KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 39 



The total working-force taking the field withont escorts, for the^rs^ 

 time, was 8G, including officers, assistants, and employes. The utmost 

 harmony existed among all the parties, which largely conduced to cor- 

 respondingly enhanced results. In regard to these surveys under the 

 wT DeplLent, the following p,aragraph appears m the Annual Ee- 

 7ort of the Chief of Engineers to Congress : " By expenence and im- 

 provements in methods and instruments, the value ot the results .s 

 annually enhanced, and the cost of the work amply repaid. 

 Tcannot fad to ie gratifying to all who are interested m tU. cl,,, o^ 

 investigations to be convinced that the proper basis for further syste- 

 matic endeavor has been reached. 



Survey under Professor Eayden. 



This survey during the season of 1874 continued the work of 1873 west 

 wJrdof the l'07th meridian of longitude in Colorado Territory Theen 

 tire area explored lies on the west slope of the mam range of the Eocky 

 XuSns, forming the eastern part of the drainage of the great Co orado 



R^ver The topographical and geological work included a careful y-sur- 

 ^eyed area of about eighteen thousand square miles, much of it com- 

 prising some of the most rugged and mountainous scenery on the con- 

 ti nt' The southern portion includes an area of nearly ^^^^-e lio - ne 

 square miles, the greater part of which is at an elevation of 12,000 eet 

 and upward. The first division of the party, under Mr. A. R. Mar. in 

 operating in Northwestern Colorado, established 86 stations ; the second 

 rSon, under Mr. Gannett, which explored the rugged area be ween 

 the Gunnison and Grand Rivers, also established 80 stations; while the 

 third division, surveying the remarkably high country in t^e southwest, 

 determined Qo stations, most of them being on peaks ranging from 13,000 

 feet and upward, the highest being 14,500 feet. 



A fourth division, nnder Mr. G. R. Bechler, performed the important 

 duty of measuring the roads, trails, passes, and carefully worlang up 

 the contiguous topography, besides meandering a distance of about me 

 hundred miles. Mr. Bechler established 36 important stations, thus 

 rendering more accurate and complete the general work of the survey. 

 A fifth party, under Mr. W. H. Jackson, the photographer, passed over 

 the greater portion of Western Colorado, obtaining about four hundred 

 neo^rtives of the most characteristic scenery. These views have proved 

 of i:reat value in the topographical and geological studies •, but tbe most 

 interesting result was a series of views of the wonderful ruins m the 

 canons of the Mancos and Montezuma Rivers. The party found here 

 remins of a rude civilization in the form of buildings, made of hewn 

 stone laid in mortar. Among the ruins were various kinds of stone 

 implements and glazed pottery, on some of which -ere figure, of the 

 suii On the plains and mesas these ruins occupy considerable areas, 

 indicating tlie former existence of a numerous population. In the canons 

 the stone dwellings are built high up in the caverns or crevices in the 



