Photograph by U.S.G.S.

The Chief Geographer of the United States, Surveying the Sierras, with Assistant Topographer.

U. S. SERVICE SERIES.

THE BOY WITH
THE U. S. SURVEY

BY
FRANCIS ROLT-WHEELER

With Thirty-seven Illustrations from Photographs taken by the U. S. Geological Survey

BOSTON
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.

Published, August, 1909

The Boy with the U. S. Survey

Norwood Press
Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass.
U. S. A.

To
My Son
ROGER ROLT-WHEELER

PREFACE

Just as manly, courageous, and daring work as has ever been done in the past still is being done, and adventures as great as the world has contained before are happening to-day in these United States. The difference is that while the explorer and adventurer of the past too often sought but personal glory in his exploits, these now are done in the name of and for the benefit of the American people.

The adventures in this volume, startling as they may seem, were recounted to the author by the very men who underwent them; slight details only being changed to fit them into the rapid sequence with which they have to be compressed in the pages of a book. This little company of "men who dare" are real beings, living a real life, and ennobling as well as enriching their country by their efforts. In the administration of this department, manliness, alertness, untiring industry, and unfailing courage are the prime essentials, favoritism is unknown, and every American boy and man has an equal chance.

The world is not yet all sordid and commonplace and the glamour of an undiscovered peril is not yet all worn away. To show the inner and the outer worth of the United States Geological Survey, as well as to depict the adventurous possibilities open to a lad of perseverance and spirit, is the intent and purpose of

The Author.

CHAPTER I
	PAGE
A Start at the Capital	[1]
CHAPTER II
A Tenderfoot Snipe-Shoot	[23]
CHAPTER III
Fooling a Rescue Party	[44]
CHAPTER IV
In the Giant Tule Swamps	[67]
CHAPTER V
Peril in the Grand Canyon	[88]
CHAPTER VI
A Lone Hand against Hunger	[109]
CHAPTER VII
Saved by His Nerve	[130]
CHAPTER VIII
The Land Where it Never Rains	[149]
CHAPTER IX
A First-Class Bucking Mule	[172]
CHAPTER X
Americans That are Forgotten	[190]
CHAPTER XI
Where Primitive Justice Reigns	[210]
CHAPTER XII
The Alaskan Trip Begun	[234]
CHAPTER XIII
Wrestling with a Mountain Goat	[252]
CHAPTER XIV
Breaking the Ice Jam	[268]
CHAPTER XV
Facing Death in a Canoe	[290]
CHAPTER XVI
Declaring War on Uncle Sam	[311]
CHAPTER XVII
Clawed by an Angry Bear	[328]
CHAPTER XVIII
Fighting Fire in the Tundra	[344]
CHAPTER XIX
Racing a Polar Winter	[362]