PROFESSOR JOHN W. POWELL. 



393 



gested to Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, the pro- 

 priety of asking the Government to lend its assistance. 



Accordingly, a topographical and geological survey of the Colorado 

 River of the West and its tributaries was inaugurated by Congress 

 and placed under Professor Powell's direction. 



"With these added facilities the exploration was pushed from year 

 to year with great energy and success, and a systematic survey was 

 conducted, until all the streams, mountains, plateaus, and other phys- 

 ical features of the Colorado Valley, embracing an area of nearly one 

 hundred thousand square miles, have become thoroughly known topo- 

 graphically and geologically, and there is no longer an unexplored 

 region within the confines of the United States. In 1875 Professor 

 Powell published some important chapters " On the Physical Features 

 of the Valley of the Colorado," which, while dealing largely in the 

 physical geography of the country, were in the main geological, and 

 set forth for the first time the fundamental principles that underlie 

 the structural formation of a large part of the Rocky Mountain region. 

 The next year appeared his " Geology of the Uintah Mountains," which 

 is likewise a model of clearness, and consists in a careful analysis of 

 the laws which have operated in the formation of these masses ; while 

 much of the consistent reasoning from the closely observed phenomena 

 of this region is equally applicable to all parts of the West. 



So great was the general interest at this time in acquiring an accu- 

 rate acquaintance with the Western portion of the country, that no less 

 than four authorized surveys were operating simultaneously in the 

 different Territories. These were : 1. The special survey of the for- 

 tieth parallel, under the War Department, in charge of Mr. Clarence 

 King, organized in 1867 ; 2. Dr. F. V. Hayden's geological and geo- 

 graphical survey of the Territories, organized and operating under 

 the direction of the Secretary of the Interior since 1867 ; 3. A military 

 and topographical survey, conducted by Lieutenant G. M. Wheeler, 

 under instructions from the Chief of Engineers of the War Depart- 

 ment, organized in 1869 ; and 4, and last in chronological order, that 

 of Major Powell, which received its first national aid in the year 1870, 

 although, as we have seen, it had been in the field as a private enter- 

 prise since 1868. 



These various expeditions became to a great extent rivals, and, 

 being not only independent of each other, but conducted by different 

 departments of the Government, it was impossible to avoid the dupli- 

 cation of much of the work, or to prevent the growth of discordant 

 methods. Occasional collisions occurred between parties of different 

 surveys in the field, bitter feelings were engendered, and the two de- 

 partments under which the parties were serving found themselves 

 called upon to defend their jurisdiction and claims to the right of con- 

 ducting public surveys. 



The attention of Congress was called to the matter, and on the 15th 



