A map of the country situated between the meridian of Washington City and the Rocky Mountains, shall be reported as soon as the necessary elements and data can be compiled and the drawings executed.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
most respectfully,
Your obedient and humble Servant,
S. H. LONG,
Major U. S. Engineers.
Honourable J. C. Calhoun,
Secretary of War.
[OBSERVATIONS ON THE MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY OF A PART OF THE UNITED STATES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.]
Extracted from a Report to Major Long[79]
The following remarks are designed to give a summary and connected view of the facts and observations collected during the progress of the exploring expedition, relative to the geology and mineralogy of the several regions traversed by the party, more particularly of the Rocky Mountains, and the western portions of the great valley of the Mississippi. In an attempt of this kind, some difficulty arises from the unsettled and progressive condition of geognostic science. A nomenclature, constructed upon principles applicable to the other branches of natural history, has been extended to this. Attempts have been made to define classes, orders, genera, and species of rocks; while it must be acknowledged, that the inventors of systems have hitherto failed to point out such infallible foundations for distinction of character as exist in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Among minerals, from one extreme of the series to the other, there is a constant transition of approximating aggregates into each other. The particles of unorganized matter, being exempt from the influence of those peculiar laws which regulate the forms and characters of living {272} beings, and moving in obedience only to the impulses of attraction and affinity, arrange themselves together not always in an invariable order, and after a permanent and unalterable type, but are variously intermixed and confounded, as circumstances may have variously influenced their aggregation. Definitions, it must be acknowledged, have been constructed, strictly applicable to particular portions of matter, which may occur under similar circumstances in remote quarters of the globe. Fragments of granite may be found in the Rocky Mountains of America which could not be distinguished from the granite of Egypt, such as is seen in our collections. These definitions, then, may be sufficient for the purposes of the naturalist who confines his inquiries to his cabinet; but when examinations are extended, when we approach the imaginary limits of these artificial divisions, we not uncommonly find ourselves deserted by our boasted distinctions and definitions. It must be evident to any person in the slightest degree familiarized to the examination of the rocky materials composing the earth's surface, that between any two of the contiguous artificial divisions there is often-times no definite and discoverable boundary. Granite must consist essentially of felspar, quartz, and mica; so must gneiss and mica-slate; and between the two former, it is often extremely difficult to point out the line which shall be considered as marking the termination of the one and the commencement of the other. It will, we think, be acknowledged, that not one of the names applied to rocks, as constituting extensive strata, conveys of itself a definite and satisfactory idea. Hence the necessity which is felt, in attempting to give a detailed account of the rock formations of any particular district, to define the names in almost every instance of their application. If the following remarks should on this account seem faulty, by a certain monotony and appearance of {273} repetition, we hope there are a few, who, for the sake of the facts detailed, will excuse any want of precision in the language which may have necessarily resulted from the unsettled condition of the nomenclature.
