A century of science in America

by Unknown

Passing with simple mention the two Government expeditions into the Black Hills, which afforded opportunity for geologic exploration by N. H. Winchell in 1874 and by Jenney and Newton in 1875, the record of geologic work under Government auspices in the period immediately following the Civil War groups itself around the names of four leaders—Hayden, King, Powell, and Wheeler. The four organizations, distinguished commonly by the names of these four masterful organizers, occupied the Western field more or less continuously from 1867 to 1878, and the sum total of their contributions to geography and geology was large indeed. In the words of Clarence King,[^[101]] “Eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, therefore, marks, in the history of national geological work, a turning point, when the science ceased to be dragged in the dust of rapid exploration and took a commanding position in the professional work of the country.” Together these four expeditions covered half a million square miles, or more than a third of the area of the United States west of the one-hundredth meridian, and the cost of all this work was approximately two million dollars, which was a small fraction of its value to the nation counting only the impetus given to settlement and utilization.

As viewed from a distance of nearly half a century, these four surveys differed much in plan of organization, scope of purpose, and success of execution, so that comparison would have little value except as possibly bearing upon the work of the larger organization which followed them and became the heir not only to much that had been attained by these pioneer surveys but also to the great task uncompleted by them. So, if in the earliest days of the present United States Geological Survey there may have been a certain partisanship in tracing derived characters in the new organization, it is even now worth while to recognize the real origin of much that is credited to present-day development.

Dr. F. V. Hayden was the first of these Survey leaders to engage in geological exploration. He visited the Badlands as early as 1853, and his connection with subsequent expeditions was interrupted only by his service as a surgeon in the Federal Army during the war. In 1867, however, Hayden resumed his geologic work as United States Geologist in Nebraska, operating under direction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. In the following eleven years the activities of the Hayden Survey—the “Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories”—extended into Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, and Idaho, covering with areal surveys 107,000 square miles. This Survey, as might be expected from the long experience of its leader, made large contributions to stratigraphy, which involved notable paleontologic work by Cope, Meek, and Lesquereux. Next in importance was the structural work of A. C. Peale, W. H. Holmes, Capt. C. E. Dutton, and Dr. Hayden himself, and the influence of these expeditions in popularizing geology should not be overlooked. The expedition of 1871 into the geyser region on the upper Yellowstone resulted in the creation of the first of the national parks. W. H. Holmes began his artistic contributions to geology in 1872 with this Survey. Topographic mapping was added to the geologic exploration, James T. Gardner and A. D. Wilson joining the Hayden Survey after earlier service on the King Survey and Henry Gannett being a member of parties, first as astronomer and later as topographer in charge. The accomplishment of the Hayden Survey itself and the later work of many of its members show that this organization possessed a corps of strong men.

The King Survey was a smaller organization, with Congressional authorization of definite scope and a systematic plan of operation. The beginning of construction of the Union Pacific terminated the period of the railroad surveys under the War Department and afforded opportunity for geologic work that would be more than exploratory: the opening up of the new country made investigation of its resources logical. This fact was recognized by Clarence King, who had traversed the same route as a member of an emigrant train with his friend James T. Gardner. His plan to make a geological cross section of the Cordilleras, with a study of the resources along the route of the Pacific railroads, won the support of Congress, and the “Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel” was authorized in 1867, with Clarence King as geologist in charge, under the Chief of Engineers of the Army. Field work was begun in the summer of that year, and it is interesting to note that Mr. King and his small force of geological assistants—the two Hagues and S. F. Emmons—began at the western end of this cross section, and in this and subsequent years extended the survey from the east front of the Sierra Nevada to Cheyenne, covering a belt of territory about 100 miles in width. This comprehensive plan was carried out in the field operations, and the scientific and economic results were systematically worked up in the reports, which appeared in 1870–80. The only departure from this plan was a study of the volcanic mountains Shasta, Rainier, and Hood, in 1870, occasioned by an unexpected and unsolicited appropriation for field work, and that summer’s work resulted in the discovery of active glaciers, the first known within the United States.

The Fortieth Parallel Survey is to be credited with contributions to the knowledge of the stratigraphy of the West, the region traversed being remarkably representative of the stratigraphic column, to which was added the paleontologic work of Marsh, Meek, Hall, and Whitfield, while the attempt was made to interpret the sedimentary record in terms of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Tertiary geography. King’s plan of survey included large use of topographic mapping with astronomic base and triangulation control and contours based upon barometric elevations. The results were pronounced by an unfriendly critic[^[102]] as “very valuable, especially from a geological point of view,” but unfortunate in being the forerunner of work in which Government geologists “have presumed to arrogate the control of the fundamental operations of a topographic survey.” To the King Survey must be credited the introduction of systematic contour mapping and the use of contour maps for purposes of geology. In two other respects the King Survey contributed largely to future Government work: microscopical petrography in the United States may be said to have begun with the visit of Professor Zirkel to this country as a member of this Survey in 1875, and the report of J. D. Hague on “Mining Industry” was the fitting expression of the emphasis then put on the study of the mineral resources of this newly opened territory, a subject of investigation that was in large part the true basis of King’s project rather than simply “the immediate excuse for the Survey.” An earlier influence in the scientific study of ore deposits had come from Von Richthofen’s investigation of the Comstock Lode in 1865 and his subsequent work with Whitney in California. The incident of King’s relation to the diamond fraud in Arizona in 1872 furnished a precedent for public servants of a later day; he investigated the reported find from scientific interest but exposed it with all the zeal of a publicist and truth lover. In a word, the Fortieth Parallel Survey commands our admiration for its brilliant plan, thoroughgoing work in field and office, and high quality of personnel.

Major J. W. Powell began his large contribution to Government surveys with his exploration of the Grand Canyon in 1869, the Congressional recognition of his expedition being limited to an authorization for the issue of rations by the War Department. Small appropriations were made in the following years, and in 1874 full authorization was given for the continuance of his survey in Utah under the Secretary of the Interior and was followed by the adoption of the name “United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region.” This organization was the least pretentious of the four operating during this period—it covered less area, expended less public money, and published much less—but its contribution to American geology is not to be measured by miles or pages but by ideas. Its physical environment favored this survey, and in the work of Powell, Dutton, and Gilbert can be seen the beginnings of physiography on the heroic scale exemplified in the Grand Canyon and the High Plateaus. The first use of terms like “base-level of erosion,” “consequent and antecedent drainage,” and “laccolith” marked the introduction of new ideas in the interpretation of land sculpture and geologic structure. The daring boat trip of Powell was no less brilliant than his simple explanation of the Grand Canyon itself.

“The United States Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian” was the title given to the explorations made under Lieut. G. M. Wheeler, of the Engineer Corps, which began with topographic reconnaissances in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, specifically authorized by Congress in 1872. From the standpoint of American geology this could be better known as the Gilbert Survey, Mr. G. K. Gilbert serving for the three years 1871–73, the later part of the time with the title of chief geological assistant. Gilbert’s contributions included his description of Basin Range structure, his first account of old Lake Bonneville, and his discussion of the erosion phenomena of the desert country. J. J. Stevenson also served later as a geologist of this Survey, and A. R. Marvine, E. E. Howell, E. D. Cope, Jules Marcou, and I. C. Russell were connected with the field parties. Captain Wheeler’s own claim for the work of his Survey emphasized its geographic side, for he regarded the results as the partial completion of a systematic topographic survey of the country.

By 1878, when the Fortieth Parallel Survey had completed the work planned by its chief, three of these independent surveys still contended for Federal support and for scientific occupation of the most attractive portions of the Western country. Unrestrained competition of this kind, even in the public service, proves as wasteful as unregulated competition in private business,[^[103]] and Congress appealed to the National Academy of Sciences for a plan for Government surveys to “secure the best results at the least possible cost.” Under instructions by Congress the National Academy considered all the work relating to scientific surveys and reported to Congress a plan prepared by a special committee, whose membership included the illustrious names of Marsh, Dana, Rogers, Newberry, Trowbridge, Newcomb, and Agassiz. This report, which was adopted by the Academy with only one dissenting vote, grouped all surveys—geodetic, topographic, land parceling, and economic—under two distinct heads, surveys of mensuration and surveys of geology. At that time five independent organizations in three different departments were carrying on surveys of mensuration, and the Academy recommended that all such work be combined under the Coast and Geodetic Survey with the new name Coast and Interior Survey. For the investigation of the natural resources of the public domain and the classification of the public lands a new organization was proposed, the United States Geological Survey. The functions of these two surveys and of a third coordinate bureau in the Interior Department, the Land Office, were carefully defined and their interrelations fully recognized and provided for in the plan presented to Congress. Viewed in the light of 39 years of experience the National Academy plan would be indorsed by most of us as eminently practical, and the report stands as a splendid example of public service rendered by America’s leading scientists. The legislation which embodied the entire plan, however, failed of passage in Congress.

The natural activity behind the scenes of the conflicting interests represented by those connected with the several surveys may be seen in the legislative history of the moves leading up to the creation of the United States Geological Survey. In the last session of the 45th Congress the special legislation embodying the recommendations of the National Academy was included in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Appropriation bill as it passed the House of Representatives, while the Sundry Civil Appropriation bill carried an item simply making effective the longer section in the other appropriation bill. The item in the Legislative appropriation bill created the office of the Director of the Geological Survey, provided his salary, and defined his duties, as well as specifically terminating the operations of the three older organizations. The item in the Sundry Civil bill as it passed the House appropriated $100,000 for the new Geological Survey, but when this appropriation bill was reported to the Senate a committee amendment added the words “of the Territories,” and further amendments offered on the floor changed the item so as to provide specifically and exclusively for the continuation of the Hayden Survey. Other amendments provided small appropriations for the completion of the reports of the Powell and Wheeler surveys, and the bill passed the Senate in this form. The Legislative Appropriation bill was similarly pruned, while in the Senate, of all reference to the proposed new organization. This bill, however, died in conference, but in the last hours of the session the conferees on the Sundry Civil bill took unto themselves legislative powers and transferred from the dead bill to the pending measure all the language which constitutes the “organic act” of the United States Geological Survey. This action was denounced in the Senate as “a wide departure from the authority that is possessed by a conference committee,” and it was further stated in debate that the inserted provision which created a new office and discontinued the existing surveys was one “which neither the Committee of the Senate nor the Senate itself ever saw.” This assertion was perhaps parliamentarily sound in that the language was new to the Sundry Civil bill, yet actually the Senate had only two days before stricken the same proposed legislation from the pending Legislative Appropriation bill. However, the House conferees—Representatives Atkins of Tennessee, Hewett of New York, and Hale of Maine—had realized their tactical advantage, and the Senate, after a brief debate, voted on March 3 to concur in the report of the committee of conference, thus reversing all their earlier action, in which the friends of the Hayden and Wheeler organizations apparently had commanded more votes than the advocates of the National Academy plan.