, 1874-09-13
HAYDEN'S SURVEY,
The Three Divisions Of the
Organization.
Modus-0perandi Of Carrying On the
Work.
Daily Life Of the Surveying Party.
Correspondence Of The Chfc1do Tribune
In oAxr ON SMALL TRIBUTARY or THE
GRAND ElYER. Aug, 70. 1874.

GRAND 1lvEn, Aug. 20. 1874
Tho surveys OF the Western Territories, whic
| have been carried on for several years by Dl
Hayden are widely known through the publish
ed reports and through the press of the country
Owing to the long session Of Congress the pas
winter and spring, the commencement Of field
work by this organization was delayed to q lat'
date. Usually getting the parties into tho fell
rs early as the SEASON would permit, in NOS
cases during the month Of May, this year the.
were delayed until the middle Of July.
The organization for fald-work this year il
very nearly the came as last year. There are
THREE WORKING DIVISIONS,
to each Of which is assigned definite district
to be worked up Each of these parties consists
essentially Of geologist and topographer Zone
Of whom is in charge Of the partly, with assist
nnts, packers, and cook The Northern Disis-
ion has a district bounded on the north by the
40th parallel of latitude; on the east generally,
| by the west boundary OF Middle Park On the
south, by tha Eagle and Grand Rivers
aud. on tho west, by tbs western boundary
| of Colorado. The district assigned to the Mid
| die Division ia limited On the North oy the Eagle
! aud Grand Rlrers; east bs the 10Th meridian
south by the parallel Of 50 deg. 80 min; west BY
tho west line Of tho Territory. Tic Southern
| Division has the southwestern corner Of tho
Territory lying south Of the district Of the Mid
| dlo Division. OF the natural features OF this
vast area very little is known . few explorers
have crossed il, giving us it's general features,
| but nothing is known At all accurately or il de-
tall In 1S50~'51 Capt. Gunnitou croseed it, fol-
t lowing down Cochetopa Greek and the river that
! beers his name Fremont crossed it farther
north Various explorations OF parts of tho
! country, for laying out Ta5on-roads, have been
made, but without enriching our knowledge OF
| tho country materially.
IT:
ception OF those in the no.ly-diseoyered San
Juan mining district, there
ARE PRACTICALLY NONE
Nearly the whole OF the country lies in the
reservation Of the Ute Indians, aud the OILY set
Elements there are the Two Aeenc!es-the White
River and the Los Pinos. o. The eastern edge
Of the district, at the mouth OF CocbetoEs
Creek, there il an embryo town. known as Gun
nisou City.
Besides tho working divisions, DR.. Hayden has
personal charge Of party Tor geloral oversight:
Mr. Gardner, OF q nartr for carrying ou the
primary triangulation and the photographer has
y party, to which are attached the naturalists-
The working divisions and the photographers
die Of July for their respective fields Of labor.
Your correspondent IS attached to the Middle
Division, and it il with it, fortunes that ho has
chiefly to deal.
This party numbers eight men, all told and
started from Deuver with eighteen animals, nd.
fark, By the regular stage-road theuce crossed
to the head Of the Arkansas River By tho l1os-
quito trail, and crossed the main divide by Taa-
nessee Paas,-commencin Work few miles
Cross.
Now, ns We arc about to commence work. let
mo give short sketch Of tho modus-operansG Of
carrying on typographical aud geological work in
q new country aud on large ncaio- First,
TYPOGRAPHICAL
A il ie with That branch rhut an best ocouaiut-
cd. lnpr1Ells comes the primary lrlangulaslon.
From base measured as accurately as the
necessities OF the work will allow, sere8 Of
tr.anyles IS expanded and EXTENDED until it
covers the whole area 10 be surveyed, and few
OF the most important peaks are located with |
c1treme accuracy. The aag les arc, in th1e work,
measured with large theodo1ites, and artificial |
signals are uaed- The work is checked at 8ult- |
able points BY q second base-l1De, and by the |
astronomical location OF certain points, Thus |
much BY the primary t1iangulatlon party. Fol- |
lowing it como the working division. Their t
part of tho work Is TO fill up the pri- I
and fill ia the topography by Sketches con- |
nected by located polnts~ The topogr.pher has.
in goneral. to seek the highest points, from
which he can overlook the surrounding country:
go ns to be able to trace out tho drainage, and
the contours of tho hills and mountains. From
this point, located IN most cases by angles from
other stations he measures angles from protni-
pent points within the range Of vision, 70 assist
in locating them. and sketches the drainage and
mountain n-and-lllll-forms in his neiRhborhood,-
that is, within radius Of OF 10 miles, depend
ing upon the character of the country, whsthcr
cut up into e.nall details, or carved into large,
bold features, and OF the relative height OF tho
station above the surrounding country.
THE OBJECT OF THE 8EoLoa1sT
ia, primarily to make a map Of the Burfnco~ |
geology Of the country. For this purpose, ho
accompanies the topoGrapher on most OF his sta
tions, to follow the line Of outcrop OF the forma-
tions over the country He locates these lines
at certain points, and sketches them between
the stations To assist in the work, geological
sectiona are made when opportunity odera, and
collections Of fossils and rocks are mnde.
Our general route OF trnyel has been down the
Eagle (marked on some maps as the PlneJ.)
to It's mouth thence down the Grand River to =
point few miles below the mouth OF Roaring
Fork; themes up this small branch OF the Grand.
At the head OF tho Arkansas River. tthe Con-
tinental dividing ridge, which, throughout 1ts
but few places here drops to elevation OF little
moro than 900 feet, aud the approaches to 1t
sro 80 gradual that one cannot tell where one
watershed ends aud tho other begins. Head
ing in the pass is the Eagle River, which, with
course gradually bendlpg frum north to west,
flows into the Grand. Its course is alternately
in open. beautiful meadows, aud deep, gloomy
canons. where the~trail climbs high up on tho
walls, or is built on benches along the aide. |
Many large tributaries pour into this stream
tAu4IH 4tS IlAAoO e@4N as sso tAoosa - ~ -
brawling, roaring torrent, 200 feet wide, md |
fordable with difficulty ut tho lowest stage Of
water. |
the large mountain-trout-are abundant IN this |
stream through lous tile greater part OF its course;
trout which are not educated up to the level OF /
the artificial fly. but will jump At a grssshopper, |
or even h piece OF bacon; trout which scoH At + |
small hook and catgut, bite It of and swallo" it.
From the mouth OF the Eas1o River down to
near this place, tho Grand River is in close
cauon, With the exception Of bit of meadow at
the mouth OF Roaring Fork Below the mouth !
OF the Btr.am on which We encamped the valley t
uidens into q broad meadow, at least 20 mies |
long, and fully as much in width Running |
down into it are long tongues OF mesa from
the hills and crossing it and tho river, in long
sweeping curve, is range OF bills lin the East !
they would be tnountains) of the true hog-back |
type, OF STRATA pitched up At high angle. and |
broken of. leaving sharp ridge on top and al
most prcciplco on tho broken side.
OUR DAILY LIFE |
Daylight finds camp nstir the cook getting |
breakfast, the packers catching up the pack
mules and putin. on the aparajos; tho others
striking tents, rolling up blankets, and saddlng
riding mules and ponies. Breakfast over, the
chief OF the party tells the head packer wheie
to camp at night and the topographer and
geoiogist, with such assstauts as they may
n eed for tha work start from cann Leaving the