PROFESSOR JOHN W. POWELL. 395 



or to receive and elaborate the materials collected by other surveys ; 

 and pointed out the different methods by which the work of surveying 

 was performed by the parties of the War and those of the Interior 

 Department, and the impossibility of ever completely harmonizing 

 them. He also presented a map, showing the amount aud location of 

 the duplicated work. His paper concludes with these remarks : " If 

 the surveys of both departments are carried on over the entire region, 

 there will be two general atlases of the whole area, and the work will 

 be twice done. If the surveys are confined to different areas, there 

 will be an Interior Department atlas of oneTegion and a War Depart- 

 ment atlas of the other, and neither atlas can be completed for the en- 

 tire region without reconstructing the maps of the other. In view of 

 these facts, it is manifest that the work should be unified and a com- 

 mon system adopted. This may be accomplished either by an act of 

 Congress, by executive direction, or by placing the work under one 

 management." 



The improbability that, in case of consolidation, Professor Powell 

 would be called to the head of the surveys, as well as the known sin- 

 cerity of his personal character, precluded suspicion of any other 

 motive for such an expression of views than that of concern for the 

 interests of the service. 



A provision was inserted in one of the appropriation bills, requir- 

 ing the National Academy of Sciences to take into consideration " a 

 plan for surveying and mapping the Territories of the United States 

 on such general system as will secure the best results at the least pos- 

 sible cost." Professor O. C. Marsh, president of the academy, and 

 chairman of the committee appointed by it to consider the subject, 

 requested the Secretaries of War and of the Interior to furnish the 

 committee with any data at their disposal to aid it in performing the 

 duty thus imposed upon it. Both secretaries responded through their 

 chosen representatives, Professor Powell, with Dr. Hayden and Com- 

 missioner Williamson of the Land-Office, appearing for the Interior 

 Depai'tment. Professor Powell's paper was even a more clear and com- 

 plete statement than the one he had made before the congressional 

 committee, of the necessity of consolidating the surveys and making a 

 division of the labor on a scientific basis. On the 26th of November 

 the National Academy submitted its report, on the basis of the one that 

 had been made to it by its committee, recommending the establish- 

 ment, under the Department of the Interior, of an independent organi- 

 zation, to be known as the United States Geological Survey, to be 

 charged with the study of the geological structure and economical re- 

 sources of the public domain, the director of which should be appointed 

 by the President. A provision organizing the survey, in accordance 

 with these recommendations, was passed by Congress in an appropri- 

 ation bill. 



Professor Powell supported Mr. Clarence King, who was appointed 



