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.

CONTENTS

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]

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Chief Geographer of the United States, surveying the
Sierras, with Assistant Topographer		[Frontispiece]
FACING PAGE
In the Home of the Kodiak Bear[8]
A Lofty Spouter}
Water Enough for All
[30]
In the Tamarack Swamp[44]
A Tangle of Swamp[54]
Measuring Stream Flow[72]
Difficulties of Work[76]
Dense Southern Palm Grove[82]
Grand Canyon of the Colorado[94]
An Awkward Country to Work In[98]
"How in the World am I going to get up there?"[108]
A Hard Point to Measure[118]
Twenty-seven Miles from Water[152]
In the Death Valley[170]
Crossing a Swollen Stream[176]
Bridged by "Double Tree"[180]
If He Should Slip![186]
A Grim and Icy Barrier[252]
A General View of Tyonok[256]
Farewell to Civilization[260]
Where an Eternal Gale Rages[270]
Morning after the Blizzard[278]
Resting after a Long Pull[288]
A Short but Dangerous Rapid[300]
Skinning a Caribou[306]
The End of a Hard Climb[310]
The Only Bit of Rock for Miles[314]
In Icy Water under a Burning Sun[348]
Thus Far with the Boats, and no Farther![354]
Winter's Threat Almost Fulfilled[370]
Eskimo Saviors}
Pointing away from Winter
[376]