COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 269 
sharp attack upon the system of army explorations and its fruits; 
and he was met by the military members of the Academy with 
the plea that army officers had done all that, under the circum- 
stances, and considering their education to another business, 
could fairly be expected of them, and that for this they deserved 
gratitude rather than blame.” * 
By 1874 the discussion as regards the surveys had become 
more animated and more widespread. It intruded itself upon 
the attention of Congress and found its way into the columns of 
various magazines and reviews. At this time there were in 
existence six distinct surveys or systems of surveys of western 
portions of the United States. The United States Geological 
Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, nominally under the direc- 
tion of the Engineer Corps of the Army, but conducted by a 
civilian, Clarence King; the United States Geological and 
Geographical Survey of the Territories under the direction of 
the Department of the Interior and conducted by Dr. F. V. Hay- 
den; the Geographical and Geological Explorations and Sur- 
veys West of the One Hunderdth Meridian, commonly called 
“Wheeler’s Survey,” under the Engineer Corps of the Army 
and conducted by Lieut. Wheeler; the U. S. Geographical and 
Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, under the 
Department of the Interior and conducted by Major J. W. 
Powell; the land-parcelling survey carried on by the General 
Land Office of the Department of the Interior; and finally, the 
U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, under the Treasury Depart- 
ment. 
These various surveys differed in their history, their objects, 
and their methods. Their work was not coérdinated and to a 
certain extent the territories in which they operated overlapped. 
Referring to the rivalry between civil and military directors 
of these surveys the Nation, in the article from which quotation 
has already been made, remarked in 1874: 
“Tt appears that the War Department looks with something of jealousy—a 
natural jealousy, perhaps, at which we ought not to be surprised—at this inter- 
ference of civilians with what had once been its exclusive province; and its dis- 
® The Nation, May 21, 1874, p. 328. 
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