Young Hayden proved to be a diligent and dedicated student, and won the respect of classmates and professors alike for his hard-working attitude. None, however, foresaw the great success that he later achieved.
While working his way through college, Hayden formed a close association with a young geologist named John Strong Newberry, who persuaded Hayden to pursue his studies under his own former teacher, James Hall of Albany, New York. Soon after, Hayden enrolled at Albany Medical College, and though he graduated with an M.D. in 1853, it is during this time that his interest in geology was fostered under the influence of Professor Hall.
Shortly after his graduation from medical school, Hayden set out on his first geographical expedition under the sponsorship of Hall. Accompanied by the paleontologist Fielding Bradford Meek, Hayden headed up the Missouri River to explore the Dakota Badlands and to collect fossil specimens. Returning in 1854, he and Meek began to acquire reputations of their own and, as a team, they added significant geological information to what was known about the Nation’s Western frontier.
During the War between the States, Hayden practiced medicine for the only time in his career, serving with the Army as a surgeon. Following the War he received his first formal degree in geology when he was elected Professor of Geology and Mineralogy at the University of Pennsylvania in 1865, a post he held mainly in absentia for 7 years. For the next several years, much of his time was spent studying and reporting on the geology of the Nebraska Territory and Rocky Mountain Region.
In 1869 Hayden’s activities became officially organized under the Department of the Interior, as the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories. In that same year he completed a highly successful expedition through the western mountains from Denver to Santa Fe. This expedition set the pattern for those to follow, for his team studied not only the geology, but virtually all natural phenomena which they encountered, including wildlife, water resources, and mineral deposits.
Dr. Hayden in Union Officer’s uniform during the Civil War. This was the only time Hayden actually practiced medicine.
Hayden’s historic expedition into the Yellowstone area in 1871, was preceded by two expeditions which fired the imagination of those interested in that largely unknown region. The Folsom-Cook group penetrated the Yellowstone Country in 1869, followed by the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition in 1870. Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane, who served as the leader of the military escort for this latter expedition as well as for the later Hayden Survey, filed a detailed report which was published as a Congressional document and became a landmark of the Yellowstone story. The following is taken from his report:
Hayden, mounted here on his horse “Patsy”, maintained a tenuous link with his professor’s chair at Pennsylvania by frequently wearing a frayed dress coat.