Owen had served as an assistant on the State Survey of Tennessee and as the first State geologist of Indiana, and he organized the new work promptly and effectively. Although suffering from the handicap unfortunately known by geologists of the present day—the receipt late in the season (August 17, 1839) of authority to begin work—within exactly a month he had his force of 139 assistants organized into 24 field parties, instructed in “such elementary principles of geology as were necessary to their performance of the duties required of them.” His plan of campaign provided for a northward drive at a predetermined rate of traverse for each party, with periodic reports to himself at appointed stations, “to receive which reports and to examine the country in person” he crossed the area under survey eleven times. The result of such masterful leadership was the completion of the exploration of all the lands comprehended in his orders in two months and six days, and his report on this great area—about 11,000 square miles—bears date of April 2, 1840.
Eight years later Doctor Owen made a survey of an even larger area, continuing his examination northward to Lake Superior. Again his report was published promptly, and he continued for several years his examination of the Northwest Territory, submitting his final report in 1851. It is interesting to note that in his earlier report Doctor Owen subscribed himself as “Principal Agent to explore the Mineral Lands of the United States,” but that in the later report he was “U. S. Geologist for Wisconsin.” The two surveys together covered 57,000 square miles.
During the same period similar surveys were being made in northern Michigan by Dr. Charles T. Jackson, 1847–48, and Foster and Whitney, 1849–51. These surveys also had been hastened by the “copper fever” of 1844–46, with wholesale issue of permits and leases, Congress in 1847 authorizing the sale of the mineral lands and a geological survey of the Lake Superior district. The execution of these surveys under Jackson and under Foster and Whitney and the prompt publication in 1851 of the maps of the whole region materially helped to establish copper mining on a more conservative basis. and the development of the Lake Superior region was rapid.[[99]]
These land-classification surveys, with their definite purpose, represent the best geologic work of the time. The plan necessitated thoroughgoing field work with considerable detail and prompt publication of systematic reports, and in the working up of the results specialists like James Hall and Joseph Leidy contributed, while F. B. Meek was an assistant of Owen. It is worthy of note that had not Doctor Houghton, the State geologist of Michigan, met an untimely death in 1847, effective cooperation of the State Survey with the Federal officials would have combined geologic investigation with the execution of the linear surveys.[[100]]
Belonging to the same period of geologic exploration was the service of J. D. Dana, as United States Geologist on the Wilkes Exploring Expedition, the disaster to which compelled his return from the Pacific Coast overland and resulted in his geologic observations on Oregon and northern California.
The military expeditions during the decade 1850–60 and the earlier expeditions of Fremont added to the geographic knowledge of the Western country and also contributed to geologic science, largely through collections of rocks and fossils, usually reported on by the specialists of the day. Thus the names of Hall, Conrad, Hitchcock, and Meek appear in the published reports on these explorations, while Marcou, Blake, Newberry, Gibbs, Evans, Hayden, Parry, Shumard, Schiel, Antisell, and Engelmann were geologists attached to the field expeditions. In 1852 geologic investigation was seemingly so popular as to necessitate the statutory prohibition “there shall be no further geological survey by the Government unless hereafter authorized by law.”
Certain of these explorations had a specific purpose: several of them sought a practical route for a transcontinental railroad; another a new wagon road across Utah and Nevada; and one under Colonel Pope, with G. G. Shumard as geologist, was sent out “for boring Artesian Wells along the line of the 32d Parallel” in New Mexico. The published reports varied greatly in scientific value and in carefulness of preparation, while the publication of at least two reports was delayed until long after the war, and the manuscript of another was lost. The report of the expedition of Major Emory contained a colored geologic map of the western half of the country, a pioneer publication, for the map prepared by Marcou extended only to the 106th meridian.
Thus in the first period of Government surveys, covering about forty years, the great West, with its wealth of public lands, was well traversed by exploratory surveys, which furnished, however, only general outlines for a comprehension of the stratigraphy and structure of mountain and valley, plain and plateau. To an even less degree was there any realization of the economic possibilities of the vast territory west of the Mississippi. President Jefferson, in planning the Lewis and Clark expedition, had stated his special interest in the mineral resources of the region to be traversed. Nearly forty years later Doctor Owen was strongly impressed with the commercial promise of the region he surveyed. His reports contain analyses of ores and statistics of production; he compared the lead output of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois with that of Europe and foretold the value of the iron, copper, and zinc deposits of the area; he outlined the extent of the Illinois coal field; and he laid equal emphasis upon the agricultural possibilities of the region. Indeed, so optimistic were Owen’s general conclusions that he referred to his separate township plats, with their detailed descriptions, as the basis for his sanguine opinions, realizing that “the explorer is apt to become the special pleader.” With equal breadth of view and thoroughness of execution the surveys of Foster and Whitney laid the foundation for the development of the copper and iron resources of the Lake Superior region, and although these areas were largely wilderness and not adapted to rapid traverse or easy observation the reports on their explorations nevertheless compare most favorably with the contributions of geologists working in the more hospitable regions in the older States.
The period following the Civil War naturally became one of national expansion, the faces of many were turned westward, and exploration of the national domain for its industrial possibilities took on fresh interest. Home-seekers and miners largely made up this army of peaceful invasion, and the winning of the West began on a scale quite different from that of the days of the military path-finding expeditions of Fremont and other Army officers. Thus the nation was aroused to the task of investigating its public lands and Congress gave the support needed to make geologic exploration possible on a large scale.
Geologic surveys of a high order were continued in the older States, as shown by the contributions during this period of J. P. Lesley and G. H. Cook in the East, W. C. Kerr, E. W. Hilgard, and E. A. Smith in the South, and J. S. Newberry, C. A. White, Raphael Pumpelly, T. C. Chamberlin, Alexander Winchell, and T. B. Brooks in the Central States. To the north the Canadian Survey, organized in 1841 under Logan, had continued under the same sturdy leadership until 1869, when the experienced and talented Doctor Selwyn became Director. As contrasted with the short careers of most of the State Surveys and with the temporary character of all of the Federal undertakings in geologic investigation, the continuance of the Canadian Geological Survey for more than half a century under two directors gave opportunity for continuity of effort in making known to the people of the Dominion its resources and at the same time contributing to the world much pure science.