signed by Senators Allison and Hale and Mesrs. Lowry and Wait leaned 

heavily on efficiency and economy as the reasons guiding their deliberations 

and decisions. The majority concluded that nothing in the testimony indicated that the work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey could be more 

efficiently or economically done if transferred to the Navy, so there was no 

reason for making the change. The majority was of the opinion that the 

administrative part of the work of the Geological Survey was well conducted; 

they expressed no opinion on the plan of the survey. They had no doubt of 

the wisdom of the geological survey of the whole country, noted that on 

the basis of the current annual appropriations it would require 30 years to 

complete this survey but thought that the rapidity with which the work was

124 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
done could "wisely be left to Congress from year to year, depending upon 

the condition of the country and the necessities of the Treasury for the 

amount to be appropriated each year."

Still, Mr. Herbert managed to have the last word. Major Powell had filed 

a rebuttal to the minority report, taking up 18 specific points. Major Powell's letter and Mr. Herbert's comments thereon concluded the Commission's report. For the most part, Mr. Herbert simply quoted the testimony 

from which he had drawn his conclusions. Major Powell said that when the 

report complained of the expense of the geological survey, it had not considered the amount that was spent for topography, but Mr. Herbert said 

that if all the topographic work was in preparation for the geologic map, 

then its cost was properly part of the cost of the geologic survey. Major 

Powell said that the report complained that economic geology was not being 

done in the Survey, whereas all the work was directly or indirectly of economic value, and Mr. Herbert quoted the Director's testimony that the 

States were organizing to do the economic work that was not being done 

as part of the general survey. Major Powell said that the report complained 

of geologic dictatorship, whereas there was no class of men so independent 

and self-poised as those engaged in original research. Mr. Herbert blandly 

replied that there was no purpose to show that the Director was personally 

dictatorial, and he had not used the word. His objection was to the system. 

There was a tendency of those supported by the Government to defend the 

Survey against all critics and to maintain its infallibility. There were many 

able men in the corps, capable of independent thought, whose views might 

have been of great value to the Commission, whose views might have been 

different on some points, but during nearly 2 years of hearings, only one 

man had been heard from. Every inquiry had been answered by him, every 

thought had come from him. "Who can say," he concluded, "that the 

views of that chief who thinks and speaks for all before a Commission of 

Congress will not unduly preponderate in the consideration of scientific 

questions?"

Mr. Herbert tried to have the last word in Congress, too. On June 29, 

when the Sundry Civil Expenses bill was being considered, he spoke at 

length against the extravagant spending in the Survey. "The difficulty seems 

to be right here. Professor Powell deems this to be a strictly scientific 

institution, 'organized for,' as he says, 'and strictly comprehending original 

research,' the searching for new principles to enlarge the field of science. 

This seems to him to be one of the prime objects of the institution and the 

law of its being, as he understands it.* * *Is it not true that Congress when 

it established this survey intended it to be a bureau of applied science?" 

Mr. Hewitt did not deny it.

Representative Symes of Colorado, the chairman of the House Committee 

on Mines and Mining, had demanded, and been granted, equal time to 

speak for the Survey. Mr. Symes' committee had been considering another 

bill to establish a bureau of mines and mining, but had proposed instead, 

in a report dated April 22, 1886, that certain duties be added to the 

Geological Survey's work. Mr. Symes spoke in glowing terms of the mining 

geology work of the Survey and the great value of the reports on mineral 

resources. When the Sundry Civil Expenses bill was passed, the Survey 

received the same appropriation, $67,700 for scientific assistants and 

$400,000 for expenses. The Survey's operations were seemingly approved 

by the Congress.

There was, however, one person still dissatisfied. Professor Cope had been 

seeking a special appropriation to pay for publication of the rest of his 

report. He obviously was privy to the discussions of the Allison Commission,

Allison Commission Report 125
for on April 15, or 11 days before Mr. Herbert filed his bill, Cope had 

written to his daughter that, "Paleontology is of course killed for the present, but I hope by the aid of Secretary Lamar to get all straightened in 

time." A month later, he saw the Secretary, but the meeting was unsatisfactory. He continued to visit the Secretary's office, waiting to be seen, 

and finally had another meeting on June 29, but all the Secretary did was 

dictate a letter to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution asking for 

information and advice. Professor Cope then transferred his attention to the 

House Appropriations Committee, but they had already completed the bill. 

From the House he went to the Senate, and finally an amendment was 

inserted in the Senate bill. A few days later it was thrown out on a technicality.

The full effect of the Allison Commission investigations was felt when 

the appropriations for fiscal year 1888 were considered. The House Committee on Appropriations, in making up the Sundry Civil Expenses bill, 

allowed the usual $400,000 for Survey expenses, but when that item came 

up for discussion in the House itself in December 1886, Mr. Herbert 

inquired why it was not itemized as was that of the Coast and Geodetic 

Survey.

Here are $400,000 in a lump sum for what, in my opinion, is a very extravagant 

bureau extravagantly conducted. Unless there is itemizing it is absolutely impossible, if it is desired to make an amendment, to know how to get at it.

The chairman of the Appropriations Committee agreed that itemization 

would be desirable, said he would gladly support anyone who wanted to 

make the effort to obtain such estimates, but, recalling the long battle with 

the Coast Survey on that score, was pessimistic about the outcome. Mr. 

Herbert solved that problem simply by an amendment to the item for the 

Survey, adding the clause

and hereafter the estimates for all moneys wanted by the Geological Survey 

shall be itemized.

And so it was passed by both the House and Senate. Until 1950, Congress 

continued to appropriate funds for the Survey item by item.

In the same bill, the Public Printer was authorized to spend $54,000 for 

the engraving of geologic maps but only $68,000 for engraving illustrations, printing, and binding Survey reports. As the latter amount was little 

more than a third of the amount reported necessary to publish the reports 

in the hands of the Public Printer in March 1886, a drastic change in the 

publication program would be necessary, particularly in the preparation of 

illustrations other than maps. Congress continued to control publication by 

appropriating specific amounts for printing and binding reports annually 

until 1949.

126 Measures of Reform, 1884-1886
Chapter 5.

Civilized Competition, 1886 1888

In civilization man does not struggle with man for existence, but by the invention of institutions he emancipates himself from the reign of terror inherent 

in brutal competition, and transfers the struggle from himself to the institutions 

of his creation

 John Wesley Powell

The summer of 1886 was a relatively peaceful one for the Geological 

Survey after the tension of the Allison Commission investigation, but new 

tensions soon developed. In January 1886, while the Allison Commission 

was in session, the American Committee on the International Congress of 

Geologists had met in New York and decided to prepare a report on the 

Berlin Congress of 1885 and to seek the cooperation of the scientific societies 

of the country in securing a meeting of the International Congress in the 

United States. W J McGee represented the Director, who was held in 

Washington by the congressional hearings. The Committee had met again 

in May without Survey representation, and at that time, set up subcommittees on the Archean, Lower Paleozoic, Upper Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic (marine), Cenozoic (interior), and Quaternary, Recent, and Archeology. Then on August 4, 1886, as Congress was about to adjourn, the 

Senate passed a resolution proposed by Senator Preston B. Plumb of Kansas 

directing the Commissioner of Agriculture to furnish to the Senate early at 

its next session such information on the subject of irrigation as he might 

have gathered and prepared for publication. In both instances the Survey 

had knowledge and strong interest, but others were taking the lead. Within 

the Survey, tension developed between the mining geologists and general 

geologists.

The topographic work that summer was again for the most part simply 

a continuation of the work of the preceding year. A few changes in organization were made. Marcus Baker, who had spent 12 of his 13 years at the 

Coast and Geodetic Survey as a subassistant, chiefly in hydrographic and 

coast-pilot work in Alaska, joined the Geological Survey as a geographer 

and was placed in charge of the Northeastern Section. The mapping on the 

mile-to-the-inch scale in the District of Columbia area for McGee's project 

was transferred from the Appalachian Section to the Northeastern Section. 

A new section, the Central Section, was established to include the work in 

Kansas and Missouri and such other work as might be done thereafter in 

the Mississippi Valley States; John H. Renshawe was placed in charge.

Gilbert resumed his studies of the shorelines of the Great Lakes and 

continued work on his still-unfinished report on Lake Bonneville. Dutton 

spent the summer in the Cascade Mountains, most of it investigating Crater 

Lake, which had been proposed for a national reservation, while Diller 

continued the detailed geologic study of Lassen Peak. For the examination 

of Crater Lake, Dutton arranged for the construction of a boat to be used 

for sounding and two small skiffs; he obtained sounding apparatus that was 

fitted to the larger boat as well as a tackle for lowering the boats into the 

water from the cliffs, which rose sheerly from the water's edge. He needed 

also "a number of stalwart men, who could lower the boats, row them, and

Civilized Competition, 1886-1888 127
do the hard labor connected with the examination of the Lake." General 

Gibbon, commanding the Military Department of the Columbia, obliged 

a fellow officer by placing 10 men from the Vancouver barracks at his 

service. Some 168 soundings were made, and the depth of the floor was 

found to be 1,600 to 2,000 feet below the surface, making Crater Lake the 

deepest freshwater lake known to Button.

McGee was sent off to make such examinations as were necessary in order 

to reply to inquiries that had been received about the possibility of an 

artesian water supply at the head of Chesapeake Bay. He established a center 

of operations at the Fishing Battery Station near Havre de Grace, Maryland, 

and made extended studies along both shores of the bay, traveling either in 

a steam launch belonging to the Fish Commission or on foot. McGee's 

report was equivocal: "The favorable probabilities are such as to warrant the 

risk of boring provided it can be done at small cost, but not such as to 

warrant costly operations; while the unfavorable probabilities are such that 

a successful issue cannot be confidently predicted."The data collected 

proved to be of unusual scientific interest, however, and McGee later revisited the area to make a thorough study of the Potomac formation and Coastal 

Plain geology and topography.

McGee was also pressed into service to begin the investigation of the 

earthquake in South Carolina that occurred on Tuesday, the 31st of August, 

1886, at 9:50 in the evening, while Button was somewhere in the Cascade 

Mountains. Communication between the Charleston area and the outside 

world was cut, the railways were made impassable, and the telegraph lines 

were down, so that word of the disaster was not spread until late Wednesday 

when a brief telegraphic despatch was sent out. The Charleston News Courier 

sent an account to Summerville, whence it was telegraphed to Washington 

for publication on Thursday. McGee and a photographer arrived on Friday, 

September 3, and spent a week making observations in the most seriously 

shaken area. A more extensive study was reserved for Button's return in 

the fall.

Professor Shaler pursued the matter of the reclamation of swamplands. 

He spent the month of July preparing a plan for the study of the freshwater 

swamps of the country that had been added to the work of the Atlantic 

Coast Bivision. The novelty of the inquiry, together with the probability 

that it would in time call for a considerable expenditure of money, made 

it desirable that the character of the work to be done be carefully determined, 

so Shaler visited several swamp areas in New England and New York, 

although his funds were insufficient for any extensive work. Meanwhile, 

Chamberlin, Salisbury, Leverett, and Wooster began a detailed study of the 

region about the head of Lake Michigan and between it and the Erie Basin, 

where the glacial phenomena were exceptionally complicated because of the 

successive ice invasions.

In the Appalachian Bivision, Bailey Willis mapped along the French 

Broad River, I. C. Russell was in Alabama, and H. R. Geiger continued 

along the Potomac section. Willis had developed a method of using the 

stadia transit as his principal instrument, and Russell used essentially the 

same method, but Geiger clung to the use of an odometer for distances on 

wagonroads and a tapeline where the wagon would not go.

Hague went back to the Yellowstone region, this time accompanied by 

Iddings, Hallock, Weed, and S. L. Penfield, who had volunteered for a 

second summer. The fieldwork was confined to the park and adjacent country, the area being determined in part by the geological problems and in 

part by the boundaries proposed in the bill for the enlargement and maintenance of the park at the preceding session of Congress. Hague was accom128 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
Although by the 1880's most geologists had accepted the fact that the great mantle of drift that 

covers much of the Northern States is the product 

of ice action, they still differed on whether, as T. 

C. Chamberlin put it, the ice invasion had been by 

land or by sea, or whether the drift came primarily 

from glaciers creeping over the face of the country 

or from icebergs and ice floes sailing over submerging waters. Chamberlin's own investigation of rock 

scorings, which he called the trails left by the invader, was convincing evidence that the icy visitor 

was a glacier. (From T C. Chamberlin, 1888.)

panied for part of the summer by Congressman Charles H. Alien of Massachusetts, who was examining the park as a forest reservation and studying 

its importance to the Government from an economic standpoint. A special 

agent of the Secretary of Interior, investigating the management of the park, 

was also given aid and sustenance.

In the two Archean divisions, Pumpelly and Irving were ready to begin 

mapping atlas sheets but also continued their special studies. Professor B. 

K. Emerson of Amherst, who had previously done extensive work in central 

Massachusetts, was added to the staff of Pumpelly's division part time to 

map east of the Hoosac Range. In the Lake Superior Division, Merriam and 

W. S. Bayley, who had just received his Ph.D. from Hopkins, began the 

mapping. Florence Bascom, daughter of the President of the University of 

Wisconsin and a student there, assisted Irving, Van Hise, and G. H. Williams in the special studies. Irving was now convinced that the older crystalline schists, gneisses, and granites were entirely separate from the clastic 

series which he called the Huronian, and he advocated reserving the name 

Archean for the pre-Huronian crystalline rocks.

Hayden spent his last summer in the field. He and Peale spent about a 

month reexamining localities near Fort Ellis, Montana, while G. P. Merrill 

of the National Museum studied the field relations of some of the eruptive 

rocks they had observed the year before. Because of a recurrence of his 

illness, Hayden was unable to continue work, and in December, he resigned 

from the Survey.

Professor Marsh's monograph on Dinocerata, which King had promised 

in the first annual report, was published. It was an impressive volume of

General Geology, 1886 129
243 pages, larger than quarto, but the illustrations were its main glory. 

Marsh himself said: "The text of such a Memoir may soon lose its interest, 

and belong to the past, but good figures are of permanent value in all 

departments of Natural Science. What is now especially needed in Palaeontology is, not long descriptions of fragmentary fossils, but accurate illustrations of characteristic type specimens. In the fifty-six lithographic plates 

and nearly two hundred original woodcuts in the present volume, it is 

believed that this requirement is fairly met."

Emmons had presented a major paper on The Genesis of Certain Ore-Deposits 

at the Bethlehem meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers 

in May 1886. His conclusions on the Leadville deposits, published in the 

second annual report, had been widely criticized as if he had intended them 

as a general theory. On the basis of further work, he was then ready to

130 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
C. E. Button investigated the major earthquake 

that had occurred in South Carolina on August 31, 

1886. Seismology was then in its infancy, but Dutton investigated not only the effects of the earthquake on buildings and railroads but also the nature 

of the motion and the depth of the shock. Unlike 

most pictures showing the effects of earthquakes on 

railroads, there are no twisted tracks in this scene, 

which was captioned "Disaster on the Railroad." 

(From C. E. Dutton, 1889.)

present some generalizations to his audience "as suggestive, that their own 

observations may further prove or disprove them." Emmons stated:

That many deposits have been formed under conditions of great heat and pressure is most probable; that heat and pressure greatly increase the solvent 

power of percolating waters is evident; but that heat and pressure are an absolutely essential condition of mineral solution cannot be maintained, since we 

see in nature many instances of mineral solution and deposition under ordinary 

pressure and by comparatively cold waters.

His own work, he thought demonstrated "increasing applicability" of 

the following conditions; that ores "are deposited from solutions made by 

percolating waters. That the deposition takes place very rarely in actually 

open cavities, but most frequently by a metasomatic interchange, or by 

replacement of the more soluble or more accessible portions of a rock or 

members of a rock-series. That these solutions do not necessarily come 

directly upward, but simply follow the easiest channels of approach. That 

these materials are not immediately derived from sources at some unknown 

depth, but from neighboring bodies of rock within and conceivable distance. 

That where, as is so often the case, ore-deposits are associated with, or in 

the vicinity of, bodies of eruptive rock, especially the older intrusive rocks, 

there is a reasonable probability that their materials have been derived from 

these rocks."

Emmons' fieldwork in the 1886 field season was limited to short visits 

to mining districts for comparative studies of the conditions of ore deposition 

after he finished the final proof corrections and indexing of the Leadville 

monograph in late August. Cross was deeply involved in lithologic studies 

in Denver, and Eldridge continued the fieldwork in the Denver area, although he was unable to complete it as planned because the geology was far 

more complicated than had been anticipated.

Becker spent several months resolving the remaining chemical problems 

for the quicksilver monography, while Turner and Lindgren began mapping 

the California gold belt. Becker's plan for that work called for a preliminary 

survey in which only the simplest features would be mapped but extensive 

notes taken so that appropriate localities could be selected for more detailed 

studies of the structure of the range, the age of the gravels, the metamorphism, and the genesis of the ore.

Albert Williams completed the volume on mineral resources for 1885 

and resigned at the end of August to become Dean of the new Michigan 

College of Mines at Houghton. David T. Day, who had graduated from the 

John Hopkins University in 1881 and received a Ph.D. in chemistry in 

1883, succeeded him. Day had contributed to all three volumes on mineral 

resources of the United States, on miscellaneous metals, fertilizers, and 

certain nonmetals, and he was Williams' own choice to carry on the work.

The Survey's position on stratigraphic nomenclature and cartographic 

representation was challenged in October 1886 when C. H. Hitchcock 

presented a communication to the American Institute of Mining Engineers 

on the geologic map of the United States. Hitchcock used McGee's map 

as the base for his map, which he colored in accordance with the color 

scheme of the International Geological Congress. He explained that, "The 

color scheme of the International Congress agrees in many respects with the 

usage of American geologists prior to 1875. The latter commonly used 

yellow for Tertiary, green for Cretaceous, dark gray or sepia for Carboniferous, rose or carmine for the crystalline, vermillion for the volcanic, and the 

former propose to continue to use these. Usage has varied for the other 

systems."

Economic Geology, 1886 131
He added:

In regard to nomenclature, the value and order of time-words and stratigraphic 

designations have never been based upon any natural relations. Consequently 

great relief is afforded by a majority vote of the geologists of all countries.

He then outlined for the AIME the general conclusions of the Berlin Congress on the use of terms. "The word Formation conveys the idea of origin 

rather than of time, and is not used in a stratigaphic sense. In its stead, the 

French word Terrain, anglicised to Terrane, is regarded as more definitive. 

The most genera] stratigraphic division will be designated as group, of which 

there are four, Archean, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. The groups are 

divided into Systems, which are Tertiary, Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic, 

Carboniferous, Devonian, Silurian, Cambrian, Huronian, and Laurentian. 

The systems are divided into series, the series into Etages, or Stages, and 

the stages into Assises or Rocks. Any further subdivision receives the name 

of beds. The chronological divisions corresponding to these terms are Era, 

Period, Epoch, Age, and Phase. The Committee upon the European map 

have suggested the need of distinguishing the different orders of division by 

homophonous terminations, that is, possessing the same sound. They propose the termination -ary for the groups, -ic for the systems, and -ian for 

the series. To carry out this suggestion it would be needful to restore such 

words as Secondary, and to change Cretaceous, Carboniferous, Devonian, 

and Silurian to Cretacic, Carbonic, Devonic, and Siluric."

The American Committee on the International Congress met again in 

December 1886, voted to adopt the decisions of the International Congress 

and to recommend their acceptance by American geologists. Persifor Frazer 

was named to prepare a report on the Archean, N. H. Winchell on the 

Lower Paleozoic, J. J. Stevenson and H. S. Williams on the Upper Paleozoic, G. H. Cook on the Mesozoic, E. D. Cope on the interior Cenozoic, 

E. A. Smith on the Marine Cenozoic, and Major Powell on the Quaternary, 

Recent, and Archeology. Circular letters were sent out and notices were 

published in the American Journal of Science and in Science inviting American 

geologists to submit opinions. The reporters, as they were designated, were 

expected only to obtain and synthesize American opinion or usage; there 

were, however, some strong-minded geologists serving as reporters, and it 

might be surmised that their own opinions would carry great weight.

On December 17, 1886, just 2 days after the House had passed Mr. 

Herbert's resolution calling for itemization of the Survey's budget request, 

the Commissioner of Agriculture submitted to the Senate a 240-page report 

on irrigation prepared by Richard J. Hinton in response to Senator Plumb's 

resolution of August 4. In his report, Hinton did not so much as acknowledge the existence of Major Powell's 1878 report on the arid lands, even 

in the list of references, although he covered some of the same ground. He 

considered- the extent and character of the area in which the annual rainfall 

was insufficient, the extent of the fall of rain or snow in the area, the 

evidence as to increase or decrease of precipitation resulting from agricultural 

settlement or pastoral occupation, the increase of humidity of earth or air, 

the destruction of timber, the effect of the destruction of native grasses, and 

what had been accomplished in the way of artificial methods of water distribution and economy.He concluded that the area of irreclaimable arid 

lands in the United States was "comparatively speaking, quite moderate in 

its extent," but that there was a very large area, at least one-third of the 

total land surface, wherein the water supply was both inadequate and irregular. He estimated that the area reclaimable by irrigation was 245 million

132 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
^43^^^g

¥'?''+ ,'"'-' * ' .;?, .^i ^l-y^- ' /. ;?,'>*-'* >> « / l^^y*.*<:

Topographic mapping was the largest single element in the Survey's program. The work involved 

location of mapped area on the Earth's surface by 

astronomic observation, the horizontal location of 

points by triangulation or traverse, the measurement of heights, and the sketching of the map. In 

the sketch shown, a signal has been set up for use 

in triangulation. (From Henry Gannett, 1893.)

acres, if water could be obtained, but that the known water resources were 

sufficient to irrigate only 147 million acres. The last session of the 49th 

Congress ordered the report printed but took no further action.

Irrigation in the arid region was not the most urgent problem with which 

farmers were concerned in 1886. Farm prices were low, the middlemen 

who handled the crops and the railroads that transported them were making 

charges that the farmers thought exorbitant, and operating capital was perennially short because banking facilities were scarce and interest rates were 

high. An investigating committee headed by Senator Cullom of Illinois had 

concluded that the railroads had indulged in "unjust discrimination between 

places, persons, commodities, or particular descriptions of traffic" and 

recommended that a rigorous pattern of regulation be adopted. On February 

4, 1887, the Interstate Commerce Act was passed, forbidding discrimination, prohibiting pooling, rate agreements, excessive rates and rebates, and 

restricting charging more for a short than a long haul.

The American Committee on the International Congress met again in 

April 1887, and to this meeting a general invitation to attend had been 

extended to all American geologists. The committee seemed still intent on 

conforming to the decisions of the International Congress. Professor H. S. 

Williams, however, suggested that there should really be a dual set of 

designations: one referring to the lithologic character of rock masses and 

based on geographic names, which would tend to vary from place to place; 

and the other based on some great and persistent fauna that would be 

substantially constant over large areas and perhaps over the world. The 

stratigrapher, he pointed out, takes account of the great physical changes

Stratigraphic Nomenclature 133
to which the Earth's surface had been subjected, and the paleontologist 

tries to delineate the organic changes that the surface of the Earth has 

witnessed. These changes were supposed to be coeval and coextensive, and, 

so long as the geology of the United States was known accurately only in 

New York State, the relation seemed to hold. Since other areas of the United 

States had been carefully examined, however, divergences had been found 

in various places and in various ways. Unless great freedom to diverge from 

the scheme adopted for stratigraphic designations was allowed, he said, any 

nomenclature adopted by the American Committee on the International 

Congress would be a short-lived experiment.

Gilbert had held aloof, all this while believing that the Congress was 

trying to regulate something that could not be regulated by legislation. At 

first he had thought that the International Congress would accomplish little, 

but was finally convinced that,

Unless the conservatives make themselves heard, geology may be saddled 

with a tyranny of authoritative classification that will seriously hamper its development.

At the meeting of the AAAS in August 1887, at which he was vice president 

for Section E, he opened the session with an address on "The Work of the 

International Congress of Geologists." He expressed approval of the action 

of the International Congress in selecting names to show the taxonomic rank 

of stratigraphic divisions and chronologic divisions. There was "a manifest 

advantage in bringing order out of this chaos." The order or rank was 

strange to most English readers and writers, and so was one of the terms 

stage but the strangeness was only a temporary disadvantage, for experience had shown that the connotations of a word transferred from one use to 

another quickly disappeared from consciousness, leaving it purely denotative. He did not like the propositions before the International Congress to 

distinguish the names of individual groups, systems, series, and stages by 

means of homophonous terminations. Although the adoption of such a plan 

would enable a writer or speaker to indicate the taxonomic rank of a terrane 

without adding a word for that purpose, it would become impossible to 

allude to a terrane without declaring its rank, and this would contravene 

one of the most important rights of opinion, the right to reserve opinion. 

It would also introduce a needless synonymy when geologists differed as to 

the rank of a terrane, and the necessity for taxonomic discrimination on all 

occasions would lead many a geologist to conceive of taxonomy as an end 

instead of a means.

The problem in stratigraphic classification was one of the true concept of 

a system. "There does not exist," Gilbert said, "a world-wide system nor 

a world-wide group, but every system and every group is local. The classification developed in one place is perfectly applicable only there. At a 

short distance away some of its beds disappear and others are introduced; 

farther on its stages cannot be recognized; then its series fail and finally its 

systems and its groups.

"If I have properly characterized stratigraphic systems if they are both 

natural and local it goes without saying that the classification of the strata 

of all countries in a dozen or so systems, as proposed by some of the members 

of the congress, is impossible."

Or rather, he said, it was not impossible from their point of view, because 

they had a different concept of a system. A universal system, however, 

would be artificial in all except the geologic province in which it was 

developed, and Gilbert was opposed to any attempt to coerce the geology 

of one country in a rigid matrix formed over and shaped by the geology of

Survey topographers needed a plane table that had 

the utmost stability consistent with lightness and 

portability for traverse work. Both forms used by 

the Coast and Geodetic Survey a very stable but 

heavy and cumbersome movement and a light but 

unstable movement were tried, but one invented 

by W. D. Johnson of the Survey that had a movement based on the ball-and-socket principle, proved 

more suitable. (From Henry Gannett, 1893-)

134 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
another country. The time scale was another matter. The time scale was 

arbitrary and a matter of convenience, so it was legitimate to modify it and 

fix it by formal convention, but it should be recognized that such a scale 

was arbitrary and that a scale once adopted would not continue to be the 

best possible indefinitely.

As for map colors, it would be better to adopt no convention at all than 

to adopt one carrying with it and promulgating a vicious classification. 

Uniformity was not worth purchasing at the price of falsification. Gilbert 

proposed that the continuous prismatic spectrum be adopted as the standard 

universal for continuous geologic time, that the conventional time scale, 

based on the geologic history of Europe, be complemented by a prismatic 

but discontinuous color scale, each period being assigned a specific color 

defined by its position in the spectrum, and that students in each geologic 

district then assign to the stratigraphic systems of that district a set ot 

prismatic colors so selected from the spectrum as to properly represent the 

relation of each system to the time scale.

In conclusion, Gilbert pointed out that science established its fundamental data by observation and that it was not only illogical but suicidal for 

science to establish facts in any other way. No vote of the most august body 

could possibly establish a fact, and no geologic results could be made more 

true or be prevented from yielding to contrary facts by agreement. Classification was the generalized expression of observed facts and outside the 

dominion of the voter. The proper function of the International Congress 

was

the establishment of common means of expressing the facts of geology. It 

should not meddle with the facts themselves. It may regulate the art of the 

geologist, but it must not attempt to regulate his science. Its proper field of 

work lies in the determination of questions of technology; it is a trespasser if 

it undertakes the determination of questions of science. It may decree terms, 

but it must not decree opinions.

The American Committee had met a week beforehand to hear the papers 

prepared by the reporters. Major Powell opposed any formal vote of acceptance of the reports by the Committee, and in deference to him, no vote 

was taken, but it was decided to present the reports in summary at the 

Section E meeting. Walcott was hastily summoned to meet the Director 

"for consultation and to be present at the meeting of the Geologic Section." 

When Persifor Frazer presented the summary, those present, well prepared 

by Gilbert's talk, began a point-by-point discussion, but little progress was 

made. Gilbert had announced at the outset that a vote would not be in 

order as the reports had not been adopted by the American Committee and 

were merely expressions of individual opinion. He did, however, permit a 

resolution approving the work of the Committee, to which Powell added 

an amendment increasing the membership of the Committee to 75. When 

considerable opposition to the amendment developed, Gilbert hastily declared the meeting adjourned to take part in an excursion. At the next 

session, Powell withdrew his amendment, and the resolution was passed, 

although only a few bothered to vote.

During the summer of 1887, much of the Geological Survey work was 

concentrated on the stratigraphic column. One of the principal questions 

was related to the Archean and its relationship to the Paleozoic, with which 

both Irving and Pumpelly were concerned. Pumpelly continued to concentrate on the geology of western New England, in particular the Green 

Mountains, but spent some time with Irving. Irving spent the summer 

visiting points that could throw light on the relations of the iron-bearing 

series and the green crystalline schists, gneisses, and granites with which

Stratigraphic Nomenclature 135
they were associated. Peale also worked in an area of supposed Archean 

rocks, completing the geologic mapping of the northern part of the Three 

Forks sheet.

Most of Walcott's fieldwork was an investigation of the Cambrian and 

Lower Silurian strata of the Hudson River valley and of Vermont and western 

Massachusetts, to determine the true position, extent, and significance of 

the Taconic system of Ebenezer Emmons in the localities where Emmons 

had originally studied it, and in the Green Mountains to the north. Walcott 

found the stratigraphy of the eastern part of the area essentially as described 

by Emmons, but fossils found in the quartzite to the east and also in the 

overlying limestone indicated that the age of the greater part of the original 

Taconic system had been misinterpreted and that its rocks belonged to 

several intervals of geologic time.

Four parties were in the field in the Appalachian Division: I. C. Russell, 

assisted by C. W. Hayes, a recent Ph.D. from Hopkins, in Alabama; Bailey 

Willis, assisted by Arthur Keith, who had just received an M.A. from 

Harvard, in Tennessee; H. R. Geiger on the line of the Potomac; and N. 

H. Darton, who had been employed to compile a bibliography on Appalachian geology, was given a chance to get into the field and spent 2Vi months 

in a reconnaissance of the headwaters of the Greenbrier, New, and James 

Rivers in Virginia and West Virginia.

C. A. White continued his examinations of the Lower Cretaceous strata 

of Texas and made progress in correlating them with formations to the east 

in the lower Mississippi Valley. Professor Marsh and his assistants made 

further collections in the Jurassic of Wyoming and southern Colorado and 

also in the Miocene of Dakota. Dall directed and conducted fieldwork in 

the Cenozoic of northern California, Florida, and New Jersey, and Lester 

Ward made extensive collections in the coal-bearing strata in the vicinity 

of Bozeman, Montana, and in the fossil forests of the Yellowstone with the 

assistance of F. H. Knowlton.

Gilbert continued his investigation of postglacial changes of level in the 

Northern and Northeastern States. Dutton was fully occupied with his study 

of the Charleston earthquake, and Diller completed the survey of Lassen 

Peak and the northern part of the Sacramento Valley. The field of the 

Division of Volcanic Geology was extended to include all the region between 

the Great Basin and the Pacific Ocean north of the 40th parallel, that is, 

north of the area where Becker was working. The plan had been to cover 

only the area between the 121st and 123d meridians until Becker and 

White reported that the Coast Range and the Cascade Range had a common 

and interdependent history and could not properly be dissociated.

In the California Division of Mining Geology, Becker continued serenely 

on his own way. He spent most of the year in a microscopic study of the 

ores and rocks of Almaden, Spain, which he had visited in the spring of

E. M. Douglas devised a new form of odometer, 

the device used to measure distances by counting 

the revolutions of a wheel, usually one of the front 

wheels of a buggy or buckboard. Althouth it was 

the most trustworthy yet devised, it was not wholly 

satisfactory and many topographers preferred to 

count the revolutions of the wheel,using an arrangement by which a bell was rung at each revolution. 

(From Henry Gannett, 1893.)

136 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
1887, in order to compare the geology of the Almaden and California 

quicksilver deposits. Turner and Lindgren continued to make steady progress 

in mapping the gold belt.

Emmons, Cross, and Eakins spent the field season of 1887 in the Crested 

Butte region, while Eldridge worked on the Denver Basin report, no small 

part of his time being taken up with corrections to the topographic base. 

Emmons was not too happy about the Crested Butte project. When he 

selected the area for study, it had promised to be the scene of the most 

important economic development on the western slope of the mountains, 

but industrial development had followed the railroads on the northern rather 

than the southern slope of the Elk Mountains. Large and valuable coalbeds 

had been opened, iron ores discovered, and above all, extremely rich silver 

deposits were being developed in Aspen, only 15 to 20 miles north of the 

area covered by their maps. A quick trip to Aspen showed that the structure 

there was too complicated to study without a topographic base, and Emmons' allotment was too small to have one made.

Almost all the topographic fieldwork in the summer of 1887 was simply 

a continuation of previous work. Gannett reported that the improvements 

in instruments and methods of work had kept pace with the extension of 

the topographic surveys. Graphic methods had been found to be the most 

economical and rapid and also to yield the best results. The plane table and 

alidade were being used for nearly all surveying. There had, in fact, been 

such great improvements, not only in the instruments and methods but in 

the skill and efficiency of the topographers, that the cost of work per unit 

area had greatly diminished, the quality and accuracy of the work had 

improved, and a given grade of work could be accomplished more rapidly. 

At the same time, the demand for maps of greater detail and on a larger 

scale had been growing. As a result, the original 4-mile scale was being 

abandoned in all but high mountain areas and the arid plains and plateaus.

Emmons' Leadville monograph was finally issued in September 1887. 

The American Journal of Science said the work was "grandly prepared in all 

respects" and a "very important contribution to geology and the science 

of mines and mining." Science called the volume and accompanying atlas 

magnificent. T. A. Rickard called the monograph "epoch making," and 

said,

gave the mining community a series of maps that to the mining engineer were 

as charts whereby he steered the course of his exploration; it is not too much 

to say that, measured even in so commercial a unit as the dollar they were 

worth many millions to the operators at Leadville. Moreover, the report *** 

taught those engaged in mining throughout the Rocky Mountain region, and 

elsewhere, how great was the immediate and practical usefulness of a correct 

geologic diagnosis of a mining district, quite apart from its obvious value in 

presenting scientific conclusions and its general educational effect.

In the following month, the Director ordered Emmons to close the Denver 

office and transfer the collections to Washington, thereby provoking yet 

another source of tension. The Colorado Scientific Society protested, and the 

Denver Chamber of Commerce sent a petition to Washington. Congressman 

Symes, long a supporter of the Survey, had second thoughts and said the 

people of Colorado might turn their backs on the Survey if the Denver office 

were closed. For a while the Director hesitated, but finally, at the beginning 

of 1888, the decision was made. The collections and materials were shipped 

to Washington.

In February 1888, Emmons presented another major paper on the origin 

of ore deposits at the meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers 

in Boston, this one entitled The Structural Relations of Orebodies. Modest

The Leadville Monograph 137
FIG X CJJASS~T"ENDEKVr MINE

F10.J EVENING STAR tttOLINE

^C^3 PS

Emmons' monograph on the Leadville mining district was perhaps the most important Survey publication in its first quarter century. Emmons found 

that the principal deposits at Leadville were in the 

Blue limestone at or near its contact with overlying 

bodies of porphyry. He concluded that the material 

was derived from the porphyry and deposited from 

descending currents by metasomatic interchange 

with the country rock. In the four examples shown: 

The limestone has remained barren although the 

porphyry has been intruded into it; ore is found 

along the contact of the porphyry and the limestone; 

ore has replaced the limestone in thin sheet-like 

bodies following a cleavage or fracture plan; and ore 

has replaced a large mass of limestone. (From S. F. 

Emmons, 1886 [1887].)

as always, he claimed no originality for his work; he gave credit to King for 

the generosity that had enabled him to make an elaborate and detailed study 

of the geology, not only in the immediate vicinity of the Leadville mines 

but of the adjacent mountain regions as well, so that the structural relations 

were determined with an exceptional degree of detail and accuracy. The 

inductions based on those structural relations had now borne the test of 7 

years of exploration, and their substantial accuracy had been so abundantly 

proved that they afforded an excellent practical illustration of the importance 

of the structural study. Now Emmons was ready to extend his ideas to other 

types of deposits and present some preliminary generalizations that might 

furnish the basis for a general classification of ore deposits. He stated that: 

Deposits were formed from aqueous solutions; under given conditions of 

heat and pressure, all substances were more or less permeable to water, but 

water tended to concentrate where there was more ready passage or flow; 

and during such passage or flow, it might come into different conditions 

that might favor deposition, precipitation, or chemical interchange. Natural 

water channels might be formed by sedimentation or bedding by intrusion

138 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
of eruptive masses or by dynamic movements producing fractures across rock 

masses of differing origin or composition.

Emmons "main proposition," as he put it, was

that careful structural study of the district in which a mine occurs and of the 

manner in which the water-passages were formed, which originally gave access 

to the mineral-bearing solutions, is of the greatest importance to the mining 

engineer in his determination of the probable extent and value of a deposit and 

of the best method of exploiting it.

Despite the modest disclaimer, this paper was of fundamental significance 

in its claim for the structural control of ore deposits, and it, like the 1886 

paper on the genesis of ore deposits, is considered one of the dozen most 

influential papers on mining geology in the first 75 years of the American 

Institute of Mining Engineers. Moreover, it clearly established Emmons as 

one of the top-ranking economic geologists in the Nation.

Meanwhile, the debate on stratigraphic nomenclature continued. Persifor 

Frazer, the secretary of the American Committee on the International Geological Congress replied to Gilbert's AAAS critique with a paper in the 

American Naturalist. The American Committee then met in December 1887 

and approved and ordered printed its reports on the Archean, Devonic, 

Carbonic, Mesozoic, Marine Cenozoic, and Quaternary, Recent, and Archeology. Major Powell initiated a series of conferences in the Survey on 

stratigraphic nomenclature; as a result of these conferences, it was decided 

that a series of essays would be prepared in which existing data affecting 

the problems of American geologic nomenclature would be collected and 

discussed. Specialists would prepare essays on each of the following systems: 

Quaternary, Newer Tertiary, Older Tertiary, Cretaceous, Jura-Trias, Carboniferous, Devonian, Silurian, Cambrian, Eparchean, and Archean. Survey 

nomenclature was both different from, and more detailed than, that of the 

American Committee. The series of essays would also include discussion of 

the evidence from fossil vertebrates and fossil plants, and a thesaurus of 

North American stratigraphic terminology would be prepared. Gilbert was 

placed in general charge.

In January 1888, opposition to the Federal survey took a new form. 

Several American geologists, including Professors Alexander Winchell, 

N. H. Winchell, Samuel Calvin, Edward W. Claypole, and L. E. Hicks, 

along with Persifor Frazer of the Franklin Institute and E. O. Ulrich of the 

Illinois Survey, published the first issue of a new American journal. The 

American Geologist. They stated,

The promoters of The American Geologist have been satisfied for several years 

past that the interests of the science of geology in America have been jeopardized, and sometimes have suffered, because of the lack of cooperation 

among American geologists, and of a ready means of expression through a 

sympathetic medium of communication. Many of them have had serious misgivings as to the result of the influence of the national geological survey in 

extending its operation into the settled states of the Union, and especially into 

the states in which official geological surveys are in progress, fearing that by 

the concentration of all authority and control at the national capital, and by the 

extensive accumulation at one centre of all the material illustrating the state 

and local geology of the country, the local interest and effort may die out, and 

that ultimately the weight of public sentiment favorable to geologic investigation may suffer diminution.

The American Geologist would serve as a medium of intelligence to the stratigrapher, the petrographer, the paleontologist, the mineralogist, the "fossil 

botanist," the climatologist, the chemist, the physicist, the seismologist, 

the glacialist, the anthropologist, and the astronomer in all the directions

Opposition to the Survey 139
where their special investigations bore directly on the constitution and history of the Earth. "Geology," said the editors, "includes them all, and is 

built on them as cornerstones."

Major Powell's view of the place of geology in the scheme of knowledge 

was somewhat different. In the same month, January 1888, he had a hand 

in establishing the National Geographic Society, not as one of the signers 

of the original note calling for the organizational meeting but as one of the 

15 incorporators of the society. The purpose of the new organization was to 

increase and diffuse geographical knowledge, and at the outset, five areas 

of geographic knowledge were recognized: land, sea, air, distribution of life, 

and what Gardiner G. Hubbard, one of the founders, called the abstract 

science of geographic art, or mapmaking. In Germany, where the great 

development of geography as a science had taken place during the 19th 

century, geology was considered part of geography. The National Geographic Society, quite possibly because of Major Powell's influence, went 

still further. It included not only geology but anthropology as part of geography. Major Powell did not hold office in the new society, but Henry 

Gannett was the first recording secretary and A. H. Thompson, the vice 

president for the Section of Cartography.

All these matters, however, took second rank to an opportunity, which 

Major Powell had long sought, to do something about the irrigation question. When the 50th Congress convened in December 1887, Senator William Stewart of Nevada was back, after an absence of 12 years, with two 

strong interests irrigation and silver. The session was only a few days old 

when Senator Stewart filed a bill to encourage irrigation by the segregation 

of irrigable lands and reservation of places for reservoirs and rights of way 

for ditches and canals. The bill was referred to the Committee on Public 

Lands, of which Senator Plumb, who had requested the report from the 

Department of Agriculture, was chairman.

President Cleveland devoted his entire state of the Union message in 

December 1887 to tariff reform. A surplus in the Treasury at the time was 

proving to be somewhat of an embarrassment. With money locked up in 

the Treasury instead of circulating, there was the possibility of an economic 

crisis. The surplus funds could not be used to reduce the national debt 

except by buying bonds in the open market at a premium, so congressional 

extravagance was encouraged. As the tariff provided the major part of Federal 

income, Cleveland deemed a lowering of the tariff the best method of dealing 

with the surplus. The House Ways and Means Committee began preparation 

of a bill to incorporate the President's recommendations, and the stage was 

set for a major tariff battle. With the Republicans, nominally the high tariff 

party, in the majority in the Senate, and the Democrats, nominally the lowtariff party, controlling the House, tariff reform would be difficult if not 

impossible.

Senator Stewart was not a patient man. When action of his irrigation bill 

was not forthcoming from the Committee on Public Lands by February 13, 

1888, he proposed a resolution, to which the Senate agreed, "That the 

Secretary of the Interior be requested to inform the Senate if in his opinion 

it is desirable to authorize the organization in his Department known as the 

Geological Survey to segregate lands of the public domain capable of irrigation, in the section of the United States where irrigation is required, from 

other lands, and to lay out suitable places to be reserved for reservoirs and 

rights of way for ditches and canals for the purpose of irrigation."

The Secretary of the Interior was newly arrived on the job. Secretary 

Lamar had been nominated for the Supreme Court and confirmed by the 

Senate on January 16, 1888, and the Postmaster General, William F. Vilas,

140 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
had then moved to Interior. Secretary Vilas had become Cleveland's closest 

friend in the Cabinet, and Cleveland considered him "one of the most 

complete men, mentally, morally, and politically" he had ever met. Secretary Vilas, unlike Secretary Lamar, became actively involved in the administration of the Department. He did not reply immediately to the Stewart 

resolution because he had conflicting advice from within the Department 

which he wished to consider. The Acting Commissioner of the General Land 

Office said, "whilst it may be desirable that legislation of the character 

contemplated by the resolution should be had in the future, at the present 

I am unable to see any urgent necessity for it."The Director of the Geological Survey, however, reported that "The topographic work of the Geological Survey has from the first been executed with a view to the problems 

of irrigation, and if such authority as is contemplated by the resolution shall 

be given the Survey the maps now completed and in preparation will serve

Studies at Yellowstone National Park yielded information on the origin of igneous rocks. At Obsidian Cliff, the rock in the lower part of the column 

is a dense black obsidian containing thin layers of 

small rounded masses called spherulites; higher up 

it is less massive and contains large hollow spherulites; and still higher it is honeycombed with large 

cavities. Although the distribution suggested the 

bursting bubbles that rise to the top of boiling 

muds in Yellowstone, Iddings found that the spherulites acutally represent primary crystallization from 

a molten glass. (From J. P. Iddings, 1888.)

Irrigation Legislation, 1888 141
as a basis for the special work required in respect to irrigation." The 

fundamental topographic work had already been done for about 10 percent 

of the arid region, but "in extending the geographic work of the Geological 

survey over the portion of the arid region not yet covered by it, it will be 

economic to give the topographic work a special adjustment in the interest 

of irrigation." In addition, it would be necessary to make "local surveys 

for the selection of sites for reservoirs, canals, etc., and of irrigation areas" 

and "to gauge a certain number of representative streams at all seasons of 

the year, so as to ascertain their total discharge and its seasonal distribution, 

and also to gauge a greater number of streams at certain seasons determined 

to be critical."

Major Powell still held that 20 inches a year was the minimum amount 

of precipitation necessary for successful agriculture, but others disagreed. 

Cereals were then being cultivated in western Kansas, a region which it had 

been supposed could be made productive only by irrigation. Many believed 

that settlement and tree-planting had caused greater rainfall, but Henry 

Gannett's research indicated that the increase, if there were one, was only 

a fraction of an inch. Gannett pointed out that there was no doubt that 

cultivation added to the economy of the rainfall because cultivated soil 

retained most of the rainfall whereas the rain flowed off freely from hard 

bare ground. General A. W. Greeley of the Signal Service, who also disagreed with Major Powell, told the Philosophical Society at its February 18, 

1888, meeting that there had been many misconceptions about the amount 

of rainfall in western areas because of the scarcity of observations. More 

numerous observations in the preceding decade had reduced to almost nothing the area in which annual precipitation was less than 5 inches a year and 

had reduced by a quarter of a million square miles the area in which precipitation was less than 15 inches a year. In the discussion following the 

meeting, G. K. Gilbert said that it was not safe to fix any given amount 

of rainfall as the minimum necessary without qualifications as much depended on the season when the rain fell and the rapidity with which evaporation took place.

While Secretary Vilas pondered his decision, Senator Teller of Colorado, 

who had been President Arthur's Secretary of the Interior, introduced a 

joint resolution on March 6, 1888: "That the Secretary of the Interior, by 

means of the Director of the Geological Survey, be, and he is hereby directed 

to make an examination of that portion of the arid regions of the United 

States where agriculture is carried on by means of irrigation, as to the natural 

advantages for the storage of water for irrigation purposes with the practicability of constructing the reservoirs, together with the capacity of the 

streams and the cost of construction and capacity of reservoirs, and such 

other facts as bear on the question of storage of water for irrigating purposes; 

and that he be further directed to report to Congress as soon as practicable 

the results of such investigation." The joint resolution was passed by both 

houses and approved by the President on March 20, 1888. It enlarged the 

functions of the Geological Survey to include irrigation investigations.

Funds were needed for the irrigation investigations, and in accordance 

with the requirements of the preceding Congress, the estimates for appropriations had to be itemized. On March 27, therefore, Senator Stewart 

introduced a resolution: "That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed 

to report to the Senate what appropriation is necessary to enable the United 

States Geological Survey to carry into effect the joint resolution, directing 

the Secretary of the Interior, by means of the Geological Survey, to investigate the practicability of constructing reservoirs for the storage of water

142 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
in the arid region of the United States, and to report to Congress, approved 

March 20, 1888, and the several acts of Congress requiring such Geological 

Survey, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, to classify the 

public lands and to furnish a map or maps showing the various divisions of 

the public domain suitable for agriculture, minerals, and other purposes, 

and particularly to segregate the lands susceptible of irrigation, where irrigation is required, from other lands, and designating places for reservoirs, 

canals, and other hydraulic works." The language of the resolution is 

tortured, but it is reasonably clear that the Senate, or Senator Stewart at 

least, regarded the resolution of March 20 as directing an investigation of 

the practicability of constructing reservoirs, segregating lands susceptible 

of irrigation, and designating places for reservoirs, canals, and other hydraulic works.

At this point, Secretary Vilas gave up and on March 31 replied to the 

resolution of February 13- He begged to be excused from expressing an 

opinion; he had not had sufficient opportunity to examine and study the 

question. However, he did sound a note of caution: "The subject involves 

vast areas of territory, manifold public and private interests, and far-reaching 

considerations touching results and cost,"and "each separate instance of 

contemplated action involves peculiar and special inquiries and determinations, so that although the general desirability of so comprehensive and 

effective a system of irrigation as Government alone can institute and carry 

to completion may be readily affirmed, a particular designation of what 

lands may be segregated and what means may be employed to accomplish 

any result must be the fruit of distinct and particular inquiry in each case." 

With his letter, he forwarded the letters from the Acting Commissioner of 

the General Land Office and the Director of the Geological Survey containing 

their conflicting advice. The letter from the Secretary was referred to the 

Committee on Public Lands where it would not receive any prompt consideration, but it mattered little because the Congress had already committed 

itself to a course of action by the joint resolution of March 20.

Mr. Symes of Colorado submitted a bill to the House on April 2, 1888, 

for the investigation and development of the water resources of the arid 

regions, and the utilization thereof for irrigation, providing an appropriation 

of $500,000 to be expended under the direction of the Director of the 

Geological Survey for topographic and hydrographic surveys. The Symes bill 

was referred to the Committee on Agriculture.

It was May 11 before Secretary Vilas replied to the resolution of March 

27, and then the Secretary merely forwarded Major Powell's estimate, dated 

May 3, with the comment, "I have no means to make any estimate other 

than the considerations presented by the Director." The Director asked for 

an appropriation of $250,000 and suggested that the clause in the appropriation bill be:

"For the purpose of investigating the extent to which the arid region of 

the United States can be redeemed by irrigation, and the segregation of the 

irrigable lands in such arid region, and for the selection of sites for reservoirs 

and other hydraulic works necessary for the storage and utilization of water 

for irrigation, and to make the necessary maps, including the pay of employees in field and in office, the cost of all instruments, apparatus, and 

materials, and all necessary expenses connected therewith, the work to be 

performed by the Geological Survey, under the direction of the Secretary of 

the Interior."

When the Secretary's reply was received on May 14, Senator Stewart 

thought it should be referred to the Committee on Appropriations, but the 

Chair ruled that it too should go to the Committee on Public Lands. Later

Irrigation Legislation, 1888 143
that same day, Senator Paddock of Nebraska, chairman of the Committee 

on the Improvement of the Mississippi River, reported favorably on an 

amendment to the Rivers and Harbors bill proposed by Senator Bowen of 

Colorado on May 9 and moved that it go to the Committee on Appropriations. The amendment as reported on May 14 provided $25,000 to the 

Geological Survey, "For the purpose of investigating the extent to which 

the arid region of the United States can be redeemed by irrigation* * * " 

as in the Powell formula, but concluded, "for the storage and utilization of 

water for irrigation, and the prevention of floods and overflows." It is 

possible that the Bowen amendment may originally have included both 

purposes, but it is equally possible and perhaps more probable that the 

Powell clause had been added to an amendment calling for an investigation 

aimed at preventing flood and overflows of the Mississippi River. The 

$25,000 could be a misprint for $250,000, or the amount specified in the 

original amendment. What is sure is that the Governor of Nebraska had 

written to the Nebraska congressional delegation urging that some action 

be taken on the irrigation problem, that Senator Paddock zealously watched 

out for the interests of Nebraskans whenever national policies that would 

touch them were up for consideration, and that the matter of the irrigation 

survey had at last been placed in the hands of the Senate Appropriations 

Committee.

During all this time, there had been no report on the Survey's regular 

appropriation. The Sundry Civil Expenses bill was always one of the last to 

come in a session, as it was meant to gather together all items not provided 

for in other appropriations, but in 1888, it was later than usual because 

of the great tariff debate that occupied the House from mid-April to early 

June.

The Survey's budget request for fiscal year 1889 was $500,000; it was 

itemized for the first time, the funds being apportioned among eight items: 

topographic surveys, geologic surveys, paleontologic research, chemistry and 

physics, preparation of a report on mineral resources, skilled laborers, preparation of illustrations, and books for the library. Major Powell told the 

House Appropriations Committee that three methods of itemizing had been 

considered: by districts or regions to be surveyed, by personnel, and by 

classes of work to be performed; the last had been chosen (Two of the eight 

items "skilled laborers" and "books" were obviously exceptions.). Itemization by districts was not chosen because the paleontologic work was in 

no proper sense local. The paleontologists studied type localities and established sections in order that the geologist could have facts available when 

mapping formations, but their results were applicable over far greater areas. 

Similar considerations applied to the work in chemistry and petrography. 

Moreover, the Survey had been established to do general work which could 

not be economically or successfully accomplished under State auspices, and 

the Organic Act "practically prohibited] the Government survey from engaging in local economic problems." The objection to the second scheme 

was that by establishing a schedule of salaries a list of offices was created, 

and incumbents of offices were prone to magnify their rights as officers, 

whereas persons employed to do a specific work magnified their duties as 

employees.

The Appropriation Committee accepted the itemization but arbitrarily 

reduced all items by the same percentage so the total appropriation would 

be $402,000, approximately the same as the appropriations had been for 

the past few years. The largest amount was for topographic surveys, 

$ 199,000. The other recommendations were: for geologic surveys, $ 100,000; 

for paleontologic research, $40,000; for chemistry and physics, $17,000;

144 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
for preparation of a report on mineral resources, $10,000; for skilled laborers, $15,000; for preparation of illustrations, $16,000; and for books for 

the library, $5,000.

When the bill came before the House, motions were made to increase the 

appropriations for topographic surveys and for geologic surveys, but both 

were defeated. So was an amendment to appropriate $25,000 for the classification of public lands, which William W. Morrow of California said was 

called for in the law creating the Survey but "had been a dead letter so far 

as agriculturists were concerned." Joseph Toole of Montana proposed an 

amendment, the clause proposed by Major Powell for the irrigation survey 

in its original form without reference to the prevention of floods and overflows. The chairman of the Appropriations Committee immediately made 

a point of order against it, and the Sundry Civil Expenses bill was passed 

by the House on June 21 with approximately the same funds as the year 

before and no appropriation for irrigation investigations.

Most of the regular work of the Survey got underway in July even though 

the appropriation bill had been passed only by the House. Most of the 

topographic work in the summer of 1888 was either a continuation or an 

exension of earlier work. The Massachusetts and New Jersey surveys had 

been completed, but work was extended north of Massachusetts into New 

Hampshire and southwestern Maine and west into New York State. Several 

sheets (now called quadrangles) projecting northward and westward from 

New Jersey into adjoining States were completed. In the spring, the legislature of Rhode Island appropriated $5,000 for a survey of that State in 

cooperation with the Geological Survey under an agreement similar to that 

made with Massachusetts, and the entire State was mapped during the 

summer. Ten sheets comprising New York City and its suburbs were also 

mapped, "probably the most important group of sheets in the United States, 

and in many respects the most difficult to survey, owing to the complex 

culture," according to Gannett. In the southern Appalachians, work continued in both the Virginia-West Virginia-Kentucky area and the GeorgiaAlabama area. In the Mississippi Valley, surveys were made in Kansas, 

Iowa, and southern Wisconsin and the two sheets comprising St. Louis and 

its suburbs. The surveyed area in Arkansas was extended eastward and that 

in Texas northward. In the far West, work was done in New Mexico, 

California, Oregon, and Montana.

A plane table suitable for traverse work was devised and introduced into 

general use. It relieved the topographer of the labor of platting traverses in 

the field or office and provided a correct skeleton upon which to sketch. 

The table was also simple and light, and less accuracy was required in its 

use. It was even being used by geologists.

At the beginning of fiscal year, a Division of Geologic Correlation was 

established, and Gilbert was placed in charge. For the time being, he also 

retained direction of the Appalachian Division, but the Director was turning 

to him increasingly for advice and the Bonneville monograph was still unfinished, so Willis was entrusted with some of the administrative duties of 

the Appalachian Division. Captain Dutton was placed in charge of the 

irrigation investigations under the authorization of the joint resolution of 

March 20, so the field of the Division of Volcanic Geology was modified, 

the division was renamed the Cascade Division, and Diller was placed in 

charge. On July 25, James Stevenson died after a long illness, and a new 

Executive Officer was appointed a gentleman of the press, W. A. Croffut, 

who had been in newspaper work, except for th period of his Civil War 

service, since 1852 and was then on the staff of the Washington Post.

Topographic Surveys, 1888 145
Ac Mammoth Hot Springs, Walter Weed found 

that the deposits are calcium carbonate (travertine) 

because the hot waters rise through a Mesozoic 

limestone. Silica deposits at the Geyser basin are 

largely due to the growth and life of a brilliantly 

colored algal vegetation living in the hot mineral 

waters. (From W. Weed, 1889.)

]^^^i^^^^^^7^^^^^^&ff^.

Work began in earnest on the geologic atlas. In New England, Shaler 

began the task of mapping the surface deposits of the area included in the 

56 atlas sheets prepared by the Survey in cooperation with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He had so many volunteer assistants that the mapping was nearly completed in one summer. Pumpelly's division also began 

"coloring the geological map of New England." Although the investigation 

of the Green Mountain structure was still incomplete, the mapping had 

shown that the mountains consisted of long folds that extended in the 

direction, and were apparently a continuation, of those of the Appalachian 

system; the range had a generally hidden Precambrian crystalline core and 

surface rocks of Early Cambrian to Early Silurian age.

In the Appalachian region, Arthur Keith and C. Willard Hayes began 

work on atlas sheets Keith in east Tennessee, where Willis' work on the 

French Broad section had prepared the way, and Hayes in the AlabamaGeorgia section, which Russell, who did not enjoy the work in the 

Appalachians, cheerfully relinquished. I. C. White, who had nearly completed a monograph on the comparative stratigraphy of the bituminous coal 

rocks, took up the Lewisburg, West Virginia, atlas sheet, and N. H. Darton 

began a survey of the Staunton, Virginia, sheet. The earlier work by Willis, 

Russell, and Geiger had made it evident that a uniform scheme of stratigraphic classification could not be carried throughout the Appalachian province, and Gilbert therefore gave instructions that,

146 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
Formations rather than names should be mapped; that is to say, the actual 

distributions afforded by the stratigraphy of the given area are to be represented on the map in preference to distinctions belong to the stratigraphic 

classification of other areas.

This meant that the stratigraphic subdivisions on adjacent sheets would 

often fail to correspond in minor features, but it was concluded that as the 

atlas sheet was a small unit of area, the stratigraphic variations would be 

noted at frequent intervals, and the many small changes at the boundaries 

of atlas sheets would conform to the gradual passage of lithologic characters 

from one phase to another.

In the West, Hague's party began work in Yellowstone Park and in the 

Absaroka Range east of the park in July, and Peale continued mapping in 

the Three Forks area, although he was unable to get into the field until 

mid-August. Diller did a little mapping in northern California but spent 

most of the season collecting specimens for the Educational Series of Rocks.

In the summer of 1888, Professor Marsh began a systematic investigation 

of the Laramie formation, which held the key to the location of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in the Rocky Mountains. A stratum was discovered 

in the typical Laramie of Wyoming that yielded more than 100 specimens 

of mammalian remains, including many new genera and species. Until this 

discovery, no mammalian remains had been known with certainty from the 

Cretaceous. In the same bed with the mammals, a new family of gigantic 

horned dinosaurs was found, which Marsh said were "by far the strangest 

reptiles yet discovered."

C. A. White spent most of the summer on the Cretaceous memoir, but 

in September, he went to Texas to investigate some Permian strata in the 

northern part of the State that were reported to contain a commingling of 

Paleozoic and Mesozoic fossils. His observations there confirmed his longheld view that the Permian of North American was closely related to the 

Carboniferous and should be assigned to the Paleozoic rather than to the 

Mesozoic.

Dall and Ward were both busy with manuscripts. During the summer, 

while Williams continued his study of the Devonian, Walcott was in northern Vermont studying the stratigraphy and fauna of a series of Cambrian 

limestones on the Canadian border. On his return to Washington, he began 

preparation of a major paper on the fauna of the Olenellus zone.

With the Director so involved in irrigation, McGee was now clearly out 

of the center of things. He spent the early summer months in northeastern 

Iowa, reviewing his earlier work in the light of recent advances in glacial 

geology. He also made a study of the "memorable freshet" in the Potomac 

River on June 1 and 2, 1888, which was, he reported, an opportunity 

without precedent to study the departure of the Potomac from the "well 

known law of river deportment, established by Powell and Gilbert, that 

streams of high declivity tend to corrade vertically and thus to flow in deep 

and narrow channels." He was also exercising at least nominal supervision 

of a variety of projects, including A. J. Phinney's work on the rock-gas 

field of Indiana, Professor George H. Williams' study of the crystalline 

rocks of the Piedmont region in Maryland, Hay's survey of the Fort Riley 

Military Reservation in Kansas, and Professor J. A. Holmes' study of the 

correlation of formations of the middle Atlantic slope with those of the 

southern Atlantic and Gulf regions.

In the summer of 1888, Emmons was told that his division was to 

undertake no new work but to devote all its energies to completing and 

preparing for publication the work already undertaken, chiefly the quadrangles in the southern Elk Mountains. Eldridge took charge of a combined

Geologic Surveys, 1888 147
geologic and topographic party and completed the survey of the Elk Mountains, and Emmons, for once, was pleased with a topographic map. Emmons 

and Cross spent the summer making isolated investigations in parts of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming to verify, elaborate, or complete observations and to gather new data that might furnish correlative evidence for 

generalizations on ore deposits.

Becker completed work on the proof of the quicksilver monograph and 

then went to California to start on the gold-belt study. Nearly half the 

topographic maps had been completed, and Turner and Lindgren were well 

along in their preliminary geologic mapping, although they had not subdivided the sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic and early Mesozoic age and had 

grouped together all the eruptive rocks. The massive rocks were much more 

complex than had been anticipated, and their representation at the 2-mile 

scale was very difficult. The rocks had been so profoundly modified by 

dynamic and chemical action that it was not easy to identify them, let alone 

determine their relations to one another. Becker thought the map might be 

completed by the end of 1893.

Although Major Powell had been diverted from problems of stratigraphic 

nomenclature by his work on irrigation, others continued to press for consideration of the American viewpoint. The State Geologist of New Jersey, 

George H. Cook, and a member of the American Committee on the International Geological Congress, had succeeded Gilbert as vice president for 

Section E of the AAAS, but continued Gilbert's theme of the International 

Congress and its relation to American geologists in his principal address. 

Cook said, "a meeting of the congress must be held in this country and 

America must be fully represented before any conclusions can be reached 

which will be accepted by the scientific world." Geology, he said, was 

first systematized from a limited part of the globe, and it was not surprising 

that a system arranged consistently with the facts in a single country should 

not be comprehensive enough to meet the circumstances of all others. 

American geologists had begun by transferring the German, English, and 

French systems to this country, and even after they found that these systems 

did not fit, reverence for authority, which is due from the younger to the 

older, led to an attempt to make our geology conform with that of Europe. 

Now geologists had to admit that something larger and more far reaching 

must be devised before the science could be called a general one, applicable 

in all places.

Geologists attending the AAAS meetings assembled on August 14, 

1888, and unanimously resolved that an American geological society was

desirable. They agreed that until January 1, 1889, members of the geolog- ( 

ical society must be active workers or teachers of geology who were either 

members or fellows of the AAAS, but that thereafter, others would be 

eligible.

Gilbert, Walcott, and Marsh attended the International Geological Congress in London in mid-September 1888. The Congress, however, took no 

formal votes on the various questions at issue. As one American who attended observed, the Congress provided an opportunity to make acquaintances and to compare views and modes of studying problems, but the 

general agreement was that votes could settle few of the questions. Philadelphia was selected as the next place of meeting, and a Provisional Committee of Messrs. James Hall, James D. Dana, John S. Newberry, Persifor 

Frazer, G. K. Gilbert, T. Sterry Hunt, O. C. Marsh, and C. D. Walcott 

was appointed to make the arrangements.

The American Committee had had its reports printed and sent to the 

International Congress but withheld distribution in the United States before

148 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
the opening date of the Congress. The reports were then published in full 

in The American Geologist. Professor Dana let everyone know what he thought 

of them in the next issue of the American Journal of Science: The American 

report was "a 'majority' report of the Committe and of its several Subcommittees, and a minority report as regards American geologists." He 

thought that "its right to appear in the volume of the Congress for 1888 

should be seriously considered if it is not already too late." Major Powell 

also objected, especially to the use of his name as if he supported the 

Committee and had not resigned in protest. Powell said:

There is no body of men so wise or so powerful that it can establish the science 

of geology by authority, and it is pretentious and unseemly to make the attempt; 

and to authoritatively announce a fact or generalization in science and ask its 

acceptance is an absurdity.

The members of the Provisional Committee, with the exception of T. 

Sterry Hunt, met at New Haven on November 15 and elected a 24-member 

Permanent or Organizing Committee for the Philadelphia Congress. The 

Permanent Committee was a judicious mixture of American geologists, both 

the young and older, and all warring elements. John Strong Newbery was 

appointed temporary chairman, and the first meeting of the Permanent 

Committee was scheduled for Washington in April 1889. The Provisional 

Committee thereupon ended its duties. With malicious satisfaction, Professor Dana wrote to Professor Geikie that 20 good men had been elected 

and three obnoxious ones left out. "Frazer, who was present and secretary 

as the votes were read off looked desperate but said nothing. T. S. H. who 

was put to bed the day before in New York City by his physician there has 

not since been heard from." The third obnoxious one was presumably E. 

D. Cope. Marsh was a member of the Permanent Committee.

James Hall was elected the first president of the Geological Society of 

America at its first meeting in Ithaca on December 27, 1888, with Dana 

and Alexander Winchell as vice presidents, J. J. Stevenson, secretary, H. 

S. Williams, treasurer, and Powell, Newberry, and C. H. Hitchcock the 

first members at large of the council. Again the offices seem to have been 

divided up judiciously. Professor Hall addressed the society informally and 

counseled harmony and mutual forbearance. He hoped that every American 

geologist would be mentally prepared to pursue a course of justice, and, if 

need be, of forbearance and conciliation, in order that peace and harmony 

might reign.

From the Survey, only W J McGee attended. The Director was then 

thoroughly occupied in the affairs of the Irrigation Survey, but preparations 

were also underway for a conference in the Survey on geologic nomenclature 

and map notation.

On December 7, 1888, a circular letter was addressed to "heads of 

geologic divisions and some other specialists" in the Survey on the cartographic system. Since the first system had been announced in the second 

annual report, the science had developed, geologic nomenclature and map 

notation had been under investigation both in the United States and abroad, 

and the operations of the Survey had been extended over many parts of the 

country. It was time for a reconsideration. The circular said:

It was long ago well shown by Dana and is now recognized by geologists 

everywhere, that the North American continent represents in itself an epitome 

of the geologic development that every important event in world growth, every 

great rock group, every class of minerals, every type of fossils, every order of 

the superficial deposits formed by air, water, ice and the decay of older rocks, 

every kind of normal and deformed rock structure and every grade of surface 

configuration formed by geologic agencies found in any part of the earth is

Geologic Cartography, 1889 149
here well represented. During the decade all of these classes of phenomena 

have been under investigation by officers of the Geological Survey, and in the 

progress of the work it has been found that many of them are susceptible of 

delineation upon maps. In the course of their work upon different phenomena 

in the various parts of the country the collaborators of the Survey have devised 

methods of mapping well suited to their respective areas and to the classes of 

phenomena with which they respectively deal.

So within the Geological Survey, there has been wide differentiation of ideas 

concerning geologic taxonomy and nomenclature and concerning their application in geologic mapping; within the Geological Survey there has grown up 

as great need for diverse systems of map publication as was ever felt during 

the days of numerous State surveys; within the Geological Survey, indeed, the 

range of thought and work concerning these matters has become practically 

as wide as the range of thought and work among the geologists of the world, 

and just as the North American continent represents an epitome of the geologic 

development of the earth, so the range of conception concerning geologic 

principles and methods among the Federal geologists has become an epitome 

of the geologic opinion of the earth.

The conference of Federal geologists was therefore arranged to devise a 

cartographic system applicable throughout the country, and at the same 

time, to allow geologists employed in each region to form and express convictions as to local needs. C. W. Cross, J. S. Diller, C. E. Dutton, G. H. 

Eldridge, B. K. Emerson, S. F. Emmons, G. K. Gilbert, Arnold Hague, 

W. H. Holmes, J. P. Iddings, W J McGee, A. C. Peale, Raphael Pumpelly, 

C. R. Van Hise, W. H. Weed, C. H. Williams, Bailey Willis, and C. D. 

Walcott met in conference with the Director January 28 31, 1889, to 

consider the 32 questions posed in the circular on the unit of publication, 

nomenclature, map notation, map colors, and notation for sections.

There was general and ready agreement to the plan that the unit of 

publication be an atlas sheet, with legend on the margin, accompanied by 

a full sheet of description so prepared as to be intelligible to users who were 

not trained geologists, a sheet of sections when necessary, and sometimes 

a soil map or map of Pleistocene deposits, the whole to be arranged under 

a folio cover.

After prolonged consideration of the subject of nomenclature, the geologists finally agreed that it was desirable, and in fact necessary, to establish 

certain rules regarding the nomenclature to be used on the Survey's geologic 

maps. They agreed that for cartographic purposes and for use in the maps 

published by the Survey, four great classes of rocks should be recognized: 

fossiliferous clastic rocks, superficial deposits, ancient crystalline rocks, and 

volcanic rocks. Among the clastic rocks, two classes of division should be 

recognized structural and time and all other taxonomic divisions should 

be excluded from the atlas sheets.

The structural divisions should be the units of cartography and should be 

designated formations, and formations should be distinguished on the basis 

of lithology. Formations should receive distinctive designations, the most 

desirable being binomial the first member geographic and the other lithologic, as Trenton Limestone. The geographic term should be the name of 

a river, town, or other natural or artificial feature at or near which the 

formation is typically exposed. These rules of nomenclature were to be used, 

as far as applicable, to all classes of rocks.

The time divisions were to be defined primarily by paleontology and 

secondarily by structure and were to be called periods. Eleven periods were 

recognized. For the first, the term "Quaternary" was rejected on the ground 

that it was the vestige of a primitive and otherwise obsolete classification, 

and the term "Pleistocene" was substituted. The second period, including 

the time divisions sometimes called Pliocene and Miocene, was designated

150 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
Volcanic Asnes I OkJer Lava I Infusorial Earth

'Old bed Of LakeBidwell I Newer Lava

Scale

Evidence of one of the latest volcanic eruptions in 

the United States was discovered by J. S. Diller at 

Cinder Cone, northeast of Lassen Peak in California. 

Diller estimated from the trees that had grown on 

the volcanic sand near the Cone since it was formed 

that the first eruption probably occurred about a 

century before the American Revolution and that 

a second eruption had occurred later, but before 

1840. (FromJ. S. Diller, 1891.)

the "Neocene." The third was the Eocene, including the subdivision sometimes called Oligocene. The fourth period was the Cretaceous and the fifth, 

the Jura-Trias. The sixth period was the Carboniferous, including the Permian. The seventh was the Devonian. The eigth included the time divisions 

sometimes called Upper and Lower Silurian and sometimes Silurian and 

Ordovician, and it was called "Silurian." The ninth period was designated 

the "Cambrian." The tenth period was the time of deposition of clastic 

rocks older than the Cambrian. For this the terms "Eparchean" and "Huronian" were rejected, and the term "Algonkian" was agreed to. The 

oldest time division, covering the time of formation of the ancient crystalline 

rocks, was designated the "Archean."

In the superficial deposits, the primary classification should be genetic 

rather than chronologic, though the secondary classification could be structural. Among the ancient crystalline rocks, the division would be chiefly 

petrographic, though genetic and chronologic divisions might be used as 

more knowledge was acquired. Among the volcanic rocks, the primary divisions were to be chronologic when possible and adjusted to the historic 

divisions of the fossiliferous clastic rocks; minor divisions might be petrographic, genetic, or structural, at the convenience of the geologist.

There was less unanimity of opinion on the subject of geologic cartography, and the final decisions were made by the Director. The general plan 

was as follows: To each of the four great classes of rocks there was assigned 

a group of patterns, parallel straight lines for clastic rocks, dots and circles 

for superficial deposits, hachures for the ancient crystallines, and triangles 

and rhombs for volcanic rocks; within each class, subdivisions were to be 

represented by colors and specific patterns, the two ordinarily being used 

in combination, and identified by letter symbols. The colors and letter 

symbols for the periods were as follows: Neocene, orange, N; Eocene, yellow; 

E; Cretaceous, yellow-green, K; Jura-Trias, blue-green, J; Carboniferous, 

blue, C; Devonian, violet, D; Silurian, purple, S; Cambrian, pink, C;

Geologic Cartography, 1889 151
Algonkian, red, A. The arrangement of the color series was essentially prismatic, as suggested by Gilbert, the chromatic circle completed by the addition of the extraprismatic colors purple and pink. The Pleistocene and 

other superficial deposits would be indicated by the pattern in pale colors 

over the period color of the subsurface when it was known, otherwise on a 

white ground. Archean rocks were to be indicated by the hachure pattern 

over a ground color of pale brown.

In accordance with the decisions made at the conference, it was concluded 

that the correlation essays should be concerned with formations belonging 

to a time division rather than formations belonging to a structure division. 

The essays would have a threefold purpose: To summarize the existing state 

of knowledge of North American geologic systems; to formulate the principles of geologic correlation and taxonomy; and to set forth from the 

American standpoint the possibility or impossibility of using in all countries 

the same set of names for stratigraphic divisions smaller than these systems. 

The essay on the Pleistocene was assigned to T. C. Chamberlin, that on the 

Neocene to W. H. Dall, the Eocene to W. B. Clark, the Cretaceous (including the Laramie) to C. A. White, the Jura-Trias to I. C. Russell, the 

Carboniferous and the Devonian to H. S. Williams, the Silurian and Cambrian to C. D. Walcott, and the Algonkian and Archean to C. R. Van 

Hise. An additional essay would be prepared by D. C. Marsh on correlation 

by vertebrate paleontology and one by Lester Ward on correlation by paleobotany. McGee would prepare a resume of North American stratigraphy, 

and Gilbert, a discussion of the principles of correlation. McGee's work on 

the thesaurus of North American stratigraphy, the bibliography, index, and 

discussion, was transferred to the Division of Geologic Correlation.

The Irrigation Survey, which required more of the Director's attention, 

had finally been authorized on October 2, 1888. The Senate took up the 

Sundry Civil Expense bill in late July. The Appropriations Committee had 

not included the Bowen amendment, so on July 30 he offered it again for 

consideration by the whole Senate. It had acquired an additional sentence: 

"All titles to the public lands hereafter acquired shall be subject to the right 

of the United States to make reservations for reservoirs for storing water and 

for rights of way for ditches and canals for the purposes of irrigation." 

Senator Allison, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, immediately made a point of order against the amendment; it was new legislation, 

or at least the last part was new legislation, and therefore should not be part 

of an appropriations bill. Senator Stewart appealed to him to withdraw the 

point of order, and he agreed, saying that if the amendment was to pass it 

would be better to have the reservation clause in rather than out. He then 

explained that the Appropriations Committee had not approved the amendment because further consideration should be given to the methods and cost 

of irrigation and proper legislation prepared for segregation of lands. Major 

Powell had told them that 80 percent of the appropriation would be used 

for topographic surveys, and the Senate might therefore increase the appropriation for topographic surveys as a preliminary measure until these other 

matters could be resolved.

The ensuing discussion showed a certain amount of confusion. Senator 

Teller said that $250,000 would not commit the Government to anything; 

it was just to get information. Senator Allison replied that $250,000 was 

only the beginning, that Powell had said it would take $4 million or $5 

million. Teller thought that the $4 million or $5 million was to finish all 

the topographic surveys, but Allison said, no, only of the mountainous 

region; it will take $20 million or $30 million to do all the United States. 

Teller though that that amount included geologic surveys as well. Finally,

152 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
 «"* i*^iliiil^*^ ' ' >;!i!i'*-"-" ?*%*-'I :?~.'* '':,'-''\'>'i.-^'*~~'--:/,-*'-~~l-:^~:~':'.~-~<'-'-: '* -: --% -*. s.v.i"-.+,i.v.« ?« - .* :? * .-.-.". 

"'^\y.'t ^X*X»/>*:Sy*^J^'*&ji^^ *j,j _:

One of the best selling Survey publications at this 

time was R. A. F. Penrose's doctoral dissertation 

on the nature and origin of deposits of phosphates 

of lime, a continuation and extension of the work 

Professor Shaler had begun for the Coast Survey in 

1870. The illustration shows the strata overlying 

the phosphate bed at Castle Hayne, New Hanover 

County, North Carolina: A, sand; B, ferruginous 

sandy clay; C, green clay; D, indurated peat; E, 

calcareous marl; F, white shell rock; G, phosphate 

conglomerate; H, marl containing smaller nodules. 

Scale: 1 inch=5 feet. (From R. A. F. Penrose, 

1888.)

they read from Powell's statement: He could locate all the reservoirs and 

so on in 6 years if appropriations were available. He estimated the total cost 

at $5,125,000, and the additional cost over and above the regular topographic surveys would be $1,250,000.

That settled, objections were made to the Survey's doing the work. 

Senator Manderson of Nebraska preferred the Army Engineers. Senator 

Plumb had long had reservations about Major Powell. When Senator Stewart 

insisted that the idea of the Irrigation Survey had not originated with Powell 

but with the Senators from Colorado and himself, Senator Plumb retorted, 

"You didn't think of it, Powell did, twelve years ago. It originated in the 

scheming brain of the head of the Geological Survey. He expects some day 

to be incorporated into the Constitution of the United States as an amendment."

Senator Allison kept urging that the amount for topographic surveys be 

increased, that it be specified that the additional money was for surveys in 

the high mountainous regions and the Territories, and that if any part of 

the work underway was postponed it should be that in the older States. 

Several agreed, but no one offered a motion.

The discussion then turned to the land laws, and finally Senator Reagan 

of Texas offered as a substitute for the last sentence: "And all the lands 

which may be designated for reservoirs, canals, and ditches for irrigation, 

shall be reserved as the property of the United States, and shall not be 

subjected to entry or settlement until hereafter provided for by laws." And 

so the amendment was passed.

The Sundry Civil Expenses bill was returned to the House in mid-August, 

and the House at first refused to concur in the amendment. On September 1, however, Congressman William C. Breckenridge of Kentucky moved 

that the House accept the amendment but add, "And the Director of the 

Geological Survey under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior shall 

make a report to Congress on the first Monday in December of each year, 

showing in detail how the said money has been expended." Said Mr. 

Breckenridge, "I think this is in many ways the most important item in 

the present bill. I presume two of the most difficult problems with which 

we have to deal in America are two connected with this enterprise the 

proper treatment of the Mississippi River and the irrigation of the arid lands 

in the Territories. * * * It seems to be possible that the solution of both 

these questions is in the scientific survey of the waters of the Rocky Mountains and the utilization of those waters after that survey to the irrigation 

of those arid regions, by which these waters, which defy our efforts as yet 

to control them in the Mississippi, may be directed from ruin to fruitfulness 

by means of canals in irrigating the arid regions of the Territories."

There was considerable discussion in the House whether the two purposes 

of irrigation and flood control could be served by one survey. Hilary Herbert 

said that more water went into the Mississippi from the Ohio than from the 

Missouri, so controlling the Missouri would not stop the floods; Major 

Powell had said so. Congressman James Morgan of Mississippi agreed that 

Major Powell had told the Committee on Agriculture that he could not say 

that stopping floods on the Missouri would affect the floods on the Mississippi. When several insisted that Major Powell must be wrong, the undaunted Mr. Herbert called on the Signal Service for information on high 

water on the two rivers, which he then presented to the House to prove his 

point.

Mr. Herbert also charged that the irrigation survey was a "scheme hatched 

in the brain of the Director of the Geological Survey," and refused to back 

down when told that demands had been coming from various western groups

Appropriations for 1889 153
for 5 or 6 years. The Director, he said, had thought it up long before that: 

"I do not want to make a personal attack on him and I shall not do it. I 

have great respect for his ability. He has great knowledge; he is a great 

talker; he is a man of great power, even, as I think, over Congress. But I 

submit that this House ought not to enter upon a scheme involving so large 

an expenditure on the unsupported opinion of one man. * * * It may be a 

grand scheme, but is it feasible? And if it is feasible, who is to accomplish 

it?"

Several thought that irrigation should not come up in an appropriation 

bill, but that it should be considered by the Committee on Public Lands, 

not the Committee on Appropriations. Mr. Symes of Colorado spoke up; 

the appropriation must be passed. The Committee on Public Lands had not 

and could not provide legislation in that session. If this appropriation was 

not made, the Committee on Agriculture would make a favorable report on 

his bill to appropriate $500,000. Mr. Symes insisted that the money would 

be used for additional local surveys to locate reservoirs and for classifying 

public lands susceptible to irrigation, and that the amendment would not 

commit the Government to conducting the irrigation. Congressman W. H. 

Forney saw no reason to spend so much money for information. The Director 

said that the survey would be finished in 30 years, and the Senate wanted 

to give him money to finish in 6 years, but actually the information would 

not be needed for 30 years. Mr. Herbert was a persistent refrain in the 

background, asking who would undertake the irrigation. Private industry 

would not, because it was not profitable. Only the Government could do 

it, and in the end it would cost the Government more than $1 billion. 

And, he wondered, if all the irrigated land were put to growing grain, what 

would be done with all the grain?

Congressman Richard A. Bland of Missouri moved to cut the appropriation to $50,000, but the motion was rejected. The motion was then 

changed to "$100,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary" and was 

passed on September 12. Mr. William Holman of the Public Lands Committee proposed a substitute amendment that the money appropriated for 

topographic surveys or any part thereof might be used by the Director with 

the approval of the Secretary to ascertain the feasibility of establishing reservoirs and report to Congress and that until the public-land issue was 

settled all desert-land entries should be suspended. His motion, however, 

was not agreed to. On September 14, 1888, the Senate and House conferees 

agreed to the House version with an additional proviso, that the President 

might at any time in his discretion by a proclamation open any part or all 

the lands reserved to settlement under the homestead laws.

The bill as finally passed and approved on October 2, 1888, 

"For the purpose of investigating the extent to which the arid region of the 

United States can be redeemed by irrigation, and the segregation of the 

irrigable lands in such arid region, and for the selection of sites for reservoirs 

and other hydraulic works necessary for the storage and utilization of water 

for irrigation and the prevention of floods and overflows, and to make the 

necessary maps, including the pay of employees in field and in office, the 

cost of all instruments, apparatus, and materials, and all other necessary 

expenses connected therewith, the work to be performed by the Geological 

Survey, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, the sum of one 

hundred thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary. And the 

Director of the Geological Survey under the supervision of the Secretary of 

the Interior shall make a report to Congress on the first Monday in December 

of each year, showing in detail how the said money has been expended, the 

amount used for actual survey and engineer work in the field in locating

154 Civilized Competition, 1886-1888
sites for reservoirs and an itemized account of the expenditures under this 

appropriation. And all the lands which may hereafter be designated or selected by such United States surveys for sites for reservoirs, ditches, or canals 

for irrigation purposes and all the lands made susceptible of irrigation by 

such reservoirs, ditches or canals are from this time henceforth hereby reserved from sale as the property of the United States, and shall not be 

subject after the passage of this act, to entry, settlement, or occupation until 

further provided by law:

"Provided, That the President may at any time in his discretion by proclamation open any portion or all of the lands reserved by this provision to 

settlement under the homestead laws."

Law of October 2, 1888 155
Chapter 6.

The First Great Problem, 1888-1890

Hydraulic engineering is the oldest scientific art.*** Everywhere throughout 

the world civilization began in arid lands and hydraulic engineering was the 

first great problem to be solved; and for this reason it was solved at an early 

time, and well solved. Something has been added through the years, but not 

much.

 John Wesley Powell

Only a month after the Irrigation Survey was authorized, Benjamin Harrison was elected President of the United States. The protective tariff had 

been the principal campaign issue, the Democrats calling for revision, the 

Republicans for continuation. The election was a close one. Cleveland actually received the majority of the popular vote, but Harrison carried the 

key States of New York and Indiana and with them the electoral vote.

Cleveland's annual message to Congress in December 1888 was forthright. He again reminded Congress of the repeated recommendations for 

changes in public-land laws:

I cannot too strenuously insist on the importance of proper measures to insure 

a right disposition of our public lands, not only as a matter of present justice, 

but in forecast of the consequences to future generation. *** We have no 

excuse for the violation of principles, cogently taught by reason and example, 

nor for the allowance of pretexts which have sometimes exposed our lands to 

colossal greed. Laws which open a door to fraudulent acquisition, or administration which permits favor to rapacious seizure by a favored few of expanded 

areas that many should enjoy, are accessory to offenses against our national 

welfare and humanity, not to be too severely condemned or punished.

Reflecting on the approaching centennial of the Constitution, he observed 

"Our survival for one hundred years is not sufficient to assure us that we no 

longer have dangers to fear in the maintenance, with all its promised blessings, of a government founded upon the freedom of the people." Equal 

and exact justice, he said, should not be confined to the relations of citizens 

to each other. The Government itself should deal with citizens in a manner 

scrupulously honest and fair and absolutely just. "He mocks the people who 

proposes that the Government shall protect the rich and that they in turn 

will care for the laboring poor. Any intermediary between the people and 

their Government, or the least delegation of the care and protection the 

Government owes to the humblest citizen in the land, makes the boast of 

free institutions a glittering delusion and the pretended boon of American 

citizenship a shameless imposition."

Cleveland took particular notice of the irrigation legislation. The arid 

lands, he said, should not "be yielded up to the monopoly of corporations 

or grasping individuals.* * * Already steps have been taken to secure accurate 

and scientific information of the conditions, which is the prime basis of 

intelligent action. Until this shall be gained, the course of wisdom appears

The First Great Problem, 1888-1890 157
clearly to lie in the suspension of further disposal. * * *No harm can follow 

this cautionary conduct. The land will remain, and the public good presents 

no demand for hasty dispossesion of national ownership and control."

Congress in that short session made no changes in the public-land laws. 

It did, however, take actions that affected greatly the Irrigation Survey and 

the disposition of the arid lands. On February 11, 1889, the Department 

of Agriculture was raised to Cabinet status to indicate the importance of the 

agricultural industries. On February 22, Congress provided for the admission of four new States: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington. All four had large agricultural interests, and all four were at least 

partly in the arid region. Washington had been a Territory since 1853, 

Dakota since 1861, and Montana since 1864, but the population had increased slowly until after completion of the northern railroads. Dakota Territory was divided into two States because there were two widely separated 

centers of population. Both were primarily agricultural, but in South Dakota 

the Homestake mine was also an important factor. Montana was one State, 

but its eastern and western parts were entirely different. The first population 

boom had been the result of the discovery of gold in its western mountains; 

there, gold and silver mining were still important, and the great era of 

copper mining was just getting underway. Stock raising was the principal 

occupation in the eastern part. Washington had large agricultural and lumbering interests, and there had been some mining activity in the interior.

The appropriations for the coming year were passed in the final days of 

the session. Those for the Geological Survey proper were the same as the 

year before except that the appropriation for topographic surveys was 

rounded off to $200,000, and the appropriation for engraving and printing 

maps, previously under the control of the Public Printer, was made part of 

the Survey appropriation. The Public Printer had let contracts to private 

firms for engraving and printing maps, but the system had not been entirely 

satisfactory because the work of revising sheets to bring them up to date 

and experimental work for the development of more economical methods of 

printing could not advantageously be made the subject of a contract. The 

organization of a division of engraving and printing in the Survey would 

place it on the same footing as the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the 

Hydrographic Office, both of which already had their own divisions of 

engraving.

For the Irrigation Survey, the new appropriation was $250,000. The 

budget request had been $350,000, and the House Committee on Appropriations had recommended only $150,000. When the item came up for 

discussion on the floor, Congressman Symes of Colorado made a long speech 

in support of the Irrigation Survey, detailing its accomplishments since 

October and explaining Major Powell's invention of a unit of measurement 

of water, the acre-foot. Symes thought that the appropriation should be 

increased to $250,000; if $40,000 could be appropriated for ethnology and 

$40,000 for Professor Marsh to determine whether a fossil bird had one or 

two teeth, more money could be appropriated for something useful like the 

Irrigation Survey. Hilary Herbert of Alabama objected to taxing the East 

to fertilize the lands of the West, and he complained again that the Geological Survey was established as an economy measure, but its funds had 

been increased year by year, and now the bureau was so big it was looking 

for a building all its own. Many agreed that the officer in charge had too 

much discretion, but no one was disposed to take any action against him. 

Congressman Holman urged that the land laws be amended first, but his 

advice was largely ignored. On January 28, 1889, the House voted to raise 

the appropriation to $250,000, and the Senate accepted the figure.

Almon Harry Thompson

Major Powell's brother-in-law, close friend, and 

associate in western exploration and the U.S. Geological Survey. To him Major Powell entrusted direction of the topographic mapping for the Irrigation Survey. (Photograph courtesy of Utah State 

Historical Society.)

158 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
A bill to appropriate $600,000 for erection of a building for the Geological Survey, to which Mr. Herbert had made reference, was submitted in 

the final session of the 50th Congress. The plan called for a rectangular 

building, 100 by 300 feet, five stories high, with a hipped roof, which 

would be built on the public reservation near the Smithsonian Institution. 

Alhough Science reported that Congress was considering the bill favorably, 

the short session ended before it was passed.

On March 4, 1889, Benjamin Harrison was inaugurated as the 23d 

President of the United States. Harrison came from a family long active in 

politics, but his own previous experience was limited to one term in the 

Senate, from 1880 to 1886. Harrison was not a strong executive. He was 

content to let Congress assert supremacy and the members of his Cabinet 

run the Government. The Cabinet included several capable lawyers, among 

them his own law partner W. H. H. Miller as Attorney General, but the 

best known lawyer was undoubtedly the Secretary of the Interior, John W. 

Noble of St. Louis, a graduate of Yale in 1851, who had a distinguished 

Civil War record and a national reputation for legal triumphs in difficult 

cases, some of them argued before the Supreme Court. Among the cases on 

which his reputation rested were several involving land and mining law. 

The Secretary of Agriculture in the Harrison Cabinet, the first to hold the 

office for more than a few days, was Jeremiah M. Rusk. Secretary Rusk was 

even more widely known. He, too, was a Civil War veteran and had previously been a member of Congress, where he had served on the Public 

Lands and Agriculture Committees. He had been Governor of Wisconsin 

from 1882 to 1889, and had been especially active there in promoting the 

agricultural and dairy interests of the State and in forming farmers' institutes.

The topographers also selected the reservoir sites, 

such as this one at the junction of the Arkansas 

River and Seven Mile Creek in Chaffee County, 

Colorado. Here, at an altitude of 8,000 feet, a dam 

120 feet high was proposed to impound water for 

irrigation of lands in the lower part of the Arkansas 

Valley. (From A. H. Thompson, 1891.)

czza

ARCA SEGREGATED I20?47ACRES

The Harrison Cabinet 159
Secretary Rusk immediately began a sweeping reorganization of the Department of Agriculture to make it of more service to the agricultural community. He was particularly anxious to provide scientific assistance and 

prompt publication of results. Congress had established the office of Assistant Secretary in the legislation creating the Department and the first incumbent of that position, Edwin Willits, former Congressman from Michigan and president of Michigan Agricultural College, was given responsibility 

for all purely scientific investigations.

Secretary Noble plunged immediately into the problems involved in the 

opening up of Indian Territory to settlers. The Dawes General Allotment 

Act had been passed in 1887 to break up the Indian reservations by allotting 

land to individual Indians and providing for the sale of the surplus lands. 

In the last days of the Cleveland Administration, Congress had approved 

the acquisition of land in the central part of Oklahoma. President Harrison 

issued a proclamation on March 23, 1889, and on April 22 at noon, the 

Oklahoma district was opened to homesteaders. Within a few hours, 

1,920,000 acres were claimed, the towns of Guthrie and Oklahoma City 

were organized, and preparations were begun for establishmentoi a Territorial 

government. Meanwhile, several of the established Territories were preparing to form State governments and adopt constitutions, and a treaty was 

being negotiated with the Sioux Indians of Dakota Territory. There was 

little time in the first few months for Noble to give to the smaller bureaus 

in Interior such as the Geological Survey.

The Irrigation Survey got fully underway in the spring of 1889. When 

the Sundry Civil Expenses bill was approved on October 2, 1888, making 

available money for the Irrigation Survey, extensive changes were made in 

the Geological Survey's Geographic Branch. All those engaged in work in 

New Mexico, California, and Montana were constituted a division of the 

Irrigation Survey, with A. H. Thompson in charge; the Geographic Branch 

of the Geological Survey, which remained under Gannett, was limited to 

the country east of the Rocky Mountains and one party in western Oregon. 

It was, however, already late in the field season, and little could be accomplished until spring.

The stream gaging and engineering surveys which would make up the 

rest of the Irrigation Survey waited upon the recruitment of personnel and 

the training of hydrographers. Stream gaging was then not a widely practiced art, and experienced men and instruments were both scarce. It was 

thought best therefore "to select a small body of men of good education and 

high general intelligence and establish them at some advantageous situation 

where they could, in the course of the winter months, acquire a knowledge 

of the methods and instruments they would have to employ." Fourteen 

young men were chosen and placed in a camp of instruction at Embudo, on 

the Rio Grande about 50 miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. F. H. 

Newell, a young engineer who had graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1885, was in charge of the camp.

The topographic, hydrographic, and engineering surveys of the Irrigation 

Survey were almost completely independent of each other. Nearly all the 

topographic mapping was done by atlas sheets, at a mile-to-the-inch scale 

with contour intervals of 25, 50, or 100 feet. Survey parties worked in New 

Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and the Lake Tahoe region of California 

and Nevada. In addition to their topographic mapping, the topographers 

selected possible reservoir sites, marked out the areas of irrigable lands, and 

mapped the forests. All the parties found reservoir sites, some only a few,

160 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
Stream-gaging methods were primitive. In some 

places, a stout box, about 3 feet wide and 5 feet 

long, was hung from pulleys running on a wire 

cable across the stream. The hydrographer moved 

himself from side to side of the river, lowering and 

raising the current meter by hand or by a rope and 

pulley. Photograph taken on the Arkansas River 

near Canon City, Fremont County, Colorado, 1890. 

(FromJ. W. Powell, 1891.)

but an enthusiastic Willard Johnson found 110 possible reservoir sites at 

elevations of 4,500 to 11,000 feet in the Arkansas River drainage basin. 

Those that reported irrigable land, and not all of them did, made their 

findings contingent on the adequacy of the water supply.

Hydrographic measurements were made on streams in the upper Missouri 

River and Yellowstone River basins in Montana, in the Snake River basin 

in Idaho and Oregon, in the South Platte River and Arkansas River basins 

in Colorado, the Truckee River and Carson River basins in California and 

Nevada, and in the Rio Grande basin in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. 

The field parties moved from point to point on the various rivers and attempted to measure some of the more important streams at various stages 

from low to high water. The hydrographers also tried to determine the 

evaporation from water surfaces, the rainfall in certain areas, the amount of 

sediment carried by running water, and other data required by the engineers 

making preliminary estimates for irrigation systems. The year 1889, however, was one of great drought, and the investigations indicated what might 

be expected during conditions of maximum aridity rather than average conditions on which the plans for irrigation construction should be based.

The engineering surveys began in the summer of 1889. E. S. Nettleton 

of Colorado, a civil engineer with many years experience in irrigation work, 

was appointed as supervising engineer, Sumner Bodfish and H. M. Wilson 

transferred from the topographic staff, and several other assistant engineers 

were appointed. Engineering surveys were made along the Sun River in 

Montana, the Snake River in Idaho, around Clear Lake and in the Sierra 

Nevada in California, on the Truckee and Carson Rivers in Nevada, around 

Utah Lake in Utah, along the headwaters of the Arkansas River in Colorado 

and farther downstream in Kansas, and on the Rio Grande in Texas, principally in the vicinity of El Paso. The El Paso situation was politically 

hazardous as it involved international water rights. The city council of El 

Paso sought the Survey's help in connection with a plan for the erection of 

a dam to impound the Rio Grande waters during the flood season. After 

the engineering survey was made, a decision was made to construct a dam

Irrigation Surveys, 1889 161
about 3 miles above El Paso. When an irrigation company secured a license 

to construct a canal and charge the farmers water rent, the Mexican farmers 

protested. After long hearings, the charter for construction of the dam was 

revoked. Early in December, H. M. Wilson was despatched to India to 

study irrigation practices there, and he returned in March via Cairo, Rome, 

and Paris.

The Topographic Branch of the Geological Survey mapped 12 sheets in 

southern Kansas that were selected because of their importance to agriculture. They were in the subhumid region, where agriculture without irrigation was successful in some years, in others not. The people were beginning to turn to irrigation, which would depend chiefly on the storage of 

storm waters. A topographic map would be useful, but the region was not 

included in the Irrigation Survey because the law had been construed as 

covering only regions where irrigation depended on use of perennial streams.

The Topographic Branch mapped, all told, 46,807 square miles in 20 

States, about one-fourth of it at 1:62,500 and the remainder for publication 

at 1:250,000. A cooperative survey was begun in Connecticut, and other 

surveys were made in Maine and Vermont. Mapping started in the anthracite 

region of Pennsylvania in response to a request from the State Geologist; 

mapping was also underway in the coal and iron areas of the Southern 

Appalachians. A survey was begun of the iron region of the Upper Peninsula 

of Michigan; three atlas sheets were surveyed in the moraine region of 

southern Wisconsin; work was begun in Illinois, with Chicago as the initial 

point, because of the plans then being considered for connecting the Great 

Lakes and the Mississippi River by ship canal; and areas encompassing nine 

map sheets were surveyed in Iowa. Work continued in the Ozark Hills of 

Arkansas and in Texas, and during the winter, mapping began in the alluvial 

region of the lower Mississippi and in the Florida phosphate region.

Major Powell had become so deeply involved in the irrigation work that 

he was unable to continue directing the Geological Survey and the Bureau 

of American Ethnology along with it, so with the concurrence of the SeeThe difficulties of dryfarming in the arid and semiarid regions, as well as the difficulties of drawing 

valid conclusions from inadequate data, are shown 

in these records of rainfall in the Rio Grande Basin. 

Note particularly the rainfall at Fort Wingate, one 

of the longest series of measurements, where in two 

instances years of great rainfall were followed immediately by years of drought. (From F. H. Newell, 

1891.)

162 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
retary of the Interior, part of the administrative supervision of the Geological 

Survey was shifted to a Chief Geologist. On July 1, 1889, all the geologic 

divisions were combined as the Geologic Branch and placed in charge of 

G. K. Gilbert. Because Powell had relied heavily on Gilbert for several 

years, the appointment did not mean any marked change in philosophy and 

no modification in the internal organization of any of the divisions or of the 

general plan of work was involved.

Most of the divisions in the Geologic Branch began mapping for the 

geologic atlas in the field season of 1889. Problems remained in the study 

of rocks at the two ends of the geologic column. The crystalline schists 

could not be discriminated by means of fossils, and as the evidence of their 

original sequence was obscured by metamorphism and complicated displacements, the determination of their structure was slow and difficult. Pumpelly, Van Hise, and Willis began a series of joint field excursions to unify 

their work. The glacial formations could not be correlated by means of 

fossils either, and a study of the stratigraphic sequence alone was insufficient. 

The glacial geologists were therefore studying external forms and internal 

constitution to establish a primary classification on the basis of origin, but 

they were far from ready to present results on atlas sheets.

Powell's protege, W J McGee, was, as usual, unrestrained by organization. As topographic maps were not yet available for most of the area 

covered by the Potomac Division, McGee spent some time on the Iowa 

report, examined exposures as streets were extended in northwest Washington, checked Darton's mapping of the East Washington sheet, continued 

his studies of the "deportment" of the Potomac River, and critically examined W. H. Holmes' work for the Bureau of Ethnology. L. C. Johnson, 

J. A. Holmes, and N. H.Darton, all nominally under McGee's supervision, 

were studying the stratigraphy of the Coastal Plain; George Williams, also 

under McGee's supervision, was investigating the petrography and geologic 

structure of the Piedmont crystalline rocks. As part of their work, Johnson 

and Darton spent several months in Florida where they distinguished three 

classes of phosphate deposits and determined roughly the distribution of 

each and its economic importance.

Gilbert's associate, I. C. Russell, spent the summer in Alaska. In May 

1889, the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey had invited the 

Director of the Geological Survey to send a Survey geologist along with the 

Coast Survey party organized to survey the boundary of Alaska in the vicinity 

of the Yukon and Porcupine Rivers. Russell, who endured rather than enjoyed the comforts of civilization was selected; he was to make collections 

and observations in zoology and ethnology as well as geology.

Little fieldwork was done in economic geology in 1889. The Colorado 

Division of Mining Geology was again required to devote itself exclusively 

to the preparation of reports. In the California Division of Mining Geology, 

Turner and Lindgren continued to map atlas sheets while Becker was engaged in a study of the dynamic history of the Sierra Nevada. One new 

project began under instructions from Secretary Noble. The Missouri Geological Survey was then being reactivated, and Arthur Winslow, who had 

spent 3 years on the Arkansas Survey under J. C. Branner, had been appointed as State Geologist. Walter P. Jenney, a mining engineer for the 

Union Pacific Railway, was engaged to begin an investigation of the zinc 

deposits of Missouri in cooperation with the State survey. Organizationally, 

this became the Division of Zinc.

The paleontological work was extended even more in the summer of 

1889- Alpheus Hyatt was added to the staff to undertake a study of lower

Geologic Surveys, 1889 163
Mesozoic paleontology. T. W. Stanton, recently appointed assistant paleontologist, spent the summer with C. A. White in a study of the Lower 

Cretaceous in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. The Division of Paleobotany did a large amount of fieldwork, and S. H. Scudder spent 3 months 

in the field studying fossil insects. Professor Marsh continued the work of 

trying to determine more accurately the relation between the Cretaceous and 

Tertiary formations of the West. The break between the Laramie vertebrates 

and the corresponding fauna of the early Eocene was profound, but the 

transition series had not been discovered.

At the Geological Society of America meeting in December 1889, stratigraphic nomenclature was again at issue. Professor Newberry said that no 

part of the geological column had given rise to a greater amount of literature 

or a greater diversity of opinion than the Laramie problem, but it was all 

because many people had combined two distinct formations and called them 

one and thereby provoked one of the minor battles to which paleontologists 

were prone. Newberry said the confusion started with Hayden, who had 

accepted King's term "Laramie" but had applied it differently. Many had 

accepted Cope's conclusion of 1874 as evidence that paleobotanical evidence 

was unreliable, and Ward, who had collected his own material, had compounded the confusion by calling the Laramie formation Eocene, whereas 

most of his material came from the Fort Union formation. In Newberry's 

mind, the floras of the Laramie and Fort Union were totally distinct and 

distinguishable at a glance; the Laramie was Cretaceous, and the Fort Union, 

Tertiary. Ward retorted that C. A. White was responsible for the error, if 

indeed there was one, and that Newberry had misremembered his conclusion 

because his only conclusion was that the whole thing was a war of words.

A few weeks later, a more publicized paleontological war was renewed. 

A reporter for the New York Herald assembled a story from interviews with 

Professor Cope, T. Sterry Hunt, Persifor Frazer, and others, and on Sunday, 

January 12, 1890, his story appeared under the headline: "SCIENTISTS 

WAGE BITTER WARFARE. PROF. COPE, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 

PENNSYLVANIA, BRINGS SERIOUS CHARGES AGAINST DIRECTOR POWELL AND PROF. MARSH OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY." Despite the headline, Marsh was the principal target of Cope's 

attack. Cope charged that Marsh was incompetent, that he published the 

work of his assistants as his own, destroyed fossils in the field so no one else 

could study them, kept enormous collections belonging to the Geological 

Survey in his Yale laboratory under lock and key and refused other scientists 

access to them, and mixed Survey collections with the Yale collections so 

no one could ever sort them out. Cope charged that Powell had blocked 

publication of his paleontological work for the Hayden survey and had 

insulted him by suggesting that some of his collections belonged to the 

Government.

Among the unrelated charges against Powell, some were an echo of the 

Allison Commission days that he had gained control of the National Academy of Sciences and had made himself head of a great scientific monopoly 

and others, that he had stolen or duplicated the work of State geological 

surveys, had obstructed geological work that contradicted his own, had 

attempted to dominate scientific meetings, and had neglected mining geology in his conduct of the Survey. Powell's dignified denial of all charges 

against him was published in the same issue. Marsh's more vigorous defense 

of himself appeared a week later. The matter was soon dropped; the general 

public found national politics of far more interest.

The 51st Congress elected in 1888, convened for its first session in 

December 1889 with the Republicans in control of both Houses by slim

164 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
majorities. The Republican victory at the polls was taken as a mandate to 

provide new tariff legislation. The situation was difficult, however, for the 

western wing of the Republican party could not be counted on on this issue. 

Western farmers at the best of times did not feel that the protective tariff 

served their interests, and 1889 was close to the worst of times. Farm prices 

had been declining since 1884, and the drought of 1887 and later years 

had caused great losses. The farmers had begun to organize, aiming their 

attack at the eastern moneyed interests and trusts. Fourteen States had 

already forbidden trusts and monopolies in their constitutions, at least thirteen had prohibited them by statute, and six to be on the safe side, had 

enacted both constitutional and statutory prohibitions. State action alone, 

however, was ineffectual, because the most notorious monopolies operated 

across State lines. At the same time, western silver men, troubled by the 

steady decline in the price of silver, were more vigorous than ever in their 

demands for silver coinage. The Secretary of the Treasury had been purchasing and coining $2 million of silver each month, the minimum required 

under the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, but silver men were pressing for the 

Treasury to coin the entire national output of silver. Hoping to make the 

tariff more palatable to the West, Republican leaders prepared to act first 

on the trust and silver issues. The antitrust bill was introduced in the Senate 

by Senator Sherman of Ohio as S. 1. The House Committee on Coinage 

began consideration of a new silver purchase plan. The House Ways and 

Means Committee began preparation of the new tariff bill, euphemistically 

entitled, "A bill to reduce the revenue."

Both Houses of Congress at the time were rather inefficient legislative 

bodies. The House, Woodrow Wilson wrote in his doctoral thesis on 

congressional government, "has as many leaders as there are subjects of 

legislation." The Senate prided itself on its independence, and Wilson said 

that although it contained "the best men that the system calls into politics," the Senate itself was "merely a body of individual critics."

The problem in the House was compounded by cumbersome and archaic 

rules. In 1889, however, when Thomas B. Reed of Maine was elected 

Speaker, he appointed the two unsuccessful candidates for that office, William McKinley and Joseph G. Cannon, chairmen of the powerful Ways and 

Means and Appropriations Committees, respectively. These three then devised a new set of rules for "the more expeditious handling of House business." The most significant changes were the redefinition of quorum as 

members present rather than members voting, and the grant to the Speaker 

of discretionary power in entertaining dilatory motions. The Reed tactics 

in pushing the new rules through earned him the title of "Czar" Reed, 

but their adoption smoothed the way for the passage of Republican legislation.

The Republican majority in the Senate was a precarious two at the start 

of the session, but during the next few months, eight new Senators arrived 

from the States admitted in November. Gilbert A. Pierce and Lyman R. 

Casey, the first Senators from North Dakota, Gideon Moody and Richard 

Pettigrew, the first Senators from South Dakota, and John B. Alien and 

Watson C. Squire, the first Senators from Washington, were all sworn in 

in January 1890. Two sets of Senators presented credentials from Montana, 

Republicans Thomas C. Power and Wilbur Sanders and Democrats William 

A. Clark and Martin Maginnis. In April, the Senate ruled in favor of the 

Republicans Power and Sanders. As all 8 new Senators were Republicans, 

the majority was raised to 10, but the new Senators were more concerned 

with problems within the new States than with the tariff. Irrigation had not 

been regarded by Senate leaders as of the same importance as the silver and

Legislative Maneuvers, 1890 165
trust questions at the beginning of the session, but it was of great importance 

to the new States, and as the months went by, it became a highly explosive 

issue. By midsummer, Senator Gorman called it "the most important question which has come before the Senate during the entire session."

The Senate Select Committee on Irrigation had made a fact-finding trip 

through the arid region in the summer of 1889- Major Powell had joined 

them at the invitation of the chairman, Senator Stewart, during most of the 

trip, and he addressed two of the constitutional conventions meeting in 

preparation for admission of territories to statehood. To the North Dakota 

convention, Powell made a plea for State control of water rights. In the 

eastern part of the State, he reminded them, there was sufficient rainfall and 

in the western, a permanent dependence on irrigation. The danger was in 

the middle region, where there would be years of abundance and years of 

disaster. "There are waters rolling by you which are quite ample to redeem 

your land and you must save these waters," he said. "Don't let these 

streams get out of the possession of the people.* * * Fix it in your constitution that no corporation no body of men no capital can get possession 

of the right of your waters."

To the Montana Constitutional Convention, Powell made a still more 

radical proposal, that the county boundaries be drawn on the basis of geography. "In the western half of America, the local, the state, the territorial 

governments, and the regulations and the national government are in no 

sense adapted to the physical conditions of the country." Thirty-five million acres of land in Montana could be redeemed by irrigation, but only if 

every drop of water falling on the land remained in the State. A man in any 

given drainage basin must be interested in every part of the basin because 

the entire basin gathers the water he needs. Therefore, the primary unit of 

organization in the arid lands should be the drainage basin.

The Idaho Constitutional Convention complained to the General Land 

Office early in July that speculators had followed the Survey crews and 

staked out claims within the supposedly reserved reservoir site of Bear Lake, 

and on August 2, 1889, followed it with a resolution asking the Department of the Interior to retain Bear Lake as a public reservoir. Secretary 

Noble was then drawn into the irrigation question.

On August 2, Noble sent a telegram to the Governor of Idaho Territory, 

pointing out the extent of the law of October 2, 1888. He said,

It follows necessarily that the speculators, corporations, or other persons referred to in the resolution, are under the effect of this law and unable to obtain 

the advantages that you say they are seeking. Unless the law is repealed or 

the President opens the lands to settlement under the homestead laws, the 

Government must have and will take eventually absolute control of every acre 

of arid land that may be redeemed by the system of reservoirs, canals, and 

ditches, as provided in the appropriations act mentioned.

He then directed the Commissioner of the General Land Office to notify 

local-land offices to cancel all claims filed after October 2, 1888, on reservoir, ditch, or canal sites. On August 5, this was done and, in effect, all 

land offices in the arid region were closed, for no one knew where the 

reservoir, ditch, or canal sites were. There was, of course, an immediate 

uproar from those who had filed claims in good faith or otherwise and from 

their Congressmen, and a new order was issued, that patents could be issued 

with the proviso that they might later be found invalid.

In his annual report to Congress in November 1889, Secretary Noble 

pointed out another problem:

166 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
John W. Noble

Secretary of the Interior in the Harrison Administration, 1889 1893- A distinguished and successful lawyer, Noble early perceived some ot the problems of the irrigation law, and encouraged work in 

economic geology (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

in those States and Territories where irrigation must be resorted to and where 

the same stream runs through different States or different Territories, unless 

some control is kept by the National Government, the streams may be exhausted or greatly depleted by those nearest its source, and that those below, 

who have already made every preparation and calculation dependent on the 

particular water supply, may be brought to great loss, if not destitution * "* 

The present statute should be supplemented by some general law, with such 

other provisions as will meet the different difficulties apt to arise from any 

national system of irrigation intended.

A national system of irrigation, however, was not what Congress had had 

in mind. Bills were filed almost as soon as Congress convened, but they 

were to cede public land in aid of irrigation, to promote irrigation, or 

provide for irrigation, or to grant right of way through public lands for 

irrigation. The Senate Select Committee on Irrigation came back from its 

western trip with masses of testimony to guide its deliberations.

On January 16, 1890, while the Cope-Marsh fracas was making headlines, Senator Plumb, who had opposed the Irrigation Survey in 1888, filed 

a bill "to provide for the conservation and use of natural water supplies upon 

certain portions of the public lands of the United States," and three times 

in the next 8 days Major Powell appeared before the Senate Committee on 

Irrigation. On January 21, he proposed to them a bill of his own, the 

"theory" of which, he said, was that "there are natural hydrographic basins 

or drainage areas; that the people of each of these districts should be organized into bodies corporate and politic and constitute commonwealths for 

the regulation of irrigation, the division of waters, the protection of forests, 

the protection of the pasturage lands, and for the utilization of all of these

Senate Irrigation Committee Hearings 167
values." When Senator Moody asked him on what principle of constitutional power he attributed to Congress the authority to make such regulations and divide up the water, Major Powell answered, "I provide for it in 

my theory, not on a principle of law but on a principle of policy."

In the other two sessions, Major Powell displayed maps of the arid region 

and discussed the work of the Irrigation Survey. The area where irrigation 

was necessary, he said, covered some 1,340,000 square miles between the 

100th meridian, or close to it, and the Pacific. The new map was modified 

slightly from that of 1878, but chiefly on the Pacific side. About 8 million 

acres, scattered throughout the States and Territories, were already being 

irrigated, and he thought that about 100 million acres could be irrigated. 

The work of the Survey had been begun, he said, in the most densely 

peopled regions where the scarcity of water was most keenly felt, the Arkansas Valley in Colorado, the Rio Grande in New Mexico, the Truckee and 

Carson Valleys in California and Nevada, and the Snake River valley in 

Idaho.

The questioning, on the face of it, was not unfriendly. Senator Stewart 

asked how long it would take to do the engineering work so that the people 

might know where to locate reservoirs and how long it would take to do 

sufficient work in each State so that they could have it in hand. Major 

Powell finally said that it would take a long term of years at the rate at

William Morris Stewart

Senator from Nevada, 1864-1875 and 1887- 

1905 In 1873, he introduced the legislation establishing the Irrigation Commission and in 1888, 

the legislation that led to the Irrigation Survey. 

Stewart, however, was more interested in mining 

and monetary legislation. He had helped legally in 

the development of the Comstock Lode and had 

been largely responsible for the Mining Act of 

1866. In his later years in the Senate, he tried to 

promote the Survey's work in economic geology. 

(Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

168 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
which they were going 15 to 20 years. To get it done in 6 or 7 years as 

originally planned, he would need $ 1 million a year. Senator Stewart pressed , 

him as to how long it would take to locate the reservoirs and the points at 

which the ditches were to be taken out, but Major Powell objected that the 

work could not be done piecemeal. Nothing could be made known until all 

the facts in a given basin were determined, and the topographic survey was 

the cheapest way of getting the facts. But, Senator Stewart said, there are 

a number of localities where people are anxious to get to work and are 

pressing us for information. How can we relieve the pressure? Senator Reagan especially wanted to know what was being done for the new States.

During this round of questions, it came out that the Irrigation Survey 

was concerned only with stream waters and not with artesian or storm 

waters. Senator Stewart thought people boring artesian wells should be 

helped, but Major Powell dismissed artesian waters as not important in 

irrigation. He agreed to the undertaking of an experimental investigation 

if it were properly financed but concluded his testimony with the question, 

"Is it wise to encourage the people to gamble for water with the dice loaded 

against them?"

The situation was radically different at the next session of the Committee 

a week later. When Senator Stewart called for testimony from "any person 

present who had practical ideas as to what can and ought to be done to 

facilitate irrigation; how it can be directly got at; what aid the Government 

can give most advantageously and with the least expense," there were 

several on hand with ideas. Richard J. Hinton, who had prepared the 1886 

report on irrigation for the Senate, thought that the work should have been 

begun in the region between the 97th and 104th meridians, where the most 

people had settled and that the chief objects of the survey should be to 

delimit the drainage areas, to define the available reservoir sites within those 

areas, and to indicate the channels by which they could be distributed. The 

work of the irrigation survey was not dependent on the progress of the 

topographic and geologic surveys, and competent engineers could begin 

work at once without waiting for the topographic survey. Mr. Hinton 

thought that if $350,000 were spent for the development of ground water 

east of the mountains, $400,000 for engineering surveys, and a small 

amount on climatology, the survey could be completed in 3 to 4 years.

E. S. Nettleton, who was second in command to Captain Dutton, also 

questioned the need for the topographic surveys. Nettleton, who claimed 

45 years of experience in civil engineering, 20 of them in irrigation work, 

said, "The whole of this work can be accomplished by what I call an irrigation engineering survey including sufficient topographical work and sufficient hydrographical work." The "sufficient topographical" work would 

be surveys in the immediate vicinity of irrigation works, not of mining sites 

or pasturelands.

Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Edwin C. Willits was on hand to express the great interest of that Department in the whole subject of irrigation, 

accompanied by experts who had prepared papers to show the relation of 

irrigation to agricultural interests, the forests, control of insect pests, and 

selection of crops. Assistant Secretary Willits also pointed out the importance of climatology. The Department of Agriculture was waiting to see 

whether the Weather Service would be transferred to it, as was then being 

discussed. If it were not, the Department would ask an appropriation to 

begin its own work in climatology.

Major Powell was also invited to appear before the House Committee on 

Irrigation to discuss the problems of irrigation and his ideas on the subject. 

There he seemed to win the interest of all, even the redoubtable Mr. Herbert

Senate Irrigation Committee Hearings 169
who answered Major Powell's diffident, "I am afraid that I have wearied 

you gentlemen already" with "You are not wearying me, for I feel a very 

great interest in it." During a session on Saturday morning, March 15, 

Major Powell attacked the Plumb bill as impracticable and proposed his 

own bill. He began by discussing the problem of water rights. There was 

a general theory of law which provided for priority of right, but it did not 

apply to questions of water right between different districts and different 

States. He stressed the fact that not all the land in the arid region could be 

irrigated; it would be "a large estimate" to say that one-tenth of it could 

be irrigated by perennial streams. For that reason, it was an important 

problem to determine which lands could be served. It was possible to select 

the lands so that good lands could be irrigated or poor lands. It was possible 

to select the lands in such a way that ultimately less than one-tenth of the 

arid region could be irrigated. Finally, he said, "I do not know whether it 

is modest for me to suggest a solution of the problem, but if you will hear 

me on the subject I would like to speak a few minutes upon what I think 

is the solution."

Invited to proceed he said, "It takes me out of my proper function as an 

executive officer of the Government to suggest legislative measures, but I 

think there are three methods by which it can be solved, two of which I 

deem impracticable under our form of government." The first was that the 

General Government take control of the waters, construct the irrigating 

works, and charge the people for the water. That could be dismissed without 

further discussion, for Congress was clearly opposed to such a proposition. 

The second was that the General Government authorize the people to construct the works by granting charters for them. The Government could 

institute a commission with an organization to make surveys to examine the 

streams and lands and could authorize that commission to charter private 

bodies, corporations, or individuals to do the work. That was the substance 

of Senator Plumb's bill, which the Senate Committee was studying. That 

scheme, the Major said, would need a great central commission and local 

and State commissions, and a vast body of marshals and U. S. courts. It 

would result in piling up against the Government the most enormous 

claims. Corporations would control the water, farmers the lands, and the 

farmers would be supplied with water by the corporations instead of controlling it themselves. The preferred solution, the one in harmony with the 

institutions of this country, was the bill Powell had outlined to the Senate 

on January 21 and described then to the House Committee.

On March 13, while Major Powell had met with the House Committee 

on Irrigation, Captain Dutton appeared before the Senate Committee. He 

was questioned on two points: the division of the appropriation between the 

topographic surveys and the engineering work; and the connection, in practical operations, between the two. Dutton replied that of the first appropriation of $100,000, only $36,000 had been allocated for hydrographic 

and engineering surveys; of the second appropriation of $250,000, only 

$100,000. As to the connection between the topographic and engineering 

surveys, Dutton said that there was some general usefulness in a good topographic survey in an engineering or hydrographic project but they could 

get along without it. The topographic surveys needed in irrigation work 

were never on a scale of less than 1,000 feet to the inch and more frequently 

on a scale of 100 to 200 feet to the inch. The vertical element was even 

more important, and the contour interval in the general survey was simply 

too large. "It would be impracticable," he said, "to construct a topographic 

map, at a reasonable cost, with a degree of accuracy at all commensurate 

with the accuracy which is demanded by the engineering surveys of a canal,

170 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
Quantity, distribution, and fluctuations of rainfall, 

F. H. Newell pointed out, are not directly related 

to the amount of water flowing in a stream and 

available for storage and use in irrigation. Snow is 

more important than rain, and the time of year 

when snow falls and the temperature in early spring 

have great influence on the quantity and intensity 

of floods. (From F. H. Newell, 1891.)

or even a reservoir." Major Powell, Captain Dutton thought, was under 

some misapprehension as to the degree of accuracy attainable by the mapping 

methods in use. He did not believe that the accuracy needed by the engineer 

was at all attainable by the methods used by the topographers, and, furthermore, none of the topographers, with the possible exception of A. H. 

Thompson, thought so either.

On March 14 and again on the 18th, Major Powell was called before the 

Senate Committee and grilled on the necessity of the topographic surveys. 

He protested that he had said from the beginning that the topographic maps 

must come first. Senator Stewart insisted that they were not complaining 

about what had been done; they merely wanted to know how much had 

been spent on each. Faced with the fact that his engineers disagreed with 

him, Major Powell said that he, who had overall charge of the work, was 

a better judge of what was necessary than the head of any part of the program 

who would obviously be convinced that his own work was the most important, and he asked permission to bring in members of the Survey who agreed

Senate Irrigation Committee Hearings 171
with him rather than Button and Nettleton, mentioning specifically G. K. 

Gilbert, A. H. Thompson, Henry Gannett, and Willard Johnson. The 

funds, Major Powell insisted, had been nearly equally divided, a little less 

than one-half for the topographic surveys, a little more for engineering 

work.

Major Powell was by then making a serious effort with a series of speeches 

and magazine articles to explain his position to the public. The best and 

safest agriculture, and the oldest, was irrigation agriculture. Perhaps 20 

percent of the western lands could be reclaimed by irrigation, but that 20 

percent added up to more land than had been tilled so far in the Nation. 

The water to reclaim that 20 percent would have to come from the large 

rivers. Dams on the large rivers, if properly engineered, would provide 

protection from floods and permit a controlled flow that would prevent 

wasteful runoff and allow both the reclamation of arid lands at the headwaters and swamplands near the river mouths. Laws governing the ownership or use of interstate or international rivers must be worked out and a 

plan devised to obtain means to construct the enormous engineering works 

necessary.

Powell estimated that $1 billion would be required but said that the 

Government should not engage in the work. "So dreamers may dream, and 

so ambition may dictate, but in the name of the men who labor I demand 

that the laborers shall employ themselves; that the enterprise shall be controlled by the men who have the genius to organize, and whose homes are 

in the lands developed, and that the money shall be furnished by the people; 

and I say to the Government: Hands off!" The solution that he proposed 

was that the entire arid region be organized into natural hydrographic districts and that each one make laws for the division of waters, protection and

As a corollary to the investigation of the arid lands, 

Professor Shaler investigated the inundated lands. 

The development of swamps was controlled by relations among the shape of the land, the rainfall, 

and the annual temperature. He found that in the 

swamp near Corapeake, North Carolina, only slight 

differences in altitude had resulted in differences in 

physical conditions to which different types of trees 

had become adapted. (N. S. Shaler, 1890.)

172 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
use of the forests (a forestry organization under the hands of the General 

Government, he said, would become a hotbed of corruption), for the protection of the pasturage on the hills, and for the use of power.

Powell said: \

Let the General Government make a survey of the lands, segregating and designating the irrigable lands, the timber lands, the pasturage lands, and the 

mining lands; let the General Government retain possession of all except the 

irrigable lands, but give these to the people in severally as homesteads. Then 

let the General Government declare and provide by statute that the people of 

each district may control and use the timber, the pasturage, and water powers, 

under specific laws enacted by themselves and by the States to which they 

belong. Then let the General Government further declare and establish by statute how the waters are to be divided among the districts and used on the lands 

segregated as irrigable lands, and then provide that the waters of each district 

may be distributed among the people by the authorities of each district under 

State and national laws.

(Only undeveloped mining lands were to remain in the possession of the 

General Government; titles should pass to individuals under the provisions 

of existing statutes, where such lands were obtained by actual occupation 

and development, but only in quantities sufficient for mining purposes.)

The capital, Powell thought, should not and could not come from great 

corporations that had done much to accomplish the works necessary to 

modern civilization. Agriculture had not come under the domination of 

these "modern rulers." Throughout the humid regions the farmer was 

independent, and corporations that had sought to take control of agriculture 

in the arid region had "often failed to secure brilliant financial results, and 

many have been almost destroyed. "There was a war between capital and 

labor in the West, but Powell's plan would permit individual farmers to 

exploit the land and at the same time open to capital a field for safe investment and remunerative return.

On March 21, Major Powell returned to the Senate Committee accompanied by G. K. Gilbert and A. H. Thompson. Neither, in the end, proved 

of much help. Gilbert tended to give long technical replies, but he finally 

admitted that the topographic survey had to be done over on a different 

scale for the practical work. Thompson thought that topographic surveys 

preceded the engineering work in India and southern California. He didn't 

have any reports from India that insisted on topography first, but he thought 

that there were some in the Survey library. When pressed for examples from 

southern California, he recalled once discussing a survey of a 10-square-mile 

area with a gentleman in San Francisco. Certainly, he admitted, the engineers of the Irrigation Survey could get along without having the topographic maps in hand; none of the maps were finished yet. As the session 

ended, Major Powell said, "I would like to have five minutes time. Neither 

of the gentlemen who have been speaking has seemed to fully comprehend 

what the committee desires, and I would like to have five minutes of your 

time." Senator Stewart promised, "There will be another meeting and you 

shall be heard."

The next day was little better. Willard Johnson did his best, citing the 

constant demands from the engineer in the Arkansas Valley for maps, but 

he too admitted that the engineering survey had been able to start without 

the topographic maps. Then A. H. Thompon volunteered the information 

that the topographic maps for the irrigation survey were made in exactly 

the same way as the topographic maps for the geologic survey, and the 

committee had a whole new line of attack, for in 1888 Powell had suggested 

that the topographic work be given "a special adjustment in the interest of 

irrigation."

Senate Irrigation Committee Hearings 173
3ft«lH*:s^*^4sdi^^S>t^':^^rJR.2:, "-"ij^lCSSS^ i 

KiSEjLf.' * - " H- .- ,;^- p'-ir',"fc3J-<aKt'*_iL^jff??^SMS

While the Senate Committee was grilling Major Powell about the topographic mapping, the Senate itself had already, on March 18, 1890, agreed 

without discussion to an amendment to the Urgent Deficiency bill proposed 

by its Committee on Appropriations that provided $20,000 for "the Secretary of Agriculture to make such preliminary investigations of an engineering and other character as will, so far as practicable, determine the 

proper location for artesian wells for irrigation purposes within the area west 

of the ninety-seventh meridian and east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains."

On the 27th, while the bill was still in conference, Major Powell appeared 

before the House Committee on Irrigation with a prepared statement on 

artesian waters. The supply of water from artesian sources, he said, "is 

always limited, is always very small," and he concluded that "if all the 

artesian wells in the world which are used for irrigation were assembled in 

one county of Dakota they would not irrigate that county." The chairman 

thought that the statement would not be borne out by the facts, but Major 

Powell insisted, "Though irrigation has aided agriculture from the earliest 

times and though artesian wells have long been understood, the world has 

succeeded in using artesian water for agriculture in but a few exceptional 

spots. The Great Plains may become one of these exceptional localities, but 

the conditions do not warrant great expectations."

He said:

Owing to the cost of well boring, it is not economic to bore wells for the purpose 

of reclaiming land by artesian water unless the flow obtained exceeds a certain 

minimum. The economic limit is quickly reached in any district upon the multiplication of wells, and unless well systems are wisely planned there is a great

174 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890

As part of the Survey's effort to educate the public, 

Professor Shaler also prepared a wide-ranging popular account of the origin and nature of soils, which 

he said were a far more precious inheritance than 

mineral resources. Because civilization rests on the 

food-giving capacities of the soil and because all 

future advances depended on the preservation and 

enhancement of its fertility, the soil must be nurtured and cared for with an exceeding tenderness 

and affection. (From N. S. Shaler, 1891.)
danger that the economic limit will be exceeded, and especially that new wells 

at lower levels will have the effect of destroying wells previously sunk at higher 

levels. Disappointment is also incurred when the temporary flow resulting from 

antecedent storage is mistaken for permanent flow. For these reasons exploitation with a drill should be guided by the results of surveys geologic surveys 

to determine the stratigraphy and geologic structure, and engineering surveys 

to determine the limitation of discovered reservoirs. While the Dakota sandstone is one of the most important of the known artesian reservoirs, the amount 

of land which can be redeemed to agriculture through its aid is yet so small 

that disastrous results might follow if great expectations were aroused in regard to it.

The subject demanded, he said, "the most skillful investigation which can 

be bestowed," but there were other sources that were vastly more important. The House nonetheless agreed to the Senate amendment, and the 

Urgent Deficiency bill became law on April 4, 1890. Senator Moody of 

South Dakota had already filed a bill to authorize and direct the Department 

of Agriculture to make investigations of the underflow waters between the 

97th meridian and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

In the work of the Survey proper, while the Irrigation Survey was underway, much effort went into 

locating the boundary between the Paleozoic and 

the Precambrian. In nearly all localities where the 

lowest zone of the Cambrian was recognized, C. D. 

Walcott found a peculiar genus of trilobites, and 

the term "Olenellus zone" then came into general 

use to designate the base of the Cambrian. (From 

C. D. Walcott, 1890.)

Agriculture Department Irrigation Studies 175
Commissioner Lewis A. Groff of the Land Office was by this time sufficiently troubled about the exact meaning of the reservation clause to ask 

guidance of the Secretary of the Interior "whether, under the act of October 

2, 1888, the reservation extends to such tracts as may be actually selected 

as sites, etc., becoming operative only after such selection, or whether the 

reservation from disposal extends from the data of the act to the entire 

expanse of the arid region." The Secretary on April 21 referred the question 

to the Attorney General, and the Commissioner issued instructions to hold 

up patents on lands in the arid region until further notice.

On April 17, Major Powell had appeared before the more sympathetic 

House Committee on Irrigation with a prepared statement on the operations 

of the Irrigation Survey, to set before them "the plans of the survey, the 

methods of the survey, and the underlying principles which have guided me 

in the administrative of the trust." It seemed to him, he said that the 

provisions of the law were wise, but wise or not, as an administrative officer 

he was bound to carry them out. The law was manifestly in the interest of 

homestead settlers. Individuals and companies had applied to him to have 

surveys made for plans and schemes that they had devised, but he had 

concluded that his duty was to enter into each basin and make a complete 

examination of it, report the best system of works for that basin, and reserve 

the sites and lands for homestead settlers. The promoters were disappointed 

and raised a hue and cry that the survey did not aid the development of the 

country and was not practical. "And that is true," he concluded, "so far 

as development and such practical benefit are to come from the advancement 

of irrigation schemes by which lands and waters are aggregated in the possession of individuals and corporations. If this is a fault it is a fault of the 

law itself, as I act only in harmony with the statute."

On the 24th, Major Powell again appeared before the House Committee 

on Irrigation to alert them to a problem regarding the segregation of lands 

made susceptible of irrigation. The law, he said, had an uncertainty in it 

but would be construed in a few weeks. He thought that the survey should 

be directed to segregate these lands in such a way as to secure: (1) the 

greatest area of irrigable land, (2) the most valuable lands for agricultural 

purposes by reason of climate, (3) the most valuable lands for agriculture 

by reason of soil and subsoil, and (4) the lands that could be irrigated and 

cultivated with the greatest economy. All these provisions had in fact been 

incorporated in Mr. Reagan's bill. But he wanted to warn them that unless 

something was done to provide that specific lands be irrigated, capitalists 

and corporations would acquire larger quantities of lands under the Desert 

Land and Timber Culture Acts, and these poorer lands would be the ones 

to be irrigated.

Commissioner Groff was already hearing from Senators and Congressmen 

dismayed by his instructions to hold up patents. On May 3, 1890, Senator 

Teller offered a formal resolution "that the Secretary of the Interior be 

requested to inform the Senate what construction is placed by his Department upon the scope and effect of the reservation from sale and disposal of 

the arid lands under the provisions of the act of October 2, 1888 * * * and 

what instructions or orders, if any, have been issued or made thereunder, 

whether general or special, with respect to the suspension of the arid lands 

from entry under the public land laws, or the suspension of entries thereof 

heretofore made, or affecting the rights of citizens to construct canals and 

ditches for irrigating purposes on the public domain."

On May 8, the Senate Select Committee on Irrigation filed its report. 

The majority, Senators Stewart, Plumb, Casey, and Moody, endorsed Senator Plumb's bill, which reserved all unappropriated waters of lakes and

176 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
Locating the Paleozoic-Precambrian boundary had rivers and placed them under the control of the States or Territories. The 

been difficult because in some areas the Olenellus bill also called for the appointment of a Commissioner of Irrigation in the 

zone was missing and the Upper Cambrian, the Department of Agriculture and the transfer of the Irrigation Survey to that 

Potsdam, rested directly on the Precambrian. (From Department. A minority report, signed by the three Democratic members 

C. D. Walcott, 1890.) of ^ Cornmittee5 Senators Reagan, German, and Jones, offered as an alternative to the majority bill a new bill based on the proposals of Major 

Powell.

A large part of the majority report was devoted to the charge that the 

Director had illegally transferred money appropriated for the irrigation survey to topography. The Director claimed that the term "necessary maps" 

in the legislation meant the topographic maps, that in fact the topographic 

maps were necessary to the irrigation survey. The committee thought that 

the maps were useful and convenient for minor purposes but reported that 

the engineers said that maps were not necessary in any "imperative" sense, 

that they would not save any important amount of labor or expense. The 

Director said that the maps made trial lines unnecessary; the engineers said 

that trial lines were seldom necessary, and when they were needed it was 

to settle questions that the topographic maps couldn't answer. The Director 

said that the maps showed whether the slopes would lead water to benchland, saving the engineers an expensive survey; the engineers said that a 

simple inspection would show that. The big questions were the amount and

Senate Irrigation Committee Report 177
cost of construction, and as they depended on the quality of the ground, a 

topographic map could not supply the information. The Director said that 

the topographers discovered the reservoir sites; the engineers said that they 

had to see the district for themselves. The Director said that the amount of 

runoff could be computed using information from the topographic maps; 

the engineers said that computations were no better than guesswork. The 

minority report defended the Director's use of topographic mapping.

On May 26, Senator Stewart moved to discredit Major Powell's direction 

of the Irrigation Survey by proposing a resolution, which the Senate adopted:

"Whereas by the act of October 2, 1888, an appropriation of $199,000 

was made for topographic surveys and $100,000 for investigations and surveys for the purpose of irrigation and

"Whereas by the act of March 2, 1889, an appropriation of $200,000 was 

made for topographic surveys and $250,000 for irrigation investigations and 

surveys: Therefore

"Be it resolved, That the Secretary of the Interior be directed to inform 

the Senate how much, if any of the money appropriated for irrigation investigations and surveys has been diverted and used for topographic surveys 

and matters connected therewith; and, if any such money has been so diverted and used, to inform the Senate by what authority of law, where 

appropriations are made by Congress for several purposes, the money appropriated for one purpose can be diverted and used for another purpose for 

which an appropriation is also made in the same statute."

On May 28, the Washington Star published an interview with Major 

Powell. "The struggle that I am at present engaged in with relation to the 

irrigation question," he was quoted as telling the Star writer, "is a fight 

against the speculators pure and simple. I am doing what I can to prevent 

moneyed sharks from gobbling up the irrigable lands of the great arid belt, 

together with the waters upon which they will depend for fruitfulness, and 

so establishing a sort of hydraulic feudal system, to which the American 

farmers would be helplessly subject." The wisdom of the provision for 

withdrawal of the land, he said, was "even now being shown by the tremendous efforts which the speculators, with $500,000 to back them, are 

making to secure the repeal of the law by Congress, in order that they may 

rush in and gobble these areas and supply waters, which the Geological

Amos Eaton had made the first attempt in the 

United States to assign strata known to be Lower 

Cambrian to a definite position in a series of stratified rocks. C. D. Walcott reproduced Baton's 

1824 section because of its great historic interest 

and identified Baton's Granular Quartz as Cambrian, his Transition Argillite as nearly all Cambrian, and the Greywacke of Peterboro Mountain 

as Upper Cambrian. (Brom C. D. Walcott, 1890.)

178 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
Survey has recently declared to be so valuable." He was doing his best to 

defeat the speculators, but they wielded great influence and had even misled 

some members of Congress. Attacks were made on the Survey, they were 

trying to turn the irrigation business over to the Department of Agriculture 

and the hydrographic survey to the Signal Service, and he personally had 

been accused of misuse of funds. "But how on earth," he concluded, "the 

survey was to ascertain the manner in which irrigation was to be successfully 

accomplished without preliminary mapping of the regions exhibiting the 

problem to be solved goodness only knows."

When the Senate convened the next morning, an irate Senator Stewart 

rose to a question of privilege and asked that the article be read to the 

Senate. As soon as the clerk finished reading, he launched into an attack on 

Major Powell, calling the Geological Survey "a political hospital where no 

civil service rules apply, and where members of Congress who will serve his 

schemes find places for their relatives and dependents." Senator Gorman 

tried to defend the Director, but he had to admit that his statement to the 

paper was "unfortunate, probably, and should not have been made by 

him."

On June 3, Secretary Noble sent to the Senate his reply to Senator Teller's 

resolution of May 3 -

On May 24, William Howard Taft, Solicitor General and Acting Attorney General, had replied to the Secretary's inquiry of April 21 about reservation of lands and had sustained the Secretary's interpretation. It was 

the purpose of Congress to suspend all rights of entry upon any lands which 

might possibly come within the scope of the law of 1888. The entire arid 

region was in fact closed to entry on October 2, 1888. The Secretary added 

that, while he was not called on to express his views further than upon the 

construction he had placed on the act, he asked the privilege to say that he 

deemed the matter

one of such magnitude and of such vital interest to the people inhabiting or 

who may hereafter inhabit these vast regions, that if the Senate and House of 

Representatives do not as a body fully concur m the purpose of this law they 

should take the business in hand without delay, to so modify it as they may 

deem the public interests require, as otherwise there may be the greatest losses 

on the one hand to persons who, ignorant of the law or disregarding the same, 

settle upon these land, or upon the vast and valuable properties that should be 

controlled by the Government for reservoirs, ditches, etc.

On June 4, the Secretary replied to the Senate resolution of May 26 and 

upheld the Director's use of funds for topographic mapping: "The statute 

directs that the expense of making the topographic maps for the Geological 

Survey shall be defrayed from the appropriations made for the Geological 

Survey, and that the expense of making the topographic maps for the Irrigation Survey shall be defrayed from the appropriation for the irrigation 

survey. It appears from the report of the Director of the Geological Survey, 

in my judgment, that the appropriations for the Geological Survey have not 

been diverted from their purpose, but have been strictly used as contemplated in the act, and that the appropriations for the irrigation survey have 

not been diverted from their purpose but strictly used for the irrigation 

survey as required by law." Senator Stewart, however, thought that the 

Director had hoodwinked the Secretary. "What the Director of the Geological Survey has done was to take over $200,000 of the irrigation money and 

use it for topography. That is the fact; and when it is stated that because 

he was to make maps for the irrigation survey he should therefore take the 

money for the irrigation survey and use it for another purpose, when it was 

directly approriated for that purpose, with all due respect to the Secretary

Closing the Public Domain 179
of the Interior, it is in direct violation of the law. * * * I say the money 

has been squarely misappropriated. The language of the statute has not been 

observed, and the whole legislation, which I was guilty of inaugurating to 

some extent myself, has been an unmitigated evil to the people of my part 

of the country."

That same day the House Committee on Appropriations was to consider 

the appropriations for the Irrigation Survey, and both Senator Stewart and 

Senator Moody of South Dakota attended. The budget request was for a 

total of $777,500-$720,000 for the Irrigation Survey itself, $50,000 for 

engraving maps, and $7,500 for rent. Major Powell wanted the $720,000 

divided among the States and Territories, including those in the subhumid 

region. Congressman Joseph Sayers of Texas asked if the topographic maps 

for the Geological Survey and for the Irrigation Survey were really the same, 

and Major Powell assured him that they were made in the same way but 

that the entire $200,000 for topographic surveys under the Geological Survey had been spent in mining regions, leaving nothing for the Irrigation 

Survey.

Senator Stewart told the House Committee that "every representative of 

the arid region I think there is no exception would prefer that there 

would be no appropriation to having it continued under Major Powell" 

and tried to explain to the committee "what kind of investigation we want 

and what kind of invesigation we do not want." Senator Moody questioned 

Major Powell in great detail about his knowledge of South Dakota. Senator 

Moody "deprecated" the unfortunate controversy that had arisen, but complained that the Major had given the artesian project a "black eye." The 

House Committee, despite the Senators' presence, approved the full amount 

for the Irrigation Survey.

The Sundry Civil Expenses bill was brought before the House in midJune 1890 under the 5-minute rule which limited discussion of amendments. Provision was made, however, for full debate on the irrigation survey. The new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Joseph G. 

Cannon of Illinois, insisted that the surveys were for information only. 

"There is no proposition to do otherwise than comply with the law, and no 

intention or desire on the part of the committee to recommend appropriations 

that will commit the Government to the improvement of arid lands or any 

other lands anywhere." The committee had viewed the Survey's work as 

designating irrigable lands so the President could open them to settlement 

under the homestead laws and had allowed the full amount of the budget 

so the work could be prosecuted with dispatch. The House itself was divided. Mr. Sayers said the legislation also aimed at preventing syndicates 

and corporations from obtaining control of reservoir sites, but Congressman 

William Gates of Alabama allowed that that could be done more cheaply 

by changing the land laws. Isaac Goodnight of Kentucky wanted to eliminate the entire appropriation, but Alexander Dockery of Missouri said it 

would be necessary either to repeal the law or to appropriate the money to 

designate the irrigable lands. Both Edward P. Alien of Michigan and Benton 

McMillin of Tennessee objected to putting more lands in competition with 

existing agricultural lands since farms all over the country were in bad 

shape. The motion to eliminate the appropriation was defeated, and a motion 

to repeal the joint resolution of March 20, 1888, went out on a point of 

order.

The House Committee on Appropriations had recommended the same 

amount as the previous year, $515,700, for the Geological Survey proper, 

and there was no discussion of that appropriation as the Sundry Civil Expenses bill was passed by the House on June 17, 1890.

180 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
Chief Geologist Gilbert wrote to Professor Alpheus Hyatt: "The attack 

on the Survey by Senator Stewart seems quite as likely to react on him as 

to impede our work. His late efforts have seemed quite abortive. He made 

an argument before the Committee on Appropriations of the House against 

the appropriation for the irrigation investigation, but the appropriation was, 

nevertheless, voted unanimously by the Committee, the full amount of the 

estimate being given $750,000 and Powell's administration being practically sustained. The resolution introduced by him to ascertain on what 

authority Powell had used certain moneys in certain ways elicited a reply 

from the Secretary of the Interior, which fully sustained Powell's administration, and that reply was submitted by the Secretary to the Cabinet 

before sending it to the Senate. The Major has had a hard winter but the 

brunt of the battle seems to be over and he has turned his attention once 

more to the scientific work." Gilbert was wrong. The worst of the battle 

was yet to come.

On June 20, Senator Stewart again attacked the direction of the Survey, 

this time while the Senate was considering the Legislative, Executive, and 

Judicial Expenses bill. He asked Senator Allison to explain the duties of the 

Executive Officer of the Survey, and when Senator Allison replied that he 

understood them to be to take charge of the surveying parties in the field 

and arrange their accounts, he then moved to strike out the appropriation 

for the Executive Officer's salary. "I think it is an entirely useless office. 

The person who fills it has the reputation of being an executive officer of 

a literary bureau that runs newspapers," and further, Mr. Croffut had been 

frequently seen in the halls of Congress attempting to influence legislation. 

Several voices said, "Let it go!"so he subsided, but only briefly. His next 

charge was that Powell had "susperseded men as much superior to him as 

he is superior to the veriest clodhopper in the country. He took the place 

of Wheeler, he took the place of Hayden, who was a real geologist, who 

died of grief by being crowded out. He has by his wily arts superseded 

many men who were his superiors. But there is no man in this country who 

is his superior as a lobbyist or who can better organize and control Congress."

Senator German again tried to defend the Director, but the defense was 

halfhearted. He agreed that the office had grown without supervision, but 

he saw no hope of changing things until there was a problem raising money 

by taxation. Powell was surrounded by influences that could not be resisted 

until Congress determined the number of Survey employees. The Survey, 

the Senator said, was "the asylum of all the scientists in the country who 

have nothing else to do," and "the final step of the young men who are 

graduating at the colleges of the country." German added, "I have never 

yet heard even his bitterest enemy charge him with being derelict in his 

duty, or incompetent, or dishonest. He has been, in my judgment, extravagant," but "I have no word of excuse to offer for the head of this department who, I think, has improperly and unwisely criticized gentlemen 

in the Senate and elsewhere because they have different views from his. * * * 

There is no excuse, in my judgment, for his criticisms of individuals and 

charging them with a desire to defraud and rob the government."

The Senate Appropriations Committee had not yet completed its work 

on the Sundry Civil Expenses bill. On July 1, 1890, while the appropriation 

for the General Land Office was under review, Commissioner Groff was 

asked if the public-land surveys would be held up materially by the "irrigation feature." He agreed they would be unless there was legislation on 

the arid lands. Involved was the allocation of land to the new States, the 

four admitted in November 1889 and two more to be admitted within the

Appropriations for 1891 181
fig.1

In his mapping in the southern Appalachians, 

C. W. Hayes found broad overthrust faults comparable in magnitude to those of the Scottish Highlands. A simple broad gently undulating syncline 

near the Tennessee-Georgia line was terminated on 

both sides by thrust faults, the Rome fault on the 

west, the Cartersville fault on the east. In the sections shown here, Hayes demonstrated the development of the structure. (From C. W. Hayes, 

1890.)

Htgtattg

THCOIfEr/CAL POSITION OF THRUST f>tAM£.

-^t^Vw.j Coitnusauya S/mtes

f,y.f: HOLLY CJVffff SECTION ~tt>t*i 

(It tK/oit £. aftrr /u/iuarttal tAauA

next 10 days. Without the allocation of lands, the new States had no base 

for taxation. The Commissioner was then asked what he considered the arid 

region, and he replied that the only light on the matter the General Land 

Office had was the map that the Director of the Geological Survey had given 

him. "Until this morning," he reported, "the arid region, as we have 

understood, was embraced within the red lines on this map; but the director 

sent in this morning this map, and he admits that this white portion of the 

map is not within the arid region and is subject to entry under the settlement 

laws of the United States." All the land west of the 101st meridian was 

withdrawn except a portion of Washington, a small portion of Montana, a 

portion of Oregon, and a portion of California, but the eastern half of North 

Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska, all but the westernmost part of Kansas, and the western half of Oklahoma, areas where settlement was proceeding most rapidly, were open.

Major Powell appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee on 

the following day; five of the eight Senators from the new States were present 

as well as Senators Stewart, Paddock, and Reagan of the Senate Committee 

on Irrigation. The Director admitted that of the 100 million acres that could 

be irrigated, 45 million were already in private hands. Moreover, irrigable 

lands should be consolidated as much as possible to use water to the best

182 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
advantage, so the lands adjacent to those already under cultivation should 

be segregated. Once the reservoir site was determined and canal lines laid 

out, he would make a topographic survey to determine which lands most 

deserved irrigation and would recommend to the President which lands 

should be opened to homesteading. He agreed with Senator Hale that there 

was really little left for the General Land Office to do.

It was a foregone conclusion that the Senate Committee on Appropriations 

would not go along with the Irrigation Survey. Senator Allison had been 

opposed in 1888, and 1890 was not the year to oppose western demands. 

The Sherman Antitrust Act had just been passed, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was in its final stages, but debate on the tariff measure was about 

to begin. The Senate Appropriations Committee filed its report on the 

Sundry Civil Expenses bill on July 9, recommending an increase of $ 100,000 

for topographic surveys by the Geological Survey, elimination of the entire 

appropriation for the Irrigation Survey, and an increase of $400,000 for the 

public-land surveys of the General Land Office. When the bill was introduced on the floor of the Senate, Senator German made it very clear that 

the elimination of the appropriation for the Irrigation Survey and the increase 

in appropriation to the General Land Office were linked. The crucial point 

was that until the public-land surveys were made, the lands were not subject 

to taxation, a matter of great importance to the new States.

On July LO, the Senate passed Senator Stewart's resolution directing the 

Secretary of the Interior to inform it if the Director of the Geological Survey, 

in selecting sites for reservoirs and designating lands susceptible to irrigation, had actually surveyed and marked the boundaries of the areas so they 

could be distinguished on the ground from other land and also be officially 

delineated on the Land Office maps and whether or not the Director had 

included in these selections land not intended for the storage of water or 

land that was not susceptible to irrigation.

It had been his intention, Senator Stewart said, when he proposed his 

first bill in 1887, that the General Land Office segregate the lands. "I had 

no conception that the survey of reservoir sites involved topography, or 

geology, or any other scientific performance. People were doing it every day 

in my country, the engineers understood it perfectly well. * * * If it is 

necessary to do all that is proposed in order to secure the simple thing of 

surveying these reservoir sites and changing the usual mode of surveying the 

public lands, then we had better leave it under the rectangular form and 

make no change."

The Director's reply was forwarded, without comment, by the Secretary 

on July 21 and with it a statement from the Commissioner of the General 

Land Office. Major Powell said that he had indeed actually surveyed the 

land selected for reservoir sites and lands designated as susceptible to irrigation. The boundary of the reservoir sites had not been marked out by 

stones on the ground, but a single stone had been set showing the height 

to which the water was expected to rise. The lands susceptible to irrigation 

had been designated by Land Office subdivisions. The lands designated as 

reservoir sites were all to be used for reservoirs, but since Land Office 

subdivisions had been used to designate the lands susceptible to irrigation, 

some nonirrigable lands might be included. The Commissioner of the General Land Office said that to his knowledge, all selections were made by 

designating lands by proper legal subdivisions and were not accompanied 

by any evidence that the boundaries had been actually surveyed and marked 

out. He further had no way of knowing whether the reservoir sites included 

any land not intended for the storage of water or whether the lands susceptible to irrigation included any land that could not be irrigated.

Appropriations for 1891 183
By the time the reply was received, the Senate had already sealed the fate 

of the Irrigation Survey. The Senate began consideration of the Survey appropriation on July 16,1890 but spent most of its time on the irrigation 

question. The Appropriation Committee's increase for topographic surveys 

was accompanied by a proviso that one-half be expended west of the 101st 

meridian and also that so much of the Sundry Civil Expenses Act of October 

2, 1888, "as provides for the selection and location of reservoirs upon the 

public lands, and the reservation of irrigable lands, is hereby repealed; 

Provided, That reservoir and canal sites heretofore located or selected shall 

remain segregated and reserved from entry or settlement until otherwise 

provided by law."The purpose of the first proviso was, as Senator Allison 

admitted on questioning, to require the Director to do the topographic 

work for location of reservoirs under the regular appropriation.

Senator Stewart, however, said, "I wish to say there is not an experienced 

engineer in America 1 have met with who agrees with the Director of the 

Geological Survey that a topographic survey is any material aid to irrigation, 

but in order to locate reservoir and ditch lines there must be a particular 

survey of the ditch lines and there must be an examination of the ground 

to see where reservoirs can be made. A general topography of the country 

is but a general map to direct you where the rivers are." Senator Stewart 

did not object to the topographic survey for a general map of the country. 

He merely wanted to make it clear that it was not for the benefit of irrigation.

Senator Wilkinson Call of Florida, who opposed repeal of the reservation 

clause, introduced another element into the discussion. The question of 

practicable irrigation had to be determined by the principles of applied 

science, he said, and Senator Stewart might as well argue that two and two 

did not make four as to argue that the problems of irrigation could be solved 

by anything but the application of geologic principles and topographic and 

engineering surveys. To prove his point, the Senator read a statement that 

had been furnished him "by an eminently scientific man, a practical man,a 

man who has acquaintance with this country and with its public lands, but 

his modesty prevents him from desiring or allowing me to mention his 

name."

The statement made no reference to irrigation investigations and was, in 

fact, an explanation of the relation of pure and applied science, and, in 

particular, of the relation of pure and applied science in the Geological 

Survey. The statement strongly supported research, but research related to 

economic problems. The unknown author said:

When a need is felt and the means of satisfying it are not known, search for 

the means may be at random or it may be by aid of general facts previously 

known. In the main random search is unprofitable, and needs are not satisfied 

until the necessary general facts are discovered. It is economically advantageous to mankind to expend a considerable portion of its energies in the discovery of general facts of nature, in order that these may become available for 

application as need arises. The work of discovery of general facts is called 

'scientific research.' The recognition of the function of research in human economy marks the change from the slow progress of barbarism to the rapid progress of civilization.

In the method of progress in civilization not only are general facts discovered 

before they are applied, but they are sought without knowledge of all the needs, 

and frequently without knowledge of any needs, to which they may be applied. 

Research is largely the sowing of seed by one generation that the next may 

gather fruit.

The United States Geological Survey is an institution for research. Its function 

is to discover two classes of general facts about rocks: First, the facts of 

distribution in space * * *; Second, the general facts of sequence in time or the 

laws under which they change. Out of these laws grow certain laws of asso184 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
ciation among rocks, and it is through these that most of the economic results 

are reached. General geologic research discovers with what rocks the economic minerals are associated, and records the horizontal and vertical distribution of the rocks. In its economic application specific search for desired 

minerals is made in the areas of the rocks with which they are associated, and 

is restricted to those areas. Instead of being random search it is search with 

the aid of general facts of association and distribution.

The United States Geological Survey, however, was not primarily organized 

for general geological research but for the study of the extent, character, and 

relations of the geological formations of the country and the attainment of a 

knowledge of its mineral resources. * * * Along with this work of economic 

significance, much in the way of purely scientific investigation is done. In order 

to have applied science we must have science to apply; and no economic 

problem can be long studied without reaching the boundary between the known 

and the unknown. To answer the economic questions, unsolved problems must 

be solved; and to do this is the function of pure science. Pure science is the 

foundation upon which applied science rests.

This was not the official Survey position as is clear from the annual report 

of progress which Chief Geologist Gilbert was preparing even as Senator 

Call was reading his statement to the Senate. Gilbert said that geologic 

investigations might be broadly grouped as local and general. The local 

work was areal geology, the general work, the development of the philosophy of the science. The local work resulted in geologic maps and structure 

sections; the general work provided classifications of rocks according to their 

manner of formation and alteration, classifications of topographic forms and 

explanations of their origin. The two classes of work were interdependent; 

the philosophy could not be developed without observation of local phenomena, and maps and structure sections could not be prepared without the 

aid of geologic philosophy, for the field geologist could never hope to see 

all points of a formation.

Both local and general work Gilbert said, had economic 

"implications." Rare substances, such as the ores of metals, were associated 

with certain formations or structures, and one of the chief functions of the 

Geological Survey was to indicate on maps the areas occupied by the various 

formations and thus to guide and aid the search for minerals. The successful 

search for rare substances was also dependent on correct theories of the 

manner in which they originated and accumulated, and the economic function of geologic science was to discover true theories and substitute them 

for the false.

To some extent this sounds like another statement of the relation of pure 

and applied science. Gilbert went on, however, to say that when the Survey 

was established, the existing body of geologic theories offered sufficient basis 

for good areal work, [f this had been the sole requirement, the general plan 

would have given great prominence to the areal work until the geologic 

atlas was well advanced, then general inquiries could have been added as 

their results were needed to guide the local work, and finally a system of 

general discussions would be undertaken when the accumulation of local 

data gave broad basis for generalization. In actual practice, the areal work 

could not be carried on until the topographic maps were ready. The principal 

resources of the organization had therefore been devoted to making topographic maps, and a number of researches promising broad generalizations 

and other contributions to geologic philosophy were begun instead of areal 

surveys. The topographic work was now advanced enough so that a readjustment between local and general work could be made. Thus, the geologic 

investigations being conducted by the Geological Survey were not designed 

to meet an existing problem or need, although they might do so ultimately, 

but to develop the science of geology. This was exactly the philosophy 

expressed by Major Powell to the Allison Commission in 1885.

The Nature of Geologic Research 185
DIVISIONS OF GEOLOGIC COLUMN

RECENT DEPOSITS 

PLEISTOCENE (OR QUATERNARY

PLIOCENE 

MIOCENE

APPROXIMATE RELATIVE QUANTITY 

THEORETIC DISTRIBUTION COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION

6*S 0|L BITUMENS GAS OIL

TERTIARY

EOCENE

CRETACEOUS

JURA-TRIAS

CARBONIFEROUS

DEVONIAN

SILURIAN

CAMBRIAN

ALGONKIAN

ARCHCAN

COAL MEASURES

SUB-CARBONIFEROUS

Until the mid-1880's, known petroleum fields 

were almost exclusively in Pennsylvania and West 

Virginia. Discovery of natural gas at that time gave 

a decided impetus to prospecting in the interior 

States. The Geological Survey itself made no investigation but published a report by A. J. Phinney, 

an amateur geologist, who observed the results of 

drilling in Indiana. Phinney concluded from a study 

of the literature that bitumens are found in quantity 

throughout nearly the whole of the geologic column 

and in nearly every country. (From A. J. Phinney, 

1891-)

The same philosophy was evident in the Irrigation Survey, as was clearly 

brought out by Senator Moody of South Dakota who dominated the Senate 

discussion on July 17. Senator Moody quoted "one of the ablest engineers 

in the United States Army" that,

"the position taken by the Director that a topographic survey of the entire 

arid country is a necessary precursor of an irrigation survey is disputed by 

the unamimous voice of all experienced engineers.* * * He has repeatedly 

insisted that it is necessary in order to discover reservoir sites, routes for 

canals and irrigable lands. He says 'We can not commence at the wrong 

end and plan backwards. We can not plan a reservoir and then afterwards 

discover its site; we must know its site first.' The answer to this is plain 

enough. Three things are necessary to constitute a practical reservoir site 

first, a water supply; second, a dam which can be constructed at practicable 

cost and with safety; third, good cultivable land to which the water can be 

conducted at a practicable cost. Until these three facts are ascertained no 

practicable reservoir site has been or can be discovered. It is the Director

186 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
himself who proposes to begin at the wrong end. He proposes to discover 

reservoir sites first; that is, he has determined that water is to be had; that 

safe dams can be constructed at practicable cost, and that irrigable lands 

exist to which the water can be taken, and then these sites are to be surveyed 

to ascertain the same facts again."

Another engineer had told Senator Casey that some of the dams being 

proposed by the topographers could never be constructed at practicable cost. 

A system of dams proposed by Willard Johnson for Colorado would, he 

estimated, cost several million to the fourth or fifth power.

The Senate expressed no opposition to the geologic work of the Survey. 

Senator John C. Spooner of Wisconsin said, "There is no man who reads 

much of exploration and geological research but has had occasion many 

times to be grateful that the genius and enthusiasm of Major Powell have 

been employed in the service of the Government. I am certainly not disposed 

to vote against the continuance of the Geological Survey, but I am opposed 

to embarking in the vast work of attempting now to reclaim at the public 

expense the vast empire known as the 'arid region.'"Even Senator Stewart 

was not opposed to the geologic work although he suggested that economic 

geology was the only geology worth studying. Stewart told the Senate that 

he did not think the geological survey of any section of the country had 

been completed or would be completed for the next 500 years. "New excavations are made which change theories and develop new facts, and any 

scientific man will tell you that there have been more developments in the 

United States in the last forty years by miners than all the knowledge they 

had before on the subject. The principal explorations came from mining for 

the various metals, and the real geological surveys going on in the United 

States are made by those who excavate the earth, and the scientists follow 

and see what they have done, and record it. That is about all that is necessary. Tramping over the earth and pretending to make a geological survey 

of it is an impossible thing." When Senator John R. McPherson, Democrat 

of New Jersey, proposed an additional $15,000 be added to the appropriation for geologic surveys to enable the Survey to aid the States in geologic 

work, the amendment was passed without question.

One of the most elaborate reports published by the 

Geological Survey during these 2 years was W J 

McGee's Pleistocene History of Northeastern Iowa, a 

study he had begun as a personal venture in 1876. 

Under Survey auspices, McGee progressed from an 

investigation of glacial deposits to a study of topographic form and rock structure. As McGee described it, "the trail of the ice monster has been 

traced, his magnitude measured, his form and even 

his features figured forth, and all from the slime of 

his body alone, where even his characteristic tracks 

fail." (From W J McGee, 1891.)

The Nature of Geologic Research 187
On July 19, there was a telling blow against the Irrigation Survey when 

Senator Cockrell of Missouri read a letter from Secretary Rusk of the Agriculture Department with a synopsis of the forthcoming report on artesian 

wells prepared in response to the appropriation of April 4, 1890. The report 

itself, submitted in mid-August, was a 398-page document on artesian 

wells between the 97th meridian and the foothills of the Rockies, which 

Secretary Rusk emphasized was for information only. Richard Hinton had 

been in charge of the work, and the entire investigation had cost less than 

$15,000. The report stated that there was a large artesian basin in the 

Dakotas, that it probably extended westward a considerable distance from 

the James River developments, that there was probably a basin in Texas, 

and that there might be several small basins elsewhere. However, artesian 

wells, even within the limits of recognized basins were not always succussful 

and sometimes had to be pumped in order to obtain sufficient water. Only 

in a few places were artesian wells a cheaper means of irrigation than laterals 

from ditches. The report repeated Major Powell's statement that geologic 

examination was needed to define areas where water might or might not be 

obtained from artesian wells, but the report also suggested that the utilization of ground water for irrigation be investigated.

The Senate passed the Sundry Civil Expenses bill on July 19, adopting 

the recommendations of the Appropriations Committee with regard to the 

Irrigation Survey and the Geological Survey except for the increase of the 

appropriation for geologic survey. All told, however, the Senate made 202 

amendments to the House bill, so the House and Senate had difficulty in 

reaching agreement; full agreement was not reached until August 25, 1890. 

Among the most controversial items were the Senate amendments of the 

Survey appropriations which the full House debated for several days before 

calling for a conference. In the end, the House accepted the elimination of 

the Irrigation Survey, and in its final form, the Sundry Civil Expenses bill 

provided "For topographic surveys in various portions of the United States, 

three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, one-half of which shall be 

expended west of the one hundredth meridian, and so much of the act of 

October second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight * * * as provides for 

the withdrawal of public lands from entry, occupation, or settlement is 

hereby repealed, and all entries made or claims initiated in good faith and 

valid but for said act shall be recognized and may be perfected in the same 

manner as if said law had not been enacted, except that reservoir sites 

heretofore located or selected shall remain segregated and reserved from 

entry or settlement as provided by said act, until otherwise provided by 

law, and reservoir sites hereafter located or selected on public lands shall in 

like manner be reserved from the date of location or segregation thereof." 

The $325,000 for topographic surveys, more than either the House or Senate 

version of the bill,-was a compromise proposed by the ConferenceCommittee, 

which also added an additional $25,000 for engraving maps and $3,200 for 

rent in lieu of the appropriation for the Irrigation Survey.

Before adjourning, Congress also established a new bureau in the Department of Agriculture, to be known as the Weather Bureau. The civilian 

functions of the Signal Service were transfered to the new bureau, which was 

made responsible for forecasting the weather, for issuing storm warnings, 

and for the gauging of rivers. The Department of Agriculture, with its more 

practical point of view, was thus in a position to undertake the irrigation 

investigations that Assistant Secretary Willit had proposed.

188 The First Great Problem, 1888-1890
Chapter 7.

A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892

And thus of all my harvest hope I have 

Nought reaped but a weedye crop of care.

 Edmund Spenser

During the summer of 1890, while the fate of the Irrigation Survey was 

in the balance, most of the Geologic Branch had been mapping for the 

geologic atlas. Apart from that program, Bailey Willis was making structural experiments, and Van Hise began a study of the Precambrian of North 

America, in pursuit of which he visited several Precambrian areas with 

Pumpelly, C. D. Walcott, and G. H. Williams. Becker devoted his efforts 

to the dynamic history of the Sierra Nevada and problems of correlation 

while Turner and Lindgren continued mapping the gold belt in California. 

In the Division of Glacial Geology, Warren Upham was studying ancient 

Lake Agassiz; Professor Salisbury, the glacial deposits in the vicinity of the 

Mississippi and Ohio Rivers; and Frank Leverett, the moraines in northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and the southwestern corner of 

New York. McGee was attempting to correlate the formations on the Potomac River with those in the Mississippi Valley on the basis of physical 

characteristics and was also making a comparative study of the prevailing 

earth forms of the Pacific coast and those of the Eastern United States to 

correlate "later earth-forming episodes on opposite sides of the continent." 

I. C. Russell and Mark Kerr, Survey topographer, spent the summer in 

Alaska exploring a district that extended from Disenchantment Bay to 

Mount St. Elias under the joint sponsorship of the National Geographic 

Society and the Survey.

Little work was underway in economic geology. Emmons had an allotment for fieldwork, but it was so small that little work could be done 

because, as he complained, the investigation of the underground geology of 

mining districts was, by its nature, much more expensive than other geological investigations. Whitman Cross spent the season gathering additional 

data for the Tenmile, Silver Cliff, and Elk Mountain reports while George 

Eldridge continued work on the Denver Basin report. Jenney continued his 

investigations of the zinc deposits of southwestern Missouri; his theory of 

their origin and distribution was so different from previous theories that it 

was thought wise to withhold publication for further work.

The Topographic Branch of the Geological Survey, under Henry Gannett, 

had mapping underway in 19 States east of the 97th meridian during the 

early part of the season. Somewhat less than 40 percent of the area under 

survey was being mapped at the mile-to-the-inch scale, an increase of 50 

percent over the preceding year.

Gannett himself had been actively involved in the newly established Board 

on Geographic Names. Several Bureaus were engaged in the production of 

maps and charts, and although it was conceded that the duplication of 

surveys was sometimes necessary because of the different purposes involved, 

no purpose was served by differences in geographic nomenclature. After a

A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892 189
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NORTH AMERICAN CONTIN

at the beginning of 

\ \ LOWER CAMBRIAN TIME

\

conference of a few of those most closely interested, in the winter of 1889 

1890, the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey proposed organization of a board consisting of representatives from the Departments 

and Bureaus concerned, to which might be referred all questions arising in 

any of them relating to geographic names. Such a board was organized in 

April 1890 and was promptly inundated with questions for consideration 

and determination. Six months later, because of the importance of the work 

and the difficulties involved, the board was given executive authority by 

Executive order of the President on September 4, 1890. Although the 

Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey was designated chairman, 

the investigation of questions and recommendations devolved on an executive committee of three: Henry Gannett of the Geological Survey, Lieutenant 

Richardson Clover of the Navy Department, and Herbert G. Ogden of the 

Coast and Geodetic Survey.

Congress remained in session until October 1, 1890, an unusually late 

date in an election year, delayed in large part by the debate on irrigation

As C. D. Walcott continued to study Cambrian 

faunas and formations, he prepared this hypothetical 

map of the North American continent to show the 

areas (shaded) that were supposed to have been 

above the ocean during later Algonkian and Lower 

Cambrian time. The area marked with X's was hypothetical as it is now covered with sediments of 

later age than Cambrian and there was thus no absolute proof of its existence. James Dwight Dana's 

map for the same period is shown in Volume 1, 

page 144. (From C. D. Walcott, 1891.)

190 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
and on the McKinley tariff bill. The House had passed the tariff bill on May 

21, but the Senate debated it off and on all summer long before finally 

passing it in September. The metals schedules, which had formerly been an 

important part of the protective system, were supplanted by the wool and 

woolens schedule as the most sharply debated part of the tariff. Duties on 

iron and steel were unchanged because foreign competition was no longer 

a threat to domestic production. The rate on copper was actually reduced 

because copper was not being imported. However, as a concession to the 

silver Republicans, a duty was imposed on lead to impede importation of 

foreign silver-bearing lead ores. On the whole, however, the Tariff Act of 

1890 proposed a radical extension of the protective system, and F. W. 

Taussig said that it presented the question of this extension to the American 

people "without disguise."

While the Senate debated the merits of the Irrigation Survey and the 

tariff bill, the House took up other matters. A bill to repeal the Timber 

Culture Act was passed and sent to the Senate but failed to be enacted when 

the session ended before the conference committee could settle the difference 

between House and Senate bills. In the spring, the House also considered 

but did not act on memorials from the American Forestry Association on 

the preservation of forests and from the American Association for the Advancement of Science on the preservation of forests in watershed areas on 

the public domain. The latter suggested that a commission be appointed, 

including officers of the Geological Survey and the Forestry Bureau of the 

Department of Agriculture, both of which were concerned with aspects of 

the problem, and President Harrison in a message on January 20, 1890, 

had recommended that legislation be provided.

Both Houses agreed, however, to the reservation of some special forests 

and an extension of the national park system presented in two bills that 

were passed with remarkable celerity and almost no opposition in the closing 

days of the session. Both bills were introduced by Congressman William 

Vandever, who, by coincidence, had been commanding officer of the Iowa 

regiment in which Secretary of the Interior Noble had been lieutenant during 

Civil War days. The first bill, introduced in the House, endorsed by the 

Department of the Interior, and passed on August 23, passed by the Senate 

without discussion on September 8, and approved by President Harrison on 

September 25, 1890, established Sequoia National Park in California. The 

second bill, introduced in the House, amended, and passed on September 

30, and then passed by the Senate and approved by the President on October 

1, more than doubled the size of the reservation stated in the first bill. The 

Act of October 1 also reserved forest lands surrounding Yosemite State Park 

in California and placed them under the control of the Secretary of the 

Interior who was authorized to make regulations for the preservation from 

injury of "all timber, mineral resources, natural curiosities or wonders, and 

their retention in their natural condition." Yosemite National Park, thus 

established in 1890, was increased in size by the cession of the State park 

in 1906. Another provision of the Act of October 1 reserved an area of 4 

square miles, not contiguous to the other two, which was named General 

Grant Park, now part of Kings Canyon National Park.

During the summer of 1890, it became evident that the dissatisfaction 

of Congress with the Survey extended to more than its conduct of the 

Irrigation Survey. The House at first refused to go along with the Senate 

amendment to add $15,000 to the appropriation for geologic surveys. Benton McMillin of Tennessee, for one, was vociferously unhappy about the 

lack of information in the Survey about the mineral resources of the great 

State of Tennessee. He had asked for a report and had been given extracts

Public Lands Legislation 191
from an old report by Professor Safford, the State Geologist of Tennessee. 

Others pointed out that geological surveys were important in the development of mineral resources but that results were obtained slowly, and the 

House then agreed to the amendment.

Senator Power of Montana raised questions about personnel practices and 

duplication of work in a Senate resolution passed on July 16, 1890. The 

resolution directed the Secretary of the Interior to furnish information about 

the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Ethnology, although the latter was 

part of the Smithsonian Institution: A complete list of persons employed by 

the Survey on June 30, 1890, their grades, salaries, whence appointed, 

where employed, and, for persons employed by the day, the nature of their 

duties, where performed, and the number of days employed in the previous 

fiscal year; the nature of the duties performed by the executive officer (a 

question that Senator Stewart had already posed) and by the general assistant, 

where performed, and the relation of their duties to the scientific work of 

the Survey; by what authority the Bureau of Ethnology was established, by 

whom J. W. Powell was appointed Director, by whom the subordinates 

were appointed, their names, whence appointed, and their compensation on 

June 30, 1890; the amount expended from Survey appropriations during 

fiscal years 1880 to 1890 exclusively for photographs, transparencies, and 

other photographic objects outside the reproduction of maps, sketches and 

so on required in connection with field work pertaining to geology, geography, and topography; what persons, if any, on Survey rolls were also 

employed in another branch of the public service, and their compensation 

from each branch; and finally, what contracts had been made for engraving 

Survey maps, and were they made after competitive offers.

Almost 2 months were required to prepare the reply, and in compiling 

the list of employees, a great many inequities were uncovered. The list sent 

to the Senate on September 11 included the names of 53 permanent employees, those in the positions specified in the appropriations acts, 397 

temporary employees, and 23 employees paid by the day. The 420 employees 

listed as temporary or paid by the day included, in addition to teamsters, 

cooks, field assistants, and river-gauge observers, such employees of long 

standing as G. K. Gilbert, T. C. Chamberlin, N. S. Shaler, Bailey Willis, 

and David T. Day in the Geologic Branch; paleontologists C. D. Walcott 

and W. H. Dall; and among the topographers, Henry Gannett, A. H. 

Thompson, Marcus Baker, Arthur Powell Davis, E. M. Douglas, and H. 

M. Wilson. It was evident that as the Survey's program had grown, so had 

the need for additional personnel and for promotion of those on the staff. 

The number of statutory positions established in 1883 was too small, and 

the problem had been solved by creating temporary positions. There had 

been, however, no uniformity in salary scales, and an effort was made to 

adjust appointments and salaries to a more equitable basis. The Secretary's 

report in November 1890 credited the Survey with 124 permanent and 20 

temporary employees.

A few Survey employees were also employed in other branches of the 

Federal service, but no one was drawing two salaries. Major Powell, Chief 

Clerk Pilling, Chief Disbursing Clerk McChesney, and Executive Officer 

Croffut were also employees of the Bureau of Ethnology but received no 

compensation from that Bureau. In effect, the Geological Survey appropriation was being used to supplement that of the Bureau of Ethnology. David 

T. Day and Henry Gannett were both working for the Eleventh Census, but 

both the Eleventh Census and the Survey were in the Department of the 

Interior. Captain Dutton had been with the Survey for 10 years by authority 

of an Act of Congress approved June 16, 1880, which authorized the Sec192 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
Section on line ab Section on Line cd.

In an effort to understand the complexities of the 

structure in the Appalachian Mountains, Bailey 

Willis made a series of experiments in which he 

attempted to use forces and resistances proportional 

to those in the Earth's crust. Willis used an oak 

box, 1 meter long, provided with a piston that 

could be advanced by a screw, to compress strata, 

simulated by beeswax containing different amounts 

of plaster of paris or Venice turpentine. (From Bailey Willis, 1893.)

retary of War to detail not more than two officers of the Ordnance Corps 

to the Survey. E. S. Nettleton had been detailed briefly from the Survey to 

the Department of Agriculture for the artesian-well investigation.

The duties of the executive officer (which was a temporary position) and 

the general assistant (a statutory position) were explained as being similar 

as far as field duties were concerned, a matter of service and supply of field 

parties. They simply divided the country between them. In addition, each 

undertook some special work Croffut was handling publications and Shutt 

was studying the distribution of forests. It was admitted, however, that 

General Assistant Shutt had been ill and had been unable to come to the 

office for several months. Shortly after the reply was sent to Congress, 

Marcus Baker replaced him as general assistant.

The last inquiry about contracts for engraving evidently referred to the 

appointment in February 1890 of S. J. Kiibel as chief engraver at $2,400 

a year. For 3 years prior to that, he had worked independently, receiving 

contracts and employing his own force of engravers and printers, and had 

done satisfactory work for the Survey, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and 

the Hydrographic Office. The contracts, however, had all been let by the 

Public Printer, not the Survey.

Dissatisfaction with the Survey was not confined to Congress. Some of 

the State Geologists were also unhappy. Several States had recently reestablished surveys, and at the meeting of the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science in August 1890, John C. Branner, the State Geologist of Arkansas, chided the Survey for its attitude. More cooperation 

was needed among geologists, whether associated with national or State 

surveys, educational institutions, scientific societies, or commercial corporations. The success of commercial and industrial enterprises, Branner said, 

had been due to concerted action, and geologists who disregarded the advantages to be derived from cooperation did so at their own expense and the 

expense of science. There were certain classes of work that, of necessity, fell 

upon the national Survey rather than State surveys: triangulation, precise 

leveling, topography, paleontology, almost all investigations falling under 

the head of pure science, all investigations that required much time, labor,

Dissatisfaction with the Survey 193
 with a section showing the

STRUCTURE OF STONE MOUNTAIN

as seen tn the gap, and the relation

of th«

LEE CONGLOMERATE WT«C NORTON FORMATION 

on Little Loouey creek.

byManus R, CampbolJ

and money and many specialists, even economic problems that required 

study over a wide area, although economic problems in general should be 

left to the States. All these investigations, he said, could be undertaken so 

that they aided the work of others rather than unilaterally, and the national 

Survey could be much more effective than it had been in helping the State 

surveys.

Parts of the mining industry were also unhappy with the Survey's meager 

support of economic geology. In August 1890, the mineowners and operators of Leadville held a testimonial dinner in Emmons' honor and, at the 

suggestion of one of the mine managers, proposed to give him "every and 

all facilities in our power" to aid his work. Emmons accepted the offer and 

spent 2 months examining the new underground workings. Two mining 

engineers, who volunteered their services, were put to work compiling maps.

The year 1890 might be described as one of almost universal national 

discontent as all the various protest movements since the Civil War seemed 

to coalesce into one great protest. Although industry was prospering, farmers 

and laborers were not, and the various farmers' alliances and workers' 

groups became political forces. In the South and the West, where the farmers 

were at a particular disadvantage, the discontent was most evident, and in 

both sections, financial reform was demanded. 

Samuel Eliot Morison said:

In 1890, American politics lost their equilibrium and began to pitch and toss in 

an effort to reach stability among wild currents of protest that issued from 

caverns of dissent.

A People's Party was organized which met at Topeka, Kansas, and demanded, among other reforms: Free and unlimited coinage of silver; Government ownership of railroads, telegraphs, and telephones; a graduated

Minor folds were the chief source of difficulty in 

recognizing and correlating coal seams by the aid 

of key beds in the Big Stone Gap coal field in the 

central Appalachian Mountains. The Lee Conglomerate is the great mountain-making formation in 

this area, but the Norton formation, above the conglomerate, is the most important, because it contained the great bulk of the workable coals, and, 

according to M. R. Campbell, was the least understood. (From M. R. Campbell, 1893.)

194 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
By identifying flora in samples collected by W. P. 

Jenney in his study of the zinc and lead deposits of 

southwestern Missouri, paleobotanist David White 

determined a date for the earliest limit of the period 

during which the ores were deposited. White also 

described what he considered to be the first flora 

sufficient for correlation of Carboniferous strata 

within the trans-Mississippi region. (From David 

White, 1893.)

income tax; restriction of immigration; an 8-hour day; and popular election 

of U.S. Senators. The Democratic party was divided by the demands for 

reform, southern Democrats in favor and midwestern Democrats opposed. 

When a group of fanatical temperance advocates attached themselves to the 

People's Party, Democrats William F. Vilas of Wisconsin and J. Sterling 

Morton of Nebraska hit upon the strategy of diverting attention from the 

Topeka platform to the prohibition issue; and as a result, the Democratic 

candidates were elected in the urbanized States. The Populists, however, 

cut deeply into Republican majorities, and ten Populists were elected to the 

House and two to the Senate. The Democrats gained control of the House

Election of 1890 195
by a substantial majority; the Republicans, however, retained control of the 

Senate as four Republicans were elected as the first Senators from the new 

States of Idaho and Wyoming, admitted in July 1890.

In the last short session of the 51st Congress that convened in December 

1890, the Senate and the House came to an agreement on a law making 

several changes in public-land laws. The General Revision Act, which was 

signed by President Harrison on March 3, 1891, ended cash sales of public 

lands with a few minor exceptions, repealed the Preemption and Timber 

Culture Acts, and provided new and stringent conditions for entries under 

the Desert Land Act, including the filing of a map and plan showing the 

mode of contemplated irrigation sufficient to irrigate the land and the source 

of water. The law restricted the reservoir sites located or selected by the 

Survey under the act of October 2, 1888, to the amount of land necessary 

for construction and maintenance of reservoirs and also granted rights-ofway to canal and ditch companies organized under the laws of a State or 

Territory, thus giving the field of water supply to private corporations and 

associations.

A final section of the act authorized the President to create forest reserves 

"wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not." At the same time, Congress authorized the cutting 

of timber for specified purposes but without means of enforcing regulations, 

so that to some extent the purpose of reserving the forests was nullified. 

The first forest reserve, more than 1 million acres south and east of Yellowstone Park, was created only 4 weeks later on March 30, 1891. Arnold 

Hague, who had been calling attention to the need for forest preservation 

in that area for several years, prepared the statement defining the boundaries 

and justifying the withdrawal which Secretary Noble relayed to President 

Harrison.

Survey funds for fiscal year 1892 were included in the Sundry Civil 

Expenses bill, which was also enacted on March 3, 1891- The House Committee on Appropriations recommended the same appropriation as for the 

preceding year for all items except preparation of the annual report on 

mineral resources, for which it recommended $50,000 instead of $10,000. 

The House passed the bill on February 9 without any discussion of the 

Survey appropriation. The Senate Committee on Appropriations proposed 

to return to the pre-1891 figures of $200,000 for topographic surveys, 

$45,000 for engraving maps, and recommended only $ 10,000 for the report 

on mineral resources. Only the last provoked any discussion on the Senate 

floor. Senator James Wilson of Iowa was the first to object: "It is seldom 

that we have more intelligent and comprehensive work done than we find 

in this volume." Senator Stewart defended the reports they were "very 

intelligent, very conservative, and useful" and Professor Day was doing 

good work. Senator Call said that the small amount of money involved was 

a matter of no consequence compared with the practical investigation and 

communication to the people of the country of the extent of its mineral 

resources and its mining industries. The Senate Appropriations Committee, 

however, deemed it unnecessay to prepare another comprehensive report so 

soon after the 1890 census, and the Senate adopted the committee's recommendations. In the conference between the two Houses, the House 

yielded to the Senate on the report on mineral resources, and a compromise 

was worked out for the other amendments: $250,000 (a decrease of $75,000) 

for topographic surveys and $60,000 (a decrease of $10,000) for engraving 

geologic maps.

Senator Stewart had said little about the Survey as the two appropriations 

bills went through, but when the Deficiency bill came up on March 2,

196 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
George Eldridge's study of the Florida phosphates 

was one of the first true economic-geology studies 

in the East. The Peace River pebble-phosphates had 

been discovered in 1887 and the hard-rock deposits 

in 1889; thereafter the phosphate industry became 

an important factor in the Florida economy. (From 

G. H. Eldridge, 1893.)

FLORIDA

E. Eocene.

M, Miocene.

P, Pliocene,'area undefined),

HR, Hard-rock Phosphate.

and-Pebble 

Dots along streams River-pebble. Dots indicate 

for the entire field location of mines & worked bars.

1891, he opened fire. In a discussion of the increase of expenses in the 

Senate, he suddenly announced that the Senate was not the only expensive 

department of the Government Major Powell's department had kept pace. 

"It may be a more useful institution than the Senate, but I doubt it." He 

hadn't intended to say anything, he said, but the Committee on Irrigation 

had asked for an appropriation of $20,000 to provide information on irrigation, and no appropriation had been made. He held the Survey responsible 

for what had happened to the irrigation investigation; the Survey's "face is 

set against anything useful, anything that will do the people any good." 

On the last day of the session, he planted a seed by asking Senator Allison 

how the Survey had been organized, or had it simply grown from year to 

year in appropriation bills? Senator Allison replied that Senator Stewart 

knew very well that it had never been organized as a distinct and separate 

bureau except in appropriations bills, to which Senator Stewart replied that 

he just wanted it in the record, and there, seemingly, the matter was 

dropped.

Senator Stewart on the Survey 197
After the appropriations bill had been passed in August 1890, eliminating the Irrigation Survey, the hydrographic parties had been disbanded and 

the property turned over to the Topographic Branch. Newell was detailed 

to the Eleventh Census as a special agent for the investigation of irrigation, 

and the accumulation of hydrographic information on hand and the reports 

on heights of rivers that continued to come in were turned over to Cyrus 

Babb. Button had been recalled by the War Department in July, Nettleton 

resigned on August 12, and the other engineers were dismissed or reassigned.

To meet the requirements of the appropriations act regarding topographic 

surveys, several changes in organization were made on October 1, 1890. 

Two topographic divisions were established: an Eastern Division in the 

charge of Henry Gannett and a Western Division under A. H. Thompson. 

The mapping in Texas and part of the mapping in Kansas were moved west 

of the 100th meridian; the mapping in Iowa was transferred to western 

North Dakota; and several men were transferred from the Eastern to the 

Western Division. Only one mapping project in Arkansas remained in the 

Northern and Southern Central Divisions, which were then combined as the 

Central Section. In the Eastern Division, H. M. Wilson replaced Marcus 

Baker as head of the Northeastern Section, and Baker replaced Shutt as 

general assistant. R. S. Woodward resigned as head of the Astronomic and 

Computing Section, and S. S. Gannett succeeded him. In the Western 

Division, two new sections were established under R. U. Goode, who suWhile mapping in the Yellowstone Valley, between 

the Bridget, Snowy, and Crazy Mountains, Walter 

Weed found evidence to support King's conclusion 

that the Laramie was the last great deposit of the 

Cretaceous. A series of water-laid sediments containing intercalated volcanic agglomerates, such as 

those near Springdale, Montana, which he named 

the Livingston formation, rested on the Laramie in 

apparent conformity, but the profound change in 

composition indicated that the Laramie epoch had 

been followed by uplift and a period of erosion, 

accompanied by volcanic eruptions. Overlying the 

Livingston was a formation identified as the Fort 

Union, which the fossil flora indicated to be Eocene. 

(From W. H. Weed, 1893.)

198 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
pervised the work in Kansas, and Arthur Powell Davis, who was given 

charge of the work in New Mexico.

The field season of 1891 was the first opportunity for the Survey to 

respond to the criticisms leveled against it in the summer of 1890. The 

appropriation for topographic surveys was again divided equally between the 

Eastern and Western Divisions. Despite the second cut in funds, the Eastern 

Division under Gannett mapped 25,000 square miles in 15 States, including 

a considerable amount of revision in the southern Appalachians, where geologists had been complaining about the maps. The work in Kansas was 

pushed so that 8,000 square miles were mapped in the northern part of the 

State between the 98th and 100th meridians. The Western Division under 

A. H. Thompson mapped nearly 29,000 square miles in eight States and 

continued surveying for reservoir sites. A small allotment was given to F. 

H. Newell to continue the work of stream gaging in the arid region. However, the party under Morris Bien that began the season surveying reservoir 

sites in Idaho and Utah was moved to Colorado to begin the topographic 

survey of the Aspen mining district in response to the petition of 5 1 mineowners for a geologic investigation such as Emmons had made at Leadville.

The Geologic Branch again devoted most of its efforts to mapping for the 

geologic atlas, Gilbert's "local geology," in connection with which some 

special investigations with economic implications were made. It had been 

too late in the season when the additional appropriation for geologic surveys 

had been voted in August 1890 to begin new work. Plans were made, 

however, to begin work in the spring of 1891 in New Jersey and Florida, 

the home States of Senator McPherson, who had proposed the amendment, 

and of Senator Call, who had valiantly defended the work of the Survey. 

The New Jersey work was placed under the direction of Raphael Pumpelly 

and that in Florida under George Eldridge. The annual report emphasized 

that in connection with the areal surveys examinations were made of

nearly all of our more important natural resources, including the metals used 

in manufacture and construction, the various mineral fuels and illuminants, 

building materials of all kinds, artesian waters, the precious metals, materials 

for the manufacture of household and ornamental wares, gems and precious 

stones, and the substances yielding most other industrial and domestic commodities.

During the field season of 1891, the Atlantic Coast Division did a certain 

amount of work in the delineation of drumlins, and the Archean Division, 

which had found that, generally speaking, the degree of metamorphism and 

consequently the difficulty of classifying formations increased from west to 

east, undertook elaborate studies along the intermediate zones in order to 

extend the correlation from the fossiliferous formations of New York to 

more crystalline formations in central Massachusetts, eastern Vermont, and 

New Hampshire. In New Jersey, J. E. Wolff began mapping the crystalline 

formation, in which magnetites are interbedded, under Pumpelly's direction.

The Lake Superior Division divided its work into three categories: detailed 

studies of regions of exceptional scientific interest or economic importance, 

areal mapping for atlas sheets, and a general study of the Precambrian rocks 

of North America. Van Hise himself was responsible for the last, and W. 

S. Bayley was in charge of the special study of the Marquette iron-bearing 

district.

In the Appalachian Division, Arthur Keith worked in the Great Smoky 

Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, and M. R. Campbell was 

assigned to map the Estilville sheet, where Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet. The rapid increase in the consumption of fuel in the United

Survey Fieldwork, 1891 199
States had stimulated the search for coal in the central part of the Appalachian coal basin, and there was urgent need for geologic information regarding 

the structure and stratigraphy of that field as a basis for future operations.

McGee's Potomac Division was extended from Sandy Hook to the Rio 

Grande. Topographic sheets were not yet available, but stratigraphic studies 

were made in several States, and evidently an effort was being made to enlist 

the cooperation of the various State Geologists. W. B. Clark began the 

mapping in the New Jersey Coastal Plain, and State Geologists J. A. Holmes 

of North Carolina, E. A. Smith of Alabama, and E. W. Hilgard, formerly 

State Geologist of Mississippi and Louisiana, were all engaged in various 

phases of the program. A special investigation of the Eocene formations of 

Arkansas was also begun in cooperation with the Arkansas State Survey.

In the Division of Florida, which was established on January 1, 1891, 

Eldridge began a systematic study of the mineral phosphates. His plan of 

work included mapping, a study of the origin and distribution of the different kinds of phosphates, and a study of the methods of mining, handling, 

and treating ore a plan that corresponded exactly with the plans for mining-geology investigations announced by Clarence King. It was perhaps not 

a coincidence that King, as a consulting geologist, was then interested in 

the Florida phosphates.

King had a hand in another Survey investigation in the spring of 1891. 

He had arranged with the Standard Oil Company for an opportunity to 

measure temperatures in a 4,500-foot dry well near Wheeling, West Virginia. William Hallock made two series of measurements from top-to-bottom of the well, which were believed to be because of the conditions of 

measurement, the best determinations yet obtained of underground temperature. The results were surprising; they indicated that the rate of increase 

of temperature with depth was not uniform but increased with depth. It 

was therefore necessary to determine whether this was a local or general 

phenomenon. Some of the citizens of Wheeling, thoroughly intrigued with 

the work, agreed to pay for continuing the well to 6,000 feet if the apparatus 

could be furnished. When that proved impossible, a second deep well at 

Radford, West Virginia was placed at the service of the Survey, but unfortunately it was full of water, and few measurements could be made.

In the Yellowstone Division, Weed was despatched to Montana to examine the coal fields before beginning work in the region between the 

Snowy, Gallatin, and Bridger Ranges, and the Crazy Mountains. Iddings 

continued his study of igneous rocks in the same area. The Cascade Division 

continued general mapping but gave much time to an elaborate study in 

the vicinity of Taylorsville, California, to facilitate the correlation of formations of that district with those of other areas. Plans were made, however, 

for a study of the artesian and mineral resources of Washington.

Economic importance was even ascribed to the work of the Glacial Geology Division, which continued to make progress in mapping moraines in 

Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. The glacial drift, the Geological 

Survey annual report states, was "not only one of paramount interest to the 

science of geology but a storehouse of important resources. It comprises a 

variety of soils and is a source of building material in the form of bowlders, 

sand and brick clays; it sometimes yields artesian water, and occasionally 

carries gold, iron, and other useful minerals."

I. C. Russell again went to Alaska, heading an expedition sponsored by 

the National Geographic Society, to continue his study of the Malaspina 

Glacier. Willard Hayes also spent the season in Alaska. Frederick Schwatka, 

whose trip down the Yukon River from the Chilkat Pass to the sea in 1883 

had excited much interest in Alaska, had applied to the Survey for a scientific

200 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
Joseph P. Iddings

Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1880 

1892, thereafter with the University of Chicago 

and part time with the Survey. Iddings had turned 

to geology from mining engineering as the result 

of the influence of Clarence King. From his field 

studies in the Eureka district and in Yellowstone 

National Park, he began the development of theories of magmatic differentiation and a classification 

of igneous rocks that had a profound influence on 

the science of petrology. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

assistant to accompany him on a new expedition to explore an unknown part 

of Alaska between the Yukon and Copper Rivers. Hayes, who had found 

Russell's enthusiasm contagious, had applied for the assignment.

In the California Division of Mining Geology, Becker had expanded beyond mining geology. Turner and Lindgren were still mapping atlas sheets 

in the gold belt, but Becker had also obtained the services of Professor 

Andrew Lawson of the University of California to begin mapping in the San 

Francisco Bay area. Becker himself was becoming more deeply involved in 

mathematical geophysics and began a study of strain, flow, and rupture in 

rocks.

Emmons was thoroughly busy in the early part of the summer with 

preparations for the 1891 International Geological Congress, but in the fall, 

he revisited the Leadville district, made a reconnaissance examination of the 

Butte district in Montana, and planned a systematic investigation of the 

Aspen district in Colorado. Cross visited the new mining district at Creede, 

which Emmons thought was likely to prove of economic importance. Cross 

found that large rich deposits had already been opened in decomposed eruptive rocks, but he concluded that a detailed study would be needed to 

determine the structure and furnish data of practical value.

Emmons, it seemed, had been accorded new standing in the Geologic 

Branch. On November 13, 1890, he had been elected to fill a vacancy in 

the Organizing Committee for the International Geological Congress and 

was also named as its secretary and acting treasurer. Professor Newberry and 

G. K. Gilbert had already been named chairman and vice chairman, but 

after the organization of the Committee in 1888, no further plans had been 

made for the 1891 meeting beyond a request to the Bureau of the International Congress in London to change the place of meeting from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. At the meeting of the Organizing Committee 

in November 1890, Major Powell was elected chairman of the Program 

Committee and Clarence Dutton, the chairman of the Committee on Excursions. Because French was the official language of the Congress, although 

it had been agreed that English would be permitted at the sessions in 

Washington, much of the correspondence and the preparation of announcements fell to Emmons, who had become fluent in French as a student in 

Paris. Much of the work of program preparation and plans for excursions 

also devolved upon him, and for the excursions, he prepared a 150-page 

guidebook for the use of the visitors.

The Fifth International Geological Congress met at Columbian University 

in Washington, D.C., from August 26 to September 4, 1891. Professor 

Joseph LeConte presided in the absence of Professor Newberry, who was ill, 

and Emmons was secretary-general. To the great disappointment of many 

American geologists, only 73 of the 240 in attendance came from outside 

the United States, and of those from the United States, fully one-third were 

from the Survey.

Most of the formal papers presented had been prepared in connection 

with the Survey's program in geologic correlation. The first scientific session 

was devoted to the Glacial Period and the classification of Pleistocene formations, with Professor Chamberlin as the leadoff speaker. The Friday session was devoted to the correlation of European and American geologic 

formations and was opened by Gilbert, who presented a paper on the problems of stratigraphic correlation. The first of the correlation papers, that by 

H. S. Williams on the Devonian and Carboniferous, was published in time 

for the meeting and distributed to those present. The value of the effects

International Geological Congress, 1891 201
of physical events or conditions and of the relations of flora, fauna, invertebrates, and vertebrates in correlation was discussed, and the weight of 

opinion was that vertebrates if present were the best biological tools for 

correlation.

At the session on Monday, August 31, Major Powell exhibited the proposed color scheme for Survey maps. Objections were made to the changes 

in traditional usage such as black for coal and red for volcanic rocks, to 

the lack of differentiation in the Mesozoic, to the unequal division of colors 

of the spectrum among the different stratigraphic divisions, but most of all 

to the overprinting of symbols on the base colors. The Survey scheme was 

especially adapted to chromolithography but would be almost impossible 

for hand coloring, which was still practiced to a large extent abroad. However, not all the objections came from abroad; several members of the Survey 

also disapproved. The foreign visitors were, however, much impressed with 

the Survey building, its printing plant, telephones, and elevators.

During the excursions that followed the Congress, Hague and Iddings 

led a party of 80 through Yellowstone National Park, and Major Powell 

led a trip to the Grand Canyon. The Committee of the Congress appointed 

to organize information on geological bibliographies held its first meeting 

in one of the cars of the special excursion train and elected G. K. Gilbert 

president of the committee.

There were some lingering evidences of the preceding year's problems. 

While the International Congress was in session, an attempt was made to 

form a "National Association of Government Geologists." Major Powell 

presided at the meeting, and Arthur Winslow, State Geologist of Missouri, 

acted as secretary. A committee of six was appointed to continue the work 

of organization, the members in addition to Powell and Winslow being E. 

A. Smith of Alabama, J. A. Holmes of North Carolina, J. C. Branner of 

Arkansas, and N. H. Winchell of Minnesota.

The First Irrigation Congress had met in September 1891 at Salt Lake 

City, while the International Geological Congress was on its western excursion. The Irrigation Congress was called by Governor Thomas of Utah

for the purpose of hastening the reclamation of the arable land, so far as possible, and for the purpose of petitioning Congress to cede to the States and

Iddings found that the intricate relations between 

the various kinds of coarse-grained and glassy rocks 

were at the foundation of any system of classification 

and indeed affected comprehension of the real nature 

of the rocks. The seemingly irregular molecular 

variations in the diagram shown here he found were 

actually in accord with the order of crystallization 

of the minerals. (From J. P. Iddings, 1891.)

202 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
Israel Cook Russell

Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1880- 

1892, thereafter with the University of Michigan 

and part-time with the Survey. Russell was closely 

associated with G. K. Gilbert in the Great Basin 

and in the Appalachian investigations but greatly 

preferred to work in wilderness areas. He was the 

first member of the Geological Survey to undertake 

work in Alaska. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

Territories the arid lands within their borders, for the purpose, first, of reclaiming the same; second, in aid of public schools; and third, for such other public 

purposes as the Legislative Assemblies of the States and Territories may respectively determine.

Senator Stewart had presided over most of the sessions, and Francis Newlands, then a Nevada lawyer but later a U.S. Congressman and Senator and 

author of the Reclamation Act of 1902, in a keynote speech commended 

Senator Stewart for inaugurating Federal interest in irrigation in his first 

tour of duty in the Senate, for challenging the hold of Director Powell on 

the U.S. Congress and denying the Irrigation Survey appropriation to the 

Geological Survey in the preceding year, and for securing an appropriation 

instead to the Department of Agriculture. The Irrigation Congress voted to 

ask the U.S. Congress to grant in trust to the States and Territories needful 

of irrigation all public lands except mineral lands within their borders and 

to "heartily endorse" the irrigation work of the Agriculture Department 

and to recommend large appropriations for it. The U.S. Congress, however, 

was still unwilling to engage the Federal Government in any irrigation 

scheme and had put an end to the investigations of the Agriculture Department that threatened to involve the Government in such.

In December 1891, however, the work of the Survey was recognized by 

the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France which awarded it its 

Cuvier prize. In making the award, the Academy said:

It will be impossible to give in this report even a summary idea of the most 

remarkable discoveries which are due to the Geological Survey. They belong 

to branches very diverse: regional geology, monographs concerning metalliferous deposits, general and comparative stratigraphy, mineral and petrography, volcanic phenomena, glacial phenomena, ancient Quaternary lakes, history of the Atlantic littoral. Among the most considerable results must be 

mentioned the paleontological discoveries made in the Rocky Mountains. 

The monographs of the lamented Leidy, of Cope, and of Prof. Marsh are among 

the most beautiful paleontologic works accomplished since Cuvier. Magnificent 

researches have also been made concerning the invertebrates and the fossil 

vegetables. *** The work of the Geological Survey, with the magnificent collection of results that it comprises, merits then that we should render to it a 

striking homage for the light so vivid and so unhoped for that it has thrown 

upon the geologic history and the mineral riches of North America.

In the spring of 1892, two Survey scientists were elected to membership 

in the National Academy of Sciences, Samuel Franklin Emmons and Carl 

Barus. The two represented opposite poles of Survey work, Emmons, preeminently the economic geologist, Barus an outstanding experimental physicist. They had in common a close relationship to Clarence King.

By the spring of 1892, the national economy had taken a turn for the 

worse. There was a drain on the gold reserve during the first few months 

of 1892, and the Secretary of the Treasury announced that a deficit was in 

the offing, the first in 20 years. Congress made a few desultory attempts to 

modify the tariff, which had been a big issue in the 1890 elections, but 

with the House and Senate divided, there was little hope of reform. Under 

the circumstances, especially in a Presidential election year, the Democrats 

were in a mood to economize.

When Mr. Holman, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, 

introduced the Sundry Civil Expenses bill in May 1892, he announced that 

it provided $10 million less than the estimates, $13 million less than the 

bill for the current year, but that further reductions were possible without 

injury to the public service. Appropriations for soldiers' homes, the Light 

House Service, and the Life Saving Service could not well be reduced, but 

other appropriations, such as those for the Coast and Geodetic Survey and

First Irrigation Congress, 1891 203
similar bureaus, could be. In the discussion of the bill that followed, the 

appropriations for the Coast Survey, the Fish Commission, and the Smithsonian Institution were cut, and the Bureau of American Ethnology came 

close to being eliminated altogether.

When the appropriation for the Survey came up for consideration, Congressman Hilary Herbert proposed amendments to eliminate the position 

of paleontologist at $4,000 and paleontologist at $2,000, to eliminate the 

appropriation of $30,000 for paleontological research, and to insert a provision that after July 1, 1892, no paleontological work could be carried on. 

He said:

If this House is bound at all by its repeated promises to reduce expenditures, 

we ought to begin on this Geological Survey. *** We ought to repeal or modify 

those laws that provide for expenditures of money not needed for any government purposes, and especially ought we to put in the knife where moneys are 

expended that are not necessary to carry on the government, not necessary 

for the preservation of order, or for the protection of life or liberty or properly.

He went to say, "Major Powell will tell you there is no such thing as 

abstract science. In my younger days I was taught that there was, and if 

there is on this earth an abstract science, it is paleontology. What practical 

use has the Government for paleontology? What function of the Government 

is carried on by means of paleontology? Not only has the Government no 

use for it as government, but paleontological work is not even necessary to 

the proper construction of a geological map." He brought out Alexander 

Agassiz's letter of 1885 saying that private individuals and learned societies 

could do paleontology as well as and more cheaply than the Government, 

and he read pertinent parts of the minority report of the Allison Commission 

into the record. The House agreed to Mr. Herbert's amendments, which 

called for a total cut of $36,000.

Congressman Jeremiah Simpson of Nebraska proposed a change in the 

appropriation for topographic surveys: to strike out "one-half of which shall 

be expended west of the one hundredth meridian" and substitute "$60,000 

of which shall be expended west of the ninety-seventh meridian, in the 

States of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and the Territory 

of Oklahoma for the purpose of locating and developing subterranean and 

surface waters." Mr. Simpson said the water was to be located "in order 

to apply it to irrigation," and he understood that the chairman of the 

Appropriations Committee did not object to the amendment. A letter from 

Major Powell was read which said, "The people are petitioning and urging 

in every way possible for such a survey of the region as will exhibit the 

possibility of its redemption by irrigation, and it seems to me that it would 

be wise and just to grant their cries; but it should be distinctly understood 

that to do it by the method proposed is to suspend operations in other 

regions where urgent demands are made by the work." Mr. Pickler of 

South Dakota said that the survey was to enable people to know where to 

make artesian wells and that the $60,000 would permit an investigation for 

water and its storage. Mr. Holman promptly moved to strike out everything 

after "Oklahoma." It was only 2 months since Congress had ordered an 

end to similar investigations by the Agriculture Department that had come 

close to involving the Government in an irrigation scheme. Mr. Simpson 

protested that Major Powell said those words were necessary, but Mr. Holman prevailed. The amendment was adopted specifying where but not why 

the $60,000 was to be spent.

Other amendments were offered: To strike out the entire appropriation 

for topographic surveys; to cut it, to raise it, to strike out the appropriation 

for chemistry and physics; to strike out the appropriation for preparation of

204 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
On his expeditions to Alaska, Russell found glaciers 

flowing from the great neve fields of the mountains 

of the St. Elias system for fully 100 miles west of 

Yakutat Bay. These glaciers expand on reaching the 

flatlands between the base of the mountains and the 

sea, and unite to form a vast lake of ice which he 

named the Malaspina Glacier and identified as a 

new form, the piedmont glacier. (From I. C. Russell, 1893.)

illustrations; to increase the appropriation for the report on mineral resources; but all were defeated. Congressman Will is Sweet said that it was 

conceded throughout the West that Major Powell was doing a splendid 

work, but to illustrate it, he mentioned mining litigation in Idaho where 

expert witnesses had cited Survey work on mineral resources, Mr. Herbert, 

apparently thoroughly convinced that the work of the Survey was to prepare 

the geologic map of the United States, was against everything that he 

thought did not contribute to the making of the map, and he quoted Major 

Powell as saying it was not the business of the Survey to point out mines 

or minerals or to make discoveries of that kind, it was only to make a 

general geologic map. "I repeat what I said the other day, that this work, 

if ever completed, will cost the Government, over $20,000,000. But for 

myself I am very sure that I shall not live and no man here will ever live 

to see the day when these scientists will be willing to stop spending the 

Government money. There is no end to paleontology, there is no end to 

geology; and when the morning of resurrection shall come, some paleontologist will be searching for some previously undiscovered species of extinct 

beings, and some geologist will be pecking away at the rocks to find some 

characteristics which have never before been ascertained. There is no end 

to it." Before the debate ended, a letter from Major Powell was read, 

saying that paleontologic researches were "imperatively necessary," that 

making geologic investigations without palentology could be compared to

Appropriations for 1893 205
;;F? ^ U _|j£^nr^?*~:'- -^Jsr-*-

excluding evidence and using only legal arguments in a trial, but Mr. 

Herbert again quoted Mr. Agassiz, and the bill was passed by the House 

on May 27 with the Herbert amendments intact.

The Senate did not take up the part of the Sundry Civil Expenses bill 

that concerned the Survey until July 8, 1892. In the meantime, the Republican National Convention met and nominated President Harrison for 

a second term, the Democratic National Convention met and nominated 

former President Grover Cleveland for a second term, and the People's 

Party held its first national convention and nominated James B. Weaver for 

President. New political alinements began to develop. The Republican platform had defended the high protective tariff, whereas the Democratic platform stressed tariff for revenue only. Both platforms straddled the money 

issue, although the Democratic platform called the Sherman Silver Purchase 

Act a makeshift. The People's Party demanded a variety of reforms, including free and unlimited coinage of silver at 16 to 1 and an increase in 

the circulating medium of not less than $50 per capita. Harrison was suspected of leaning toward the silver men, whereas Cleveland had in January 

1891 taken a strong stand against the "dangerous and reckless experiment 

of free, unlimited, and independent silver coinage." There was no great 

enthusiasm for Harrison in his own party, and conservative eastern financial 

and business interests tended to support Cleveland.

In the interval, also, labor problems had been developing. The price of 

steel had been falling for about 2 years, and the agreement between the 

skilled workers and management at the Homestead Works of the Carnegie 

Steel Company, in which wages were tied to the price of steel, was due to 

expire on June 30. The company employed 300 Pinkerton detectives to 

guard the plant, and several were killed in a pitched battle with the workers. 

Labor problems developed in the western silver mines also.

When the Senate took up the Sundry Civil Expenses bill on July 8, 

Senator Allison for the Committee on Appropriations offered three amendments to restore the cuts made in the House and thereby provoked an 

immediate eruption of strong and conflicting opinions on the Survey program and the Survey's Director. Senator George Vest of Missouri began

One of the few field projects that was completed in 

1892 before fieldwork was suspended because of the 

cut in appropriations was Russell's investigation of 

the possibility of artesian-water resources near Yakima, Washington. He found the geological structure to be unfavorable in most of the area. (From 

I. C. Russell, 1893.)

206 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
by asking if Senator Allison thought in the present condition of the Treasury 

that there was any burning necessity for paleontological work, and Senator 

Allison in his mild way replied "I don't think the necessity is very burning 

although the Director of the Geological Survey states that paleontology is 

the foundation of all geological surveying and without this provision the 

work will be inoperative." Senator Vest thought the Survey was "ornamental," and said he would take great pleasure in striking out a good deal 

of its appropriation. Senator Wilbur Sanders of Montana supported the 

restoration of funds, but only because he objected to abolishing part of the 

Survey. He thought a committee should be established to prepare a bill "to 

create this Bureau, define its functions, name its officers * * * so we can 

legislate intelligently." Senator Orville H. Platt of Connecticut suggested 

that if the Senators who did not like the Survey or its head thought something was wrong, they should introduce a resolution for an investigation. 

Senator Edward Wolcott of Colorado thought the cuts should stand, that 

this was the Senate's only chance to strike at the Survey. "This Geological 

Survey comes to this body in some way, the Lord only knows how, and we 

hear nothing about it until the appropriation bills come in providing about 

a million dollars every year to be expended by this survey." It was one of 

the measures supposed to be for the benefit of the West but the West got 

little from it. "As a matter of scientific research we rejoice in it. * * * But 

nobody seems to have any direction or control over it." Senator Joseph 

Hawley of Connecticut, who in general thought highly of the Survey, said 

the appropriation might well be reduced but not by picking on a particular 

item. Rather it should be done under a system of inquiry into the various 

branches and the usefulness and necessity of each. Senator Stewart made a 

long and vitriolic speech against the Survey and its Director, but the reaction 

of his listeners showed that Senator's Stewart's bias was well understood. 

The three amendments, to restore the two positions, restore paleontological 

work, and provide $30,000 for paleontological research, were passed, 31 

21, 29 18, and 27 21. In all three votes, the majority of Republicans 

present and voting followed the committee lead, voting 20 7, 20 5, and 

19 9 to restore the cuts, but the Democrats were almost evenly divided, 

11 12, 9 10, and 8 10. Six western Republican Senators, Joseph Carey of 

Wyoming, Henry Hansbrough of North Dakota, Thomas Power of Montana, Charles Felton of California, W. M. Stewart of Nevada, and Edward 

Wolcott of Colorado, voted against all three amendments, as did Senators 

William Peffer and James Kyle, the two Farmers' Alliance Senators.

On the following day, Senator Wolcott, following suggestions of Senators 

Platt and Hawley, submitted a resolution that the Committee on Civil 

Service Reform and Retrenchment, of which he was chairman, be directed 

to investigate "the workings of the Geological Survey, the usefulness of said 

Survey, and the necessity for its continuance, as to whether the work of said 

Survey is conducted with economy, the value of said work to the country, 

the progress made by said Survey, and the probable time of completion of 

its work." The resolution was referred to the Committee to Audit and 

Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate.

Nearly a week passed before the Senate resumed consideration of the 

Survey appropriation. The State militia had in the meantime taken over at 

the Carnegie Homestead Works after several days of open warfare, and 

violence had become so extreme at the Coeur d'Alene silver camp that 

martial law had been declared there and Federal troops dispatched to the 

scene. Officially, the Senate had been considering many matters related to 

the Columbian Exposition to be held in Chicago in 1893; a bipartisan 

majority voted for Sunday closing, and a Republican-Farmers Alliance coAppropriations for 1893 207
Edward O. Wolcott

alition prohibited the sale of intoxicating liquors on the exposition grounds. 

Off the Senate floor, certain other activity had been underway.

Senator Wolcott offered an amendment to cut the total appropriation for 

the Survey to the old figure of $400,000, saying that when he spoke about 

the amendments on paleontology he had met with just criticism by the 

Senator from Connecticut. Senator Wolcott was a Yale man, and he wanted 

it clearly understood that his objection to paleontology was not a criticism 

of Professor Marsh for whom he had great admiration. His real objection 

was to appropriating $562,000, the spending of which "nobody on earth 

directs but the Director of the Geological Survey, accountable to no man 

and no men, accountable only to the scientific bodies of the United States, 

who may criticize the wisdom or unwisdom of the work." He went on, 

"I do not question Major Powell's ability nor do I discuss his extreme 

fitness for securing from Congress an immense appropriation, but I do say 

that the work up to this time does not bear out the fruits that were promised 

nor has it borne out his promise made in 1886." In 1886, the Senator 

said, Powell had assured the Allison Joint Commission that he would complete the geologic map in 20 years at a cost of $18 million; his 1890 report, 

the latest available, showed that would take more than 100 years and cost

Senator from Colorado 1889 1901, educated at 

Yale College and Harvard Law School and briefly 

editor of the Georgetown Miner before being elected 

to the U.S. Senate at the age of 40. He was noted 

for his oratory and for his advocacy of the free coinage of silver. Wolcott played a leading role in the 

attack on the Survey in 1892 and was a determined 

critic of the Survey for many years thereafter. (Courtesy of the Colorado Historical Society.)

208 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
more than $100 million. The amendment was defeated, but the vote was 

closer, 28 24. The Republicans still opposed the cut 17 12, and the Democrats were still split 10 11, but such stalwart eastern Republicans as Senators Eugene Hale of Maine, William Chandler and Jacob Gallinger of New 

Hampshire, and Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania had been persuaded to join 

the opposition along with Senators John B. Alien of Washington and Richard Pettigrew of South Dakota. Senators Frank Hiscock of New York and 

Fred Dubois of Idaho, on the other hand, joined the Survey supporters. On 

the Democratic side, five new votes for the Survey were canceled by five 

new votes against. Senators Peffer and Kyle continued to vote against the 

Survey.

The coup de grace was delivered by the two freshman Senators from 

Wyoming. Senator Joseph Carey offered an amendment to cut the appropriation on what he called a sliding scale, eliminating some of the statutory 

positions as scientific assistants and reducing other items by specific 

amounts. The total proposed was $336,100. The amendment, Senator Carey

Joseph M. Carey

Delegate from the Territory of Wyoming and its 

U.S. Senator, 1890-1894. Carey served only 4 

years, losing his chance for reelection by supporting 

repeal of the Silver Purchase Act. His name is associated with the legislation granting lands to States 

for purposes of irrigation. He also proposed the 

amendment that cut the Geological Survey's appropriation in 1892. (Courtesy of the Library of 

Congress.)

Appropriations for 1893 209
said, would not destroy any part of the Survey but would cut it down. 

Senator Wolcott thereupon observed that cutting the appropriation might 

"awaken" those who were left "to an impression that they should investigate the needs of today" rather than "hunt for the remains of the paleozoic 

age." the Carey amendment was passed 26 23, and this time 17 Republicans favored the cut and only 9 were opposed; 7 Democrats favored the 

cut but 14 were opposed.

Senator Francis Warren then moved to add $40,000 to the appropriation 

for topographic surveys. He had earlier indicated that some adjustment of 

the Carey amendment would be needed, either an increase in the total or 

a reduction in the amount to be spent west of the 97th meridian so that 

one-quarter would be spent in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma for the unmentionable purpose of locating and developing water resources. The Warren amendment was passed 28 25, and there were no 

significant changes in the voting pattern. Twenty Republicans, six Democrats, and two Farmers' Alliance Senators voted for it, and eight Republicans and seventeen Democrats against it.

The Carey-Warren amendments eliminated three of the five positions as 

geologist at $4,000, one of two positions as geologist at $3,000, both 

positions as geologist at $2,400, both positions as geologist at $2,000, the 

paleontologist at $4,000 (allowing instead 2 paleontologists at $2,000), two 

geographers at $2,500, the topographer at $2,000, and the general assistant. 

The appropriation for topographic surveys was reduced from $250,000 to 

$240,000, for geologic surveys from $115,000 to $50,000, for paleontological research from $40,000 to $10,000, and for chemistry and physics 

from $17,000 to $5,000. Only the appropriation for preparation of a report 

on mineral resources went unscathed.

When the bill was returned to the House, the Committee of the Whole 

at first refused to concur in the Senate amendment. Congressman Joseph 

Wheeler of Alabama pleaded for an increase in the appropriation, read long 

extracts from an article in the Leadville paper praising Emmons' work, 

cited the value of the Eldridge's work in Florida, and said that Professor 

Agassiz in his annual report for 1891 had announced abandonment of his 

attempt to establish a museum at Cambridge, devoted to original investigations, which had been the reason for Agassiz's objection to Government 

paleontology. But on the 19th, when the amendment came up in the House, 

John Bankhead, also of Alabama, moved to concur in the Senate amendment, the Speaker ruled that the motion was not debatable, and it was 

passed 94 25. The Survey appropriation was therefore not subject to negotiation in conference and remained $376,100 as the Senate had passed it. 

The bill was finally passed and approved on August 5.

Meanwhile on July 28, Senator Wolcott's resolution was reported out 

with the recommendation that instead of an investigation by the Committee 

on Civil Service Reform and Retrenchment, a select committee of five Senators be appointed by the president of the Senate to "investigate the operations of the United States Geological Survey, the efficiency and utility of 

such a survey, together with the progress made and economy observed in 

this work." The resolution was adopted, and the Vice President appointed 

Senators Wolcott, Carey, Gallinger, Arthur Gorman, and James K. Jones 

of Arkansas.

The effect of the cut in appropriations was less severe in the topographic 

divisions than in geology. The total appropriation for topographic surveys 

was only $ 10,000 less than the year before, even though it had to be divided 

three ways: $90,000 for work east of the 97th meridian, $90,000 for work 

west of the 103rd meridian, and $60,000 for work west of the 97th meridian

210 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
in the States of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and the 

Territory of Oklahoma. The $60,000 was divided equally between the Eastern and Western Divisions, and each division kept two sets of books.

Henry Gannett as chief topographer and A. H. Thompson as geographer 

in charge of the Western Division were not in statutory positions and were 

therefore not affected by the elimination of statutory positions. The statutory 

positions of Gilbert Thompson, E. M. Douglas, H. M. Wilson, and S. S. 

Gannett were not affected. Geographers Renshawe and Goode, who occupied 

the two positions as geographer at $2,500 that had been eliminated, were 

moved into temporary positions at slight reductions in salary. Marcus Baker, 

whose position as general assistant had been eliminated, was appointed 

topographer at no reduction in salary.

Most of the topographic parties had waited until passage of the appropriations act before leaving for the field, so it meant a very short season for 

those working in the mountain States. Thompson organized the Western 

Division into eight topographic sections and a hydrographic section under 

F. H. Newell. A. P. Davis and Willard Johnson supervised mapping in 

California; E. M. Douglas had five parties mapping in Colorado, Montana, 

Nebraska, and South Dakota; W. T. Griswold continued mapping in Idaho, 

Frank Tweedy supervised the mapping of three atlas sheets in Wyoming; 

and R. U. Goode continued mapping in the Arkansas Valley in Kansas, as 

well as in New Mexico and trans-Pecos Texas. Morris Bien continued the 

special survey of the Aspen, Colorado, area at a scale of 800 feet to the inch. 

In September, R. H. McKee was sent to Washington to begin mapping. 

In the Eastern Division under Gannett, mapping was continued in New 

England, New York (where the State made a small appropriation to begin 

cooperative work with the Survey), Pennsylvania, and the southern 

Appalachians. In the central section under Renshawe, six parties were sent 

into the field in the James River valley of North and South Dakota, where 

artesian wells had been so successful, and into Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

The effect of the cut in appropriations in the Geologic Branch was traumatic. During the first half of July, 13 geologic parties were in the field, 

but on the 14th, when the Carey and Warren amendments were passed, 

telegraphic orders were issued to avoid all expenses that would not be necessary if fieldwork should soon be stopped. On the 19th, when the House 

concurred, all fieldwork was stopped.

Several of the statutory positions had been eliminated and the great reduction in funds made it necessary to discontinue some of the salaries paid 

from expenses as well. Of the five positions as geologist at $4,000 those 

occupied by Becker, Emmons, Hague, Pumpelly, and Van Hise three 

were eliminated; the Director chose to dispense with the services of Becker, 

Emmons, and Pumpelly. Van Hise, who spent only part of the year with 

the Survey, resigned, and Gilbert was then demoted from a temporary 

position as chief geologist at $4,250 to fill Van Hise's position. Gilbert 

was so glad to retire from administrative work that he moved to an office 

on another floor. Of the two positions as geologist at $3,000, held by Major 

Powell's close friends, Lester Ward and W J McGee, one was eliminated. 

Lester Ward was dropped as geologist and immediately reappointed to one 

of the two positions as paleontologist at $2,000. Bailey Willis, who had 

been holding a temporary position as geologist at $3,000, was demoted to 

fill the vacancy as geologist at $2,700 when C. A. White resigned. Diller 

and I. C. Russell held the two positions as geologist at $2,000, both of 

which were eliminated. Diller was moved into a temporary position at no 

change in salary; Russell left to become a professor at the University of

Reduction in Force 211
Michigan. Peale and Iddings held the positions as geologist at $2,000 which 

were eliminated. Peale was dropped; Iddings, whose paper on the origin of 

igneous rocks was acclaimed by both the American Journal of Science and 

the American Geologist, resigned to become professor at the University of 

Chicago.

The reduction in the appropriation for paleontology meant a reorganization and a large reduction in force. The several divisions were consolidated 

into one under a chief paleontologist, C. D. Walcott, who was also responsible for the Paleozoic work. T. W. Stanton was the sole survivor of the 

Mesozoic division, and W. H. Dall, of the Cenozoic division. Marsh's 

position had been eliminated, but he volunteered to continue his work on 

vertebrate paleontology without compensation and was given an honorary 

appointment. Lester Ward worked out an arrangement with the Smithsonian 

Institution's National Museum, which had accepted the gift of the Lacoe 

collection of Paleozoic plants but had no one to put it in order for shipment, 

whereby David White would undertake the task and the museum would 

provide for Frank Knowlton so he could continue his work on Laramie and 

post-Laramie plants.

The Division of Chemistry and Physics was reduced from 12 to 4 employees; F. W. Clarke, W. F. Hillebrand, George Steiger, and one laborer 

remained. Carl Barus, elected to the National Academy of Science in April, 

was dismissed in August and the pioneering work in geophysics was discontinued. The rooms at the National Museum were given up, and a new 

three-room laboratory was set up on the fifth floor of the Hooe Building.

The Division of Mining Statistics received its usual appropriation and 

alone among the various divisions of the Survey was unaffected by the cut 

in appropriations.

The Congressional action was clearly aimed at the Director and his administration of the Survey. Jules Marcou claimed credit for instigating the action 

with a privately printed pamphlet critical of the expense and all-encompassing nature of the Survey work, and the American Geologist said that 

it was one of the factors. Marcou, however, thought it imperative that the 

topographic mapping and the irrigations investigations be transferred from 

the Survey, and the American Geologist also called it a serious and farreaching mistake when the Survey began topographic mapping of the United 

States. Congress, however, took care to see that topographic surveys were 

adequately funded. More recently, Wallace Stegner and W. C. Darrah, 

among others, have attributed the attack to resentment of Powell's ideas 

of land reform and the closing of the public domain during the Irrigation 

Survey. Stegner says that the only way Congress could get at Powell was 

through the research aspects of the Survey. Such resentment may have played 

a part in the action, but the principal reason was exactly what it appeared 

to be an expression of dissatisfaction with the emphasis on pure science ' 

and the lack of immediate practical results.

According to S. F. Emmons, it was begun by those who felt themselves 

injured by the irrigation investigation, but directed by those who hoped to

help the economic branch of the Survey. The voting pattern is consistent i 

with this view. Hilary Herbert, who initiated the action in the House, 

attacked only the appropriations for paleontology, which was abstract science 

in his view. Herbert was not opposed to basic research; he simply thought 

it should be done in private institutions because he firmly believed in limited 

government and government that was economical and efficient. Herbert was 

also a staunch advocate of the industrial development of the South, a movement which the Survey had been conspicuously slow to aid.

212 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
The Senators who followed Herbert's lead in voting against paleontology 

were a mixed group. Stewart was clearly associated with the irrigation interests but he also represented a mining State, as did several others, and no 

single interest was clearly paramount in the voting. During the 6 days that 

the Sundry Civil Expenses bill was laid aside, two other plans to cut the 

Survey appropriation were devised, the one presented by Senator Wolcott, 

the other by Senator Carey and amended by his colleague, Senator Warren. 

Seantor Wolcott represented a mining State, a State in which mining operators had voted to extend aid to Emmons in his investigations and had 

sent a petition to Washington requesting additional investigations in economic geology. Senator Carey was interested in the irrigation issue, as was 

his colleague, but Senator Warren was also a member of the Committee on 

Mines and Mining. Joining those who voted against the Survey when the 

Wolcott amendment was proposed were Senator Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania, the leading mining State in the Nation, and Senator Richard 

Pettigrew of South Dakota, where the Homestake Mining Company was 

important. When the Carey amendment was proposed, Senator Francis 

Stockbridge of Michigan, the second-ranking mining State of the Nation, 

Senator Philetus Sawyer of Wisconsin, where iron mining was newly important, and Senator Warren all voted for the cut. In the end, all the 

western members of the Committee on Mines and Mining voted for the 

cuts in geology, chemistry and physics, and paleontology.

Behind the effort to reduce general geology and to restore economic geology to a preeminent position in the Survey was a move to force Powell's 

resignation and to restore King to the directorship. C. D. Walcott told 

Professor Chamberlin that "There is a powerful party in both the House and 

in the Senate who appear to be determined that there shall be a change in 

the Directorship and, if this is not done, to cut off the appropriation" and 

"the western mining men who are fighting Powell have confidence in 

King." King had been approached about returning and had agreed to do 

so on condition that it could be arranged without a struggle. Powell was 

at first believed to be willing to resign, and Walcott said that "King is 

probably the man who will be chosen by the Major" to succeed him. He 

found it "a curious state of affairs that the Senators who are attacking the 

Major desire that King shall be appointed in his place, and that King should 

be in accord with them and also with the Major."

Major Powell told several of his friends that he wished to retire from the 

Survey and devote his time to ethnology, and most of his friends felt that 

it would be the wisest thing for him to do. The Smithsonian Institution, 

however, was unwilling to make the provisions for the work that he wished, 

although Secretary Langley and the Trustees were willing to have the Bureau 

of Ethnology transferred to either the Department of Agriculture or the 

Department of the Interior. Other friends, notably McGee, urged Major 

Powell "to die in his tracks," and he did not proffer the expected resignation. Instead, he left town his health, according to Walcott, in a "very 

precarious condition" leaving McGee and Walcott to carry on. Walcott, 

who understood far better than McGee the difficulties the Survey faced, 

regretfully gave up the opportunity to become Professor of Paleontologic 

Geology at the University of Chicago. Major Powell, he wrote to Professor 

Chamberlin, "likes strong personal loyalty from those nearest to him. This 

with me is secondary to loyalty to the Survey & its work." Professor 

Chamberlin advised Walcott that if King did not take the directorship "it 

should go to you or Van Hise. * * * If it seems to be drifting in any other 

direction I would advise the bringing about of delay and some arrangement 

by which it can be kept in good hands."

The Opposition to Powell 213
Walcott planned a reorganization of the geologic work that began with 

the request for funds submitted to the Secretary in September and to Congress in December 1892. For many years, funds had been requested for 

"geologic surveys in various parts of the United States for preparation of the 

geologic map." In 1892, funds were requested for geologic surveys in 17 

geologic provinces into which the United States had been divided, the 

surveys to be made "for the purpose of locating and representing by maps, 

sections, and reports" the various mineral resources known or believed to 

exist in that area. (Walcott's original plan contained only ten divisions; the 

number was raised by the Director "for political reasons.") The new organization not only brought economic geology to the fore; to Walcott it was 

the rational method of dealing with the geology of the country.

I do not think of any better method by which to secure larger and quicker 

returns for the money expended, than to divide the country up into divisions 

containing essentially the same geologic problems and the same series of 

geologic formations and to place each district in the charge of one man to 

direct the work.

Walcott's plan was approved by King, Emmons, Becker, and Hague; it 

was only a slight modification of the original plan of organization of the 

Survey. The immediate development of a program in economic geology was 

made difficult by the elimination of the positions of the Nation's leading 

economic geologists, Emmons, Becker, and Pumpelly. Emmons and Becker, 

however, volunteered to continue to serve without pay. The wisdom of "the 

production of immediate results "of strictly practical value" in King's program had been affirmed; the orientation of the Survey's work was changed.

214 A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892
Chapter 8.

The Utilization of Neglected Resources,

1892-1894

The material progress of the nation now depends upon the development of new 

industries and upon the utilization of resources hitherto neglected.

 John W. Noble.

Major Powell continued to occupy the position of Director until mid1894, but his control of the Survey's geologic work came to an end in 

August 1892. Charles D. Walcott gradually took charge, first on an emergency basis when Powell left the office for several months, then with administrative responsibilities delegated to him by Powell, and on July 1, 

1893, as Chief Geologist and Paleontologist appointed by the Secretary of 

the Interior. Finally, on June 11, 1894, he became Director. These were 

difficult years, as the Survey struggled to adjust to new conditions and make 

plans for the future in a rapidly deteriorating economic situation.

Walcott was not an obvious choice for the position, particularly in view 

of the congressional desire for more emphasis on economic geology. He was 

a man of unusual administrative ability, as he very shortly demonstrated, 

but as late as 1890 he had been one of the lower paid paleontologists. The 

choice, however, was limited. Emmons, Becker, and Pumpelly had been 

dismissed, Chamberlin and Van Hise spent only part of the year with the 

Survey, and Gilbert's plan of geologic work had been discredited by the 

congressional action. McGee was closer to Powell, but McGee resisted the 

idea of change. Walcott, however, had been one of King's early appointees 

and had been part of the group that later worked with him in New York 

headquarters. Walcott understood the difficulties the Survey faced and the 

essential steps that had to be taken. Regretfully, he gave up the idea of the 

Chicago professorship to devote his efforts to strengthening the Survey to 

withstand the coming trial.

That the Survey had a future was somewhat uncertain in the fall of 1892, 

and the leaderless group reacted in various ways. McGee rushed to the 

defense of the Survey. He told the Schuykill Valley meeting of the American 

Institute of Mining Engineers in October 1892 that preparation of the 

geologic map was taking a long time because of the necessity of preparing 

the topographic map and of research in systems of mapping and cartography. 

The cost was not excessive. The average cost of topographic surveys was 

only $4 a square mile, and the average cost of geologic surveys "since the 

establishment of the Bureau, computed on the moderate estimate that the 

final geologic surveys completed up to June 30, 1892, represent one-fourth 

of the total sum of geological work, and on the basis of appropriations for 

all other purposes than topographical work (including paleontological study, 

researches in glacial geology, work in chemistry and physics, hydrographic 

measurements and surveys, the acquisition of a library of 100,000 titles, 

the installation and maintenance of laboratories, the publication of more 

than one hundred volumes or reports, mostly illustrated and sometimes 

accompanied with large atlases, the cost of apparatus, stock and materials

The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894 215
of various kinds, office-rent and all other expenditures), approaches $9 per 

square mile." But McGee also said that as far as the commoner resources 

were concerned, an official geological survey followed rather than preceded 

exploration and so "aided the miner and quarryman only by fixing the limits 

of productive areas and pointing out the unproductive areas, thereby reducing the final cost of minerals by curtailing bootless prospecting" although 

he conceded that the geologist's "laws of mineral association and his geological maps" would be "useful aids in the exploitation of the new mineral 

products brought into use as the years go on."

McGee, unfortunately, managed to become thoroughly embroiled in controversies which served to focus an unfavorable light on the organization. 

They began at the mid-August 1892 meetings of the American Association 

for the Advancement of Science and Geological Society of America at Rochester, New York. McGee presented a paper on comparative geological chronology in which he used erosion as a measure of time to fix the length of 

recent geological epochs and then extrapolated, using Dana's ratios of the 

lengths of the different eras, to fix the age of the earth at 15,000 million 

years, of which 7,000 million had elapsed since the beginning of the Paleozoic. McGee's paper provoked a lively discussion, but not so much as 

the discussions on glacial geology and glacial man. Professor G. Frederick 

Wright's book on Man and the Glacial Period had been published in June, 

but W. H. Holmes told the AAAS meeting that the "paleolithic implements" that were being cited as evidence for glacial man were very like 

the unfinished and rejected material at aboriginal quarries, and he questioned their great age.

The controversy continued thereafter in the pages of Science and other 

journals, and at one point Holmes said, "it is patent that until geologists 

take hold of the problem and prosecute the work not as a side issue but as 

a great and leading question germane to the field of geologic research, little 

true progress will be made." McGee leaped into the fray with the statement 

that Wright was not among the leading glacialists in the country, that he 

had no claim to the title of assistant to the Survey cited on the title page 

of his book, that he had in fact been temporarily employed by the Survey 

several years before and dismissed as incompetent. (McGee was wrong. 

Wright remained on the Survey rolls until July 1892, a good 2 years after 

completion of his report on the glacial boundary in Pennsylvania, Ohio, 

Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois.) McGee's chief complaint, however, was 

that Wright was completely unaware of the "new Geology," or "geomorphy," whose function it was "to read geologic history from earth-forms, 

as the older geology read history from deposits and their fossils."

C. C. Abbott, who had supplied some of the material on which Wright 

based his conclusions, was inclined to take a humorous view of the situation. 

"The ghost of paleolithic man has arisen to plague the geologists at Washington. * * * The recent appearance of Wright's book * * * has set their 

pens and tongues wagging, but paleolithic man is not to be downed even 

by such an array of notables marshalled to defeat him. Salisbury's cunning 

argumentation, McGee's shaggy front, Holmes' imperious "begone!" and 

Brinton's persuasive smile do not make him afraid." Abbott in fact was 

moved to describe the controversy to the readers of Science in a bit of doggerel 

suggesting that McGee believed that all truth resided in himself or 

Holmes.

Professor Wright preserved a dignified front in the face of all the assaults, 

although at one point he was provoked to say, "Geology is not an exact 

science. There is no infallible court of appeal for the settlement of theories.

216 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894
Investigations of the gold deposits of the Sierra 

Nevada were among those discontinued in 1892. 

The deposits had been formed at various times in 

the history of the range. Auriferous quartz veins 

were associated with highly compressed schists, 

slates, and associated igneous rocks. The Sierra was 

first formed as a mountain range after the deposition 

of the Mariposa slates, then reduced to an approximate peneplain. Still later, a large part of the western slope was covered with volcanic materials that 

preserved beneath them the auriferous river gravels 

of the drainage system of the old peneplain. (From 

H. W. Turner, 1894.)

Observers and students of the facts may widely differ for a long time in 

their conclusions without discredit to either part. I can only ask for freedom 

of opinion and freedom of utterance." The editors of the American Geologist 

and Popular Science Monthly, among others, took the Survey to task for the 

unseemly goings-on. Major Powell replied with an article in the Popular 

Science Monthly, saying plaintively that he was away from home and an 

invalid when the controversy started and that only one of those engaged in 

the controversy was a permanent member of the Survey. However, he failed 

to satisfy the American Geologist, which said, "a word from him even implying disapprobation of so unusual and unbecoming a mode of conducting 

a scientific controversy would have been of great weight and significance."

Another controversy involved Henry Gannett and the American Geologist, 

which in its November 1892 issue suggested that it was a "serious and farreaching mistake" when the Survey, "in addition to the great work it had 

on hand in the examination of the geological structure and the natural 

mineral resources of the country, entered upon the geodetic and topographical surveying of the national domain." There was already in existence an 

efficient organization engaged in such work, and the country demanded 

more accurate geodetic measurements and more accurate mapping than the 

Geological Survey performed. The editorialist urged that the Academy of 

Sciences' original plan be implemented, and that the entire topographic 

branch be transferred to the "Coast and Interior Survey," leaving the Geological Survey to concern itself with the myriad scientific and economic 

problems offered by the geology of the country. Gannett objected immediately, but after an exchange of letters and editorials, the question resolved 

itself into one of whether the quality of mapping would be improved, the 

time shortened, and the expense lessened by such a change, and Gannett 

conceded that there could be different opinions but said that "the present 

status is producing, on the whole, satisfactory results, while the results of 

the change are uncertain."

By November, the role of the Geological Survey in the investigation of 

mineral resources was again given prominence. Secretary Noble in his report 

to Congress said that the function of the Geological Survey was "to discover 

and diffuse information concerning little known resources and thus to aid 

in the multiplication of industries." The budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1893, called for appropriations of $145,000 for geologic surveys in 17 different areas in which mapping would be done in the search 

for various mineral deposits and $30,000 for preparation of the report on 

mineral resources. Both requests were much larger than any appropriation 

previously received. Then in December, McGee read a paper to the Geological Society of America which stated that "the purpose of our statesmen 

in instituting the Geological Survey was to exploit our mineral resources 

safely and economically."

The GSA paper was yet another explanation of the scientific work of the 

Geological Survey. Major Powell was listed as the author, but the paper was 

not written by Powell or by McGee, both of whom had a rather florid style.

A Year of Controversies 217
BULL, GtCL SOC AM.

The author was clearly familiar with the statement read to the Senate by 

Senator Call in 1890 with its felicitous description of research as the sowing 

of seed by one generation that the next may gather fruit, and, inspired 

perhaps by the Biblical seedtime and harvest which shall not cease, described 

the work of a scientific institution as consisting of a "preliminary, or experimental, or preparatory stage" which represented the seed time and a 

"final or effective stage" which represented the harvesttime of science. The 

seedtimes of the different phases of the Survey's work had been different. 

No research and little experiment was necessary for the collection of information about mineral resources. Considerable preparatory work had been 

desirable for topographic mapping because old methods and apparatus were 

expensive and dilatory. Geologic mapping required avast amount of research 

and experiment to develop a satisfactory classification of rocks and a satisfactory system of mapping. Some mistakes had been made, the author acknowledged, but it was believed that the topographic methods and apparatus 

were now thoroughly effective and that the topographic survey could be 

carried forward more expeditiously and economically than before; the geologic mapping also was rapidly passing from the preliminary stage of research 

to the effective stage of applied science. The author also believed that the 

mineral statistics work could be carried on more expeditiously and economically and stated that that work would be expanded. The author may have 

been C. D. Walcott.

There was no unanimity of opinion in the Survey, however. In February, 

C. W. Hayes read a paper, again listing Major Powell as author but again 

clearly not written by him, to the American Institute of Mining Engineers, 

in which the Survey was referred to as "the Federal bureau created to prepare 

the geologic map." Nothing was said of mineral resources, and the only 

work discussed was that of developing a philosophic classification of rocks 

and a system of geologic cartography. Gilbert was more than likely the 

author.

The investigation of the Survey by the Senate Select Committee under 

Senator Wolcott was not made. Gilbert said that the committee found the 

idea unpopular with their constituents, but Senator Wolcott told the Senate 

on February 20, 1893, that the Committee had been too involved in politics 

during the recess and had been unable to get together in the short session. 

The inquiry, he felt, should still be made, but with the end of the session 

approaching on March 4, it would have to be done by the new Congress.

In the November 1892 elections, Grover Cleveland had won a second 

term in the White House, receiving a popular vote of more than 5.5 million 

to Harrison's somewhat less than 5.2 million. Weaver, the Populist candidate, received more than a million votes. The tariff was the leading issue,

218 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894

Lindgren found that the auriferous gravel deposits 

in the watersheds of the Yuba and American Rivers 

were part of two river systems which in general 

corresponded to the modern rivers. From the grades 

of the channels, however, he concluded that the 

slope of the Sierra Nevada had been increased considerably since the Neocene rivers flowed over its 

surface. (From W. Lindgren, 1893.)
VOL. 4, I60.Z PL. fl

but voter resentment over the lavish expenditures of the "Billion-Dollar 

Congress" and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, and concern over labor 

disputes all contributed to the Republican defeat. The Democrats retained 

control of the House and gained control of the Senate for the first time since 

1881.

The economic situation was also precarious. In December 1892, Harrison 

in his last message to Congress said, "There has never been a time in our 

history when work was so abundant or when wages were as high, whether 

measured by the currency in which they are paid, or by their power to 

supply the necessaries and comforts of life." He ignored the storm signals 

of impending financial disaster that were already evident. The balance of 

trade was becoming unfavorable. For months the prices of most staples had 

been falling. Violent fluctuations in the prices of securities indicated a 

growing uneasiness over the condition of business. European governments 

and banks were searching the world over for gold, and the U.S. Treasury 

was concerned about its $100 million gold reserve. Gold had been going 

steadily out of the country the loss for 1892 was more than $50 million 

and the amount of both gold and silver mined in the United States in 1892 

had declined.

The question of the relative output of gold and silver in the future was 

one of great importance, and the Senate Committee on Mines and Mining 

thought the prospects for the future were very gloomy. On July 16, 1892, 

the Senate had directed it "to investigate and report the cost of the production of gold and silver bullion in the United States." In its report on 

February 18, 1893, the Committee said that it was generally conceded that 

the production of both gold and silver had cost more than their value repaid 

in the past, but many were under the impression that silver mining was 

then a very profitable business. Modern machinery and modern methods 

had made it possible to work silver ores that were formerly too refractory 

and to work mines at greater depths, but these modern methods and modern 

machinery entailed great expenditures. During the preceding 30 years, since 

the flush time of gold mining in California, the cost of producing gold and 

silver had been about the same; that is, it cost on the average just about as 

much to produce 25.8 grains of standard gold as it did to produce 4121/2 

grains of standard silver, and the cost of producing either of them was far 

in excess of the coining value. In fact, the Committee report stated: "it may 

be safely stated that if all the necessary expenditure of prospecting, developing, extracting and reducing gold and silver ore are taken into consideration, excluding foolish or wildcat speculations, mining for the precious 

metals is prosecuted at a greater loss than is suffered by any other business

As an outgrowth of his fieldwork in the Sierra Nevada, Becker made a mathematical analysis of uniform or homogeneous finite strain in rock masses 

regarded as isotropic, exhibiting viscosity, and capable of flow. One conclusion was that simple irrotational pressure will produce two sets of fissures 

crossing one another at angles approaching 90° if 

the rock is brittle and two sets of schistose cleavages 

if the rock is plastic. (From G. F. Becker, 1893.)

Precious Metals Problems 219
in the United States, and that it would not be prosecuted at all if it were 

not for the occasional discoveries from which large fortunes are rapidly 

acquired."

The low price of silver had closed many mines that might be worked at 

a small profit if silver were advanced to par with gold at 16:1, "but a large 

increase in the production of silver in the United States is impossible from 

any mines now known to exist, and the chance of finding other mines that 

will keep up the present output, whatever may be the price of silver, is very 

remote." The outlook for gold was worse. "The largest supplies of gold 

have been obtained from the great placer fields found at long intervals. 

* * * California and Australia were the last which have been discovered and 

exhausted, and they are probably the last of any considerable magnitude 

that will be discovered, unless the regions of the interior of Africa may 

duplicate in richness California and Australia."

Emmons disagreed. He acknowledged that

general industrial conditions have been such as to stimulate mining enterprises 

during the decade, especially such as require large capital. Besides these broad 

general causes, there are in the physical and geological conditions of our various mining regions other causes which have influenced locally the relative 

production of these metals, and which, if accurately known, might aid in foretelling to a certain degree the probable future of either.

On the basis of his own knowledge of the various mining districts, Emmons thought that the gold industry was in a normal and healthy state, 

ready for a permanent though not necessarily rapid increase as more capital 

was directed toward its development. The gold product of the United States, 

he thought, was likely to show a moderate and steady increase, and the gold 

product of the world might increase to $150 million within a few years and 

possibly to $200 million before the close of the decade.

Silver production, he found, had increased phenomenally because of favorable industrial conditions. Discovery of the great ore bodies in limestone, 

such as those at Leadville and Aspen, the ores of which had to be reduced 

by smelting, brought about the development of a great smelting industry 

in the West and an immense increase in railroad facilities, and these in turn, 

encouraged the investment of capital in other mining enterprises. If capital 

had not been invested in railroad and reduction plants, mining would have 

been confined to the richer near-surface ores and would probably have been 

abandoned when these were exhausted. The industry had progressed in spite 

of a continuous fall in the value of silver because improvement in methods 

had reduced costs. If the larger reduction works were obliged to close, silver 

mining would be abandoned throughout the greater part of the western 

region.

Emmons doubted that the wisest course had been followed in attempting 

to sustain the price of silver by legislation. It seemed probable to him that 

if the price of silver had been left to follow the natural course and respond 

to the laws of supply and demand, the silver industry would be in a more 

healthy state, although its growth would have been less rapid. He foresaw 

a considerable decrease in the silver production of the United States during 

the next few years and thought it reasonable to look for a very decided 

decrease in the world's production of silver. It was only a question of time, 

he said, and probably not a very long time, before the production of gold 

and silver would be about equal. When in the downward course of the one 

metal and the upward course of the other, the line was crossed and the 

relation between the two reversed, a decided rise in the price of silver could 

be looked for, which would restore prosperity to the silver industry.

As concern about the economic situation increased throughout the winter 

of 1892-1893, Cleveland was urged to call a special session of Congress

220 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894
Lindgren found that the quartz veins in the Ophir 

mining district in California belonged to two systems, one trending west-northwest and the other 

northeast. The fissure systems, he suggested, in all 

probability were formed simultaneously by a compressive stress acting in a direction parallel to the 

trend of the Sierra. The silica and ore were then 

deposited in the largely open fissures by ascending 

hot solutions. (From W. Lindgren, 1893.)

MAP

OiP THK

OPHIR AXD nrxrAX HILL

\IINlN4i IJISTRICTS,

PLACER COUNTY 

CALIFORNIA.

Topography ami Geology IA« W 

1U92.

' Scale MtfO'fiwt to i i»efi

1 Contour ini**nc»J 25 ft,

NS: \ ' r

immediately after Inauguration Day to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase 

Act. Senator John B. Carlisle, who was slated to be the new Secretary of 

the Treasury, proposed to Congress that it be repealed during the short 

session, but the Republican-controlled Senate took no action.

It was in this context that Senator Wolcott made a long speech in February 

1893 about the role of the Geological Survey. The Survey, he claimed, had 

not been making a geologic map but a topographic map, completely independent of geology, and in many instances in places where it would be 

of no use in investigations in economic geology. "Topography has not been 

the handmaid of geology as the law contemplated and in its terms required. 

Topography has been the sop which has been thrown to the representatives 

of different sections of the country in order to induce them to vote for these 

great items of appropriations."

Senator Wolcott suggested that the true scope of the geological survey 

should be

the examination of the geological structure and mineral resources of the country, in order that the Government for its purposes and people for theirs may 

know with general accuracy and with such detail as is desirable and practicable 

the extent, the distribution, and the particular mode of occurrence of all useful 

minerals within the boundary of the national domain.

The Scope of the Geological Survey 221
He complained that the Survey ignored economic occurrences; nothing had 

been written on those in the Appalachian Mountains, one brief paper on the 

phosphate deposits of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and in the Lake Superior 

region, "the greatest iron field yet developed," the glacial and general 

geology had been studied, but not the iron. There had been only one piece 

of economic work underway, the gold fields of California, and that had been 

suddenly stopped the preceding summer. The topography went on, but the 

geology was stopped. He thought that "geology should be limited to economic geology" and "topography should be limited to those fields which 

are soon to be followed by a careful and full geological survey."

He did not want to criticize Major Powell, whom he understood to be 

"a most distinguished ethnologist" and "a man of highest character." 

However, he understood that he spent nearly all his time in ethnological 

studies, which were not part of the Geological Survey, and was "wholly 

lacking in ability as an executive director for the Geological Survey." 

Wolcott quoted a "gentleman familiar with the Survey" as saying, "his 

great staff of officers have been driven as if they were loose stock; they have 

not been harnessed and driven together for the one purpose of developing 

the economic geology of the United States." Parties were sent west when 

only a few week's fieldwork was possible before snowfall, the Chief Geologist 

spent his time studying the moon, and the Survey published material on 

Hawaiian volcanoes, elevations in Canada, and the living oyster that contributed little to a geologic survey. Wolcott concluded, "I am not an enemy 

of this Survey; I am its friend. I come from a section where we need all the 

scientific help we can get. * * * We need the help of this Survey; we need 

it intelligently directed."

Congress had had second thoughts about the hasty action in the summer 

of 1892. The House Committee on Appropriations proposed to cut the 

appropriation for topographic surveys by $40,000 and offset it by an increase 

of $20,000 in the amount for geologic surveys and smaller increases for the 

report on mineral resources, skilled laborers, preparation of illustrations, 

and engraving of geologic maps. Only one change was made on the House 

floor. The gentlemen from Texas complained that the wording of the appropriation for topographic surveys made it impossible to make a survey in 

Texas, so Texas was added to the list of States west of the 97th meridian 

where $60,000 was to be spent. The Senate Committee on Appropriations 

proposed to add four "scientific assistants" to the list, two geologists at 

$4,000 and two at $2,000. Senator Hale said the committee had found that 

some eminent men were continuing to work without pay and felt some 

adjustment should be made. The Senate agreed as long as back pay was not 

included.

Senator Wolcott proposed an amendment to cut the appropriation for 

topographic surveys still more, to $100,000, and to increase the appropriation for geologic surveys to $100,000. Senator Allison was moved by the 

argument to suggest increasing the amount for geology by $30,000 and 

decreasing that for topography a like amount, even though Major Powell 

had not asked for a change in the House figures. Senator Call, however, was 

horrified at the idea of treating in such fashion "a one-armed Union soldier 

who gave his time and the risk of his life for his convictions of right, coming 

back into civil life, shattered in health but devoting himself with the enthusiasm of youth to science" and thought "we the people's representatives 

should respect him and furnish the necessary money to continue the valuable 

work in which he is engaged." Others had no objection to increasing the 

amount for geology but did not want to cut the amount for topography. 

Senator Charles Manderson of Nebraska for one was impressed with the

222 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894
potential usefulness of topographic maps in the construction of roads, and 

Senator A. S. Paddock, also of Nebraska thought that topography was more 

important in Nebraska than geology. Senator Power of Montana, however, 

said all the topographic work in his State had been wasted; the public land 

surveys had not been made; and the topography could not be tied to anything. Senator Stewart apparently sat quietly all this time but finally offered 

the opinion that the Survey was the "loosest and most unbusinesslike establishment ever organized in any government" and that it was "a disgrace 

that we have not examined it and organized it so that Senators voting for 

an appropriation might know what they were doing."

Senator Wolcott insisted on testing the sentiment of the Senate with his 

amendment to cut topography to $100,000, and the amendment lost, 37 

18. He therefore withdrew the rest of the amendment to increase the amount 

for geology, and the House figures were approved. The Senate also voted 

to purchase the building at Third and G Streets Northwest for the Survey. 

Major Powell had inspected the building and was pleased with it. The 

House, however, refused to go along with the building or with the addition 

of the four geologists to the list of scientific assistants, and both were 

dropped from the final version of the bill.

No provision was made for a special investigation of the Survey in the 

new Congress as Senator Wolcott urged. However, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial bill approved March 3, 1893, provided that a Joint 

Commission of three Senators from the 53d Congress and three memberselect of the House be appointed to

inquire into and examine the status of the laws organizing the Executive Departments, bureaus, divisions, and other Government establishments at the 

National Capital; the rules, regulations, and methods for the conduct of same; 

the time and attention devoted to the operations thereof by the persons employed therein, and the degree of efficiency of all such employees; whether any 

modification of these laws can be made to secure greater efficiency and economy, and whether a reduction in the number or compensation of the persons 

authorized to be employed in said Executive Departments or bureaus can be 

made without injury to the public service.

Appointed as members of the Commission were Senators Francis Cockrell, 

James K. Jones of Arkansas (who had been a member of the Select Committee to investigate the Survey), and S. B. Cullom, and Representatives 

Alexander Dockery, James Richardson, and Nelson Dingley. Congressman 

Dockery became chairman so the Joint Commission became known as the 

Dockery Commission.

That was the week that the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, 

one of the giants of the business world, failed. The New York Central and 

the Lehigh Valley Railroads as well as other railroad and coal companies 

that were part of the combine of which the Reading was the center were all 

affected. During March and April an unprecedented amount of gold was 

exported, and on April 21, 1893, the Treasury's gold reserve fell below 

$100 million, the accepted level of minimum safety. In May, the National 

Cordage Company was taken over by its creditors, and the stock market 

dropped abruptly. In June, the British closed the Indian mint to silver 

coinage, and the world price of silver fell. The stock market collapsed. 

Banks recalled loans, businesses failed daily, and the panic was on.

Although it is now recognized that the overexpansion of industry in the 

1880's, the agricultural depression, and the weakness of the banking system all contributed to the depression, in 1893 the monetary situation was 

regarded as the chief culprit. Gold was being hoarded, and there was increased demand for silver redemption or a bimetallic standard. Cleveland

Panic of 1893 223
blamed the whole "unfortunate plight" of the Nation on the Sherman 

Silver Purchase Act when on June 20 he finally called a special session of 

Congress to meet on August 7.

Cleveland again had difficulty in forming a Cabinet. Most of its members 

were chosen for their stand on the monetary situation. In addition to Senator 

Carlisle as Secretary of the Treasury, he chose as Secretary of the Navy, 

Hilary A. Herbert of Alabama, who had been chairman of the House Naval 

Appropriations Committee as well as critic of the Survey, J. Sterling Morton 

of Nebraska, who had resisted the efforts of the free silver Democrats to 

effect an alliance with the Populists in Nebraska, was named Secretary of 

Agriculture. The youngest, and most obscure, member of the Cabinet was 

the new Secretary of the Interior, Hoke Smith of Georgia, who was known 

in the South as a leading lawyer and owner and editor of the Atlanta Journal, 

a paper devoted to tariff reform and sound money. Smith had no particular 

qualifications for the Interior post, and his selection for the Cabinet was 

ascribed to the fact that he had rallied Georgians to vote for Cleveland rather 

than David Hill in the battle for the nomination.

During the early months of Cleveland's second administration, economic 

conditions intensified the usual pressure from would-be officeholders. Not 

only the President but every Cabinet member was almost in a state of siege. 

To alleviate the problem, the President issued a series of "rules": no one

Diller's study of ancient topographic features on 

the borders of the Sacramento, in the Klamath 

Mountains, and on the western slope of the Sierra 

Nevada confirmed the conclusions drawn by the 

mining geologists in the Sierra. Northern California 

had been reduced approximately to base level, truncating the Chico series. Volcanic rocks were later 

deposited on this surface, and since that time, the 

northern end of the Sierra Nevada has been raised 

at least 4,000 and possibly as much as 7,000 feet. 

(FromJ. S. Diller, 1894.)

224 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894
The work in Michigan was also suspended for a time 

when C. R. Van Hise resigned in 1892. Van Hise 

had found that the ore deposits in the Marquette 

district were at the bottom of the iron-bearing formation, within the iron-bearing formation but at 

the top as now exposed, and at the true top of the 

formation or immediately below the Goodrich 

quartzite. The first two were generally "soft ore" 

or hematite; those at the top were hard specular ores 

or magnetite. The figure is a generalized section 

showing soft ore at the right, lower center, and left, 

and hard ore in the upper center. (From C. R. Van 

Hise and W. S. Bayley, 1895.)

who held office in his first administration would be appointed, no newspaperman would be appointed, and finally, a reminder, that extreme partisan activity was not a recommendation for office. Secretary of the Interior 

Smith issued a statement that "Public offices should be created and conducted exclusively for the benefit of those who do not fill them." At the 

beginning, however, he was no advocate of civil service reform and happily 

engaged in the dispensing of patronage, even to strengthen his own faction 

in Georgia.

Those in the scientific bureaus who had lived through the beginning of 

the earlier Cleveland Administration might well be excused for any uneasiness. The Survey, in particular, was vulnerable. According to the Dockery 

Commission report, the Survey on June 30, 1893, had 17 employees in the 

Geologic Branch, 6 in Paleontology, 3 in Chemistry, and 3 in Mining 

Statistics. The Geographic Branch had 60 employees, 46 in the Eastern 

Division and 14 in the Western. (The scientists and engineers were almost 

equaled in numbers by 76 clerks, accountants, editors, illustrators, photographers, engravers, printers, watchmen, messengers, and janitors, and Dutton's pessimistic prediction of 1884 seemed borne out.) Only 23 employees 

had civil service status although the Civil Service law had been passed more 

than 10 years before, and 134 of its 165 employees on June 30, 1893, had 

been appointed within those 10 years. Fortunately, for the Survey, President 

Cleveland was genuinely interested in civil service reform and for that reason 

retained Theodore Roosevelt as a member of the Civil' Service Commission 

and appointed as its chairman John R. Proctor, formerly State Geologist of 

Kentucky, who had resigned that post rather than yield to pressure for 

political appointments. Before many months had passed, Secretary Smith 

also was persuaded of the need for civil service regulations.

The Survey was still troubled by internal disagreements. In February 

1893, a geological society was established in Washington to give geologists 

of the area an adequate outlet for full discussion of their various studies, 

which the Philosophical Society did not provide. Presumably, it would also 

provide an opportunity for the airing of differences within the "family circle." With whom the idea originated no one knows, and it was not unique, 

for under similar circumstances the Canadian Survey had done almost the 

same thing in 1887. A group of 23 met in the Director's office of the 

Survey on February 21, 1893, and decided unanimously to form the Geological Society of Washington. A committee of C. D. Walcott, chairman, 

J. S. Diller, secretary, S. F. Emmons, W. H. Holmes, and G. P. Merrill 

was appointed to prepare a constitution and bylaws, and at the organizational 

meeting of February 25, C. D. Walcott was elected president, S. F. Emmons 

and W. H. Holmes, vice presidents; Whitman Cross and J. S. Diller, 

secretaries; and Arnold Hague, treasurer. The selection of officers suggested 

a definite attempt to bring the various factions together.

The beginning of GSW, however, did not contain the disagreements, 

and McGee was still the leading dissenter. In the January 1893 issue of the 

American Journal of Science, there appeared Clarence King's first scientific 

paper in several years, on the age of the Earth. "Among the various attempts

Second Cleveland Administration 225
to estimate geological time," he began, "none has offered a more attractive 

field for further development than Lord Kelvin's mode of limiting the 

earth's age from consideration of its probable rate of refrigeration, published 

in 1862. At that time the consequences of his physical reasoning could not 

be fully applied to the conditions within the earth, so as to test the probability of his hypothetical case, for want of positive knowledge of certain 

properties of rocks, particularly the volume changes of melted rock in approaching and experiencing congelation, and the qualitative and quantitative 

effects of pressure upon the fusion and freezing points." Data were now, 

however, available from the work that Barus had been doing in the Survey's 

physical laboratory. King, who had inaugurated Barus' work and who had 

been helping to direct it since his resignation from the Survey had an 

agreement with Barus about publication, reserving for himself the geological 

application of the data, but Barus' three important bulletins were now in 

print.

Carl Barus

Geologist and physicist, U.S. Geological Survey, 

1880--1892. Barus began studies of the behavior 

of rocks and minerals under high temperatures and 

pressures in 1880 with the guidance and encouragement of Clarence King. In the spring of 1892, 

Barus was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, at the early age of 36. In August 1892, he 

was dismissed from the Survey as the result of the 

reduced appropriation, and the pioneering work in 

geophysics was discontinued for almost a decade. 

(Courtesy of the John Hay Library Archives, Brown 

University.)

226 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894
Barus' experiments on a sample of diabase furnished 

by King showed that in the fusion of basic magma, 

the passage from liquid to solid is one of contraction. King used Barus' results in his paper on the 

age of the Earth. (From C. Barus, 1893-)

If the Earth were rigid, King reasoned, and he accepted the results of 

Kelvin, G. H. Darwin, and Newcomb as warranting a firm belief in a rigid 

Earth, then it followed that there was no liquid layer in the outermost part 

of the Earth and the curve expressing the temperature gradient could not 

intersect the curve expressing the relation between the fusibility of igneous 

rock and pressure at corresponding depths. He used Hallock's temperature 

measurements and Barus' data on diabase and concluded that the Earth was 

24 million years old, qualifying his result "to the extent that solidity is a 

valid criterion and so far as the melting temperature of diabase may be 

supposed to apply to the depth examined." Iddings, who reviewed the 

paper for the Journal of Geology, thought the estimate reasonable in view of 

Helmholtz' and Kelvin's estimates of the age of the sun as 15 and 20 

million years. Osmond Fisher, the British physicist, said it was "impossible 

not to admire" King's "ingenious argument," although he questioned 

the result as he did not believe that the rigidity of the Earth had been clearly 

established. Lord Kelvin quoted King's results with the statement that 

there was no reason to make further calculations until new data were available.

One of the April meetings of the new Geological Society of Washington 

was devoted to a discussion of King's paper, which inspired McGee to rush 

his views to Science for publication. "Factors involved in the non-geologic 

estimates [of the age of the earth] surface and subsurface temperatures, 

thickness of the earth-crust, properties and conditions of rocks, etc. must 

be furnished by the geologist, so that, at the best, such estimates represent 

nothing more than the grist ground from the mathematical mill; and, moreover, it usually happens that unknown factors are introduced to give texture 

to the product, but which, at the same time, so far adulterate the grist as 

seriously to affect its value." He complained that

the student of the 'exact' sciences is seldom willing to grant so high a degree 

of mobility in the terrestrial crust as is required by the geologist to explain 

current continent movements, and is given to rejecting or ignoring the evidence 

of such movements; while, on the other hand, he is the first to reject as excessive the time-estimates of the geologist based in part on, and in complete 

harmony with, other observed movements. This mental habit, growing out of 

the methods and postulates employed in certain lines of study, is constantly 

to be borne in mind in weighing non-geologic opinion concerning the rate of 

geologic process.

(Apparently he saw nothing incongruous in adding a footnote to correct his 

own estimate of the age of the Earth from 15,000 million to 6,000 million

SL.

rin*

O^isoo"

Contr

~Af parent

action,.

ti£~^

k

500 1000° 150O°

Age of the Earth 227
years, and of the time since the Paleozoic from 7,000 million to 2,400 

million years. He had found a mistake in his arithmetic.)

Barus, who had transferred to the Weather Bureau after being dismissed 

in 1892, almost immediately rose to King's defense and retorted that it 

was "curious, and certainly contrary to scientific usage," that King's own 

statements on the limitations of his work were ignored. He concluded, a 

little sourly, and with a glancing blow at Willis' experiments,

perhaps it is heresy to state that an immense future awaits laboratory research 

in physical geology; but stating it, one would like to refer not so much to the 

punching of clay or the pulling of taffy candy as to legitimate physical measurements.

Walcott took the middle ground. He began his vice-presidential address 

at the August 1893 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science by saying,

Of all subjects of speculative geology few are more attractive or more uncertain 

in positive results than geologic time. The physicists have drawn the lines 

closer and closer until the geologist is told that he must bring his estimates of 

the age of the earth within a limit of from ten to thirty millions of years. The 

geologist masses his observations and replies that more time is required, and 

suggests to the physicist that there may be an error somewhere in his data or 

the method of his treatment.

Walcott's own analysis, based on a study of the sedimentary rocks of the 

Cordilleran area, led him to conclude that the minimum post-Archean time 

was 25 30 million years and the maximum 60 70 million years. Thus 

"geologic time is of great but not of indefinite duration. I believe it can be 

measured by tens of millions, but not by single millions or hundreds of 

millions of years." It would be another 4 years before Madame Curie would 

discover radioactivity and add another element to the problem.

McGee and Emmons disagreed, indirectly, on progress in science, especially in the Geological Survey. The annual report for fiscal year 1893 

contained a summary of the Survey's work for which McGee wrote a preface 

as Major Powell still had not returned to duty. The preface was a philosophical discussion of the manner in which progress in science is achieved, 

in which the seed and fruit of 1890, which became the seedtime and harvesttime of 1892, was elaborated into a more geological "intellectual 

magma" of observed facts from which science, or as "organized knowledge", was segregated.

228 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894

Advances in petrology were made through study of 

laccoliths. Whitman Cross recognized several laccolithic intrusions in Colorado that departed from 

the theoretical dome shape postulated by Gilbert. 

At Mount Marcellina, a line of weakness in the 

strata above the developing laccolith resulted in a 

fault and an asymmetric form. Cross also found that 

the rock types produced by consolidation of magmas 

in laccoliths were similar as a result of the conditions of consolidation. (From C. W. Cross, 1894.)
"The basis of knowledge is found in the facts of nature, and science always 

begins with the systematic observation of these facts. Through continued 

observation knowledge is accumulated and its field widens until a large 

body of the facts of nature are brought into view. Thus the facts observed, 

or the conceptions standing for them, increase in quantity and grow in 

volume and eventually form an intellectual magma representing a certain 

plane of knowledge.

"When the body of isolated facts grows large it becomes cumbrous, and 

the active mind seeks to group the conceptions standing for the facts either 

by artificial devices or in natural order, either by adventive features or 

essential relations; and from time to time some mind, supported by the 

intellectual magma of accumulated knowledge and inspired by genius, perceives relations previously unknown. Then the facts, or the conceptions 

standing for them, are grouped in a new way in accordance with the newly 

discovered relations, and thereby knowledge is raised to a higher plane.

"Thus science advances by distinct yet correlative alternate steps, of which 

the first is aggregation in a magma on a given plane, and the second segregation from the magma and elevation to a higher plane; the first is quantitative extension, and the second is qualitative enhancement. These alternating steps or stages have marked intellectual progress from the beginning,

and thus the course of increasing knowledge is not a rising plain but a stair.

# * *

"Now there are two stages in the development of scientific work by 

individuals and institutions, coinciding with the primary steps in the growth 

of knowledge, i.e., there is a preliminary or observational or experimental 

stage in which facts are gathered, not solely for immediate use, but as a 

foundation for a superstructure of science which it may not be possible even 

to foreshadow; and there is a constructive or creative period, in which the 

magma is crystallized and reared into the final superstructure, reaching to 

a higher plane of science.

"In like manner there are two stages in classification corresponding to the 

primary stages in the growth of knowledge. The classification employed in 

the primitive stage of extension is commonly designed to facilitate recording 

or finding, and is frequently based on external or artificial or adventive 

classification and characters; moreover, the process of adventive classification 

is usually one of successive division, in which the facts classified are successively separated by real or fancied differences. The classification employed 

in the stage of segregation and elevation of knowledge, on the contrary, is 

commonly designed to express natural relation, and is usually based on 

essential and inherent characters; and moreover, throughout the entire domain of modern science the classific process is one of successive grouping 

by resemblance the antithesis of the primitive process of dividing by difference. Accordingly the scientific classification is an interpretation of nature, and is designed simply to express natural relation, and the more closely 

this end is approached the more perfect is the taxonomy.

"These stages in the progress of knowledge, of scientific work, and of 

classification, have been recognized in the organization of the work of the 

Geological Survey."

A definite statement of the actual scientific progress made by the Geological Survey as a body could not be made, for from the beginning the 

Survey had enlisted the services of the ablest men in the country, and it had 

encouraged them to associate with the ablest investigators in the world 

engaged in similar work. Thus the knowledge of geology had been widely 

diffused, and the science had been raised to a higher plane. During the 14 

years since the establishment of the Survey, exact knowledge concerning the

Progress in Science 229
earth and its resources had "progressed apace"; it had "advanced far more 

than during any other equal period, perhaps more than during its entire 

previous history."

Little was said in the annual report about advances in economic geology. 

Emmons summarized them in a paper on the geological distribution of the 

deposits of useful metals that he had been invited to present at the International Engineering Congress held in August 1893 in connection with the 

Columbian Exposition at Chicago. The Emmons paper was based partly on 

his own firsthand knowledge and partly on an examination of the literature. 

Predictably, the paper began on a somewhat plaintive note: "Had the geological investigations undertaken by the Tenth Census been continued systematically by the United States Geological Survey or by the Eleventh Census, it might have been possible to make a fairly complete review of the 

subject. As it is, the principal result of my examination has been to show 

how very unequal and in many directions extremely meagre are the data of 

any kind that are available, and to demonstrate the great need that exists 

for a systematic investigation of this important subject by some scientific 

organization, for its field is too vast to be covered by any single individual, 

and will be of little permanent value unless carried out on some uniform 

plan by which the relative accuracy of its results may be assured."

Equally predictably, Emmons thought any statements about great progress in science a bit questionable. In the past 22 years, he said,

many important contributions have been made to our knowledge of the geological structure of the continent, but a great part of these contributions, especially in late years, have been rather in the line of modifications and reversals 

of preconceived theories, than in the firm establishment of new ones. We seem 

now to have removed most of the unstable stones from the foundation of our 

geological knowledge, and to be nearly ready to build up a permanent structure 

in the immensely enlarged field that progress in various lines has opened to 

us. In like manner the special study of ore-deposits and of their relations to 

geological structure which had hitherto been rather neglected by field geologists, has in the last decade received more attention, though perhaps not as 

much as it deserves; many false conceptions have been cleared away, and 

important progress has been made toward a more rational method of correlating their phenomena.

He concluded that "Unfortunately, our knowledge of the geological relations of the ore-deposits of our country is as yet too incomplete to afford 

material for any exhaustive generalizations on the geologic relations of the 

useful metals as a whole, or the underlying genetic cause of such relations. 

The fissure systems, or the natural waterchannels which have admitted of 

the concentration of the metals into workable deposits, have, as pointed out 

by King, Decker, and others, certain definite relations with the great orographic movements, and these relations admit of our forming an idea of the 

relative age of the deposits. They do not, however, afford any reason why 

certain minerals are more prevalent in one district and certain others in 

another; nor do they necessarily afford any clue to the original source of the 

metals. A certain amount of systematic geological work has already been 

done by our Geological Surveys towards the solution of these important 

problems, which are of practical, as well as scientific, importance, but a 

vast amount remains yet to be done, and many large fields are still practically 

untouched."

Preparation of the preface to the annual report was McGee's last work 

for the Geological Survey. On June 30, 1893, he resigned from the Survey 

to devote his entire efforts to the Bureau of Ethnology. On July 1, Charles 

D. Walcott was appointed Geologist in Charge of Geology and Paleontology 

by Secretary Smith. The various geologic divisions were abolished, as the

230 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894
paleontologic divisions had been the year before, and the entire geologic 

and paleontologic force was organized as a single unit. Walcott had evidently 

seriously considered all the charges that had been made about the Survey, 

both in Congress and in the scientific press, including those that the chiefs 

of departments were staying home and sending the younger men into the 

field. Each geologist and assistant geologist, each paleontologist and assistant paleontologist, was made a chief of party, to work either alone or with 

the assistance of a relatively inexperienced man, classed as a field assistant 

or geologic aid, and fieldwork was resumed in all parts of the country.

Although the appropriation for geologic surveys was only half the amount 

requested, allotments were made by geographic areas, and an attempt was 

made to serve all sections of the country equally. Most of the work had for 

its stated purpose the preparation of the geologic atlas, but wherever possible 

it was also related directly to "useful minerals." In New England, for 

example, Professor Shaler's assistants completed work on several atlas sheets, 

but Shaler himself prepared a report on the geology of common roads. In 

New Jersey, J. E. Wolff continued to map in the Archean highlands but 

took care to note all information that would aid the development of the iron 

mines and also investigated construction materials. C. W. Hayes, Arthur 

Keith, and M. R. Campbell all returned to the southern Appalachians. 

Campbell worked in southwestern Virginia in the transition zone between 

the northern and southern phases of certain formations, an area where the 

coal deposits were expected to become particularly valuable. Campbell was 

assisted by Walter C. Mendenhall, the son of a childhood neighbor, whom 

he had invited to spend his summer vacation from Ohio Normal University 

with him, and David White, who had confided to Lester Ward that after 

working on the Lacoe collection he could name every species of coal measures 

plant remains on sight. Ward had asked Campbell to test the young man's 

boast. Both Hayes and Keith worked in Tennessee, whose Congressman had 

been so distressed that the Survey knew so little about its mineral resources. 

Hayes began a study of the coal measures but also spent part of the season 

investigating the iron and aluminum ores in Georgia and Alabama. Keith 

worked in eastern Tennessee and North Carolina, examining large numbers 

of iron and corundum deposits as well as a coal area.

Professor Van Hise centered the areal mapping in the Lake Superior region 

in the country adjacent to the Marquette iron district of Michigan. Walter 

Weed, accompanied by Professor L. V. Pirsson of Yale as a volunteer assistant, mapped the northern part of the Little Belt Mountain sheet in Montana 

and examined several mining districts. From Emmon's old division, Whitman Cross, with E. B. Mathews of Johns Hopkins as assistant, mapped the 

Pikes Peak sheet, near the center of which was the Cripple Creek mining 

district, the most important of the newer gold fields. George Eldridge made 

a reconnaissance of the Big Horn and Wind River basins in Wyoming, the 

home State of Senators Carey and Warren, to determine the extent and value 

of workable coals and to obtain information on other economic resources, 

as time and route permitted. In Becker's old division in California, Waldemar Lindgren spent almost the entire year in the field in the Sierra Nevada, mapping first the Truckee sheet, and then making a detailed study 

of the underground and surface geology of the gold-mining districts of 

Nevada City and Grass Valley, while Turner mapped the Downieville and 

Bidwell Bar sheets. The revival of gravel mining in the area lent special 

significance to the mapping of the auriferous gravels in the Sierra Nevada. 

Diller completed mapping the Lassen Peak sheet and worked in several of 

the bordering areas. He discovered that all the mines of the Greenville

Survey Geology, 1893 231
region were on contacts bordering masses of ancient eruptive rocks, so that 

his maps became of considerable interest to prospectors and mine operators.

To G. K. Gilbert was assigned the task of mapping the areal geology of 

the Pueblo sheet, in the Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountain front in 

Colorado. R. T. Hill, who was already engaged in a study of a Great Plains 

area, spent 7 weeks with Gilbert at the beginning of the field season so that 

their work could be coordinated; later in the season, F. H. Newell also 

spent time with him in a study of artesian conditions.

Hague also went back into the field, this time accompanied only by T. 

A. Jaggar, Jr., a recent graduate of Harvard University, who came highly 

recommended, to extend his mapping into the forest area east of Yellowstone 

Park and begin a study of the north end of the Absaroka Range.

Joseph Stanley Brown was given the assignment of continuing McGee's 

work on Coastal Plain formations. He and W. H. Dall spent some time 

making a careful instrumental survey of the section between Bainbridge, 

Georgia, and the marshes of the Gulf Coast, as some doubt had been cast 

on the accuracy of the standard section of Florida and adjacent States adopted 

by the Survey. N. H. Darton was given the assignment of completing 

McGee's long unfinished work on the New York State map.

A mapping project in the Puget Sound area of Washington had been 

planned for Bailey Willis, but he was unable to get into the field because 

of the problems with finally getting some of the folios of the geologic atlas 

published. The format of the folio, as finally determined, consisted of a 

topographic and geologic map and descriptive text bound in a heavy cover, 

as a minimum, to which might be added, as circumstances warranted, maps 

of economic geology, surficial geology, artesian water supply, and structure

232 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894

Walter Weed and L. V. Pirsson of Yale recognized 

in Square Butte in the Highwood Mountains of 

Montana a laccolith stripped of its cover. The lower 

slopes are dark and fantastically eroded into jutting 

towers and spires, the upper slopes are light colored 

and often a glaring white. The liquid mass forming 

the laccolith was differentiated after intrusion, and 

the inner kernel crystallized into a sodalite syenite 

while the outer mass formed a basic granular rock 

composed essentially of augite and orthoclase to 

which the name shonkinite was given. (From W. 

H. Weed and L. V. Pirsson, 1895.)
sections, columnar section, and other special illustrations. Three were published during the year: Livingston, Montana, by Iddings and Weed; Ringgold, Georgia, by Hayes; and Placerville, California, by Lindgren. At the 

end of the year, four more were in press: Hayes' Kingston and Chattanooga, 

Tennessee; Lindgren's Sacramento, California; and Arthur Keith's Harpers 

Ferry, West Virginia.

Walcott was fully occupied with administrative work during the summer 

(Major Powell was again absent for several months), but in October he made 

a reconnaissance of the Green Pond Mountain district in New Jersey with 

the State Geologist, then examined the lower Paleozoic rocks in Pennsylvania. In November, he spent time with Arthur Keith on the Ocoee problem 

in Tennessee and Georgia and also made arrangements with the State Geologist of Georgia for cooperative work on the phosphate deposits and for 

preparation of topographic maps in the gold belt of the northeastern part 

of the State.

Walcott's authority did not extend to topographic mapping, and no 

changes were made in the two topographic divisions, which continued under 

Gannett and Thompson. In the Eastern Division, under Gannett, some 

26,060 square miles were mapped in 14 States, most of it at 1:62,500, 

while Gannett himself completed a manual of surveying and geographic 

dictionaries of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey. 

The cooperative survey in New York was greatly enlarged, mapping continued in New Hampshire and Vermont, and both mapping and revision 

in the southern Appalachians. In the central section, 75 atlas sheets, some 

16,000 square miles, were surveyed in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, 

Kansas, and Oklahoma.

The Western Division under Thompson did fieldwork in eight States and 

mapped a total of 11,630 square miles. In California, mapping proceeded 

in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas and in the gold belt, and a party 

under R. B. Marshall began mapping in the Yosemite. Douglas again had 

five parties at work in Colorado and South Dakota, completing the special 

survey of the Aspen mining district and beginning revisions of the Pueblo 

and Platte Canyon sheets in addition to new work. Tweedy began mapping 

in the area immediately east of Yellowstone Park, while his assistant continued the mapping in southern Wyoming. Under Griswold's direction, 

two parties worked in Idaho and Oregon, Goode had four parties at work 

in Texas, and R. H. McKee began mapping near Seattle, Washington.

Newell returned to the Survey after completing the census report on 

irrigation and during the fall made a personal inspection of the gaging 

stations in several Western States and spent time with Gilbert making a 

study of the water flowing in the St. Charles River and its possible increase 

or diminution while it flowed across the outcropping edges of the Dakota 

sandstone.

Newell's analysis of the census data had disclosed some rather startling 

information about irrigation. The area irrigated within the arid and subhumid regions during the census year ending May 31, 1890, was not 8 

million acres, as Major Powell had estimated, but only 3,631,381 acres, 

approximately 0.4 percent of the total land area west of the 100th meridian. 

The water supply was not enough for 100 million acres to be irrigated, 

because the greater part, if not all, of the easily available water supply had 

already been utilized. Less than half the farms in the arid region contained 

irrigated areas, and only one-fifth of the area of these was successfully irrigated. Therefore, all the water supply of the arid region was needed to 

irrigate the lands already owned and not fully utilized. To increase the area 

under irrigation, the water would either have to be used more economically

Eleventh Census Report on Irrigation 233
so that it would cover larger areas, or the flood and waste waters of the 

nonirrigation season would have to be stored. Some increase in acreage 

cultivated could be achieved by the construction of expensive works to divert 

the water of large rivers upon land, but in very few localities, if any, could 

a farmer divert water unclaimed by others and by means of a simple ditch 

bring his farm under irrigation.

"The simple fact," said Newell, "that the area which can be irrigated 

is dependent upon the amount of water flowing in the streams is often 

ignored in general discussions of irrigation and its possibilities. It is often 

taken for granted that because along some river there are vast areas of fertile 

land, some of which has been irrigated profitably, larger and larger areas 

will, with the progress of settlement, be brought under cultivation to an 

indefinite extent, the assumption being tacitly made that since a river drains 

a large area its waters must be proportionately abundant. It is unfortunately 

the case that many of the rivers of the arid region occupying a prominent 

place upon the map carry a very small amount of water for a part of the 

year, and this water is all utilized or needed for the land now wholly or in 

part under cultivation."

In some parts of the country attempts had been made to increase the 

amount of water available during the irrigating season by means of storage 

works. Unfortunately, there were few places where the storage capacity 

would be sufficient and a safe dam could be constructed with a reasonable 

outlay.

Artesian areas were widely scattered and individually of small size except 

in the Dakotas and in California. Comparatively few artesian wells had been 

put down for irrigation alone, and because other purposes were served, 

irrigation by this method was profitable. There were advantages in the 

matter of convenience and independence, but these were offset by the small 

amount of the water and its low temperature, which could damage crops 

when applied on a hot day.

Newell was the official representative of the Department of the Interior 

at the Second Irrigation Congress, which was held in Los Angeles in October 

1893. He addressed the meeting on the investigations and surveys carried 

on by the Department, principally the work of the Geological Survey and 

the Census, and he stressed the need for data on water supply in the arid 

lands. "I confess that men making a specialty of one subject are prone to

Deptlb of mean aiuiual rainfall in inches,

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

7

50

F. H. Newell, who continued the hydrographic investigations of the Geological Survey after the Irrigation Survey was discontinued, found that although runoff is not immediately dependent on the 

quantity of rainfall but is a function of rainfall and 

topography modified by such conditions as climate, 

geologic structure, and vegetation, it was possible 

to make broad approximations of the quantity of 

runoff corresponding to certain depths of rainfall. 

In the diagram shown, the upper curve represents 

the relation under "average conditions of mountain 

topography" and the lower curve, conditions in a 

catchment basin of broad valleys and gentle slopes. 

(From F. H. Newell, 1894.)

234 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894
overestimate its importance," he said, "but in this matter I thoroughly 

believe is to be found the key to the whole situation."

It is generally acknowledged that there is more land than can be irrigated by 

making use of the water available and employing it according to our present 

knowledge and resources. There are still great tracts of land to be brought 

under irrigation, and usually choice can be made among these as to the best 

or the most valuable, but, in nearly every instance, there is only one source of 

water supply, and this, to be thoroughly utilized, should be carefully studied 

and so well known that every drop of water can be accounted for.

Newell thought that little could be learned from experience abroad, for 

American rivers were very different from the Nile or the great rivers of 

India. Methods of controlling the water must be worked out in America. 

For his part, he thought that any great increase in the area irrigated had to 

come in two ways: "by the development of all the small streams, greater 

economy in the use of water, and the employment of every wall and spring, 

no matter how small, and second, by the utilization of storage reservoirs 

and of great rivers which now flow to waste."

Davis spoke on the "economy of water." When water was stored at the 

most advantageous points and the maximum quantity applied to the best 

lands, the problem was only half solved. The elimination of waste in its use 

was of no less importance. To promote economy, he suggested that irrigators 

be educated in the intelligent use of water and be charged for water in 

proportion to the amount used rather than the amount of land irrigated.

Major Powell also attended the Irrigation Congress, making his first 

appearance as Director of the Survey in many months. When he spoke on 

Friday, October 13, he threw aside his prepared paper to devote himself 

"to an explanation of the detailment of certain facts relating to the condition 

of the public lands and to irrigation." In his effort to make it clear to the 

delegates that they were overoptimistic about what irrigation could accomplish in the arid region, he overlooked or at least omitted any reference to 

the points made by Newell and Davis. He told the delegates, 

"Now what I wish to make clear to you * * * is this there is not water 

enough run-off water enough to irrigate all the lands; that when all the 

rivers are used, when all the creeks in the ravines, when all the brooks, 

when all the springs are used, when all the reservoirs along the streams are 

used, when all the canyon waters are taken up, when all the artesian waters 

are taken up, when all the wells are sunk or dug that can be dug in all this 

arid region, there is still not sufficient water to irrigate all this arid region; 

there is still not sufficient water to irrigate all the land. There is not sufficient water to irrigate all the land which could be irrigated all the irrigable land only a small portion can be irrigated.

"Therefore, it is not right to speak about the area of the public domain 

in terms of acres that extend over the land, but in terms of acres that can 

be supplied with water. Do I make that clear? There is but a small portion 

of the irrigable land which can be irrigated when all the water every drop 

of water is utilized, only a small portion of it can be irrigated. * * * The 

next thing which I want * * * to impress upon you, is one great fact: That

* * * if all of the waters of the arid region were taken upon the land owned 

by private individuals and not one drop used here after on any arid land 

which now belongs to the General Government, there would not be enough 

to irrigate the private land. * * * There is not water enough and can never 

be conserved sufficient to irrigate more than one-third of the land already 

owned by private individuals. * * * Not one more acre of land should be 

granted to individuals for irrigation purposes: there is not water enough.

* * * The land now remaining in the hands of the Government has three

Irrigation Congress, 1893 235
values: * * * some [are] valuable for mining purposes. * * * They are also 

valuable * * * for * * * ranges for stock. Many of them * * * are valuable 

for the cultivation and growth of forests. And, in my judgment * * * they 

should be dedicated to those purposes. * * * There is no more land, owned 

by the Government in the arid regions, that ought to be used for irrigation, 

except in about half a dozen little places."

Challenged on several sides, he resorted to a practical example: "Supposing you could put a roof over all the land in Arizona, or in Idaho, or in 

Nevada or California; suppose you could have a roof over all the land and 

gather all the rain which falls from the heavens, could you gather enough 

water to irrigate the land? * * * In the Yuma Valley, in the Colorado River, 

down below in Arizona, you have three, four or five inches of rainfall. Save 

it all; save every drop of it and put a roof over all, and put it all into the 

canals, and what would three or four, or five inches of rainfall do toward 

irrigating all that land? You want twenty-four inches * * * You are now 

putting twenty-four inches of water upon the land, and if the land don't 

receive that much from the heavens, even if you could gather it all, it would 

not irrigate it all."

Later in the day he tried to clarify his remarks. He had not said that the 

irrigable lands could not be increased. He had been speaking of percentages. 

The percentage of the land that could be irrigated was comparatively small, 

although in terms of acres or square miles it might seem very large. The 

next day, Newell tried to retrieve the situation by moving that papers be 

referred back to authors before publication "in order that corrections [may 

be] made of any grammatical statements, figures, and other scientific facts 

which might need to be looked over." One of the delegates said: " I 

supposed that Maj. Powell knew what he was talking about when he came 

before this Congress. * * * I don't see why gentlemen should be concerned 

at this crisis in helping him out by adopting a motion of this kind, and to 

print something that he did not utter, or something wiping out, to a certain 

extent, his utterances on the floor of this Congress." Another said: "I came 

to this Congress as a listener to learn what I could from the distinguished 

men; and I have not found any man here, excepting, perhaps, Maj. Powell, 

of the Government, that cares to modify his views. * * * While I would 

be glad to have Maj. Powell and also the financial part of this Government, 

take back some of the things they have done, and I think they will be glad 

to do so before we get through, still we want them to stand by the record."

In the end, the Congress adopted a carefully worded statement that 

enough of the remaining public domain was arable "to provide homes and 

farms for millions of people. The portion which can never be cultivated is 

valuable for range purposes or for forest reservations." The Congress favored 

the limitation of the amount of land that might be taken up by settlers 

under systems of irrigation to 40 acres, demanded rigid national and State 

supervision of dams and other works in order to protect life and property, 

stressed the importance of a national policy for the care and preservation of 

forests, and asked that "in simple justice" the Government devote part of 

the money received from the sale of lands in the semiarid region to the 

practical investigation of means for their reclamation.

The economic situation continued to deteriorate during 1893. The 

House, where the power of the industrial East was most evident, had voted 

to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act on August 28. The Senate, 

however, was still the stronghold of western influence, and there it took 

until late October to get the measure through. Repeal of the Sherman Silver 

Purchase Act did not halt depletion of the Treasury's gold reserve. On

236 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894
November 1, the gold bullion in the Treasury was $96.7 million, but 

because of declining revenues, the Treasury had to use the gold to meet 

operating expenses, and by the end of the year the reserve was down to $80 

million. Shortly after the first of the year, the Treasury offered a bond issue 

of $50 million, but the public did not respond, and the loan had to be 

placed with New York bankers.

By this time, almost 600 banks had failed, 15,000 businesses had failed, 

and one-third the Nation's railroads were bankrupt. Unemployment rose 

to a level previously unknown in the United States, perhaps as high as 4 

million. Reflecting the general economic conditions, the total value of the 

mineral products for 1893 was the smallest since 1889, the decline being 

most conspicuous in pig iron and structural materials. Silver production was 

down, especially in the latter part of the year. The gold product, however, 

bearing out Emmons' prediction, increased, chiefly owing to the new mines 

in Colorado, and was the largest since 1886.

The spring of 1894 was one of the grimmest in United States history. 

The coal miners went on strike in April. Many of the western metal miners 

were also on strike, and violence was commonplace. The new mining camp 

at Cripple Creek was said to be on a war footing. As economic conditions 

rapidly worsened, no fewer than 17 armies of the discontented formed and 

marched on Washington to present their grievances in person. The most 

famous, that led by Jacob S. Coxey of Ohio, arrived on April 30, and its 

leaders were arrested for trespassing or walking on the Capitol grass.

The House, contrary to its usual custom, took up the Sundry Civil Expenses bill in March 1894 even though other appropriations bills were yet 

to be introduced. The bill proposed by the Appropriations Committee gave 

the Survey the full amount of the budget request, or the same funds as the 

year before. During the debate, the Bureau of Ethnology came close to being 

completely eliminated, and the appropriation for the Coast and Geodetic 

Survey was slashed. An effort was made to abolish the Coast Survey the 

new Secretary of the Navy, Hilary Herbert and the new Secretary of the 

Treasury, John Carlisle, had agreed that it should be abolished and its 

functions transferred to the Hydrographic Office and the Geological Survey but the motion to accomplish this went out on a point of order. The 

Sundry Civil Expenses bill was passed by the House on March 20 and sent 

to the Senate with only a slight reduction in Survey funds.

Congress had before it several other bills that affected the future of the 

Survey. In the first session, which repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase 

Act, Congressman William Breckenridge of Kentucky had filed a bill to 

transfer the Survey to the Department of Agriculture, and this bill was still 

pending. On March 13, Congressman Eugene Hainer of Nebraska had filed 

another bill to transfer the Survey to the Department of Agriculture, and 

on March 28, Senator Thomas Power of Montana had filed a similar bill in 

the Senate. The House Committee on Agriculture held hearings on the 

House bills, and Major Powell testified before the committee in favor of the 

Hainer bill, which was then reported favorably by the Committee. The 

Committee report stated that geology dealt directly with the soil and its 

formation, that the study of the structure of the Earth and soil had a bearing 

on the success of agriculture; therefore, geological investigations should be 

intimately connected with and essential to the development of the science 

of husbandry. Questions of proper water supply, irrigation, and drainage 

also affected agriculture and should be studied by the Department of Agriculture.

The report went on to say: "Being in harmony with the characteristic 

work of the Department of Agriculture and its various divisions, the Bureau

Legislative Maneuvers, 1894 237
of the Geological Survey will readily cooperate with that Department and 

will have the immense advantage of a supervisory administration in full 

sympathy with general scientific work and especially that which can naturally be coordinated with its own. While in its first organization, it was 

supposed this Bureau would have to do principally with mines and mining, 

yet the subsequent tendency and work has been in the direction of Agriculture until now the bulk of its operations affect most intimately the great 

farming interests. This necessary tendency was admitted by the efficient 

head of the Bureau, Major Powell, in his testimony before the committee 

and was urged by him as one of the great reasons for transferring the Bureau 

to the Department of Agriculture."

The recommendation was not one to be welcomed by the Secretary of the 

Interior. However, on May 4, 1894, 10 days before the committee filed its 

report, Major Powell had submitted his resignation to the President:

"I have the honor to tender my resignation as Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, to take effect on the 30th day of June proximo.

"I am impelled to this course by reason of wounds that require surgical 

operation.

"With deep gratitude for the confidence you have imposed in me, 

"I am, with respect,

Your obedient servant, 

J. W. POWELL"

It was, needless to say, unnecessary for Major Powell to resign solely 

because of the impending surgery. He was admitted to Johns Hopkins 

Hospital on May 13, but the surgery was successfully accomplished on the 

14th, and he returned home after about a week. During that week, his 

effects were moved from the Survey office to the Bureau of Ethnology, which 

he continued to direct until his death in 1902.

When the Appropriations Committee filed its report on the Legislative, 

Executive, and Judicial Expenses bill on May 9, it was discovered that the 

Secretary of the Interior had requested a reduction of $1,000 in the salary 

of the Director, a device used by the administration to embarrass officials 

and force their resignation. When the bill came up for discussion in the 

House on May 24, Joseph G. Cannon, the ranking minority member of the 

Committee, asked the House to restore the Director's salary to $6,000 

because Major Powell had already resigned and had been succeeded "by a 

gentleman from New York, Mr. Walcott."

On May 11, exactly 1 week after Major Powell submitted his resignation 

and 7 weeks before its effective date, President Cleveland had sent the 

nomination of Charles Doolittle Walcott as third Director of the U.S. Geological Survey to the Senate, and the Senate was ready to confirm the appointment at its session on May 28. The cut in the salary of the Director 

was not restored for several years, but none of the bills to transfer the Survey 

to the Department of Agriculture were passed.

Major Powell had lost support for himself and for the Geological Survey 

by antagonizing many members of the Congress, by leading the Survey in 

directions that they and others questioned or found inadequate, and by 

attempting to interject his own ideas into national policymaking even 

lawmaking. His personal integrity and scientific abilities were never questioned, but his record as an administrator was not impressive. He pressed 

topographic mapping vigorously, recognizing that it provided a base not 

only for geologic and other kinds of mapping but for guiding and planning 

many activities having to do with the use of the land. However, though he

Hoke Smith

Secretary of the Interior in the second Cleveland 

administration, 1893-1896. Smith, only 37 when 

he became Secretary, was one of the foremost lawyers in Georgia, one of its largest real estate owners, 

and head of the Atlanta Evening Journal, then the 

leading afternoon paper in the South. Smith appointed Charles D. Walcott Chief Geologist and 

Paleontologist of the Geological Survey in 1893 and 

chose him as Director to succeed Major Powell in 

1894. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

238 The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 1892-1894
Charles D. Walcott

Walcott began his career with the Geological Survey 

as an assistant geologist at $600 a year in 1879 and 

rose through the ranks to become its Director in 

1894. A leading American paleontologist when appointed Director, Walcott demonstrated that a rare 

individual can successfully combine scientific research and the administration of science. (Courtesy 

of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

had long argued the importance of scientific and engineering management 

of mapping, in practice, he employed many with inadequate or no training, 

including congressional relatives, and some of his arguments for his approach 

to the Irrigation Survey merited the opposition they received. He built up 

an organization that did much to develop and expand knowledge and understanding of the geology of the United States, as the Academy of Sciences 

of France recognized in awarding its Cuvier Prize in 1891 to the collective 

work of the Geological Survey. Again, however, although he had stated in 

1878 that a geological survey divorced from economic considerations and 

devoted to research chiefly for abstract science would have an uncertain 

tenure, he did not direct the Survey toward meeting the economic needs it 

was uniquely qualified to aid those of the mineral industry. It remained 

to his successor, Charles D. Walcott, to combine the best of the King and 

Powell administrations into an organization that fulfilled the promise of 

1879-

Walcott Becomes Director 239
Chapter 9

In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897

The survey should be carried on as a strictly scientific investigation, with the 

view of aiding in every possible manner the development of such material 

industries as are affected by it.

 Charles Doolittle Walcott

Walcott's appointment was greeted with cautious approval by geologists. 

The American Geologist, which had been so critical of Powell, said:

We trust that this change will augur the reorganization of the work on an efficient and economic footing, and that the Survey will, under Mr. Walcott's management, stand as high in the esteem of the scientific world and the general 

public as befits so important a department of government.

The American Journal of Science hoped "that the selection of one of our ablest 

paleontologists to be Director will result in the application of the thorough 

methods of research, used by Mr. Walcott in his interpretation of the Cambrian, to all the departments of the United States Geological Survey." The 

Royal Geological Society of London awarded him the Bigsby Medal, saying 

in the citation, "Few men have attained to a more distinguished position 

in Geology, or have achieved a larger share of original work in twenty years, 

than Mr. Walcott." The Bigsby Medal is given "for eminent services" 

to a geologist "not more than 45 years old at his last birthday [Walcott was 

44] thus probably not too old for further deeds, and not too young to have 

done much."

The mining fraternity more or less ignored the appointment; however, 

Clarence King, who had selected Walcott as one of the first Survey employees and had been so pleased with his work that he had doubled his 

salary the first year, issued a statement saying,

Walcott is a man of remarkable executive ability and the mining interests may 

rest assured that he appreciates the national importance of the Geological 

Survey and will use his best efforts to carry out the work to the advantage of 

all the mining communities in the country.

Walcott's concept of the Survey and its role was more like King's than 

Powell's. Its function was not primarily to aid the development of science 

but to make strictly scientific investigations to aid the development of 

industries affected by its operations and, in fact, any practical object that 

could be advanced by a knowledge of the surface and interior of the Earth 

and its resources. The ends toward which the investigations might be directed were more extensive than those envisioned by King; on the other 

hand, the work of the Survey was geologic and topographic mapping, and 

aid to agriculture was limited to investigating the distribution and supply 

of mineral manures and to mapping the distribution of soils, (which were 

decayed rocks) and the distribution of artesian water and water supply in 

relation to geologic structure. Moreover, basic and applied science could not 

be separated. Critics who said that abstract studies should be left to the 

universities and the technical schools failed to recognize that

In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897 241
scientific or technical knowledge is necessary to the solution of any geologic 

problem, and that, if it is not already in existence, investigations must be made 

in order to obtain it for the purpose.

He said, tactfully, that the policy and administration of the Bureau under 

his predecessors had been "in the main, wise and efficient," but he planned 

certain readjustments designed to meet new conditions and to bring the 

Survey more in touch with the economic and educational interests of the 

country. These included an upgrading of the topographic maps and methods 

of mapping, placing the topographic mapping force under Civil Service, 

and a renewed emphasis on investigations in economic geology. Moreover, 

he planned to begin reconnaissance surveys immediately in areas of economic 

interest without waiting for the completion of topographic maps.

He planned no radical changes in personnel, but one thing he would 

insist upon, and that was an end to the factions and divisions that had rent 

the Survey. "Under the statutes the function of the Geological Survey is to 

make a topographic and geologic map of the United States, and to continue 

the examination of its geologic structure and mineral resources and products. 

To accomplish this successfully," he said, "unity of thought and purpose 

is essential among those engaged in the work."

The times were not auspicious for a renascence of the Survey, but in 3 

years it was accomplished. Economic conditions improved during those 3 

years, but the renascence of the Survey was accomplished not so much by 

additional funds as by taking advantage of every opportunity to engage the 

Survey in work that aided development of all industries affected by its 

operations and by a restoration of confidence.

During May and June, before Walcott became Director, economic conditions became worse. On May 11, 1894, the day that Walcott's nomination went to the Senate, workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company 

went on strike in protest against wage reductions, and railroad cars were 

looted and burned amid scenes of violence and bloodshed. On June 26, the 

head of the American Railway Union called its members out in sympathy 

with Pullman strikers, and railroads in the Middle West were paralyzed. 

On July 2, the U.S. Court issued an injunction against the railroad strikers, 

and Federal troops were sent to Chicago. Free-silver agitation increased, and 

on June 21 the Democratic Silver Convention met in Omaha, Nebraska. 

Led by William Jennings Bryan, a young Nebraska Congressman, the convention adopted a platform demanding a 16:1 silver-gold ratio.

Congress was again struggling with a new tariff bill. The problem was 

the reverse of that in 1890. The Democrats had promised tariff reform, but 

Democrats from the industrial East were as interested in protection as were 

their Republican counterparts. The appropriations bills had not been passed 

by the Senate, but Secretary Hoke Smith approved a plan of operations based 

on the amount in the House bills so that the Survey could begin work at 

the start of the fiscal year.

At the beginning of the fiscal year, as soon as Major Powell's resignation 

became effective, the two indpendent topographic divisions were consolidated under the name of the Topographic Branch and placed in charge of 

Henry Gannett. The Branch was then organized by class of work into the 

Division of Triangulation and the Division of Topography, and by locality 

of work into four sections. (This was similar to the organization King had 

established for geology at the beginning of the Survey.) The Atlantic Section, which included the Appalachian Mountain region and the Atlantic 

Coastal Plain, was placed under H. M. Wilson. The Central Section, which 

remained under J. H. Renshawe, was enlarged to include the States of the

242 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
Mississippi Valley, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska, and eastern Wyoming. The Rocky Mountain Section, covering the Rocky Mountain States 

and Territories and Texas, was placed in charge of E. M. Douglas. The 

Pacific Section, including California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, was 

placed under R. U. Goode.

Gilbert Thompson, the former chief of the Southeastern Section, was 

demoted and assigned to map the Bristol, Virginia, sheet. A. H. Thompson, 

the former head of the Western Division, was also demoted and instructed 

to extend triangulation from the transcontinental belt of the Coast and 

Geodetic Survey over the Colorado plains where primary control had been 

found "insufficient in accuracy." Marcus Baker, who had been serving 

without portfolio since the position of general assistant was abolished, was 

assigned to a new position as editor of topographic maps and charged with 

responsibility for establishing some uniformity in the character and quality 

of the maps and in the use of geographic names. Finally, on December 4, 

1894, topographers were placed under Civil Service. After that date, appointments were limited to men whose qualifications had been tested by 

impartial examination.

Mapping was done in 21 States, more than a third of it in the Central 

Section. The number of square miles mapped was considerably less than in 

1893 23,562 for the first time and 6,850 revised but about one-quarter 

of it was done at the scale of 1:62,500, and no mapping was done at 

1:250,000. Other changes had to wait until the following year.

The geologic work was organized, as in the preceding year, into 26 

independent field parties, but now each party reported to the Director. 

Economic applications were again stressed, and the gold crisis obviously 

influenced the Survey's work. Becker and Emmons were quietly reinstated 

and given substantial allotments of funds. Becker undertook a reconnaissance 

of the gold areas of the southern Appalachians. Emmons went back to 

Leadville to reexamine the underground workings. The discovery of gold at 

Breece Hill had given new life to the district, but Emmons found that the 

deposits there were not essentially different in origin or manner of formation 

from previously opened deposits that had been mined principally for silver. 

The gold ores carried a considerable amount of silver; Emmons thought that 

their greater gold content was due to their proximity to a great mass of 

pyritiferous porphyry, and he predicted that other gold deposits would be 

found along the contacts between the porphyry and adjoining limestones. 

Whitman Cross made a reconnaissance of the gold belt in the western San 

Juan Mountains and the La Plata Mountains to determine the best order in 

which to take up the study of mining districts there before proceeding to 

Cripple Creek. George Eldridge was despatched to investigate extravagant 

tales of gold coming from the Snake River region of Idaho. Eldridge made 

a reconnaissance of the Snake and Salmon River basins, visited eight or nine 

mining districts, covered some 850 miles, 750 of them by pack train, and 

brought back information on the possibilities for grazing and agriculture as 

well as mining. Turner and Lindgren continued their mapping in the Gold 

Belt of California.

Four parties were assigned to investigate the mineral deposits in the 

Appalachian Mountains. Willard Hayes was assisted by A. H. Brooks, 

whom Professor Shaler had recommended as one of the most promising 

young men to graduate from Harvard that year. Hayes and Brooks mapped 

in the coalfields of Tennessee. Hayes studied the coal seams in detail and 

measured sections so that he could estimate the amount of coal available, 

and then moved on to Georgia and Alabama to examine the bauxite and 

phosphate deposits. Keith completed some mapping in the coal areas of

Survey Fieldwork, 1894 243
Charles Whitman Cross

Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey 1880 

1925. Cross was associated with Emmons in work 

in the Rocky Mountains for several years, and later 

undertook detailed field investigations in the rugged volcanic country of southwestern Colorado. He 

was one of the leaders in the development of petrography and petrology, and collaborated with Joseph P. Iddings, Louis V. Pirsson, and Henry S. 

Washington in proposing a quantitative chemicomineralogical classification and nomenclature of igneous rocks. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

Tennessee and then moved eastward to the area in Tennessee and North 

Carolina where iron deposits had been reported. M. R. Campbell again had 

Walter Mendenhall with him as he mapped in the coalfields of southern 

West Virginia, and Bailey Willis, assisted by J. A. Taff, late of the Texas 

survey, and N. H. Darton, mapped the Elk Garden coalfield of western 

Maryland and West Virginia.

David White, who was made a party chief for the first time, began the 

field season with Campbell, collecting and studying plant remains to correlate coal beds that were interrupted by faults or erosion. In October, he 

joined Bailey Willis to make similar collections in an attempt to correlate 

the coalbeds of Maryland and northern West Virginia with those of southern 

West Virginia and Tennessee. Young Mr. White suggested that the coal 

miners at New River in southern West Virginia were working two seams 

rather than four or five as had been generally believed. This was completely 

contrary to the accepted views of eminent authorities that the Coal Measures 

sequence of Pennsylvania extended unchanged along the entire Appalachian 

trough.

Professor Van Hise had several parties working in the Marquette and 

Michigamme iron districts in the Lake Superior region, tracing the ironbearing formations by use of the magnetic needle where outcrops were few.

244 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
Walter Weed, again assisted by Professor Pirsson, continued mapping in 

Montana but also made reconnaissance investigations of the mineral deposits 

of the Little Belt Mountains. New economic projects were begun in Colorado 

and Texas. R. C. Hills, a geologist for the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, 

and a former president of the Colorado Scientific Society, was engaged (at 

$8 a day) to make a study of the iron and coal region of south-central 

Colorado. R. T. Hill, assisted by T. Wayland Vaughan, who had just 

received his A.M. from Harvard, made a careful areal survey of the Austin 

sheet in western Texas, mapping both soil and bedrock in detail and studying the building stones, roadmaking material, rocks adapted to making 

water-lime cement, and artesian conditions as well as the fossil remains.

Even glacial geology turned out to have economic implications. Frank 

Leverett continued his study of the glacial deposits in Indiana, Illinois, 

Iowa,' and Wisconsin, but two special problems engaged his attention: the 

possibility of a water supply in the drift, and the source and abundance of 

the natural gas which was being found in many places. Most important of 

all, Gilbert's mapping on the plains east of the Rocky Mountains continued 

to show the artesian-well districts and the regions in which water reached 

by the drill might flow out at the surface.

Neither Hague nor Diller did any fieldwork in the summer of 1894. As 

soon as he became Director, Walcott made it clear that he expected investigations that had been in progress for several years to be completed and the 

results published. Hague spent the summer working on the Yellowstone 

report, and Diller, on the bulletin on the educational series of rocks.

A great many bills in aid of irrigation had been filed in the House and 

Senate to provide for irrigation surveys of the Great Plains and the semiarid belt of country between the 97th meridian and the eastern foothills of 

the Rockies, to provide for irrigation surveys of various States, to provide 

for reclamation of the arid lands, to provide for the appointment of a commission to examine and classify the lands west of the 98th meridian with 

regard to their practical irrigation and use, and a host of others but almost 

without exception, they had not been reported out by the committees to 

which they were assigned.

The Senate took up the Sundry Civil Expenses bill on July 31, 1894. In 

accordance with a recommendation from the Secretary of the Interior, the 

Committee on Appropriations proposed a reduction of $5,000 in the amount 

for topographic surveys, which would be offset by the new item of $5,000 

for "gauging the streams and determining the water supply of the United

In 1894, Whitman Cross and R. A. F. Penrose 

investigated the Cripple Creek district southwest of 

Pikes Peak, where gold had been discovered in 

1891 The hills containing the mines were almost 

entirely made up of volcanic rocks and Cross found 

a small vent in and about which there was a remarkably complete sequence of deposits typical of 

a true volcano. The gold occurred as free gold and 

calaverite, the telluride of gold, chiefly in vein deposits that filled fissures and fault planes around the 

volcanic vent and also blended laterally into the 

country rock, replacing it. (From C. W. Cross and 

R. A. F. Penrose, 1895.)

N

^^S^S^fkg

Gaging Streams 245
States," and also increases of $30,000 for geology, $2,000 for chemistry 

and physics, $3,000 for the report on mineral resources, and $10,000 for 

engraving and printing geologic maps.

On the following day, Senator William V. Alien of Nebraska proposed 

another item: "For the purpose of making an irrigation survey of the arid 

and semiarid lands of the United States, to be expended under the directon 

of the Secretary of the Interior, the sum of $100,000, or so much thereof 

as may be necessary." The Senate did not act on the amendment, and on 

August 2 he withdrew it, moving instead to increase the amount for gaging 

streams and determining the water supply to $25,000. He had in the meantime consulted the "experts at the Geological Survey" and was assured that 

the money would be judiciously spent. Senator Charles Manderson wanted 

to add "including the investigation of underground currents and artesian 

wells in arid and semiarid sections," which would make the amendment 

the same as one he had proposed on July 12, which was still bottled up in 

committee. Senator James Kyle of South Dakota spoke up. He too had been 

consulting the experts at the Geological Survey. They expected to include 

artesian wells in their studies, but it might be well to add the words to the 

amendment. The amendment was agreed to, the total for the Survey was 

raised to $434,100, and the bill passed the Senate on August 2.

The House's only objection to the changes made by the Senate was to 

the item for gaging streams, and in the conference, a compromise was 

reached whereby the item stayed in but the amount was reduced to $12,500. 

Enactment of the bill on August 18, 1894, provided authorization for

gauging the streams and determining the water supply of the United States, 

including the investigation of underground currents and artesian wells in arid 

and semiarid section

as a function of the Geological Survey.

Once the appropriations bill had been passed, the Director headed west 

and met Emmons in Denver, where he consulted with a large number of 

mining engineers and others interested in geologic work in Colorado, and 

with Emmons he inspected the work in Cripple Creek. Walcott then went 

on to the West coast for 2 week's fieldwork on his beloved Cambrian and 

for further conferences with mining engineers and geologists in California, 

Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Emmons took J. E. Spurr, a new assistant 

geologist, to the Marcur district in Utah, which had excited much interest 

because of the peculiar character and association of its gold-bearing ores, 

and left him to map the district.

Newell chose Arthur Powell Davis as his principal assistant for the hydrographic work, and they both attended the sessions of the Irrigation Congress during the week of September 3, where Newell presented a paper on 

the water supply of the public lands. On his return to Washington after the 

Irrigation Congress of 1893, Newell had resumed the compilation of data 

on water supply. During the winter, several assistant topographers had aided 

him in assembling data showing the relative area and position of the vacant 

public lands and the relation of these lands to the water supply. Maps 

showing the mean annual runoff and the distribution of wooded areas in the 

Western United States were also compiled to illustrate in a broad way the 

relation of topography and runoff to vegetation.

At the conclusions of the sessions, the Irrigation Congress voted to ask 

"that sufficient appropriation be secured from the General Government for 

carrying out the work of discovering waters, applicable to the reclamation 

of the arid lands, and for the prosecution of surveys necessary to determine 

the location of lands susceptible of irrigation, and the selection and segre246 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
J. E. Spurr, who studied the Mercur district of Utah 

in 1894, found that there had been two periods of 

mineralization, in each of which the ore minerals 

were deposited mainly along the lower contact of 

a porphyry sheet. The intrusion of the igneous materials produced a somewhat porous or brecciated 

zone in limestone which the mineralizing solutions^, 

reached through fractures or fissures extending 

downward from the respective sheets. The minerals 

of the earlier period, Spurr theorized, were pressed 

out of the cooling body of porphyry with the included water and brought to their present position 

in aqueous solution; the later minerals came from 

fumarolic vapors from an unknown body. (From J. 

E. Spurr, 1895.)

gation of reservoir sites." The first Irrigation Congress, in 1891, had 

endorsed the work in the Department of Agriculture, but this Congress 

chose not to make any recommendation. Secretary of Agriculture Morton 

declined to send a representative to the Irrigation Congress, stating bluntly 

that the questions the Congress considered had nothing to do with practical 

irrigation and that the Congress met simply to petition for grants of lands 

and a cession of whatever control of ownership the General Government had 

of the waters of the arid region. The delegates to the Denver Congress were 

offended by Secretary Morton's remarks but were not quite ready to endorse 

the work of the Geological Survey, so they voted to "let Congress, in its 

wisdom, decide" which agency should do the work.

Newell and Davis began fieldwork as soon as possible after the Congress, 

making river measurements and reestablishing stations in Colorado. After 

visiting several river stations together and arriving at an understanding of 

methods and results desired, they separated. Davis headed west to spend 5 

months visiting Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, 

and New Mexico, where the Irrigation Survey had undertaken work, before 

taking up work in Kansas. Newell, however, proceeded east and north to 

obtain general information on local conditions and to start fieldwork in the 

subhumid States. The services of Robert Hay were secured to make a general 

reconnaissance of the country along the 102d meridian from a point near 

the North Platte River in Nebraska through eastern Colorado and western 

Kansas to a point on the headwaters of the Smoky Hill River. Newell then 

went to the James River Valley in South and North Dakota, visiting artesian 

wells, then to Minnesota, where he measured the flow of the St. Louis River 

at Cloquet; he then proceeded southward through Kansas and Oklahoma to 

Texas, where he spent some time with R. T. Hill examining springs and 

artesian conditions.

Congress had included in the Sundry Civil Expenses bill a provision, 

which became known as the Carey Act, authorizing the President to grant 

to each public land State a maximum of 1 million acres within its boundaries 

to aid in their reclamation. The States were required to file maps showing 

their plans for irrigation and the sources of water in much the same way 

that individuals had been required to do under the General Revision Act of 

1891. The grants were somewhat less than the Irrigation Congress had 

wanted, but perhaps more than they expected.

Congress finally adjourned on August 28, after passing the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, which made only a nominal dent in the protective system 

and which Cleveland denounced as "party perfidy and party dishonor" 

although he let it become law without his signature. Among the bills that 

were not passed was one introduced on July 26 by Senator Watson Squire 

of Washington, largely written by Emmons and Willis, to make the western

Carey Act 247
Spurr's investigation at Aspen, Colorado, in 1895 

confirmed Emmons' conclusion, after a hasty reconnaissance in 1887, that the ore had been deposited along fault planes. The mines, however, 

were mostly discovered and opened by men who 

had been at Leadville and who expected the ore to 

be at or near the contact of limestone with porphyry. Spurr found that ore was deposited during 

formation of the Delia fault system, to which the 

Gibson and Smuggler faults belong, and that later 

faulting produced two ore bodies where there had 

been but one. (From J. E. Spurr, 1898.)

B

part of the Pacific Forest Reserve Mount Rainier National Park. Emmons 

and Willis were members of a committee appointed by the Geological Society of America to memorialize Congress on the subject. Committees had 

also been appointed by the American Association for the Advancement of 

Science, the National Geographic Society, the Sierra Club, and the 

Appalachian Club, but most of the work devolved on Emmons and Willis 

because of their location in Washington. Congress was reluctant at the time 

to create new parks because of the expense involved and because of the 

opposition of those who had other plans for the land, and so the bill was 

not passed.

The economic situation was still precarious, and the electorate expressed 

its feelings in the midterm elections in November 1894. The Democrats 

were swept out of office, and the Republicans gained 117 seats in the House 

so they would control the new Congress by a large majority. In the Senate, 

six Populists held the balance of power between Republicans and Democrats. 

The gold drain continued, and in November it was necessary to place a new 

loan. Early in 1895, the gold reserve dropped to $41 million. President 

Cleveland then called in J. P. Morgan, and a third loan was placed with a 

banking syndicate, arousing the ire of both Populists and bimetallists. Under such circumstances, economy was the order of the day in Congress.

The new Commissioner of the General Land Office, S. W. Lamoureux, 

in his report written in the fall of 1894, suggested that changes were

248 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
necessary in the system of surveying the public lands, and that there would 

be possible advantage in having the Geological Survey supervise the public 

land surveys. Secretary Smith agreed with the Commissioner, and the President endorsed the change in his state of the Union message. At the request 

of the Interior Department, an amendment was added to the Sundry Civil 

Expenses bill "that such portions of the public lands as may from time to 

time be designated by the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall, 

upon the order of the Secretary of the Interior so directing, be surveyed 

under the supervision of the Director of the Geological Survey, by such 

persons as may be employed by or under him for that purpose. * **"The 

Secretary explained that "By this amendment it was intended that an opLindgren pointed out that Emmons' theory of the 

deposition of ores by replacement had been extended 

beyond its proper bounds by many geologists and 

mining engineers. A solution of silica might simply 

deposit silica as a cement or might fill interstices 

of porous rocks as well as replace other minerals. 

There might be only minor alteration of surrounding rock with quartz filled open spaces in fissure 

veins, or there might be a wide belt of altered rock 

where the country rock was cut by several fault 

planes along which only small open spaces formed, 

or areas of country rock altered if there were a shattered zone. (From W. Lindgren, 1898.)

Scale. JJfeer

Surveying the Public Lands 249
portunity should be given to try the experiment of executing surveys through 

the Geological Survey. If it proved satisfactory and economical it could then 

be enlarged until it included the entire work and dispensed with the offices 

of surveyor-general."

On December 17, 1894, shortly after the 53d Congress had convened 

for its final session, Messrs. C. W. Haskins and E. W. Sells, accountants 

employed by the Dockery Commission on efficiency and economy in the 

Government, submitted a report on the surveying and mapping activities 

of the Government. It was their recommendation that all surveying and 

mapping activities be combined in two bureaus, a U.S. Survey for all land 

surveys, including geologic and scientific investigations, and a Hydrographic Survey for mapping and investigations at sea. The office of SurveyorGeneral in the Land Office could then be abolished. The Haskins-Sells report 

leaned heavily on Powell's 1878 report on "Methods of Surveying the 

Public Domain" to justify and explain its conclusions. Only one more 

recent opinion was cited, a short memorandum identified only as "recently 

prepared in the office of the Director of the Geological Survey," which 

stated that the topographic and General Land Office surveys could be combined with certain advantages and economies in each bureau.

Secretary Smith, in transmitting the proposed amendment to the Sundry 

Civil Expenses bill, had pointed out that if the policy were adopted it should 

also be applied to the surveying of the Indian lands, and Congress chose to 

apply it there first. The Indian bill was reported out on January 12, with 

a statement that is apparently the memorandum referred to by Messrs. 

Haskins and Sells. The statement was unsigned, but the Director of the 

Geological Survey was clearly responsible. There would be a saving in time, 

the memorandum said, by having the Geological Survey do the work, the 

maps would be more complete because they would include topography, they 

would be correctly located by latitude and longitude, and they would be 

made more economically. Moreover, the author of the memorandum promised, "If this work is assigned to the Geological Survey, both the land 

parcelling surveys and the topographic surveys will be made, and in addition 

I shall have made at the same time by a geologist a geologic reconnaissance 

that would furnish information in relation to mineral and agricultural lands 

and the natural resources of the areas surveyed."

On January 14, Congressman Dockery filed a bill in the House to consolidate the Geological Survey and the Coast and Geodetic Survey. It was 

referred to the Committee on the Status of Laws Organizing Executive 

Departments and was reported back favorably on February 28 with the 

Haskins-Sells report as the Committee report. As the 53d Congress was due 

to expire on March 4, there was no time to act on the bill. By that time, 

however, the Indian bill had already been passed by both houses. Congress 

had been attracted by the bargain offered, and in the Indian bill, $200,000 

was appropriated for the subdivision of lands in the Indian Territory that 

were to be thrown open to settlement, with the proviso that the Secretary 

of the Interior could, if he chose, have the surveys made under the supervision of the Director of the Geological Survey.

The conduct of the Indian Territory surveys was important to the future 

of the Survey. On March 13, 1895, under instructions from the Secretary, 

the Director assumed charge of the Indian Territory surveys and submitted 

a plan of operations which called for the Survey itself to survey all township 

exterior and standard lines and for the subdivision of townships to be done 

by experienced men hired temporarily for the purpose. The total area to be 

surveyed was estimated as 23,850 square miles, and the appropriation was 

sufficient for the survey of half the area. The plan was approved on March

250 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
George F. Becker made the Survey's first investigation of Alaska's gold resources in 1895. The 

Alaska-Treadwell mine near Juneau was famous for 

its large yield and economical working. The ore ran 

only $3.20 a ton, but the total expense of treatment 

was only $ 1.35 so the profit was high. These results 

were obtained because of the situation of the mine 

coal, machinery, and other supplies could be procured with ease and waterpower was available for 

part of the year. (From G. F. Becker, 1898.)

21, and Charles H. Fitch was placed in direct charge of the work. The 

requisite animals and camp equipment were purchased and shipped to South 

McAlester in the Choctaw Nation, and by the end of March, two parties 

under G. T. Hawkins and W. J. Peters were in the field ready to begin 

running standard lines. Two more parties were placed in the field early in 

April to run township exteriors, and shortly thereafter, eight more parties 

were ready for running subdivision lines.

The regular appropriation for Survey expenses was included in the Sundry 

Civil Expenses bill which was passed on March 3. While most of the items 

were the same as for the preceding year, those for stream gaging and the 

report on mineral resources were increased by $7,500 and $3,000 respectively, and a new item provided $5,000 for an investigation of the coal and 

gold resources of Alaska. The appropriation for work in Alaska was the 

result of a last-minute amendment by Senator Squire of Washington, who 

quoted large parts of the annual report on mineral resources in support and 

insisted that the appropriation for geologic surveys was already too small 

and that this must be an addition.

The appropriation of $5,000 for work in Alaska was given the same 

treatment as the $200,000 for Indian Territory surveys. Becker was despatched to Alaska with Chester Purington as his assistant to make the gold 

investigations, W. H. Dall was to examine the coal deposits. They were

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Mineral Resources of Alaska 251
instructed to examine the deposits in the vicinity of the shoreline and islands 

along the coast of the Territory but not to attempt to penetrate into the 

interior. The Navy made the U.S.S. Pinta available for the investigations 

in the Alexander Archipelago. Then Dall went on his way in the Coast and 

Geodetic Survey steamer Patterson to study the coalfield near Kaotznahoo 

Inlet, after which he coasted along the south side of the Alaska Peninsula 

to the head of Cook Inlet, thence to Kachemak Bay, and finally to Unalaksa 

by way of the Shumagin Islands. Becker and Purington took the sail steamer 

to St. Paul, on Kodiak Island, and there secured a small tugboat of 24 tons, 

gross, in which they made a cruise of more than 1,300 miles. They then 

took the mail steamer to Unalaska and at Dutch Harbor chartered a steamer 

for a visit to Bogoslof and Grewingk. The party returned from Dutch Harbor 

to San Francisco on the Bertha with its cargo of sealskins.

Dall established the fact that large fields of fairly good quality brown coal 

existed on the eastern shore of Cook Inlet, that the coals of Alaska were all 

brown coals, and suggested that with the use of sufficient capital and proper 

business methods, a California market for the coals should be found. Becker 

and Purington recorded a considerable number of gold-bearing veins, found 

the beach mining attractive because of the ease of working but uncertain of 

success because of the "capriciousness" of the distribution of pay streaks. 

Becker reported that "The physical conditions of the Alaska coast can not 

be said to be unfavorable to mining. In spite of the high latitude, the winter 

is not severe. The summer is never hot. The precipitation, however, is great. 

In the region eastward of the center of Kadiak, timber is extremely abundant, so much so as to make prospecting laborious where it is not fairly 

impracticable. West of the line indicated there is no timber. The sea, of 

course, affords ready means of transportation for the entire coast, but navigation is often somewhat perilous." Becker took advantage of the opportunity to make other observations. His report contained as much if not more 

information on volcanoes as it did on gold.

The regular topographic work of the Survey in 1895 was carried on by 

3 triangulation parties and 33 topographic parties. The topographic parties 

worked in 24 States, in most of them in close relation to the needs of the 

geologic parties, and altogether, 48,066 square miles was surveyed, nearly 

1.6 times as much as had been mapped in the preceding year. The three 

triangulation parties were headed by A. H. Thompson, who continued work 

on the plains of southern Colorado, S. S. Gannett, who began triangulation 

in the Cascade region of Washington, and W. T. Griswold. Griswold began 

work in the Coast Ranges of Oregon, but forest fires made it impossible for 

him to continue, so rather than waste time, he shifted to Washington, ran 

primary traverse lines for control of the Tacoma and Seattle sheets, and then 

returned to Oregon in October after the early rains cleared the smoke.

Early in July 1895, Walcott met in conference with T. C. Chamberlin, 

S. F. Emmons, C. R. Van Hise, Arnold Hague, G. K. Gilbert, Henry 

Gannett, and Bailey Willis to consider changes in the explanatory text 

printed on the inside covers of the folios of the Geologic Atlas. The important advances that had been and were being made in petrography and in 

geologic nomenclature are shown by comparison of the 1889 and 1895 

texts. In 1889, "surficial" rocks were defined as "composed chiefly of 

clay, sand and gravel, disposed in heaps and irregular beds, usually unconsolidated;" in 1895, "superficial" rocks "embrace the soils, clays, sands, 

gravels, and bowlders that cover the surface, whether derived from the 

breaking up or disintegration of the underlying rocks by atmospheric agencies or from glacial action." In 1889, sedimentary rocks were "conglomerate, sandstone, shale, and limestone, which have been deposited beneath

252 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
Becker observed that the volcanic belt of Alaska 

included both symmetrical cones and irregular 

masses and thus that similar lavas could produce 

mountains of very regular or very irregular geometry. He determined mathematically the loftiest figure of given volume and continuous curvature that 

could be built of successive showers of ash and found 

that the curve shown agreed remarkably well with 

the form of volcanic cones shown in photographs. 

(From G. F. Becker, 1898.)

seas or other large bodies of water and have usually become hard;" in 

1895, sedimentary rocks were "all rocks which have been deposited under 

water, whether in sea, lake, or stream" and which usually hardened into 

conglomerate, sandstone, shale, or limestone but might remain unconsolidated. In 1889, a class of rocks was recognized and called "Altered rocks 

of crystalline texture;" these were "rocks which have been so changed by 

pressure, movement and chemical action that the mineral particles have 

recrystallized." In 1895, metamorphic rocks were treated as igneous or 

sedimentary rocks altered under the influence of dynamic and chemical 

forces, the alteration involving a rearrangement of particles, a change in 

chemical or mineralogic composition, or a change in structure.

The geologic time scale was also revised. Archean was again used to 

designate the oldest rocks, below the Algonkian, which had been defined 

as the oldest in 1889- At the other end of the scale, Pleistocene was again 

adopted instead of Neocene to designate the youngest rocks. No changes 

were made in the Cambrian, Devonian, or Cretaceous designations, but the 

Silurian became Silurian including Ordovician, the Carboniferous, the Carboniferous including Permian, Juratrias or Triassic and Jurassic might be 

used, the Eocene became Eocene including Oligocene, and the Neocene, 

Neocene including Miocene and Pliocene.

At the conclusion of the conference, it was agreed that the new text would 

be used in Folio 21 and subsequent folios, and that, although no folios had 

been issued while Major Powell was Director, his name would be placed on 

the first 20 in recognition of the long-continued and important preliminary 

work done under his direction.

Geologic fieldwork in the summer of 1895 was carried on by 28 parties. 

Most of the work was geologic mapping, stress again being placed on areas 

of economic interest. The geologic work at Aspen, Colorado, for which the 

mineowners had petitioned the Survey in 1891, got underway with J. E. 

Spurr, assisted by G. W. Tower, doing the mapping. Emmons had been 

ill in the spring and was unable to start fieldwork at the beginning of the 

season but arrived later in the summer to make the underground exploration. 

Whitman Cross began the mapping of the Telluride district in Colorado. 

Cross' work was purely areal geology, but it was anticipated that the geologic map would be of service in the development of the gold and silver 

mines in the area. George Eldridge had another special assignment an 

examination of the mineral resources of the Uncompahgre and Uinta Indian 

Reservations, with special reference to the deposits of hydrocarbon compounds of the asphalt series. R. C. Hills continued mapping the coal and 

iron areas of south-central Colorado. In California, Turner and Lindgren 

continued mapping the areal geology of the Sierra Nevada. Turner, who 

was assisted by F. L. Ransome, was mapping in the heart of the gold belt. 

Lindgren, assisted by Herbert C. Hoover, a young mining engineer recently 

graduated from Stanford, mapped the eastern slope where two distinct dislocations were recognized, one corresponding to the Neocene base level and 

the other probably to the Cretaceous base level.

Geologic Atlas Revised 253
To serve the economic interests of the Pacific Northwest, two new investigations were begun. Bailey Will is, with George Otis Smith, a graduate 

student from Johns Hopkins, as his assistant, began reconnaissance work in 

northwestern Washington, visiting Mount Rainier, the Wilkeson and Green 

River coalfields, the Snoqualmie section of the Cascade Range, the Silver 

Creek and Monte Cristo mining districts, and the iron and coal deposits 

along the Skagit River. Diller spent a busy summer in northwestern Oregon, 

making reconnaissance surveys, even though no topographic maps were 

available, of the coalfields of the Coast Range as well as other economic 

deposits. He reported that the black sands along the coast contained not 

only gold but silver, nickel, platinum, and other precious metals and that 

a new machine, the Rossman concentrator, was being used to recover the 

gold with some success.

After Emmons completed his work at Aspen, he visited the Silver Cliff 

and Breckenridge districts to prepare for future detailed work, then joined 

the Director in an examination of the Butte, Montana, district to arrange 

for a geological survey there in 1896, and then with the Director and Walter 

Weed visited the Coeur d'Alene district of northern Idaho. They decided 

the Coeur d'Alene and Lake McDonald districts would have to be mapped 

with great care before any reliable data could be secured that would be of 

value in the further development of their mining industries. The Director 

concluded that a base line should be established near Spokane, Washington 

and that the mapping should be pushed eastward across northern Idaho and 

northward up the Columbia River valley to the Canadian boundary.

Weed was being drawn into economic work. He spent most of the summer in reconnaissance in northern Montana, Idaho, and northeastern Washington, and for a time was detailed to a Presidential Commission to help 

negotiate with the Blackfoot and Fort Belknap Indian tribes. He also made 

a reconnaissance of the Bear Paw Mountains and their rare types and unusual 

associations of rocks, and he examined the coalfields of Chinook and Havre.

Van Hise mapped chiefly in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin. 

He outlined three Huronian troughs, but apparently none of them contained 

members as high as the iron-bearing formation, so the principal economic 

result was negative.

In the eastern coal areas, Taff was given charge of a party, and with 

Brooks to help him, mapped the Buckhannon sheet in West Virginia. 

Campbell, again assisted by Mendenhall, continued the survey in the area 

immediately southwest of where Taff was working; they found that David 

White's claim that the Quinnemont and Fire Creek coals were one and the 

same was fully borne out by the structural evidence. White himself was 

again instructed to cooperate with those mapping on the line of the 

Appalachian coalfields; he spent the early part of the season with Taff, then 

worked with Campbell, and finally mapped on the southwestern border of 

the Tennessee coalfield, all for the purpose of correlating the various coal 

horizons. In New England, Professor Shaler completed a survey of the Narragansett coalfield.

Hayes, accompanied by two, for part of the season three, assistants, went 

back to the southern Appalachians and mapped or remapped more than 

3,000 square miles, about one-third in reconnaissance, in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. Special attention was given to the gold belts, the 

extensive limonite deposits, most of which Hayes found were at the top of 

the Knox and base of the Chickamauga, at the top of the Weisner, and 

along fault lines. He also collected all available data on the thickness and

254 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
C. W. Hayes made some of the earliest Survey investigations of nonmetallic mineral resources. He 

divided the phosphates of Tennessee into two 

groups, a black phosphate deposited in its present 

position and a white phosphate composed of material moved from its original position and redeposited in another form. Hayes used sections such 

as these to show the variation of the phosphate beds 

in relation to adjacent formations. B is a bedded 

phosphate 0 to 40 inches thick. (From C. W. 

Hayes, 1898.)

quality of the bedded phosphate and the extent of nonbedded phosphate in 

Tennessee so that he could represent graphically, with a fair degree of accuracy, the extent of workable phosphate.

There were more mapping projects in which economic interest was not 

stressed than in the preceding year, in part because several professors joined 

the staff during their summer vacations. In New England, T. Nelson Dale 

continued the mapping of the slate belt, and Professors Emerson and Hobbs 

resumed the mapping in central Massachusetts. Professor Clark continued 

areal mapping in central New Jersey. Arthur Keith began mapping the 

Frederick, Maryland, sheet and made a special study of the crystalline rocks 

from the vicinity of Washington southeast across Virginia into North Carolina. N. H. Darton began mapping in Virginia just southeast of the coalfields. The State map of New York had been completed, and an edition of 

1,000 copies was published in January 1896, concluding the cooperative 

work begun by McGee in 1884. In Texas, R. T. Hill, with T. W. Vaughan 

and T. W. Stanton as assistants, completed the long studies of the Cretaceous formations that had been begun by C. A. White. Incidentally, they 

also obtained information on the asphaltum beds of southwest Texas and the 

new and commercially valuable coalfields of trans-Pecos Texas, which 

Vaughan and Stanton said belonged to a new coal horizon.

In California, Professor Lawson continued the study of the geology of the 

San Francisco Bay area, and Professor John C. Branner of Stanford University, the former State Geologist of Arkansas, began a reconnaissance preparatory to a survey of the Palo Alto sheet. Only Hague stayed home, 

working on the data and material collected during his 9 years' work on 

Yellowstone National Park.

The Hydrographic Section was transferred from the Topographic Branch 

to the Geologic Branch, with which its work was more naturally associated. 

The field operations were gradually differentiated into three classes of work: 

The first, of a somewhat strictly engineering character, having to do with 

the measurement of surface streams and the consideration of water supply 

through storage of flood waters in reservoirs; the second, of a geologic 

nature, consisting of detailed examination of the underground structure and 

permeability of water-bearing rocks; and the third, for which Newell himself 

was chiefly responsible, a general reconnaissance to obtain information on 

methods of utilizing water supply for power, irrigation, or domestic purposes.

Survey Fieldwork, 1895 255
As soon as its appropriation was assured, hydrographic work had been 

resumed in the East with Cyrus Babb in charge. The Potomac stations were 

renewed and extended, work was started in Virginia and North Carolina as 

the beginning of a systematic examination of waterpower in the Appalachian 

area, and preliminary work was begun in anticipation of an investigation of 

rivers in the New England States. Resident hydrographers were employed 

for some of the river gaging, and much of it in the East was placed in charge 

of Professor D. C. Humphreys of Lexington, Virginia, and Professor J. A. 

Holmes, the State Geologist of North Carolina.

Several geologists contributed to the second class of investigations Frank 

Leverett, N. H. Darton, R. T. Hill, and especially G. K. Gilbert. Hill, 

as part of his studies of the Cretaceous in Texas, obtained data on the 

occurrence of underground water. Darton spent 2 months in North and 

South Dakota obtaining data on artesian-well prospects. Leverett, who was 

preparing a voluminous report on the Illinois glacial lobe, used his data to 

prepare a special report on the water resources of Illinois. Gilbert spent most 

of the 1895 field season in reconnaissance in Colorado and Kansas on waterrelated problems. He found that the artesian water of the Arkansas Basin

Frederick Haynes Newell

Newell was largely responsible for the early development of water-resource investigations in the Survey. He joined the Geological Survey when the Irrigation Survey was authorized in 1888, and was 

placed in charge of hydrography in 1894. Newell 

played an active role in the enactment of the Reclamation Act of 1902 and was the first Chief Engineer of the Reclamation Service. He left the Survey in 1907 to become Director of the Reclamation 

Service when it became an independent bureau. 

(Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

256 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
Arthur Powell Davis

Topographer and hydrographer of the U.S. Geological Survey 1882 1907, a nephew of Major Powell, 

Davis became Newell's chief assistant in hydrography and in the Reclamation Service. He succeeded 

Newell as Chief Engineer of the Reclamation Service 

in iy07 and as its Director in 1913. One of his 

great achievements was the conception and development of the plan to harness the waters of the 

Colorado River by erecting a dam in Boulder Canyon. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

was obtained from sandstones of the Dakota formation and that, although 

the Dakota was variable in thickness and arrangement, the overlying shales 

and limestones of the Benton, Niobrara, and Pierre were remarkably uniform 

in thickness and character. Thus, when the geology was mapped in detail, 

the depth to which it would be necessary to drill at any point in order to 

reach water-bearing rocks could be indicated with considerable precision, 

and the regions in which the water might be expected to rise to the surface 

could be approximately located. (In so doing, he confirmed what Emmons 

had predicted in 1883.) He also found that the extensive gravel and sand 

deposits of the uplands on both sides of the Arkansas Valley formed a 

reservoir in which part of the scant rainfall of the plains was stored, and 

that this body of water, popularly known as the underflow, did not have an 

inexhaustible source in the Rocky Mountains as many believed.

The Hydrographic Section also undertook a special assignment for the 

Secretary, and the first step was taken toward the direct involvement of the 

Federal Government in irrigation projects. The Indians at the Gila River 

Indian Reservation had been self-supporting and had carried on irrigation 

for centuries by means of water drawn from the Gila River. However, that 

river flowed for several hundred miles through arid lands susceptible to 

cultivation by irrigation, and those lands were being disposed of by the 

Federal Government. As the amount of water in the river was not enough 

to supply lands all along its course, the Indians on its lower reaches were 

being deprived of their only means of support. The Secretary directed that 

$3,500 of the Indian Act appropriation be spent to investigate conditions, 

and Arthur Davis was despatched to see what could be done.

The Fourth Irrigation Congress, which met at Albuquerque in September 

1895, did a complete turnabout from the first Congress and resolved

That [the U.S.] Congress, at its next session, be most earnestly requested to 

appropriate $250,000 for the continuation of the Irrigation Survey as heretofore 

carried on under the direction of the Department of the Interior.

The Congress also asked that laws be enacted so that people could obtain 

title to the arid public lands without being subject to excessive charges for 

water for irrigation, declared that irrigation works should be supervised by 

public authority so that only works of a proper engineering character were 

constructed and life and property conserved, asked for appointment of an 

international commission to act in conjunction with the Mexican and Canadian authorities in adjudicating conflicting rights on international 

streams, and demanded an extension of the policy of forest reservations 

because

The issue of a proclamation neither prevents nor quenches forest fires, nor 

stays the ax of those who plunder the public domain.

Economic conditions improved somewhat during 1895. Although the 

wholesale price index of farm products was still declining, the mineral 

industry had made a long step toward recovery from the depression. The 

total value of mineral products was nearly $100 million more than in 1894 

and only slightly less than in the record year of 1892. In terms of quantities 

produced, 1895 actually exceeded 1892, but prices were lower. The increase 

in pig-iron production was a remarkable one, about 42 percent. Coal production was also up, and there was a notable increase in the production of 

petroleum, especially in Ohio, Indiana, and California and from the southward extension of producing districts in the Appalachian area. The United 

States shared in a general world increase in gold production nearly all 

gold-producing States produced more gold but the largest amount came

Irrigation Congress, 1895 257
DEPTH LtSS THAN IOOO FEET

Scale

DEPTHS BETWCCN IOOO AND tOOO FEET

___KMILK WftfXtffifa

from Cripple Creek and other new camps in Colorado. The value of the gold 

product was $39,500,000 in 1894 and $46,610,000 in 1895. The Treasury's gold reserve dipped to $79 million in December 1895, and another 

loan had to be undertaken, but this time it was not necessary to resort to the 

bankers. The loan was thrown open to the public and quickly subscribed.

The estimate of funds needed for the next fiscal year submitted to Congress was only $2,000 more than the appropriation for 1895 1896. An 

increase of $2,000 was requested for the report on mineral resources, and 

some minor adjustments were made in other items. It happened, however, 

that the 16th annual report, for Walcott's first year as Director, was in 

press when Congress convened in December, 1895, and the 16th annual 

report differed in several important respects from its predecessors, being 

published in four parts, of which Part II consisted of "Papers of an economic 

character," and Parts III and IV the reports on Mineral resources of the United 

States, 1894. The papers of an economic character were on the Cripple Creek 

district by Whitman Cross and R. A. F. Penrose, Jr.; on the Mercur district, by J. E. Spurr; on the reconnaissance across Idaho, by George Eldridge; on road-building stones, by Professor Shaler; on the public lands and 

their water supply by F. H. Newell; and on the water resources of a portion 

of the Great Plains, by Robert Hay. The session was only a few days old 

when on December 9, Senator Henry M. Teller, a Silver Republican but 

from Colorado, submitted a resolution that there be printed "at the earliest 

day practicable" 5,000 copies of the Cripple Creek report, 2,000 for the 

Senate, 2,500 for the House, and 500 for the Geological Survey. The House 

agreed after amending the resolution to provide 1,500 for the Senate and 

3,000 for the House.

Just a week after Senator Teller asked for additional copies of the Cripple 

Creek report, Senator Arthur German submitted a resolution that 6,000 

copies of Newell's report on the public lands and their water supplies, also 

in the 16th annual report, be printed 1,500 for the Senate, 3,000 for the 

House, and 1,500 for the Survey. When the resolution was presented to the 

House for consideration, Congressman George D. Perkins told how it came 

about: "It has been presented to our committee by the Director of the 

Geological Survey and by others interested in the matter that there is a great 

demand for this portion of the Report for circulation among the people." 

The House readily agreed to the resolution. Then, soon after Utah was 

admitted as a State and Senator Arthur Brown had taken the oath of office, 

another resolution was passed to provide extra copies of the Mercur report.

The Senate had great difficulty in getting organized because the balance 

of power was with the Populist Senators, who refused to vote on organiza258 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897

G. K. Gilbert, who began a study of the geology 

of the Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountain front 

in 1893, was able to draw an economically valuable 

map showing areas in which artesian water might 

be obtained. Gilbert confessed, however, that he 

drew the map with much reluctance because it was 

impossible to give adequate expression to doubt and 

the data were too imperfect to fix the lines definitely. (From G. K. Gilbert, 1896.)
The value of the Survey's topographic maps for 

geologists, mining engineers, and irrigation engineers, was greatly enhanced by the authorization in 

1896 to place bench marks showing elevations 

above base level. For central datum points and in 

places that called for an attractive bench mark, the 

Survey chose a circular bronze tablet, 3 Vz inches in 

diameter and V4-inch thick, with a 3-inch stem that 

could be cemented into a drill hole in the vertical 

walls of public buildings, bridge abutments, and 

other substantial masonry structures. (From the 

18th annual report of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

tion. Finally on December 30, the committees were appointed in a test 

vote, which gave the Republicans the majority. The Committee to Investigate the Geological Survey, which had been inactive in the 53d Congress, 

was renamed the Select Committee on the Geological Survey, and a freshman 

Senator from West Virginia, Stephen B. Elkins, was appointed chairman, 

with Senators Allison, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Edward 

Walthall of Mississippi, and Roger Mills of Texas as the other members. 

The functions of the newly renamed committee were not indicated in the 

resolution appointing it. In the next few years, however, it acted as an 

adjunct to the Appropriations Committee to investigate or sponsor appropriations for the Survey. Senator Elkins, who had become involved in national politics in 1884 as an adviser to Senator Blaine and had served as 

Secretary of War in the Harrison Cabinet, was in a sense carrying on a 

family tradition for he was the son-in-law of former Senator Henry G. David, 

who had tried so valiantly when King was Director to get the extension 

resolution passed. He had been a large landowner in New Mexico and had 

also had extensive mine holdings in Colorado but had recently established 

the town of Elkins, West Virginia, where he made his home, and had 

acquired a considerable interest in Appalachian coal lands.

On February 19, 1896, the Director asked for a deficiency appropriation 

for gaging streams. The appropriation for 1895 1896 had already been 

expended, and the work would stop unless more money were made available. 

The previous year had been unusually dry, and attempts were made to obtain 

data in various parts of the country to supply urgent demands. "The conditions being to a large extent new, and the various local assistants enthusiastic and active," he wrote, "it has resulted in the expending of larger 

sums than was anticipated. * * * The demand for the work has pressed in 

from all quarters, and the attempt to meet it during the season of the year 

which is of vital importance to all industries, whether they relate to irrigation, water power, or municipal supply, has led to expenditures that could 

not be anticipated. We are now brought face to face with the problem of 

gauging the flow of all streams during the high-water stage of spring and 

early summer. This is of great importance, especially with reference to the 

storage of storm waters, in order to keep up an average supply, both for

Stream Gaging, 1895 259
power and irrigation, during the low-water period." His argument was 

persuasive, and when the House Appropriations Committee reported out 

the Sundry Civil Expense bill on March 26, it recommended an appropriation of $35,000 for gaging streams, $15,000 more than the original budget 

estimate. The Committee had not allowed the requested increase for the 

report on mineral resources, but the House itself voted unanimously to 

provide the increase.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations recommended an additional 

increase of $25,000 for topographic surveys to $175,000. An amendment 

proposed by Senator Warren on April 9 was attached to the appropriation 

for gaging streams as a proviso

That hereafter the reports of the Geological Survey in relation to the gaging of 

streams and the methods of utilizing the water resources may be printed in 

octavo form, not to exceed one hundred pages in length and five thousand 

copies in number; one thousand copies of which shall be for the official use 

of the Geological Survey, one thousand five hundred copies shall be delivered 

to the Senate, and two thousand five hundred copies shall be delivered to the 

House of Representatives for distribution.

Senator Allison asked that the appropriation for gaging streams be increased 

to $50,000. The Senate passed the bill on April 25, providing a total 

appropriation of $489,100, $50,000 more than the budget estimate submitted by the Secretary, and the Senate figure was accepted by the House.

The Sundry Civil Expenses bill for fiscal year 1897 also included a requirement for the monumenting of the topographic surveys: "That hereafter 

in such surveys west of the ninety-fifty meridian elevations above a base 

level located in each area under survey shall be determined and marked on 

the ground by iron or stone posts or permanent bench marks, at least two 

such posts or bench marks to be established in each township or equivalent 

area, except in the forest-clad and mountain areas, where at least one shall 

be established, and these shall be placed, whenever practicable, near the 

township corners of the public-land surveys."

In proposing the legislation, the Director stated that in his opinion

the maps of the Survey would be enhanced in value fully 100 per cent if permanent records were left on the ground, in the form of monuments, to show 

the position of triangulation points and township corners, and their true elevation above sea level at some fixed point.

The original object of the topographic map had been to serve as a basis for 

the geologic map of the United States, but the maps were now for sale 

separately. As the public became acquainted with them, a strong demand 

for them had grown up, and he thought it was time that the topographic 

surveys be connected directly to the land surveys.

Establishment of the monuments, he said, would benefit "the geologists 

of the Survey, the mining interests, and all engineers engaged in irrigation 

work." With regard to the irrigation work, he made a careful distinction 

between Major Powell's broad claim that topographic maps were a necessary 

precursor to an irrigation survey and his own recommendation. "The relative 

elevations of land and water, and of different bodies or streams of water, are 

shown in a broad way on the present topographic maps; but the information 

is not sufficiently accurate or detailed, especially where matters of practical 

application depend upon differences in elevation of a few feet, or even inches. 

The value of the topographic maps, as far as the utilization of the water 

resources is concerned, would be increased many-fold if, along the principal 

streams and the broad nearly level valleys, accurate level lines were run and 

occasional monuments or bench marks were located at distances of 5 or 6

260 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
miles, these being shown upon the map. Then when a question as to diverting water from a stream or from wells on the low land is brought up, 

it will be possible for any person of fair intelligence to take these maps and 

determine in a general way, from inspection, the feasibility of the project, 

,or to go upon the ground and settle at a small outlay of time and money 

any doubt as to the-difference of elevation. In this way many projects which 

are impossible would at the outset be condemned, and on the other hand 

attention would be drawn to feasible schemes for the development of the 

natural resources of the country. As the matter now stands, an engineer, 

having determined upon the water supply and noted the general location 

upon the request topographic maps, must rerun many of the lines if he 

would know the exact elevation of any point."

Then Walcott added a practical note: "Many thousands of dollars expended in such work could be saved by the simple provision of placing a 

few permanent marks at the time the topographic surveys and the precise 

level lines are being run."

When the provision came up for discussion in the House, some of the 

members were concerned that the surveys in the East were not to be similarly 

monumented, so an amendment proposed by Mr. Wheeler of Alabama was 

added: "and in the areas east of the ninety-fifth meridian at least one such 

post or bench mark shall be similarly established in each area equivalent to 

the area of a township of the public-land surveys."

A similar provision was included in the Indian Appropriation Act covering the surveys of the Indian lands being opened for settlement. That bill 

also provided for a maximum fine of $250 or a maximum sentence of 100 

days in prison for defacing, changing, or removing any monument or bench 

mark. The Indian Act also included another $200,000 for the Indian Territory surveys. The work had not progressed as rapidly as expected. The 

Land Office had estimated that one-fourth of the country was timber and 

three-fourths open, whereas the reverse was true. It would take $300,000 

to complete the work, the Director said, and it could be done in 1 year or 

2, as desired. Congress chose 2 years.

The requirement for monumenting did not necessitate any change in the 

organization of the Topographic Branch, although it became necessary to 

do spirit leveling of a higher order of accuracy than before. However, in 

April, the Director assumed immediate charge of the topographic work, and 

Henry Gannett was transferred to other duties.

Nearly 11,000 miles of spirit levels were run during the year, and 1,820 

bench marks were established. The levels, whenever practicable, were run 

in circuits, a limiting error of closure being established, so as to eliminate 

any possibility of error beyond the very small limit allowed. The results of 

the level lines were permanently stamped to the nearest foot on bench marks. 

Three forms were used: wrought-iron posts 4 feet long surmounted by a 

brass cap in soil, about two-thirds being sunk into the ground; bronze 

tablets that could be cemented in holes drilled in dressed-stone surfaces; and 

copper plugs for insertion into rock surfaces when it was not practicable to 

use the posts or tablets.

In the Atlantic, Central, Rocky Mountain, and Pacific Sections, 19,743 

square miles were mapped, although nearly 45 percent of the mapping in 

the Atlantic and Rocky Mountain Sections was revision. Nearly three-quarters of the mapping was done on the scale of 1:125,000. Cooperative arrangements continued with the State of New York, which contributed the 

rather substantial sum of $15,000, and were also begun with the States of 

Maryland and North Carolina.

Indian Territory Surveys 261
The Indian Territory surveys had become so large and complex an operation that South McAlester was made sole headquarters, all work formerly 

done in Washington was transferred to that point, and Van H. Manning, 

who had had charge of a subdivision party, was assigned to assist Fitch. A 

total of 16,079 square miles was surveyed, and 7,678 square miles were 

also mapped topographically.

The geologic program in the summer of 1896 was more diversified, 

although mineral-resources investigations were still stressed. Emmons and 

Weed cooperated in fieldwork in Montana, principally the economic survey 

of the Butte mining district. It was thought that the investigation had been 

begun too late in the history of the district to be of practical advantage to 

the mineowners but that the knowledge of ore deposition to be gained would 

be of economic importance. Weed was responsible for the areal survey of 

the district, while Emmons, assisted by G. W. Tower, made the observations underground in the various mines.

Becker had expected to resume his work in California, but in April he 

had been given an unusually fine opportunity to examine the gold fields of 

South Africa and spent the summer there. Turner continued the mapping 

in the gold belt of the Sierra Nevada, but Lindgren was moved to Idaho 

where he mapped the Boise quadrangle on the northern side of the Snake 

River valley and part of the Idaho Basin quadrangle. In the Boise region, 

the ore deposits were as a rule gold-bearing fissure veins, and Lindgren 

examined especially the alteration to which the rocks adjoining these deposits had been subjected.

Spurr was sent to Alaska early in June to make a reconnaissance of the 

gold district of the Yukon region with the assistance of H. B. Goodrich 

and F. C. Schrader, who had been an instructor of Harvard. They were in 

Alaska when the first big strikes were made in the Yukon Territory and the 

rush to the Klondike began. Spurr and his companions reconnoitered some 

30,000 square miles of territory along the Yukon River from Fortymile 

Creek down to Nulato. In the districts where there was actual production, 

more careful work was done, the locations of placer gold approximately 

determined, some idea of its probable value obtained, and the source traced 

to bedrock. Veins of argentiferous galena were also found, and several previously unknown coal-bearing localities were visited.

Whitman Cross, who had been associated with Emmons for so long, 

pursued his own special investigation of volcanic rocks in the San Juan 

region of southwestern Colorado, where past explorations had not shown the 

existence of any large or valuable ore deposits. Cross had two assistants, 

however A. C. Spencer and C. W. Purington and Purington made a 

special study of the mineral prospects in each area. Diller's work was also 

divided between economic geology and geologic mapping. He made complete surveys of the Roseburg and Crater Lake quadrangles in Oregon. In 

the former, coal, gold, copper, mercury, marble, and cement rock and a 

variety of building stones were investigated. The mineral resources of the 

Crater Lake region, it was conceded, were of little value, but it was agreed 

that the area would be economically important "when a proper appreciation 

of this remarkable locality as a resort for pleasure, health, and instruction is 

aroused among the people." Similarly, Bailey Willis made an 8-day reconnaissance of the glaciers of Mount Rainier in association with Professor 

Russell, and then, with the assistance of George Otis Smith, who had joined 

the Survey after receiving his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, began an areal 

survey of the Tacoma, Washington, quadrangle which contained a number 

of working coal mines.

262 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
In the Eastern States, George Eldridge, at long last, was able to go back 

to his studies of the Florida phosphate region and continued there almost 

without interruption during the entire field season. M. R. Campbell, with 

J. A. Taff and W. C. Mendenhall as assistants, mapped the areal geology 

along the western margin of the Appalachian coalfield in Kentucky and 

Tennessee. The party procured important evidence of a great time break at 

the base of the Pottsville, which was substantiated by David White's work 

in the same region. Much of the area was barren of workable coal, but 

petroleum as being found in many places. Campbell was unable to find any 

relation between the surface geology and the oil deposits, so refused to make 

any prediction until the supply was tested by drilling. White, meanwhile, 

continuing his study of the Pottsville series, found that the Pennsylvania 

survey had drawn the boundary some 15 miles too far north, and several of 

the lower workable coals could therefore be found farther south than expected 

in the upturned edge of the basin. C. W. Hayes and A. H. Brooks mapped 

areas in Georgia and Alabama, giving special attention to the structure of 

the metamorphic rocks of the Ocoee series. Hayes continued his study of 

the gold resources, mapping the auriferous belts as accurately as possible, 

and because of the active development of the gold deposits at the time, he 

found unusual opportunities for underground examination.

The promised reconnaissance of Indian Territory was made even though 

R. T. Hill, who had been scheduled to make it and to extend the work 

southward and westward into Texas, became ill and was unable to go into 

the field. The work was carried forward by young T. Wayland Vaughan, 

beginning his second year with the Survey, in addition to the work assigned 

to him in the original plan. Vaughan's chief work was mapping the areal 

geology of the Uvalde quadrangle in Texas, with special reference to the 

water supply. His studies indicated that conditions were almost hopeless for 

artesian water but that a permanent supply of water could be obtained from 

wells sunk in the gravel deposits along the streams.

Areal mapping in which the economic implications were less evident was 

continued in New England by Dale and by Professors B. K. Emerson and 

W. H. Hobbs; Professor Shaler began a study of the geology of Cape Cod. 

In New York State, Professor J. Kemp of Columbia began mapping in the 

Adirondack Mountains and also mapped an area in southeastern New York 

for inclusion in the proposed New York City special folio. In New Jersey, 

Professor J. E. Wolff completed the survey of the Franklin quadrangle. 

Professor W. B. Clark, who had become State Geologist of Maryland, moved 

his mapping project from New Jersey to Maryland and Delaware. Darton 

worked sporadically on the geology of the region around the District of 

Columbia. Areal work in the Lake Superior region was confined to the 

Menominee district. Professor Pirsson made a detailed survey of the Judith 

Mountains in Montana. On the west coast, Professors A. C. Lawson and 

J. C. Branner continued their work in the Coast Ranges.

G. K. Gilbert began a highly specialized study of the history of Niagara 

River. From a comparison of data from water-gage stations on the Great 

Lakes with earlier observations of the United States Lake Survey, he found 

that the land in the Great Lakes region was tilting toward the south-southwest. Even as fundamental an investigation as this, it turned out, had 

economic importance; the study indicated that the land near Chicago was 

being submerged at the rate of about 9 inches a century.

As increasing attention was given to certain fundamental investigations, 

several committees were appointed to advise the Director on some of the 

more highly specialized fields. Professors Van Hise and Iddings, Cross, 

Diller, Turner, and Weed were appointed a committee to consider the

Geologic Surveys, 1896 263
classification of igneous rocks, and Messrs. Cross, Clarke, Diller, Lindgren, 

and Willis, a committee to which all matters pertaining to petrography 

might be referred. Appointments of these two committees reflected the 

great development of the science of petrography. During the 1880's, the 

problems of geologic nomenclature had been largely with the stratified 

rocks, but more than 50 new names of igneous rocks had been proposed 

since 1890. That, Van Hise said, was more than young petrographers were 

obliged to learn before 1890. Two schools of thought on the naming of 

igneous rocks had come into being one calling for names based on geologic 

relations, the other, on the inherent characteristics of the rocks. Igneous 

rocks, however, were so complex and had so many and such varied geologic 

relations that one systematic classification seemed impossible. Both Cross 

and Iddings pointed out that geologic factors, such as age or form or place 

of occurrence, were not the causes of systematic differences in the rocks and 

said that the classification must be based on chemical composition, mineral 

composition, texture, and physical aspect, among other factors, and must 

come from the science of petrography.

The Division of Hydrography increased its permanent staff to five by the 

transfer of Willard Johnson from the Topographic Branch and E. G. Paul 

from the Petrographic Laboratory to take charge of equipment. The fieldwork was similar to that of the preceding year measurement of streams, 

to which nearly half the appropriation was allotted, studies of underground 

water, and studies of the utilization of water. In connection with the stream 

measurements, occasional examinations were made of reservoir sites, looking 

toward a determination of possible water supply under conditions of storage, 

and Davis prepared the results for publication in the annual report. Most 

of the ground-water investigations were carried on as part of geologic studies, but extensive special investigations were made in the Great Plains region. Willard Johnson spent the greater part of the year in western Kansas 

bringing together information on the behavior of water underground. N. 

H. Darton made a systematic study of the country from near Lincoln, Nebraska, westward along the Platte Valley to the vicinity of Lexington. In 

Kansas, Professor E. C. Murphy of Lawrence conducted a series of experiments on the efficiency of windmills in raising water for irrigation, while 

Professor O. P. Hood of Manhattan carried on a similar investigation of the 

efficiency of pumps. Professor Thomas U. Taylor of Austin, Texas, made 

a special investigation of the rate of silting of Lake McDonald, data of this 

character being of great importance in estimates of available water from 

storage projects.

In preparing his estimates for 1897 1898, Walcott asked for a sizeable 

increase of $117,500 in the Survey appropriation, including $50,000 each 

for geologic surveys and topographic surveys. Only $100,000 was being 

asked for the Indian Territory surveys, not $200,000 as had been appropriated in the preceding 2 years, and he asked that the other $100,000 be 

transferred to the regular Survey base. Appropriations for geologic surveys 

and topographic surveys, he pointed out, were less than before the cut of 

1892, and those surveys were the essential feature of the Geological Survey.

Only $2,500 was asked for completion of the work in Alaska, but when 

Spurr returned in the fall, the request was changed to $25,000 to prepare 

a reconnaissance map and to send five parties to Alaska in the spring. The 

Director reported that the Survey had been led to believe by the stories from 

the Yukon River region that there were large placer deposits along the 

streambeds but that the country was generally covered with a heavy growth 

of moss, bushes, and forest that made geological exploration very difficult, 

if not impossible. However, Spurr in his reconnaissance had secured suffiCharles Richard Van Hise

Van Hise assisted R. D. Irving while still a graduate 

student at the University of Wisconsin and succeeded him as geologist in charge of the Lake Superior Division in 1888. He spent part of each year 

with the Survey and part with the University of 

Wisconsin until 1903 when he became president of 

the University. Van Hise was noted for his work in 

metamorphic and Precambrian geology and later for 

his leadership in the conservation movement. He, 

Chamberlin, and Emmons were Walcott's closest 

advisers in the work of the Geological Survey. 

(Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

264 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
Despite the prominence given economic geology in 

the Walcott survey, pure science was not neglected. 

By 1895, Van Hise had developed a set of criteria 

for determining the stratigraphy of pre-Cambrian 

rocks. The first and most important criterion was 

the unconformity, which gave a common horizon 

from which to work in comparison. Sequence of 

beds, folding, faulting, jointing, cleavage, and fissility were also useful. (From C. R. Van Hise, 

1896.)

cient data "to establish the presence of a gold belt 300 miles in length in 

Alaska, which enters the Territory near the mouth of Forty-mile Creek and 

extends westward across the Yukon Valley at the lower Ramparts. Its further 

extent is unknown. It is the opinion of the geologist-in-charge of the expedition that it is entirely practicable to prosecute quartz mining throughout 

the year in this region. He also discovered along the river areas of considerable extent of rocks containing hard bituminous coal. In view of these 

facts, I think it is desirable that a reconnaissance should be made of the gold 

and coal areas in order to secure an intelligent conception of the resources 

of the interior of Alaska."

Then on January 13, 1897, the Senate agreed to a resolution proposed 

by Senator Stewart "that the Committee on Mines and Mining be instructed 

to examine and report as to the best method of gathering statistics on the 

product of the mines of the United States." A week later, Senator George 

Perkins of California proposed an alternative, that a commission be appointed, consisting of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the 

Commissioner of Labor, and the Director of the Geological Survey, "to 

determine the best method of ascertaining all the facts of general importance 

relating to mines and mining within the United States, whether by a mining 

bureau, a Secretary of Mines and Mining, a Commissioner of Mines, or a 

commission, and to report to the Secretary of the Interior for his examination 

ind approval a bill providing means for securing all necessary information 

concerning mining and related industries within the United States." The 

Mining and Scientific Press endorsed the Perkins proposal. It doubted that 

the Commissioner of the General Land Office would be of much help but 

said, "much may be expected from the Director of the Geological Survey. 

The exceptionally good work that he has done while in that office, in making 

the survey of value, from an economic standpoint, to the mining industry, 

gives promise that his suggestions would be of value."

Senator Perkins' resolution was referred to the Senate committee on Mines 

and Mining and was not reported out. The Committee, however, called 

before it in connection with Senator Stewart's resolution, the Director of 

the Mint, the Director of the Survey, and the Commissioner of Labor, and 

concluded that the Survey's appropriation should be increased so that the 

Survey could collect information on precious metal mines and mining. "In 

the former reports of the Survey," the Committee said, "the statistics with 

regard to the production of gold and silver from the mines have not been 

included in the general mining statistics reported. The reports as to mines 

of the baser metals already made by the Survey are very exhaustive, interesting, and valuable, and the committee are of the opinion that a like report 

with regard to the mines of gold and silver, would be of great value to 

miners, business men and the country generally. To extend the researchers 

and reports of the mines of the precious metals will require an additional 

appropriation of $20,000, making in all $45,000." The Commissioner of

The Importance of Mines and Mining 265
Labor supported the proposition, stating that by making an appropriation 

annually to the Survey, it would be unnecessary for the Twelfth Census to 

take up the question of mines and mining, there would be a saving of 

probably $200,000, in the Twelfth Census, and the work itself would be 

of more value to those interested in mining.

In a formal statement submitted to the Committee, which clearly reflects 

Emmons' way of thinking and the need to return to the Tenth Census type 

of investigation, Walcott pointed out that

No division of the gold product into placer gold and vein gold has been attempted for years, yet the demand for this information during the past year 

indicates the advisability of publishing it. Placer gold has in history been the 

source from which sensationally large supplies of gold have come at short 

notice and with marked effect upon the gold market, while vein gold has been 

the product of slow development, with the investment of much capital and the 

establishment of contributory industries. The intelligent investment of capital 

in precious-metal mines, on business rules and without especial speculative 

excitement, depends essentially upon information impartially collected and 

widely distributed as to the characteristics of the ores which furnish most gold 

and silver in each district. The adaptability of these ores to various methods 

of treatment must be simply but clearly set forth. This can best be done by a 

few general statements concerning each camp, showing what processes have 

been most successful for each kind of ore.

The information demanded from the statistics of gold and silver points us to 

the mines themselves as the necessary source. It will constantly become more 

difficult to collect the statistics by the present method alone. To collect them

The first annual report of the U.S. Geological Survey published after Walcott became Director included an almost monographic treatment of the dinosaurs of North America by O. C. Marsh. The 

remains of Claosaurus annectens Marsh, a large herbivorous dinosaur with a very small brain, were 

obtained in the Ceratops beds of the Laramie in 

Wyoming. The reptile was nearly 30 feet long when 

alive and about 15 feet high in the position shown. 

(From O. C. Marsh, 1895.)

266 In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897
from the mines will be difficult at first, but will steadily grow easier as the 

mining interests organize and consolidate, and the proportion furnished by 

wandering prospectors and other small operators grows smaller.

When Congress passed the appropriations bill with an increase of only 

$5,000 in the Survey appropriation, the Mining and Scientific Press took it 

to task: "The geological survey of the United States is at present under the 

direction of a man who appreciates the value of the work that can be done 

to aid mining, but is hampered for want of means. Less than half a million 

dollars a year is spent and much of that, perforce, is spent in purely scientific 

work. It is to be hoped that Congress will soon be impressed with the idea 

that no money spent can bring larger returns, nor add more to the wealth 

of the country, than upon the economic work of the geological survey." 

Senator Wolcott and Congressman John Shafroth of Colorado presented a 

memorial from the Colorado State legislature asking for a "generous provision for that branch of the United States Geological Survey which is 

engaged directly in examining the metalliferous districts of the States and 

Territories to the end that needed surveys may be commenced or completed 

and the results published at the end of each session in pamphlet form, as 

much of the value of the informtion thus received depends upon its speedy 

publication." The memorial went on to say,

It is not expected that the specialists of the survey will take the place now 

occupied by the prospector or the mining engineer. They should, however, 

understand the work of either or both of these classes of men, and should 

furnish an accurate basis upon which that work may be founded. Let the survey 

stand between them and nature, demonstrating, as well as may be in the absence of development, where the prospector may and where he may not prospect to advantage for this or that valuable mineral. In the absence of a Government department of mining, your memorialists believe that Congress should 

strengthen the mining department of the Geological Survey and provide for the 

more timely publication of its preliminary and final reports.

Economic geology had made great strides since Walcott became Director in 

1894, but it was clear that the groundwork was being laid for even greater 

advances.

The Future of Economic Geology 267
Chapter 10.

The Nearest Attainable Approximation,

1897-1900

In government organizations depending upon the will of so complex a body 

as Congress, it is often difficult to carry out a policy outlined in advance. Usually the policy is modified by considerations, not of what it is abstractly best 

to do, but of what it is possible to do. This compels the administrative officer 

to aim at the nearest attainable approximation to the desired object.

 Charles Doolittle Walcott

By 1896 economic conditions were distinctly better. The value of the 

gold product continued to increase as further developments were made at 

Cripple Creek, Mercur, and Deadwood, South Dakota, and for 1896, it was 

more than $53 million. Public confidence was sufficiently restored that 

when the Treasury reserve dropped to $90 million in July, no loan was 

required.

The monetary situation was, however, the main issue in the Presidential 

campaign. The Republican National Convention met in June and nominated 

William McKinley for President on a platform upholding the single gold 

standard, the high protective tariff, and a vigorous foreign policy, including 

U.S. control of the Hawaiian Islands. The Democratic National Convention 

met in July with the free-silver faction in control. Their platform called for 

free and unlimited coinage of silver and condemned trusts, monopolies, the 

high protective tariff, the use of injunctions against labor, and the Supreme 

Court, for declaring the income tax unconstitutional. William Jennings 

Bryan was nominated for President after delivering his Cross-of-Gold speech, 

and 2 weeks later the People's Party, and the Silver Republicans who had 

bolted the party under the leadership of Senator Teller, endorsed Bryan's 

candidacy. The Gold Democrats withdrew from the Democratic Party and 

nominated Senator Palmer for President. Although Bryan waged a vigorous 

campaign, far more strenuous than was customary for Presidential candidates, the Republican Party had the larger campaign fund and McKinley 

was elected.

By the winter of 1896 1897, Walcott's executive ability was widely 

recognized, and not only by the mining industry. When George Brown 

Goode, the Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution died in September 1896, Walcott had been offered the position. He declined, preferring to remain with the Survey, but was persuaded to accept it temporarily, 

in addition to his Survey responsibilities, with the understanding that his 

work would be concerned exclusively with the National Museum. The appointment was announced in late January 1897, and Bailey Willis was then 

appointed Assistant to the Director in Geology to relieve Walcott of some 

of the administrative details of the Geologic Branch.

The Fifth Irrigation Congress, which met in Phoenix in December 1896, 

also recognized the abilities of the Director of the Geological Survey. The 

Congress somehow looked on the hydrographic work of the Survey as one 

of its own substantial accomplishments, even though it was not entirely 

devoted to irrigation, and approved the requested increase for topographic

The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900 269
Bailey Willis

Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, 1884-1915. 

Willis had taken part in the Tenth Census investigations under Pumpelly and had joined him in 

the Northern Transcontinental Survey from 1881 

to 1884. In 1884, he rejoined the Survey and remained with it until 1915. In 1897, he was made 

Assistant to the Director for Geology and in 1900 

geologist in charge of Areal Geology. (Courtesy of 

the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

surveys because "general topography" was an "indispensable requisite in 

an intelligent study of the reclamation problem." The Congress went so 

far as to recommend establishment of a Public Lands Commission, composed 

of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the Director of the Geological Survey, and three other persons appointed by the President and 

confirmed by the Senate, to be responsible for preparing a topographic map, 

determining the water supply, ascertaining the character and value of the 

timber, and making regulations for the occupation and utilization of the 

public lands. Thus in only 5 years, there had been a complete reversal of 

opinion on the role of the Survey and the Survey's Director in public-land 

management.

Although the recommendation regarding timber on the public lands was 

strictly limited, the forestry movement, was beginning to gather strength, 

and the Survey was again involved in a small way. The forest reserves had 

been established in 1891; no provision had been made for managing them, 

and there was danger that the reserves would be lost for lack of care. On 

February 15, 1896, Secretary Hoke Smith addressed a letter to Wolcott 

Gibbs, the president of the National Academy of Sciences, asking the Acad270 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
emy to answer three questions: (1) Is it desirable and practicable to preserve 

from fire and to maintain permanently as forested lands those portions of 

the public domain now bearing wood growth for the supply of timber? (2) 

How far does the influence of the forest upon climate, soil, and water 

conditions make desirable a policy of forest conservation in regions where 

the public domain is principally situated? (3) What specific legislation 

should be enacted to remedy the evils now confessedly existing? Gibbs was 

expecting the letter. He had, in fact, suggested that it be written. On 

March 2, he accepted the assignment for the Academy, stating in his reply, 

"it is the opinion of thoughtful men that no other economic problem confronting the government of the United States equals in importance that 

offered by the present conditions and future fate of the forests of western 

North America." Gibbs appointed a commission consisting of Professor 

Charles H. Sargent of Harvard, as chairman, General Henry L. Abbott, 

Professor Alexander Agassiz of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, 

Professor William Brewer of Yale, Arnold Hague of the Survey, and Gifford 

Pinchot, the youngest member of the commission, a Yale graduate of 1889 

who had studied forestry in Europe. Gibbs himself was a member ex officio. 

At the first meeting of the commission, Pinchot was elected secretary, and 

Hague and Pinchot were designated a subcommittee to prepare a preliminary 

report and recommendations for the consideration of the full committee. 

Office space for the commission was supplied by the Survey, and Hague was 

relieved of Survey duties to devote full time to the forestry study.

The Academy commission on forests made a trip through the Western 

States and at a meeting in October agreed to recommend the creation of 

new reserves and also of Mount Rainier and Grand Canyon National Parks. 

The commission, it was understood, fully realized that the reserves could 

not be maintained unless some plan were adopted under which the arable 

and mineral lands included in them could be thrown open to settlement, 

and provision made for supplying timber from them for the needs of the 

settlers. The commission also believed that a great extension of the reserves 

would arouse a protest and a demand on Congress to enact laws for proper 

administration of the forest reserves. On February 22, 1897, with only 10 

days of his term remaining, President Cleveland accepted a recommendation 

and issued an Executive order establishing 13 additional forest reserves containing an aggregate area of more than 21 million acres.

As was anticipated, there was a strong protest from the Western States. 

Six days after the Executive order was issued, Senator Clarence D. Clark of 

Wyoming offered an amendment to the Sundry Civil Expenses bill then 

under consideration to nullify the order and restore the reserves to the public 

domain. Senator Allison at first opposed the motion it was not pertinent 

to the bill under consideration but Western feelings were too strong. 

Senator Stewart said that the President had been misled by enthusiasts who 

wanted to protect all the forests in the United States, but others were not 

so kind. The reserves, it was charged, had been selected by a touring group 

of eastern scientists, without any reference to local interests and sometimes 

without even visiting the area; they were of unsurveyed lands, in places 

including scantily timbered areas and in other, settled areas. Memories were 

still vivid of the closing of the public domain by the Irrigation Survey 

legislation, and Senator Clark's amendment was agreed to in the Senate. 

The House, however, refused to accept the Senate amendment, countered 

with another permitting the use of timber for mining purposes and giving 

the President authority to abolish any or all reserves. The Senate agreed 

reluctantly, even though assured by one militant Senator that the new

Forest Reserves 271
administration would be an "American Administration" that would undo 

the mischief. President Cleveland reaffirmed his action by a pocket veto of 

the whole Sundry Civil Expenses bill.

Congress was called into special session on March 15 by President 

McKinley because there was need of more revenue, and the country in his 

view had expressed its preference for the tariff as the means of obtaining it. 

The attack on the reserves continued in the special session, and for a time 

it seemed that the forest reserve section of the Revision Act of 1891 might 

also be endangered, so bitter was the feeling. At this point, the Director 

of the Geological Survey quietly provided a means of resolving the difficulties. Pinchot said he did it "partly because he believed in the Reserve policy, 

partly because of what there was in it for the Geological Survey (no one 

could blame him for that)."

As it happened, the Director and Senator Richard F. Pettigraw, who had 

made one of the most violent attacks on the Cleveland proclamation, were 

nextdoor neighbors on Q Street. The Homestake Mining Company, which 

was not only the greatest gold mine but also the greatest political power in 

Senator Pittigrew's home State of South Dakota, had sent its counsel to see 

the new Secretary of the Interior, Cornelius Bliss, and Secretary Bliss had 

assured him that Homestake could continue cutting mining timber in the 

new Black Hills Forest Reserve. Homestake thereupon withdrew its opposition to the reserves. Walcott knew this and was thus able to convert 

Senator Pettigrew to the idea that the forest reserves were good for the 

West, and at the end of March, the Senator asked Walcott to draft legislation 

to continue the reserves and to provide for their administration.

The bill suggested by the Director was essentially the McRae bill, which 

had been under fire in Congress for several years, giving the Secretary of the 

Interior the power to administer the forest reserves. To it, he added two 

simple provisions. Much of the dismay and anger of the Western interests 

was directed not at the idea of protection of forests, for it was realized that 

the forests in turn protected water sources, but at the selection of huge areas 

for reservation without regard to those already occupying the land or the 

nature of the forests included in the reservations. The Director suggested 

that the Cleveland reserves be suspended until March 1, 1898, thus giving 

time to make adjustments, and that the Geological Survey make an examination and survey of the reserves to obtain the information needed to revise 

the boundaries and subtract from the reserves the areas found to be more 

valuable for agriculture or mining than for timber, or, in other words, that 

the Survey classify the land.

When President McKinley met with his Cabinet on April 2, 1897, to 

consider what to do with the Cleveland reserves, Walcott was summoned 

to the White House. He explained the proposed legislation and was assured 

of McKinley's approval. The President did more than approve, he called 

in Senator Allison and explained to him the importance of the forestry 

legislation. Senator Pettigrew introduced the legislation as an amendment 

to the Sundry Civil Expenses bill early in April, and it was rather readily 

accepted. The House at first refused to accept the amendment, but the 

conference committee worked out a minor change which made it acceptable, 

and the bill passed both Houses and was signed by the President on June 

4, 1897.

The Topographic Branch, with appropriations of $175,000 for topographic surveys, $150,000 for examination and mapping of the forest reserves, $100,000 for Indian Territoy surveys, $41,500 for mapping the 

Chickasaw Nation, and $7,650 for surveying the Idaho-Montana boundary,

272 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
The Geological Survey expanded its special investigations in 1897. The surveying of the Idaho-Montana boundary line was not an assignment for the 

timid. The transit used was provided with a compass attachment, fixed stadia wires, and a tripod 

with extensions legs. The last, R. U. Goode noted 

laconically, were at times very necessary, as may be 

seen from the plate. (From R. U. Goode, 1900.)

once again became the largest branch of the Survey. Walcott retained control 

of the branch, and no change was made in the general organization, although 

the staff was increased by the addition of five assistant topographers through 

certification by the Civil Service Commission. Two of the five, F. E. Matthes 

and Glenn S. Smith, had long and distinguished careers in the Survey.

The survey of the northern part of the Idaho-Montana boundary was 

placed under the supervision of R. U. Goode, although the actual work was 

assigned to E. T. Perkins, Jr. This was the first such work delegated to the 

Survey. The law provided that points of the meridian defining the boundary 

should be located by triangulation from the Spokane base of the Survey, and

Boundary Surveys 273
it would be necessary to extend a belt of triangulation over a longitudinal 

distance of about 70 miles before the line could be located and marked. The 

work was begun late in June but was hampered by the alternation of storms 

and smoke from forest fires all through the field season.

The plan for the forest surveys called for preparation of topographic maps 

on a scale of 2 miles to the inch with contour intervals of 100 feet that 

would serve as base maps for representation of forest details, agricultural 

and mineral lands, and also for future geologic surveys; establishment of 

bench marks for vertical control; subdivision of the reserves by running 

township lines where necessary; demarcation of tracts more valuable for 

agricultural and mineral development than for timber; and the outlining of 

all wooded and forest areas. Experts would then classify and map the area 

occupied by timber suitable for various purposes, map the distribution of 

leading species of economic value individually, make note of the size and 

density of distribution of valuable timber, and the character and density of 

the undergrowth, map the area from which timber had been removed for 

whatever reason, the extent to which the forests had been culled and the 

species culled, and also be prepared to report on the extent and character 

of the demand for timber and the means for getting it out.

The topographic surveys were assigned to the Pacific and Rocky Mountain 

Sections of the Topographic Branch. Henry Gannett was placed in charge 

of the forestry survey and was authorized to employ experts in the examination of forests as assistants, at salaries not to exceed $125 a month and 

expenses. He was warned that great care should be exercised in the selection 

of the expert to examine the Black Hills Reserve "owing to the character 

of the country and the importance of the interests dependent upon it." It 

was anticipated that the 60,000 square miles of forests in the reserves could 

be thoroughly and economically surveyed within 5 years, provided appropriations were adequate. The first surveys would be made in parts of the 

suspended reserves in which there were large interests that might be adversely affected by inclusion of those areas within the reserves. Before the 

end of June, topographic-surveying parties left Washington to begin work 

in the Black Hills Reserve of South Dakota, the Teton and Bighorn Reserves 

of Wyoming, the Bitterroot and Priest River Reserves of Montana and 

Idaho, and the Washington Reserve in Washington.

The forest survey was organized early in July. Gannett chose 26-year-old 

Henry Graves, graduate of Yale with advanced work at Harvard and Munich, 

for the Black Hills survey and F. E. Town, T. S. Brandegee, J. E. Leiberg, 

W. G. Steele, N. W. Gorman, and H. B. Ayres for study of the other 

reserves. He himself then took off to familiarize himself as far as possible 

with the areas and forest conditions under examination.

Early in August, the Director, accompanied by F. B. Weeks, doubling 

as secretary and field assistant, set out for the West to inspect the forest 

reserves for himself and on behalf of the Secretary, some of the national 

parks as well. He first made a thorough examination of the area included 

in the Black Hills Reserve, a study of the geology in the immediate vicinity 

of Deadwood, visited the Homestake mine, and then inspected the Bighorn 

Reserve. From there, he went on to Yellowstone National Park where, under 

instructions from Secretary Bliss, he made an examination of the parts of 

the park usually visited by tourists. He reported that the most serious 

annoyance was dust, which rose from the roads as an impalpable powder, 

both stifling and blinding (The second most serious annoyance was the lack 

of a hotel in the Upper Geyser Basin.). Walcott recommended proper surfacing of the roads, an improvement in grading, and construction of a new 

road from Inspiration Point to Deer Creek to permit tourists to pass through

274 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
one of the most interesting parts of the park, giving exact details as to where 

it should be located and why; the assignment of more soldiers be assigned 

to guard the park during the summer months; and the removal of the dead 

trees piled upon along the roads. His trip to the Washington Forest Reserve 

had to be abandoned owing to heavy and continuous storms, but he made 

a trip through Yosemite National Park (again under instructions from the 

Secretary to examine the roads, trails, patrol forces, and similar matters), 

to the Inyo Range for a bit of geology, and to the San Bernardino Forest 

Reserve.

In the Geologic Branch, which now had a certain measure of autonomy, 

the rudiments of a new organization were becoming apparent as special lines 

of investigation came to be pursued. Willis assumed many of the administrative tasks, and Emmons, Van Hise, and Chamberlin took responsibility 

for segments of the work. A new ruling was issued: Henceforth, all quadrilateral land units of the topographic and geologic surveys would be called 

"quadrangles," and where there was no such definite demarcation, the 

word "district" was to be used. Use of these terms in other connotations 

was to be avoided. Implicit in the announcement was the admission that 

geologic mapping need not be restricted to quadrangles, although in fact 

much of it continued to be.

The program in economic geology was perhaps better formulated than 

the other developing programs because Emmons had persistently worked 

toward the objectives set down in 1879, but even within economic geology, 

specialization was beginning. In the summer of 1897, under Emmons' 

direction, G. W. Tower and George Otis Smith began a survey of the Tintic

One of the first forest reserves examined by the 

Geological Survey in 1897, the Bighorn Forest Reserve in Wyoming, was found in general to be only 

lightly forested. Nearly all of it had been burned, 

much of it recently; a large part of it had been 

subjected to repeated fires set by Indians to drive 

out game or improve the pasturage. Fire had destroyed the soil as well as the timber, thus hindering 

future growth of seedlings. Near Little Goose Creek 

Canyon, the forest fires had stopped at the drainage 

line. (From F. E. Town, 1899.)

Geologic Branch, 1897 275
district, the most important mining district in Utah, Weed continued fieldwork near Butte, and Lindgren mapped the Silver City and Nampa quadrangles in Idaho. Spurr was kept at home completing the unfinished Aspen 

report. Emmons did little fieldwork but spent several months in Europe 

where he represented the U.S. Government at the Seventh International 

Geological Congress in Russia and took part in the extended excursions 

made by members of the Congress as guests of the Russian Government. 

W. F. Hillebrand, who had first been associated with Emmons in the 

Denver office, worked out new methods for the quantitative determination 

of chromium and vanadium, which were then becoming of interest in steel 

metallurgy. He extended his investigation to a study of the occurrence of 

vanadium in rocks generally and found that instead of being rare, as was 

commonly supposed, vanadium is widely distributed examination of 70 

different rock specimens showed it is almost universally present in measurable quantities, chiefly in the dark silicates.

Geologic work in California reflected Decker's twofold interest in economic geology and geophysics. Becker himself, assisted by F. L. Ransome, 

visited most of the mines of the Mother Lode southeast of Plymouth, studyIn 1897, Sir Archibald Geikie delivered a series 

of lectures on the history of geology at The Johns 

Hopkins University. During his visit, about 50 

geologists accompanied him on an excursion to the 

falls of the Potomac. Among those easily recognized 

in this photograph by J. S. Diller of the Survey are 

Major Powell (lower center, hatless), C. D. Walcott 

(at peak, in bowler), Sir Archibald (to Walcott's 

right, in light suit and cap), C. W. Hayes (front 

row, light fedora), C. R. Van Hise, at extreme 

right, and S. F. Emmons, at left, with back to 

group. (From the files of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

276 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
ing the character and origin of the fissures in which the gold deposits 

occurred. H. W. Turner mapped the Yosemite quadrangle, making a special 

study of the jointing of massive rocks. Turner also made special observations 

of glacial phenomena and concluded that there probably had been two periods of ice expansion and an interglacial period.

Van Hise continued to supervise the detailed surveys of the iron districts 

in the Lake Superior region being made by Professors W. S. Bayley and J. 

M. Clements and young C. K. Leith, who had just been graduated from 

the University of Wisconsin. His own personal investigations had now 

broadened into a general study of structural and metamorphic geology. In 

that connection, he made an extended trip through the Western United 

States, observing sections across the Cascade Range in Washington, the 

Coast Range in Oregon and California, the Sierra Nevada, and the Grand 

Canyon district. He also spent time with Arthur Keith studying the Ocoee 

series in Virginia and Georgia; with Florence Bascom, who was mapping 

the crystalline rocks in the vicinity of Philadelphia; and with Professors 

Emerson, Dale, and Hobbs in New England. He then began preparation of 

a treatise on metamorphism. The Committee on the Nomenclature of Igneous Rocks, under his chairmanship, submitted a report "for the information and guidance of the geologists of the Survey" containing rules of 

petrographic terminology and suggestions for the use of rock names. The 

report contained one authoritarian note. It directed geologists working in 

adjacent districts to agree on a legend designation for each rock occurring 

in both areas.

A few other investigations of iron ores were made in conjunction with 

areal mapping projects. Professor J. F. Kemp spent some time studying the 

magnetic ores while mapping in the Adirondacks, and C. W. Hayes investigated the iron deposits of the southern Appalachians while awaiting a 

decision on the age and relations of the Ocoee series so that his reports could 

be completed.

Investigations of nonmetallic deposits were chiefly related to coal, although George Eldridge, having completed his study of the Florida phosphates, began, by special order of the Secretary, an investigation of the 

asphaltic minerals in the Uinta and Uncompahgre Indian Reservations in 

Utah, and M. R. Campbell, who continued the work in the Appalachian 

coal fields, assisted by W. C. Mendenhall and L. C. Glenn, also investigated 

the occurrence of oil-bearing strata in relation to the geologic structure in 

Johnson and Floyd Counties, Kentucky. J. A. Taff was transferred to independent work on the coalfield in Indian Territory and mapped the 

McAlester and Atoka quadrangles with the assistance of George B. Richardson. David White continued his investigation of the flora of the coal 

measures in the Appalachian region and also studied the fossil plants collected in Indian Territory to make an approximate correlation between the 

formations of the McAlester field and those of other coalfields of the country. 

The first investigations of western coalfields were made by J. S. Diller, 

assisted by A. J. Collier and James Storrs, in the Coos Bay coalfield, Oregon.

Chamberlin, like Van Hise, continued to supervise the work of assistants 

while pursuing his own special investigations. From the discrimination of 

glacial deposits he had been led to study the causes of glaciation; that study 

led in turn to a consideration of the cause of climatic changes, and thence 

to the ultimate basis of time divisions in geologic history.

Most of the fieldwork of the Division of Hydrography in 1897 was done 

in the arid region. More than half the appropriation was allotted to stream 

gaging, and more than half the remainder to the study of underground

Geologic Branch, 1897 277
waters. Darton continued his investigation of underground water in Nebraska and pushed north into South Dakota with the idea of making a 

thorough study of artesian conditions east and south of the Black Hills. 

Johnson made his headquarters in Kansas and continued his study of the 

water supply of the High Plains. However, the unusual drought in the 

Potomac River basin during the fall of 1897 caused such low flow that an 

investigation of the basin was made, measuring the various tributaries and 

obtaining samples of water for sanitary analysis.

Newell fully subscribed to Walcott's insistence on prompt publication. 

The first of the water-supply papers authorized in June was in print by the 

end of the year, and others were ready to go to the printer. Arthur Powell 

Davis' report on what could be done for the Pima Indians was published 

as a congressional document and as a water-supply paper. Davis suggested 

several possibilities, most of which he deemed impractical, including having 

the people upstream return to the river the amount of water needed by the 

Indians for irrigation. The best solution, it seemed to Davis, was a dam, 

which he estimated could be built for $2V4 million, that would provide 

enough water for the Indians and excess that could be sold. In transmitting 

the report, Newell wrote:

The new series of water-supply papers authorized 

in 1896 enabled the Geological Survey to inform 

the public on water resources in a somewhat popular 

vein. The homemade wind engine shown was the 

frontispiece for Water-Supply Paper No. 1, which 

described the various devices used for pumping 

water for irrigation. (From H. M. Wilson, 1896.)

This report brings matters to the point where some decisive step must be taken 

unless the policy of procrastination is to be continued. The facts are now before 

the Department and can be presented to Congress with recommendations 

through the proper channels. It is highly important, however, that the observations of river flow be maintained through a considerable period in order that 

more reliable estimates may be made of the amount of water available for 

storage. These observations should be maintained continuously up to the time 

a final decision is reached or until construction is begun.

278 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
In areas where further development of irrigation by 

diversion of water from streams was impossible because the dry-weather flow was already appropriated, the actual water supply for irrigation could be 

increased by storage of storm waters or development 

of underground sources. A. P. Davis made a detailed survey of a proposed dam site on the Gila 

River in Arizona in connection with assuring a 

water supply for the Pima Indian Reservation, determining the best point for a dam as well as the 

dimensions of the dam and its cubical contents. 

(From A. P. Davis, 1897.)

The Fifth Irrigation Congress went on record as favoring construction of 

the reservoir as planned in the Survey and also as favoring construction of 

storage reservoirs in general by the Federal Government. The Irrigation 

Congress also asked that the U.S. Congress provide for hydrographic surveys 

for the location and construction of reservoirs for the storage of water and 

appropriate $100,000 for the preliminary location, construction, and operation of test wells for obtaining water.

The drought had created a problem in the water supply of the District 

of Columbia, and on January 14, 1897, Congress' attention was called to 

another phase of the Survey's work. Senator Jacob Gallinger introduced a 

resolution directing the Secretary of the Interior "to transmit to the Senate 

any information which may be in the possession of the Director of the 

Geological Survey regarding the hydrography of the drainage basin of the 

Potomac, with particular reference to the source of pollution and the effect 

of such pollution upon the water supply of the city of Washington." The 

reply to that resolution was forwarded 6 days later, a 60-page report complete with illustrations. In the letter of transmittal, Walcott stressed the 

usefulness of information on water resources in the more settled parts of the 

country:

This reconnaissance of the Potomac basin is similar in form to others made 

and planned for streams in various parts of the United States, the systematic 

measurements of discharge made at certain points being supplemented by a 

thorough examination intended to ascertain geologic or topographic conditions 

modifying the quantity and quality of the water and influencing the opportunities for industrial development.

Hydrography, 1897 279
In accordance with Senator Gallinger's request, the report was printed to 

serve as a guide to the committee that had the Washington water supply 

under its charge.

The mineral industry had had a very profitable year in 1897. The total 

value of mineral products was the greatest in history, $632 million. All 

previous records for pig-iron production were broken; copper, lead, and zinc 

also set new records. The gold product in 1897 was valued at more than 

$64 million, nearly twice what it had been in 1892, confounding the critics 

who had foreseen an end to the discovery of gold. The great mining excitement had been in Alaska and Canada. For several years, prospectors had 

been mining placers on tributaries of the Yukon, but in the autumn of 

1896, still richer discoveries were made along the Klondike River, a short 

distance east of the Canadian boundary. Within a single year, the yield from 

that region exceeded in amount the purchase money for the entire Territory 

of Alaska, and although a large part of the gold came from Canada, most 

of it was taken out by American miners.

In preparing the budget request for fiscal year 1899, Walcott pointed 

out that the Survey had grown in various directions, but the appropriations 

for the essential features, topographic and geologic surveys, were less than 

before the cut of 1892. He thought at least $50,000 should be added to 

each to enable the Survey to meet the demands being made upon it. He 

also made a plea for more space, which could be obtained by securing two 

additional floors in the annex building. He suggested, however, that it 

would be economical on the part of the Government to provide a permanent 

building for the Survey. The annual rental of space then in use equaled the 

interest on more than $500,000 at 3 percent! The estimate submitted to 

Congress by the Department included an increase of $2,000 for rent, no 

increase for topographic or geologic surveys. Deficiency appropriations were 

approved, however, for funds to permit publication of 6 monographs and 

23 bulletins for which no printing funds were available, and for completion 

of the Indian Territory surveys because of the added expense resulting from 

the necessity of reorganizing parties after the spring suspension.

On January 13, 1898, one year after Senator Stewart's resolution that 

the Committee on Mines and Mining be asked to report on the best method 

of gathering statistics on the product of the mines of the United States, 

Senator Perkins introduced another resolution, this time asking the Secretary 

of the Interior whether it would be "consistent with public interest for the 

Government to collect and publish" additional information "on localities 

from which the precious metals are produced, including Alaska, showing 

the exact amount, proportion which comes from placer mines and deep 

mines, and conditions of occurrence of gold in the United States" and "a 

plan therefore and estimate of cost." Walcott in his reply repeated much 

of what he had said the year before. In his opinion, the Geological Survey 

should collect the statistics of gold and silver production from their sources. 

He added, however, that the Survey should cooperate with the Director of 

the Mint in collecting statistics; thus, each would supplement the other. 

He estimated that the cost exclusive of Alaska would be $20,000 a year; 

Alaska would require an additional $5,000. However, some of the experts 

would be collecting statistics on other minerals as well, so he suggested that 

the appropriation, if it should be made, be for preparation of a report on 

the mineral resources of the United States, including the collection of statistics on gold and silver.

Senator Elkins, of the Committee on the Geological Survey, had already 

introduced a joint resolution authorizing the Survey to prepare and print a 

map of Alaska showing all known topographic and geologic features, in280 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900

Survey hydrographers were also concerned with 

water resources in the Eastern States, and as early 

as 1897, they pointed out that industrial wastes 

were polluting some of the streams. The North 

Branch of the Potomac River was so polluted by 

sawdust from 14 sawmills and waste products from 

2 tanneries that the river had a foul appearance, 

especially in the dry season, in spite of its dashing 

course over boulders, which should have given it a 

picturesque appearance. (FromF. H. Newell, 1898.)
George H. Eldridge

Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1884 

1905. Before joining the Survey, Eldridge was associated with Pumpelly in the Tenth Census mineral investigations and the Northern Transcontinental Survey. Eldridge worked with Emmons in the 

Rocky Mountains for several years, then began the 

study of the Florida phosphates, and in 1898 was 

sent to Alaska. He later undertook some of the earliest Survey investigations of petroleum and petroleum products. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.)

eluding what was known of the gold-bearing rocks and an explanation of 

the best known routes and methods of reaching the goldfields. When the 

resolution came up in the House, George Perkins, chairman of the Committee on Printing, explained that the map was already prepared and ready 

for printing, but Congress could get copies cheaply by ordering immediately 

30,000 copies for its own distribution. On January 28, 1898, Congress 

appropriated $20,000 for the Survey to make geological and topographical 

surveys in Alaska.

For the Alaska program, two types of work were considered necessary 

exploratory surveys, including geologic reconnaissance, into regions about 

which there was little or no satisfactory geographic information, and detailed 

topographic surveys in areas whose general geographic features were fairly 

well known but which were of importance from a geologic or economic 

standpoint. The work promised to be of unusual severity and to involve 

many hardships, so a call was issued for volunteers. From the geologic corps, 

two of Emmons' proteges, George H. Eldridge and Josiah E. Spurr, were 

chosen; Alfred H. Brooks, whose interest in Alaska had been fired by Hayes, 

was the third. For Brooks, this was the beginning of a long association with 

Alaska. From the topographers, E. C. Barnard, W. J. Peters, W. S. Post, 

and Robert Muldrow were selected. Eldridge was placed in charge.

Alaska, 1898 281
Provisions and equipment 22,000 pounds of it were assembled at Seattle, and on April 5, the U.S.S. Wheeling, which had been made available 

for the transportation of the parties and their outfit, sailed with all except 

Barnard aboard. Barnard had gone on ahead to investigate the practicability 

of using reindeer in transporting his outfit to the upper Yukon.

The Barnard and Peters parties were discharged at Skagway on April 11, 

and from there traveled by wagon, sleigh, packhorse, dog team, and canoe 

to the mouth of the White River. The Barnard party was assigned to survey 

an area in the Klondike region, and the Peters party, to which Brooks was 

attached, to the survey and examination of the White and Tanana Rivers.

Survey geologists and topographers sent to Alaska 

in 1898 to explore for routes inland visited many 

previously unexplored areas. Eldridge's party explored the Sushitna (modern spelling Susitna) River 

system and beyond to the Yukon to locate a route 

to the Tanana. The Susitna-Tanana divide is the 

lofty and rugged Alaskan Range which carries the 

highest peak on the North American continent, 

Mount McKinley. (From G. H. Eldridge, 1900.)

Vague reports from traders who had obtained the 

information from Alaskan natives indicated that the 

divide between the Susitna and Kuskokwim Rivers 

was in low flat country but Spurr's party found it 

to be a high range of mountains on whose summits 

lay snow and whose sides bore glaciers. The pass 

over the mountains was about 4,400 feet above sea 

level. (From J. E. Spurr, 1900.)

282 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
Mendenhall photographed the Matanuska Glacier 

with its well-defined medial moraine. (From W. C. 

Mendenhall, 1900.)

Schrader noted that Port Valdes (now Port Valdez) 

seemed to be the best gateway from the coast into 

the Copper River country but was enclosed by 

mountains which rose steeply from the shore to a 

height of about 5,000 feet. (From F. C. Schrader, 

1900.)

The Wheeling continued to Cook Inlet and discharged the rest of the party 

at Tyonek on April 27. Eldridge and the remaining corps traveled together 

up the Susitna River to about 60°40' N. where several forks of the river 

combine. Then Eldridge, with Muldrow as topographer, began an exploration of the northeastern part of the Susitna drainage basin, and Spurr, 

with Post as topographer, proceeded westward across the divide to survey 

the headwaters of the Kuskokwim River and determine the navigability of 

the stream.

The services of Survey scientists and engineers were also made available 

to other Federal agencies. In December 1897, Willard Hayes and Arthur 

P. Davis were sent to Nicaragua with the Nicaraguan Canal Commission,

Alaska, 1898 283
for which Congress had provided in the Sundry Civil Expenses Act of June 

4. There had been two reconnaissance surveys of a canal route from the 

Atlantic to the Pacific, and then a third had located a route and drawn plans 

on which construction had begun. Financial difficulties brought construction 

to a halt, so Congress appointed a commission, which examined the plans, 

doubled the estimates, and recommended further investigation of the route, 

in particular of the geology and hydrography of the area.

The War Department also requested the services of geologists to accompany exploring expeditions to Alaska. F. C. Schrader accompanied a party 

that made a reconnaissance of the Copper River district to find an allAmerican route from the coast into the gold districts of the upper Yukon. 

W. C. Mendenhall accompanied a party that made a reconnaissance from 

Resurrection Bay on the southeastern shore of the Kenai Peninsula to the 

Tanana River at the mouth of the Delta River, one of its southern tributaries, 

through a region previously almost unknown. A third expedition, planned 

by the War Department, had to be canceled because of the outbreak of the 

Spanish-American War.

The Spanish-American War was brief, and there was no need to adjust 

Survey programs to meet war needs. Between the sinking of the battleship 

Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, and the declaration of war 

on April 25, both the House and Senate passed the appropriations bill. The 

conference report was held up, however, until June 6, and by the time the 

bill was signed on July 1, 1898, the war was all but over. The Survey 

appropriation was increased by token amounts: $1,000 for preparation of 

illustrations, $5,000 for topographic surveys, and $10,000 for geologic 

surveys.

The war created no strain on the mineral supplies in the United States 

but did create an immediate interest in the mineral resources of the occupied 

areas. Early in July, Becker sailed from San Francisco, under orders from 

the War Department, to investigate and report on the mineral resources of 

the Philippine Islands. He compiled a summary of the geology of the islands 

as known at the time, but despite the surrender of Manila on August 13, 

he was unable to do much fieldwork because of continuing native hostility.

U.S. Geological Survey scientists and engineers 

were sent beyond national boundaries. C. W. Hayes 

and A. P. Davis investigated the geology, topography, and hydrography of Nicaragua where a set 

of unusual conditions held promise of a practicable 

route for a large ship canal between the Atlantic 

and Pacific. Lake Nicaragua is separated from the 

Pacific Ocean by a narrow strip of land containing 

the lowest depression in the continental divide between the Arctic Ocean and the Strait of Magellan. 

It is a natural reservoir that could be used for storing 

water for operating the locks of a canal and also as 

a regulator for the control of floods. Lake Managua, 

northwest of Lake Nicaragua, was suggested as a 

storage reservoir for supplying water to Lake Nicaragua during the dry season. (From A. P. Davis, 

1900.)

284 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
George F. Becker was sent to the Philippine Islands 

in 1898 to investigate the geology and mineral 

resources of the islands but could accomplish little 

because of the continuing insurrection. Geologizing 

under arms with a military escort, he noted, was 

more exciting than profitable. He found, however, 

that Mayon Volcano confirmed some of his earlier 

studies of the shape of volcanoes. (From G. F. 

Becker, 1901.)

Becker, who is reported to have said that if he could not have been a 

geologist he would have been a soldier, attached himself to the Bureau of 

Military Information of the Eighth Army Corps, and on invitation from 

General MacArthur, went to the front and participated in several engagements.

While Becker was in the Philippines, Emmons moved into Becker's 

territory and made an extended reconnaissance of mining districts in California as well as Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana 

in order to arrive at a better understanding of the relative importance of the 

different mining districts and thus be able to advise the Director on future 

economic work. Ransome continued the surveys of the Mother Lode district 

begun under Becker's direction. Under Emmons' direction, Tower, assisted 

part of the time by Arthur Spencer, investigated the underground workings 

near Rico, Colorado, and T. A. Jaggar, who had been working with Hague, 

joined J. M. Boutwell, a graduate student at Harvard, in mapping in the 

northern part of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Weed completed the 

general geologic investigations in the Boulder quadrangle in Montana but 

was unable to complete the economic survey because some of the mines were 

shut down. Lindgren continued his detailed mapping in Idaho, concentrating on the mining district near Hailey.

The iron-ore investigations in the Lake Superior region and the Adirondacks were continued, and Professor J. E. Wolff began an investigation in 

the Franklin Furnace area in New Jersey. Nonmetallic investigations were 

more limited. Marius Campbell mapped about 1,000 square miles in the 

West Virginia coalfields, then moved on into Kentucky to make a physioEconomic Geology, 1898 285
graphic study of the valleys of the Kentucky and Licking Rivers, part of an 

investigation of the Ohio River drainage basin. J. A. Taff began a very 

detailed and accurate survey of the coalfields in Indian Territory.

A Mining Congress, mostly metal-mining men, met in Salt Lake City in 

July 1898, primarily concerned with a revision of mining laws and the 

establishment of a Federal Department of Mines. However, it also adopted 

a resolution calling for a liberal increase in the Survey's appropriation. "The 

United States Geological Survey, as conducted at the present time under 

Director Walcott," the resolution said, "has been and is doing splendid 

work in bringing to the notice of the mining world and investors the mineral 

resources of the United States," and went on to say that "the amount of 

money appropriated for this survey is entirely insufficient," and even to 

suggest that "State surveys now in progress or in contemplation should cooperate with the United States Geological Survey, and be made co-ordinate 

to and a part of that work," as a means of lessening costs and at the same 

time adding to the value of the work done.

Areal geologic mapping was continued in all parts of the country, much 

of it being done by professors who were able to devote part of their year to 

the work of the Survey. Paleontologic work was concentrated on two time 

periods late Paleozoic and late Mesozoic. The late Paleozoic problem was 

attacked by geologists of Yale University. Professor H. S. Williams continued his general study of Devonian rocks and faunas, sent one of his graduate 

students, E. M. Kindle, to southern Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia 

to study and collect Silurian to Carboniferous fossils for comparison, and 

sent another graduate student, H. E. Gregory, to Aroostook County, Maine, 

to enlarge the collections of the previous year. George Girty, who had joined 

the Survey in 1895 after receiving his doctorate from Yale, studied early 

Carboniferous fossils in Ohio, Michigan, and in Indian Territory. The Survey 

staff concentrated on the late Mesozoic problem. T. W. Stanton studied the 

Cretaceous in Texas, Ward studied the relations of the Comanche and Dakota formations, and Knowlton studied the Cretaceous of the State of Washington. Professor Van Hise spent some time in the southern Appalachians, 

where the Ocoee series was the big problem, working with Arthur Keith, 

George W. Stose, and Cooper Curtice in an attempt to determine its relations to the Paleozoic rocks of the Great Valley. A detailed report was 

submitted to the Director, which served as a basis for discussion among 

geologists familiar with the problem, but no conclusion was reached.

The time was propitious for another effort to establish some uniformity 

in stratigraphic classification and nomenclature. In the spring of 1898, the 

Journal of Geology, of which T. C. Chamberlin was editor and C. D. Walcott 

an associate editor, took a poll of several American geologists on the subject. 

The importance of a more systematic classification of time divisions and 

rock series had been recognized by the international congresses, the editors 

said, but the limited results attained indicated that the problem must be 

worked out gradually, perhaps in the great provinces or in individual continents first. Many geologists who sympathized with the effort to secure a 

more uniform practice were unwilling to have a rigid system imposed on 

them by the vote of a body such as an international congress. There were 

also those who questioned whether the science had reached a stage of development that warranted the formal adoption of a universal system of classification and nomenclature. The editors sympathized with these views but 

felt nonetheless that some effort should be made toward development of a 

system appropriate to North America as a preliminary to the establishment 

of an intercontinental system.

286 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
Gilbert, who was one of those polled, had mellowed a bit in the decade 

since he had thrown down the gauntlet to the International Congress of 

Geologists in 1887. He said:

So long as historical geology continues to be a living science, no definite 

system of nomenclature can hope to be permanent, nor even, perhaps, to give 

temporary satisfaction to a majority of geologists. Nevertheless *** teachers 

and geological surveys must have definite systems, and so the task of making 

and remaking them is a sort of necessary evil.

Gilbert preferred Eon, Period, Epoch, and Stage for time terms, System or 

Series, Series or System, Group, and Formation for the corresponding rock 

terms. Bailey Willis, however, voted for Era, Period, Age, and Epoch, as 

time terms with System, Group, Series, and Formation as corresponding 

rock terms. Others preferred different combinations, and Samuel Calvin,

C. D. Walcott continued his scientific work, on a 

somewhat reduced scale, while he was Director. In 

1898 when he visited the Belt Mountains, he discovered a great unconformity between the Cambrian 

and the Belt series, considered Algonkian in age, 

and found fossils in shales nearly 7,000 feet below 

the highest beds of the Belt series. This was only 

the third area of which it could be said with certainty that the strata were Precambrian and the fossils of organic origin. (From C. D. Walcott, 1899.)

Stratigraphic Classification 287
the State Geologist of Iowa and one of the editors of the American Geologist, 

said that the terms suggested by the Journal as a basis for discussion 

Group, System, Series, Stage, and the correlative time divisions, Era, Period, Epoch, Age were to his mind very satisfactory, but "Of course any 

other terms would answer equally well provided geologists were agreed to 

use them." There was no more unanimity on other questions proposed, 

such as dividing the Carboniferous, the Cretaceous, or the Cenozoic.

The Journal of Geology poll had not disclosed any uniformity of opinion 

on geologic nomenclature, but the Survey decided to take a step toward 

systemization. On February 17, 1899, a Committee on Geologic Formation 

Names was established, with Philip C. Warman, Chief of the Editorial 

Division, as chairman and G. W. Stose and F. B. Weeks as the other 

members. By that time, the custom of giving a local geographic name to 

geologic subdivisions had become so universal in the United States that 

names were being duplicated because the geologic literature was too vast 

for the working geologist to determine whether or not the names he proposed 

to use had been preoccupied. The Committee was "to consider all names of 

geologic formations or other divisions of rock classifications with a view to 

determining whether they comply with the rules of nomenclature adopted 

for the Survey publications and to recommend such action as may be advisable in any individual case to secure unity of nomenclature under the 

rules." No attempt was made to impose Survey rules on others, but Weeks, 

who had been compiling a card catalogue of formation names in his spare 

time between fieldwork and preparation of the Bibliography of North American 

Geology, volunteered in the April May 1899 issue of the Journal of Geology 

to furnish information to anyone who wrote asking about names until such 

time as the catalogue could be completed and published.

In the Hydrographic Division, the usual stream measurements were continued in all parts of the country, although most of the work was in the 

arid region. In California, the drought was the most severe on record, and 

J. B. Lippincott and his assistants made a large number of low-water measurements. Willard Johnson continued his studies of the Great Plains area, 

and N. H. Darton, his examination of the region east of the Black Hills. 

Darton mapped the Hermosa quadrangle, South Dakota, with the object of 

ultimately preparing a folio for the geologic atlas, thus placing the groundwater investigations on a new footing. The construction of reservoirs as a 

means of providing a water supply for the Indians being forced to live on 

reservations became an established part of the program. In the Indian Appropriations Act, Congress authorized $20,000 for a study of the Gila River 

and Queen Creek in Arizona. As soon as he returned from Nicaragua, Arthur 

Davis took charge of the Gila River investigation, and Cyrus Babb made a 

general reconnaissance of the Gila River to determine the feasibility of constructing a dam at the Buttes. Under instructions from the Secretary, Newell 

directed Gerard Matthes in a detailed survey of reservoir sites in southwestern Colorado by means of which it was thought to be practicable to 

supply water to the southern Utes.

The Topographic Branch completed the field surveys of Indian Territory 

and continued the work on the Idaho-Montana and other boundary lines 

and the surveys of forest reserves in addition to the regular topographicmapping program. In the standard mapping program, surveys were made 

in 31 States and Territories, including Alaska. The bulk of the mapping 

was for publication at 1:125,000, but more than 20 percent of the area was 

mapped for publication at 1:62,500. Both New York and Maryland contributed increased funds for cooperative mapping to expand the program in 

those States, and West Virginia also began cooperative work.

288 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
S. S. Gannett and D. L. Reaburn continued the the work on the IdahoMontana line and completed the survey of the random line on October 31 

in snow 2Vi feet deep, narrowly missing being snowed in without provisions. 

The Secretary ordered an examination of the existing boundary line of the 

Yakima Indian Reservation to determine whether it conformed to the provisions of the treaty under which the land was set aside for the use of the 

Indians. When E. C. Barnard returned from Alaska in October, he was sent 

to make the examination but was unable to accomplish much because of the 

deep snow.

The field surveys of the Indian Territory, including the resurvey of the 

lands of the Chickasaw Nation, were completed in the latter part of June 

1898. The subdivision parties were therefore disbanded at the begining of 

the year, and some of the men transferred to the Central, Rocky Mountain, 

and Pacific Sections of the Topographic Branch. Authorization had been 

given to use the unexpended money from the Chickasaw Nation resurveys 

to extend the mapping into Texas. These were completed at the end of 

December 1898, and in March 1899, all office work having been completed, the Indian Territory Section was discontinued. C. H. Fitch was then 

assigned to the survey of the forest reserves, and several topographers were 

added to the Survey staff.

During the Indian Territory surveys, 63,881 miles of lines and 9,303 

miles of spirit levels had been run, 138 triangulation stations located, and 

30,885 square miles mapped topographically in addition to the subdivisional surveys. The work demonstrated that it was more economical to 

survey areas of 1,000 square miles or more in this manner than under the 

contract system previously used, although smaller areas might be surveyed 

under the contract system at lower cost than by the Geological Survey if the 

contracts were let to local surveyors who would not incur traveling expenses. 

It was 20 years since Powell had told Congress that the surveys as then 

carried on were "unnecessarily expensive" and that "surveying is properly 

a question of scientific engineering, and some man thus qualified should 

have charge of the work, alike to protect the interests of the government 

and of the people settling on the public lands." He had been proved right, 

and the contract system was shortly thereafter abandoned.

The surveys of the forest reserves were advanced as rapidly as possible in 

the short time available for work at high altitudes and were extended into 

the older reserves. Topographic or subdivisional surveys were made in 13 

reserves, and 5,314 square miles were mapped on the 2-mile scale, 708 

square miles on the 1-mile scale. The forestry experts completed their examinations of seven reserves. Both the mapping and examination of the 

Black Hills Reserve was completed so that the U.S. Surveyor could begin 

marking the 217 miles of boundary on July 1, 1899-

For fiscal year 1900, Walcott asked for increases of $40,000 in the appropriation for geological surveys and $45,000 for topographic surveys, but 

the estimate submitted to Congress by Secretary Bliss was simply the amount 

appropriated for 1899- Walcott therefore took his case to Congress. The 

House Appropriations Committee added $20,000 to the Secretary's estimate for topographic surveys, making it $200,000, but then subtracted 

$20,000 from the appropriation for mapping forest reserves. No other 

changes were made.

The Sundry Civil Expenses bill reached the floor in February 1899 and 

brought on an eruption of oratory on the Spanish-American War, the acquisition of the Philippine Islands, and the Nicaraguan Canal before the 

Congressmen finally settled down to the details of the appropriations. As 

soon as the appropriation for topographic surveys was read out, George Stone

Topographic Surveys, 1898 289
of Pennsylvania moved to increase it from $200,000 to $250,000, because 

the requirements for work in the semiarid and arid regions left insufficient 

funds for the Survey to carry on cooperative work with half a dozen States 

in the East. George Ray of New York also favored the amendment; he had 

been assured by gentlemen connected with the Survey that the work would 

be seriously crippled and its efficiency impaired if the appropriation was not 

granted. Oscar Underwood of Alabama agreed, and then Alston Dayton of 

West Virginia offered the opinion that "There is no Government work in 

which our people are more deeply interested than that of the Geological 

Survey and there is no branch of it that is of deeper interest in our people 

* * * than the topographical part of it." Charles Grosvenor of Ohio endorsed that sentiment. Of the five speakers, four, it should be noted, came 

from States where there had been a concentration of mapping activities for 

several years past, and the fifth, from a State that was about to begin 

cooperative work.

When he got the chance, Joseph Cannon, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said, "If the friends of this amendment are through, 

I'll tell the consideration given by the Committee and am content to 

abide by the decision of the Committee of the Whole." He then explained 

that the committee had raised the Secretary's estimate by $20,000 and 

added that if the Director of the Geological Survey had spent half as much 

time convincing the Secretary as he had evidently done elsewhere, the Secretary's estimate might have been larger. Mr. Stone's amendment was then 

defeated, 36 28, and the House passed the bill following the recommendations of its Appropriation Committee.

The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended the full amount 

originally requested by the Director, $225,000. When the bill reached the 

floor of the Senate, Senator Mathew Butler of North Carolina, which was 

also about to enter into a cooperative agreement, proposed an additional 

increase to $250,000. Senator Allison tried to sidetrack the issue, but Butler 

was persistent, and in the end the Senate voted to appropriate $250,000 for 

topographic surveys. In the compromise between Senate and House versions 

of the bill, $240,000 was appropriated for topographic surveys. An appropriation of $6,300 was also approved for surveying and marking the 98th 

meridian between the Red and Canadian Rivers.

There were no increases for geologic work although an effort was made 

by Senator Stewart, former archcritic of the Survey. In December 1898, 

Senator Stewart, still pursuing the matter of mineral statistics, introduced 

a resolution calling for a Division of Mines and Mining in the U.S. Geological Survey "for the purpose of gathering and publishing statistics of 

the mineral resources of the United States, including the products of gold 

and silver, based upon the actual mined product of each State, and statistics 

of labor employed and wages earned in mining operations, and making 

investigations in relation to mines and mining generally, and publishing 

the results thereof, and for the purpose of compiling and publishing the 

laws relating to prospecting, prospectors, and mining, and recommending 

revisions of the same and that there be appropriated for the purposes of this 

division one hundred and fifty thousand dollars." The stated purposes for 

the Division harkened back to those of the combined Mining Geology-Tenth 

Census investigations of 1880. The suggested appropriation was equal to 

the total Survey appropriation for that year, 1881.

The Director of the Geological Survey by now had something a little 

broader in mind. He wrote to Senator Stewart on December 21, that he 

believed "that the mining interests should have a clearly defined representation in the organization of the Government, and that either this proposed

290 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
division or a bureau of mines should be established," but he suggested 

mildly that, instead of "investigations in relation to mines and mining 

generally," the resolution should read "investigations and surveys in relation to mines and mining generally."

In a more formal statement, he said, "There has been a sentiment growing 

among the mineral producers throughout the United States that the Government has not given as much attention to mining as the importance of 

that industry demands; that inasmuch as there is a Department of Agriculture, there should also be a department of mines, or at least a bureau in 

which mines and mining should form a part of the title. There does not 

seem to be any well-defined idea of what the scope or duty of such a bureau 

should be or what relations it should have to the existing bureaus of the 

Government dealing more or less indirectly with statistics and matters relating to mines and mining. It appears that many advocates of the establishment of a department of mines and mining have lost sight of the fact 

that an existing organization, the Geological Survey, includes among its 

duties many that could be done by such a department; that by the establishment of a division of mines and mining within the Geological Survey 

the mining interests of the country would have a clearly defined representation in the organization of the Government; that if properly provided with 

means for the collection of statistics and investigation of all matters pertaining to mines and mining, the publication of the statistics and information thus gathered, the interests of the mining industry would be properly 

cared for."

In listing the investigations that might appropriately be undertaken, 

Walcott first repeated earlier statements about precious-metal investigations 

but added that studies of coal, coke, petroleum, and asphalts, building 

stones, and clays should also be undertaken. Problems were by that time 

developing in the coal industry. The artificially maintained high prices for 

anthracite had caused consumers to turn to other kinds of fuel. Bituminous 

coal, with the use of smoke-consuming furnaces, was superseding anthracite 

for steam raising, and coke, or a mixture of bituminous coal and coke, was 

being used in iron furnaces. Coke was also being used in kitchen ranges and 

domestic furnaces, and natural gas was also increasingly being used for 

domestic purposes. Walcott pointed out that

The coals and cokes of the United States have so far been studied mainly on 

the empirical side, each by itself, or at best in small series and with reference 

to immediate purposes. Most of the analyses have been partial only, and there 

have been very few complete and ultimate analyses, particularly when we consider the extent of our resources. Then, coupled with the chemical investigation, there should be a thorough study of the calorific value of the various 

coals, not only as shown by the analyses, but through the medium of thorough 

and systematic practical tests. * *' The coke-making industry, closely allied to 

that of coal mining, could also be much benefited by a study of the best methods of coke making. Th prevalent method heretofore in use in this country has 

been an exceedingly wasteful one, in that valuable by-products generated in 

the coking process have been lost, and it is only within very recent years that 

the problem of saving and utilizing these by-products has been seriously considered.

With regard to the building stones, Walcott reported that the Supervising 

Architect had requested information on a granite that was to be used in 

construction of public buildings and said that in his opinion "every variety 

of granite, sandstone, limestone, and slate, and every other stone entering 

into the construction of a public building, should be examined and its 

qualities determined before a contract is entered into for its use."

Nonmetallic Mineral Resources 291
The Director's statement was printed as a Senate document, but the 

resolution to establish a Division of Mines and Mining in the Survey was 

not passed.

Walcott also tried to interest Congress in the establishment of a new 

national park. He had spent part of the summer of 1898 inspecting the 

Teton Forest Reserve, which was adjacent to and south of the Yellowstone 

Reserve. A bill recommending an extension of Yellowstone National Park 

to embrace the Yellowstone Reserve, the Teton Reserve east of the summit 

of the Teton Range, and two small unreserved areas at the southwest and 

northwest corners of the park had been sent to Congress on February 1, 

1898. The Interior Department had also received petitions from Wyoming 

residents who favored instead the inclusion of the part of the forest reserve 

abutting Yellowstone Park on the south within the Teton Reserve, adding 

to the latter certain public lands on the south frequented largely by game, 

and the creating therefrom of a new national park, to be managed separately 

from Yellowstone National Park.

Congress had hardly convened in December 1898 before the Director's 

neighbor, Senator Pettigrew, introduced a resolution asking the Secretary 

of the Interior to send the Senate "all the information in the possession of 

his Department in relation to the region south of and adjoining the Yellowstone National Park; also, what steps should be taken to preserve the game 

in the park, and whether the region south of the park should not be put 

under the same control as the national park, in order to prevent the extinction of the herds of wild game roaming therein."

Walcott's report was forwarded to Congress promptly. As far as the wild 

game were concerned, the Director said, their winter pasture was being 

crowded northward by settlement, and unless something was done to protect 

what remained, it was only a question of time before the game, like the 

buffalo, would become extinct. However, rifle and shotgun would as surely 

exterminate the game as would destruction of their winter pasture, unless 

the Government did something to prevent the shooting of game. The Teton 

Reserve might be kept as a forest reserve although there was very little 

commercial timber because in the past it had persistently been burned by 

the Indians. However, young pines were springing up, and in a few years, 

there would be a heavy forest growth, provided fires were kept out. Extension of the reserve to the south would secure natural fire limits and would 

provide winter range for the elk, antelope, and deer that had their summer 

range in Yellowstone National Park.

A Teton National Park, comprising the Teton Reserve and that part of 

the Yellowstone Reserve south of the Park, would be even better than a 

forest reserve. Walcott's enthusiasm for the area was evident: "I have personally visited most of the points and regions in the United States noted for 

their scenery, but in my judgment, there is nothing that excels in natural 

beauty the valley of Jackson Lake and the Teton Mountains. * * * It may 

be more truly called the Switzerland of America than can any other spot 

known to me." Walcott even added a bit of practical advice, "If it were 

practicable to obtain railroad facilities to the foot of Jackson Lake and thus 

enable the tourist to see that beautiful region and then go north by stage 

to the Yellowstone Lake and through the park it would be the grandest 

trip, for one of limited extent, to be found anywhere in the world."

Teton National Park was eventually established, but not until 1931. 

However, Congress on March 2, 1899, created another national park, 

Mount Rainier National Park, for which geologists, especially Willis and 

Emmons, had been lobbying. Mount Rainier was the fourth national park, 

following Yellowstone, Sequoia and Yosemite.

292 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
In March 1899, part of the Pacific Forest Reserve 

including Mount Rainier with its extensive glacier 

systems was made a national park. Both S. F. Emmons, who had been the second person to climb 

Mount Rainier and who had discovered the glaciers 

there in 1871, and Bailey Willis of the U.S. Geological Survey had been active in promoting establishment of the park.(The view shown is from the 

same point as that shown in volume 1, page 108.) 

(From I. C. Russell, 1898.)

In the field season of 1899, the Topographic Branch, its Federal appropriation of $180,000 supplemented by contributions of $43,000 from five 

States for cooperative mapping, mapped nearly 37,000 square miles in 29 

States and Territories and ran about 1,600 miles of reconnaissance traverse 

in Alaska. Topographic maps were made of about 6,000 square miles of 

forest reserves, and the forestry experts completed their examinations of 

seven reserves. The survey of the Idaho-Montana boundary was completed, 

and the survey of the Oklahoma-Indian Territory boundary was begun. 

Barnard completed the survey of the boundary of the Yakima Indian Reservation and concluded that the Indians had indeed been deprived of land 

that was rightfully theirs.

Though no additional funds were available for geologic surveys, the metals 

investigations were extended in the summer of 1899. Emmons was personally engaged in an investigation of the Black Hills of South Dakota, which 

King while he was Director had suggested should follow his work in Colorado. The areal and economic survey of the Spearfish quadrangle, which 

included the most important and actively exploited ore-bearing areas, was 

completed, and observations were extended into the adjacent Sundance quadrangle. Tower had resigned to engage in private work but J. D. Irving made 

the economic study under Emmons' direction, while T. A. Jaggar and J. 

M. Boutwell did the general mapping. In other precious-metal investigations, F. L. Ransome came east from California to work under Emmons'

Survey Fieldwork, 1899 293
direction, making first the economic study of the Silverton quadrangle in 

Colorado, which Cross and Spencer had mapped. Lindgren completed his 

report on the Silver City, DeLamar, and other mining districts of Idaho and 

then began a reconnaissance of the Bitterroot Range in Montana.

In October, Ransome and Spencer were sent off together to make a reconnaissance examination of the copper and uranium deposits of the Uncompahgre Plateau in western Colorado that Emmons had decided were 

worth investigating. A new mineral containing vanadium and uranium had 

been discovered earlier in the year and named "carnotite." It was found in 

commercial quantities and offered a new source of the rare metals for which 

there was some economic demand. Hillebrand had made a study of the 

mineral and the associated vanadiferous sandstone in which relatively large 

quantities of the rare vanadium mica, roscoelite, also occurred.

Weed was by now well on his way to becoming the Survey's copper 

expert. He spent 3 months in Butte, Montana, where new and extensive 

development work in the mines made it imperative that additional data be 

secured. He continued work on the Helena Special quadrangle, and with 

the assistance of Joseph Barrell, a graduate student at Yale, he made a 

special study of the ore deposits and intricate geology of the region near 

Elkhorn, Montana. Then in the winter, he made a reconnaissance trip to 

Ducktown, Tennessee, copper mines and examined the newly opened copper 

properties at Goldhill, North Carolina, and the copper districts of Person 

County, North Carolina, and Halifax, Virginia.

Only two geologists with experience in Alaska were available to continue 

the work there. Eldridge was again in demand for a new assignment and 

began a study of the asphaltum deposits of the United States under the 

auspices of the Division of Mineral Resources. Spurr had been married early 

in the year and declined to head up the work. Instead he was sent to make 

a reconnaissance of the lesser known parts of the Great Basin region of 

Nevada and California with a view to filling in gaps in the geologic map 

of the United States and ascertaining whatever might be of interest from a 

scientific or economic standpoint. Mendenhall was planning to go to Germany for study. So Frank Schrader took charge of a party that explored the 

Chandlar and Koyukuk Rivers, and A. H. Brooks accompanied W. J. Peters 

in an exploration along the upper Alsek River and aross the White River 

to the Tanana Valley and Eagle City.

At the same time, areal geologic mapping and stratigraphic studies were 

continued in various parts of the country, and a committee, under the 

chairmanship of Arnold Hague, was established to consider the scope of a 

proposed "9-sheet" geologic map of the United States. Three of the senior 

scientists of the Survey, W. H. Dall, Henry Gannett, and G. K. Gilbert, 

accompanied the Harriman Expedition to Alaska.

There was another reminder of times past in renewed controversy on the 

age of the Earth. In May 1899, Science had printed Lord Kelvin's paper, 

The Age of the Earth as an Abode Fitted for Life the annual address of the 

Victoria Institute in 1897, with additions to May 1898. The paper was, 

of course, mathematical, drew heavily on the Barus experiments, and Lord 

Kelvin concluded that he was "not led to differ much" from Clarence 

King's estimate of 24 million years. Professor Chamberlin followed with 

a paper of the same title in which he differed from the mathematical-physical 

approach, as had McGee in 1893, but on somewhat different grounds.

Professor Chamberlin began very diplomatically:

In the early half of the century, when the more sober modes of interpreting 

geological data were struggling to displace the cataclysmic extravagances of 

more primitive times, it is not strange that there should have arisen, as a natural

294 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
outgrowth of the contest, an ultra-uniformitarianism which demanded for the 

evolution an immeasurable lapse of time. It is not remarkable that individual 

geologists here and there, reacting impatiently against the restraints of stinted 

time-limits imposed on traditional grounds, should have inconsiderately cast 

aside all time limitations. It was not unnatural that the earlier uniformitarians, 

not yet fully emancipated from inherited impressions regarding the endurance 

of rocks and the immutability of the 'everlasting hills' should have entertained 

extreme notions of the slowness of geological processes and have sought 

compensation in excessive postulates of time. Natural as these reactions from 

primitive restrictions were, a reaction from them in turn was inevitable. This 

reaction must have ensued, in the nature of the case, whensoever geologists 

came seriously to consider those special phenomena which point to limitations 

of time. But in the earlier part of the century geological attention was absorbed 

in the great phenomena that testify to the vastness of the earth's history. The 

time for the study of limitations had not come.

Chamberlin went on to point out that Kelvin was right in attacking the 

ultrauniformitarians, but there were also ultracatastrophists, and the "great 

body of serious geologists have moved forward neither by the right flank 

nor by the left, but on median lines." These lines, he thought, were in 

the field of qualified uniformitarianism. The real problem, as Chamberlin 

saw it, was that Kelvin's determination was based on the assumption (very 

sure assumption, in Kelvin's words) that the material of the present solid 

Earth all around its surface was at one time a white-hot liquid. There was 

an alternative, which Chamberlin had proposed, that the Earth grew by 

meteoric accretion with sufficient slowness to remain essentially solid at all 

stages. He suggested that if astronomers, physicists, and mathematicians 

jointly attacked the formational history of the solar system, stage by stage, 

it might be possible to come to some conclusion, but he wondered "whether 

there is at present a solid basis for any 'sure assumption' with reference to 

the earth's early thermal conditions, either internal or external, of such a 

determinate nature as to place any strict limitations upon the duration of 

life."

The Division of Hydrography, in addition to gaging streams, surveyed 

several reservoir sites, and prepared estimates of their capacity and cost, 

examined canal lines conducting the water from these reservoirs to the irrigable lands, and ascertained the cost of construction chiefly in connection 

with the Indian reservations but also in California. The investigation of the 

practicability of storing water along the Gila River to irrigate the Gila 

Indian Reservation was completed by J. B. Lippincott and Cyrus Babb after 

Davis took leave of absence to continue investigations in Central America 

for the Isthmian Canal Commission similar to those he had begun for the 

Nicaraguan Commission. Babb then began a survey and examination of the 

Uinta Indian Reservation in northeastern Utah to ascertain the water supply 

and practicability of irrigating the agricultural lands of that reservation, 

while Gerard Matthes made a detailed survey of the Riverside reservoir site 

in Arizona and then a reconnaissance of Mancos Canyon in southeastern 

Colorado to determine the cost and capacity of small reservoir sites near the 

Southern Ute Indian Reservation. Lippincott was put in charge of fieldwork 

in California, where the continuing drought had made the necessity for 

water storage apparent. The California Water and Forest Society raised a 

fund of several thousand dollars, part of which was intended for use in 

cooperation with the Survey for examination of reservoir sites and the determination of available water supply. The principal reservoir survey was 

the Hetch Hetchy, near the headwaters of the Tuolumne, but systematic 

measurements were also begun on the San Joaquin, Kings, Salinas, and 

other streams.

Age of the Earth A Reprise 295
The mineral industry had another very profitable year in 1899. The total 

value of mineral products was more than 40 percent over that in 1898 and 

was already close to the $ 1 billion that King had predicted as its ultimate 

value. The gold mined that year was valued at more than $71 million, just 

about twice what it had been only 5 years earlier.

In his state of the Union message, President McKinley reported that on 

December 1, 1899, there was a cash balance of $278 million in the Treasury, of which $239-7 million was in gold coin and bullion, and that the 

"widespread confidence" that prevailed throughout the country had 

brought gold into more general use. In fact, gold was seeking the Treasury 

demanding paper money in exchange. It was therefore "the most fitting 

time to make adequate provision to ensure the continuance of the gold 

standard and of public confidence in the ability and purpose of the Government to meet all its obligations in the money which the civilized world 

recognizes as the best." On March 14, 1900, the United States adopted 

the gold standard.

Several bills were filed in aid of the mineral industry, and the House 

Committee on Mines and Mining reported favorably on two of them, one 

to establish mining experiment stations and the other to establish a Department of Mines with the Survey as its nucleus "to acquire by examination, 

practical and scientific experiments, geologic research and otherwise, useful 

information on the subject of mining in the comprehensive sense of the 

word," including among a long list of minerals, "mineral waters, as well 

as waters used in mining, manufacturing, or developing electric power." 

None was passed.

Walcott took advantage of the American Institute of Mining Engineers 

meeting in February 1900 to deliver a statement of policy on the role of the 

Survey in relation to the mining industry. The Survey, he said,

should endeavor to accomplish for the mining industry, as a whole, what the 

individual mining engineer or mine-owner cannot succeed by his unaided exertions in doing; *** should not undertake to do what could be done as well, if 

not better, by individual exertion; *** [and] should not interfere either favorably 

or unfavorably, with the private business of individuals or corporations, or 

enter into competition in their legitimate occupations with professional men, 

such as mining engineers.

The way was clear for Survey involvement in more than strictly geological 

investigations in connection with mining, and Walcott urged those in the 

mining industries who wished government recognition to "first secure legislative provision for a division of mines and mining in the Geological 

Survey, and later, if it is found desirable, ask for the establishment of a 

Department of Mines and Mining."

Walcott went on to say that the means for economic work in the Survey 

were limited, so the energies of Survey scientists were devoted to those 

branches of investigation that were of immediate use to the greatest number, 

and these were chiefly investigations leading to broad general deductions. 

He quoted Emmons as saying that the Survey's relations to the mining 

industry could be viewed from three standpoints: purely scientific, technical, 

and commercial. In the field of purely scientific investigations, the general 

object had been to determine the laws that govern the formation of deposits 

of the useful minerals and of the rock formations in which they are most 

likely to be found. The objective could be attained only by long and careful 

study of many and varied deposits, and the most intensive studies had to 

be made in old districts where the mining development had been greatest. 

From a partly developed district, only superficial facts could be learned, and 

such districts were the province of the mining engineer rather than that of 

the Government geologist.

296 The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 1897-1900
The same general principle held for technical and commercial studies. 

There was more danger of encroaching on the legitimate field of the mining 

engineer or metallurgist in technical studies than in geologic studies, and 

the Survey should confine itself to investigations that it was better fitted to 

make than was an individual.

The principle was easy of application in relation to commercial studies. 

The collection of accurate statistics of the mineral production of the country 

was a prime duty of the Survey. No branch of statistical science was in 

greater need of technical knowledge and thorough system than that which 

dealt with mineral production, and none was more liable to be led into 

error, if the collector's opinions were in any way biased by his interest. 

There was no body of men more absolutely disinterested than the employees 

of the Survey because, under the law, they could have no commercial interest 

in the subjects they treated. The statement called to mind J. D. Whitney's 

requirements, as outlined in 1878, and the words of the first Director on 

the importance of mineral statistics. The cycle had once more run full course.

More important than the Director's statement were the papers prepared 

by Survey geologists for the meeting, which gave a broad view of the work 

of the Survey in economic geology. The papers ranged from major discussions of principles, the distillation of the study of many years, to short 

descriptions of recent work. The major papers by C. R. Van Hise, S. F. 

Emmons, W. H. Weed, and Waldemar Lindgren presented a broad range 

of thought on the origin of ore deposits. Van Hise held one extreme that 

the deposition of most ores was a special case of the general work of ground 

waters and that ores of direct igneous origin or the direct result of processes 

of sedimentation were of limited extent. Lindgren tended toward the other. 

He was not prepared to deny that some classes of veins might be due to 

circulating surface waters alone, but he did not believe that their dissolving 

power was sufficient to account for all classes, or even the majority of fissure 

veins. Lindgren pointed out that important changes in the rocks adjacent 

to ore deposits had been overlooked and proposed an attempt at classifying 

veins according to the different phases of alteration accompanying them. 

Emmons held the middle ground. He did not deny the importance of the 

formation of ore deposits exclusively by magmatic differentiation as a possible first cause, but in his 20 years of study, he had not yet seen any of 

which the present condition was not due to further concentration. Emmons 

and Weed presented an explanation of the occurrence of bonanzas by secondary enrichment. The papers did not present any definitive explanation 

of the origin of ore deposits but laid solid groundwork for the advancement 

of the science. Thus, the meeting was described in later years as having 

established "a veritable milestone in the study of ore deposits."

The Origin of Ore Deposits 297
Chapter 11.

The Best Geological Survey in Christendom,

1900-1902

Proper regard for truth compels me to say that the Geological Survey of the 

United States, by common consent of well informed men, is the best Geological 

Survey conducted by any government in Christendom.

 Senator Thomas H. Carter

On February 20, 1899, Ethan Alien Hitchcock became Secretary of the 

Interior, succeeding Cornelius Bliss who retired for personal reasons. Hitchcock had amassed a fortune in the China trade and had retired in 1872, at 

the early age of 37, thereafter being occupied as a successful man of affairs 

in St. Louis, where his brother Henry was a distinguished lawyer and founder 

of the Washington University Law School. Secretary Hitchcock was aware 

of the needs of the mineral industry. He had established the first successful 

American plate-glass factory, which had been sold to the Pittsburgh Plate 

Glass Company a few years before he became Secretary. He also had extensive 

interests in iron and steel. Hitchcock was a personal as well as political 

friend of President McKinley and had prepared the plate-glass schedule for 

him in the 1890 tariff bill. When McKinley became President, he sent 

Hitchcock as minister to Russia in 1897 to advance the interests of American 

trade and in December 1898 recalled him to become Secretary of the Interior. Hitchcock was reported to be cold and formal in manner, collected 

in speech, and utterly impervious to the persuasions and influence of hardheaded men of affairs or of genial politicians. Secretary Hitchcock and the 

Director of the Geological Survey, however, soon established a very cordial 

working relationship.

The first budget estimate submitted to Congress by Secretary Hitchcock 

included a substantial increase for the Geological Survey to a total of 

$778,100. The House Appropriations Committee did not file its report on 

the Sundry Civil Expenses bill until May 2, 1900, but in a complete reversal 

of form, it recommended an appropriation for the Survey of $802,100, or 

$24,000 more than the estimate. The appropriation for geological surveys 

was increased to $150,000, and for the report on mineral resources, to 

$50,000.

On April 30, 3 days before the House Committee filed its report, Senator 

Thomas Carter of Montana had asked for a report on the Survey's waterresources investigations. The request was detailed: expenditures in the year 

ending June 30, 1900, character of the information obtained, steps being 

taken to make specific statements of the possibility and cost of the reclamation of certain tracts, specific localities under consideration for surveys, 

amount of money required for the year ending June 30, 1901. The Director 

replied on May 2. The amount of money available for fiscal year 1900 was 

about $90,000 $50,000 from the regular appropriation, $20,000 from a 

supplemental appropriation on March 30, and the balance from the Office 

of Indian Affairs. The information obtained related largely to the flow of 

streams and the possibility of regulating this flow by means of reservoirs.

The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902 299
After news of the discovery of gold on the Klondike 

in 1896 reached the United States, prospectors 

swarmed into all accessible parts of Alaska. Gold 

was found in commercial quantities on Ophir Creek 

in the Seward Peninsula in the spring of 1898, and 

in the beach deposits near Nome in July 1898. 

Alfred H. Brooks is shown here examining the auriferous gravels on a tributary of Ophir Creek. 

(From A. H. Brooks, 1901.)

x^ St? & "31 ..

In a few instances, detailed estimates of various storage propositions had 

been made, but for the most part, only a general knowledge of the fluctuations of streamflow had been obtained. The measurements of rivers and 

examinations of underground waters were laying the foundation for detailed 

estimates of possibilities of further reclamation or the development of resources not now utilized. The river measurements should be followed by 

specific examinations of the possibilities and cost of the reclamation of certain tracts. Then it would be "possible to discuss intelligently the probable 

cost and benefits of certain lines of development and to draw conclusions 

whether such work can best be carried on by individuals or by governmental 

agencies, whether State or national." The "resources not now utilized" 

to which he referred were then explained as the undeveloped waterpower in 

the Eastern and Southern States that could be utilized when the volume of 

water was known. That work, Walcott said, should be undertaken by the 

National Government rather than the States or private industry. A list of

300 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
By 1900, Butte, Montana, had become the most 

important mining center in the United States, producing 54,552 ounces of gold and 9,454,279 

ounces of silver as by-products of copper that 

amounted to 270,738,489 pounds in that year. 

The veins in the Anaconda system were of remarkable width and mineralogic uniformity; some of 

them, stoped for thousands of feet along their 

courses, had only local variations in richness and no 

well-formed ore shoots. (From W. H. Weed, 

1912.)

40 localities at which surveys were desirable, each of which would cost 

$5,000 to $25,000, was provided. Altogether, an appropriation of $250,000 

was needed, $38,000 for investigations in the Eastern and Southern States, 

the remainder for the West. On May 11, Senator Carter submitted a proposed amendment to the Sundry Civil Expenses bill to increase the appropriation for gaging streams to $250,000. It was referred to the Committee 

on Irrigation, which reported it favorably 4 days later and sent it to the 

Appropriations Committee.

As was common during an election year, much ot the discussion of the 

Sundry Civil Expenses bill in the House Committee of the Whole was 

campaign oratory. The bill was passed on May 5 without any special notice 

of the Survey appropriation. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended an increase of $63,000 for the Survey over the House bill but 

only $100,000 for gaging streams. The other increases were $10,000 for 

topographic surveys and $3,000 for research in physics and chemistry.

The Senate itself was in a mellow frame of mind when the Survey appropriation came up for consideration. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts did complain that there were too many departments involved in 

surveys and said they should be concentrated in one department, but his 

colleague from New Hampshire, Senator William E. Chandler, took the 

stand that it was better to scatter the work because competition made for 

better results. Senator Chandler said, perhaps facetiously, perhaps seriously, 

that he regretted that the Geological Survey seemed to be the only one of 

these surveys that did not have any ships, and he hoped that Senator Allison 

would propose an amendment to give them all the ships, all the officers, 

and all the seamen they needed for their business. Senator Lodge then prophesied that in time, as the Coast Survey had extended onto the land and 

become geodetic, the Geological Survey would extend into the water and 

get a navy (His prophesy was fulfilled in 1947.).

The appropriation for stream gaging was the only item in the Survey 

appropriation to call forth much serious discussion. Senator Carter proposed 

that it be increased to $250,000, saying as he did so that the Geological 

Survey of the United States was the best geological survey conducted by any

Appropriations for 1901 301
government, its publications the most enlightened, and its researches conducted by the most thoroughly equipped men of any like institution anywhere. Senator Stewart agreed: "I must say that the Geological Survey is 

now in good hands that it is working legitimately and accomplishing great 

good. * * * I was opposed to this Survey when it did extravagant things, 

but now that it is engaged in legitimate business, which is benefitting the 

country, I hope the Senate will take a rational and sensible view of it and 

give us a larger appropriation, which the Department wants." Senator 

Wolcott of Colorado remained unconverted. He thought the former chief 

of the Survey "was but an infant compared with the present head," and 

warned the "trustful and unsuspicious Southern Senators" that it was not 

gaging streams but gouging people that the Survey planned. Senator Butler 

of North Carolina assured him that he was wrong, and that if his State had 

"as efficient, as intelligent, and as valuable a State geologist as North Carolina," he too would appreciate the Geological Survey. Senator Butler then 

read a communication from the State Geologist, Joseph A. Holmes, on the 

reasons why the hydrographic appropriation should be increased, and the 

Senate voted an appropriation of $250,000. The other increases proposed 

by the Appropriations Committee were also approved.

The House and Senate conferees agreed quickly on the House figure of 

$240,000 for topographic surveys and the Senate figure of $ 10,000 for 

chemical and physical research, but it took two conference reports before a 

compromise was reached on an appropriation of $ 100,000 for stream gaging, 

less than desired but double that of the year before. The total for the Survey 

was $855,100, the greatest amount that had ever been appropriated for the 

Survey and almost as much as had been appropriated for the Geological 

Survey and the Irrigation Survey combined in 1891. In the 8 years since 

that bleak August of 1892, the total appropriation had more than doubled, 

water-resources investigations were firmly established as part of the Survey 

work, funds for work in Alaska had increased twelvefold in 5 years. Only 

paleontology remained at the 1892 level.

On July I, 1900, the Geologic Branch was reorganized in an experiment 

designed to separate scientific and administrative control of the work. Scientific control was vested in a group of specialists while administrative 

control was retained by the Director. Scientific control was discussed by the 

Director with Chamberlin, Van Hise, Emmons, and Willis, and they jointly 

prepared the statement on the new organization. Seven divisions were set 

up, covering specified subject areas, and each was placed in charge of a 

specialist. For each subject area, or division, the field of supervision of the 

specialist in charge, or division chief, was Survey-wide and his opinion was 

considered authoritative. He was expected to prepare plans of work within 

his division, recommend that which was especially desirable, establish priorities, and recommend geologists to undertake particular projects. He was 

to confer with the other division chiefs to adjust plans, call attention to 

opportunities in other areas, and promote cooperation. Division chiefs would 

also review manuscripts, and no manuscript would be accepted for publication without a favorable recommendation from the division chief concerned. Party chiefs would plan the conduct of the work, the Director would 

approve plans and make allotments, and the party chief would be responsible 

to the Director for the execution of the work and disbursement of funds 

unless the Director delegated that responsibility to a division chief. The 

new organization was tacit recognition that, in the Geological Survey at 

least, the day of the individual investigator, free to pursue his own interests, 

was past. It was also explicit recognition of the intimate relations of economic and general geology.

302 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
Charles Willard Hayes

Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, 1886-1911. 

Hayes was the first geologist in charge of the Nonmetals Section, established in 1900. He became 

geologist in charge of the Division of Geology and 

Paleontology in 1902 and Chief Geologist in 1907. 

Hayes was trained as a chemist but became interested in geology as a graduate student at The Johns 

Hopkins University. His training in the exact sciences led him to make more detailed and accurate 

investigations than were common at the time and 

led to advances in structural geology, physiography, 

and economic and engineering geology. (From the 

files of the U.S. Geological Survey.)

The areas of specialization or divisions established were Areal Geology, 

Pleistocene Geology, Pre-Cambrian and Metamorphic Geology, Paleontology, Economic Geology, Physical and Chemical Research, and Mining and 

Mineral Resources. Bailey Willis was placed in charge of Areal Geology, 

which included stratigraphy, structure, and pre-Pleistocene physiography; 

T. C. Chamberlin, of Pleistocene Geology, which included glacial and nonglacial formations and Pleistocene physiography; C. R. Van Hise, of PreCambrian and Metamorphic Geology, which included structure, metamorphism, and the genesis of crystalline schists and associated rocks, including the metamorphic iron ores; and T. W. Stanton, of Paleontology. 

S. F. Emmons and C. W. Hayes shared responsibility for Economic Geology, Emmons being responsible for metalliferous ores and Hayes for practically everything else (officially for "nonmetalliferous economic deposits 

and nonmetamorphic iron ores, bauxite, etc."). George F. Backer was 

named head of the Division of Physical and Chemical Research in which 

research in physics would once more get underway. David T. Day retained 

charge of the statistical work on mineral resources, but the renaming of the 

division indicated an extension of the work and its identification with the 

interests of the mining industry.

Reorganization of Geologic Branch 303
These eight division chiefs would set the scientific tone of Survey geology 

for the next few years. There were no new faces in the group Emmons, 

Becker, and Willis had all joined the Survey in 1879, Willis as part of the 

Tenth Census, and Chamberlin had been with the Survey since 1881; all 

the others had been on the staff for a dozen years or so. All were college 

trained, and all but Willis had advanced degrees. The eight, however, were 

of two different generations. Emmons and Chamberlin were approaching 

60, Becker was 53; the other five were all younger, barely into their forties. 

Francis Bacon observed that "Young men are fitter to invent than to judge, 

fitter for execution than for counsel, and fitter for new projects than for 

settled business." The division chiefs might almost have been chosen with 

this observation in mind. The oldest, Emmons and Chamberlin, were responsible for fields in which a solid groundwork had already been established, largely through their efforts. The younger men were in fields in 

which there were many opportunities for innovative work and in which they 

later made substantial contributions.

Most of the younger men had begun to specialize, but Hayes had shown 

a broad range of competence. His training had been primarily in chemistry 

until Professor G. H. Williams had stimulated his interest in geology, and 

because of his background in mathematics and the physical sciences he set 

higher standards of accuracy in fieldwork than were in general use at the 

time. Finding the topographic maps in the southern Appalachians inadequate for his work, he prepared his own bases, and his method of working 

had a marked influence on the improvement of topographic maps. His 

careful mapping led to the recognition of the broad overthrust faults that 

were the key to understanding the structure of the southern Appalachians, 

but his contribution to structural geology was matched by his careful analysis 

of the geomorphology of the area. In 1893, when Survey interest in mineral 

deposits was revived, Hayes was assigned to study the Tennessee phosphate 

and bauxite deposits, and he began to make quantitative estimates of reserves 

as well as to study the occurrence and origin of the deposits. In 1897, he 

had made the first large-scale engineering geology study in connection with 

the construction of a Nicaraguan canal. Hayes was also a natural leader. 

Alfred H. Brooks, whose first assignment on the Survey was with Hayes 

and who remained his close friend for the rest of his life, said that one of 

the reasons for Hayes' success in fieldwork, and later as an administrator, 

was the admiration he inspired in his assistants. They all became his devoted 

followers, but they became independent thinkers rather than disciples. All 

of these characteristics enabled Hayes to exert a major influence in the 

development of petroleum geology in the next decade.

Only a few nonmetalliferous investigations were made in the summer of 

1900. Hayes spent 2 months in Tennessee, mapping the Columbia quadrangle and studying the phosphate and clay resources, then went south to 

visit the salt and sulfur deposits of northwestern Louisiana, some of the 

oilfields of Texas, and the bauxite district of Arkansas. He thought that 

there was little possibility of oil being found where drilling was going on 

in the southeastern coastal region of Texas. M. R. Campbell, with whom 

he had made the physiographic study of the southern Appalachians, began 

a cooperative geological survey in Pennsylvania with the assistance of John 

D. Irving and Myron L. Fuller, who had been an instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Areal mapping was begun in the Uniontown and Masontown quadrangles, which included the southern end of the 

Connellsville coalfield and the eastern edge of the coalfield underlying 

Greene and Washington Counties. The plan of work called for very careful

304 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
mapping of the Pittsburgh coal in order to show not only its outcrop but 

also its attitude beneath the surface by means of contour lines.

In the Metals Section in the summer of 1900, copper superseded gold 

and silver as the metal of greatest interest. Emmons himself began the 

summer with a reconnaissance of the copper district of the Grand Encampment Mountains in Wyoming where he had first worked in 1872, spent a 

few weeks with Boutwell in the Bingham area, went on to Butte, Montana, 

to consult with Weed on the work there, then to Spokane via the Great 

Northern Railroad to examine the cross section of the Rocky Mountains, 

and back to Butte for a conference with the Director. The apex law suits 

were underway, with distinguished geologists testifying on both sides, and 

the Director and Emmons decided that a district where ownership of ore 

bodies depended on geologic structure should be given monographic treatment. Weed was instructed to complete his unfinished work and then devote 

his entire time to study of the mines in the Butte district. Emmons then 

went back to Bingham for a time, then to southwestern Utah and southeastern Nevada to examine the deposits of the Horn Silver and Delamar 

mines, and finally to Leadville, Colorado.

Lindgren spent about 4 months in a reconnaissance of the mining regions 

of eastern Oregon, covering an area of about 6,000 square miles from the 

Snake River westward to the John Day Valley that included all the mining 

districts that had recently come into prominence. Ransome spent the season 

in Colorado, in an economic survey of the Rico district, the Silverton quadrangle, and a reconnaissance of the mining regions of Clear Creek and Gilpin 

Counties to plan future work.

In the fall, the Metals Section took over supervision of lead and zinc 

projects. H. F. Bain and G. I. Adams had been examining the lead and 

zinc deposits of the Joplin district, Missouri, under the joint supervision of 

Van Hise and Willis, neither of whom had had much experience with 

deposits of the Joplin type. Emmons went to Missouri for a conference with 

Bain, adopted the work, and ended the season with Bain in an examination 

of the zinc, antimony, and gold deposits of west central Arkansas.

Precious metals were still of greatest interest in Alaska. A. H. Brooks, 

with George B. Richardson and A. J. Collier as geologic assistants, made 

a reconnaissance of an area of about 6,000 square miles in the Nome region 

and studied the occurrence of placer gold on nearly 100 different creeks in 

nine different gold districts. Brooks concluded that there was a second belt 

of gold-bearing rocks about 30 miles north of the Nome region proper and 

that the gold-bearing region of the Seward Peninsula was much larger than 

at first supposed. The discovery of stream tin at York was of scientific 

interest and of possible commercial interest. W. C. Mendenhall was assigned 

to work in the Seward Peninsula as a member of the party under W. J. 

Peters. The original plan of operations had contemplated the ascent of Koyuk 

River, portage over it to some stream flowing northward to Kotzebue Sound, 

and return to Golofnin Sound over an unspecified route; the plan was modified, however, when the party reached the field in order to make the 

mapping more continuous and valuable over an area that promised to develop 

economically within the near future. The Fish, Tubutulik, and Koyuk Rivers were ascended in order, and topographic and geologic maps of the basins 

were made in as much detail as was possible. F. C. Schrader directed the 

third party and was assisted by T. G. Gerdine and Arthur Spencer in mapping the Chitina copper district in the Copper River region.

C. K. Leith became Van Hise's principal assistant in the Division of PreCambrian and Metamorphic Geology. Leith began mapping in the Mesabi 

district of Minnesota with the assistance of some excellent private maps that

Economic Geology, 1900-1901 305
were placed at his disposal and the cooperation of the mining men of the 

area, while Professors W. S. Bayley and J. M. Clements continued mapping 

in the iron districts of Michigan. Van Hise himself spent the greater part 

of his time in studying the structure of the Lake Superior basin and preparing 

his treatise on metamorphism.

The increased appropriation for the report on mineral resources made it 

possible for the Division of Mining and Mineral Resources to begin an 

examination of the conditions of occurrence of the precious metals, as discussed by Congress, to prepare a report on the coalfields of the United States 

from the commercial standpoint and to sponsor some field studies, such as 

M. R. Campbell's investigation of the distribution of borax and salt in 

southern California, and George Eldridge's investigation of the petroleum 

resources of the Pacific slope. Oil had been discovered near Coalinga in 

Fresno County, California, in 1890, and in 1892, E. L. Doheny drilled the 

first successful well in Los Angeles. Well drilling thereafter proceeded so 

rapidly that a problem was created in the General Land Office. In 1896, 

Secretary Hoke Smith had ruled that land that contained oil could not be 

patented under the Placer Mining Act, which had been the practice when 

patents were few in number, but Congress overruled him in February 1897 

and made the Placer Act applicable to petroleum lands, thereby creating a 

problem for the oil drillers. Under the Placer Act, land could not be patented 

until a discovery was made, but drilling cannot be done in secret. Others 

therefore tried to capitalize on the oil companies' work by patenting land 

under other laws. Eldridge's investigation was an attempt to determine the 

general conditions under which petroleum occurred in that region.

Bailey Will is did no fieldwork, being thoroughly occupied with his duties 

as head of Areal Geology, chairman of the Committees on Geologic Names 

and Illustrations, member of the Building, Records, and Publications Committees, custodian of property for the Geologic Branch, and Geologic Map 

Editor. Early in the year he began, at the Director's charge, a study of 

current practices in mapping units and the use of such terms as "formation," "series," "system," and related terms. For a decade or so, the 

Survey had been mapping formations by lithology, following the plan laid

306 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902

By 1900, Minnesota was crowding Michigan for 

first place in iron production. The Mesabi ores were 

soft, for the most part slightly hydrated hematites, 

and at shallow depths, under an overburden that 

ranged in thickness from only a few feet to as much 

as 85 feet. Stripping the overburden from the ore 

with steam shovels and loading the ore directly on 

railway cars in open cuts proved to be an economical 

method of mining. By 1902, about 47 percent of 

the Mesabi ore was mined in this way. (From C. K. 

Leith, 1903.)
down in 1889, but not infrequently geologists of the Survey and others had 

correlated these local formations by their contained fossils. A certain amount 

of confusion and controversy resulted when the criteria used were not specified, because a stratigraphic series may be divided in one way by lithologic 

character and another by its fossils. The report on the Will is study was sent 

to several Survey geologists for comment and was also the subject of a lively 

discussion at a meeting of the Geological Society of Washington. Willis 

believed that the cartographic unit should be defined purely on the basis of 

lithology and that there should be uniformity in usage of terms for the units 

of lithologic, faunal, and chronological scale. The question was whether to 

fix the usage of such English substantives as series, formation, system, 

period, and so on or to adopt entirely new terms from some foreign, preferably dead, language. Major Powell, who was present at the GSW discussion, strongly favored new terms, saying that he had attempted to redefine 

old words in devising a scientific nomenclature for psychology and found 

that people tended to forget his definitions and use the terms in their own 

way. Both Whitman Cross and H. S. Williams thought that fossils and 

lithology should both be considered in defining the unit, and the matter 

remained unresolved.

In the Division of Pleistocene Geology, R. D. Salisbury became Chamberlin's principal assistant, and Chamberlin confined his Survey activities 

chiefly to the direction of field operations and the examination of manuscripts. Salisbury studied the glacial deposits of New Jersey and also examined critical points in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and New 

Jersey so that the Maryland and U.S. surveys would agree on interpretation. 

Other projects were underway in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and adjacent 

parts of West Virginia and Kentucky, New York, and New England.

The paleontologists worked closely with geologists in determining and 

correlating various formations but also undertook special investigations: 

Girty, of the Carboniferous; Stanton, of the Cretaceous; Knowlton, of the 

Cretaceous and Tertiary; Dall, of the Tertiary; and Vaughan, of fossil corals. 

Lester Ward continued work on his Compendium of Paleobotany , and Henry 

Fairfield Osborn continued work on the monograph on Sauropoda and began 

preparation of the monograph on Titanotheres.

The establishment of the Division of Physical and Chemical Research in 

July 1900 took the Survey back into work that had been instituted by King 

but abandoned in 1892. In the meantime, field geologists had been bringing 

together vast amounts of data, and laboratory studies in both chemistry and 

physics were vitally needed. The organization of the new physical laboratory 

was begun in October 1900 with the appointment of Dr. Arthur L. Day to 

the Survey staff. Day was another Yale man, with an A.B. in 1892 and 

Ph.D. in 1894. He had spent 3 years as instructor in physics at Yale and 

had then gone to Germany, where he was first a volunteer assistant and then 

a regularly appointed member of the scientific staff of the Physikalische 

Technische Reichanstalt, a rare honor for one of non-German citizenship. 

In August 1900, he married the daughter of the president of the Reichanstalt. Day was at first occupied in procuring new equipment, some of it 

being especially made for the Survey at the Reichanstalt, for most of the 

equipment from the earlier laboratory was either obsolete or unfit for further 

use. In the chemical laboratory, H. W. Stokes was assigned to an investigation of the secondary enrichment of ores at a moderate distance beneath 

the Earth's surface, a subject of particular interest to the Metals Section.

Topographic mapping also achieved a new status in 1900. In the 20th 

annual report, Walcott stated that topographic work had been extended into 

all the States and Territories, but only 27 percent of the entire area exclusive

Physical and Chemical Research 307
of Alaska had been surveyed. Moreover, more than 200,000 square miles 

that had been mapped in early years on the scale of 1:250,000 was in need 

of resurvey, so that only 19 percent of the total area had been adequately 

covered. Major Powell had told the Allison Commission in 1885 that the 

topographic map could be completed in 24 years, and that statement had 

been used to measure progress, to the misfortune of the Survey. Walcott 

stated frankly that, at the then current rate of progress, somewhat more 

than 100 years would be required to complete the map exclusive of Alaska, 

and more than 110 years would be required if provision were made for 

resurvey of the l:250,000-scale work. The statement caused no raising of 

eyebrows in Congress. The Senate, in fact, was willing to consider the 

possibility of extending topographic mapping to the islands acquired after 

the Spanish-American War. In answer to a Senate resolution of January 9, 

1900, Walcott stated that although the Survey could now legally undertake 

surveys in Puerto Rico and Hawaii, the exhaustion of the appropriation by 

established work in the United States made it inexpedient, and that surveys 

in Cuba and the Philippines would require special authorization. He was 

clearly willing to undertake such surveys and submitted an estimate of 

$124,000 for topographic surveys in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines, 

and Cuba. If cadastral surveys were also desired, additional funds would be 

needed.

Congress made no additional appropriations for topographic surveys that 

year, and on February 23, 1900, the Director relinquished administrative 

control of the Topographic Branch to the Topographic Committee, at the 

same time appointing R. U. Goode its chairman. Henry Gannett was on 

loan to the Department of the Interior to serve as Chief Geographer of the

Central Arizona ranked third in copper production 

in the United States in 1900. Ransome reported 

that the more important copper ore there was found 

in large masses in limestone and in irregular mineralization of shattered or permeable rocks rather 

than in lodes or fissure veins. The Old Dominion 

mine, just north of the town of Globe, had been 

the first mining location staked in the district. After 

being worked sporadically for silver first, it later 

became the largest and steadiest producer of copper 

in the region. (From F. L. Ransome, 1903.)

308 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
Under Hayes' direction, areal mapping in the 

Pennsylvania coalfields was done so carefully that 

structure contours could be drawn on the top of the 

Pottsville sandstone and the base of the Pittsburg 

coal and overprinted on the geologic map to show 

the horizontal contours of troughs and arches, the 

dip of the beds, and the height of the reference 

surface above sea level at any point. Such structure 

contours were invaluable to the coal operators. 

(From M. R. Campbell, 1902.)

Twelfth Census, so the other members of the Committee were Messrs. 

Wilson, Renshawe, and Douglas.

Detailed topographic mapping was done in 1900 in 32 States and Territories. The total area mapped was 35,123 square miles, nearly 38 percent 

of it at the mile-to-the-inch scale. In connection with the Alaskan investigations, about 6,500 square miles were mapped, and as part of the forestry 

program, 132 miles of boundary were marked and 6,543 square miles were 

mapped topographically. Cooperative surveys were made with five States, 

and the State of Ohio also appropriated funds to begin cooperative work in 

the next year.

The increased appropriation for hydrography was allotted three ways: to 

measurements of streams, surveys of reservoir sites and preparation of landclassification maps, and preparation of reports on the best methods of utilizing the water supply and investigation of underground currents and artesian wells. Newell himself took charge of the collection of statistics on 

irrigation for the Twelfth Census. The largest amount of fieldwork was done 

in California, where the operations were under the direction of J. B. Lippincott. The California investigations included stream measurements, investigations of waterpower, the transmission of power by electricity, and 

the utilization of power in pumping water from underground for lands

Hydrography 309
beyond the reach of gravity canals. Arthur Powell Davis was on leave in the 

early part of the year to continue investigations in Central America for the 

Isthmian Canal Commission, but on his return to the United States, he 

began the investigation of the cost of water storage on the Salt and Verde 

Rivers east of Phoenix, Arizona. Charles H. Fitch was mainly occupied in 

a determination of the feasibility of diverting the waters of the St. Mary 

River eastward into the drainage basin of the Milk River so that the waters 

flowing across the International boundary would be available instead for use 

in northern Montana. Fitch also made a reconnaissance to determine conditions for diverting the waters of the upper Green River in western Wyoming, the North Platte River in southern Wyoming, and the Madison 

River in southwestern Montana. N. H. Darton continued his field investigations in the vicinity of the Black Hills and began preparation of a map 

of the Central Plains region on which all available information could be 

compiled of the geologic conditions governing the occurrence of water in 

that drought-stricken region.

In the East, H. A. Pressey was mainly occupied with the examination of 

streams in the southern Appalachian Mountains, including the localities 

where it was proposed to establish a national forest reserve or park. That 

idea had originated with the State Geologist of North Carolina, Joseph A. 

Holmes, and Gifford Pinchot when Pinchot was practicing forestry in the 

Vanderbilt Forest, and was brought to the attention of Congress in 1900 

by a memorial from the Appalachian Mountain Club of New England and 

the Appalachian National Park Association of the South Atlantic States. 

Congress had authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to use not more than 

$5,000 of appropriated funds for the fiscal year beginning July 1, L900, to 

investigate the forest conditions, and the Survey had cooperated in the 

examination of a 6,000-square-mile area in the mountain region of North 

Carolina and adjacent parts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, 

studying not only water supply and forest conditions but geology and topography as well.

Secretary Hitchcock in his annual report to Congress in November 1900, 

stressed the need for action on a reclamation law.

Developments of irrigation have proceeded almost wholly along the line of 

building small individual or cooperative ditches. The opportunities for extending and multiplying these are, however, limited, as the lands most easily accessible for water supply have already passed into the possession of individuals. There remain large bodies of public land for which water can be obtained 

only at great expense, although the cost per acre may not exceed that of the 

small systems. Further extension of the irrigable area depends on the building 

of great storage reservoirs and of canals to take water from the larger rivers. 

Progress in the construction of these large works of reclamation has come 

practically to a standstill, as it has been found by experience and shown by 

statistics that these reclamation works are not a source of individual profit.

The argument was not new. Major Powell had favored construction of 

irrigation works by the cooperative effort of farmers, but as early as 1874, 

the irrigation commissioners appointed by Congress had said that irrigating 

works involving large expenditures could not be built by cooperation but 

must be built by the state or by private capital. The Public Lands Commission in 1880 suggested that the General Government might construct 

the necessary works but reflected Powell's view in its further statement that 

this was not consonant with the American system. In 1888, when the 

Irrigation Survey was under discussion in the House, Hilary Herbert had 

said over and over again that private capital would not construct irrigation 

works because it was not profitable and that if it was to be done, only the 

Government could do it. By 1900, that fact was generally accepted. Colonel

310 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
Chittenden of the Army Engineers pointed out to the Ninth Irrigation 

Congress that the opposition to an amendment in the River and Harbors 

bill providing for construction of two reservoirs was based on interference 

with existing State systems and not either the principle of the National 

Government's doing it or the cost. The question was no longer should the 

Federal Government construct the necessary irrigation works, but how.

Reclamation was not an issue in the Presidential campaign of 1900, as 

both the Republican and Democratic Party platforms favored reclamation 

of the arid lands by the Federal Government. The Republicans had nominated President McKinley for a second term and Governor Theodore Roosevelt of New York for Vice President on a platform upholding the gold 

standard, the Administration's foreign policy, and a U.S.-built and -controlled isthmian canal. The Democrats again nominated William Jennings 

Bryan for President on a platform condemning imperialism and calling for 

free coinage of silver. The Democrats made imperialism the prime issue in 

the campaign, and the Republicans countered with the "full dinner pail" 

as the hallmark of Republican success. President McKinley was easily reelected, and the Republicans retained control of both Houses of Congress.

More than a dozen bills to promote irrigation of the arid lands were filed 

in the House when Congress convened in December 1900. In the Senate, 

Senator Carter introduced a resolution of inquiry which was passed on January 9, 1901, directing the Secretary of the Interior to transmit to the 

Senate an abstract of the petitions, memorials, requests, and estimates relating to the operations of the hydrographic branch of the U.S. Geological 

Survey. The reply, dated February 5, contained some 57 printed pages of 

petitions, memorials, and requests. It also included an estimate of funds 

needed for fiscal year 1902, again $250,000.

The budget estimate submitted by the Department had called for only 

$173,160 for "gauging streams." The odd amount was the result of a 

change in presentation. The salaries of the Director and "Office of the Survey 

had been included in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial bill, and since 

1894, when the Director's salary was cut, had amounted to $31,390. The 

new budget estimate called for $72,670, the increase being composed of 

$1,000 for restoration of the Director's salary to $6,000 and the transfer 

of $40,280 in salaries being paid from the appropriations for expenses in 

the Sundry Civil Expenses bill. In addition to the increase in the appropriation for stream gaging, increases were also requested for chemical and 

physical research, investigation of Alaskan mineral resources, skilled laborers, and the preparation of illustrations.

The House Appropriations Committee reported out the Sundry Civil Expenses bill on February 4, 1901, with a total appropriation of $926,490, 

and only $100,000 for stream gaging. Much like the 47th Congress in 

1882, it added a proviso that specific estimates for all personnel services, 

including those of a technical or scientific character, necessary for the office 

of the Geological Survey at Washington be submitted annually thereafter. 

Congressman Cannon prefaced the discussion of the Survey appropriation in 

the Committee of the Whole with a lecture on economy and the propensity 

of the Senate to increase appropriations. He asked the assembled representatives to give "careful, patriotic, business-like attention" to the bill. Most 

of the discussion was on the appropriation fo stream gaging. The House 

debated at length the need for further hydrographic investigations versus 

moving ahead to a comprehensive plan for actual irrigation, but in the end 

voted only the $100,000.

Appropriations for 1901 -1902 311
Very careful mapping in eastern Ohio, disclosed 

that an anticline or flexure of strata was only one 

of the conditions essential for a productive oil or 

gas well, the others being porosity of the reservoir 

rock and degree of water saturation. In the ideal 

section shown, both oil and gas work their way to 

the roof at A, but oil is trapped at the crest of the 

terrace at B while the more buoyant gas moves on. 

The dome at D completely captures both gas and 

oil. Between E and G the higher portion of the 

rock is not completely saturated with water, so the 

oil can move only to the upper surface of the water 

at F but the gas passes on to G. Similarly, both oil 

and gas accumulate at H, but at I, the sand rock 

becomes impervious and oil and gas accumulate at 

the bottom of the barrier. (From W. T. Griswold, 

1902.)

The House Committee on Irrigation of the Arid Lands, which had been 

considering the various bills in aid of irrigation, made its report on February 

20 and filed a substitute bill that it recommended be passed: That all 

moneys received from the sale and disposal of public lands in Arizona, 

California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New 

Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, except the moneys set aside for educational purposes, 

be set aside as an arid land reclamation fund for the examination, survey, 

construction, and maintenance of reservoirs and other hydraulic works for 

the storage and diversion of water for the irrigation and reclamation of arid 

lands. The bill further provided that "the Secretary of the Interior, by means 

of the Director of the Geological Survey, be, and hereby is directed to make 

examinations and surveys of the arid region of the United States as to the 

advantages of the storage of water for irrigating purposes, the practicability 

of constructing reservoirs, together with the capacity of the streams, the 

quantity of water unused and unappropriated, and the cost of construction 

and capacity of reservoirs * * * as required by the act approved March 20, 

1888." The provision with respect to the Geological Survey added to the 

1888 resolution the determination of the quantity of unused and unappropriated water but was otherwise almost identical. The bill was filed too late 

in the session to be passed, but it contained the formula that proved successful in the next Congress.

On February 25, the Senate Committee on the Geological Survey proposed 

three amendments to the Survey appropriation: to increase the appropriation 

for topographic surveys to $260,000, to add "examination of the forested 

regions of the United States" to the item for mapping forest reserves, and 

to increase that appropriation to $180,000. These were read to the full 

Senate before being referred to the Committee on Appropriations. They 

brought on another display of Senatorial bonhomie:

Senator Wolcott, long-time critic of the Survey, in real or pretended 

amazement: "That is a proposed increase of only $70,000."

Senator Hale, of the Appropriations Committee: "I suggest to the Senator 

that before the bill is brought before the Senate he accept these amendments 

at once. Otherwise, in the end the amounts would be doubled rather than 

what is asked for now given."

312 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
Senator Wolcott: "I have not a question of it. This report from the 

Committee on the Geological Survey is but the first step in the triumphal 

progress of the Geological Survey through the Senate. It will be added to 

by the Committee on Appropriations."

Senator Hale: "And by the Senate."

Senator Wolcott: "It will be increased by the Senate. It will be increased 

in the Committee of the Whole."

Senator Hale: "And in conference."

Senator Wolcott: "And if the committee of conference can increase it they 

will do so."

The two subsided when Senator Elkins asked plaintively if debate were in 

order.

The Senate Appropriations Committee reported the bill out with three 

amendments proposed by the Committee on the Geological Survey and 

several other small increases over the House bill, but they recommended 

only $ 150,000 for stream gaging, which was to be extended to Puerto Rico. 

Again, only the appropriation for stream gaging was cause for debate. Senator Carter proposed that it be increased to $250,000. Then Senator Hansbrough of North Dakota offered a substitute amendment, similar to the 

proposal in the House report on the reclamation bill, that moneys from the 

sale and disposal of public lands, except moneys already set aside by law for 

educational purposes, be set aside in a fund to be at the disposal of the 

Secretary of the Interior for examinations and surveys for and construction 

of reservoirs and other irrigation works, adding another provision that, until 

further provided by Congress, not to exceed 10 percent of the fund be 

available for examinations and surveys, for gaging the streams, determining 

the water supply of the United States, and investigating the underflow and 

artesian wells of the arid and semiarid regions of the United States. A point 

of order was made against the Hansbrough amendment and sustained, and 

the Carter amendment was passed instead. The conference committee, however, agreed on the House figure of $100,000 and struck out extension of 

the work to Puerto Rico, compromised on $250,000 for topographic surveys, which were to include an examination of and report on the topography 

and geology of the territory adjacent to the 49th parallel west of the 120th 

meridian, and agreed on other Senate increases. The total appropriated for 

the Survey was $950,770. The Director's salary was increased, and the 

stage was set for a reclamation law.

On the same day, March 3, 1901, the closing day of the session, the 

National Bureau of Standards was established, and the Division of Forestry 

in the Department of Agriculture was given the status of a full bureau. 

Both actions were recognition of the importance and necessity of Federal 

science, but both suggested the stress being placed on applied science in an 

industrial era. The Bureau of Standards replaced the Office of Weights and 

Measures, which had been part of the Coast Survey since 1832. In 1897, 

Henry S. Pritchett, the new Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic 

Survey, hired Professor S. W. Stratton of the University of Chicago to be 

Director of the Office of Weights and Measures; his first order of business 

was to be a plan for enlargement of the office to cope with the increasing 

work. Pritchett had the Reichanstalt in mind as a model, but after Stratton 

consulted with other scientists in both public and private sectors and with 

manufacturers, he drew up a plan for a bureau adapted to American science 

and American manufacturing. The plan was cleared with the established 

Federal bureaus before being sent to Congress and was endorsed by the 

National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, the American Chemical

Expansion of Federal Science 313
Society, and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The responsibilities of the new bureau were "custody of standards; comparison of standards * * *; construction, when necessary, of standards * * *; testing and 

calibration of standard-measuring apparatus; solution of problems which 

arise in connection with standards; the determination of physical constants 

of materials, when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere." The bounds were carefully drawn, and there was no conflict of 

interest between the new bureau and the Survey laboratory at the time, 

although within a few years, with the growth of science and industry, both 

agencies would claim as their prerogative other work which neither had yet 

begun.

By March 1901, Survey work had been extended into new areas by other 

developments. Hayes had been wrong when he thought there was little 

possibility of obtaining oil in the southeastern coastal region of Texas. On 

January 10, 1901, a gusher was struck at Spindletop, about 20 miles southeast of Beaumont, inaugurating a new era in the oil industry. The Spindletop 

crude was heavy but suitable for fuel, and the market for fuel oil was

314 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902

A major report on the coalfields of the United States 

covered all phases of the coal industry, not only the 

geology and methods of mining but preparation for 

marketing as well. Anthracite, for example, was 

prepared for market in a coal breaker, first broken 

by toothed rolls and then screened in circular revolving screens or in shaking horizontal screens. 

The slate was picked out by hand, by automatic 

slate pickers, or separated from the coal by jigging. 

From 2,000 to 3,000 tons of coal could be prepared 

in a day. (From H. H. Stock, 1902.)
beginning to grow. The discovery well was also in new territory, so that 

pipelines, refineries, and marketing organizations were all needed. Hayes 

immediately arranged with William Kennedy of Texas to prepare a report 

for the Survey on the new developments. Hayes himself had been detailed 

to the War Department. Congress had not appropriated funds for insular 

surveys, but Major General Leonard Wood, military governor of Cuba, had 

requested the Survey to make a reconnaissance of the economic geology of 

that island, and Hayes, along with Arthur Spencer and T. Wayland 

Vaughan, left Washington on March 19, 1901, for the Caribbean.

By the summer of 1901, the Nonmetals Section was almost wholly engaged in fuels investigations, and oil was a major interest. As soon as Hayes 

completed his report on Cuba, which he did with even more than his usual 

celerity, he became deeply involved in oil. He had made arrangements with 

the Topographic Branch to obtain the services of W. T. Griswold for part 

of the year to investigate the structure of the Berea grit oil sand in the Cadiz 

quadrangle, Ohio, and Hayes spent part of September working with him. 

Griswold's work in applying exact instrumental measurements to the determination of structure was looked on as a distinct advance in the study of 

oilfields. Hayes then spent October with Kennedy, who had been working 

in the Texas-Louisiana fields since spring, and part of December with Eldridge, who had begun a stratigraphic, structural, and economic investigation 

of the petroleum fields of California. In January 1902, Hayes again spent 

time with Kennedy and, on his way home from Texas, examined the oil 

and asphalt prospects in Arkansas.

M. R. Campbell had immediate supervision of the areal and economic 

work in New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. In Pennsylvania, where the 

work was carried on under a cooperative agreement between the Survey and 

the State, he was assisted by Myron L. Fuller, George S. Richardson, Charles 

Butts, L. C. Glenn, and Lester Woolsey. George Ashley began the areal 

mapping in Indiana. In Indian Territory, J. A. Taff completed areal and 

economic surveys of the Tahlequah and Sallisaw quadrangles and began a 

special reconnaissance of the Arbuckle and Wichita Mountains.

The Metals Section in the summer of 1901 concentrated on copper. Weed 

was at Butte, California, Ransome began a study of the copper deposits of 

the Globe district in Arizona, and Lindgren divided his time between the 

Bingham district in Utah and the Clifton-Morenci district in Arizona. Emmons himself began a resurvey of the Leadville, Colorado, district, with the 

assistance of J. D. Irving. Although he had recognized the extreme complexity of the geologic structure in the area in his earlier work, the drifts 

of the many mines exploited in the 20 years since that investigation offered 

the possibility of details that might contribute to knowledge on the laws 

of ore deposition. Another precious metal study was underway in Montana 

where Professor Joseph Barrell and R. W. Stone mapped the Marysville 

quadrangle which contained some of the State's largest gold mines.

Metals remained of primary interest in Alaska, although some attention 

was also given to coal. Four parties were in the field because of the increased 

appropriation, two in the region north of the Yukon engaged in reconnaissance and exploratory work, one in the Seward Peninsula engaged in areal 

mapping and an investigation of placer deposits, and one making an examination of the Ketchikan mining district and a reconnaissance of southeastern Alaska. The Peters-Schrader party exploring the Colville River area 

traveled in the winter to reach the area while frozen streams permitted rapid 

travel. By contrast, the Brooks party brought a gasoline launch from Seattle 

and used it for living quarters and travel.

Economic Geology, 1901 -1902 315
The work of the Pre-Cambrian Division on iron ores was drawing to an 

end, although Leith and Bayley continued mapping in the Lake Superior 

region. Clements, however, joined Whitman Cross in the San Juan region 

of Colorado.

Research in physics was delayed by difficulties in procuring equipment, 

but C. E. Van Orstrand joined the staff as an assistant physicist and began 

work on the linear force exerted on growing crystals and the elastic properties 

of solids. Most of the work in chemistry was routine analyses. Hillebrand, 

however, identified and named a new mineral. His work of developing 

methods of analysis was extended to new fields, and at the request of the 

New York section of the Society for Chemical Industry, he began studying 

methods of analyzing portland cement and copper slag.

The areal work was again largely a continuation of previous work. Dale 

was assisted by F. H. Moffit in mapping in New York and Vermont. 

Professor Emerson began a reexamination of rocks in Worcester County, 

Massachusetts, in the light of new information. Professor Hobbs and H. E. 

Gregory mapped in Connecticut, and Professor Kemp again worked in New 

York State. Professor Clark continued his study of Coastal Plain formations 

of Maryland and adjacent States, and Professor Bascom, having completed 

her study of the crystalline rocks of Cecil County, Maryland, began a study 

of the continuation of that belt in Pennsylvania. Arthur Keith completed 

work for folio publication on areas already surveyed in North Carolina and 

studied the age and stratigraphic equivalence of the Ocoee formations in 

North Carolina and Tennessee. Professor Wilbur C. Knight began mapping 

the Laramie, Wyoming, quadrangle. Hill continued mapping in trans-Pecos, Texas and New Mexico. Diller spent July in the vicinity of Crater Lake, 

then began a study of the Redding quadrangle, California.

After the field season, Cross devoted most of his time to special work in 

petrography, a review of the development of systematic petrography during 

the 19th century, and the formulation of a new classification of igneous 

rocks in collaboration with J. P. Iddings, L. V. Pirsson, and H. S. Washington.

From the Division of Pleistocene Geology, F. B. Taylor mapped in the 

Housatonic and Taconic quadrangles in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 

and New York; Frank Leverett in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan; and W. 

C. Alden mapped in southeastern Wisconsin. Professor Salisbury supervised 

the work of assistants in Montana, Wyoming, and Utah and began work 

himself in the mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico. W. W. Atwood, 

now an assistant at the University of Chicago, mapped in the Wasatch 

Mountains of Utah; F. H. Calhoun, also an assistant at Chicago, mapped 

in northern Montana; and George Garrey and Eliot Blackwelder, who had 

just received his B.S. from Chicago, worked in northwestern Montana, 

northern Idaho, and northeastern Washington.

In the topographic program, cooperative agreements were made with 10 

States that contributed a total of $96,500, or 38.6 percent of the direct 

appropriation. Detailed topographic surveys were made of 31,798 square 

miles in 28 States and Territories. In the forestry program, 117 miles of 

boundary of the Bighorn Reserve were surveyed and marked.

The Topographic and Geologic Branches joined forces in the summer of 

1901 to survey the land portion of the boundary between the United States 

and Canada extending westward from the summit of the Rocky Mountains. 

Some of the monuments had been torn down, and parts of the line had 

never been surveyed. E. C. Barnard of the Topographic Branch in cooperation with C. H. Sinclair of the Coast and Geodetic Survey defined and 

marked temporarily the boundary line in three localities where there was

316 The Best Geological Survey In Christendom, 1900-1902

The first oil well in southeast Texas, a new area for 

petroleum production, was struck unexpectedly on 

January 10, 1901. The casing began to rise out of 

the well with a force too great for the drillers to 

control, shot up through the derrick, followed by 

a stream of oil which rose to a height of about 160 

feet before the men on the derrick had time to descend. (From G. I. Adams, 1901.)
About a year after the first successful well was 

drilled in the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas, the area 

looked like this. (From C. W. Hayes and William 

Kennedy, 1903-)

considerable uncertainty, and three geologic parties, under Bailey Will is, 

F. L. Ransome, and George Otis Smith, examined the whole line to report 

on existing conditions. During the 3 months that Bailey Willis spent in 

reconnaissance in northwest Montana, he discovered a great overthrust fault 

by which Algonkian rocks had been shoved northeastward at least 7 miles 

over the Cretaceous of the plains area a major discovery made during the 

course of practical work.

In the Division of Hydrography, Newell moved ahead in his planning, 

despite the failure to get an increased appropriation. A reclamation law was 

only a matter of time, so funds were allotted in new ways: to reservoir 

surveys and gaging, diversion surveys and gaging, artesian surveys and gaging, waterpower surveys and gaging, and sanitary surveys. Arthur Davis 

completed investigations of the storage of water on the Verde and Salt Rivers 

in Arizona, including preparation of plans for the construction of dams, and 

then began a reconnaissance investigation of the lower Colorado River. Fitch 

supervised work in Colorado, including plans for the diversion of the Gunnison River by tunnel to the Uncompahgre Valley, as well as the surveys 

for the storage and diversion of the St. Mary River in Montana, the diversion 

of the upper Snake River in Idaho, and the storage of water on Crow Creek 

in Wyoming. Hydrographic investigations in California were again under 

the general direction of J. B. Lippincott; there, special studies were made 

of storage possibilities in the Salinas Valley. The problem was difficult, as 

conditions for water storage were unfavorable and the cost of fuel for pumping was high. A new inventory was made of the vacant public lands, and 

maps of the Western States showing land in private ownership were brought 

up to date through the cooperation of the General Land Office.

Although ground-water surveys were given less prominence, Professor 

Charles Slichter of the University of Wisconsin, who was employed by the 

Survey as a consulting engineer, advanced the work notably when he succeeded in making an apparatus to measure the movement of water beneath 

the surface. His method involved the introduction of an easily soluble electrolyte, such as ammonium chloride, into a well and measuring the resistance between this well and another sunk to the same level, which would 

decrease as the salt in solution reached the second well.

Only a small amount was alloted to the sanitary surveys. There had been 

a demand for more information on the quality of natural waters, because for 

many industrial purposes, it was necessary to know what foreign substances 

were carried in suspension or solution. Complete chemical and bacteriological analyses would be very expensive and time consuming, so an effort was 

made in the beginning to select a few important determinations that could

Hydrography 317
be done quickly and inexpensively, preferably in the field. Measurements 

of color and turbidity were made at a few river stations in the East, enough 

to show the general relation between riverflow and quality of water at certain 

places, and then the work was extended to other parts of the country. For 

the complete analyses, it was necessary to rely on individual chemists, State 

boards of health, universities, and similar institutions. To secure approximate uniformity in methods and statements of results, Marshall O. Leighton, the Superintendent of Health at Montclair, New Jersey, was employed 

as a consulting engineer to prepare a circular for this purpose in conformity 

with the recommendations of the committee on standard methods of water 

analysis of the American Public Health Association.

A Pan-American Exposition was held in Buffalo in the summer of 1901, 

and F. W. Clarke who had become somewhat of an expert on expositions 

since joining the Survey was in charge of the Interior Department's exhibit. 

S. J. Kiibel prepared a special exhibit, at the request of the department of 

graphic arts, to show the Survey's methods of collecting data for drafting, 

printing, and distributing topographic and geologic maps. David T. Day 

aided in preparing the general exhibit of minerals and mining. As part of 

the exhibit, Day arranged a display of samples from all deposits in which 

osmium was found, together with statements concerning the conditions of 

occurrence that had proved significant. Osmium was then of some interest 

in metallurgy, and the exhibit proved to be helpful in a more intelligent 

search for sources. The exhibit was, in fact, so successful that the Survey 

was asked to take full responsibility for the exhibit of mines and minerals 

at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which was being planned for 1904.

On September 6, 1901, President McKinley visited the Pan-American 

Exposition and while there was shot by an anarchist. A week later he died, 

and on September 14, Theodore Roosevelt, a month short of 43 and already 

a thorn in the side of the established hierarchy of the Republican Party, 

became President of the United States. In his first official statement, Roosevelt said that he would continue absolutely unbroken the policies of his 

predecessor, but Mark Hanna prophesied that practically anything could 

happen with Roosevelt in the White House, and Hanna was right. In the 

words of two noted American historians, with the accession of Theodore 

Roosevelt, "the comfortable world of William McKinley evaporated as a 

morning mist" and a revolution was ushered in.

As an undergraduate at Harvard, Roosevelt had considered becoming a 

scientist, although he eventually abandoned that idea in favor of becoming 

a politician. He had lived in the West and had developed a great enthusiasm 

for the area. He had also come to realize the importance of the forests, the 

need for protection of wildlife, and the requirement of irrigation. While he 

was Governor of New York he had succeeded in having legislation passed 

for forest preservation and protection of wildlife and had consulted both 

Gifford Pinchot and F. H. Newell while in pursuit of that objective.

It was not his interest in science and conservation, however, that caused 

the revolution so much as his concept of executive power. President McKinley had served in Congress and respected its prerogatives, but President 

Roosevelt elected to follow Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln in "regarding the executive as subject only to the people, and, under the Constitution, bound to serve the people affirmatively in cases where the Constitution did not explicitly forbid him to render the service." The view that 

the President was "the servant of Congress" and could do nothing "unless 

the Constitution explicity commands the action" he rejected as a view 

taken by "most able lawyers who are past middle age."

318 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
The Director of the Geological Survey, who had declared not too many 

years earlier that the field of the Geological Survey was to aid any object 

that could be advanced by a knowledge of the Earth and its resources, was 

one to sympathize with such a view. In his presidential address to the 

Geological Society of America, in December 1901, Walcott reminisced 

that on becoming Director he had outlined what seemed to him the proper 

policy to be followed by the Survey, and "a kindly critic" had said: "There 

will not be much left for others to do if all that you have planned is carried 

out." The work of the Survey had progressed steadily along the lines then 

laid down, except for the study of the geology of public roads, but State 

surveys still flourished, and any active capable student or professor could 

find more geologic problems close at hand than he could possibly investigate.

The areal work and other labors constituting the geologic survey of the country 

are but begun, and the task would require decades for its completion if no 

changes were made either in the scope of the work or in the size of the working 

force. *** But experience warrants the prediction that the standards of the

Theodore Roosevelt

President of the United States, 1901-1909. Roosevelt wrote in his autobiography that when he became President, "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." 

Roosevelt considered the inauguration of the conservation era the proudest achievement of his 

Administration. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

Outlook of the Geologist 319
future will be progressively higher and higher, and that the scope of routine 

investigations will become broader. As geologic science progresses, and as 

new uses are discovered for mineral resources, it will become necessary to 

increase the number of classes of facts to be covered by areal surveys. In the 

field of pure science there is even less suggestion of the approaching completion of the work. Every investigation undertaken to solve some geologic problem, whether it prove successful or not, is sure to develop other problems, and 

the geologic Alexander will never lack worlds to conquer.

Newell and Pinchot, both of them younger than the new President, had 

already moved with young men's impetuosity and called on him when he 

returned to Washington after President McKinley's funeral, even before he 

had a chance to move into the White House. Newell hoped his first message 

to Congress would help along his dream of a reclamation service. Pinchot 

was equally keen that it say the right thing on forestry. Their conference 

was more than satisfactory: they were authorized to draft what they thought 

the message should say on the twin subjects.

In the 57th Congress, which met for the first time on December 2, the 

majorities in each House were solidly Republican but almost totally conservative. The Speaker of the House, under the Reed rules, could be the 

most powerful man in the Government, next to the President, but Speaker 

David Henderson was content to follow the lead of the Senate, then domEthan Alien Hitchcock

Secretary of the Interior 1899-1907. Hitchcock 

had been a successful business man, but during his 

term of office, he successfully prosecuted many public-land frauds, fought to preserve for the Indians 

of the Five Nations their inheritance in oil and gas 

lands, and wholeheartedly supported the conservation program. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

320 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
In the densely populated agricultural area of southern California, water had enormous value for irrigation. Thus, every possible expedient was used for 

economizing or increasing the supply: tunnels into 

the hills, dams in the canyons, wells in the valleys, 

and almost every conceivable device for pumping 

to bring the water to the orchards and more valuable 

crops. What had been done in southern California, 

F. H. Newell pointed out, might be done for the 

arid lands as well where climate and soil conditions 

were favorable. (From J. B. Lippincott, 1902.)

inated by Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island, John C. Spooner of Wisconsin, Orville H. Platt of Connecticut, and William B. Allison of Iowa. 

Roosevelt had had little experience in national politics, but he had a native 

shrewdness about its practice. No legislation could be passed without the 

cooperation of these powerful Senators, so they had been invited to go over 

the chief issues with Roosevelt before he wrote his first message to Congress.

Much of the message followed the orthodox Republican position, especially on economic matters, but it also broke ground in proposing a national 

reclamation program and measures for the protection of forests. The President asked for authority to transfer management of the forest reserves to the 

Department of Agriculture. "At present," he said, "the protection of the 

forest reserves rests with the General Land Office; the mapping and description of their timber with the United States Geological Survey; and the 

preparation of plans for their conservative use with the Bureau of Forestry, 

which is also charged with the general advancement of practical forestry in 

the United States. These various functions should be united in the Bureau 

of Forestry to which they properly belong."

The message also endorsed Federal construction of storage works:

The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the streams in flood and replenishing them in drought they make possible the use of waters otherwise 

wasted. They prevent the soil from washing, and so protect the storage reservoirs from filling up with silt. Forest conservation is therefore an essential 

condition of water conservation.

The forests alone cannot, however, fully regulate and conserve the waters of 

the arid region. Great storage works are necessary to equalize the flow of 

streams and save the flood waters. Their construction has been conclusively 

shown to be an undertaking too vast for private effort. Nor can it be best accomplished by the individual States acting alone. Far-reaching interstate problems are involved; and the resources of single States would often be inadequate. It is properly a national function, at least in some of its features. It is 

right for the National Government to make the streams and rivers of the arid 

region useful by engineering works for water storage as to make useful the 

rivers and harbors of the humid region by engineering works of another kind.

The groundwork for a reclamation law had already been painstakingly 

laid. A committee of Senators and Representative from the Western States 

and Territories drew up a bill with substantially the same provisions as the 

one that had failed to pass in the last Congress. To indicate its nonpartisan 

character, it was introduced in the Senate by Senator Hansbrough of North 

Dakota, a Republican, and in the House by Mr. Newlands of Nevada, a 

Democrat. The Senate Committee reported the bill out first, including with 

its recommendation a comprehensive statement from the Geological Survey 

on irrigation. The Senate passed the bill, unanimously, on March 1.

The House did not take up the reclamation bill until June 12, but spent 

only one day on it. Congressman T. W. Mondell of Wyoming introduced 

it with an eloquent speech in which he pointed out that the first century 

of United States history had seen the solution of the problems of transportation and intercommunication, the second presented for solution the problem of making available for human use and occupancy the vast areas that 

had been acquired. There was some opposition, but the bill was passed by 

a vote of 146 to 55 on June 13- The Senate speedily concurred in House 

amendments which had been made to safeguard the interests of homeseekers, 

and on June 17, 1902, President Roosevelt signed the bill into law.

The Newlands Act, as it became known, provided that essentially all 

moneys from the sale and disposal of public lands in sixteen Western States 

and Territories that had more or less arid or semiarid land were to be credited

Reclamation Act 321
to a Reclamation Fund and used for planning, construction, and maintenance of dams and other irrigation works. The fund was placed under the 

direction of the Secretary of the Interior.

Congress was not so thoroughly prepared to act on the forest reserves. 

Despite the endorsement of the President and the Secretary of the Interior, 

the bill to transfer their administration to the Department of Agriculture 

failed. The majority of the House Committee on Public Lands endorsed the 

measure because once the formative stage of the reserves had passed and the 

boundaries were definitely determined, it would be necessary either to organize a bureau similar to the Bureau of Forestry in the Interior Department 

or to transfer the permanent reserves to the Agriculture Department, and 

one bureau would be better and more economical than two. The minority, 

however, led by the same F. W. Mondell who helped push the reclamation 

law through, considered the transfer "impracticable, unwise, and exceedingly expensive" and foresaw great friction between the two Departments. 

The minority held that the field for the Bureau of Forestry was properly the 

study of problems in forestry on both private and public lands, and that 

such studies "need not and should not interfere with the policing and administration of the forest reserves by the Interior Department," and saw

Professors F. H. King and C. S. Slichter of the 

University of Wisconsin undertook experimental 

and mathematical studies in an effort to determine 

the principles and conditions of the movements of 

ground water. King determined the variations in 

the percentage of pore space in samples of various 

materials. (The two lowermost curves in the upper 

diagram are of mixtures of rounded sand grains of 

dissimilar diameters.) Professor Slichter calculated 

the motion of a fluid in soil made up of grains of 

nearly uniform size and approximately spherical 

form. The lower diagram shows the lines of flow 

into two interfering wells. (From F. H. King, 

1899; C. S. Slichter, 1899.)

no reason why a scientific bureau should absorb a practical and administrative 

one. No reason why a bureau of the Agricultural Department, presumably established for the purpose of exploiting theories, should be allowed to supersede 

a division of the Interior Department organized for and carrying on an intensely 

practical work.

322 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
The bill was brought up for consideration in the House but failed to pass, 

one of its opponents being the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, 

Joseph Cannon.

The Senate took up and passed a bill recommended by the Secretary of 

Agriculture and endorsed by the Secretary of the Interior, that lands be 

purchased and a forest reserve be established in the southern Appalachians, 

but the House did not act on it. In the report to Congress on the investigations in 1900, the Director of the Geological Survey emphasized the 

importance of the measure:

The destruction of the mountain forests now in progress there is being followed 

by a consequent erosion of the mountain slopes and valleys, an increasing 

irregularity in the flow of streams, and a silting up of the river channels across 

the lowlands of the bordering States, which if continued will seriously and 

permanently injure the industrial conditions over considerable portions of 

these States.

Comparatively little difficulty was experienced in passing the bill to establish Crater Lake National Park, although the two preceding Congresses 

had failed to pass similar bills. For the bill proposed in the 57th Congress, 

J. S. Diller had been asked to draw the boundaries so no land valuable for 

other purposes would be included. Before passing the bill on April 19, the 

House indulged in some discussion as to what would happen if valuable 

minerals should be found in the Park even though geologists said they would 

not. The Senate was more concerned about the possibility of railroad grants 

within the proposed tract which might create a problem of forest lieu lands, 

but having determined that there were none, it passed the bill on May 9, 

1902.

The Survey itself fared well in the appropriations bills. The budget estimate for fiscal year 1903 was prepared in accordance with the instructions 

of the preceding Congress that specific estimates for all personnel services 

be submitted. It asked for $492,915 in salaries and $531,292 in expenses, 

a total of $1,024,207, or $73,437 more than the current year. The salaries 

were divided into groups: the Director's Office proper of 13 people; a 

general clerical force of 44; a technical force of 26 statisticians, draftsmen,

Crater Lake National Park in Oregon was established in 1902. The lake, 2,000 feet deep, fills the 

crater of an extinct volcano to which the name 

"Mount Mazama" has been given. J. S. Diller 

called the wreck of Mount Mazama, which resulted 

in the formation of a great pit or caldera, the culminating event in the volcanic history of the Cascade Range. The lake which now fills the caldera 

is unrivaled for grandeur and beauty anywhere in 

the world. (From J. S. Diller and H. B. Patton, 

1902.)

Crater Lake National Park 323
and photographers; a force of 65 printers and engravers; and a scientific force 

of 151 geographers, cartographers, topographers, triangulators, geologists, 

paleontologists, chemists, and hydrographers. The list included new positions being submitted, those that had previously been paid from expenses, 

and those that had been paid from specific salary items, as well as a list of 

previously authorized positions that were to be discontinued. The total staff 

was 299, slightly more than half being professional and scientific. The items 

for expenses were almost without exception less than those of the previous 

year because of the transfer of salaries, but not by any fixed percentage, so 

that it was not readily apparent how much would be spent on each activity.

The House Appropriations Committee concluded that it was not practical 

for the Secretary to estimate or the committee to recommend specifically for 

the entire scientific corps and simply recommended for the Survey a total 

appropriation of $880,570, or $70,200 less than in the Sundry Civil Expenses bill for the current year. The committee said that the reduction, 

however, was apparent, not real, because $60,000 for investigations in 

Alaska had been transferred to the deficiency bill and $11,200 for rent, to 

the legislative bill. There was, in fact, a net increase of $1,000 in the 

appropriation for the expenses of transmitting documents through the 

Smithsonian Exchange. The Senate, meanwhile, had had its attention drawn 

to the need for more funds for topographic surveys. On January 13, Senator 

John Kean, the new chairman of the Committee on the Geological Survey, 

had asked for a report on the demands for topographic work and had 

promptly been given a list of 196 petitions, memorials, and requests together with an estimate that $250,000 was needed for the work.

When the Sundry Civil Expenses bill came up for consideration in the 

House Committee of the Whole in late March, the apparent reduction for 

the Survey was promptly challenged by James Lloyd, Democrat of Missouri, 

and explained by Mr. Cannon, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, as apparent but not real. Mr. Lloyd, however, was persistent. The 

Department had estimated $1,024,207, the committee allowed $880,000. 

What was left out? Mr. Cannon said that part of the reduction came about 

from the return to the old form of appropriations and part from a reduction 

of $30,000 for printing maps. Mr. Cannon then added:

I want to say, touching this service, that it is a great service, a growing service. 

It has got about legs enough to crawl itself. It has a wonderfully bright head 

and a wonderfully meritorious one, I will frankly say, in my judgment.

Mr. Lloyd interrupted to agree with that, and then Mr. Cannon continued:

It grows, you know, like a green bay tree. I think we have fairly well cared for 

it. I trust it may always remain as efficient as it is now and may always keep 

out of the rut in which much of the public service is apt and to contract the 

disease of dry rot.

Mr. Lloyd was not to be deterred. "Is it not true that a considerable sum 

was asked as an additional appropriation for topographic surveys?" 

"$50,000." "Was any necessity shown for that $50,000?" "That was for 

additional work, as we understood. The truth is there would be a demand 

for $1,000,000, if we could give it. They would like the amount and would 

do the work. But this service had grown quite rapidly, and after investigating your committee is of opinion that the amount received is sufficient. 

My friend knows that we must have something for future generations to 

do." The colloquy continued, and finally Mr. Cannon admitted that the 

Survey had also wanted another $20,000 to send another party to Alaska, 

but the committee thought it could wait. On the next day, John Small, 

Democrat of North Carolina, moved an increase for topographic surveys

324 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
The Department of the Interior and the Department 

of Agriculture cooperated in an effort to save the 

forests of the southern Appalachians, which were 

rapidly disappearing because of the industrial development of the South. Not only was the beauty 

of the area being destroyed; but when the forest 

cover was removed, the soil was washed from the 

mountain sides and deposited on the cultivated 

lands along the rivers below, making future tilling 

impossible and ruining immense areas of arable 

lands. (From H. A. Pressey, 1902.)

from $250,000 to $300,000. Eight States were contributing $101,000 

toward topographic mapping in their States, which the Survey had to match. 

Therefore, unless the appropriation were increased, the other States would 

suffer. Mr. Small was followed by Alston Dayton, Republican of West 

Virginia, who stressed the importance of topographic mapping in expediting 

industrial development. John Shafroth of Colorado thought the fact that so 

many States were willing to cooperate was conclusive evidence that the 

surveys were urgently needed. Mr. Lloyd thought it was the duty of Congress 

to increase the appropriation, because otherwise the States that cooperated 

would get most of the work. Congress had a responsibility to look at it from 

a national standpoint.

Mr. Cannon listened patiently and finally said:

The appropriation for this service for the current year is $950,000 in round 

numbers *** a large appropriation for geology, if you stop to think a minute. 

This is a growing service. That is true. It is a live service no doubt about it. 

It is a hustling service no doubt about that. It is true, now, that a portion of 

this money for topography is spent in States that make appropriations from

Appropriations for 1902 -1903 325
State treasuries, and my observation is that this Bureau is quite lively in suggesting to States that that is a wise thing to do " * * Now, we recommend the 

same amount for the coming year as there is for this year $250,000 for topography and between 9 hundred and 10 hundred thousand dollars for the 

whole service. Your committee thought that we had better leave something for 

posterity in topography.

But Mr. Dayton thought the topographic maps were of greater value than 

all other Government publications put together. Though it was clearly established that the dollar-for-dollar cooperation was the Survey's idea and 

not a requirement of law, it was also admitted that that was the way the 

Survey would operate, and so the House voted 58 to 24 to increase the 

appropriation for topographic surveys to $300,000. Mr. Small then moved 

to increase the amount for printing maps to $100,000, and Mr. Cannon 

agreed that this was logical, considering the increase for mapping. The total 

for Survey expenses passed by the House was $960,570.

The Senate had already passed the reclamation law when the appropriation 

bill reached it, so the Senate Committee on Appropriations revised the item 

for water-resources investigations to avoid any semblance of the problem 

that had arisen with respect to topographic surveys during the Irrigation 

Survey. The reference to arid and semiarid regions was removed, so the 

entire program became national, and the appropriation was doubled. The 

Senate committee also proposed some minor increases and an appropriation 

of $5,000 for topographic surveys in Puerto Rico. The full Senate accepted 

all the committee's recommendations. However, the Conference Committee 

eliminated the appropriation for topographic surveys in Puerto Rico. The 

total appropriation for the Geological Survey was $1,066,570, somewhat 

more than the Department had asked.

The appropriation of more than $1 million for the Survey was approved 

on June 20, only 3 days after the reclamation law had been approved. In 

a letter to Secretary Hitchcock on the day that he signed the reclamation 

law, President Roosevelt specified that the work of reclamation was to be 

delegated to the Geological Survey because Walcott and Newell "have been 

tested and tried and we know how well they will do the work." The 

Reclamation Service, however, did not become an integral part of the Survey 

but was administered by the Survey officers, Walcott as the Director and 

Newell as the Chief Engineer. Then on July 1, 1902, in recognition of the 

increased scope of the Survey's hydrographic work, the Hydrographic Division of the Geologic Branch was given new status, becoming the Hydrographic Branch, coordinate in rank with the Geologic and Topographic 

Branches. F. H. Newell became the first Chief Hydrographer.

The Reclamation Service, when it began in 1902, had a little more than 

$3 million available for expenditure because the revenue from disposal of 

the public lands in fiscal years 1901 and 1902 formed its "dowry." From 

the Survey, Newell chose as his principal assistants, Arthur Powell Davis, 

to supervise work related to engineering estimates and operations, and 

Charles H. Fitch, to supervise field parties making preliminary surveys for 

diversion lines, reservoirs, and other irrigation works, and to outline irrigable lands. Plans were made to employ consulting engineers and boards of 

review to consider the results of the various surveys and examinations and 

report to the Chief Engineer. Expansion of the hydrographic work of the 

Survey, Walcott and Newell agreed, would have to wait until the Reclamation Service got underway.

In the general celebration at the Tenth Irrigation Congress in the fall of 

1902, Newell explained that he became the Chief Engineer of the Reclamation Service because the Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the

326 The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 1900-1902
I. C. Russell made a reconnaissance of the Snake 

River plains of southern Idaho to determine whether 

geologic conditions there were such that flowing 

water might be obtained by drilling wells. Russell 

held out little hope that water could be obtained; 

however, he called attention to the almost unlimited and unutilized waterpower available along the 

Snake River. (From I. C. Russell, 1902.)

Geological Survey were both very busy men. The Secretary had charge of 

the largest department in the Government and irrigation, important as it 

was, was only one of the many subjects before him. The Director of the 

Geological Survey was busy because he had more than $1 million to 

spend that year. Newell's modesty was unconvincing. Certainly many people had worked hard and long for the passage of the reclamation law, but 

it is doubtful if any one had worked harder and longer than Newell. Moreover, he has been credited with the suggestion that proved to be the keystone 

to success, that the public-land moneys be used for the reclamation fund. 

Walcott's contribution is harder to assess, because, in characteristic Walcott 

fashion, most of it was behind the scenes. It was, however, acknowledged 

as indispensable by those who were familiar with the many details involved 

in maneuvering the bill through Congress.

Expansion of the Survey 327
Chapter 12.

Bewitching Prosperity, 1902 1904

Prosperity doth bewitch men, seeming clear;

As seas do laugh, show white, when rocks are near.

 John Webster

When Charles D. Walcott, the Director of the Geological Survey, assumed direction of the Reclamation Service in the summer of 1902, he was 

clearly one of the most, if not the most, influential Federal scientists in 

Washington. Not only did he direct two Federal bureaus, one engaged in 

the very practical work of reclaiming the arid lands of the West, the other 

a full spectrum of practical and theoretical studies in the Earth sciences, but 

he was also involved in promoting the cause of pure science in his position 

as secretary of the newly established Carnegie Institution of Washington.

As Federal science tended more and more toward the practical, Washington scientists looked for opportunities to improve the facilities for basic 

research, and in 1901 they achieved a measure of success, working through 

the George Washington Memorial Association. The Association had been 

founded in 1898 by a group of women with the aim of securing the establishment of a national university in Washington to honor the first President. 

A committee of the National Education Association Council, however, composed chiefly of college presidents, deans, and professors, however, had 

declared that the Federal Government should encourage and aid education 

instrumentalities but not control them. On March 3, 1901, Congress had 

extended the research facilities of Federal agencies (which in 1892, it had 

made accessible to students of institutions of higher education in the Nation's Capital) to duly qualified students or graduates of institutions of 

learning anywhere in the United States. The George Washington Memorial 

Association then reorganized to reflect a new purpose, to aid in securing an 

increase of opportunities for higher education in Washington. Two months 

later, the president of the George Washington Memorial Association joined 

Daniel C. Gilman, about to retire as president of The Johns Hopkins University, C. Hart Merriam, Director of the U.S. Biological Survey, George 

M. Sternberg, the Surgeon General of the United States, Charles D. Walcott, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, and Carroll D. Wright, the 

Commissioner of Labor, in incorporating the Washington Memorial Institution "to promote science and literature; to provide opportunities and facilities for higher learning, and to facilitate the utilization of the scientific 

and other resources of the government for purposes of research and higher 

education."

Walcott became president of the Board of Trustees of the Washington 

Memorial Institution which began development of a plan for a nongovernmental institution to promote the study of science and liberal arts at Washington and to exercise systematic oversight of advanced study and investigation in government laboratories. The plan was promptly endorsed by the 

National Educational Association Council.

Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904 329
The Trustees then conferred with Andrew Carnegie, who agreed to endow 

an institution "to extend human knowledge by original investigations and 

research," to be known as the Carnegie Institution of Washington. A 

Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institution was formed and elected A. S. 

Hewitt as chairman, then selected Daniel C. Oilman as first president of 

the Institution and C. D. Walcott as first secretary.

The Trustees concluded that

Research may be defined as original investigation in any field whether in science, literature, or art. Its limits coincide with the limits of the knowable. In the 

field of research the function of the Institution should be organization, the 

substitution of organized for unorganized effort wherever such combination of 

effort promises the best results; and the prevention, as far as possible, of 

needless duplication of work. Hitherto, with few exceptions, research has been 

a matter of individual enterprise, each worker taking up the special problem 

which chance or taste led him to and treating it in his own way. No investigator, 

working single handed, can at present approach the largest problems in the 

broadest way thoroughly and systematically.

The charter of the Carnegie Institution clearly reflected the experience of 

the Director of the Geological Survey, the necessity for promoting basic 

research, the need to prevent duplication as wasted effort, and the advantages 

of organized effort.

Walcott had already relinquished administrative control of much of the 

geologic work of the Survey to C. W. Hayes. On March 1, 1902, while the 

reclamation law was being maneuvered through Congress and the Carnegie 

Institution was being established and organized, the five divisions: Areal 

Geology, Pleistocene Geology, Economic Geology of Metalliferous Deposits, 

Economic Geology of Nonmetalliferous Deposits, and Paleontology were 

united as the Division of Geology and Paleontology under Hayes, who was 

given the title geologist-in-charge of geology and paleontology. The former 

divisions retained their individual identities as sections in the new division, 

and the section chiefs retained full-scientific authority in their respective 

fields. Hayes had scientific authority only for nonmetallic investigations, 

and, in theory at least, was only one among equals in establishing the 

scientific program of the division. Nonetheless, the designation of Hayes, 

rather than Bailey Will is, who had been Assistant to the Director for Geology, to take administrative charge of the work emphasized the importance 

of economic geology, and the revival of the title used by Walcott in the 

year before he became Director suggested that perhaps Hayes was being 

groomed for the future.

Only the Division of Geology and Paleontology became independent in 

1902. The Director retained administrative control of the Divisions of 

Chemical and Physical Research under Becker, Mining and Mineral Resources under David T. Day, and of Hydrography under F. H. Newell. The 

Alaskan program was given special status, neither a section in the Division 

of Geology and Paleontology nor yet a separate division. Alfred H. Brooks 

was appointed geologist in charge of geologic work in Alaska and together 

with R. U. Goode constituted a committee to consider and submit plans 

for work in Alaska.

In the work of the Metals Section, copper retained its primary importance 

as it did in the industrial world. Weed spent a short field season at Butte, 

Montana, chiefly in underground work, and also made brief visits to various 

copper mines in New Jersey and North Carolina to obtain data for a report 

on the copper deposits of the Eastern United States. Ransome began a study 

of the geologic relations and origin of the copper ore bodies near Bisbee, 

Arizona. Arthur Spencer was in charge of a party studying the copper de330 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
The Silver King mine, one of the bonanza silverlead mines in the Park City district in Utah, first 

began to produce in 1893 and for several years was 

the largest dividend payer in the State and among 

the largest in the country. The general geology of 

the area had been mapped by the Fortieth Parallel 

survey in 1869, and the mining geology investigation was begun more than 30 years later. (From 

J. M. Boutwell, 1912.)

posits in the Encampment Mountains of Wyoming, and Emmons spent 

some time with him and with Professor J. F. Kemp at the New Rambler 

mine in the Medicine Bow Range. The platinum-bearing copper ore there 

was unusual, but because the deeper workings of the mine were inaccessible, 

they could not make a satisfactory study of it.

Precious-metal investigations included Lindgren's field study of the auriferous gravels of Placer County, California, and Spurr's work in the new 

gold district at Tonopah, Nevada. Irving and Boutwell began an economic 

study of the Park City district in Utah, the first detailed geologic work in 

the Wasatch Mountains undertaken by the Metals Section. It involved, as 

did all economic work under Emmons' direction, a study of the general 

structure of the range as well as a very detailed study of the silver-lead ore 

deposits. Emmons was more or less familiar with the structure of the range 

from his work there in 1869, but the study of the ore deposits was especially 

difficult because of their relation to the long and complicated history of the 

range. He had, therefore, decided that the preliminary mapping of the district should be done with great deliberation and detail and no attempt made 

to complete the work in one summer. Emmons himself continued the restudy of the Leadville, Colorado, district, examining in particular the recent 

underground workings in the Downtown district whose future constituted

Economic Geology, 1902-1903 331
one of the most important problems. In December, 1902, Emmons was 

elected president of the Geological Society of America, the first economic 

geologist to be so honored.

As most nations had, by this time, either adopted the gold standard or 

seemed ready to do so before long, the question of the available supply of 

gold for the future was a matter of some interest. Lindgren, following in 

the tradition of Emmons, studied the geological features of the gold product 

of North America and concluded that the great increase of the preceding 

10 years would probably not continue at the same rate. He thought it likely 

that the placer fields of Alaska and the Northwest Territories would gradually decrease their output, that districts producing gold from copper ores 

and other working bonanzas of the Tertiary veins would also probably lessen 

their output, and that reserves of old mill-tailings and dredging-grounds to 

which new processes had been applied were being exhausted. However, new 

discoveries and the introduction of improved processes of extraction were 

always possible, so he concluded, "Tentatively striking a balance, a small 

decrease of the gold production of North America would seem more likely, 

for the next few years, than an increase."

The lead and zinc investigations of the Metals Section included a study 

of the lead, zinc, and fluorite deposits of western Kentucky by W. S. 

Tangier Smith and E. O. Ulrich, carried out under a cooperative arrangement between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Kentucky Geological 

Survey. Smith also completed the investigation of the lead and zinc deposits 

of the Joplin district, Missouri-Kansas, with the assistance of C. E. Siebenthal.

The Metals Section came closer to achieving one of its long-term goals 

a genetic classification of ore deposits as both Weed and Spurr presented 

tentative classifications at meetings of the Geological Society of Washington 

in January 1903. Weed divided all economic geologists into two schools: 

descensionists, who maintained that all ore deposits were the work of underground meteoric waters, which had derived their mineral contents from 

the rocks traversed; and ascensionists, or the igneous school to which he 

belonged, who believed that igneous intrusions had furnished not only the 

heat for most hot waters but also the mineral contents, either directly as 

differentiations or emanations, or through the leaching of rocks by vapors 

and heated waters. Weed's classification was sixfold: I. Igneous (magmatic 

segregations); II. Pneumatolytic (deposited by igneous emanations); III. Fumarolic; IV. Gas-Aqueous (deposits from igneous emanations mingled with 

ground waters); V. Meteoric; and VI. Sedimentary, such as gold placers. 

Spurr's classification was simpler, with only three classes: Original, or 

formed during the cooling processes of igneous rocks; Subsequent, or formed 

from cold rocks, either sedimentary or igneous, by atmospheric waters; and 

Transitional, somewhere between or a combination of the first two.

Lindgren stated that he doubted that the time had yet come for a genetic 

classification, although he agreed with the general plan of Weed's scheme. 

Ransome pointed out that those who were inclined to assign to meteoric 

waters a large share in ore deposition did not necessarily maintain that the 

ores were concentrated by cold descending waters from cold rocks or that 

igneous intrusions had no part in the process. For his part, he wished to be 

described as occupying intermediate ground in substantial accord with Emmons. The discussion was so prolonged that it was continued at a February 

meeting to which non-Washington geologists were invited. Emmons, always cautious, led off by stating that deposits that are probably the result 

of direct emanations from cooling igneous rocks or actual segregations in an

332 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
igneous rock, had been held previously on almost a theoretical basis but 

now had been observed. As far as he was concerned, the big problem was 

whether igneous magmas as they came from the interior of the Earth contained sufficient water to produce the phenomena observed in ore deposits. 

Professor Kemp put it in a slightly different fashion: there were deposits at 

each end of Weed's classification that were certain, but in between the 

extremes there were many deposits about which the interpretation was 

doubtful. Emmons, referring directly to some of Spurr's work, cautioned,

it is wise to guard oneself against the attractiveness of what appears to be 

novel, and hence presumably an advance on previously conceived ideas, and 

not to confound speculative assumptions with demonstrations.

The discussions were of wide interest to both geologists and mining engineers, and both Science and the Engineering and Mining Journal carried full 

reports.

In the nonmetallic investigations, which were Hayes' primary scientific 

responsibility, several innovations were made in both methods of work and 

applications. Hayes again borrowed W. T. Griswold from the Topographic 

Branch to continue a very careful plotting of the geologic structure in an 

oil-producing area in eastern Ohio to study the effect of small changes in 

the dip of formations on the accumulation of petroleum. M. R. Campbell 

was again in charge of several parties engaged in areal and economic work 

in bituminous coal areas. Most of the work was in western and southwestern

HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL SCALE

5OO,_ o __ sou looof eet

A NW. U s? A

The discovery of petroleum in east Texas was the 

beginning of a new era in geology. Hayes and Kennedy found that the oil structure at Spindletop did 

not fit previous theories. The only horizon that they 

could identify with any degree of certainty in the 

record of wells was the oil rock itself; the structure 

appeared to be a "dome or quaquaversal with steep 

sides and a rather flat summit." The two sections, 

at right angles to each other, show the structure as 

far as it had been made out in 1902. It was later 

identified as a salt dome. (From C. W. Hayes and 

William Kennedy, 1903 )

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Economic Geology, 1902-1903 333
Oil and gas reservoirs in the Kansas field were found 

associated with sandstone lenses interbedded in 

shales, most commonly at the upper margin of an 

inclined or dipping sandstone. (From G. I. Adams 

and others, 1904.)

Pennsylvania, but George Ashley and L. C. Glenn began a study of the coal 

resources near the headwaters of the Cumberland River in Kentucky, and 

M. L. Fuller worked in Indiana and Illinois.

At Campbell's request, Fuller prepared a plan for the systematic collection of well data, which several individual geologists had used in determining details of structure and stratigraphy. The data proved so valuable, especially in the study of oil and gas fields, that it was thought a section 

might advantageously be organized to collect them systematically. In some 

localities, particularly in Pennsylvania, such records had been preserved, but 

in general, only the larger operators kept permanent records of their wells, 

so it was essential in most places to obtain the information when the well 

was being sunk if it was to be had at all. Fuller's plan included the collection 

of rock samples as well as records, compilation of a catalogue of well records, 

preparation of a bibliography of oil and gas papers, compilation of correlation 

tables of the various producing sands, and preparation of statistics on production.

Emmons and Hayes combined efforts to produce a bulletin entitled Contributions to Economic Geology 1902, the first of a new series designed to meet 

the growing demand from the mineral industry for prompt publication of 

Survey work. The bulletin, published early in calendar year and, under the 

new rules, distributed free of charge, included in its 449 pages 59 contributions from 33 geologists in addition to summary statements by Emmons 

and Hayes and lists of Survey publications on various mineral commodities. 

Some of the papers were preliminary statements of the results of extended 

investigations, which would later be described in more detail; some were 

descriptions of phenomena of economic interest not of sufficient importance 

to warrant separate publication; and some were abstracts of the more important papers that had appeared during the year. All told there were 10 

reports on the precious metals, 9 on copper, 4 on lead and zinc, 2 each on 

tin and tungsten, 1 on platinum, 7 on iron and manganese, 7 on oil and 

gas, 4 on coal, and 13 on other nonmetals. More commodities were discussed 

in Mineral Resources of the United States, but the Survey's interests were 

expanding.

J. A. Taff extended the Survey's work into classification of mineral lands 

in advance of their disposition by the Government for the first time since 

1879. Taff was detailed to the Secretary's office to select the commercially 

valuable coal and asphalt lands in Indian Territory so they could be segregated and sold, rather than allotted to the Indians, with the proceeds being 

distributed instead. With the assistance of M. K. Shaler, Carl D. Smith, 

and R. D. Mesler, Taff spent 3 months in the field and selected nearly half 

a million acres of coal and asphalt lands for segregation and sale.

Hayes also arranged for the preparaion of summary reports on other nonmetallic resources: a report on the clay resources of the United States east 

of the Mississippi River by Professor Heinrich Ries of Cornell University 

and a report on the gypsum deposits of the United States by a Survey 

geologist, G. I. Adams. E. C. Eckel, who had been graduated from New 

York State University in 1895, was appointed in August 1902 and assigned

334 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
Investigations of structural materials were begun 

shortly after the great change in construction methods near the turn of the century. The great gold 

strikes at Cripple Creek and in Alaska had attracted 

everyone's attention, but the tremendous growth 

of the portland cement industry was achieved in 

comparative obscurity, added almost as much to 

national wealth. (From E. C. Eckel, 1905.)

to work under Hayes' immediate supervision. After a few months' indoctrination, Eckel was put to work collecting data for a report on the portland 

and natural cement industries of the United States. The new methods of 

construction with steel-reinforced concrete had brought about an extraordinary increase in the quantity of cement being produced in the United 

States.

The Alaskan program was a miniature version of that in the Division of 

Geology and Palentology in the summer of 1902. Most of it was concerned 

with metals, but A. J. Collier, accompanied only by two camp hands, made 

a reconnaissance for some 1,300 miles down the Yukon River from Dawson 

to investigate the coal resources, study the stratigraphy, and make paleontologic collections. Brooks, accompanied by D. L. Reaburn, topographer, 

and L. M. Prindle, geologic assistant, made a reconnaissance of a previously 

unexplored area, traveling from Cook Inlet to the Yukon River through the 

Alaska Range and along the northwestern base of Mount McKinley. For

34.000.000 

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..... Portland cement production of the United States

 Gold production of Alaska

 Gold production of Cripple Creek district, Colorado

Economic Geology, 1902-1903 335
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Reaburn and Prindle, this trip was the first experience in Alaska, and it 

was an exceedingly difficult one. In places, almost constant trail chopping 

was necessary, horses and riders were sometimes swept downstream by the 

rushing current as they tried to cross a river, and they were harassed by 

Alaska's legendary mosquitoes. Brooks, however, was able to climb Mount 

McKinley to the snowline and to obtain some idea of its geologic structure. 

As geologic mapping and stratigraphic studies continued in all parts of 

the country, yet another effort was made to establish new rules for geologic 

nomenclature. A circular letter was sent to all Survey geologists and paleontologists in January 1902 asking them to examine the published rules 

and submit suggestions for amendment. Gilbert agreed to act as chairman 

of the committee reviewing the rules and serving with him were Whitman 

Cross, Bailey Willis, and C. R. Van Hise, who had taken part in the 1889 

conference, and W. B. Clark, C. W. Hayes, T. W. Stanton, and H. S. 

Williams. F. B. Weeks, who had been compiling the bibliography of North 

American geology for several years and whose bulletin on North American 

geologic formation names had just been completed, served as secretary. The 

new rules were promulgated in March 1903, after revision by the Director, 

as a code of regulations for making the Geologic Atlas of the United States. 

A permanent board, the Committee on Geologic Names, was then established with G. K. Gilbert as its first chairman. The committee was charged 

with scrutiny of all formation, group, and series names used in publications 

in connection with Survey work. One of the most important functions of 

the committee was to guard against duplication of formation names.

336 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904

Gypsum became one of the most important structural materials in the early 1900's. Its most extensive use was as wall plaster, and it had largely displaced lime and sand mortar as a wall finish. The 

Red Beds of New Mexico were an important source 

of gypsum. Some years later, these same Red Beds 

became the focus of the search for another needed 

mineral, potash. Areas of Red Beds are shown by 

shading. (From G. I. Adams, 1904.)
Arthur L. Day

Physical Geologist U.S. Geological Survey 1900- 

1907. Under Day's direction, the work in geophysics, abandoned in 1892, was resumed. The 

great promise of the work led to the establishment 

of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. During a distinguished 

career, Day made notable contributions to geophysical chemistry, volcanology, seismology, and 

ceramic research. (Courtesy of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.)

Under the new rules, rocks were grouped into only three classes: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic; sedimentary was used in a broad sense 

to include rocks formed by aqueous, organic, glacial, and eolian agencies. 

The word "formation," which under the old rules had been restricted to 

structural divisions of the fossiliferous clastic rocks, was applied to rocks of 

all classes, as the cartographic unit, ordinarily the smallest rock body separately named and mapped. Under the old rules, the sedimentary formation 

had been defined by its physical characters alone, but under the new rules, 

its definition might depend largely on contained fossils. The new rules 

substituted the rock term "system" for the time term "period" in the 

atlas, and they gave definite rank to member, formation, group, series, and 

system. Members, formations, and groups were local or provincial, series 

either provincial or broader, and systems were worldwide. Algonkian and 

Archean were redefined in such a way as to recognize the presence of metamorphic clastic rocks among the dominantly igneous rocks of the Archean. 

Ordovician was finally accepted in place of Lower Silurian and given rank 

as a system. Permian, Pennsylvanian, and Mississippian were recognized as 

series of the Carboniferous. The compound "Jura-Trias" was abandoned 

and Triassic and Jurassic adopted. The terms "Pleistocene," "Neocene," 

and "Eocene" were abandoned as primary terms, and "Quaternary" and 

"Tertiary" were reestablished. Pleistocene was given series rank to include 

all deposits of the glacial period, and the Lyellian divisions of the Tertiary 

Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene were adopted.

An entirely new system of classification of igneous rocks, the distillation 

of many years of study, was proposed by C. Whitman Cross, Joseph P. 

Iddings, L. V. Pirsson, and H. S. Washington in their Quantitative Classification of Igneous Rocks published in 1903- All igneous rocks were classified 

in a hierarchical system on the basis of their chemical composition, and the 

chemical composition and the unit of classification were defined in terms 

of certain minerals capable of crystallizing from a magma of given chemical 

composition. Cross, who had spent several months in the Hawaiian Islands 

to compare the volcanic masses there with those of the older volcanic region 

of the San Juan Mountains of Colorado where he had been mapping, was 

designated as geologist in charge of a new section of petrology, and thus 

the Survey's scientific authority in petrology, when he returned to the 

United States in December 1902.

In the Division of Chemical and Physical Research, Arthur L. Day, with 

the assistance of E. T. Alien, was engaged in an experimental investigation 

of the behavior of rock-forming minerals and analogous, but somewhat 

simpler, chemical compounds at high temperatures. The melting temperatures of the principal rock-forming minerals were determined, beginning 

with representative feldspars, by a very sensitive method, at the point where 

the absorption of heat showed a change of state was taking place so that 

minerals might be fitted into their proper place in modern physical chemistry.

Research, such as the investigations being undertaken by Day and Alien, 

was important for the development of the science, as most geologists knew. 

Van Hise believed that in order to go far in geology it had become necessary 

to have a fair knowledge of the basal sciences of physics, chemistry, mineralogy, and biology.

The domain of geology is so great, the portion of earth not geologically mapped 

and the structure worked out so vast, the ore and other valuable deposits which 

have received no study are so numerous, that there is an immense field for the 

application of well-established principles. In geology, as in engineering and 

other applied sciences, there is an opportunity for many honest, faithful men

Basic Research 337
to perform useful service to the world even if their early training and capacity 

are not all that could be desired. But even the application of old principles will 

be well done in proportion as the geologist has training in the basal sciences; 

and to the man who combines with such training talent must necessarily be 

left the advancement of the philosophy of geology.

George Becker, who headed the Survey's Division of Chemical and Physical Research, acknowledged that "Geology has long, and with some justice, 

labored under the reproach of inexactitude. * * * The science is still in the 

qualitative stage and * * * even its most ardent students have seldom succeeded in ascertaining the quantitative relations between effects and operative causes and have been perforce content to indicate tendencies. Thus 

geological doctrine is far too much a matter of opinion, but this is hardly 

the fault of the areal geologist. The country must be mapped for economic 

reasons and to accumulate a knowledge of the facts to be explained. Working 

hypotheses the field geologist must have, or he could not prepare his map; 

and he is only responsible for living up to the standard of knowledge of his 

time. He is continually face to face with phenomena for which physics and 

chemistry should account, though they have not yet done so, and must 

accept seeming probabilities where certainty is unattainable."

Becker pointed out, however, that the problems that needed investigation 

offered very serious experimental and theoretical difficulties. If they had 

been easy, they might have been solved for many of them had been discussed 

for some time. Their difficulty, not lack of recognition of their importance, 

had postponed their solution. Moreover, the investigations could only be 

dealt with by a well-organized staff working on a definite plan. The tastes 

and convenience of individuals had to give way to "the methodical advancement of knowledge along such lines that the work of each investigator shall 

be of the utmost assistance to the progress of the rest."

Investigations such as those of Day and Alien, despite their importance 

to geology, were not likely to appeal to the very practical minded and 

unlikely to receive strong financial support in a Federal bureau. Moreover, 

the physical facilities available in the Survey headquarters were not suited 

to the nature of the experiments, which required delicate and accurate measurements. They were, however, research such as the Trustees of the Carnegie Institution wished to support. Not unexpectedly, the Advisory Committee on Geology of the Institution, T. C. Chamberlin, C. R. Van Hise, 

and C. D. Walcott, reported to the Trustees that research in geology was 

well covered in existing institutions but recommended that work in geophysics be undertaken, a recommendation that bore fruit within a few years 

when the Geophysical Laboratory was established.

The topographic-mapping program in the summer of 1902 was almost 

independent of the rest of the Survey. The choice of areas to be mapped in 

the East was largely controlled by the avalability of cooperative funds. In 

the Western States, much of the work was that required in the forest reserves 

and in aid of the Reclamation Service. In the States east of Mississippi River, 

16,278 square miles were mapped, nearly 84 percent of it in the 11 States 

that had made cooperative agreements with the Survey, and roughly half of 

it in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. West of the Mississippi, 

18,918 square miles were mapped, nearly 60 percent of it in California, 

Arizona, Washington, and Montana.

The doubling of the appropriation for stream gaging made possible a 

considerable expansion of the Survey's hydrographic work. The Reclamation 

Service continued most of the previous year's work in the Reclamation 

States and Territories and began new projects so that work was underway 

in all 16 States and Territories mentioned in the Reclamation Act. Stream

338 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
gaging was continued in the nonreclamation States and plans were made to 

expand it, once the Reclamation Service was well underway. One exception 

was made. Newell was anxious to begin studies of water quality and had 

asked his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to recommend a qualified engineer, specifying that he must also be good at 

making public contacts. MIT had recommended Marshall Ora Leighton, a 

graduate in 1896, who was serving as health officer at Montclair, New 

Jersey. Leighton was a classmate of M. L. Fuller, who had joined the Geologic Branch in 1900. Leighton was given a per diem appointment on July 

1, 1902, pending qualification by civil service examination, and sent to 

begin the stream gaging in the upper Mississippi Valley which Newell was 

also anxious to get underway. N. C. Grover, professor of engineering at the 

University of Maine, carried on stream gaging in Maine, as the first of the 

projected operations in the New England area. R. E. Horton was similarly 

engaged in New York in cooperation with the State engineer and with 

officials of New York City. E. G. Paul was in charge of river stations within 

convenient reach of Washington, D.C. B.M. Hall and others were engaged 

in the work in the South Atlantic States. Leighton established an office at 

Chicago where he could conduct work on the quality of water as well as 

supervise the stream gaging in the upper Mississippi Valley. Professor T. U. 

Taylor took charge of the operations in Texas. In September, John C. Hoyt 

transferred from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Geological Survey 

and was put in charge of computing, which released Gerard Matthes for 

work with the Reclamation Service. In October, E. C. Murphy, who had 

been making special investigations for the Survey at the Cornell hydraulic 

laboratory, was appointed and, after a short period in the field, made inspector of stream gaging. In October, Henry Gannett left the Philippine 

Islands, as Assistant Director of the Census, and the forestry investigations 

were transferred from the Topographic Branch to the Hydrographic Branch.

Fuller's plan for collection of well data could not be started in the Geologic Branch because of lack of funds, but it served as the basis for a new 

division in the Hydrographic Branch proposed by Newell to the Director 

as a "well division." Newell simply added water wells to Fuller's oil and 

gas wells. The Director approved the plan, but the division was named 

"Hydro-Geology," which was promptly shortened to "Hydrology," when 

it was organized in January 1903. Two sections were planned, one for the 

Reclamation States and Territories, the other for the States east of the Mississippi River and bordering it on the west. Fuller was assigned to take 

charge of the work in the Eastern States, and he promptly made plans for 

collecting well records, beginning with water data. He also made arrangements with State geologists and other officials to begin work in 21 States 

and began compilation of statistical information and preparation of a bibliography of hydrology and hydrography. The Western Section was organized in May 1903, when N. H. Darton was transferred from the Geologic 

Branch to take charge of the work. W. C. Mendenhall, C. E. Siebenthal, 

and G. B. Richardson also transferred from the Geologic Branch to the new 

section, and Willis T. Lee and C. A. Fisher were added to the staff.

Because of the intimate relation of the work of the new division to that 

of the Geologic Branch from which it sprang, an arrangement for cooperation 

with that branch was approved by the Director on May 26, 1903, under 

the terms of which geologists in charge of the various sections of the Division 

of Geology would have the same authority with respect to scientific questions 

over geologists in the Division of Hydrology as they did over geologists in 

the Geologic Branch. Geologists in the Division of Hydrology were to 

collect and prepare for publication, incidental to their work on underground

Expansion of Hydrography 339
waters, as much purely geologic data as possible, particularly in little known 

regions where such data were needed for the preparation of the geologic map 

of the United States, and members of the Division of Geology were instructed to collect data relating to the occurrence of underground waters in 

the region where they were working and to prepare, for geologic folios, 

sheets showing the conditions of its occurrence in regions where the underground waters were of great importance.

The budget submitted to Congress for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 

1903 called for an increase of $50,000, or one-third, in the appropriation 

for geologic surveys. Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock, in his annual report 

in the fall of 1902, pointed out that the mining industry had learned the 

value of geology, and that as the work of the Survey became more widely 

known, it became more largely economic. There was a growing demand for 

its extension into new regions. The demand far exceeded the ability of the 

Survey with its existing appropriation, and many meritorious requests had 

to be postponed.

The mineral industry as a whole had had an exceedingly profitable year 

in 1902. For the third time, the total value of the mineral products of the 

United States exceeded $1 billion, and the gain over 1901 was the second 

largest in 20 years. Iron and coal were most important, accounting for about 

60 percent of the value. Crude petroleum increased by 27.4 percent over 

1901, the greatest increases coming from Texas and California and from 

Louisiana, which produced for the first time. In fact, every variety of fuel 

increased in value except anthracite coal. Anthracite decreased in both quantity and value, although the average price at the mine increased from $2.05 

to $2.50 a ton, because the total tonnage was decreased almost 40 percent 

by the strike that began on May 12, 1902, and lasted until October 21.

Between 70 and 80 percent of the anthracite fields were owned by six 

railroads, and for several years, the anthracite owners and operators had 

succeeded in maintaining a high price for their product while the price of 

bituminous coal declined and its use increased. Although the price of anthracite coal went up, miners' wages did not, and the United Mine Workers 

called the strike when the anthracite owners declined an offer of arbitration. 

For 5 months, 15,000 anthracite workers stayed out of the mines, and the 

industry was completely paralyzed. By September, most of the press was 

opposed to the stand of the mine operators, and some newspapers were 

advocating Government ownership of the mines. In October, the New York 

State Democratic Convention took a stand in favor of national ownership. 

With winter approaching and the Nation facing a serious coal famine, President Roosevelt decided the time had come for the Government to take a 

hand. Instead of calling out the troops, as Presidents Hayes and Cleveland 

had done when faced with crippling strikes, President Roosevelt called the 

operators and union leaders to Washington and asked them to agree to 

arbitration. The union leaders agreed immediately and the operators somewhat more reluctantly as soon as public opinion forced them to do so. On 

October 16, the President announced the formation of a commission to 

mediate the dispute, and 5 days later, the strike was called off. E. W. 

Parker, who had been the Survey's coal statistician since 1890, was one of 

the members of the commission.

The commission, in its report of March 1903, was critical of the manner 

in which the anthracite business had been conducted, noting that rivalry 

among railroads, which owned or controlled 96.29 percent of the anthracite 

deposits, had contributed to the unsettled conditions. The commission also 

commented that

340 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
Arthur L. Day said, "Geological field research, is 

essentially a study of natural end-phenomena, of 

completed reactions, with but a very imperfect record of the earlier intermediate steps in the earthmaking process." To gain understanding of earth 

processes, he planned to study some of the simple 

rock-making minerals by the exact methods of 

physics and physical chemistry first their thermal 

behavior and eventually their behavior under varying pressure and temperature. Photograph shows 

natural albite after heating to 1200°F. Melted areas 

are dark. (From A. L. DayandE. T. Alien, 1905.)

one can not but be struck by the thought that a commodity so valuable and 

indispensable, lying within a small area, limited in quantity, should not be 

wastefully mined, and that the needs of future generations should be considered and their interests conserved.

The commission also pointed out that in considering the compensation to 

be paid for any class of labor, the danger to life and limb to those engaged 

should be taken into account. All kinds of mining involved risk of accident 

considerably in excess of the average in manual labor, but coal mining was 

more hazardous than any other class of underground work, and anthracite 

coal mining was more dangerous than bituminous coal mining.

In his second state of the Union message in December 1902, President 

Roosevelt discussed at some length economic policies and the regulation of 

trusts. No country, he remarked, had ever occupied a higher plane of material well-being, and that well-being was not accidental but was due in 

large part to the phenomenal industrial development. Conditions that had 

favored the growth of so much good had of course also favored somewhat 

the growth of evil; it was necessary to try to cut out the evil, but a "due 

sense of proportion" should be maintained "let us not in fixing our gaze 

upon the lesser evil forget the greater good." In correcting evils, industrial 

development must not be checked.

Anthracite Coal Strike 341
Congress, for the first time in several years, showed some reluctance to 

increase appropriations for the Survey and questioned some of the Survey's 

work. The House Committee on Appropriations did not recommend any 

increases and, in fact, recommended a reduction of the appropriation for 

stream gaging to $ 100,000 to test the sentiment of the full House on the 

previous year's increase to $200,000. The Committee of the Whole quickly 

restored the $200,000 but the bill passed by the House provided no increase 

in funds for the next fiscal year.

During the debate in the House, Congressman F. W. Mondell expressed 

some concern about the forestry program in the Survey. Mondell, who had 

been Assistant Commissioner of the General Land Office when the program 

began, thought that all public-land surveys, including those in the forest 

reserves, should be made under the supervision of the General Land Office. 

"I have no criticism to make of the surveys which the Geological Survey has 

executed under this provision, or of any of their work. They are doing a 

great work but their work is generally along other lines. It is along the line 

of scientific and practical investigation topographic, geologic, and hydrographic surveys and it is not along the line of ordinary public-land surveys."

Another familiar theme was given an airing by Congressman F. H. Gillett 

of Massachusetts. Mr. Gillett said it did not seem to him wise for the 

National Government to spend money simply for scientific researches that 

did not promise material advantage, and he thought that perhaps the Democratic members of the House might consider it unconstitutional. The National Museum, which attracted so many visitors in Washington, should be 

continued, he granted, but he did not see why it should cost $170,000 a 

year to take care of it. Research in ethnology, he thought, had been undertaken for the benefit of the Indian Affairs Committee but the state of 

that legislation showed how little effect it had had. As for paleontology, he 

said, "Why should we study that? How does paleontology interest the 

Government of the United States? It means, I believe, a study of fossils. 

Now, if they would study the numerous fossils connected with the Government and find out some way to eradicate them I would make no criticism. 

But to spend $10,000 supporting some learned and excellent men in the 

study of fossils out in our West seems to me wrong."

The Senate Committee on Appropriations, being more attuned to industry, approved the increase for geologic surveys and again suggested an appropriation of $5,000 for topographic surveys in Puerto Rico. Senator Perkins of California proposed an additional appropriation of $100,000 for 

investigations of mines and mining by the Survey, and the Senate agreed 

to $50,000. The House refused to yield, however, and in the end, the only 

increase in the Survey appropriation was an increase of $350 in the salary 

of John McChesney, the Chief Disbursing Clerk.

In the state of the Union message, the President repeated his recommendation that the administration of the forest reserves be transferred from the 

Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture, although in 

the face of the strong opposition of Congressman Cannon to the transfer 

there was little chance of its being approved during the short session. However, information had reached the Secretary of the Interior that frauds of a 

serious nature had been and were being perpetrated against the Government 

under the Forest Lieu Land Act, and he had already launched upon a thorough investigation of public-land administration. The first indictment was 

brought in December 1902 and several more followed in succeeding months. 

The Commissioner of the General Land Office, Binger Hermann, who was 

suspected of involvement, resigned, and the Assistant Commissioner, W.

342 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
A. Richards, was appointed in his place. The President had urged that a 

thorough revision of the public-land laws be made and suggested that if 

Congress felt unable to undertake the task, a commission of experts be set 

up to study the problem and advise them. Joint resolutions for the appointment of a public lands commission were proposed in both Houses, but were 

never acted on.

The state of the Union message also contained a recommendation for the 

establishment of a Department of Commerce. "The creation of such a department would in itself be an advance toward dealing with and exercising 

supervision over the whole subject of the great corporations doing an interstate business; and with this end in view, the Congress should endow the 

department with large powers, which could be increased as experience might 

show the need." The Department of Commerce and Labor was established 

by an act approved February 14, 1903, after a Presidential threat of a special 

session if it were not passed. The stated purpose of the new Department 

was "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce, 

the mining, manufacturing, and transportation facilities of the United 

States." Transferred to the new Department were several bureaus from the 

Treasury Department, including the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the 

National Bureau of Standards, other bureaus from the Department of State 

dealing with foreign trade, and the Census Office from the Department of 

the Interior. The Office of Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries and the Fish 

Commission were also placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of 

Commerce and Labor. The Secretary was given control of gathering and 

distributing statistical information "naturally relating to the subjects confided to his department." Section 12 authorized the President to transfer 

"the whole or any part of any office, bureau, division or other branch of the 

public service engaged in statistical or scientific work" from the Departments of State, Treasury, War, Navy, or Interior to the Department of 

Commerce and Labor.

On March 13, 1903, 10 days after Congress adjourned, President Roosevelt appointed a committee to report directly to him "upon the organization, present condition, and needs of the Executive Government work 

wholly or partly scientific in character, and upon the steps which should be 

taken, if any, to prevent the duplication of such work, to coordinate its 

various branches, to increase its efficiency and economy, and to promote its 

usefulness to the Nation at large." Charles D. Walcott, Director of the 

Geological Survey, Director of the Reclamation Service, secretary of the 

Carnegie Institution of Washington, and president of the Washington Academy of Sciences, was named chairman of the committee. The other members 

were Brigadier General William Crozier, Chief of Ordnance; Rear Admiral 

Francis T. Bowles, Chief Constructor of the Navy; Gifford Pinchot; and 

James R. Garfield, Commissioner of Corporations in the newly established 

Department of Commerce and Labor.

In his autobiography, Pinchot claims that he proposed the plan to the 

President and that he was motivated at least in part by the idea that a strong 

recommendation from such a committee might help him achieve his objective of transferring management of the forest reserves from the Department 

of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture. President Roosevelt in his 

autobiography credits Pinchot with suggesting four later commissions but 

not this one, and in the letter of appointment stated that this was undertaken 

in view of the authority conferred in the act establishing the Department 

of Commerce and Labor enabling him to make certain transfers of the scientific work of the Government to that Department.

Scientific Work of the Government 343
It is probable, however, that something more was involved. The National 

Academy of Sciences was concerned that it was seldom consulted by the 

Federal Government on science policy, and at the November 1900 meeting, 

Walcott had suggested that a committee of five be appointed to recommend 

suitable investigations and incorporate them in the annual report to Congress. When Alexander Agassiz, who still disapproved of the Washington 

influence in the Academy that was promoting science in the Government, 

was elected president of the Academy in April 1901, he recommended instead 

that an executive committee, with himself and home secretary Arnold Hague and three members resident in Washington, be appointed to 

represent the Academy in its relations with the Government. A year later, 

however, the council of the Academy decided that the Academy should have 

full and reliable information on the scientific work and needs of such bureaus 

as the Geological Survey, National Museum, Fish Commission, Bureau of 

Ethnology, Bureau of Forestry, Naval Observatory, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and National Bureau of Standards; and the Academy agreed to set up 

a committee to report to the Government on their work. The committee, 

however, had not progressed beyond the discussion stage.

In December 1902, President Roosevelt did as the advice and cooperation 

of the Academy in instituting scientific exploration of the natural resources 

of the Philippine Islands, and a committee under William H. Brewer of 

Yale reported in February 1903 that the exploration was of the greatest 

scientific and economic importance and proposed that a Board of Philippine 

Surveys be set up. A few days before appointing the Committee on the 

Organization of the Scientific Work of the Government, President Roosevelt 

had appointed a Board of Scientific Surveys of the Philippine Islands under 

the chairmanship of Charles D. Walcott. The Board prepared a bill which 

was transmitted to Congress but never acted upon.

The Committee on the Organization of the Scientific Work of the Government held 38 meetings between March and early July and then traveled 

to President Roosevelt's home at Oyster Bay, New York, to present its 

preliminary report. The committee had found that, considering the vast 

amount of work carried on by the Government, wholly or partly scientific 

in character, there was very little actual duplication and that such duplication as had existed had been magnified by being made the subject of 

controversy. Because of the growth of Federal science, however, there was 

a lack of efficiency and coordination of the work, and the committee suggested that the efficiency could be increased by subdivision and redistribution of some branches among the executive departments.

The basic principle upon which the scientific work of the Government 

should be organized, the committee concluded, was that the

administrative unit should comprise all the elements necessary for the solution 

of a distinct scientific problem, or a group of closely related scientific problems, 

the investigation of which is for the benefit of the people in general. *** On the 

other hand, individual sciences and arts should not be segregated in the separate bureaus and offices, unless there exists such a large item or group of 

items in which a single branch of science or art predominates as to render 

such separation a matter of distinct economy. The committee is also of the 

opinion that research in pure science on broad and general grounds is more 

properly within the scope of private institutions and that in general the work of 

scientific research on the part of the Government should be limited nearly to 

utilitarian purposes.

Specific recommendations included the transfer of all general statistical 

work that was separate and distinct from particular scientific problems to 

the Department of Commerce and Labor; transfer of the Geological Survey, 

General Land Office, Office of Indian Affairs, and custody and care of the

344 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
national forest reserves and national parks from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture; transfer of the geodetic and magnetic work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Geological Survey; and 

transfer of the hydrographic work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the 

Hydrographic Office of the Navy with the formation of a Coast and Hydrographic Survey under the administrative and scientific control of civilians.

The rationale behind the proposed transfers to the Department of Agriculture appeared in a later report, which pointed out that in the 13 years 

since the Department of Agriculture had attained Cabinet status, the growth 

of scientific work in that Department had exceeded that of the entire Government in the preceding century; the Agriculture Department comprised 

one-third of the Federal scientific bureaus, received three-fifths of the appropriations for maintenance of scientific work, and employed fully twothirds of the investigators engaged "in the promotion of knowledge for 

human welfare." What was left unsaid was perhaps more significant. The 

transfer of additional scientific bureaus to the Department of Agriculture 

would concentrate science in that Department to such an extent that the 

recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences in 1884 for establishment of a Department of Science might be more easily achieved. It must 

be noted also that the legislation establishing the Department of Agriculture 

specifically authorized "practical and scientific experiments," whereas the 

legislation establishing the Department of Commerce and Labor called for 

it to "foster, promote, and develop" commerce and industry, and authorized the transfer of scientific work from all other departments except the 

Department of Agriculture to the new department. The committee may 

have concluded that the scientific work of the Government should be limited 

to utilitarian purposes; it clearly wanted to ensure that the scientific work 

remain scientific.

On the basis of his detailed study of the rocks of 

Mount Ascutney (pictured), Vermont, R. A. Daly 

proposed a new and fundamental explanation of the 

mechanics of magmatic intrusion that the chambers now occupied by igneous rocks were not opened 

by bodily movements of the crust but that the rocks 

made room for themselves by some kind of assimilation of the invaded formations. The Geological 

Survey's contribution to the work was an elaborate 

series of chemical analyses by W. F. Hillebrand. 

(From R. A. Daly, 1903.)

Scientific Work of the Government 345
The Survey began its 25th year, still adapting its structure and procedures 

to changing conditions and responsibilities. Its senior branch, the Geologic 

Branch, was both successful and respected. The Topographic Branch, also 

successful, was troubled by organizational problems. The youngest branch, 

the Hydrographic Branch, was experiencing growing pains.

In the Geologic Branch, the economic geology of fuels received more 

attention than the economic geology of metals. Such emphasis was fitting 

in a year that saw the first flight of a heavier-than-air machine and the first 

transcontinental trip by an automobile under its own power, although it 

was probably not the result of prescience, and the Survey gave as much 

attention, if not more, to coal as it did to oil. M. R. Campbell and assistants 

continued the detailed mapping of the Appalachian coalfields and in the 

Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania oilfields. George Ashley spent most 

of the season in Pennsylvania but also made a resurvey of the Middlesboro 

region in Kentucky as soon as the new topographic base was completed. W. 

T. Griswold continued his very detailed surveys of the oilfield in eastern 

Ohio, and plans were made for a model to be displayed at the Louisiana 

Purchase Exposition showing the underlying structure. Oil investigations 

were extended to the midcontinent region by G. I. Adams who made a 

survey of the lola quadrangle, Kansas, in the midst of a rapidly developing 

oil and gas district, in cooperation with the State Geologist. Professor Fenneman completed a study of the Boulder, Colorado, oilfield, finding that the

The Cripple Creek district of Colorado was restudied in 1903 at the request of the citizens of the 

State. The productive part of the district was then 

contained within a circle only 6 to 7 miles in diameter. More than 20 shafts had been sunk to 

depths greater than 1,000 feet; one of the important 

questions then was whether the veins persisted at 

depth. Lindgren and Ransome thought that the future of the district was in discovery of additional 

ore bodies within 1,000 feet of the surface. (From 

Waldemar Lindgren and F. L. Ransome, 1906.)

346 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
producing wells there were all on the east limbs of en echelon folds. The 

work of land classification was also continued as J. A. Taff was again detailed 

to the Department to prepare reports on the segregated coal and asphalt 

lands in Indian Territory. E. C. Eckel and T. Nelson Dale were responsible 

for most of the work on other nonmetalliferous deposits. Eckel visited the 

various cement-producing areas and typical plants to compile information 

for the report on the cement industry and with the assistance of Dale began 

collection of data for a report on the slate industry.

Nonmetamorphic iron ores, however, were also the responsibility of the 

Nonmetals Section. The enormous and rapidly increasing consumption of 

iron ore was becoming a matter of concern, and inventories of available 

supplies were being made to emphasize the limitation of known deposits 

and the necessity for early exploitation of new ones. Less than 2 percent of 

the iron ore mined annually had come from west of the Mississippi River, 

although it had long been known that there were large deposits there that 

had not been exploited because of lack of transportation or distance from 

consuming centers. C. K. Leith, who had studied both the Michigan and 

Minnesota iron deposits for the Precambrian Section, began a reconnaissance 

of the western iron deposits.

The major project in the Metals Section in the summer of 1903 was a 

resurvey of the Cripple Creek district in Colorado, which had been investigated by Cross and Penrose in 1894, in cooperation with the State of 

Colorado. The study was an important and a sensitive one. Not only were 

the underground workings far more extensive than they had been in 1894, 

but the district had had two serious conflicts between mineowners and 

miners, the cost of mining and treatment were high, there had been a 

tendency to capitalize companies for amounts greatly in excess of the probable value of the prospects to be developed, and few mines had yielded the 

amount of their capitalization in dividends. Both Lindgren and Ransome 

were assigned to the investigation. Ransome had been scheduled to begin 

the study of the Coeur d'Alene district in Idaho with F. C. Calkins as 

assistant. Calkins began the areal mapping, but the economic study was 

postponed until the following season. Boutwell continued the Park City 

study, and Spurr, the studies at Tonopah, but Irvmg left to join the faculty 

of the University of Wyoming, Spencer joined the Division of Alaskan 

Mineral Resources, and Weed was kept busy writing reports.

The Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources was established on July 1, 

1903, of the same rank as the Divisions of Geology and Paleontology, 

Chemical and Physical Research, and Mining and Mineral Resources. Alfred, 

H. Brooks was designated geologist in charge. Because of the reorganization 

in the Topographic Branch, topographers as well as geologists engaged in 

Alaskan surveys were transferred to the new Division. The Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources, although part of the Geologic Branch, became, in 

effect, an Alaskan geological survey; and it began, as had the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879, primarily to study economic geology and with topographic mapping subservient to that purpose.

Most of the Alaskan surveys were concerned with metals, but Brooks 

foresaw that coal and oil would be essential to the development of Alaska. 

Drilling had been going on since the summer of 1901, but only one well 

had struck oil. George C. Martin of the Maryland Geological Survey was 

selected to begin the oil investigations, and he began fieldwork near Controller Bay and Bering River and in Cook Inlet and Cold Bay. Arthur 

Spencer, assisted by C. W. Wright, studied the geology of a 200-mile strip 

along the southeastern mainland where the gold production was estimated 

as .4 million. In the Seward Peninsula area, A. J. Collier and F. L. Hess

Economic Geology, 1903-1904 347
348 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
In the summer of 1903, George C. Martin began 

a reconnaissance of the petroleum and coalfields in 

Alaska for the U.S. Geological Survey. Few wells 

had been drilled, and it was considered too soon to 

predict an important future for the region as a petroleum producer. He concluded, however, that the 

Bering River coal was the best yet found on the 

Pacific coast of North America. (From G. C. Martin, 1905.)

investigated tin deposits and gold placers, while a combined party under 

D. C. Witherspoon with Fred Moffit as geologist completed the reconnaissance mapping of the northeastern part and procured additional information 

on the placer gold deposits. L. M. Prindle and two assistants examined 

gold-producing placers and prospect areas near Fortymile, Birch Creek, and 

Fairbanks, while T. G. Gerdine was mapping 6,000 square miles topographically. Collier's reconnaissance of the previous year down the Yukon 

River had been of such interest that Arthur Hollick and Sidney Paige were 

dispatched to Alaska to travel down the Yukon by canoe and collect fossils 

to clear up doubtful points of Mesozoic and Tertiary stratigraphy and to 

determine the age of the coal-bearing rocks.

Perhaps by design but more certainly as the result of circumstance, especially the establishment of the Carnegie Institution, the noneconomic 

work of the Geologic Branch declined. Bailey Willis, the head of the Areal 

Geology Section, was on leave during the year on a mission in China for the 

Carnegie Institution. Areal mapping was continued but much of it was done 

by professors working part time for the Survey. Professor Chamberlin, the 

head of the Section of Pleistocene Geology, had been given a grant by the 

Carnegie Institution for investigation of fundamental problems in geology 

and consequently had very little time for the Survey. Some work in glacial 

geology was continued by Professor Salisbury, who took a large part of 

volunteers, many of them University of Chicago students, to the Bighorn 

Mountains of Wyoming. F. H. H. Calhoun and W. W. Atwood, who had 

been graduate students at Chicago, studied the geology and physiography 

of the Great Falls area in Montana and the Uinta Mountains, respectively. 

G. K. Gilbert spent part of the year investigating granite districts in Georgia 

on behalf of the Carnegie Institution, in search of a locality suitable for the 

investigation of subterranean temperature gradients by means of a deep 

boring.

The Pre-Cambrian Section to all intents and purposes ceased to exist. 

Professor Van Hise had been selected as president of the University of Wisconsin and the long-standing arrangement by which he had spent about half 

of each year with the Survey in Washington had to be discontinued. Professors Bayley and Bascom were winding up their mapping projects in the 

New Jersey Highlands and Philadelphia areas, and Professor Leith had begun 

the investigation of western iron ores.

The work of the paleontologists of the Survey was far more than "studying 

fossils out West," as Congressman Gillett supposed; much of it could be 

more properly described in Walcottian terms as paleontological geology, 

even paleontologic economic geology. E. O. Ulrich, for example, spent 

considerable time in the lead-zinc area of southern Illinois; George Girty 

studied the stratigraphic relations of the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks 

in the oil regions of northwestern Pennsylvania; and both T. Wayland 

Vaughan and Ralph Arnold, who had recently been appointed as W. H. 

Ball's assistant, were aiding investigations of water resources, particularly 

in southern California.

The work of the chemists was also closely allied to the interests of economic geology. H. W. Stokes, who had been engaged in the investigation 

of secondary enrichment, transferred to the Bureau of Standards but was 

succeeded by E. C. Sullivan, who held a Ph.D. from Leipzig and had been 

an instructor in analytical chemistry of the University of Michigan. Waldemar Schaller, a graduate of the University of California, joined the staff 

as assistant chemist and began a study of lithium minerals.

Noneconomic Geology 349
The Passaic River basin in northern New Jersey, a 

region limited in area but containing about onethird of the State's population, experienced two 

series of floods in 1902 and 1903- The large capital 

investment and community interests involved made 

it desirable that the occurrence and progress of 

floods in the area be thoroughly understood, and 

thus a new element was added to the water-resources 

program. (M. O. Leighton, 1904.)

The work in the physical laboratory was supported in part by a grant 

from the Carnegie Institution. Day and Alien completed their study of the 

thermal properties of the plagioclase feldspars at ordinary pressures, settling 

the question of the isomorphism of the series and giving for the first time 

an accurate series of melting points. Day and Van Orstrand also began an 

investigation of "black bodies" as efforts were being made in Europe to 

use their properties as the basis for measuring temperature at a distance.

Emmons, Becker, and Van Hise all attended the sessions of the International Geological Congress in Vienna in the summer of 1903. Both Becker 

and Van Hise investigated geophysical research in Europe and the possibility

350 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
of a geophysical laboratory at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Emmons, as one of the vice presidents of the Congress, won the endorsement 

of the Congress for such a venture.

The Topographic Branch, which since 1896 had been administered by 

a Topographic Committee with the Director or one of the section chiefs as 

chairman, was reorganized tentatively on May 1, 1903. Two divisions were 

set up, a Division of Topography, which remained under the Topographic 

Committee, of which R. U. Goode was then chairman, and a Division of 

Geography and Forestry under Henry Gannett, to include the forest investigations, which had never been formally organized, and certain special 

investigations. The Division of Topography included the four topographic 

sections, a Section of Triangulation and Computing under S. S. Gannett, 

and a Section of Inspection under John H. Renshawe. The Section of Inspection was charged with responsibility for eliminating as far as possible 

individual mannerisms in contour sketching in order to achieve uniformity 

of style, thus returning to the Branch the essential function of map editing. 

Early in June, the four topographic sections were consolidated into two; 

Goode took charge of the Western Section, which included all the United 

States west of the 100th meridian, and H. M. Wilson took charge of the 

Eastern Section. Goode, whom Walcott considered one of his right-hand 

men, was probably slated to become Chief of the Topographic Branch, but 

he died suddenly on June 9, unable to withstand pneumonia because of a 

rundown condition brought on by overwork. The Topographic Division 

remained under the Topographic Committee and E. M. Douglas was placed 

in charge of the Western Section.

The accomplishments of the two topographic mapping sections in the 

field season of 1903 were very different. In the Eastern Section, mapping 

was carried on in 24 States, in 10 of them under cooperative agreements, 

and of the 19,013 square miles mapped, more than 75 percent was for 

publication at 1:62,500. In the Western Section, which was responsible for 

mapping in the forest reserves, mapping was carried on in only 10 States 

and Territories and of the 15,127 square miles surveyed, 80 percent was 

for publication at 1:125,000. Only in California, where the State contributed funds for mapping at scales of 1:62,500 and 1:31,680 in the Sacramento Valley, was mapping done at larger scales. There, R. B. Marshall 

was given immediate supervision of all work in California, and a branch 

office was opened in Sacramento where all office work for the California 

sheets was completed.

The Reclamation Service under Newell was instructed to push its work 

as rapidly and economically as possible, and by the end of the year, it was 

ready to begin actual construction on the Salt River project in Arizona and 

the Truckee-Carson project in Nevada. The Survey's Hydrographic Branch 

had grown in a year until it had almost as many heads as the legendary 

Hydra. The Division of Hydrography had two sections, with five hydrographic districts in the Eastern Section and three in the Western Section. 

The Division of Hydrology was also divided into Eastern and Western Sections.

In the Division of Hydrography, N. C. Grover, R. E. Horton, and M. 

R. Hall had qualified for civil service appointments and were given fulltime appointments as district hydrographers or engineers. Grover took 

charge of the New England district with headquarters at Bangor, Maine; 

Horton, of the New York-Michigan district with headquarters at Utica, 

New York; and Hall, of the Southern Atlantic and Eastern Gulf States 

district with headquarters at Atlanta, Georgia. E. G. Paul continued as 

district hydrographer for the Northern Atlantic States district with headTopographic Surveys 351
quarters at Washington, D.C. Edward Johnson, who had been assisting 

Leighton, took charge of the work in the upper Mississippi Valley, which 

became known as the Chicago district. Only three districts were set up in 

the Western Section because so much work there was being carried on in 

connection with the irrigation investigations. The Central West district 

included all or part of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and Oklahoma; work there was carried on under 

the general direction of A. L. Fellows. California and Texas each constituted 

a district, California under the general supervision of J. B. Lippincott, and 

Texas under Professor T. U. Taylor. By the end of the year, 619 river 

stations were being maintained in these districts.

In the Division of Hydrology, the Eastern Section had work in progress 

in 21 States at the beginning of the fiscal year, for the most part the 

collection of well and spring data and surveys of ground-water supplies by 

university and State geologists. The Survey itself began an ambitious project 

to study the geology and water resources of Long Island, New York, with 

Fuller himself in charge and Arthur Veatch as his assistant. Professor 

Slichter, using the electrical apparatus he had invented, studied the movement of ground water on the island. From these studies, Fuller and Veatch

The island of Molokai in the Hawaiian Islands was 

built up of extremely porous rocks which seawater 

and rainwater penetrated freely. The rainwater sank 

into the rocks until it met the seawater and rested 

like a sheet on it. When Waldemar Lindgren visited 

the island in 1900, more than 1,000 of the island's 

total population of 2,400 lived in the leper settlement. The problems of water conservation were thus 

difficult and involved. (From Waldemar Lindgren, 

1903.)

352 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
A detailed study of the ground-water resources of 

Long Island showed that rainwater sank directly 

into the porous surface gravel and produced practically no runoff. Records of many deep wells combined with C. S. Slichter's experimental studies of 

the movement of ground water demonstrated that 

part of the ground water passed coastward in the 

upper gravels and another part sank into the Jameco 

gravels and Cretaceous sands and finally escaped in 

the form of suboceanic springs. (From A. C. Veatch 

and others, 1906.)

were able to determine not only the disposition of the sand beds and clay 

masses beneath the island and their effect on the movement of ground water 

but also the amount of underflow available for municipal supplies in several 

localities. Veatch, who had collected samples from wells drilled on the island 

in order to make fine distinctions in the glacial materials, found the samples 

so valuable and the operators and drillers so willing to assist that he drew 

up a plan for a system of collecting and preserving well samples throughout 

the country.

Work in the Western Section was almost entirely a Survey effort. Darton 

completed his study of the geology and water supply of the central Great 

Plains. Mendenhall began a study of the underground water resources of 

southern California, while C. E. Siebenthal and G. B. Richardson studied 

the San Luis Valley of Colorado and El Paso County, Texas. Newcomers 

Willis T. Lee and C. A. Fisher studied underground water supplies in 

Arizona and the Arkansas Valley. In January, when Lippincott was claimed 

full time by the Reclamation Service, Mendenhall took on the work of 

mapping the irrigated lands and collecting well data in southern California.

In September, the Division of Hydro-economics was organized to investigate such features of economic value in the water supplies of the United 

States as quality of water, changes in composition, damage arising from 

abuse, and methods of making it commercially valuable. M. O. Leighton, 

who had been appointed in July 1902 with this goal in mind, moved to 

Washington to head the Division. He was assisted by Richard B. Dole, a 

graduate of Bowdoin College, who had some advanced study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Leighton planned that some investigations would be made by the Survey staff, some in cooperation with State or 

private bodies under joint appropriations, and some in cooperation with 

laboratories, in which the Survey would collect and transport the samples; 

and, the laboratories would make the chemical analyses.

The Survey staffs investigations included the development of field methods of water assay for turbidity, color, total hardness, alkalinity or carbonates, total sulfate, chlorine, and iron; field determinations of the principal 

constituents of ground and surface waters in Georgia, Indiana, and Iowa; 

and an investigation of the effects of sewage and industrial pollution on Lake

Hydrography 353
Champlain. In cooperation with the Minnesota State Board of Health, the 

ground and surface waters of Minnesota were studied. In the third class of 

investigations, periodic examinations were made of the character of river 

waters in Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, and Kansas 

to determine the effects of industrial pollution or to determine the character 

of the water available for manufacturing or municipal use, and the samples 

were analyzed by cooperating laboratories.

March 3, 1904, marked the 25th anniversary of the legislation establishing the U.S. Geological Survey, and June 30, 1904, the completion of its 

first quarter-century of work. The anniversary was marked by appropriate 

festivities, and a bulletin describing the Survey and its operations for 25 

years was published. From the viewpoint of 1904, the following achievements were considered noteworthy.

A topographic map of 929,850 square miles of the area of the United 

State, or 26 percent of the country including Alaska and 31 percent of the

To understand the ground-water resources of the 

Great Plains, it was necessary to investigate the 

geology, especially the structure of the water-bearing and associated formations. N. H. Darton, who 

continued and extended the work begun by Gilbert 

in the 1890's, carried on an old tradition in presenting illustrations of striking scenery, such as this 

one of the Cathedral Spires in Colorado's Garden 

of the Gods, which he identified as vertical strata 

of the lower Wyoming red grits. A sketch of the 

same scene appeared in Hayden's 1874 report and 

is reproduced in volume 1 of this history, page 206. 

(From N. H. Darton, 1905.)

354 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
country excluding Alaska, had been prepared and published in the form of 

1,327 atlas sheets. The topographic maps had expedited investigations of 

city water supplies, such as those by New York City and the New York 

State Barge Canal. They had also been of value to railway companies and 

State highway bureaus; the improvement of highways in New York, Maryland, Massachusetts and other States had been facilitated and the cost of 

work materially reduced.

Geologic mapping of the country had been extended over about 171,000 

square miles; 106 geologic folios had already been published, and nearly as 

many more were in various stages of preparation. In addition to this geologic 

mapping, experimental and theoretical investigations of the physical characteristics of rocks in various processes of formation, of volcanic and geyser 

action, and of rock composition and structure had been undertaken, and the 

paleontologists had aided in the solution of stratigraphic and structural 

problems by classification and identification of fossil plants and animals.

The maximum, minimum, and mean discharge of all the more important 

rivers, had been recorded for 15 years, and of all the lesser tributaries of 

many hundreds of streams for shorter periods. These data had been assembled 

and studied, especially in relation to precipitation. The physical characteristics of river basins had been studied in respect to such factors as forestation 

and soil covering, so that the volume of runoff of each of the streams could 

be closely estimated. The development of the waterpower of the country, 

especially in the Southern States, had been stimulated by the facts brought 

to light in respect to the volume and regularity of the discharge of, and the 

fall in, the various streams of the country. Data had been gathered concerning the public lands which were irrigable an their relation to possible 

water supplies, a large number of reservoir sites had been examined and 

surveyed in a preliminary way and the lands withdrawn from sale or occupation pending more detailed studies. Several reservoir and irrigation projects had been studied in greater detail, surveys of irrigable lands and canal 

lines had been made, and some had been finally approved for construction 

by the Reclamation Service.

Detailed examinations had been made of 110,000 square miles, and the 

lands classified as forested, grazing, desert, or cultivable, and reports had 

been prepared on the forest reserves showing the character and amount of 

timber and other facts that would serve as a basis for forest management.

Of all the work of the Geological Survey, however, its immediate value 

to the people was best shown by the aid extended in developing the mineral 

resources and in forwarding important engineering projects in which the 

people, as well as Federal and State governments, were interested. The work 

of the Geologic Branch had had a wide educational influence on the public 

at large, but more directly on those in the mining industry. The investigation of the mining geology of Leadville had not only "guided exploration 

and secured economical mining in a district that has produced between 

$200,000,000 and $300,000,000" but had been "of even more beneficial 

result in teaching the mining engineer and the miner the practical importance of geologic study in carrying on their work; in other words, it has 

greatly improved mining methods throughout the whole country." Leadville was by no means all. The 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." The detailed areal mapping and determination of 

structure in the Appalachian coalfield were placing the development of the

Silver Anniversary 355
coal, petroleum, and gas on a scientific basis and relieving that part of the 

mineral industry of a large part of the hazard and uncertainty that had been 

associated with them. Finally, the collection and publication of reliable 

statistics of mineral production had furnished a sound basis for appraising 

the status and development of all branches of the mineral industry.

As the anniversary approached, the American Mining Congress was calling for establishment of a department of mines. The Engineering and Mining 

Journal preferred the establishment of a bureau of mining under the Director 

of the Geological Survey, saying

in no other country we say it advisedly has economic geology been applied 

to the development of industry with such beneficent results as in the United 

States, and no geological survey has contributed so much to the practical 

application of the science of geology in mining operations as has the organization in whose behalf we bespeak the earnest interest of our readers.

What was needed, the editor said, was greater scope for economic geology 

and "freedom from the encroachments of the wood and water departments."

On March 7, 1904, the Public Lands Commission, which President Roosevelt had appointed in October 1903 when Congress failed to respond to 

his recommendation, submitted a partial report. The President forwarded 

it immediately to Congress with the recommendation that the suggestions 

therein be favorably considered. The commission had only three members, 

W. A. Richards, Commissioner of the General Land Office; F. H. Newell, 

Chief Hydrographer of the Survey and Chief Engineer of the Reclamation 

Service; and Gifford Pinchot, the Chief Forester. The changes proposed in 

their preliminary report reflected their principal interests and bore chiefly 

on the control, use, and disposal of forest lands and the control of water. 

No consideration was given to mining laws, with which the 1879 commission had been much concerned, and even in its final report in 1905, the 

second commission stated that it had not been possible to take up the 

subject, although it recognized that important changes were necessary in 

both the United States and Alaska.

It is impossible to define the end of an era exactly, but the coincidence 

of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey 

and the submission of the preliminary report of the Second Public Lands 

Commission comes close to pinpointing one. Within a short time thereafter, 

the "wood and water departments" became not less but more influential, 

and the conservation of natural resources became of greater import than their 

development. For the conservation of both renewable and nonrenewable 

resources, large tracts of the public domain were withdrawn from entry. 

The reaction in the West, and in Congress, was not unlike that when lands 

had been withdrawn during the Irrigation Survey and for forest reserves. 

Classification of the public lands became an important element of the Survey's work for the first time, and, as appropriations were not increased, 

both research and mapping programs had to be altered to accommodate the 

new work. The separation of basic and applied science, already underway, 

was accelerated, and the Survey became essentially a department of practical 

science.

356 Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904
Notes and Bibliography

The chapter notes identify the sources of directly quoted material and a 

few indirect statements, some incidental biographical data, and give the 

reference to the U.S. Statutes at Large for all laws mentioned in the text. 

These have been related to the relevant page and either to the first few words 

of the quotation or to a significant phrase. Complete citations for most 

published material used as background, including the more extensive 

biographical works, and for quotation or illustration are given in the 

bibliography. Citations are arranged alphabetically by author, and include 

the Congressional documents (in parentheses at the end of the citation), 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 cited 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. Primary or contemporary documents are listed first, with but a few exceptions in chronological 

order, followed by more recent secondary sources, alphabetically by author. 

Biographical data not otherwise identified were obtained from the Dictionary 

of American Biography, National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Dictionary of Scientific 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. A New Order

Page 

1.

11.

"There is nothing more difficult * * * ": Niccolo Machiavelli, The

Prince, 1517, Chapter 6. 

"By far the larger part * * * ": National Academy of Sciences, U.S.

Congress, 45th, 3d session, House Miscellaneous Document 5, p. 5. 

"novel application": S. F. Peckham, 1884, p. 251. 

"It is chiefly * * * ": J. D. Whitney, in North American Review,

1875, v. 121, p. 274. 

"The time has come * * * ": E. C. Pechin, in Transactions of the

American Institute of Mining Engineers, 1872, v. 1, p. 297. 

"What is there * * * ": Congressman A. A. Hewitt, in Congressional

Record, U.S. Congress, 45th, 3d session, p. 1203. 

"discontinuance of the several * * * " and "step necessary * * * ":

Clarence King, U.S. Geological Survey 1st Annual Report, 1880,

p. 4. 

"a shorthand abbreviation * * * ": Max Lerner, in A. M. Schlesinger,

Jr., and Morton White, eds., 1963, p. 148. 

"Such industrial progress * * * ": James M. Swank, in David T. Day,

Mineral Resources of the United States calendar years 1889 and

1890, p. 22.

Chapter 2. The Most Ancient Art, 1879-1881

17. "Indeed, the subject of mining * * * ": Georgius Agricola, Preface to 

De Re Metallica, 1550.

18. "all those features * * * " and "students of the political economy

* * * ": Clarence King, 1880a, p. 335. 

"highly useful but feebly endowed": Ibid., p. 389. 

"In the history of the United States * * * ": Ibid.

19. "Every intelligent student * * * ": Ibid, 

"an area enclosing * * * ": Ibid., p. 339- 

"supposed by the first framers * * * ": Ibid., p. 335.

20. "authorize by a reasonable construction* * * " and "he might as well

* " * ": C. E. Dutton to Archibald Geikie, June 21, 1880, in the

manuscript collections, University of Edinburgh Library. 

The discussion of Joint Resolution 117 is on pages 2420-2424 of the

Congressional Record of the 46th Congress, 1st session, 

"and the States" and "the Geological Director * * * ": Ibid., J. D. C.

Atkins, p. 2420.

"And to collect * * * ": Joseph Hawley, Ibid., p. 2421. 

"We should know * * * ": A. J. Warner, Ibid., p. 2421. 

"Not at all * * * ": J. D. C. Atkins, Ibid., p. 2421. 

"and he may extend * * * ": Ibid., p. 2422. 

"and he may extend * * * not to interfere * * * ": Ibid., p. 2422. 

"was his duty * * * ", "a very small proportion", and "diverted":

Clarence King, 1880, p. 387. 

"There can hardly be * * * ": Ibid., p. 338.

21. "more than others * * * " and "Leadville, that extraordinary

* * * ": Ibid.

Notes 357
23. "the mechanical arts * * * " and "valueless from their rebellious 

nature * * * ": Clarence King 1880a, p. 370.

24. "But as a whole * * * ": Ibid., p. 391.

"in their economic relations * * * ": 20 Stat. L, 475, Section 18 of 

the Act establishing the Tenth Census.

27. "took a lively interest * * * ": J. P. Iddings, 1918, p. 45.

28. "An authority in many fields * * * ": W. C. Mendenhall,1920, p. 44. 

Mendenhall attributes the appraisal to C. Hart Merriam.

29. "every mine and known outcrop * * * ": Raphael Pumpelly, 1918,

p. 618.

"work could be carried on * * * ": Raphael Pumpelly, in U.S. Geological Survey 1st Annual Report, 1880, p. 59.

30. "red-bearded giant" and "You will want young men * * * ": Bailey

Willis, 1947, p. 5-6. 

"He used his profession * * * ": Bailey Willis, 1925, p. 45.

32. "Whence did they come?": S. F. Emmons, U.S. Geological Survey 1st

Annual Report, 1880, p. 348. 

"with the possible exception * * * ":A. L. Day, 1920, p. 14.

33. "The study of the origin * * * ": and "not to content * * * ":S. F. 

Emmons, U.S. Geological Survey 1st Annual Report, 1880, p. 348.

34. "it was manifestly impossible * * * ": G. K. Gilbert, U.S. Geological

Survey 2d Annual Report, 1882, p. 170.

"The secular cycles * * * ": G. K. Gilbert, U.S. Geological Survey 1st 

Annual Report, 1880, p. 350.

35. "It is usual * * * ": G. K. Gilbert, 1877, p. 19.

"Mr. Gilbert presents * * * ":J. D. Dana, 1880, p. 17. 

"The quaquaversal dip * * * ": Ibid., p. 18.

36. "The facts appear * * * " and "appears to be * * * ": Ibid., p. 22.

"account of queer facts * * * ": J. D. Dana to Archibald Geikie, 

March 10, 1880, in the manuscript collections, University of Edinburgh Library.

Hayden's mental and physical condition are described in letters to 

Archibald Geikie, in the manuscript collections of the University of 

Edinburgh Library.

37. "first, a codification * * * ": 20 Stat. L., 39.

"because he is the originator * * * ": Clarence King to Secretary of

the Interior Carl Schurz, May 29, 1879. 

"to a certain extent * * * ": J. A. Williamson and others, 1880, p. ix.

38. "the machinery of the land system * * * ": Ibid.

"all lands which contain * * * " and "all lands, excepting mineral

* * * ": Ibid., p. Ixiii. 

39- "in consonance with the traditions * * * ": Ibid., p. xxviii.

40. "one of those extraordinary * * * ": Ibid., p. xxxiv. 

"attempted conveyance * * * ": Ibid., p. xxxv. 

"might be fitly entitled * * * ": Ibid., p. xl. 

"If mining is to be continued * * * ": Ibid., p. xli.

41. "It is impossible * * * ": H. C. Dunham, 1941, p. 85.

"the prompt and earnest consideration": R. B. Hayes, letter of transmittal to Congress, February 25, 1880.

42. "I cherish the belief * * * ": C. E. Dutton to Archibald Geikie, 

April 1, 1880, in the manuscript collections, University of Edinburgh Library.

43. "partly in accord * * * ": G. K. Gilbert, U.S. Geological Survey 2d 

Annual Report, 1882, p. 11.

44. "had in view * * * " and "Topographical surveys * * * ": J. D.

Dana, 1879, p. 495. 

"and he may extend * * * ": Congressional Record, 46th Congress,

2d session, p. 3159. 

"wherever else there was mineral deposit * * * ": A. H. Bickner,

in Congressional Record, 46th Congress 2d session, p. 3924.

45. "Geology never has discovered * * * ": Martin Maginnis, in Congressional Record, 46th Congress, 2d session, p. 3925. 

"for the purpose of continuing ethnologic researches * * * ": Congressional Record, 46th Congress. 2d session, p. 3928.

46. "I understand * * * ": F. V. Hayden to Archibald Geikie, August 1,

1880, in the manuscript collections, University of Edinburgh 

Library.

47. "honest, faithful well educated * * * ": Clarence King, S. F.

Emmons, and G. F. Becker, 1885, p. 2. 

"much time and labor * * * ": Ibid., p. 3.

48. "as the sun came up * * * ": Daily New Mexican, February 2, 1881, 

clipping in Survey scrapbook.

51. "As for problems to be solved * * * ": C. E. Dutton, U.S. Geological

Survey 2d Annual Report, 1882, p. 8.

"There is a topography * * * ": G. K. Gilbert, in U.S. Geological 

Survey 1st Annual Report, 1880, p. 357.

52. "picks up his facts * * * ": Ibid.

"Realizing very fully * * * ": Clarence King, 1880a, p. 382. 

"Provided Congress extends the field * * * ": Ibid., p. 381.

53. "the mineral industries * * * ": Ibid., p. 392.

"especial attention * * * ": Carl Schurz, 1880, p. 51. 

"The importance of the results * * * ": Ibid., p. 52.

55. "It was not * * * ": S. F. Emmons, National Academy of

Sciences Biographical Memoirs, 1903, v. 6, p. 27. 

"enthusiastically loved * * * ": C. E. Dutton to Archibald Geikie, 

April 1, 1880. Manuscript collections, University of Edinburgh 

Library.

56. "harmonious and patient" and "a natural spirit of command": 

Clarence King's notes for a biographical notice of him, in James 

Hague Papers, Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Chapter 3. The Broad View, 1881-1884

Page

57. "It is not local work * * * ": S. J. Kirkwood, in Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the year ending June 30, 1881, p. xxxvii. 

"The principal doubt * * * ": Engineering and Mining Journal,

March 19, 1881.

"Major J. W. Powell * * * ": American Journal of Science, 1881, 3d 

series, v. 31, p. 416.

58. "The interests of agriculture * * * ": J. A. Garfield, Inaugural address, 1881, in J. D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the 

Presidents, v. 8, p. 10.

59- "a geographical and geological survey * * * ": J. W. Powell, in U.S. 

Congress, 45th, 3d session, House Miscellaneous Document No. 5, 

p. 23.

60. "more because, being within easy reach * * * ": S. F. Emmons, in 

U.S. Geological Survey 3d Annual Report, 1883, p. 22.

62. "inherited from its predecessors * * * ": J. W. Powell, in U.S. Geological Survey 3d Annual Report, 1883, p. xv. 

"unfortunate that advantage * * * ": J. W. Powell, in U.S. Geological Survey 2d Annual Report, 1882, p. xli.

63. "The adoption of a nomenclature * * * ": Ibid.

"and the assumption * * * " and "led to unnecessary * * * ": Ibid.,

p. xlv.

"Such being the state of affairs * * * ": Ibid. 

"Perhaps it would be well * * * ": Ibid., p. xlvi.

64. "unable to carry on work * * * ": S. J. Kirkwood, in Annual 

Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the year ending June 30, 

1881, p. xxxvii.

"scientific artisans": J. W. Powell, 1882, p. 233. 

"First, the geological structure * * * ": Ibid., p. 232.

65. "Technology is the father * * * ": Ibid. p. 236.

"the duty of the mining engineer * * * ": S. F. Emmons, 1882a, p. 

414.

"except they be founded * * * ": Ibid.

"Such papers * * * ": Ibid., p. 421-422.

" 1st. Topography * * * ": U.S. Congress, 47th, 1st session. House Report 1065, p. 4.

Notes 358
"the geological survey is * * * ": Ibid., p. 2.

66. "organize the force * * * ": 22 Stat. L, 329.

"and to continue preparation * * * ": Congressional Record, 47th

Congress, 1st session, p. 5923. 

"This amendment * * * ": Ibid., p. 5924.

67. "and complete preparation * * * national domain": Ibid.

"United States": Congressional Record, 47th Congress, 1st session,

p. 6768 (Senate Amendment 177). 

"procuring of statistics * * * ": Senate Amendment 178.

68. "requiring": U.S. Geological Survey 4th Annual Report, 1884, p. xiii. 

"necessary for the intelligent presentation * * * ": Ibid.

70. "general government * * * ": Ibid., p. xiv.

"absolutely valueless * * * ": J. W. Powell, in U.S. Congress, 45th,

3d session, House Miscellaneous Document 5, p. 17, 1878. 

"a well-founded criticism * * * " and "one who had * * * ": C. E.

Dutton, in U.S. Geological Survey 4th Annual Report, 1884, p. 22.

71. "a perfectly frightful trail": C. E. Dutton to Archibald Geikie, May 5, 

1883, in the manuscript collections, University of Edinburgh 

Library.

72. "almost bewildering * * * ": S. F. Emmons, in U.S. Geological Survey 3d Annual Report, 1883, p. 23.

73. "right in his main contention * * * ": Rossiter Raymond, in Engineering and Mining Journal, January 23, 1886.

74. "the hopelessness * * * ": G. F. Becker, in U.S. Geological Survey 

3d Annual Report, 1883, p. 40.

75. "preliminary notices * * * ": American Journal of Science, 3d series,

v. 23, p. 452.

"chief geologists": U.S. Congress, 47th, 2d session, House Document 

1960, p. 70.

77. "examination of the geological structure * * * ": John A. Anderson, 

in Congressional Record, 47th Congress, 2d session, p. 3085.

78. "custody": F. W. Clarke, in U.S. Geological Survey 5th Annual Report, 1885, p. 59.

"energy, his experience and skill * * * ": WJ McGee, in U.S. Geological Survey 5th Annual Report, 1885, p. 35. 

"coloration was to an extent * * * ": Ibid.

79- "perhaps an ultra expression * * * ": W J McGee, in U.S. Geological Survey 6th Annual Report, 1885, p. 25.

80. "to the phenomena classified * * * ": W J McGee, in U.S. 

Geological Survey 5th Annual Report, 1885, p. 39.

81. The 14 subject categories are listed in the Fifth Annual Report, 1885, 

p. xxx-xxxi.

Chapter 4. Measures of Reform, 1884-1886

Page 

87.

91-

92.

94.

Each head of a scientific organization * * * ": Report of the National 

Academy of Sciences, in U.S. Congress, 49th, 1st session, Senate 

Document 82, p. 7.

"that it shall not be lawful * * * ": 23 Stat. L., 227.

"consider the present organizations " * * ": 23 Stat. L., 219.

"all of a man's best qualities" and "most unwearied energy and activity": Henry Gannett, in U.S. Geological Survey 6th Annual 

Report, 1885, p. 10.

"Sound geologic research * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1885, p. 93.

"necessarily diverting much * * * ": Ibid, p. 100.

"first to consider * * * ": J. W. Powell, in U.S. Geological Survey 6th 

Annual Report, p. xxiii.

"not deemed wise * * * ": Ibid.

"from the Atlantic * * * ": Ibid., p. xxiv.

"crystalline schists * * * ": Ibid.

"presumably Archean gneisses": F. V. Hayden,/'w U.S. Geological Survey 6th Annual Report, p. 49.

"under the organic law * * * ": Ibid., p. xxv.

95. "for the study of the volcanic rocks * * * ": H. W. Teller, 1885,

p. xxxi.

"for the study of metamorphic rocks * * * ": Ibid, 

"for the general study of the sedimentary rocks * * * ": Ibid, 

"geologic wonderland": C. E. Dutton, 1885, p. 113. 

"if the cone of Mount Taylor * * * ": Ibid., p. 116. 

"a general investigation * * * ": R. D. Irving, in U.S. Geological Survey 6th Annual Report, p. 40.

96. "in order that * * * ": Arnold Hague, in U.S. Geological Survey 6th

Annual Report, 1885, p. 55.

"because it contained * * * ": F. V. Hayden, in U.S. Geological 6th 

Annual Report, 1885, p. 49.

98. "this branch of physical geography": Science, 1884, v. 4, p. 334.

99. "While the existence * * * ": S. F. Emmons, in U.S. Geological

Survey 5th Annual Report, 1885, p. 46.

"to gather into a simple and convenient form * * * ": T. C. Chamberlin, 1885, p. 132.

100. "Artesian wells * * * ": Ibid., p. 148.

"urge as large a development * * * ": Ibid., p. 150.

101. "If we could obtain * * * ": L. F. Ward, 1884, p. 168.

103. "to promote the general welfare": National Academy of Sciences,

in U.S. Congress, 49th, 1st session, Senate Document 82, p. 7. 

"great benefit * * * ": Ibid.

104. "The scientific worker * * * ": C. E. Dutton to Archibald Geikie, 

February 26, 1885, in the manuscript collections, University of 

Edinburgh Library. 

"Gov't scientific work * * * ": Ibid.

106. I do not like to have * * * ": U.S. Congress, 48th, 1st session, Senate

Miscellaneous Document 82, p. 150. 

"The experience in the United States * * * ": Ibid., p. 169.

107. "with mathematic accuracy" and "corrupted by foul and pestilential 

agencies": Ibid., p. 198.

109. "that the map * * * ": Ibid., p. 208.

"the map once constructed * * * ": J. W. Powell, in U.S. Geological 

Survey 6th Annual Report, p. xvii.

110. "to have arisen in the main * * * ": R. D. Irving, in U.S. Geological 

Survey 7th Annual Report, 1888, p. 75.

112. "evanescent exposures * * * ": WJ McGee, in U.S. Geological Survey

7th Annual Report, 1888, p. 109- 

"as to suggest * * * ": Ibid., p. 107.

113. "theorem of maximum dissipativity": G. F. Becker, inU.S. Geological 

Survey 7th Annual Report, p. 96.

114. "Anything that is worth doing * * * ": Rossiter Raymond, in 

Engineering and Mining Journal, August 22, 1885.

115. "Nothing could induce me * * * ": N. S. Shaler, 1909, p. 328.

"in earnest sympathy" and "earnest approval": Science, 1885, v. 6,

p. 204. 

"political scientists" and "a committee of treasury experts * * * ":

Alexander Agassiz, 1885, p. 253.

116. "While criticizing the article * * * ": Ibid., p. 255.

117. "irregularities" and "This service has never * * * ": Grover 

Cleveland, Annual message to Congress, 1885, in]. D. Richardson, 

Messages and Papers of the Presidents, v. 8, p. 347.

118. "I should not have inaugurated the work": J. W. Powell, in U.S. Congress, 49th, 1st session, Senate Miscellaneous Document 82, p. 690. 

119- "Suppose you could use it * * * ": Senator John Morgan, Ibid., p.

696.

"It would be of the utmost importance * * * ": J. W. Powell, Ibid. 

"You have spoken * * * ": Hilary Herbert, Ibid., p. 698. 

"There are many investigations * * * ": J. W. Powell, Ibid., p. 700. 

120. "The ethnologic work * * * ":J. W. Powell, Ibid., p. 191.

"that the evils in the scientific bureaus * * * ": Simon Newcomb,

Ibid., p. 999- 

"censure of the administration": Major Powell's letter in rebuttal of

Notes 359
the Agassiz testimony is on pages 1070-1084 of Senate Document 

82.

124. "It is the intention of the Commission * * * ": U.S. Congress, 49th,

1st session, Senate Report 1285, p. 82 of minority report. 

"It would appear to us * * * ": Ibid., p. 87. 

"all American geology * * * ": Ibid., p. 95.

"It is not the purpose of the Commission * * * ": Ibid., p. 53 of 

majority report.

125. "wisely be left to Congress * * * ": Ibid.

"Who can say * * * ": Hilary Herbert, Ibid., p. 125. 

"The difficulty seems to be * * * ": Hilary Herbert, in Congressional 

Record, 49th Congress, 1st session, p. 6298.

126. Paleontology is of course killed * * * ": E. D. Cope to his daughter, 

quoted in H. F. Osborn, 1931, p. 361.

"Here are $400,000 in a lump sum * * * ": Hilary Herbert, in Congressional Record, 49th Congress, 2d session, p. 197.

"and hereafter the estimates * * * ": Ibid.

Chapter 5. Civilized competiton, 1886-1888

Page

127. "In civilization man does not struggle * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1888a,

p. 311.

"a number of stalwart men * * * ": C. E. Button, in U.S. Geological 

Survey 8th Annual Report, 1889, p. 156.

128. "The favorable probabilities * * * ": WJ McGee, in U.S. Geological 

Survey 7th Annual Report, 1888, p. 644.

130. "The text of such a Memoir * * * ": O. C. Marsh, 1886, p. xvii.

131. "as suggestive * * * ": S. F. Emmons, 1886, p. 126. 

"That many deposits * * * ": Ibid. 

"Increasing applicability": Ibid., p. 146. 

"are deposited * * * ": Ibid., p. 131. 

"The color scheme * * * ": C. H. Hitchcock, 1887, p. 488.

132. "In regard to nomenclature * * * ": Ibid. 

"The word Formation * * * ": Ibid.

"comparatively speaking, quite moderate * * * ": R. J. Hinton, 1887, 

p. 5.

133. "unjust discrimination * * * ": U.S. Congress, 49th, 1st session, 

Senate Report 46.

134. "unless the conservatives * * * ": G. K. Gilbert to Archibald Geikie, 

August 29, 1887, in the manuscript collections, University of Edinburgh Library.

"a manifest advantage * * * ": G. K. Gilbert, 1887, p. 432.

"There does not exist * * * ": Ibid.

135. "the establishment of means * * * ": Ibid., p. 451.

"for consultation and to be present * * * ": C. D. Walcott, in U.S.

Geological Survey 9th Annual Report, 1889, p. 118. 

137. "grandly prepared in all respects" and "very important contribution * * * ": American Journal of Science, 1888, 3d series, v. 35, 

p. 84.

"epoch making" and "gave the mining community * * * ": T. A. 

Rickard, 1932, p. 132.

139. "main proposition" and "that careful structural study * * * ":

S. F. Emmons, 1888, p. 838.

"The promoters of the American Geologist * * * ": American Geologist, 1888, v. 1, no. 1, p. 1.

140. "Geology includes them all * * * ": Prospectus for The American

Geologist, included in v. 1, no. 1.

"That the Secretary of the Interior * * * ": Congressional Record, 

50th Congress, 1st session, p. 1137.

141. "one of the most complete men * * * ": Grover Cleveland to W. S.

Bissell, August 14, 1886; quoted in Allan Nevins, 1832, p. 315. 

"whilst it may be desirable * * * ": W. F. Vilas, in U.S. Congress, 

1888, p. 3.

"The topographic work of the Geological Survey * * * ": J. W. 

Powell, in U.S. Congress 1888, p. 6.

142. "in extending * * * ", "local surveys * * * ", and "to gauge * * * ":

Ibid. 

"That the Secretary of the Interior * * * " (Resolution of March 6):

Congressional Record, 50th Congress, 1st session, p. 1766. 

"That the Secretary of the Interior * * * " (Resolution of March 27):

Congressional Record, 50th Congress, 1st session, p. 2428.

143. "The subject involves * * * ": W. F. Vilas, in U.S. Congress, 1888,

P- I-

"I have no means to make any estimate * * * ": W. F. Vilas, in U.S. 

Congress, 1888a, p. 1.

144. "for the purpose of investigating * * * " and "for the storage 

* * * ": Congressional Record, 50th Congress, 1st session, p. 

4087.

"practically prohibited the Government survey * * * ": J. W. Powell, 

in U.S. Congress, 50th, 1st session, House Report 2599, p. 78.

145. "had been a dead letter * * * ": Congressional Record, 50th Congress, 

1st session, p. 5462, in resolutions adopted by California State 

Grange and read by William W. Morrow.

"probably the most important * * * ": Henry Gannett, in U.S. Geological Survey 10th Annual Report, 1890, p. 86.

146. "coloring the geological map of New England * * * ": Raphael 

Pumpelly, in U.S. Geological Survey 10th Annual Report, 1890, p. 

114.

147. "formations rather than names should be mapped * * * ": Bailey

Willis, in U.S. Geological Survey 10th Annual Report, 1890, p.

121. 

"by far the strangest reptiles * * * ": O. C. Marsh, in U.S. Geological

Survey 12th Annual Report, 1891, part 1, p. 118. 

"memorable freshet" and "well known law * * * ": W J McGee, in

U.S. Geological Survey 10th Annual Report, 1890, p. 150.

148. "a meeting of the congress * * * ": George H. Cook, 1889, p. 160.

149. "a 'majority' report * * * ": J. D. Dana, 1888a, p. 469.

"its right to appear * * * ": Ibid., p. 470.

"There is no body of men * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1888, p. 476b.

"Frazer, who was present * * * ": J. D. Dana to Archibald Geikie, 

January 4, 1889, in the manuscript collections University of Edinburgh Library.

"heads of geologic divisions * * * ": U.S. Geological Survey 10th 

Annual Report, 1890, p. 58.

"It was long ago well shown by Dana * * * ": Ibid., p. 57.

152. "All titles to the public lands * * * ": Congressional Record, 50th 

Congress, 1st session, p. 7012.

153. "You didn't think of it, * * * ": Senator Preston Plumb, in Congressional Record, 50th Congress, 1st session, p. 7023. 

"And all the lands * * * ": Senator John Reagan, in Congressional 

Record, 50th Congress, 1st session, p. 7031.

154. "I do not want to make a personal attack * * * ": Hilary Herbert, 

in Congressional Record, 50th Congress, 1st session, p. 8469-

"$100,000 or so much thereof * * * ": Congressional Record, 50th 

Congress, 1st session, p. 8515.

"For the purpose of investigating * * * ": 25 Stat. L. 526.

Chapter 6. The First Great Problem, 1888-1890

157. "Hydraulic engineering is the oldest * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1889b,

p. 150. 

"I cannot too strenuously insist * * * ": Grover Cleveland, in]. D.

Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, v. 8, p. 794. 

"Our survival for one hundred years * * * ": Ibid., p. 773. 

"He mocks the people * * * ": Ibid., p. 776. 

"be yielded up * * * ": Ibid., p. 795.

Notes 360
160. "to select a small body of men * * * ": U.S. Geological Survey 10th 

Annual Report, 1890, Part 2, p. 79-

165. "has as many leaders * * * ": Woodrow Wilson, 1885, p. 58. 

"the best men * * * ": Ibid., p. 136. 

"merely a body * * * ": Ibid., p. 147.

"the more expeditious handling * * * ": The Reed rules were 

adopted by the House after long debate on February 14, 1890.

166. "the most important question * * * ": Senator Arthur German, in 

Congressional Record, 51st Congress, 1st session, p. 7941.

"There are waters rolling by you * * * ": J. W. Powell, in Debates, 

North Dakota Constitutional Convention, 1889.

"In the western half of America * * * ": J. W. Powell, in Proceedings and Debates, Montana Constitutional Convention, 1889.

"It follows necessarily * * * ": J. W. Noble to the Governor of 

Idaho, in U.S. Congress, 51st, 1st session, Senate Executive Document 136, p. 2.

167. "in those States and Territories * * * ": J. W. Noble, in Annual 

Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the year ending June 30, 

1889, U.S. Congress, 51st, 1st session, House Executive Document 

No. 1, pt. 5, v. 1, p. xxv.

"to provide for the conservation * * * ": U.S. Congress, 51st, Senate 

Bill 2104.

"theory" and "there are natural hydrographic basins * * * ": J. W. 

Powell, in U.S. Congress, 51st, 1st session, Senate Report 928, pt. 

5, p. 66.

168. "I provide for it * * * ": Ibid., p. 65.

169. "Is it wise * * * ": Ibid., p. 95.

"any person present * * * ": Senator Stewart, Ibid., p. 95. 

"The whole of the work * * * ": E. S. Nettleton, Ibid., p. 106.

170. "I am afraid I have wearied * * * ": J. W. Powell, in Statement 

before the Committee on Irrigation of the House of Representatives 

in U.S. Geological Survey llth Annual Report, pt. 2, p. 222.

"You are not wearying me * * * ": Hilary Herbert, Ibid.

"a large estimate":}. W. Powell, Ibid., p. 251.

"I do not know whether it is modest * * * ": Ibid., p. 254.

"It takes me out of my proper function * * * ": Ibid.

"It would be impracticable * * * ": C. E. Dutton, in U.S. Congress, 51st, 1st session, Senate Report 928, pt. 5, p. 106.

172. "So dreamers may dream * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1890, p. 113.

173. "Let the General Government * * * ": Ibid., p. 115. 

"modern rulers": Ibid., p. 116. 

"often failed to secure " * * ": Ibid. 

"I would like to have five minutes * * * ": J. W. Powell, in U.S.

Congress, 51st, 1st session, Senate Report 928, pt. 5, p. 182. 

"There will be another meeting * * * ": Senator Stewart, Ibid, 

"a special adjustment * * * ": J. W. Powell, in U.S. Congress 1888,

p. 6.

174. "the Secretary of Agriculture * * * ": Congressional Record, 51st

Congress, 1st session, March 18, 1890. 

"is always limited * * * ": J. W. Powell, in Statement before the

Committee on Irrigation of the House of Representatives, p. 260. 

"if all the artesian wells * * * ": Ibid. 

"Though irrigation has aided agriculture * * * ": Ibid. 

"Owing to the cost * * * ": Ibid., p. 275.

175. "the most skillful investigation * * * ": Ibid.

176. "whether, under the act of October 2 * * * ": U.S. Congress,

51st, 1st session, Senate Executive Document 136, p. 5-8. 

"the plans of the survey * * * ": J. W. Powell, in Statement before

the Committee on Irrigation of the House of Representatives, p.

287.

"And that is true * * * ": Ibid, 

"that the Secretary of the Interior * * * ": Congressional Record,

51st Congress, 1st session, p. 4177.

177. "necessary maps" and "imperative": U.S. Congress, 51st, 1st session, Senate Report 928, pt. 1, p. 9.

178. "Whereas by the act of October 2, 1888 * * * ": Congressional

Record, 51st Congress, 1st session, p. 5273.

"The struggle that I am * * * ": Congressional Record, 51st Congress, 1st session, p. 5419. 

"even now being shown * * * ": Ibid. 

179- "But how on earth * * * ": Ibid.

"a political hospital * * * ": Senator Stewart, in Congressional

Record, 51st Congress, 1st session, p. 5419. 

"unfortunate, probably * * * ": Senator German, Ibid., p. 5243. 

"one of such magnitude * * * ": John W. Noble, in U.S. Congress,

51st, 1st session, Senate Executive Document 136, p. 3. 

"The statute directs * * * ": John W. Noble, in U.S. Congress, 51st,

1st session, Senate Executive Document 141, p. 1. 

"What the Director of the Geological Survey * * * ": Senator

Stewart, in Congressional Record, 51st Congress, 1st session, p.

5590.

180. "every representative of the arid region * * * ": Senator Stewart,

in U.S. Congress, 51st, 1st session, House Report 2407, p. 62. 

"deprecated" and "black eye": Senator Moody, Ibid., p. 74. 

"There is no proposition * * * ": Joseph G. Cannon, in Congressional Record, 51st Congress, 1st session, p. 6045.

181. "The attack on the Survey * * * ": G. K. Gilbert to Alpheus Hyatt,

June 11, 1890, Gilbert Letterbooks, U.S. Geological Survey. 

"I think it is an entirely useless office * * * ": Senator Stewart, in

Congressional Record, 51st Congress, 1st session, p. 6301. 

"Let it go!": Ibid, 

"the asylum of all the scientists * * * ": Senator German, Ibid.

p. 6306.

"I have never yet heard * * * ": Ibid. 

"I have no word of excuse * * * ": Ibid, 

"irrigation feature": U.S. Congress, 51st, 1st session, Senate Report

1466, p. 31.

182. "Until this morning * * * ": Commissioner Grof, Ibid.

183. "I had no conception * * * ": Senator Stewart, in Congressional

Record, 51st Congress, 1st session, p. 7405.

The reply to the Stewart resolution of July 10, 1890, is in U.S. 

Congress, 51st, 1st session, Senate Executive Document 199-

184. "as provides for the selection * * * ": Congressional Record, 51st 

Congress, 1st session, p. 7319.

"I wish to say * * * ": Senator Stewart, Ibid., p. 7320.

"by an eminently scientific man * * * ": Senator Wilkinson Call, 

in Congressional Record, 51st Congress, 1st session, p. 7324. The 

author of Senator Call's material has not been identified. He obviously subscribed more to the King theory of administration than 

Powell's. One intriguing possibility is that the author was King 

himself who had been interested in the development of the Florida 

phosphate deposits.

"When a need is felt * * * ": Congressional Record, 51st Congress, 

1st session, p. 7320.

185. Gilbert's analysis of research is in U.S. Geological Survey llth 

Annual Report, 1891, pt. 1, p. 49-51.

186. "one of the ablest engineers * * * " and "the position taken by the 

Director * * * ": Senator Moody, in Congressional Record, 51st 

Congress, 1st session, p. 7345.

187. "There is no man * * * ": Senator Spooner, Ibid., p. 7328.

"New excavations are made " * * ": Senator Stewart, Ibid., p. 7417. 

"The trail of the ice monster * ' * ": WJ McGee, 1891, p. 200.

188. "For topographic surveys * * * ": 26 Stat. L., 391.

Chapter 7. A Weedy Harvest, 1890-1892

Page

189. "And thus of all my harvest hope * * * ": Edmond Spenser, The 

Shepheardes Calendar: December 1579.

Notes 361
"later earth-forming episodes * * * ": W J McGee, in U.S. Geological Survey 12th Annual Report, 1891, pt. 1, p. 72. 

191. "without disguise": F. W. Taussig, 1931, p. 282.

"all timber * * * ": 26 Stat. L, 160. 

194. "every and all facilities * * * ": Leadville Herald Democrat,

August 9, 1890. 

"In 1890 American politics * * * ": S. E. Morison, 1965, p. 789.

196. "wholly or in part * * * ": Section 24 of An Act to repeal timber culture laws, and for other purposes, 26 Stat. L., 1095.

"It is seldom * * * ": Senator James Wilson, in Congressional 

Record, 51st Congress, 2d session, p. 3297.

"very intelligent * * * ": Senator Stewart, Ibid.

197. "It may be a more useful institution * * * ": Senator Stewart, in

Congressional Record, 51st Congress, 2d session, p. 3668. 

"face is set * * * ": Ibid.

199. "nearly all of our more important * * * ": U.S. Geological Survey 13th Annual Report, 1893, pt. 1, p. 32.

200. "not only one of paramount interest * * * ": Ibid., p. 36.

202. "for the purpose of hastening the reclamation * * * ": Proceedings 

of the Irrigation Congress, Salt Lake City, 1891, p. 2.

203. "heartily endorse:" Ibid., The Salt Lake Platform, adopted at the

Irrigation Congress, September 17, 1891.

"It will be impossible * * * ": U.S. Geological Survey 13th Annual 

Report, 1893, pt. 1, p. 65.

204. "If this House is bound * * * ": Hilary Herbert, in Congressional 

Record, 52d Congress, 1st session, p. 4389.

"Major Powell will tell you * * * ": Ibid., p. 4390.

"one-half of which shall be expended * * * ": Congressman Simpson, Ibid., p. 4396.

"in order to apply * * * ": Ibid.

"The people are petitioning * * * ": Ibid., p. 4397.

205. "I repeat what I said * * * ": Hilary Herbert, Ibid., p. 4361. 

"imperatively necessary". Ibid., p. 4626.

206. "dangerous and reckless experiment * * * ": Grover Cleveland 

to E. Ellery Anderson, February 1891, quoted in Allan Nevins, 

1932, p. 468.

207. "I don't think the necessity * * * ": Senator Allison, in Congressional Record, 52d Congress, 1st session, p. 5886.

"ornamental": Senator Vest, Ibid.

"to create this Bureau * * * ": Senator Sanders, Ibid., p. 5887.

This Geological Survey * * * " and "As a matter * * * ": Senator 

Wolcott, Ibid., p. 5887.

"the workings of the Geological Survey * * * ": Senator Wolcott, 

Ibid., p. 5932.

208. "nobody on earth directs * * * ": Senator Wolcott, Ibid., p. 6151.

"I do not question * * * ": Senator Wolcott, Ibid., p. 6152. 

210. "awaken" and "to an impression * * * ": Senator Wolcott, Ibid., p. 

6156.

"investigate the operations * * * ": Congressional Record, 52d Congress, 1st session, p. 6851.

213. "There is a powerful party * * * ": C. D. Walcott to T. C. Chamber - 

lin, September 1, 1892, in the Walcott Papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

"the western mining men * * * ": C. D. Walcott to T. C. Chamber - 

lin, September 23, 1892, in the Walcott Papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

"King is probably the man * * * ": C. D. Walcott to T. C. Chamberlin, October 13, 1892, in the Walcott Papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

"a curious state of affairs * * * ": Ibid.

"to die in his tracks": Ibid.

"very precarious condition": Ibid.

"likes strong personal loyalty * * * ": C. D. Walcott to T. C. Chamberlin, August 7, 1892, in the Walcott Papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

"it should go * * * ": T. C. Chamberlin to C. D. Walcott, October 

13, 1892, in the Walcott Papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

214. "for the purpose of locating * * * ": Letter from the Secretary of the 

Treasury transmitting estimates of appropriations required for the 

service of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894: U.S. Congress, 52d, 

2d session, House Executive Document No. 5, p. 247-249.

"for political reasons": C. D. Walcott to T. C. Chamberlin, October 

22, 1892, in the Walcott Papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

"I do not think * * * ": C. D. Walcott to T. C. Chamberlin, October 

22, 1891, in the Walcott Papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Chapter 8. The Utilization of Neglected Resources, 

1892-1894

Page

215. "The material progress of the nation * * * ": John W. Noble, in Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the year ending June 30, 

1893, p. xcviii.

"since the establishment of the Bureau * * * ": W J McGee, 1893, 

p. 617.

216. "aided the miner * * * ", "laws of mineral association * * * ", and

"useful aids * * * ": Ibid., p. 609. 

"it is patent * * * ": W. H. Holmes, 1892, p. 297. 

"new Geology" and "to read geologic history * * * ": W J McGee,

1892a, p. 317.

"The ghost of paleolithic man * * * ": C. C. Abbott, 1892, p. 270. 

"Geology is not an exact science * * * ": G. F. Wright, 1892, p. 361.

217. "a word from him * * * ": American Geologist, v. 12, p. 116.

"serious and far-reaching mistake" and "in addition * * * ": American Geologist, v. 10, p. 309.

"the present status * * * ": Henry Gannett, in American Geologist, 

v. 11, p. 128.

"to discover and diffuse * * * ": John W. Noble, in Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the year ending June 30, 1893, p. 102.

"the purpose of our statesmen * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1893a, p. 17.

218. "preliminary, or experimental * * * ": Ibid., p. 15. 

"final or effective state": Ibid.

"the Federal bureau * * * ": J. W. Powell, 1893, p. 877. 

219- "There has never been a time * * * ": Benjamin Harrison, Message

to Congress, December 1892, in]. D. Richardson, Messages and

Papers of the Presidents, v. 8, p. 309. 

"to investigate and report the cost * * * ": Congressional Record,

52d Congress, 1st session, p. 6266. 

"it may be safely stated * * * ": U.S. Congress, 52d, 2d session,

Senate Report 1310, p. 4.

220. "but a large increase * * * ": Ibid., p. 6.

"The largest supplies of gold * * * ": Ibid., p. 4.

"general industrial conditions * * * ": S. F. Emmons.1893, p. 49.

221. "Topography has not been the handmaid * * * ": Senator Wolcott,

in Congressional Record, 52d Congress, 2d session, p. 1841. 

"the examination of the geological structure * * * ": Ibid., p. 1842.

222. "the greatest iron field * * * ": Ibid., p. 1843.

"geology should be limited * * * ": Ibid.

"topography should be limited * * * ": Ibid.

"a most distinguished ethnologist", "a man of highest character", 

and "wholly lacking in ability * * * ": Ibid., p. 1843.

"This great staff of officers * * * ": Ibid.

The "gentleman familiar with the Survey" was not identified but 

the metaphor suggests someone familiar with cattle ranching, 

perhaps S. F. Emmons.

"I am not an enemy * * * ": Senator Wolcott, Ibid., p. 1844.

"a one-armed Union soldier * * * ": Senator Wilkinson Call, in Congressional Record, 52d Congress, 2d session, p. 1847.

"we the people's representatives * * * ": Ibid.

Notes 362
223. "the loosest and most unbusinesslike * * * ": Senator Stewart, Ibid.,

p. 1850. 

"inquire into and examine * * * ": 27 Stat. L, 681.

224. "unfortunate plight": Grover Cleveland, in J. D. Richardson,

Messages and Papers of the Presidents, v. 8, p. 402. 

Cleveland's rules on civil service are described in Allan Nevins, 1932, p. 

515.

225. "Public offices * * * ": Secretary Hoke Smith, in the Atlanta/o«ra<z/,

May 2, 1893, quoted in D. W. Grantham, 1958, p. 62. 

The Dockery Commission report is U.S. Congress, 53d, 1st session,

House Report 49. 

"Among the various attempts * * * ": Clarence King, 1893, p. 1.

227. "to the extent that solidity * * * ": Ibid., p. 12.

"impossible not to admire" and "ingenious argument": Osmond

Fisher, 1893, p. 464. 

"Factors involved in non-geologic estimates * * * ": W J McGee,

1893a, p. 310. 

"The student of the 'exact' sciences * * * ": Ibid., p. 310.

228. "curious, and certainly contrary * * * ": Carl Bams, 1893, p. 22. 

"Perhaps it is heresy * * * ": Ibid., p. 23. 

"Of all subjects * * * ": C. D. Walcott, 1893, p. 639. 

"geologic time is of great * * * ": Ibid., p. 676. 

"intellectual magma": U.S. Geological Survey 14th Annual Report, 

1893, pt. 1, p. 65.

229. "The basis of knowledge * * * ": Ibid.

230. "progressed apace" and "advanced far more * * * ": Ibid., p. 68. 

"Had the geological investigations * * * ": S. F. Emmons, 1894,

p. 54.

"many important contributions * * * ": Ibid., p. 54. 

"Unfortunately, our knowledge * * * ": Ibid., p. 94.

234. "The simple fact * * * ": F. H. Newell, 1894, p. 12.

"I confess that men * * * ": F. H. Newell, in Proceedings of the Irrigation Congress, Los Angeles, 1893, p. 29.

235. "but in this matter * * * " and "It is generally * * * ": Ibid, 

"by the development of small streams * * * ": Ibid., p. 32. 

"economy of water": A. P. Davis, Ibid., p. 134. 

"to an explanation of the detailment * * * ": J. W. Powell, Ibid.,

p. 108. 

"Now what I wish to make clear * * * ": Ibid., p. 109-

236. "Supposing you could put a roof * * * ": Ibid., p. 110.

"in order that corrections * * * ": F. H. Newell, Ibid., p. 138. 

"I supposed that Maj. Powell * * * ": Ibid., p. 139. 

"I came to this Congress * * * ": Ibid, 

"to provide homes * * * ": Ibid., p. 149. 

"in simple justice": Ibid., p. 151.

237. "Being in harmony with * * * ": U.S. Congress, 53d, 2d session, 

House Report 863, p. 2.

238. "by a gentleman from New York * * * ": Joseph G. Cannon, in Congressional Record, 53d, 2d session, p. 5231.

Chapter 9- In Aid of All Industry, 1894-1897

Page

241. "The Survey should be carried on * * * ": C. D. Walcott, 1895,

p. 496. 

"We trust that this change * * * ": American Geologist, 1894, v. 13,

p. 415- 

"that the selection * * * ": American Journal of Science, 1894, 3d

series, v. 48, p. 71. 

"Few men have attained * * * ": Royal Geological Society of London

Quarterly Journal, 1895, v. 51, p. xlvii. 

"Walcott is a man of remarkable executive ability * * * ": Denver

Republican, September 14, 1894.

242. "scientific or technical knowledge * * * ": C. D. Walcott, 1895,

p. 493. 

"in the main, wise and efficient": C. D. Walcott, in U.S. Geological

Survey 16th Annual Report, 1896, pt. 1, p. 7. 

"Under the statutes * * * ": C. D. Walcott, 1895, p. 495.

243. "insufficient in accuracy": U.S. Geological Survey 16th Annual Report, 1896, pt. 1, p. 63.

245. "gauging the streams * * * ": Congressional Record, 53d Congress, 

2d session, p. 8021.

246. "For the purpose of making an irrigation survey * * * ": Senator 

Alien, in Congressional Record, 53d Congress, 2d session, p. 8085-

"experts at the Geological Survey": Ibid., p. 8114.

"including the investigation * * * ": Senator Manderson, Ibid.

"gauging the streams * * * ": 28 Stat., L., 398.

"that sufficient appropriation be secured * * * ": Proceedings of the 

3d Irrigation Congress, Denver, 1894, p. 91.

247. "let Congress, in its wisdom, decide": Ibid., p. 85. 

The Carey Act is 28 Stat. L., 422. 

"party perfidy and party dishonor": S. E. Morison, 1965, p. 795.

249. "that such portions * * * ": Report of the Secretary of the Interior for 

the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894: U.S. Congress, 53d, 3d session, House Executive Document 1, pt. 5, p. 8. 

"By this amendment * * * ": Hoke Smith, U.S. Congress, 53d, 3d 

session House Document 12.

250. "recently prepared * * * ": U.S. Congress, 53d, 3d session, House

Report 1954, p. 24. 

"If this work is assigned * * * ": U.S. Congress, 53d, 3d session,

House Report 1573, p. 8. 

252. "The physical conditions * * * ": G. F. Becker, 1898, p. 8.

The comparisons are between the texts of Folios 1 and 21 of the 

geologic atlas of the United States.

257. "That Congress at its next session * * * ": Proceedings of the 4th

Irrigation Congress, Albuquerque, 1895, p. 68. 

"The issue of a proclamation * * * ": Ibid., p. 67.

258. "at the earliest day practicable": Senator Teller, in Congressional

Record, 54th Congress, 1st session, p. 62.

"It has been presented * * * ": Congressman G. D. Perkins, in 

Congressional Record, 54th Congress, 1st session, p. 800.

259. "The conditions being to a large extent * * * ": C. D. Walcott, in 

U.S. Congress, 54th, 1st session, House Document 257, p. 2.

260. "That hereafter the reports of the Geological Survey * * * ": 29 Stat.

L., 453. 

"That hereafter in such surveys * * * ": U.S. Congress, 54th, 1st

session, House Report 966. 

"the maps of the Survey would be enhanced * * * ": C. D. Walcott,

in U.S. Geological Survey 17th Annual Report, pt. 1, p. 8. 

"the geologists of the Survey * * * ": Ibid., p. 9. 

"The relative elevations * * * ": Ibid., p. 11.

261. "Many thousands of dollars * * * ": Ibid.

"and in the areas east of the ninety-fifth * * * ": Congressman 

Wheeler, in Congressional Record, 54th Congress, 1st session, 

p. 3444.

The provision for monumenting is 29 Stat. L., 435. The provision in 

the Indian Appropriations Act calling for fines is 29 Stat. L., 343.

262. "when a proper appreciation * * * ": J. S. Diller, in U.S. Geological

Survey 18th Annual Report, 1897, pt. 1, p. 49. 

265. "to establish the presence of a gold belt * * * ": C. D. Walcott,

in U.S. Congress, 54th, 2d session, House Document 181, p. 2. 

"that the Committee on Mines and Mining * * * ": Senator Stewart,

in Congressional Record, 54th Congress, 2d session, p. 745. 

"to determine the best method of ascertaining * * * ": Senator

Perkins, in Congressional Record, 54th Congress, 2d session,

p. 960. 

"much may be expected * * * ": Mining and Scientific Press,

January 23, 1897, p. 66.

Notes 363
F. H. Newell, in A. P. Davis,

Congressional Record, 55th Con-

"In the former reports of the Survey * * * ": U.S. Congress, 54th, 2d

session. Senate Report 1338.

266. "No division of the gold product * * * ": C. D. Walcott, in U.S. Congress, 55th, 1st session, Senate Document 170, p. 6.

"The geological survey of the United States * * * ": Mining and 

Scientific Press, February 27, 1897, p. 170.

"generous provision * * * ": Memorial from the Colorado State Legislature, in Congressional Record, 54th Congress, 1st session, p. 

423.

"It is not expected * * * ": Ibid., p. 424.

Chapter 10. The Nearest Attainable Approximation, 

1897-1900

Page

269. "In government organizations * * * ": C. D. Walcott, 1900, p. 14.

270. "general topography" and "indispensable requisite * * * ": Proceedings of the 5th Irrigation Congress, Phoenix, 1896, p. 18. 

The exchange of correspondence between Secretary Hoke Smith and 

Wolcott Gibbs is quoted in U.S. Congress, 55th, 1st session, Senate 

Document 21.

272. "partly because he believed * * * ": Gifford Pinchot, 1947, p. 113.

274. "owing to the character * * * ": U.S. Geological Survey 19th Annual 

Report, pt. 1, p. 122.

275. "quadrangles" and "district": U.S. Geological Survey circular letter.

277. "for the information and guidance * * * ": U.S. Geological Survey 

19th Annual Report, 1898, pt. 1, p. 22-23.

278. "This report brings matters * 

1897, p. 6.

279. "to transmit to the Senate * *

gress, 2d session, p. 612.

"This reconnaissance of the Potomac Basin * * * ": C. D. Walcott, 

in U.S. Congress, 55th, 2d session, Senate Document 90, p. 3.

280. "consistent with public interest * * * ": Congressional Record, 2d session, p. 582. 

"on localities from which the precious metals * * * ": and "a plan

therefor * * * ": Ibid.

Walcott's reply is U.S. Congress, 55th, 2d session, Senate Document 61.

286. "The United States Geological Survey * * * ": Official Proceedings 

of the International Mining Congress held in Salt Lake City, Utah, 

July 6-9, 1898, p. 148.

287. "So long as historical geology * * * ": G. K. Gilbert, in Journal 

of Geology 1898, p. 338.

288. "Of course any other terms * * * ": Samuel Calvin, Ibid., p. 353.

289- "unnecessarily expensive" and "surveying is properly a question of 

scientific engineerings * * * ": J. W. Powell to Committee on 

Public Lands, U.S. Congress, 45th, 2d session. House Miscellaneous 

Document 55, p. 6.

290. "There is no Government work * * * ": Congressman Dayton, in 

Congressional Record, 55th Congress, 3d session, p. 1808.

"If the friends of this amendment * * * ": Joseph G. Cannon, Ibid., 

p. 1809.

"for the purpose of gathering * * * ": Senator Perkins, in Congressional Record, 55th Congress, 3d session, p. 287.

"that the mining interests should have * * * ": C. D. Walcott, in 

U.S. Congress, 55th, 3d session, Senate Document 40.

291. "There has been a sentiment * * * ": Ibid.

"The coals and cokes of the United States * * * ": Ibid, 

"every variety of granite * * * ": Ibid.

292. "all the information in the possession * * * ": Senator Pettigrew,

in Congressional Record, 55th Congress, 3d session, p. 20. 

"I have personally visited * * * ": C. D. Walcott, in U.S. Congress, 

55th, 3d session, Senate Document 39.

"If it were practicable * * * ": Ibid.

294. "not led to differ much": Lord Kelvin, 1898, p. 672.

"In the early half of the century * * * ": T. C. Chamberlin, 1899a, 

p. 889-

295. "great body of serious geologists * * * ": Ibid., p. 890. 

"whether there is at present * * * ": Ibid., p. 17.

296. "widespread confidence": President McKinley's annual message to 

Congress, December 1899, Congressional Record, 56th Congress, 

1st session, p. 24.

"the most fitting time * * * ": Ibid.

"to acquire by examination * * * ": U.S. Congress, 56th, 1st session, 

House Report 334.

"should endeavor to accomplish * * * ": C. D. Walcott, 1900, p. 14.

"first secure legislative provision * * * ": Ibid., p. 26.

297. "a veritable milestone * * * ": L. C. Graton, 1933, p. xvi.

Chapter 11. The Best Geological Survey in Christendom, 

1900-1902

Page

299- "Proper regard for truth * * * ": Senator Thomas H. Carter, in Congressional Record, 56th Congress, 1st session, p. 6213.

300. "possible to discuss intelligently * * * ": U.S. Congress, 56th, 1st

session, Senate Document 338. 

"resources not now utilized": Ibid.

301. The discussion by Senators Chandler and Lodge is in the Congressional Record, 56th Congress, 1st session, p. 6212.

302. "I must say * * * ": Senator Stewart, in Congressional Record, 56th

Congress, 1st session, p. 6214.

"was but an infant * * * ": Senator Wolcott, Ibid., p. 6208. 

"as efficient, as intelligent * * * ": Senator Butler, Ibid.

303. "Young men are fitter * * * ": Francis Bacon, 1625, Essays: Of Youth 

and Age.

310. "Developments of irrigation * * * ": Report of the Secretary of the 

Interior for the year endingjune 30, 1900, U.S. Congress, 56th, 2d 

session, House Document 5, p. Ixxxi.

311. "careful, patriotic, business-like attention": Joseph G. Cannon, in 

Congressional Record, 56th Congress, 2d session, p. 2612.

312. "the Secretary of the Interior * * * ": U.S. Congress, 56th, 2d session,

House Report 2927, pt. 1, p. 1. 

"examination of the forested regions * * * ": Congressional Record,

56th Congress, 2d session, p. 2947.

The colloquy between Senators Wolcott and Hale follows on p. 2947. 

314. "custody of standards; * * * ": An Act to establish a National 

Bureau of Standards, 31 Stat. L., 1449.

318. "the comfortable world * * * ": Henry S. Commager and Richard B.

Morris, in Editors' introduction to George E. Mowry, 1958. 

"regarding the executive * * * ": Theodore Roosevelt, 1924, p. 362. 

"servant of Congress": Ibid, 

"unless the Constitution * * * ": Ibid, 

"most able lawyers * * * ": Ibid.

319. "the idea that our natural resources * * * ": Ibid., p. 395. 

"a kindly critic * * * ": C. D. Walcott, 1902, p. 99. 

"The areal work * * * ": Ibid., p. 116.

321. "At present the protection * * * ": Theodore Roosevelt, Annual message to Congress, December 1901. 

"The forests are natural reservoirs * * * ": Ibid.

322. "impracticable, unwise, and exceedingly expensive": U.S. Congress,

57th, 1st session, House Report 968. 

"need not and should not * * * ": Ibid, 

"no reason why a scientific bureau * * * ": Ibid.

323. "The destruction of the mountain forests * * * ": U.S. Congress, 

57th, 1st session, Senate Document 84.

Notes 364
324. "I want to say * * * ": Joseph G. Cannon, in Congressional Record,

57th Congress, 1st session, p. 3472. 

"It grows you know * * * ": Ibid. 

'Is it not true * * * ": Congressman Lloyd, Ibid.

325. "The appropriation for this service * * * ": Congressman Cannon, 

Ibid., p. 3529.

326. "have been tested and tried * * * ": Theodore Roosevelt to Ethan 

Alien Hitchcock, June 17, 1902, p. 277, in Elting E. Morison, 

editor, The letters of Theodore Roosevelt, v. 3, 1951.

Chapter 12. Bewitching Prosperity, 1902-1904

John Webster, 1912, The

Page

329. "Prosperity doth bewitch men * *

White Devil, Act 5.

"to promote science and literature": The story of the Washington 

Memorial Association and the beginning of the Carnegie Institution of Washington is fully reported in the pages of Science.

330. "extend human knowledge * * * ": Note signed D.C.G. [Daniel C.

Oilman], in Science, v. 15. p. 202.

"Research may be defined * * * ": Carnegie Institution of Washington Yearbook 1, p. xxxviii.

332. "Tentatively striking a balance * * * ": Waldemar Lindgren, 1903, 

p. 811.

333. "it is wise * * * ": S. F. Emmons and others, 1903, p. 476.

337. "The domain of geology * * * ": C. R. Van Hise, 1902, p. 160.

338. "Geology has long * * * ": G. F. Becker. 1904, p. 552.

"the methodical advancement * * * ": Ibid., p. 556. 

341. "one can not but be struck * * * ": U.S. Anthracite Coal Commission, 1903, p. 27.

"due sense of proportion" and "let us not * * * ": Theodore Roosevelt Annual message to Congress, December 1902, in Congressional

Record, 57th Congress, 2d session, p. 7.

"Geological field research * * * ": A. L. Day and E. T. Alien, 1905. 

p. 17.

342. "I have no criticism to make * * * ": F. W. Mondell, in Congressional

Record, 57th Congress, 2d session, p. 2053.

"Why should we study that": F. H. Gillett, in Congressional Record, 

57th Congress, 2d session, p. 2013.

343. "The creation of such a department * * * ": Theodore Roosevelt,

Annual message to Congress, December 1902, in Congressional

Record, 57th Congress, 2d session, 

"to foster, promote, and develop * * * ": An Act to establish a

Department of Commerce and Labor, 36 Stat. L., 825. 

"naturally relating to the subjects * * * " and "the whole or any

part * * * ": Ibid, 

"upon the organization * * * ": Theodore Roosevelt to Charles D.

Walcott, March 13, 1903. Walcott papers, Smithsonian Institution

Archives.

344. "administrative unit should comprise * * * ": Preliminary report of 

the Committee on the organization of the scientific work of the 

Government to Theodore Roosevelt, July 20, 1903, in the Walcott 

papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

345. "in the promotion of knowledge * * * ": Scientific Work of the 

Federal Government: The growth of governmental science. An undated 22-page report of the committee on the organization of the 

scientific work of the Government, in the Walcott papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

355. "guided exploration * * * ", "of even more beneficial result * * * ", 

and "so effectively directed * * * ": U.S. Geological Survey 

Bulletin 227, 1904, p. 16.

356. "in no other country * * * ": Engineering and Mining Journal,

January 14, 1904. 

"freedom from the encroachments * * * ": Ibid., February 24, 1904.

Notes 365
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__ 1899, Report of the Director of the Geological Survey on the 

Senate Joint Resolution to create a Division of Mines and Mining: 

U.S. Congress, 55th, 3d session, Senate Document 40 (3728).

__ 1900, Report of the Secretary of the Interior relative to irrigation investigations: U.S. Congress, 56th, 1st session, Senate 

Document 338 (3875).

__ 1900a, Report on bill to create an executive department of 

mines and mining: U.S. Congress, 56th, 1st session, House Report 

334 (4022).

__ 1900b, Report on a bill to establish mining experiment stations: 

U.S. Congress, 56th, 1st session, House Report 381 (4022).

__ 1901, Report of the Secretary of the Interior relative to the 

Hydrographic Branch of the Geological Survey: U.S. Congress, 

56th, 2d session, Senate Document 152 (4039).

__ 1902, Report of the Secretary of the Interior in answer to resolution of inquiry in the Senate relative to the demand for topographic work: U.S. Congress, 57th, 1st session, Senate Document 

136(4231).

__ 1902a, Report on bill to reclaim arid lands: U.S. Congress, 

57th, 1st session, House Reports 794 and 1468 (4404); Senate 

Report 254.

__ 1902b, Report on bill to transfer forest reserves to the Department of Agriculture: U.S. Congress, 57th, 1st session, House Report 968 (4402).

__ 1902c, Topography and geology of the southern Appalachians: 

U.S. Congress, 57th, 1st session, Senate Document 84 (4229).

__ 1904, Preliminary report of the Public Lands Commission: U.S.

Congress, 58th, 2d session, Senate Document 188 (4591).

U.S. Geological Survey, 1904, The United States Geological Survey, its 

origin, development, organization, and operation: U.S. Geological 

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Upham, Warren, 1915, Memoir of Newton Horace Winchell: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 26, p. 27 46.

Utah State Historical Society, 1963, Utah, treasure house of the nation Century of mining, 1863 1963: Utah Historical Quarterly, 

v. 31, p. 178-311.

Vance, Maurice M., I960, Charles Richard Van Hise, scientist progressive: Madison, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 246 p.

Van Hise, C. R., 1899, The naming of rocks: Journal of Geology, v. 7, 

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____ 1896, Principles of North American pre-Cambrian geology: 

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_____ 1901, Some principles controlling the deposition of ores: American Institute of Mining Engineers Transactions: v. 3 p. 27-177.

____ 1902, The training and work of a geologist: American Geologist, v. 30, p. 150-170 (Also published in Science, v. 16, p. 321 

334 and American Association for the Advancement of Science 

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Van Hise, C. R., and Bayley, W. S., 1897, The Marquette iron-bearing 

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608 p. and atlas.

Veatch, A. C., Slichter, C. S., Bowman, Isaiah, Crosby, W. O., and 

Horton, R. E., 1906, Underground water resources of Long Island, 

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Walcott, C. D., 1884, Paleontology of the Eureka district: U.S. Geological Survey Monograph 8, 298 p.

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 1891, The North American continent during Cambrian time: 

U.S. Geological Survey 12th Annual Report, p. 523-568.

 1893, Geologic time, as indicated by the sedimentary rocks of 

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 1895, The United States Geological Survey: Popular Science 

Monthly, v. 46, p. 479-498.

 1898, United States forest reserves: Popular Science Monthly, 

v. 52, p. 1-13.

 1899, Pre-Cambrian fossiliferous formations: Geological Society 

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 1901, The geographic work of the United States Geological 

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Verhandlungen, pt. 2, p. 707 713.

 190 la. The work of the United States Geological Survey in 

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 1902, Outlook of the geologist in America: Geological Society 

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 1902a, Relations of national government to higher education

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Walcott, Charles D., and others, 1903, John Wesley Powell: Washington Academy of Sciences Proceedings, v. 5, p. 99 130.

Walker, Francis A., and Gannett, Henry 1883, Progress of the Nation: 

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Ward, L. F., 1884, The upper Missouri River system: Popular Science 

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Warman, P. C., 1893, Bibliography and index of the publications of

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Waters, C. E., 1925, William Francis Hillebrand: Science, v. 61, p.

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Webb, Walter Prescott, 1931, The Great Plains: Boston, Ginn & Co.,

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Weed, W. H., 1889, Formation of travertine and siliceous sinter by

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____ 1893, The Laramie and the overlying Livingston formation in 

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U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 769, 138 pWilson, Herbert M., 1893, Manual of irrigation engineering: New

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_____ 1896, Pumping water for irrigation: U.S. Geological Survey

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Wilson, Woodrow, 1885, Congressional government: A study in

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Winchell, N. H., 1892, Alexander WincheH: American Geologist,

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Wolff, J. E., 1908, Memoir of Nathaniel Southgate Shaler: Geological

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Wraight, A. Joseph, and Roberts, Elliott B., 1957, The Coast and

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Wright, Carroll D., and Hunt, William C., 1900, The history and

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Wright, G. Frederick, 1892, Man and the glacial period: Science, v.

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Index to Bibliography

Biography

Agassiz, Alexander: G. L. Goodale, 1912; G. R. Agassiz, 1913.

Arthur, Chester A.: T. C. Reeves, 1975.

Barus, Carl: R. C. Archibald and R. B. Lindsay, 1935.

Becker, George F.: A. L. Day, 1919, 1920; G. P. Merrill, 1926.

Brooks, A. H.: G. O. Smith, 1925; P. S. Smith, 1926.

Chamberlin, T. C.: W. C. Alden, 1929; Bailey Willis, 1930; G. L.

Collie and H. D. Densmore, 1932; R. T. Chamberlin, 1934. 

Clarke, F. W.: W. T. Schaller, 1931. 

Cleveland, Grover: Allan Nevins, 1932. 

Cook, George H.: G. K. Gilbert, 1902. 

Cope, Edward D.: H. F. Osborn, 1931. 

Cross, Whitman: E. S. Larsen, Jr., 1958. 

Dana, James D.: E. S. Dana, 1895; Joseph LeConte, 1896; J. W.

Powell, 1896; Daniel E. Gilman, 1899. 

Day, Arthur L.: R. B. Sosman, 1961.

Day, David T.: M. R. Campbell, 1925; N. H. Darton, 1934. 

Dutton, C. E.: J. S. Diller, 1913.

Eldridge, George H.: Whitman Cross, 1907; S. F. Emmons, 1906. 

Emmons, S. F.: F. L. Ransome, 1911; G. F. Becker, 1912; Arnold

Hague, 1912.

Frazer, Persifor, Jr.: R. A. F. Penrose, Jr., 1910. 

Gannett, Henry: S. N. D. North, 1915; N. H. Darton, 1917. 

Garfield, James A.: Margaret Leech and Harry J. Brown, 1978; T. C.

Smith, 1925.

Gilbert, G. K.: W. C. Mendenhall, 1920; W. M. Davis, 1926. 

Hague, Arnold: J. S. Diller, 1917; J. P. Iddmgs, 1918, 1919. 

Hayden, F. V.: J. W. Powell, 1889a. 

Hayes, C. W.: David White, 1916; A. H. Brooks, 1917. 

Herbert, Hilary A.: Hugh B. Hammett, 1976. 

Hewitt, A. S.: Allan Nevins, 1935. 

Hilgard, J. E.: E. W. Hilgard, 1895. 

Hillebrand, W. F.: C. E. Waters, 1925. 

Iddings, J. P.: E. B. Mathews, 1933.

Irvmg, R. D.: T. C. Chamberlin, 1889; J. W. Powell, 1889. 

King, Clarence: Century Association, 1904; Thurman Wilkins, 1958. 

Lamar, L. Q. C.: James B. Murphy, 1973. 

Leith, C. K.: D. F. Hewett, 1959. 

Lindgren, Waldemar: L. C. Graton, 1933- 

McGee, WJ: E. R. McGee, 1915. 

McKmley, William: Margaret Leech, 1959- 

Marsh, O. C.: Charles Schuchert and Clara M. Levene, 1940. 

Penrose, R. A. F., Jr.: Helen R. Fairbanks and C. P. Berkey, 1952. 

Pinchot, Gifford: Gifford Pinchot, 1947; M. N. McGeary, I960. 

Powell, J. W.: G. K. Gilbert, 1903; C. D. Walcott and others, 1903;

W. C. Darrah, 1951; W. M. Davis, 1915; M. C. Rabbitt, 1969;

Wallace Stegner, 1954. 

Pumpelly, Raphael: Raphael Pumpelly, 1918; Bailey Willis, 1925,

1936.

Ransome, F. L.: Waldemar Lindgren, 1937.

Roosevelt, Theodore: Theodore Roosevelt, 1924; Dewey W. Grantham, 

Jr., 1971; Richard Hofstadter, 1948, p. 206-237; Henry F. Pringle, 1931-

Russell, I. C.: Bailey Willis, 1908. 

Shaler, N. S.: N. S. Shaler, 1909; J. E. Wolff, 1908. 

Smith, E. A.: Charles Butts, 1928. 

Smith, Hoke: Dewey W. Grantham, Jr., 1958. 

Stewart, William M.: W. M. Stewart, 1908. 

Teller, Henry M.: Elmer Ellis, 1941. 

Van Hise, C. R.: T. C. Chamberlin, 1918; C. K. Leith, 1920; M. M.

Vance, I960.

Vilas, W. F.: H. S. Merrill, 1954. 

Walcott, Charles D.: N. H. Darton, 1928; Charles Schuchert, 1928;

E. L. Yochelson, 1967. 

Walker, Francis A.: J. P. Munroe, 1923.

Ward, Lester F.: L. F. Ward, 1913-1918; H. S. Commager, 1967. 

White, C. A.: W. H. Dall, 1911.

Williams, G. H.: J. P. Iddings, 1894; W. B. Clark, 1895. 

Williams H. S.: Charles Schuchert, 1918a; H. F. Cleland, 1919. 

Willis, Bailey: Bailey Willis, 1947. 

Winchell, Alexander: N. H. Winchell, 1892. 

Winchell, N. H.: Warren Upham, 1915; H. F. Bam, 1916. 

Wolcott, Edward O.: T. F. Dawson, 1911.

Geological and geographical sciences

Age of the Earth: Clarence King, 1893; W J McGee, 1893a; Carl 

Barus, 1893a; Osmond Fisher, 1893; C. D. Walcott, 1893; Lord 

Kelvin, 1898; T. C. Chamberlin, 1899a ; J. D. Burchfield, 1975.

Alaska: exploration, I. C. Russell, 1891, 189 la, 1892, 1892a, C. W. 

Hayes, 1892, G. H. Eldridge, 1900, W. C. Mendenhall, 1900, 

J. E. Spurr, 1900, F. C. Schrader, 1900, 1900a; mineral resources, 

G. F. Becker, 1895, 1898, S. F. Emmons, 1898, J. E. Spurr, 

1898a, A. H. Brooks, 1901, 190 la, 1902, G. C. Martin, 1905.

Appalachian Mountains: C. W. Hayes, 1891, Bailey Willis, 1892; 

U.S. Congress, 1904.

Arizona: Globe copper district, F. L. Ransome, 1903; Grand Canyon 

district, C. E. Dutton, 1882, 1882a.

Bibliography: G. K. Gilbert, 1884a.

California: Lassen Peak, J. S. Diller 1889, 1891; Mono Valley, I. C. 

Russell, 1889; Pacific slope quicksilver, G. F. Becker, 1888; 

Sierra Nevada, Waldemar Lindgren, 1893, 1894, H. W. Turner, 

1894; Tertiary history, J. S. Diller, 1894.

Colorado: Aspen district, J. E. Spurr, 1898; Crested Butte region, S. 

F. Emmons, Whitman Cross, and G. H. Eldridge, 1894; Cripple 

Creek district, Whitman Cross and R. A. F. Penrose, Jr., 1895, 

Waldemar Lindgren and F. L. Ransome, 1906; Leadville, S. F.

Index to Bibliography 381
Emmons, 1882, 1886a; pioneer in science, Rodman Paul, I960.

Future: C. D. Walcott, 1902a.

Geological Society of America: N. H. Winchell, 1914.

Geologic time divisions: Joseph LeConte, 1877; R. D. Irving, 1885, 

1888; R. D. Irving and T. C. Chamberlin, 1885; J. D. Dana, 

1888a; C. D. Walcott, 1891; H. S. Williams, 1893; T. C. 

Chamberlin, 1898; Journal of Geology, 1898; M. G. Wilmarth, 

1925.

Geophysics: experimental, Carl Barus and Vincent Strouhal, 1885, Carl 

Bams, 1893, A. L. Day, 1904, A. L. Day and E. T. Alien, 1905; 

mathematical, George F. Becker, 1890, 1893, Clarence King, 

1893, Osmond Fisher, 1893; present problems, G. F. Becker, 

1904.

Glacial geology: T. C. Chamberlin, 1883, 1888, 1894, 1896, 1899; 

T. C. Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury, 1885; W J McGee, 1891.

Glaciers: I. C. Russell, 1885, 1898.

Hawaiian volcanoes: C. E. Dutton, 1883, 1884.

History: T. C. Chamberlin, 1924; S. F. Emmons, 1910; Joseph LeConte, 1900; G. P. Merrill, 1906, 1924; Geological Society of 

America, 1941.

Idaho: Idaho Basin and Boise Ridge, Waldemar Lindgren, 1898.

Indiana, natural gas field: A. J. Phinney, 1891.

International Geological Congress: Persifor Frazer, Jr., 1885, 1886, 

1887, 1887a, 1887b, 1888, 1888a, 1889; G. K. Gilbert, 

1887; J. D. Dana, 1888a; J. W. Powell, 1888; G. H. Cook, 

1889; H. S. Williams, 1890.

Iowa, Pleistocene history: W J McGee, 1891.

Kansas, lola quadrangle, G. I. Adams and others, 1904.

Kentucky, Big Stone Gap coal field: M. R. Campbell, 1893.

Louisiana, Gulf Coastal Plain oil fields: C. W. Hayes and William 

Kennedy, 1903-

Michigan: Archean formations, R. D. Irving, 1885; copper-bearing 

rocks, Raphael Pumpelly, 1878, R. D. Irving, 1883; Marquette 

iron district, C. R. Van Hise and W. S. Bayley, 1897.

Mineralogy: Whitman Cross and W. F. Hillebrand, 1885; A. L. Day, 

1904; A. L. Day and E. T. Alien, 1905; J. P. Iddings, 1905; 

W. E. Ford, 1918.

Minnesota: Mesabi district, C. K. Leith, 1903.

Montana: Butte district, W. H. Weed, 1912; Laramie and Livingston

formations, W. H. Weed, 1893; Paleozoic section near Three

Forks, A. C. Peale, 1893. 

Nevada: Comstock Lode, G. F. Becker, 1882, 1882a; Eureka district,

J. S. Curtis, 1884, 1884a, Arnold Hague, 1892; Lake Lahontan:

I. C. Russell, 1883, 1885a.

New Mexico: Mount Taylor region, C. E. Dutton, 1885.

Nicaraguan canal route: C. W. Hayes, 1899-

Ohio: Berea grit oil sand, W. T. Griswold, 1902.

Ore deposits: classification, S. F. Emmons and others, 1903; distribution, G. F. Becker, 1884, S. F. Emmons, 1894; genesis, S. F. 

Emmons, 1886, 1901, Waldemar Lindgren, 1901, C. R. Van 

Hise, 1901, W. H. Weed, 1901, S. F. Emmons, 1913; structural 

control, S. F. Emmons, 1888; textbooks, J. F. Kemp, 1893; 

Waldemar Lindgren, 1913; theories, S. F. Emmons, 1904, 1909, 

1910; Western States, American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, 1933.

Oregon: Crater Lake, J. S. Diller and H. B. Patron, 1902.

Paleolithic man: C. C. Abbott, 1892, 1892a; W. H. Holmes, 1892; 

W J McGee, 1892a; G. F. Wright, 1892, 1892a.

Paleontology: O. C. Marsh, 1883, 1885, 1886, 1894; C. D. Walcott, 

1884, 1890, 1899; J. M. Clarke, 1885; L. F. Ward 1885,

1885a; C. A. White, 1885, 1886; R. P. Whitfield, 1885; David 

White, 1893; R. S. Lull, 1918.

Pennsylvania: Masontown and Uniontown quadrangles, M. R. Campbell, 1902; anthracite coal field, H. H. Stock, 1902.

Petroleum: accumulation, C. W. Hayes, 1902; origin and accumulation, 

M. R. Campbell, 1911; R. H. Dott, Sr., and M. J. Reynolds, 

1969.

Petrology and petrography: Whitman Cross, 1883, 1894, 1898, 1902; 

G. H. Williams, 1885, 1886; J. P. Iddings, 1888, 1891, 1892, 

1892a, 1896, 1898, 1905; W. H. Weed, 1889; W. H. Weed 

and L. V. Pirsson, 1895; C. R. Van Hise, 1899; Whitman Cross, 

J. P. Iddings, L. V. Pirsson, and H. S. Washington, 1903; L. V. 

Pirsson, 1918.

Philippine Islands: G. F. Becker, 1901.

Physical geography or physiography: textbooks, National Geographic 

Society, 1896; G. K. Gilbert and A. P. Brigham, 1904; R. D. 

Salisbury, 1907.

Precambrian: C. R. Van Hise, 1896.

Seismology: Charleston earthquake, C. E. Dutton, 1887, 1889-

Soils: N. S. Shaler, 1891.

Stratigraphic nomenclature: G. K. Gilbert, 1884, 1887, 1900, 1904; 

Persifor Frazer, Jr., 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1888a; Journal 

of Geology, 1898; Bailey Willis, 1901, 190la.

Swamps: N. S. Shaler, 1885, 1890.

Texas: oil and gas field, G. I. Adams, 1901; C. W. Hayes and William 

Kennedy, 1903.

Topographic features of lake shores: G. K. Gilbert, 1885.

Training of geologist: C. R. Van Hise, 1902.

United States map: W J McGee, 1885; G. K. Gilbert, 1887; C. H. 

Hitchcock, 1887; Jules Marcou, 1892; J. W. Powell, 1893-

Utah: Henry Mountains, G. K. Gilbert, 1877, J. D. Dana, 1880; 

High Plateaus, C. E. Dutton, 1880; Lake Bonneville, G. K. Gilbert, 1877, 1890; Mercur district, J. E. Spurr, 1895; Park City 

district, J. M. Boutwell, 1912.

Vermont: Ascutney Mountain, R. A. Daly, 1903-

Virginia: Big Stone Gap coal field, M. R. Campbell, 1893-

Washington: I. C. Russell, 1893-

Yellowstone National Park: Arnold Hague, 1888.

Geological surveys

State: C. W. Hayes, 1911; G. P. Merrill, 1920.

State-national relations: J. C. Branner, 1890.

United States: J. D. Dana, 1879; Clarence King, 1880, 1880a; J. W. 

Powell, 1882, 1885, 1891, 1893a; S. F. Emmons, 1882a, 1902; 

WJ McGee, 1892, 1893; Jules Marcou, 1892, 1892a; American 

Geologist, 1893; S. A. Miller, 1893; P. C. Warman, 1893; F. 

H. Newell, 1895a, 1896, 1897; C. D. Walcott, 1895, 1901, 

1901a; Bailey Willis, 1899, 1900; U.S. Geological Survey, 1904; 

U.S. Congress, 1880, 1880a, 1882, 1882a, 1882b, 1882c, 

1883, 1886, 1886a, 1886b, 1886c, 1887, 1889, 1890, 

1890c, 1890d, 1890e, 1893a, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1896a, 1897, 

1897a, 1897b, 1897c, 1897d, 1897e, 1898, 1898a, 1899, 

1900a, 1900b, 1901, 1902; Institute for Government Research, 

1918; Thomas G. Manning, 1947, 1967; John C. and Mary C. 

Rabbitt, 1954; Everett W. Sterling, 1940.

(See also the annual reports of the Secretary of the Interior and of 

the Geological Survey.)

Index to Bibliography 382
History of the United States

General: S. E. Morison, 1965; Richard B. Morris 1961; Allan Nevins

and H. S. Commager, 1966. 

Periods: Since 1865: F. R. Dulles, 1959- 

1877-1890: J. A. Garraty, 1968. 

Latel870's to early 1890's: F. A. Shannon, 1967. 

1890-1900: H. U. Faulkner, 1959. 

Since 1890's: A. S. Link, 1963. 

Imperial years: F. R. Dulles, 1956. 

1897-1917: H. U. Faulkner, 1951. 

1900-1910: G. E. Mowry, 1958. 

Topics: Agriculture, 1860-1897: F. A. Shannon, 1945.

Alaska, exploration 1865-1900, M. B. Sherwood, 1965; gold

rush, D. B. Wharton, 1972.

American capitalists, 1861 1901: Matthew Josephson, 1934. 

American politicians, 1865-1896: Matthew Josephson, 1938. 

Anti-intellectualism: Richard Hofstadter, 1963. 

Census: C. D. Wright and W. C. Hunt, 1900. 

Congressional government: Woodrow Wilson, 1885. 

Conservation: Samuel P. Hays, 1959; F. E. Smith, 1966. 

Conservatism: R. G. McCloskey, 1951. 

Darwinism: B. J. Loewenberg, 1941; C. E. Russett, 1976. 

Economic: John Chamberlain, 1974; H. U. Faulkner, 1949; E. C.

Kirkland, 1951, 1961; H. R. Smith, 1955. 

Federal administration: Leonard D. White, 1958. 

Great Plains: Walter Prescott Webb, 1931. 

House of Representatives: Richard W. Boiling, 1968; George B.

Galloway, 1976. 

Intellectual: H. S. Commager, 1950; Vernon L. Parrington, 1930;

A. M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Morton White, 1963- 

Law: L. M. Friedman, 1973- 

National park policy: John Ise, 1961. 

Oil policy: John Ise, 1926; Gerald D. Nash, 1968. 

Population: 1880, F. A. Walker and Henry Gannett, 1883, 1890;

R. P. Porter, 1892. 

Presidency: Clinton Rossiter, I960. 

Radicalism: C. M. Destler, 1966.

Reform: Eric F. Goldman, 1952; Richard Hofstadter, 1955. 

Response to industrialism: S. P. Hays, 1957- 

Senate, 1869-1901: D. J. Rothman, 1910. 

Sierra Nevada: F. P. Farquhar, 1965. 

Social Darwinism: Richard Hofstadter, 1944. 

Social and cultural: T. C. Cochran and William Miller, 1961. 

Spoilsmen, 1865-1900; Richard Hofstadter, 1948, p. 164-185. 

Tariff: F. W. Taussig, 1931.

Washington intellectual community: J. K. Flack, 1975. 

West as symbol: Henry Nash Smith, 1950.

Land use

Henry Gannett, 1878; J. W. Powell, 1878; J. A. Williamson and 

others, 1880; Bailey Willis, 1885; U.S. Congress, 1904; Howard W. 

Ottoson, 1963.

Mining and mineral resources

Aluminum: J. D. Edwards and others, 1930.

Cement: E. C. Eckel, 1905.

Census statistics: Clarence King, 1882; Clarence King, S. F. Emmons,

and G. F. Becker, 1885; Raphael Pumpelly, 1886; David T. Day,

1892. 

Coal: H. H. Stock, 1902; U.S. Anthracite Coal Strike Commission,

1903. Howard N. Eavenson, 1942.

Colorado: Frank Fossett, 1879; Don L. Griswold and Jean Harvey Griswold, 1951; Charles W. Henderson, 1926; Marshall Sprague,

1953-

Copper: Ira B. Joralemon, 1973; F. E. Richter, 1927. 

Gold: Waldemar Lindgren, 1902, 1903 (See also Precious metals.). 

Gypsum: G. I. Adams and others, 1904. 

History: A. S. Hewitt, 1876; W. P. Shinn, 1881; A. B. Parsons,

1947; T. A. Rickard, 1932.

Hydraulic mining controversy: R. L. Kelley, 1959. 

Idaho: J. W. Horner, 1950. 

Iron: J. M. Swank, 1884; Raphael Pumpelly, 1886; H. R. Mussey,

1905; John Birkinbine, 1911; Peter Temin, 1964. 

Laws: Clarence King, 1885. 

Lead and zinc: W. R. Ingalls, 1908. 

Nevada: Dan DeQuille, 1876; R. W. Raymond, 1879; Myron Angel,

1881; Eliot Lord, 1883; H. G. Ferguson, 1944; F. C. Lincoln,

1924; William Sharp, 1947; Grant H. Smith, 1943. 

Petroleum: S. F. Peckham, 1884; J. A. Clarke and Michael T. Halbouty, 1952; Paul H. Giddens, 1939; Gerald D. Nash, 1968; H.

F. Williamson and A. R. Daum, 1959; H. F. Williamson and

others, 1963.

Phosphates: R. A. F. Penrose, Jr., 1888; G. H. Eldridge, 1893. 

Precious metals: Clarence King, 1882; Clarence King, S. F. Emmons,

and George F. Becker, 1885; S. F. Emmons, 1893; U.S. Congress,

1893.

Utah: Utah State Historical Society, 1963. 

Western States: William S. Greever, 1963; Charles W. Henderson,

1933; F. L. Ransome, 1933; Clark C. Spence, 1970. 

Zinc: Ernest A. Smith, 1918.

(See also the annual volumes Mineral Resources of the United States 

published by the U.S. Geological Survey for 1882 and later years.)

Public lands and public-land policy

Administration: H. H. Dunham, 1941.

Arid lands: J. W. Powell, 1878.

Commission of 1879: J. A. Williamson and others, 1880.

Commission of 1903: U.S. Congress, 1904.

Desert Land Act: John T. Ganoe, 1937, 1937a.

General Land Office: Milton Conover, 1923.

Forest lands: C. D. Walcott, 1898; F. E. Town, 1899; S. T. Dana,

1956; William B. Greeley, 1951, 1953; John Ise, 1920. 

History: Thomas Donaldson, 1880; V. R. Carstensen, 1963; B. H.

Hibbard, 1924; Roy M. Robbins, 1924. 

Law development: Paul W. Gates, 1968. 

Oregon land fraud trials: John Messing, 1966. 

Parks: C. E. Dutton, 1886; U.S. Congress, 1894a; John Ise, 1961. 

Petroleum: U.S. Congress, 1897c. 

Range: S. T. Dana, 1956. 

Reclamation policy: John T. Ganoe, 1931.

Use and management: Marion Clawson and Burnell Held, 1957. 

Vacant: F. H. Newell, 1893. 

Water supply: F. H. Newell, 1895.

Index to Bibliography 383
Science (sometimes including but not exclusively on 

geology)

Agriculture, Department of: B. E. Fernow, 1899; A. C. True, 1927.

Carnegie Institution ot Washington: Science, 1902.

Coast and Geodetic Survey: Alexander Agassiz, 1885; G. A. Weber, 

1923; A. J. Wraight and E. B. Roberts, 1957.

Darwin's contribution: J. W. Powell, 1882a.

Evolution, competition as factor in: J. W. Powell, 1888a.

Federal: Alexander Agassiz, 1885; J. W. Powell, 1885a; U.S. Congress, 1886a, 1886b; A. H. Dupree, 1957.

Nineteenth-century: E. S. Dana and others, 1918.

National Academy of Sciences: R. C. Cochrane, 1978; F. W. True, 

1913.

North American pinnipeds: J. A. Alien, 1880.

Smithsoman Institution: G. B. Goode, 1897.

Surveying and mapping

Idaho-Montana boundary: R. U. Goode, 1900. 

Massachusetts: Henry Gannett, 1889. 

Methods: G. K. Gilbert, 1882; Henry Gannett, 1893. 

Topographic maps: W. M. Davis, 1893.

Water resources

Artesian: T. C. Chamberlin, 1885; G. K. Gilbert, 1896.

Eastern U.S.: M. L. Fuller, 1904.

Floods: J. W. Powell, 1889b; M. O. Leighton, 1904.

Great Plains: G. K. Gilbert, 1896; N. H. Darton, 1905.

Groundwater: F. H. King, 1899; C. S. Slichter, 1899-

Hawaiian Islands: Waldemar Lindgren, 1903a.

Hydrography manual: E.G. Murphy and others, 1904.

Hydrology, principles: O. E. Meinzer, 1942.

Irrigation: B. S. Alexander and others, 1874; J. W. Powell, 1878,

1890; L. F. Ward, 1884; R. J. Hinton, 1887; U.S. Congress,

1887a, 1888, 1888a, 1890a, 1890b, 1897d, 1900, 1902a;

F. H. Newell, 1891, 1894; A. H. Thompson, 1891; H. M.

Wilson, 1893, 1896; A. P. Davis, 1897, 1897a; H. M. Chittenden, 1900.

Long Island: A. C. Veatch and others, 1906. 

Nicaragua: A. P. Davis, 1900. 

Power: J. A. Holmes, 1899, 1899a. 

Southern Appalachian Mountains: H. A. Pressey, 1902. 

Southern California: J. B. Lippincott, 1902. 

Sediment of Potomac River: Cyrus C. Babb, 1893- 

Snake River Plains: I. C. Russell, 1902. 

Stream measurements: F. H. Newell, 1894a, 1898.

Index to Bibliography 384
Name Index

B

Abbe, Cleveland ______________________________ 98 

Abbott, C. C _______________________________ 216 

Abbott, Henry L _______________________________ 271

Adams, G. I _______________________ 305, 334, 346 

Agassiz, Alexander:

associate of Congressman Lyman ________ _____ 89

on political scientists __________________ 115, 116

confers with Hilary Herbert-_____________ 117, 118

correspondence with Hilary Herbert ___ 120, 121, 122, 123 

quoted in Congressional debate _____________ 206, 210

member of Forestry Commission, 1896 __________ 271

president, National Academy of Science ____________ 344

Agassiz, Louis ____________________ 17, 26, 28, 87, 118 

Alden, W. C _______________________________ 316 

Aldrich, Nelson W ____________________________ 321 

Alien, Charles H ______________________________ 129 

Alien, E. T _________________________ 337, 338, 350 

Alien, John B _______________________ 165,180,209 

Alien, William V ____________________________ 77 

Allison, William B.:

portrait.____________________________ 101

resolution to extend field of Geological Survey ______ 44

on Survey salaries ____________________ 67, 75

Joint Commission on Scientific Bureaus _____ 87, 120, 124

on Irrigation Survey ______________ 152, 153, 183

questioned on duties of Executive Officer _______ 153, 181

questioned on establiishment of Survey ___________ 197

appropriations for 1893 -_______________ 206, 207

appointed to Select Committee on Geological Survey ____ 259 

appropriation for gaging streams ______________________ 261

on forest reserves ____________________ 271, 272

appropriations for topographic surveys____________ 290

consulted by Theodore Roosevelt._______________ 321

Arnold, Ralph _______________________________ 349 

Arthur, Chester A _________________________ 45, 76

Ashburner, William___________________________ 22

Ashley, George ______________________ 315, 334, 346 

Atkins, J. D. C _________________ 20,66,67,68,115 

Atwood, W. W _________________________ 316, 349 

Ayres, H. B _______________________________ 274

Babb, Cyrus C ____________________ 198, 256, 288, 295 

Bache, A. D ______________________________ 1, 118 

Bain, H. F _________________________________ 305

Baird, Spencer ___________________________ 25, 43, 78 

Baker, Marcus ______________ 127, 192, 193, 198, 211, 243 

Bankhead, John H ____________________________ 210 

Barnard, E. C _________________ 281, 282, 289, 293, 316 

Barrell, Joseph ____________________________ 294, 315 

Barus, Carl:

portrait-_____________________ _________ 226

appointed to Geological Survey ________________ 46

part of King's legacy to Survey ______________________ 56

works with King in New York ______________ __ _ 60

moves physical laboratory to New Haven ______________ 73

not given permanent appointment _______ ____ _ 76

moves laboratory to Washington __________________ 86

unmentioned in reorganization of 1884 ____________ 95

research of metallurgical significance ____________ 99

elected to National Academy of Science ______________ 203

dismissed from Survey ______________________________ 212

data used by King ________________________ 227

defends King's use of data _________________________ 228

data used by Kelvin _________________ _____ 294

Bascom, Florence _______________________ 129, 277, 316 

Bayley, W. S _________________ 129, 199, 277, 306, 316 

Beck, James B _________________________________ 67

Becker, George F.:

portrait __________________________________________ 32

assigned to Great Basin Division-___________________ 29

fieldwork, 1879 ___________________________ 33 

Tenth Census investigations.______________ 48, 49, 72

Comstock studies ____________ 44, 46, 51, 54, 102, 118 

salary raised in 1880 ________________ ___ ___ 46

part of King's legacy to Survey ___________________ 56

influence declines under Powell _________ ________ 59

acquires Curtis as assistant ______________________ 60

fieldwork, 1881 ___________________________ 61 

advises Barus ____________________________ 73

appointed to statutory position, 1883 __________________ 76

assigned to collect specimens for educational series ________ 81

quicksilver investigations ________ 84,96,97, 112, 131, 136

Name Index 385
retains office in San Francisco, 1884 _ _ 85

California Division of Mining Geology, 1884 _ _ 94

on uplift of Coast Ranges-_ _ 97

Gold Belt studies ___________ 109, 131, 136, 163, 276 

on shape of volcanic cones ____________ _ _ 112

on mechanical conditions of faulting _ ___ 113

obtains services of A. C. Lawson ____ _ _ 201

geophysical studies _______________201, 219, 230

services dispensed with 1892 _ 211, 215

approves Walcott's plan for geologic work _________ 214

reinstated in 1894 _________________ __ _ 243 

gold resources of southern Appalachians _________ _ 243

gold resources of Alaska ____________ _ 251, 252

volcanic belt of Alaska ___ 253

trip to South Africa _ _ _ ___ 253 

Philippine Islands _______________________284, 285 

heads Division of Physical and Chemical

Research 1900 ______________________ 303, 330 

on problems of geophysics ______ __ _ 338

investigates geophysical research in Europe __ _ _ 350 

Benton, E. R ______________________________ 30, 31 

Bickmore, A. S ____________________________ 43 

Bien, Morris___________________________ 72, 199,211 

Billings, John Shaw _______ ____ _ 81

Blackwelder, Eliot ___________-__ __ 316 

Blaine, James G _________________________ 45,52, 101 

Blair, Andrew A _________________ 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 60 

Bland, Richard P ____________________________ 154 

Bliss, Cornelius____________________ 272, 274, 289, 299 

Bodfish, Sumner ________________ 25, 26, 36, 50, 76, 161 

Boutelle, C. O ___________________________ 117, 120 

Boutwell, J. M ______________ 285,293,305,331,347 

Bowen, Thomas M ______________________ 144

Bowles, Francis T _____________________ 343

Brandegee, T. S ______________________________ 274 

Branner, John C ______________ 163, 193, 202, 255, 263 

Breckenridge, William C ____________________ 153, 237 

Brewer, William H ____________________ 102, 271, 344 

Brinton, Daniel G _____________________ 216

Britton, Alexander T __ ___ ___ __________ 37

Brooks, A. H.:

first Survey assignment ____ ____________ 243

maps in Appalachian region-___________-243, 254, 263 

volunteers for Alaskan exploration ____________ 281

fieldwork in Alaska ____ 282, 294, 300, 305, 315, 335, 336 

appointed geologist-in-charge of Alaskan work ______ 347

foresees importance of Alaskan coal and oil ___ _ _ ____ 347

opinion of C. W. Hayes __________________ 303

Brooks, Thomas B ___________________________ 30, 31 

Brown, Arthur _________________________ 258

Bruner, Lawrence ____________________________________ 62

Brush, George ______ ___ ____ __________ 17

Bryan, William Jennings ___________________ 242, 269, 311 

Buckner, A. H ______________________________ 44 

Butler, Mathew C _________________________ 290, 302 

Butts, Charles ________________________ 315

C

Calhoun, F. H. H _______________________ 316, 349

Calkins, F. C _______________________________ 347 

Call, R. E _________________________________ 102

Call, Wilkinson _______________ 184, 196, 199, 218, 222 

Calvin, Samuel ____________________________ 139, 287 

Campbell, M. R.:

maps in Southern Appalachians _____ 194, 199,231,244,

254, 263, 277, 285 

in charge of cooperative mapping in Pennsylvania _____ 304

investigates salt and borax in southern California ____ 306 

supervises areal and economic work in Appalachian

areas_________________________ 315, 333, 346 

Cannon, Joseph G __ 67, 165, 180, 238, 311, 323, 324, 325, 326 

Carey, Joseph M __________________ 207, 209, 210, 231 

Carlisle, John G _______________________ 221, 224, 237 

Carnegie, Andrew __________________ __ 15, 330

Carter, Thomas H _________________ 299, 301, 311, 313 

Casey, Lyman R ______________________ 165, 176, 187 

Chalmers, James R ______________________ 45

Chamberlin, T. C.:

portrait ___________________________ 88

appointed Tenth Census expert ______________ 49

appointed to Geological Survey ___________ ___ 60

studies terminal moraines_________ 61, 62, 70, 73, 81

appointed to statutory position, 1883 ____________ 76

assigned to collect specimens for educational series _____ 81

on driftless area ___________________ 82, 88

Keeweenawan-Eastern Sandstone relations ____________ 91

heads Glacial Geology Division, 1884____________ 92

expands work in glacial geology ______________ 95

on artesian wells ______________________ 99

joins Gilbert in study of river terraces-___________ 110

studies glacial geology at head of Lakes Michigan and Erie __ 128 

assigned to prepare correlation essay on Pleistocene_____ 152 

listed as temporary in 1890 ________________ 192

at International Geological Congress, 1891-________ 201 

corresponds with Walcott in 1892 ______________ 213

part-time employee ___________________ 215

Conference on Geologic Atlas, 1895 _____________ 252

assists Walcott in Geologic Branch administration _____ 275 

pursues special investigations _______________ 277

editor of Journal of Geology ____________ _ _ _ _ _ __ 286

differs with Kelvin ______________________ 294, 295 

consulted on Geological Branch organization, 1900 ____ 302 

heads Division of Pleistocene Geology-___________ 303

Survey activities limited _________________ 307

Carnegie Institution of Washington___________ 338, 349 

Chandler, William E ____________________ 105, 209, 301 

Chatard, Thomas M ________________________ 78

Chauvenet, William__________________________ 30, 31 

Chittenden, Colonel-_______________________ 311

Church, John A ___________________________ 23

Clark, C. D _______________________________ 271 

Clark, F. A ______________________ 25, 26, 29, 34, 47 

Clark, W. A _____________________________ 165 

Clark, W. B _____________ 152,200,255,263,316,336 

Clarke, J. M _____________________________ 117 

Clarke, F. W ______________ 76, 78, 95, 212, 264, 317 

Claypole, Edward W __________________________ 139

386 Name Index
Clements, J. M _ 

Cleveland, Grover:

277, 306, 316

portrait ______________________________ 100 

nominated for president, 1884________________ 101

problems of first administration ______________ 114

calls for reform of executive departments-_________ 115

on scientific bureaus_____________________________ 13

on Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1885 ___________ 117

on tariff reform_______________________ 140

relations to Secretary of the Interior Vilas _________ 141

recommends changes in public-land laws.___________ 157 

comments on irrigation legislation ____________ 157

nominated for second term, 1892 _____________ 206

elected president, 1892 ______________________ 218 

urged to call special session __________________ 220

blames depression on silver legislation__________ 223

difficulties of second administration-_________________ 224

creates uneasiness in scientific bureaus___________ 225

nominates Walcott as 3d Director of Geological Survey __ 238 

denounces Wilson-Gorman tariff _______________ 247

calls in J. P. Morgan ________________________ 248 

creates additional forest reserves _____________ 271, 272

action during strike ____________________ 340

Clover, Lt. Richardson_____________________ 190

Cockrell, Francis M _._________________________ 223 

Collier, A. J ___________________ 277, 305, 347, 349 

Colonna, B. A _______________________ 117, 118, 120 

Comstock, Cyrus ________________________ 102

Conkling, Roscoe_____________________ 44, 45, 52

Coverse, George ____L___________________ 37

Cook, George H _______________________ 80, 132, 148 

Cope, E. D _____ 102, 116, 117, 125, 126, 132, 149, 164, 167 

Coxey, Jacob S _____________________________________ 237

Croffut, W. A ___________________ 145, 181, 192, 193 

Cross, C. Whitman:

portrait-__________________________ 244

appointed to Geological Survey _______________ 46

works with Emmons ____ 72, 114, 131, 137, 148, 189, 201 

mineral investigations _______________ 75, 114, 122

petrographic studies ____________________ 84, 102

listed as temporary in 1883 _________________ 76

collects rocks for educational series _____________ 98

attends conference on cartographic system, 1889 -___- 150 

first secretary of Geological Society of Washington ______ 225

laccolith study ____________________________ 228 

Cripple Creek investigations-____ 231, 243, 245, 258, 347 

San Juan district _______________ 243, 262, 294, 316 

Telluride district ______________________ 253

member, committee on classification of igneous rocks ___ 263 

member, committee on petrography _____________ 264

on definition of a straitigraphic unit ____________ 307

member, committee on geologic nomenclature _______ 336

coauthor of Quantitative Classification of Igneous Rocks ______ 337

Crozier, William _______________________________ 343 

Cullom, Shelby M _______________________ 133, 233 

Curie, Marie _________________________________ 228 

Curtice, Cooper____________________________ 98, 286 

Curtis, Joseph S _______ 60, 61, 73, 74, 76, 82, 84, 97, 102

D

Dabney, Charles _____ __ _- --- -- - 13

Dale, T. Nelson _______________ 255, 263, 277, 347, 353 

Dall, W. H.:

head of a paleontological division, 1884 ____ _ ___ 94

works with collections ____ _ _ _ - 98, 111

fieldwork, 1887 _______________ 136 

prepares manuscript, 1888 ___ _ --- 147 

assigned to prepare correlation essay on Neocene- _ 152

listed as temporary in 1890-___ - - - 192

survives cut of 1892 __ __ -- 212 

fieldwork on Coastal Plain ___ __ _ 232

Alaskan coal deposits, 1895___________ 251-252 

accompanies Harriman Expedition to Alaska 294

given assistant ___________ __ _-- 349

Daly, R. A _________________ 345 

Dana, E. S ________________________ 102 

Dana, J. D ________ 17, 35, 36, 44, 57, 63, 148, 149, 216 

Darrah, W. C __________________________ 212 

Darton, N. H.:

maps in Appalachian region. ____ _ 146, 244, 255

studies Coastal Plain stratigraphy - 163

completes McGee's work on New York State map _ _ 232 

maps in Great Plains________________- 256, 264, 288 

investigates ground water in Nebraska- __ _ ___ 278 

maps water resources of Central Great Plains _ 310, 353, 354 

heads Section of Western Hydrology _ ___ 339

Darwin, C. C ____________________________ 80, 95 

Darwin, Charles _____________ _ __ __ 8

Darwin, G. H ____________________________ 227 

Davis, A. P.:

portrait____________________ _ 257

maps in Wingate Division ______________ ____ ___ 77

listed as temporary in 1890 _ ____ __ 192

in charge of topographic mapping in New Mexico _ _ 199 

in charge of topographic mapping in California _____ 211

attends Second Irrigation Congress, 1892 _ 235 

principal assistant to Newell, 1894 _______ 246

hydrographic work, 1894____________ 247 

Gila River irrigation project _________ 259, 278, 279, 288 

prepares first report on operations of river stations _ ___ 264 

Nicaraguan Canal Commission investigations _ -283, 284 

Isthmian Canal Commission investigation _____ __ _ 310

reconnaissance of lower Colorado ______________________ 317

joins Reclamation Service _____ ___ 326

Davis, C. D _________________________77, 96, 111 

Davis, Henry G _____________________ 53, 64 

Davis, William Morris _________________________ 96, 98 

Dawes, Henry L _____________________ 44 

Day, Arthur L ________________ 307, 337, 338, 341, 350 

Day, David T ________________ 131, 192, 196, 303, 330 

Dayton, Alston G ______________________ 290, 325, 326 

Diller, J. S.:

appointed to Geological Survey _ ____ ____ _ 82

studies Mount Shasta _________ __ 95

in charge petrographic laboratory- _ 98

studies Lassen Peak area _______ 109, 127, 136, 151,231 

in charge Cascade Division __________ _ _ 145

Name Index 387
educational series of rocks _______________ 147,245

attends conference on cartographic system, 1889 _____ 150

survives cut of 1892_____________________ 211

studies ancient topography of California _____________ 224

secretary Geological Society of Washington-__________ 224

reconnaissance surveys in western Oregon ________ 254, 262

Crater Lake studies __________________ 262, 316, 323 

member, committee on classification of igneous rocks ___ 263 

member, committee on petrography _______________ 264

first investigation of Pacific coalfields ___________ 277

maps in northern California-_________________ 316

Dingley, Nelson ___________________________ 223

Dockery, Alexander M _________________ 180, 223, 250 

Doheny, E. L ________________________________ 306 

Donaldson, Thomas ____________________________________ 37

Douglas, E. M _____ 92, 136, 192, 211, 233, 243, 309, 351 

Douglas, James _____________________________ 119

Dubois, Fred T ______________________________ 209 

Dunham, H. S _______________________________ 41 

Dutton, C. E.:

portrait ____________________________ 33

geologist-in-charge Colorado Division __________________ 29

on meaning of "national domain" ___________________ 20

detailed to Public Lands Commission ____________ 36, 37

report on High Plateaus of Utah ______________ 38

appraisal of King _________________________________ 42

Colorado Plateau fieldwork and publications____________________ 50, 51, 53, 62, 102 

adviser to Powell ________________________ 59

Hawaiian Islands visit ___________________ 70, 82

heads Division of Volcanic Geology, 1884 __________ 92

investigates Mount Taylor, New Mexico, region________ 93, 95

in charge of earthquake investigations _____________ 98

comments on government organizations ___________ 103

reconnaissance of Cascade Range ______ _____ 109

election to National Academy of Sciences _____________ 116

Crater Lake investigations-________________ 127, 128

Charleston earthquake investigations __________ 131, 136

in charge irrigation investigations ____________________ 145

attends conference on cartographic system _ __________ 150

Irrigation Survey ________________ 169, 170, 171, 172 

status in 1890 ____________________________ 192 

recalled by War Department ______ _________ 198

attends International Geological Congress, 1891________ 201

Eakins, L. G ____________________________ 114, 137 

Eaton, William W ____________________________ 44 

Eckart, W. R ______________________________ 46, 65

Eckel, E. C _________________________ 334, 335, 347

Eldridge, George:

portrait ________________________________ 281

Tenth Census expert_________________________ 41

appointed to Survey ______________________ 60

assigned to Emmons' division _________________ 97

works in Colorado______________98, 131, 137, 147, 189 

attends conference on cartographic system _________ 150

Florida phosphate investigations ___ 197, 199, 200, 210, 263 

reconnaissance in Wyoming __________________________ 231

reconnaissance in Idaho_________________-243, 258

work on Indian reservations mineral resources ________ 253, 277

heads work in Alaska_________________ 281, 282, 283 

prepares report on asphaltum deposits of U.S. _______ 294

begins study of petroleum resources of Pacific slope __ __ 306

Elkins, Stephen B ____________________ 259,280,313 

Ely, Richard T _______________________________ 8 

Emerson, B. K _________ 46, 129, 150, 255, 263, 277, 316 

Emmons, Ebenezer ______________________ 136

Emmons, S. F.:

portrait ________________________________________ 26

appointed geologist ______________________________ 25

in charge Rocky Mountain Division __________________ 29

instructed by King _____________________ 31

plans for mining district study _____________ 32 33

Tenth Census investigation _______ 41, 47, 48, 49, 60, 72 

Leadville district studies ____ 21, 42, 46, 54, 137, 138, 243 

appraisal of King _____________________ 55 56

has less influence with Powell _______________________ 59

differs with Powell on mining work of Survey ________ 65

mining district studies, 1882 ________________ 72

proposes bulletin series-_________________ 75

given statutory position, 1883-_______________ 76

assigned to collect rocks for educational series ________ 81

mining district studies, 1883 _______________ 83

retains office in Denver, 1884 _______________ 85

in charge Colorado Division of Mining Geology, 1884 ___ 95 

Crested Butte investigations ____ 95, 97, 98, 137, 147-148 

on water resources of Plains region ___________________ 99

allowed no fieldwork, 1885 ____________________ 113 

paper on genesis of ore deposits __________________ 130, 131

fieldwork limited, 1886 ______________________ 131 

paper on structural control of ore deposits ___ 137, 138, 139 

attends conference on geologic cartography _________ 150

fieldwork limited, 1890 ______________________ 189 

given testimonial dinner in Leadville _____________ 194

Secretary-General of 1891 International Geological

Congress ______________________________________ 201

elected to National Academy of Sciences ______________ 203

work cited in Congressional debate _____________ 210

services dispensed with________________________ 211, 215

quoted on reason for 1892 cut in appropriations_______ 212

approves Walcott plan for geologic surveys-_________ 214

on precious metal industry _________________ 220

helps establish Geological Society of Washington _____ 225

on progress in science, 1893 _______________- 228

on geologic distribution of useful metals _____________ 230

reinstated, 1894 ______________________ 243

advises Walcott on mining geology___________________ 246

works for creation of Mount Rainier National

Park _______________________ 247, 248, 292 

member of committe revising text of Geologic Atlas,

1895_________________________________ 252 

Aspen mining district, 1895 __________________ 253

examines mining districts to plan future work _______ 254

Butte mining district study-_________________ 262

influence shown in Walcott statement____________ 266

responsible for part of Geologic Branch work ___________ 175

attends 1897 International Geological Congress in Russia __ 176 

proteges selected for Alaskan work _____________ 281

388 Name Index
reconnaissance of western mining districts, 1898_______ 285

field season, 1899 ______________________ 293-294 

on Survey's relation to mining industry ____________ 296

on secondary enrichment, 1900 _________________ 297

helps plan organization of Geologic Branch, 1900 ______ 302

in charge Metals Section, 1900 ______________ 303

field season, 1900 ________________________ 305 

field season, 1901 __________________________ 315 

field season, 1902 _________________________ 331 

on genetic classification of ore deposits _________ 332 334

helps establish Contributions to Economic Geology _______ 334

attends 1903 International Geological Congress in Vienna _ 350 

Endlich, F. M ________________________________ 116

Fellows, A. L _______________________________ 351 

Felton, Charles N _____________________________ 207 

Fenneman, N. M __________________________ 346

Fisher, C. A __________________________ 339, 353 

Fisher, Osmond _______________________________ 227 

Fitch, Charles H ____________ 251, 262, 289, 310, 317, 326 

Fontaine, W. M ___________________________ 102, 112 

Forney, William H _____________________________ 154 

Frazer, Persifor ______________ 132, 135, 139, 148, 149, 164 

Fuller, M. L ______________ 304, 315, 334, 339, 352

Gallmger, Jacob H _________________ 209,210,279,280

Gannett, Henry:

portrait __________________________________ 68

geographer for Tenth Census __________________________ 4

appointed to Geological Survey _________________ 68

named Chief Geographer ____________________________ 76

describes work in Southern Appalachians____________ 91

author of early bulletin ____________________ 102

reports improvements in topographic mapping __________ 137

first recording secretary National Geographic Society ______ 140

research on rainfall ______________________________ 142

on New York City maps ________________________ 145

divides responsibility with A. H. Thompson ___________ 160

testimony of Irrigation Survey promised ___________ 172

Board on Geographic Names ______________ 189, 190

listed as temporary in 1890-___________________ 192

in charge Eastern Division of Topography ___ 198, 199, 211 

not affected by cut in 1892 _____________________ 211

objects to American Geologist editorial ____________ 217

Manual of Surveying ______________________________ 233

in charge Topographic Branch, 1894 _______________ 242

attends conference on geologic atlas, 1895 ____________ 252

transferred to other duties, 1896 ____________________ 261

in charge forestry survey, 1897 __________________ 274

Harriman Expedition to Alaska _____________________ 194

Chief Geographer, Twelfth Census _________________ 308

Assistant Director, Census of Philippine Islands ________ 399

heads Division of Geography and Forestry ____________ 351

Gannett, S. S _________________ 198,211,252,289,351

Garfield, James A _______________ 45, 46, 51, 58, 62, 75 

Garfield, James R ___________________________ 343

Garrey, George_______..______________________ 316

Geiger, H. R __________________ 83, 95, 110, 128, 136 

Geikie, Archibald__________________ 36, 42, 46, 103, 149 

Gerdine, T. G __________________________ 305, 349 

Gibbon, General _______________________________ 128

Gibbs, Wolcott ______________________________ 270 

Gibson, A. M ______________________________ 83 

Gilbert, G. K.:

portrait __________________________________ 28

appointed to Geological Survey ______________________ 28

in charge Division of Great Basin _________________ 29, 43

Lake Bonneville studies ______ 34, 35, 49, 50, 51, 82, 127 

Henry Mountains report ______________________ 35, 36, ^7

adviser to Powell _____________________ 61, 62, 70

on stratigraphy in Grand Canyon_________________ 71-72

given statutory position, 1883___-_________________ 76

on lakeshore features- ________ ___________________ 80

on subject classification of geology ________ ____ ____ 81

in charge Appalachian Division, 1884_______ _______ 92, 95

attends conference on earthquake investigations __________ 98

Tertiary and Quaternary history of Appalachian

Division ________________________HO, 127, 136

election to National Academy of Sciences _ ____ ___ 116

on stratigraphic classification __ 134, 135, 136, 146-147, 287 

on rainfall necessary for agriculture _ ______ __ ___ H2

in charge Division of Geologic Correlation ______________ 145

attends 1888 International Geologic Congress in London __ 148 

attends conference on geologic cartography, 1889 ________ 150

appointed to prepare discussion on principles of correlation __ 152 

appointed Chief Geologist, 1889------- ---- _____ 163

testimony before Senate Irrigation Committee, 1890 __ 172-173 

letter to Alpheus Hyatt ___________________________ 181

on local and general geology ______________________ 185

listed as temporary, 1890 _____ ______ _______ 192

prepares for 1891 International Geological Congress ______ 201

demoted, 1892____________________ __ 211 

not chosen to lead Survey, 1892 ____________-____-_--- 215

possibly author of Powell's 1893 paper ________________ 218

fieldwork on water resources of

Great Plains ______________ 232, 233, 256, 257, 258 

attends conference on geologic atlas, 1895 ______________ 252

studies history of Niagara River ____ __ ____ ___ 263

views on stratigraphic classification, 1898 ____________ 287

accompanies Harriman Expedition to Alaska ____________ 294

Chairman Committee on Geologic Names _____--_____-_ 336

investigations on behalf of Carnegie Institution, 1903 -- 349 

Gillett, F. H ______________________ _ ^42, 349 

Gilman, Daniel C _____________________ 329, 330

Girty, George _______________________ 286,307,349 

Glenn, L. C _________________________277, 315, 334 

Gooch, F. A ______________________ 30, 60, 78, 96 

Goode, George Brown _________________________________ 269

Goode, R. U.:

appointed topographer ______________----_---- _____ 25

previous experience _________________--_-_---------- 26

maps in Colorado Plateau_________________________ 50

given charge of work in Missouri and Kansas ____________ 92

heads section in Western Division, 1890_______________- 198

Name Index 389
maps in Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas _ ____ 233

directs four parties in Texas____ _ 233

in charge of Pacific Section, 1894 ______________ 243 

supervises Idaho-Montana boundary survey _ _ 273

chairman, Topographic Committee, 1900 __ 308 

prepares plans for work in Alaska _ _ 330

dies suddenly ___________ ________ ____ _______ 351

Goodnight, Isaac H._______ 180

Goodrich, H. B. ______________________________ 262 

Gore, J. Howard ____________________________ 62, 69 

Gorman, Arthur ____________ 166, 177, 181, 183, 210, 258 

Gorman, N. W. _______________________________ 274 

Gould, B. A. _____________________________ 26 

Grant, U. S. _______________________________ 45, 53 

Graves, Henry ________________________________________ 274

Greely, A. W. ________________________________ 142 

Gregory, H. E __________________________ 286, 316 

Gnswold, W. T. _____________77, 211, 233, 252, 333, 346 

Groff, Lewis A _______________________________ 176 

Grosvenor, Charles H. _________________ _______________ 290

Grover, N. C. __________________________ 339, 351

H

Hague, Arnold:

portrait __________________________________________ 27

appointed to Survey as geologist ______________ 25

in charge Division of the Pacific ____________________ 29

in China ______________________________________ 34

enters on duty ____________________________________ 42

Eureka district _______________ 46, 47, 51, 61, 71, 72 

has less influence with Powell ________________ 59

advises Barus ___________________________________ 73

given statutory position, 1883---------___________ 76

assigned to collect rocks for educational series.________ 81

moves to Washington ____________________ 85

in charge Yellowstone National Park Division _________ 92

fieldwork in Yellowstone area ______ 96, 111, 128, 147, 232 

election to National Academy of Sciences __________ 116

attends conference on cartographic system, 1889 _____ 150

recommends first forest reserve, 1891 ____________ 196

attends International Geological Congress, 1891-_____ 202

retains position, 1892 _____________________ 211

first treasurer Geological Society of Washington __________ 225

Yellowstone report ____________________________ 245, 255

attends conference on geologic atlas, 1895 __________ 151

National Academy of Sciences Committee on Forest

Reserves ______________________________________ 271

chairs committee on 9-sheet geologic map _________ 294

Home Secretary, National Academy of Sciences _______ 344 

Hague, James D. _________________________ 22, 26, 27 

Hainer, Eugene I. ___________________________________ 237 * o J ~

Hale, Eugene __________ 87, 124, 183, 209, 222, 312, 313 

Hall, James ____________________ 28, 64, 80, 148, 149 

Hall, L. B. _________________________________ 49 

Hall, M. R._________________________________ 351 

Hallock, William ___________________ 76, 77, 96, 128, 200 

Hammond, John Hays ________________________ 48

Hancock, Winfield S. _________________________ 45, 52

Hanna, Mark _____________________________ 318

Hansbrough, Henry C. ______________________ 207, 321 

Harrison, Benjamin __ 13, 157, 159, 160, 191, 196, 206, 218, 219 

Haskins, C. W. ______________________________ 250 

Hawkins, G. T. ______________________________ 251 

Hawley, Joseph R. _________________________ 20, 207 

Hay, Robert _______________________ 147, 247, 258

Hayden, F. W.:

head of predecessor survey _________________________ 2

leading candidate for Director of Geological Survey ____ 17 

appointed geologist ___________________________ 25

requested to prepare summary report ___________ 34

retires to Philadelphia ____________________ 36

possible successor to King _________________ 45, 46

mentioned in Congressional debate ___________ 67, 181

position on Laramie ___________________________ 71, 164

returns to field in 1883 ______________________ 83 

unmentioned in organization of 1884 __________ 92

adopts name Montana Division _____________________ 94

fieldwork __________________ 96, 97, 107, 111, 129 

resigns from Survey ____________________________ 129

Hayes, C. Willard:

portrait-_________________________ 304

begins work for Survey__________________ 136

Appalachian Division 1887 ____________ 136, 146, 182 

takes over Russell's work__________________________ 146

finds overthrust faults ___________________ 182

season in Alaska, 1891_____________________ 200-201 

reads Powell's paper to AIME, 1893 ______________ 218 

economic geology, southern Appalachians ___ 231, 243, 254,

255, 263, 277, 304 

folios published ______________________________ 233

geologist for Nicaraguan Canal Commission, 1897 ______ 283

heads Nonmetals Section, 1900 ______________ 303

gulf coast oil ____________________ 304, 314, 333 

Arkansas bauxite ______________________ 304

directs mapping in Pennsylvania coal fields____________ 309

expands survey's oil investigations __________ 315, 333

heads Division of Geology and Paleontology, 1902______ 330 

helps to found Contributions to Economic Geology __________ 334

expands Survey's work in nonmetals ______________ 334, 335

conference on nomenclature, 1902 _______________ 336

Hayes, Rutherford B. ______________________37, 45, 340 

Hearst, George-___________________________________ 48

Helmholtz, H. L. F., von ________________________ 227 

Henderson, David _________________________________ 320

Herbert, Hilary:

portrait __________________________________________ 102

appointed member of Allison Commission ___ 117, 118, 119,

120, 123, 124 

requires Survey to itemize request for funds _____ 126, 132

on irrigation and flood control_____________ 153, 310

opposes Irrigation Survey __________________ 158, 159 

member House Committee on Irrigation_______________ 169

proposed elimination of paleontology ____________ 204

on cost of Geological Survey __ _ ___ ___ ___ ___ __ 205

quotes Alexander Agassiz __________________ 206

opposes basic research by Government_____________ 212

Cleveland's Secretary of the Navy, 1893 ___________ 224

tries to abolish Coast and Geodetic Survey _________ 237

390 Name Index
Hergesheimer, Edwin ______________________ 117, 120

Hermann, Binger_______________________ 342

Hess, F. L. _________________________________ 347 

Hewitt, A. S. ____________________________ 101, 125 

Hicks, L. E._______________________________ 139 

Hilgard, E. W. ______________________________ 200 

Hilgard, J. E. _________________________ 62, 106, 115 

Hill, David ________________________________ 224 

Hill, Robert T. ________ 111, 232, 245, 247, 255, 263, 316 

Hillebrand, William F. ____ 46, 56, 75, 76, 114, 122, 212, 276 

Hillers, John _____________________________ 59, 62 

Hills, R. C.____________________________ 245, 253 

Hinton, Richard J. ____________________ 132,169,188 

Hiscock, Frank____________________________ 66, 67

Hitchcock, C. H. ________________ 64, 78, 131, 149, 209 

Hitchcock, Ethan Alien ______________ 299, 310, 320, 326 

Hitchcock, Henry ________________________ 299

Hobbs, W. H.___________________ 255, 263, 277, 316 

Hollick, Arthur ______________________________ 349 

Holman, William S. _______________ 154, 159, 203, 204 

Holmes, J. A. ___________ 147, 163, 200, 202, 256, 302, 310 

Holmes, W. H. _____ 50, 54, 76, 95, 97, 150, 163, 216, 225 

Hood, O. P. _____________________________ 264 

Hoover, Herbert C. ______________________ 253

Horton, R. E. _____________________________ 339, 351

Hoyt, John C. _______________________________ 339 

Hubbard, Gardiner G. _____________________ 140

Humphreys, D. C. _________________________ 256

Hunt, T. Sterry ____________________ 22, 148, 149, 164 

Hunton, Eppa ___________________________ 45

Hyatt, Alpheus____________________________ 163, 181

I

Iddings, Joseph P.:

portrait-__________________________ 201

appointed to Geological Survey __________________ 46

work with Becker___________________________ 47

part of King legacy __________________________ 56

microscopic petrography of Eureka rocks _____________6l, 83

studies Fortieth Parallel rocks _________________ 72

fails to get statutory position, 1883 _____________ 76

Yellowstone Park work_______ 77, 96, 98, 111, 128, 200 

on origin of igneous rocks _________________________ 141

attends conference on cartographic system ___________ 150

on classification igneous rocks ____ 202, 263, 264, 316, 337

leaves Survey in 1892 ____________________________ 212

folio published ___________________________ 233

member, committee on classification of igneous rocks __263, 264 

coauthor Quantitative Classifcation of Igneous Rocks ____ 316, 337

Irving, John D. ______________ 293,304,315,331,347

Irving, R. D.:

portrait __________________________________ 89

Tenth Census expert_______________________ 47

copper-bearing rocks ____________________ 51, 102

appointed to Geological Survey, 1882_____________ 70

given statutory position, 1883--_____________________ 76

disagrees with Agassiz on age of Eastern sandstone ________ 91

heads Lake Superior Division, 1884_____________ 92

studies ancient crystalline rocks _____ 95,98, 110, 129, 137 

on origin of iron ores of Lake Superior region _________ 110

J

Jackson, Andrew ___ ___ - __ 318

Jackson, William H. __________________________ 77 

Jacob, Ernest ___________________________ 46, 72, 84 

Jaggar, T. A. _______________________ 232, 285, 293 

James, I. E. __________________ __ 22

Jenney, Walter P. ____________________ 163, 189, 195 

Johnson, Charles F. ____ ___ _ 30

Johnson, Edward _______________ - - 352

Johnson, Willard D.:

appointed to Survey as topographer 1882 ___ 70 

maps in Great Basin__________________ ________ 77, 81

invents planetable for traverse work __ _ 134 

Irrigation Survey ________________ 161, 172, 173, 187 

supervises mapping in California ____ _ __ ___ 211 

transfers to Hydrographic Branch _ ___ __ _ 264 

studies Great Plains hydrography ________ _______ 288

Jones, James K. ________________________ 177, 210, 223

K

Karl, Anton _______________________________ 76, 83 

Kean, John _________________________________ 324 

Keith, Arthur:

begins work with Survey, 1887 ____ - ____ 136

maps in southern Appalachians ______ 146, 199, 231, 243 

folio published ______ __ _ ___ 233

maps in Maryland ____________ _ 255

studies Ocoee series __________ _ 277, 286, 316

Kelvin, Lord (William Thompson) _______ 226, 227, 294, 295 

Kemp, James F. __________________ 277,316,331,333 

Kenna, John E______________________ __ _ 67

Kennedy, William __________________________ 315, 333 

Kerr, Mark _________________________________ 189 

Kerr, W. C. ____________________________ 69, 76, 81 

Keyes, W. S. ________________________________ 22 

Kindle, E. M. _______________________________ 286 

King, Charles F. _______________________________ 30 

King, Clarence:

portrait_____________ - _- - 24

head of predecessor survey ___ _ ___ ____ _ ____ 2

appointed Director __________ 9, 17,67

gives mining geology precedence _______________ _9, 18 19

problems with organic act _ __ 18, 20

organizes Survey ________________ 9, 19, 62, 94 

chooses mining districts for first work__ _ 20 23 

plans collection of mineral statistics _ __ _____ 23

Tenth Census investigations ________ 24, 25, 28, 4l, 60, 73 

sets standards for appointment______ _ ___ 25

instructions to Emmons _______ _____ 31

approves Emmons'plan of work _ 33

dismayed by Gilbert's inactivity - 35

Public Lands Commission __ _ 36, 37, 40 

Dutton's opinion of __ 42 

writes to A. S. Bickmore on behalf of Powell _ _ 43

Name Index 391
decides to resign _________________________ 45

promoted Becker _____________________ 46

writes 1st Annual Report_______________ 51 52, 129

resigns as Director _____________________ 54, 57

contribution to Survey _____________________ 55 56

administration of science ____________________ 59

sets up headquarters in New York ____________ 60

on Laramie _______________________-71,92, 164

on Shasta glaciers _______________________ 74

arranges geothermal investigation, 1891 _-__________ 200

proteges elected to National Academy of Sciences _____ 203

possible successor to Powell __________________________ 213

approves Walcott's plan for geologic surveys __________ 214

relation to Walcott ______________________ 215

on age of the Earth __________ 225, 225, 227, 228, 294 

cited by Emmons_________________________ 230

praises Walcott________________________ 241

King, F. H _______________________________ 70, 322 

Kirkwood, S. J _______________________ 52, 57, 64 

Knight, Wilbur C ____________________________ 316 

Knowlton, F. H __________________ 136, 212, 286, 307 

Kohlrausch, F. W. G __________________________ 46 

Kubel, S. J ____________________________ 193, 318 

Kyle, James H __________________________ 207, 246

Lamar, L. Q. C ____________ 114, 115, 118, 126, 140, 141 

Lamoureux, S. W ___________________________ 248 

Langley, S. P ____________________________ 102, 213 

Lawson, Andrew _______________________201, 255, 263 

LeConte, Joseph ____________________________ 201

Lee, WillisT __________________________ 339, 353 

Leiberg, J. E _______________________________ 274 

Leighton, M. O ______________________ 317, 339, 353 

Leith, C. K ____________________ 277, 305, 316, 347 

Lesley, J. Peter__________________________ 49, 62, 80 

Leverett, Frank _________________ 128, 189, 245, 256, 316 

Lincoln, Abraham___________________________ 318

Lincoln, Robert ___________________________ 106

Lindgren, Waldemar:

begins work for Survey_____________________________ 112

maps in California gold belt_________ 131, 137, 148, 163,

189, 201, 231, 243, 253 

describes Sierra Nevada river systems _____________ 218

on origin of quartz veins in Ophir mining district _____ 221

folio published ______________________ 233

on replacement___________________________ 249

maps in Idaho ____________________ 262, 276, 285 

member, committee on petrography ______________ 264

reconnaissance in Montana __________________________ 294

on metasomatic processes in fissure veins__________ 297

maps in Oregon ___________________________ 305

studies copper districts in Utah and Arizona ___________ 315

placer deposits of California _____________________ 33 1

on genetic classification of ore deposits __________ 332

Cripple Creek investigations ________________ 346 347

water resources of Molokai __________________________ 352

Lippmcott, J. B ___________ 288, 295, 309, 317, 352, 353

Little, George A ___________________________ 49

Lloyd, James T __________________________ 324, 325 

Lodge, Henry Cabot-_________________________ 301

Logan, John ______________________________ 57, 67

Lord, Eliot ______. ___________________ 51, 102, 118 

Lord, N. W _______________________________ 49 

Lowry, Robert ____________________________ 87, 124 

Lyman, Theodore __________________87, 89, 90, 102, 117

M 

MacArthur, Arthur ___________________________ 285

MacCauley, Clay ________________________ 59

McChesney, John__________________________ 192, 342 

McCord, Julia _______________________________ 59 

McGee, W J:

works with Russell, 1882 ____________________ 70 

appointed assistant geologist, 1883 ______________ 78

begins compilation of U.S. geologic map_______ 78, 79, 80

heads Geologic Map Division ________________ 112

revises manuscript by Alabama State Geologist _______ 112

represents Powell at meeting of American Committee ___ 127 

investigates water supply, head of Chesapeake Bay _____ 128

investigates Charleston earthquake _______________ 128

Iowa glacial studies __________________ 147, 187

attends conference on cartographic system ___________ 150

attends first meeting of Geological Society of

America _________________________ 149

transferred to Division of Geologic Correlation ______ 152

unrestrained by organization __________________ 163

correlation studies._______________________ 189

heads Potomac Division __________________ 200

retains position in 1892 ____________________________ 211

urges Powell to die in his tracks _______________ 213

explains Survey work to AIME, 1892 _____________ 215

embroiled in controversies _________ 216, 225, 227, 228

writes preface to annual report, 1893 ______________ 228 230

resigns from Survey, 1893 _____________________ 230

McKee, R. H ____________________________ 211, 233 

McKinley, William ____ 165, 269, 272, 296, 299, 311, 318, 320 

McMillin, Benton __________________________ 180, 191 

McPherson, John R __________________________ 187, 199 

Maginnis, Martin ________________________________ 45, 165

Manderson, Charles F ___________________ 153, 222, 246

Manning, Van H ____________________________________ 262

Marcou, John B ___________________________ 83

Marcou, Jules ___________________________ 212

Marsh, O. C.:

portrait _______________________________ 35

on Dinocerata _______________ 51, 71, 110, 129, 130 

appointed paleontologist, 1882 _________________ 70

given statutory position, 1883____________________ 76

fieldwork, 1883 __________________________ 83 

heads ancillary division, 1884 __________________ 94

appoints National Academy Committee to advise

Congress, 1884 _________________________ 102 

field season, 1885 _________________________ 111 

field season, 1888 _________________________ 147 

attends International Geological Congress, 1888 ________ 148

assigned preparation of correlation essay ________________ 152

mentioned in Congressional debate ______________ 158, 208

392 Name Index
attacked by Cope _____________________ 164, 167

position eliminated, 1892 ___________________ 212

on the dinosaurs of North America ____________ 267

Marshall, R. B __________________________ 233, 351 

Martin, George C ______________________ 347, 349

Marvin, C. F ______________________________ 98

Marvine, Georgie ______________________________________ 59

Mathews, E. B ____________________________ 231

Matthes, F. E ______________________________ 272 

Matthes, Gerard ____________________________ 295

Meigs, M. C ____________________________ 102

Melville, W. H _______________________ 47, 84, 112 

Mendenhall, W. C __231, 244, 254, 277, 283, 294, 305, 339, 353 

Merriam, C. Hart _________________________ 329

Merriam, W. N ______________________________ 129 

Merrill, G. P ____________________________ 129, 225 

Mesler, R. D _______________________________ 334 

Miller, W. H. H ____________________________ 159 

Mills, Roger Q ______________________________ 259 

Moffit, F. H __________________________ 316, 349 

Mondell, F. W _______________________ 321, 322, 342 

Moody, Gideon ______________ 165, 168, 175, 176, 180, 186 

MorganJ. P ___________________________ 248

Morgan, John T _________________ 117, 119, 123, 153 

Morison, S. E _____________________________ 194

Morrow, William W _____________________ _____ 145 

Morton, J. Sterling __________________ 13, 195, 224, 247 

Muldrow, Henry L _________________________ 115

Muldrow, Robert _______________________281, 283

Murphy, E. C _________________________ 264, 339

N

Newberry, John S ___________ 25, 29, 148, 149, 164, 201

Newcomb, Simon ______________________ 102, 120, 227

Newell, F. H.:

portrait __________________________________________ 256

at Embudo camp, 1888 ______________________ 160 

on relation of rainfall to streamflow______________ 171

Eleventh Census expert on irrigation ____________ 198, 233

continues stream gaging under Topographic Branch _____ 199

retains position, 1892 _______________________ 211

works with Gilbert, 1893 ____________________ 232 

attends Irrigation Congress, 1893 ___________ 234, 235, 236

attends Irrigation Congress, 1894 ______________ 246

begins fieldwork under new appropriation, 1894 ________ 247

reports on water supply of public lands ____________ 258

on Gila River Dam ________________________ 278 

reorganizes work in hydrography ________________ 317

consulted by Governor Roosevelt _______________ 318

authorized to draft part of Roosevelt's first annual message __320 

on irrigation of arid lands __________________________ 321

Chief Engineer, Reclamation Service _______________ 326

Chief Hydrographer, U.S. Geological Survey, 1902 _____ 326

contribution to passage of reclamation law ______________ 327

retains autonomy in organization of Geologic Branch _____ 330

establishes Hydrology Division, 1903 _______________ 339

Reclamation Service, 1903 _________________ 351

member second Public Lands Commission, 1903 _______ 356

Newlands, Francis _________________________ 203, 321

Nettleton, E. S ____________ - 161, 169, 193 

Noble, John W __159, 160, 163, 166, 167, 176, 179, 191, 217

O

Gates, William C ____________________________ 180 

Ogden, Herbert G ____________________________ 190 

Orcutt, C. R _______________________________ 114

Orton, Edward___________________________________ 49

Osborn, Henry Fairfield ___________________________ 307

Owen, F. D _____________________________ 49

Paddock, A. S _______________________ 144, 182, 223 

Paige, Sidney _____________________________________ 349

Palmer, John M ______________________________ 269 

Parker, E. W _______________________________ 340 

Paul, E. G ________________________ 264, 339, 351 

Paul, H. M _________________________________ 98 

Peale, A. C.:

in field with Hayden ______ 83, 94, 96, 97, 107, 111, 129 

completes mapping of Three Forks sheet ___________ 136, 147

attends conference on cartographic system, 1889 ________ 150

services dispensed with, 1892 _____________________ 212

Peckham, S. F __._____________________________ 5 

Peffer, Willaim A ____________________________ 207 

Peirce, Benjamin _____________________________ ___ 26

Peirce, C. S _______________________________ 1, 115

Pendleton, George ______________________ 87, 102, 117 

Penfield, S. L ___________________________ 111, 128 

Penrose, R. A. F __________________ 153, 245, 258, 347 

Perkins, E. T ____________________________ 273, 342 

Perkins, George C _________________________ 265, 280 

Perkins George D ________________________ 258, 281 

Peters, W. J ______________ 251, 281, 282, 294, 305, 315 

Pettigrew, Richard ______________ 165, 209, 213, 272, 292 

Phinney, A. J ____________________________ 147, 186 

Picketing, E. C ______________________________ 102 

Pierce, Gilbert A ______________________________ ___ 165

Pilling, James C __________________________ 59, 192 

Pinchot, Gifford _________ 271, 272, 310, 318, 320, 343, 356 

Pirsson, L. V ________________ 231,232,263,316,337 

Pitman, J ________________________________ 30 

Platt, Orville H __________________________ 207, 321 

Plumb, Preston B __________ 127, 140, 153, 167, 170 176 

Post, W. S ____________________________281, 283

Potter, Charles _____________________________ 48, 49 

Potter, W. B _______________________________ 49 

Powell, J. W.:

portrait _____________________________________ 58

leader of predecessor survey ___________________________ 2

Report on the Lands of the Arid Region __________________ 3, 4

Colorado Plateau work continued by Geological Survey __ 19, 35 

heads General Geology Division ___________________ _ 28

member Public Lands Commission _________________ 37, 40

plans to give up geology for ethnology ________________ 43

appointment as director planned by King ______________ 46

appointed second director of Survey__-___-__-----_-_- 9, 57

merges work of Geological Survey and Bureau of Ethnology __59

Name Index 393
report to International Geological Congress on stratigraphic

classification and geologic cartography, 1881 _______ 63

on role of mining geology in Survey 1882 ____________ 64, 65

expands topographic mapping ______________ 68, 69

on Grand Canyon stratigraphy ______________________ 71, 72

establishes chemistry laboratory in Washington __________ 78

begins compilaton of geologic map of U.S. _________ 78

enlists aid of State geologists _______________ 80

classifies geology _____________________ 81

orders Gilbert to close down work in Great Basin ______ 82

growth of Survey 1881-1884 ___________________ 85 

shares interest in Indians with Secretary Teller ______ 93

sends Dutton to investigate Mount Taylor region ______ 95

confers on earthquake observations ___________________ 98

explains Survey's irrigation investigations, 1884 _______ 99

quoted by Chamberlin on irrigation ________________ 101

increases size of annual reports-_____________ 102

Allison Commission testimony, 1884 1885 _____ 105, 106,

107, 109, 185 

criticized by Engineering and Mining Journal-_______ 114

replacement as Director rumored, 1885 _______________ 115

direction of Survey questioned ______________________ 117

mismanagement of Survey reported ____________________ 116

Allison Commission testimony, 1885-1886 _____ 118, 119,

120, 121-123, 125 

sends McGee to meeting of American Committee, 1886 ____ 127

appointed to prepare report on Quaternary, Recent, and

Archeology ___ _ _ ___ _ ____ 132 

opposes acceptance of American Committee reports ______ 135

orders Emmons to close Denver office ____________ 137

initiates Survey conference on stratigraphic classification-__ 139 

helps establish National Geographic Society _________ 140

maintains 20 inches of rainfall necessary for agriculture ___ 142 

estimates cost of irrigation survey ____________________ 143

on itemization of Survey budget ____________________ 144

his "law of river deportment" ______________________ 147

diverted from stratigraphic classification by irrigation.____ 148

objects to reports of American Committee, 1888 _____ 149

on cost of irrigation survey __________________ 152

on Mississippi floods _____________________________ 153

shifts administration of Geologic Branch to Gilbert __ 162, 163 

attacked by Cope ______________________ 164

tours West with Senate Irrigation Committee, 1889 -_ 166 167 

proposes his own irrigation bill to Senate _________ 167

testimony before Senate Irrigation Committee___ 169, 171, 173 

testimony before House Irrigation Committee 170, 174, 175, 176 

attempts to explain position to public_____________ 173

interviewed by Washington Star ______________ 178

Senate discussion of interview ____________ 179, 181

at House Appropriation Committee hearings, 1890 ____ 180 

at Senate Appropriations Committee hearings, 1890 ___ 1, 82 

replies to Senate resolutions ______________ 183

Bureau of Ethnology appointment questioned _______ 192

at International Geological Congress, 1891________ 202

at National Association of Government Geologists _____ 202

criticized in Congress, 1892____________ 204, 205, 208 

leaves town ________________________ 213

control of Survey geology ends________________ 13, 215

papers listing him as author____________ 217, 218

mentioned in Wolcott speech, 1893 __________ 222

inspects proposed new headquarters-__________ 223

absent from office-___________________ 228, 233

attends Irrigation Congress, 1892 _________ 235, 236

favors transfer of Survey to Department of Agriculture ___ 237 

resigns as Director of Survey _______________ 238

on stratigraphic classification, 1900___________ 307

references to __________________ 260, 289, 308, 310 

Power, Thomas C _____________ 165, 192, 207, 223, 237 

Pressey, H. A _______________________________ 310 

Prindle, L. M _______________________335, 336, 349 

Pritchett, Henry S _________________________ 14,313 

Proctor, John R __________________________ 49, 225 

Pumpelly, Raphael:

portrait.______________________________ 30

appointed to Geological Survey ______________ 25

previous experience ____________________ 26

Tenth Census __________________ 29, 31, 49, 51, 97 

heads Northern Transcontinental Survey __________ 60

heads Archean Division, 1884 _________________ 92

fieldwork ___________________ 110, 129, 135, 146 

attends conference on cartographic system, 1889 _____ 150 

confers with Van Hise and Willis ___________ 163, 189 

directs work in New Jersey __________________ 199

services dispensed with 1892 _______________ 211, 215

Purington, Chester W __________________ 251, 252, 262 

Putnam, Bayard T _______________________ 30, 31, 97

Q, R

Quay, Matthew ___________________________ 209-213

Ransome, F. L.:

works in California under Becker ________ 253, 276, 285

works in Colorado under Emmons ____________ 293, 294, 305

Arizona copper studies ________________ 308, 315, 330

Canadian Boundary Survey __________________________ 317

Cripple Creek investigations ______________ 346, 347

Ray, George W ______________________________ 290 

Raymond, Rossiter W ________________________ 22, 55 

Reaburn, D. L _______________________ 289, 335, 336 

Reagan, John H __________________ 153,169,177,182 

Reed, Thomas B _______________________________ 165 

Reid, T. J _________________________________ 22 

Renshawe, John H __ 25, 26, 36, 69, 76, 127, 211, 242, 309, 351 

Richards, W. A _________________________ 343, 356 

Richardson, George B ____________ 277, 305, 315, 339, 353 

Richardson, James D _________________________ 223

Richmond, W. R ____________________________ 30 

Richthofen, Ferdinand von _____________________ 23

Rickard, T. A _______________________________ 137 

Ricksacker, Eugene ________________________ 70

Ries, Heinrich _______________________________ 334 

Rockwood, C. G ______________________________ 98 

Roosevelt, Theodore:

portrait-___________________________ 319

member Civil Service Commission ____________________ 225

nominated for Vice-President _______________ 31

succeeds McKinley as President ______________ 318

authorizes Newell and Pinchot to prepare part of first

annual message-_______________________ 320

394 Name Index
consults Senators __________________________________ 321

orders reclamation service be under Walcott and Newell __ 326 

sets up commission on anthracite coal strike ___________ 340

annual message December, 1902 ________________ 341

recommends transfer of forest reserves to

Department of Agriculture ____________________ 342

recommends establishment of Department of Commerce-__ 343 

appoints commission on federal science ____________ 15, 343

consults National Academy of Science on Philippine Islands 344 

appoints Public Lands Commission ____________________ 356

Roy, Andrew _________________________________ 49

Rusk, Jeremiah _____________________________ 159, 188 

Russell, I. C:

portrait________________________________ 203

joins Survey in 1880 _____________________________ 49

background ______________________________________ 50

works in Great Basin ______________ 61,70,78,81,111 

left in temporary position, 1883 __________________ 76

works in Appalachian region ____________ 110, 128, 146

works in Alaska _______________ 163, 189, 200, 205 

work in Pacific Northwest ______________206, 262, 327

joins faculty of University of Michigan -____________ 211

Safford, James M ____________________________ 192 

Salisbury, R. D ______ 70, 82, 110, 128, 189, 216, 307, 349 

Sanders, W. E ___________________________ 96, 207 

Sanders, Wilbur ______________________________ 165 

Sargent, Charles H _________________________ 25,271 

Sawyer, Philetus ________________________ 213

Sayers, Joseph D _______________________ 180

Schaller, Waldemar ____________________________ 349 

Schrader, F. C _____________ 262, 283, 284, 294, 305, 315 

Schurz, Carl ______________________ 25, 52, 55, 101, 114 

Scudder, S. H ______________________^____ 112, 164 

Schwatka, Frederick______________________ 200

Sells, E. W _________________________________ 250 

Shafroth, John F _______________________ 266, 324, 325 

Shaler, M. K _______________________________ 334 

Shaler, N. S.:

recommends Eldridge to King________________ 41

Tenth Census expert-__________________ 49

Massachusetts Commission on topographic maps _-___- 91 

work on Atlantic Coastal Plain for

Geological Survey__________________ 92, 110, 111 

work on inundated lands __________ 110, 111, 128

maps surficial deposits in Massachusetts __________ 146

report on soils ____________________________________ 174

listed as temporary in 1890 _______________ 192

work on geology of common roads __________ 231, 258

recommends A. H. Brooks _______________________ 243

surveys of Narragansett coal field-____________ 245

begins study of geology of Cape Cod ___________ 263

Sherman, John _____1 ____________________ 45, 165

Shutt, George ___________________ 59, 62, 99, 193, 198 

Siebenthal, C. E _______________________ 332, 339, 353 

Simpson, Jeremiah _______________________________ 204

Sinclair, C. H _______________________________ 316 

Slichter, Charles _________________ 317, 322, 352, 353

Small, John H _______________ 324, 325 

Smith, Carl D _____________________ 334 

Smith, Eugene A _______________ 49, 112, 132, 200, 202

Smith, George Otis _________________ 254, 262, 275, 317 

Smith, Glenn S ______________ 273

Smith, Hoke:

appointed Secretary of the Interior ___ __ __ - 224 

sees need for civil service regulations _ ____ _ 225

appoints Walcott to head Geologic Branch _ _ 13, 215, 230 

requests reduction in Powell's salary _ __ __ __- 238 

chooses Walcott as Director _____ __ ___ _ 238

approves change in surveying public lands _ _ 249

recommends change in surveying Indian lands _ _ 250

asks National Academy for advice on forest

reserve management-___ __ --- 270

rules oil land not patentable under Placer Act- _ __- - 306 

Smith, W. S. Tangier _________ 332 

Smock, John C __________ 49 

Sparks, W. A. J ______________ 115 

Spencer, Arthur C ________ 262, 285, 294, 305, 315, 330, 347

Spencer, Herbert _____________ __ __ _ 8, 60

Spencer, J. W _______________________________ 102 

Spooner,John C __________________________________ 187, 321

Spurr, J. E.:

begins work for Survey.________________ ____ 246

Mercur district studies _____________ 246, 247, 258

Aspen district studies _______________ 248, 253, 276

Alaska __________________ 262, 264, 281, 282, 283 

Great Basin reconnaissance _________________________ 294

Tonopah district studies ______________ _ 331, 347

proposes genetic classification of ore deposits ______ 332 333

Squire, Watson C __________________________ 165, 247 

Stanley-Brown, Joseph _________________ 46,76, 112,232 

Stanton, Timothy W ____________ 212, 255, 286, 302, 336 

Steele, W. G _____________________________ 274 

Stegner, Wallace ________________________ 212

Steiger, George ______________________________________ 212

Sternberg, George M ___ ____ __ __ __ _ 329

Stevenson, Adlai ________________ __ _ _ 45

Stevenson, James __________________ 43, 54, 62, 67, 145 

Stevenson, John J ______________________ _ 132, 149

Stewart, W. M.:

portrait ______________________________________ 168

bill and resolution to encourage irrigation __________ 140

resolution on funding irrigation surveys ________ 142, 143

debate on irrigation ________ ___ __ _ 152

invites Powell to accompany Senate Committee ______ 166

Irrigation Committe hearings, 1890 ______ 168, 169, 171

Irrigation Committee report-________________ 176

resolution on topographic mapping ___ ____ _ 178

attacks Powell's administration of Geological Survey __ 179, 181 

attends House Appropriations Committee _________ 180

attends Senate Appropriations Committee ____ ______ 182

questions selection of reservoir sites _________ _ 183

questions value of topographic survey for irrigation______ 184

on value of geology _____ __ __ _ _ _ 187

defends reports on mineral resources _____________ 196

questions organization of Survey ____________________ 197

presides at First Irrigation Congress____________ 203

attacks Survey ______________________________ 207, 223

Name Index 395
votes for cut in funds, 1892 ___________________ 213

calls for mining statistics.______________ ___ 265

opposes forest reserves ________-_______---_____-----_ 271

calls for Division of Mines and Mining in Survey _______ 290

praises Survey _____ ____ _ 302

Stockbridge, Francis B____ __ ____ __ _ 213

Stokes, H. W __________________________ 307, 349 

Stone, George H ___________________________ 96, 290 

Stone, R. W _______________________________ 315 

Storrs, James ______________ _ __ _ ___ 277

Stose, George W _________________________ 286, 288 

Stratton, S. W _______________________________ 313 

Strouhal, Vincent-----_______________ ___ ___ 99

Sullivan, E. C _____________________________ 349 

Sumner, William Graham _______ _____ _ ____ 60

Sweet, Willis _______________________________ 205 

Symes, George G _________________ 125,143,154,158

T

Tabor, H. A. W ______________________________ 22 

Taff, J. A ________ 244, 254, 263, 277, 286, 315, 334, 347 

Taft, William Howard___________________________ 179 

Taussig, F. W _______________________________ 191 

Taylor, F. B _______________________________ 316 

Taylor, T. U _________________________ 264, 339, 352 

Teller, Henry ______________________ 93, 152, 258, 269 

Thomas, Cyrus __________________________________________ 3

Thomas, Governor ______ _____ ___ ____ _ 202

Thompson, A. H.:

portrait ______________________________ 158

appointed geographer to Survey ______________________ 68

instructed to complete map of Plateau region ____________ 69

given statutory position, 1883------------_------_--_- 76

supervision extended to Kansas, Missouri, and Texas _____ 91

vice-president for cartography,

National Geographic Society ______________ 140

in charge topographic work of Irrigation Survey __________ 160

opinion on accuracy cited by Dutton ____________ 171

testifies before Senate Irrigation Committee ________ 172, 173

listed as temporary in 1890 ___________________ 192

heads Western Division of Topography __ 198, 199,211,233 

demoted in 1894 __________________________ 243 

triangulation surveys __________________ 243, 252

Thompson, Gilbert:

appointed to Survey as topographer.______________ 50

Acting Chief Topographer ____________________ 60

heads topographic party in Wingate Division _________ 62

in charge District of the Pacific ________________ 69, 77

maps Mount Shasta ________________________ 74

appointed to statutory position, 1883 -____________ 76

transferred to southern Appalachians, 1884________ 91

not affected by cut in 1892 __________________ 211

demoted in 1894 __________________________ 243 

Todd, J. E ____________________________ 61,70,82 

Toole, Joseph K ______________________________ 145 

Town, F. E _________________________________ 274 

Trowbridge, W. P _________________________ 25, 102 

Turner, H. W.:

begins work for Survey_______________________ 84

assists Becker in quicksilver investigations ______ 84, 112

maps in California Gold Belt _______ 131,137,148,163,

189, 201, 231, 243, 253, 262 

committee on classification of igneous rocks ____________ 263

maps Yosemite quadrangle _________________ 277

Tweedy, Frank-___________________ _ 211, 233

U

Ulnch, E. O _______________________ 139, 332, 349 

Underwood, Oscar ____________________ _ __ 290

Upham, Warren __________________________ 110, 189

V

Vandever, William ____________________________ 191 

Van Hise, C. R.:

portrait-___________________________ 264

assists R. D. Irving __________________ 70, 98, 102 

Lake Superior Division__________________________ 110, 129

attends conference on cartographic system, 1889 _____ 150

confers with Willis and Pumpelly ____________________ 163

studies Precambrian of North America-____ 189, 199, 265

resigns from Survey, 1892 _________________________ 211

recommended for directorship, 1892 __________________ 213

studies Lake Superior iron districts ___________ 244, 254

attends conference on geologic atlas, 1895 ________ 252

chairs Committe on classification of igneous rocks ____ 263 264

responsible for part of Geologic Branch work, 1897 _____ 275 

studies structural and metamorphic geology ________ 277

confers on Ocoee problem-___________________________ 286

presents paper on ore deposition ______________ 297

helps plan organization of Geologic Branch, 1900 ______ 302

heads Division of Precambrian and Metamorphic Geology __ 303 

supervision of lead-zinc project transferred ______________ 305

member, committee on revision of rules

on geologic nomenclature__________________________ 336

on the problems of geology _________________ 337

Carnegie Institution Advisory Committee on Geology_____ 338

becomes president University of Wisconsin ______________ 349

attends 1903 International Geological Congress _______ 350

Van Orstrand, C. E _______________________ 316, 350 

Vaughan, T. Wayland____________ 245, 255, 263, 307, 315 

Veatch, Arthur______________________________ 351

Vest, George G __________________________ 206, 207 

Vilas, W. F _____________ 114, 140, 141, 142, 143, 195

W

Wade, Melvin ______________________________ 83 

Wait, John T ____________________________ 117, 124 

Walcott, Charles D.:

appointed assistant geologist, 1879-____________ 25

background ____________________________ 28

first season's work _______________________ 36

Eureka, Nevada ________________________ 46, 83

headquartered in New York____________________ 61

396 Name Index
stratigraphy of Grand Canyon ______________________ 71 72

appointed to statutory position, 1883 ____--__----_____- 76

directs paleontological work in East ___________________ 83

heads paleontological division, 1884 __________________ 94

identifies fossils for Hayden and Peale ___________ 96

author of early bulletin __________________ 102

summoned to AAAS meeting, 1887 __________ __ _ 135

studies Taconic system________________ ___ 136

studies Cambrian along Canadian border.___________ 147

attends 1888 International Geological Congress ________ 148

attends conference on cartographic system, 1889 _______ 150

Olenellus zone paper _____________________________ 175

identifies strata in Baton's 1824 section ___________ 178

confers with Van Hise on Precambrian ___________ 189

prepares paleogeographic map of Algonkian-Cambrian time__ 190 

listed as temporary in 1890 _________________ 192

becomes chief paleontologist, 1892 ___________ 213 214

corresponds with T. C. Chamberlin _________ 213 214

takes charge of geologic work _ _ _ ___ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ 215

possibly author of Powell paper _____________________ 218

helps establish Geological Society of Washington _______ 225

appointed geologist-in-charge, 1893 _______ 230, 231, 233

appointed Director, 1894_______________ 13,238-239 

concept of Survey work ___________ 13, 14, 241 242

attitude on reports ___________________ 245, 278

confers with mining geologists and engineers ____________ 248

on public-land surveys ___________________ 250

confers with Emmons on work in Montana and Idaho ____ 254

annual report for 1894-1895 __________________ 258 

asks deficiency appropriation for stream gaging _______ 259

asks legislation on monumenting____________ 260, 261

takes immediate control of Topographic Branch ________ 261

appoints committees on specialized subjects __________ 263

asks increased funds for geology and topography______ 264

testifies on need for precious-metal mining studies.__ 265 266 

appointed Assistant Secretary Smithsonian Institution_____ 269

on forest reserves management-_______________ 272

inspects forest reserves and national parks, 1897-______ 274

on water resources in settled areas _______________ 279

on appropriations for 1899 _________-______ 280

associate editor. Journal of Geology __ __ _ _____ ____ 286

discovers Precambrian fossils _______________ 287

on appropriations for 1900 ________________ 289, 290

on investigations in relation to mines and mining ___ 290 292 

on Teton National Park ____________________ 292

on role of Survey in relation to mining industry ______ 296 297

relations with Secretary Hitchcock ____________ 299

on hydrographic work of Survey ____________ 299 300

organizes Geologic Branch _________________ 302

directs Willis to study mapping units______________ 306

on topographic mapping ____________________________ 307

relinquishes control of Topographic Branch-__________ 308

on future of Survey, 1901 ____________________ 319

on forest reserves in southern Appalachians ____________ 323

Director of Reclamation Service, 1902 _____________ 326

contribution to passage of reclamation law ____________ 327

helps establish Carnegie Institution of Washington.__ 329 330 

delegates some administrative control to Hayes ______ 330

chairs committee on scientific work of the

government ____________________ 15, 343-345

chairs Board of Scientific Surveys of the Philippine Islands__ 

Walker, Francis A _______________________ 25, 91, 

Walling, Henry ______________________________

Ward, Lester F.:

portrait _____________ _ ____ ____ ___

appointed paleobotanist ________________--_--------_

opponent of Social Darwinism _____________-___----_ 8.

writes sketch of Powell for Popular Science Monthly _______

begins work in paleobotany _________________ 62, 71.

publishes Dynamic Sociology _____________________ ___

not given statutory position, 1883 _____________ _____

investigates Laramie flora __________________ 71, 83, 92,

heads paleontological division, 1884 __________________

differs with Powell on irrigation ______________-----__-

studies Potomac formation ______________________ Illbusy with manuscripts, 1888 ________________________

assigned preparation of correlation essay ________---_---_

survives cut of 1892_____________________ _______

studies Comanche-Dakota relations in Texas ____________

continues work on Compendium ______________________

Warman, P. C __________________________ ________

Warner, A. J ________________________________________

Warren, Francis E _________________ 210, 213, 2M, 

Washington, H. S _________________________ 316, 

Watkins, C. E ______________________________________

Weaver, James B _______________________________ 206,

Webster, Albert _________________________ 50, 62 

Weed, W. H.:

appointed to Survey, 1883 -___-__--______________

Yellowstone project _______ 96, 111, 128, 146,200, 

attends conference on cartographic system, 1889 ________

names Livingston formation _______________ _____

examines Montana coal fields, 1891 __________________

Little Belt Mountains, Montana ______________________

folio published ___________________________________

being drawn into economic work______________ _____

Butte, Montana, economic geology ______ 262, 276, ^05,

member, committee on classification of igneous rocks ____

presents paper on secondary enrichment, 1900 __________

studies eastern copper deposits-_______________________

proposes genetic classification of ore deposits ________ 332,

field season, 1903 _____________________________

Weeks, F. B ____________________________274, 

Wescoatt, N __________________________________

Wheeler, George M _____________________________ 2,

Wheeler, H. A _______________-____________ 

Wheeler, Joseph __________________________ 210, 

White, C. A.:

portrait _____ _ ___________________________________

appointed to Survey as paleontologist, 1881 ____________

commissioner for location of artesian wells ______________

studies Laramie formation______________________ 70, 71

not given statutory position, 1893 _________________

heads ancillary division, 1885 ______-______________

joins Becker in Coast Range ____________________

bulletins by _______________________102, 113, 

Cretaceous-Tertiary stratigraphy of Utah, 1885 ________

Lower Cretaceous of Texas ________________ 136,

Permian of Texas _________________________________

assigned to prepare correlation essay on Cretaceous ________

344

102

76

61

60

60

62

, "72 

71 

76 

164 

94 

101 

112 

147 

152 

211 

286 

307 

288 

20 

260 

3V7 

74 

218 

, 69

77

198

150

198

200

232

233

254

130

263

297

330

333

347

288

22

181

49

261

60

60

62

83

76

94

97

114

111

164

147

152

Name Index 397
resigns from Survey, 1882 _________________ 211

Texas work completed by R. T. Hill ____________ 255

White, C. David ___________ 195, 212, 231, 244, 254, 277 

White, I. C _______________________ 95,110,146 

White, J. F _______________________________ 30 

Whitfield, Edward ____________________________ 30 

Whiting, H. L ______________________________ 91 

Whitney, J. D ______________________ 17,22,27,297 

Williams, Albert, Jr ___________ 49, 75, 76, 98, 102, 131 

Williams, George H __ 110, 121, 129, 147, 150, 163, 189, 303 

Williams, H. S.:

Devonian studies _________________ 83, 93, 147, 286 

publications _______________________ 102, 201

prepares American Committee report on upper Paleozaic __ 132 

recommends dual stratigraphic names _________ 133, 307

prepares Survey correlation essay on Devonian and

Carboniferous ____________________ 152, 201

students work for survey ________________________ 286

member committee to revise stratigraphic

nomenclature rules ____________________ 336

Williamson, J. A . ____________________________ 37 

Willis, Bailey:

portrait._________ __ ____________ 270

Tenth Census special agent _ __ ______ 29, 30, 31

Northern Transcontinental Survey _____________ 60

investigates resources of Great Sioux Reservation ______ 93 

Appalachian Division _______________ 110,128,145 

attends conference on cartographic system, 1889 _____ 150

confers with Pumpelly and Van Rise __.____________ 163 

structural experiments _____________ 189, 193, 228

listed as temporary, 1890 _________________ 192

demoted, but retained, 1892 ________________ 211

in charge folio publication _________________ 232

maps in Appalachian coal fields, 1894 __________ 244

committee to promote Mt. Rainier National Park __ 247, 248,

292, 293 

attends conference on geologic atlas, 1895 _________ 252

maps in Pacific Northwest ______________ 254, 262

appointed Assistant to Director in Geology, 1897 _____ 275

views on stratigraphic classification, 1898 _________ 287 

helps plan organization of Geologic Branch, 1900 _____ 302

heads Division of Areal Geology _____________ 303

supervision of lead-zinc project transferred ____________ 305

studies practices on mapping units _________ 306 307

Canadian Boundary Survey, 1901 ______ __ _ 317

placed under Hayes, 1902 ____________________ 330 

member, committee on geologic nomenclature, 1902 _ _ 336 

on leave in China, 1903 ______________________ 349 

Willits, E. C ____________________ 67, 160, 169, 188 

Wilson, A. D _________________ 25, 29, 31, 33, 60, 72 

Wilson, H. M _______ 161, 162, 192, 198, 211, 242, 309, 351 

Wilson, James ____________________________ 14, 196 

Wilson, Woodrow ____________________________ 165 

Winchell, Alexander _______________________ 139, 149 

Winchell, N. H _______________________ 132, 139, 202 

Winslow, Arthur __________________________ 163, 202 

Witherspoon, D. C ____________________________ 349 

Wolcott, E. O.:

portrait _______________________________ 208

calls for investigation of Geological Survey _________ 207

offers plan to cut Survey appropriation-___________ 208

Committee to Investigate Geological Survey ______ 210, 218 

speech on role of Survey, 1893 ____________ 221 223 

proposes amendment to cut appropriation for topography

and increase appropriation for geology_________ 222, 223 

presents memorial from Colorado legislature on

economic geology______________________ 266

remains opposed to Survey under Walcott ___-302, 312, 313 

Wolff, J. E ____________________ 199,231,263,285 

Wood, A. B ____________________________ 21 

Wood, Leonard ______________________________ 315 

Woodward, R. S ______________________________ 198 

Woolsey, Lester ______________________________ 315 

Wooster, L. C _________________________ 61, 70, 128 

Wright, Carroll D ____________________________ 329 

Wright, C. W ____________________________ 347 

Wright, G. F __________________________ 96, 216 

Wright, George M ______________________77,96, 111 

Wright, Philo B __________________________ 25, 26 

Wyman, Jeffries _________________________ 26

Y, Z

Young, C. A _______________________________ 102 

Zirkel, Ferdinand______________________ 23

398 Name Index
Subject Index

Age of the Earth _________________ 225-228,294-295 

Agriculture ______________________ 1, 3, 10, 58, 142 

Agriculture Department:

forestry ____________________ 313, 321, 323, 325 

irrigation investigations ____ 11, 132-133, 169, 176, 188 

possible transfer of USGS to____________ 237-238, 345 

science in _____ 2, 10, 13, 14, 15, 18, 59, 158, 160, 345 

Alabama:

Appalachian geology-_____________ 110, 128, 136, 146

bauxite ______________________________ 231, 243 

Cambrian fossils _______________________ 98

gold __________________________ 254-255, 263 

iron __________________________ 231, 254-255 

Ocoee rocks _________________________ 263

Tertiary and Cretaceous strata _________________ 112

Alaska:

exploration and reconnaissance ____ 163, 189, 200, 280 283,

284, 294, 335-336

coal ________________ 251, 252, 262, 265, 335, 347 

glaciers _________________________ 200, 205, 283 

gold __ 251-252, 262, 265, 280, 281, 300, 305, 347, 349 

petroleum __________________________ 347, 348 

tin _______________________________ 305, 349 

Allison Commission. See Congress, U.S., Scientific Bureaus, Joint 

Commission to Consider the Organization of.

Aluminum _______________________ 12, 14, 231, 243 

American Association for the Advancement of Science __ 115, 134,

148, 181, 191, 216, 225, 248, 313 

American Chemical Society __________________ 313

American Economic Association ________________________ 8

American Forestry Association ___________________ 191

American Geologist ________________________ 139, 212, 217, 241

American Institute of Electrical Engineers ___________ 313

American Institute of Mining Engineers ________ 7, 64 65,

130-131, 138-139, 215, 218, 296 

American Journal of Science __________ 57, 75, 225, 241

American Mining Congress _________________ 286, 355

American Museum of Natural History-_______ ____ 43, 60

American Physical Society ___________________ 313

Antitrust legislation______________________ 12, 165

Appalachian Mountain Club __________________ 310

Appalachian Mountains:

geology __________________ 136, 182, 193, 243, 277

gold resources ______________________________ 243

proposed forest reserve _____________________ 323, 325

proposed national park___________________________ 310

topographic mapping ___________ 109, 162, 211, 233

See also the individual States of the region.

Appalachian National Park Association ___________________ 310

Archean. See Precambrian.

Arid lands _________ 3, 4, 10, 60, 99, 108, 132, 142, 166, 182

Arizona:

Bisbee copper district ________________________ 330

Globe district __________________________ 308 

Grand Canyon region ______________ 36, 50, 71, 277

Gila River Indian Reservation irrigation _____ 257, 278, 279,

288, 295 

mining-district reconnaissance ________________ 285

Salt River dam _________________________ 317, 351 

San Carlos Indian Reservation coal ________________ 98

San Francisco Mountains _____________________ 50

topographic mapping __________________ 36, 50, 109, 338

Uinkaret Mountains ________________________________ 36

underground water __________________________ 353

Arkansas:

Eocene formations ______________________ 200

mineral resources __________________304, 305, 315

topographic mapping __________________ 145, 162

Army Engineers _______________________________ 2

Asphalt _______________________ 253, 277, 315, 334

Atlantic Coastal Plain ____________________110, 147, 163

B

Berea oil sand _____________________________ 315

Board on Scientific Surveys of Philippine Islands __________ 344

Board on Geographic Names _________________ 189 190

Borax ____________________________________ 306 

Boundary surveys _______________ 272-274, 289, 293, 316

California:

Bodie district _______________________ 33, 48

borax _______________________________ 306

Cascade Mountains _________70, 136, 145, 147, 200, 316 

Coalinga oil field ________________________ __ 315

Coast Range __________________________ __ 97

General Grant Park _____________________ 191

Subject Index 399
Gold Belt _____ 109, 131, 137, 163, 189, 201, 217, 218,

231, 233, 243, 253, 262, 276, 285, 331

Hetch Hetchy reservoir site ________________ 195

irrigation methods _____________________________ 321

Lake Tahoe region ___________________ 160

Lassen Peak ___________________ 109, 127, 151, 231 

Los Angeles _________________________ 233

Mount Shasta _____________________ 74, 95

Pacific slope _______________________ 84, 112, 306 

Palo Alto _______________________________ 255 

petroleum_______________________ 306, 315

quicksilver _______________________ 84, 112

Sacramento Valley ___________________ 351

Salinas Valley ____________________________ 317 

salt __________________________________ 306 

San Francisco _________________ 201,231,233,255 

Sequoia National Park ____________________ 191

Sierra Nevada ____________________ 163, 189, 224 

stream measurements ______________ 288, 295, 309

topographic mapping ________________________ 211, 338

underground water ___ _____ ___ ____ 353

water-power possibilities _______________ ___ 309

Yosemite ____________________ 191, 233, 275, 277 

Carey Act _____ __ _ ____ __ 245

Carnegie Institution of Washington____ _ 15, 329 330, 338,

349, 350-351 

Cement____________________________ 316, 335

Censuses, U.S.:

Tenth _____________ 1, 24-25, 29-31, 41, 47, 49, 73

Eleventh ____________________________ 192, 198

Twelfth____________________________ 309, 310

Civil service _______________________ 75, 114, 225, 243

Clay ______________________________________ 334

Coal ________________ 5, 11, 14, 18, 199, 262, 291, 314

See also the individual coal-producing States and Territories

and (or) Economic geology.

Coal flora __________________________________ 277 

Coal strike ______________________________ 340-341 

Coast and Geodetic Survey ________ 1, 2, 6, 9, 14, 15, 89, 90,

115, 117, 118, 163, 237, 250 

Coast and Interior Survey________________________________ 217

Colorado:

Arkansas River basin ____________ 161, 256, 257, 258 

Aspen district _______ 199, 201, 248, 250, 253, 254, 276 

Boulder oil field _______________________ 346-347 

Breckenridge district ___ ____________ ____ 254

coal __________________________________ 245 

Creede district ______ 201

Crested Butte region __ 72, 83, 95, 97, 114, 137, 147, 148, 189 

Cripple Creek district ______ 231, 243, 245, 269, 346, 347 

Denver Basin______________ 83, 99, 114, 131, 137, 189 

Garden of the Gods ______________________ 354

Golden mesas _____________________ 60, 75

Gunnison River diversion___________________________ 317

iron __________________________________ 245 

La Plata Mountains ______________________ 243

Leadville district _______ 21, 22, 31, 33, 42, 46, 55, 84,

131, 137, 194, 201, 243, 305, 315, 331, 355

Lower Cretaceous _____ _ __ ___ __ 164

Mancos Canyon reservoir sites __________________ 295

Mount Marcellina laccolith _________________ 228

Pikes Peak sheet ___________________________ 231 

Pueblo sheet _______________________________ 231 

river stations._______________________ 247

San Juan Mountains ______________________ 243, 262, 316

San Luis Valley______________________ 353

Silver Cliff district _______________ 72,83,189,254 

Silverton sheet _____________________ 294

South Platte River basin __________________ 161

Telluride district _________________________ 253

Tenmile district ____________________ 60, 72, 189 

topographic mapping _______________ 160, 211, 233

triangulation_______________________ 243, 252

Colorado Plateau Province ____________ 35, 48, 50, 62

See also the individual States and Territories of the region. 

Commerce and Labor, Department of ___________ 15, 343

Congress, U.S.

45th _________________________________ 20, 44 

46th _______________________ 41, 44-45, 52, 54 

47th ____________________ 57, 65, 66-68, 75, 76 

48th __________________ 85, 87, 101, 102, 105-109 

49th______________________ 118-126, 127, 133 

50th ________________ 140-145, 152-155, 158-159 

51st__________ 164-166, 167-180, 181-185, 186-188,

190-191, 192-193, 196-197

52d _______________________ 203-210, 218-223 

53d __ 224, 236-238, 245-246, 247-248, 249-250, 251 

54th ________________ 258-261, 264-266, 271-272 

55th ___________________ 272, 279-280, 289-292 

56th ________________ 296, 299-302, 308, 310-314 

57th ______________________ 320-326, 341-343 

Appropriations Committees ________ 65,66, 144, 145

Geological Survey, Senate Select Committee on __259, 280, 312 

Geological Survey, Senate Select Committee

to Investigate _____________________ 210, 218

Irrigation, House Committee on _________ 170, 174, 176

Irrigation, Senate Select Committe on _____ 168, 169, 170,

171, 173, 176-178 

Mines and Mining, House Committee on __________ 65

Mines and Mining, Senate Committee on ___ 219 220, 265,

280, 296 

Printing, Committee on ________________ 87, 101

Scientific Bureaus, Joint Commission to Investigate the

Organization of ____ 87, 89-90, 102, 105-109, 118-126 

Status of Laws Organizing the Executive Departments, Joint 

Commission on________________ 223, 225, 250

Connecticut _______________________ 162, 316

Copper ________ 5, 12, 14, 47, 118-119, 262, 315, 330, 334 

See also the individual copper-producing States or Economic geologyCuba__________________________________ 308, 315

D

Dakota Territory __________________ 61,70,83, 110, 136 

Delaware ________________________________________ 263

Desert Land Act __________________________ 11,196 

District of Columbia _________ 109,163,263,279,307,329 

Dockery Commission. See Congress, U.S., Joint Commission on Status

of laws Organizing the Executive Departments. 

Dynamic Sociology ___________________________________ 71

400 Subject Index
Earthquakes ________________________ 98, 128, 130, 136 

Economic geology:

Aluminum and bauxite:

Appalachian districts ________________ 231, 243

Arkansas ___________________________ 304

Building stone ___________________________________ 291

Cement______________________________ 316, 335

Clay _______________________________ 304, 334

Coal:

Alaska ____________ 251, 252, 262, 265, 335, 347 

Arkansas ____________________________________ 49

Colorado _____________________________ 245 

Illinois ______________________________ 334 

Indian Territory ____________ 277, 286, 334, 347 

Indiana__________________________ 315, 334 

Kansas ____________________________ 49 

Kentucky _____________________________ 263

Maryland ___________________________ 244

Missouri ____________________________________ 49

Montana ____________________________________ 200

New England _________________________ 254

Oregon __________________________ 254, 277 

Pennsylvania_______________ 110, 162, 304, 333 

Tennessee ______________ 231, 243-244, 254, 263 

Texas __________________________________ 49, 255

Virginia ____________________________________ 231

West Virginia ____________ 95, 110, 244, 254, 285

Contributions to Economic Geology ______________________ 334

Copper:

Arizona:

Bisbee ____________________________ 330

Globe ____________________________ 308 

Montana, Butte __ 201, 254, 262, 276, 293, 301, 305, 315 

Tennessee, Ducktown __________________________ 294

United .States, Eastern _______________ 294, 330

Utah, Bingham ____________________ 305, 315 

Wyoming, Encampment ________________ 305, 331

Gold:

Alaska __ 251-252, 262, 265, 280, 281, 300, 305, 347, 349 

California Gold Belt ____ 109, 131, 137, 163, 189, 201, 

217, 218, 231, 233, 243, 253, 262, 276, 285, 331 

Colorado, Cripple Creek __ 231, 243, 245, 269, 346, 347 

Snake River basin______________________________ 243

South Dakota, Black Hills ______ 274, 285, 293, 310 

Southern Appalachians _________ 233, 243, 254, 263

Utah, Mercur _________________ 246, 247, 258

Gypsum ___________________________ 334, 336

Iron:

Alabama ______________________ 231, 254-255 

Colorado _____________________________ 245

Georgia__________________________ 231, 254 

Michigan, Marquette ______________ 199, 231, 244 

New York, Adirondack region______________ 277, 285

Michigan:

Menominee ________________________ 263

Michigamme ______________________________ 244

Michigan-Wisconsin, Penokee-Gogebic _________ 110

Minnesota, Mesabi ___________________ 305-306

New Jersey ________________________ 199,231

North Caolina ________________________________ 244

Tennessee ________________________ 231, 244, 255

Western States __________________________ 347

Lead-zinc:

Illinois __-___________-_-___--__-_-_-----___- 349

Kentucky ____________________________________ 332

Missouri ____________________ 163, 189, 305 

Mercury_______ 74, 84, 96, 97, 112-113, 130, 136, 148 

Ore deposits, origin _______ 130, 138-139, 249, 296-297,

307, 332-333 

Petroleum, natural gas, and asphalt:

accumulation_______________ 312, U8, 333, 334 

Alaska ___________________________-347, 348 

California _________________________ 306, 315 

Colorado _________________________ 346-347 

Indiana ______________________________________ 147

Kansas _____________________________ 334, 346

Ohio_______________________ 315, 333, 346 

Pennsylvania-_____________________________ 346

Texas_________________ 255, 304, 314, 315, 318 

West Virginia _____________________________ 346

Economy, national ________219, 220, 221, 223, 236-237, 242,

248, 257, 269 

Educational series of rocks ________________________ 81, 245

Election, national ______ 45, 52, 101, 157, 194-196, 206, 218,

248, 269, 311 

Engineering and Mining Journal _________ 57, 114, 333, 355-356

Ethnology_____________________________ 45, 120, 216

Floods _____________________________________ 350

Forests and forest reserves:

conservation movement ______________________ 11, 96, 191

National Academy of Sciences, Committee on________ 270-271

reserve management to Interior ______________________ 272

reserve mapping and classification _____ 274 275, 289, 292

reserve proposed in southern Appalachians _________ 310, 323

reserves authorized ____________________ _______ 196

reserves created, 1897 ___-___-__---___--__-_---___-_ 271 

transfer of management to Agriculture ______ 320, 321, 322,

323, 341, 343 

USGS work in __________ 99, 274-275, 289, 292, 342

Fortieth Parallel Exploration ________________________ 61, 72

General Land Office ______ 1, 3, 17, 18, 70, 92, 141, 166, 176,

181, 183, 248-249, 250, 306 

General Revision Act __-______________ _ __________ 196

Geographic dictionaries ____________ ____ __ _______ 233

Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain

Region ______________________ 34, 35, 37, 38 

Geologic atlas ____________________ 163,232,252,336 

Geologic cartography __________ 63-64,80,130,131,135,

150, 151, 152, 201, 309 

Geologic maps and sections:

California, Ophir district _______ __ __ __ _______ 221

Cambrian of North America __________ __ _______ 190

Comstock ________-_________-_-_ _ _________ 43

Baton's 1824 section updated ______________________ 178

Eureka ______________________--_-__--_-__--__-__- 82

Subject Index 401
Great Plains artesian areas __________________________ 258

Leadville _________..______________________ 42 

structure contours_____________________ __ 309

United States__________9, 66-68, 78-79, 112, 130, 294 

Geologic time divisions _______-63, 129, 132, 137, 253, 277

Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories _ 34, 41, 96 

Geological Society of America _________ 149, 217, 248, 332

Geological Society of Washington _____________ 225, 227

Geological Survey, U.S.:

appropriation items ________ _________ _ _ 144

appropriations _____44-45, 54, 66-68, 75, 85, 125, 126,

144-145, 158, 187-188, 192, 196, 203-213,

217, 223, 238, 245, 251, 259-260, 266, 272, 280,

289, 300-302, 311, 312, 313, 324, 325, 340, 342

authorization for gaging streams _____________________ 246

authorization for monumenting surveys ____________ 260 261

authorization for work in Eastern States ___ 19 20, 44, 66 67 

Committee on Classification of Igneous rocks __ 263 264, 277 

Committee on Geologic Formation Names ______________ 288

Committee on Geologic Names ______________________ 336

Committee on Petrography ________________ 264

cooperative surveys _________44, 91, 145, 162, 261, 288,

290, 316, 325-326, 332 

Headquarters-_______ ___________________ 85

hydrographic districts __________________ 351 352

laboratories ___________________ 73, 78, 85, 98, 307 

organization of work:

under King _________________________ 19, 59

under Powell_______ 59, 68-69, 109, 112, 127, 145,

158, 160, 198, 200, 210-211, 214

under Walcott _______ 230, 242, 261, 302-303, 330,

339, 347, 349, 357 

publications:

annual reports __________________ 51, 258

Bibliography of North American Geology _ _ _ __ _ _ 80 81

bulletins ______________________ 75

Geologic Atlas _____________ 163, 232, 252, 336 

Mineral Resources of the United States ______ 75, 97, 114,

130, 196, 334

topographic maps_______ 74, 94, 107, 109, 260, 354 

water-supply papers __________________ 260, 278

recipient of Cuvier Prize ___________________ 203

relations with Agriculture Department ___ 2, 10, 11, 13, 14,

15, 18, 59, 130-133, 158, 160, 

169, 176, 188, 237-238, 345

relations with Coast and Geodetic Survey ____ 90, 106, 250 

relations with State surveys _________ 91, 193, 200, 202

See also cooperative surveys, 

staff:

criteria for appointment _____________27, 76, 191

size _________________________225, 323-324 

work. See subject matter and geographic listings. 

Geology:

classification ___________________________________ 81

future _____________________________ 319

local versus general ___________________ 184-185

problems ________________________ 337

progress to 1893 ______________________ 228, 230 

Geophysics:

effect of heat and pressure on earth

materials _____________________ 60, 227, 337, 341 

electrical conductivity of iron and steel ______________ 99

electrical currents around ore bodies ______________ 46

strain in rocks __________________________ 319

subterranean temperatures ______________ 78, 200

George Washington Memorial Association ____________ 329

Georgia:

Appalachian Mountains ______________ 146, 254, 310

Bainbridge-Gulf Coast section ______________________ 232

bauxite ______________________________ 231, 243 

gold __________________________ 233, 254, 263 

granite districts ______________________ 349

iron _______________________________ 231, 254 

Ocoee series ________________________ 277

phosphates ___________________________ 233, 243 

proposed forest reserve ___________________ 310

Glacial geology:

causes of glaciation ______________________ 277

correlation of formations ___________________ 163

deposits _______ 61-62, 70, 73, 82-83, 88, 95-96, 110,

111, 189, 307 

Great Lakes region ______________________________ 128

lakes ____________________________________ 110 

sea level changes _________________________________ 111

striae_______________________________ 129

Glaciers__________________________ 74, 200, 205, 283

Gold ___________ 12, 14, 18, 130, 254, 258, 269, 296, 332 

See also Precious metals and the individual gold-producing States 

and Territories.

Great Basin ________________________43, 61, 70, 81-82 

See also individual States and Territories of the region.

Great Plains __________________ 3, 10, 11, 278, 309, 354 

See also the individual States and Territories of the region.

Gulf Coastal Plain _____________________________ 318

Gypsum ___ ________ __ ____________ 334, 336

H

Harriman expedition to Alaska ___________________ 294

Hawaii ___________________________ 70, 82, 308, 352 

History of North American Mammals _ _ _ ____ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ 40

I

Idaho:

Boise quadrangle _____________________ 262

boundary survey ________________ 273-274, 289, 293 

Coeur d'Alene district _________________ 254, 347

DeLamar district _____________________ 294

glacial phenomena ________________________________ 110

Hailey district _______________________ 285

Idaho Basin _________________________ 262

Nampa quadrangle ______________________________ 276

river stations___________________________ 247

Silver City quadrangle ________________________ 276, 294

Snake River __________________________ 161, 317 

Snake River region _______________-243, 262, 327

surveying reservoir sites ___________________________ 199

topgraphic mapping._________________ 211, 233

igneous rocks _____________ 202, 264, 277, 337-338, 345

Illinois:

coal areas _______________________________________ 334

402 Subject Index
glacial drift _ ________________ 96, 200, 245, 256 

southern, lead-zinc area ____________________ 349

topographic mapping _____________________ 162

water resources-______________________ 256

Indians and Indian reservations:

Blackfoot and Fort Belknap tribes ________________ 254

Chickasaw Nation_________________________ 289

Dawes General Allotment Act ________________ 160

Gila River Reservation _________ 257, 278-279, 288, 295 

Great Sioux Reservation ___________________ 93

San Carlos Reservation ____________________ 98

Southern Ute Reservation._____________________ 295

Uncompahgre and Uinta Reservations-_________ 253, 277

Yakima Reservation _____________________ 293

Indian Territory:

Arbuckle Mountains-__________________ 315

asphalt lands_________________________ 334, 347 

Atoka quadrangle._____________________ 277

coal lands ___________________ 277, 286, 334, 347 

geologic reconnaissance ___________________ 263

McAlester quadrangle ____________________ 277

Sallisaw quadrangle _______________________ 315

surveying and mapping _________ 250, 251, 261, 288, 289 

Tahlequah quadrangle ________________________ 315

Wichita Mountains _________________________ 315

Indiana:

coalfields __________________________ 315, 334 

glacial drift __________________________ 200, 245 

quality of water ________ ___ _ _ 353

rock-gas fields _______________________ __ 147

International Geological Congress:

American Committee ______________ __ 127, 139

1881_______________________________ 62, 64 

1885________________ 112, 127, 132, 134-135, 139 

1888________________________________ 148 

1891__________________________ 149, 201-202 

1897________________________________ 276 

1903________________________________ 350

Interstate Commerce Act _____ __ _ __ 133

Iowa:

glacial ____________________ 147, 163, 187, 245 

topographic ___________________ __ - 162

Iron _________________ 5, 11, 18, 29, 99, 110, 119, 334 

See also the individual iron-producing States

Irrigation:

Census of 1890 report ______________ 198, 233-234 

Chamberlin's views ________________ 99 100

Cleveland on_______ __ ___ _ 157

Congressional inquiry of 1886 _________ 10, 127, 132-133 

Congressional inquiry of 1888 _________ 10, 140-142, 143 

Department of Agriculture report, 1890 __ _ 188 

Emmons' view ______ __ ____ _ _ _ 99

Hinton's report-________ ___ _ ___ 132-133

Hitchcock statement on, 1900_______________ 310-311 

Indian reservations ______ ___ ___ __ _ 278 279

methods _______ __ __ 321

Newlands Reclamation Act 321-322

political issue ____ ____ _ 166

Powell's view ______________ 4, 142, 172, 235-236 

public-land grants for ____ ___ _ _ 247

pumping devices for ___________________ 278

Roosevelt statement, 1901 ________________ 320 321

Senate Select Committee _______________________ 166

USGS survey ____ 143-144, 153-154, 158, 160, 178-179,

180-184, 186, 188

Ward's views ____________________________ 101 

Irrigation Congress __________ 202-203, 236, 246-247, 257,

278-279, 326-327

J, K

Journal of Geology _______________________________ 286, 288

Kansas:

Arkansas River basin _________________ 161, 256

Fort Riley_______________________________ 147 

High Plains __________________________ 264, 278 

lola quadrangle-____________________ 334, 346

river stations.______________________ 247

topographic mapping __________ 90,91, 102, 109, 145,

162, 199, 211, 233 

vertebrate fossils _____________________ 83

Kentucky:

Appalachian coal area _____________________ 263

Cumberland River headwaters ___________________ 334

Estilville sheet ____________________________ 199 

Johnson and Floyd Counties-________________ 277

Kentucky and Licking River valleys_____________ 286

Middlesboro region _____________________ 346

topographic mapping _____________________ 145

water quality _____ ___ ________________ __ 353

western, lead-zinc deposits __________________________ 332

Laissez faire _______________________________ 8

Lake Superior region:

iron districts __________________ 110, 277, 285, 316 

Precambrian rocks ____________________ 110, 129

See also the individual States of the region.

Laramie beds_______________ 70, 71, 83, 92, 147, 164, 198

Lead __________________________ 5, 6, 12, 305, 334 

See also the individual lead-producing States.

Louisiana __________________________ 304, 315

M

Maine:

eskers _______________________ __ __ __ 96

sea level changes _______ ___ _ _ - 111

stream gaging __________ _ _ - _ __ __ 339

topographic mapping _____ - 145, 162

water quality _____________________-__----_-----_- 353

Manganese ___________ ____ _ __ ____ 334

Maps:

Asheville sheet ____________ __ _ __ _ 94

Controller Bay, Alaska ______ _ _ ___ ___ -- 348

Mount Shasta ____ __ ___ _ _- _ - 74

New Mexico red beds ______ _ __ __ 336

reservoir site______ ___ _ _ ________ __ 159

Maryland:

Chesapeake Bay artesian water _ _________ _ _ 128

Subject Index 403
Coastal Plain_____________________ 128, 263, 

Elk Garden coal Held ______________________________

Frederick sheet ____________________________________

Piedmont rocks __________________________________

Pleistocene geology ________________________________

Potomac formation ____________________________ 112,

topographic mapping ______________________ 77, 261,

Massachusetts:

Cambrian and Silurian strata ________________________

Cape Cod ________________________________________

central __________________________________________

east of Hoosac Range ________________ ____________

Martha's Vineyard ________________________________

Nantucket _________________________________ 111,

surface geology ____________--_-___--__-----__------

topographic mapping __________________ 77, 98, 109,

Worcester County ________________________________

Mercury__________ 74, 84, 96, 97, 112-113, 130, 136,

Metamorphism ________________________________________

Michigan:

copper-bearing rocks ______________________________

glacial geology ________________________________ 61,

Marquette iron district______________________ 199, 231,

Menominee district ________________________________

Michigamme district __________________________

Penokee-Gogebic region ___________________________

Precambrian-Cambrian contact-_______________________

Precambrian rocks _____________________________ 70

topographic mapping ______________________________

Upper Peninsula ________________________ 95, 162,

Mineral fuels. See Coal; Petroleum, natural gas.

Mineral industry:

relation to science___________________________________

relations with U.S. Geological Survey __ 64 65, 194, 296 

value of products _________ 5, 11, 14, 15, 257, 280,

Mineral lands ____________ 5, 38-39, 40, 41, 173, 306,

Mineral Resources of the United States ---- 75,97, 114, 130, 196,

Mineral statistics _________ 18, 47-49, 60, 75, 265-266, 

Mineralogy ________________________ 75, 114, 122, 

Mines and mining, federal support ____________ 14, 65, 125,

Mining and Scientific Press ________________________________

Mining laws ______________________________________ 40,

Minnesota:

Cambrian fossils _______________________________

copper-bearing rocks ______________________________

northern, geology __________________________________

Lake Agassiz ________________________________ 110,

Mesabi district _____________________________ 305-

Precambrian rocks ______________________________ 70

St. Louis River-___________--______________________

Mississippi __________________________________________

Missouri:

Joplin district ____________________________________

topographic mapping _______________ 90, 91, 92, 109,

zinc ores ____________________ 163, 189, 195, 

Money and currency-- 4-5, 13, 18, 101, 203, 223, 236-237, 

Montana:

Bear Paw Mountains________________________________

Bitterroot Range _____________________________

Bozeman area _______________________________

316 Butte district ____ 201,254,262,276,293,301,305,315

244 coalfields _______________________________ 200

255 Elkhorn region ____________________________ 294

147 forest reserves ________________________________ 274

307 Fort Ellis region __________________________ 129 

128 Gallatin Range____________________________ 96 

288 glacial geology _________________________ 110,316 

	Great Falls ______________________________ 83 

136 Helena region ____________________________ 294 

263 Judith Mountains____________________________ 263

255 Laramie beds_________________________ 70, 71, 83

129 Little Belt Mountains ____________________ 231, 245

111 mining district reconnaissance ________________ 148, 285

112 north of Yellowstone Park _________________ 96,200

146 Square Butte_______________________________ 232

145 Sun River irrigation survey __________________________ 161

316 Three Forks area ___________________________ 14?

148 topographic mapping ______________________ 160

277

47 N

307 National Academy of Sciences ______ 2, 6, 10, 90, 99, 102-103,

244 116,203,270-271,312,344

263 National Association of Government Geologists ____________ 202

244 National Bureau of Standards _______________ 15,313-314

110 National Educational Association Council ___________ 329

91 National Geographic Society-______________ 140, 189,248

, 95 National parks:

162 Crater Lake __________________ 127-128.316,323

254 General Grant ____________________________ 191

	Kings Canyon _________________________ 191

	Mount Rainier ________________ 247, 248, 292-293

- 6 Sequoia_____________________________ 191

297 Teton _________________________________ 292

340 Yellowstone _______ 77-78, 85, 96, 109, 111, 128, 141,

334 146, 147, 274

334 Yosemite _______________________________ 191

291 Naval Hydrographic Office _________________ 2, 9, 89, 90

294 Naval Observatory __________________________ 2

296 Nebraska:

266 eastern part not in arid region ________________________ 182

306 ground water ________________________ 264, 278

	Platte Valley_______________________________ 264

98 reconnaissance along 102d meridian ____________ 247

47 topographic mapping ___________________ 211, 233

110 vertebrate paleontology______________________________ 83

189 Nevada:

306 Comstock ___________ 21, 23, 43, 44, 46, 47, 117-118

, 95 Eureka district ________ 21, 22, 33, 34, 43, 46, 47, 61,

249 73, 82, 83, 84, 97, 117-118

255 geologic reconnaissance __________________ 294

	irrigation survey ___________________ 160, 161

305 Lake Lahontan ____________________ 61, 70, 81, 111

145 Tonopah district _______________________ 331,347

305 topographic mapping _________________ 34, 90, 160

296 Truckee-Carson reclamation project ____________ 351

	New England:

83 geologic mapping- _______________ 146, 231, 263

294 Narragansett coal field ______________________ 254

136 Pleistocene geology ______________________ 307

404 Subject Index
slate belt _______________________________ 255 

structural and metamorphic geology __________________ 277

swamps _____________________________________ 128

topographic mapping ______________________________ 211

See also the individual New England States.

New Hampshire:

Monadnock and Kearsage districts ___________________ 97

Pleistocene geology _____________________________ 316

stratigraphic correlation ________________________ 199

topographic mapping __________________________ 145, 233

New Jersey.

Cenozoic ________________________________ 136

Coastal Plain _________________________ 200, 255 

copper mines ________________________________ 330

crystalline rocks ___________________________ 199

Franklin Furnace area ______________________________ 285

Franklin quadrangle ______________________________ 263

glacial geology.________________________________ 307

Green Pond Mountain district _____________________ 233

Highlands____________________________ 231, 349 

iron deposits________________________________ 199, 231

Passaic floods _____________________________ 350

topographic mapping ________________ 91, 109, 145

New Mexico:

geologic mapping_________________________________ 316

irrigation survey ____________________________ 160, 161

Lower Cretaceous __________________________________ 164

mining district reconnaissance ______________________ 285

Mount Taylor region ___________________________ 93, 95

Fed Beds_______________________________ 336 

river stations____________________________ 247

topographic mapping ___________ 62, 145, 160, 211

New York:

Adirondack Mountains ____________ 263, 277, 285, 316 

areal and economic geology __________________ 315, 316

Cambrian ________________________________ 83

correlation of strata with New England ______________ 199

Devonian ____________________________83, 98 

glacial geology __________________ 62, 70, 189, 307 

Long Island ___________________________ 352-353 

New York City ___________________________ 263 

stream gaging ______________________________ 339

Survey headquarters __________________________ 60

swamp lands _____________________________ 128

topographic mapping_______ 145, 211, 233, 261, 288, 338

Niagara River ________________________________________ 263

Nicaragua _______________________________283, 284

Nickel __________________________________ 254

North Carolina:

copper mines _________________________ 294, 330

crystalline rocks _______________________ 255

forest conditions ________________________ 310

iron _________________________________ 244

mountain region _________________________________ 310

Ocoee formation ______________________ 316

stream gaging __________________________ 256

topographic mapping _____________ 77, 94, 261, 310

North Dakota:

admitted to statehood _____________________ 158

artesian areas _____________________211, 247, 256

constitutional convention,________________________ 166

eastern half not in arid region ____________________ _ 182

topographic mapping ________________________ 211, 233

O

Ocoee problem _________________________ 233, 263, 277

Ohio:

Berea oil sand ____________________________________ 315

Carboniferous fossils ________________________________ 286

Devonian rocks __________________________________ 98

glacial geology _______________ 62, 96, 189, 200, 307 

Ohio River terrace system _______________________ 110

petroleum-producing region_________________ 3 15, 333, 346

topographic mapping ____________ _____ ____ 309, 338

Oklahoma Territory:

boundary survey _________________________________ 293

eastern half not in arid region ______________________ 182

hydrographic reconnaissance__________--____--_--_--_- 247

opened to settlement ______________________________ 160

topographic mapping __________________________ 211, 233

Ore deposits, origin __ 130, 138-139, 249, 296-297, 307, 332-33 

See Economic geology and the geographic listings for individual 

deposits.

Oregon:

black sands ____________________________________ 254

Cascade Range ______________________ 82, 97, 109 

coalfields ____________________________ 254, 277 

Coast Range_______________________ 252, 254, 277 

Crater Lake _______________ 127-128,262,316,323 

mining district reconnaissance. ________ ____ ___ 305

river-station reconnaissance __________________________ 247

Snake River ___________________________________ 161

Paleobotany _______________________ 62, 72, 195, 307

Paleontology, government versus private __________ 117 118, 342

Paleontology, invertebrate:

Cambrian ____________ 72, 84, 85, 98, 136, 147, 185 

Cenozoic ___________________________________ 136

Cretaceous _________________________________ 111, 114

Devonian _________________________ 96, 98, 147 

fossil insects.___________________________ ___ 112

Grand Canyon ______________________________ 71 72

Jurassic __________________________-___---__------_ 113

Nevada, Eureka_______________________ 84, 85 

New Jersey ________________________________ 108

Paleozoic _____________________________ 111

Permian ________________________________________ 147

Precambrian ___________________________ 287

Silurian_ _________________________________________ 136

Tertiary ________________________________________ 111

Paleontology, vertebrate __________ 39, 70, 71, 83, 98, 110,

111, 129, 136, 267

Pan-American Exposition ____________________________ 317 3 18

Pennsylvania:

coalfields _________________ 110, 162, 304, 315, 333 

crystalline rocks _____________________________ 316

Devonian ______________________________________ 98

glacial geology _______________ ________ _ 96, 189

lower Paleozoic___________________________ 233

Subject Index 405
petroleum-producing areas ____________________ 346

Philadelphia area ________________________ 277, 349 

Pleistocene geology ________________________________ 307

quality of water __________________________ 353

topographic mapping ______________ 162, 211, 338

Uniontown and Masontown quadrangles ________________ 304

Petroleum, natural gas, and asphalt:

accumulation__________________ 312, 318, 333, 334 

geologic distribution_________________________ 186

importance __________________________ 5, 119

production __________________________________ 5, 12, 16

Tenth Census report __________________________________ 5

See also Economic geology and the geographic listings. 

Petrography and petrology:

andesite____________________________ 75, 84

crystallization of glass _____________________ 141

crystallization of laccolith-___________________ 228

differentiation in laccolith __________________ 232

ferruginous schists of Lake Superior ________________ 110

laccoliths ____________________________ 228, 232 

mechanics of intrusion _____________________________ 345

metamorphism of gabbro______________________ 121

metasomatism __________________________ 249

quicksilver rocks _____________________ 136 137

Yellowstone rocks_________________ 77-78, 141, 146 

Philippine Islands __________________ 284-285, 308, 344 

Phosphate_____________ 153, 163, 197, 200, 254-255, 263 

Physiography_________________________ 53, 55, 80, 286 

Placer Act__________________________________ 306 

Platinum _______________________________ 254, 334 

Popular Science Monthly ___________________ 62, 217

Potomac formation _______________________________ 111, 112

Potomac River _______________________ 256, 279, 280 

Precambnan ____ 70, 90, 91, HO, 129, 135, 163, 189, 199, 265 

Precious metals______.____ 5, 14, 219, 220, 280, 331, 334

See also Gold and Silver. 

Preemption Act __________________________ 11, 196

Public lands:

classification ______________________ 18, 38-39, 172 

Cleveland's recommendations ___ ______ __ ____ 157

disposal _________________ 11, 39, 115, 196, 245

effect of October 2, 1888, law on __11, 157, 176, 179, 181-182

forests __________ 191, 196, 270-272, 274, 275, 289,

292, 320, 321, 322, 323, 342, 343

frauds ____________________________ 342-343 

General Revision Act ________________ 11, 196

parks_______________________ 191, 247-248, 323 

surveying ___________________________________ 249 250

water supply ___________ _ _ ____ _______ 258

Public Lands Commission:

First ___________________ 2, 7, 11, 15, 17, 36-41 

Second ______________________________ 356

Puerto Rico __________________________________ 308

Q, R

Quicksilver. See Mercury.

Reclamation Act _______________________ 319, 321-322 

Reclamation Service ___________________ 15, 326, 351

Rhode Island ________________________________ 145

Roads and road-making material _________________ 231, 245

Salt _______________________________________ 306 

Science ________ 59, 98, 115, 124, 159, 216, 227, 294, 333 

Science (general) __________________________________ 7, 8 9

Science, Federal ____ 1-2, 7, 9-10, 12-13, 15, 16, 102-103,

105, 106-107, 115-116, 343-345 

Seismology ______________________________ 98

Signal Service_____________________ 2, 9, 11, 89, 120, 188

Silver________ 4-5, 12, 14, 18, 97, 101, 165, 224, 236, 254

See also Precious metals and the individual silver-producing States.

Social Darwinism __________________________ 8, 60

Smithsonian Institution ________________ 70, 78, 269

Soils _______________________________110, 174, 200 

South Atlantic States ________________________ 339

See also the individual States of the region. 

South Carolina:

Charleston earthquake _____________________________ 128

forest area______________________________ 310

South Dakota:

admitted to statehood ___________________ 158

artesian areas____________________ 247, 256, 278

Black Hills ___________________ 274,285,293,310 

Deadwood __________________________ 269, 274 

forest reserves ____________________ 274, 289

James River valley ____________________ 211, 247

part not in arid region __________________ 182

topographic mapping ____________________ 211, 233

water resources _________________ 247, 256, 278, 310 

Steel _______________________________ 18, 99, 119 

Stratigraphic classification _______ 62-64, 132, 134, 145, 147,

149-152, 286-288, 306-307 

Structural geology __________________________ 192

Structural materials _______________ 14, 200, 262, 291, 335 

Surveying and mapping ___ 1, 2, 6, 13, 134, 136, 137, 249, 250 

Swamplands ______________________________ 128, 172

Taconic system______________________________________ 136

Tariff ____________________12, 165, 191,242,245,272

Tennessee:

clay resources _________________________ 304

coal ___________________ 231, 243-244, 254, 263 

Columbia quadrangle ______________________ 304

corundum _____________________________ 231

Ducktown copper mines __________________ 294

eastern region ____________95, 110, 136, 146, 199,231 

Estilville sheet ____________________________ 199

gold ____________________________________ 254 

iron __________________________ 231, 244, 255 

Ocoee series _________________________ 316

phosphate resources ___________________ 255, 304

proposed forest reserve-________________ ___ _ 310

Texas:

artesian water _____________________ 245, 247

asphaltum_________________________ 255

Austin sheet _________________________ 245

coal __________________________________ 255 

Cretaceous __________________ 136, 164, 255, 256

406 Subject Index
El Paso County___________________________ 353 shape. 

El Paso dam _________________________ 161-162 

irrigation survey ____________________ 161-162

Lake McDonald __________________________ 264 

oil fields _______________________________ 304 

Permian ____________________________ 98, 147 

Spindletop __________________________ 316-317 

stream gaging ____ ________________ 339

topographic mapping __ 90, 91-92, 109, 145, 211, 233, 289 

trans-Pecos region ___________________ 255, 316

Uvalde quadrangle ________________________________ 263

vertebrate paleontology.__________________ 98

water resources _________________ 256, 263, 264, 353

Timber Culture Act ______________________ 11, 191, 196 

Tin ________________________________ 305, 334 

Tungsten _____________________________ 334

U

Uranium _________________________________ 294

Utah:

admission to statehood ______________________ 258

asphalt ______________________________ 253, 277 

Bingham district ____________________ 305, 315

Cretaceous and early Tertiary stratigraphy __________ 111

Henry Mountains _________________________________ 35

hydrographic reconnaissance__________________________ 247

irrigation survey ______________________ 161

Lake Bonneville ______________________ 34, 49-50 

Mercur district ____________________ 246, 247, 258 

Park City district _______________________ 331, 347 

Pleistocene geology ___________________ 316, 349

San Francisco district ____________________________ 33

Tintic district _______________________ 215

topographic mapping __________________ 90, 199

Uinta Indian Reservation______________253, 277, 295

Uncompahgre Indian Reservation ___________ 253, 277

112-113, 253, 285

W

Vanadium_______________________________ 276, 294

Vermont:

Cambrian ____________________________ 98, 147 

correlation of strata with New York ______________ 199

Green Mountains _______________ 110, 135, 136, 146 

topographic mapping ______________________ 162

Virginia:

crystalline rocks ______________________ 255

Estilville sheet ____________________________ 199 

Greenbrier-New River section _______________ 110, 136

Halifax copper district ____________________ 294

Ocoee series _________________________ 277

southwestern coal area ______________________ 231

Staunton sheet __________________________ 146

stream gaging ________________________ 256

Volcanoes:

Alaska _________________________________ 252 

Crater Lake ______________ 127-128,262,316,323 

Hawaii _______________________________ 70, 82 

Lassen Peak ___________________ 109, 127, 151, 231 

Mount Taylor region ___________________ 93, 95 Zinc

Washington:

admitted to statehood ______________________ 158

artesian water ____________________________ 206

Cascade Range ________________________ 277

forest reserve-_________________________ 274

glacial geology-___________________________ 110

hydrographic reconnaissance____________________ 247

mining district reconnaissance _______________ 285

Mount Rainier _________________ 254, 262, 292-293 

northwestern, economic geology _____________________ 254

Tacoma sheet ____________________________ 262

topographic mapping ___________ 211, 233, 252, 338

Washington Memorial Institution __________________ 329

Water:

artesian __ 62, 99-101, 128, 174-175, 188, 200, 206, 234 

power _________________________________________ 15

rainfall necessary for agriculture ____________ 3 4, 142, 236

rainfall in Rio Grande Basin __________________ 162

rainfall-runoff relations _______________________ 234

rights ____________________ 161-162, 166, 167 

See also the geographic listings, floods, and irrigation.

Weather Bureau ____________________ ______ 11,188

Weights and measures _______________ 1, 14, 15, 313-314

West Virginia:

Buckhannon sheet ________________________ 254

coalfields ____________________ 95, 110, 244, 285 

Elk Garden coalfield_________________________ 244 

Greenbrier-New River section ______________ 110, 135

Kanawha River valley __________________ __ 95

Lewisburg sheet __________________________ 146

oil fields _____________________________ 346 

Pleistocene geology ____________________ 307

White Sulphur Springs ______________________ 95

Wisconsin:

Cambrian fossils ___________________________ 98

copper-bearing rocks ______________________ 47

glacial geology ______________________ 200, 245, 316 

Precambrian rocks __________________47, 70, 254 

topographic mapping _______________ 145, 162

Wyoming:

Absaroka Range ________________________ 232

Big Horn and Wind River basins ________________ 231

Bighorn Mountains ___________________ ___ 349

Crow Creek water storage ___________________ 317

forest reserves ____________________________ 274, 275, 292

Grand Encampment Mountains _______________ 305, 331

Laramie quadrangle __________________ __ 316

mining district reconnaissance ___________ _ __ 148

New Rambler mine ________________________ 331

river diversion investigations __________________ 310

vertebrate paleontology ___________-70, 83, 98, 147

Yellowstone National Park ______77-78, 85, 96, 109, HI,

128, 141, 146, 147, 274

5, 12, 189, 332, 305, 332, 334 

Subject Index 407
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: i O 311-344'180 See page viii for identification of portraits
\
As the Nation's principal conservation agency, the Department 

of the Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned 

public lands and natural resources. This includes fostering the 

wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish and 

wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our 

national parks and historical places, and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The Department assesses 

our energy and mineral resources and works to assure that their 

development is in the best interest of all our people. The Department also has a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who live in Island Territories 

under U.S. Administration.