38 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



Subsequent to 1878, the date of the autobiographical sketch 

 before mentioned, his work, although arduous and important, may 

 be briefly summed up as follows : 



In 1879, being called to the East by the illness and death of his 

 father, he did little if any work in the field. In 1880, as special 

 agent of the Forestry Department of the United States Census 

 Office, he accompanied Dr. Engelmann and Professor Sargent in 

 an expedition to the Valley of the Columbia and the far North- 

 west. Wintering in California he spent the following year in that 

 State, making numerous collecting trips North and South, including 

 a trip to the Yosemite in June. Home again in the summer of 

 1882, he was busily employed for some months in arranging his 

 collections and on work for our Academy Proceedings. In the 

 fall of that year he returned to California, and passed the winter in 

 San Diego. 



In January and February, 1883, he made two camping trips into 

 Lower California; then, going to San Francisco, made numerous 

 excursions from that point, and returned to Davenport in Septem- 

 ber. In June, 1884, he sailed a second time for England, return- 

 ing in August of the following year, after spending much time at 

 Kew, and visiting other herbaria and gardens on the Continent. 



The summer of 1886 he spent partly with friends in Wisconsin, 

 partly in the quiet enjoyment of his Iowa home. But even when 

 resting, his mind did not rest — his wonderfully voluminous cor- 

 respondence went on, and the microscope filled in his otherwise 

 leisure hours. Again the winter was passed in San Francisco, from 

 which city he made numerous collecting trips as before. Remain- 

 ing in California, chiefly in the vicinity of San Francisco, until 

 September, 1888, he was busily employed making special collec- 

 tions of Arctostaphylos and Ceanothus, and in the study of these 

 and the Genus Alnus. His last visit to California was made in the 

 spring of 1889. Returning to Davenport in July, he made a trip 

 to Canada and New England, visited New York and Philadelphia, 

 and returned to his home but a few weeks before his death. 



Most intimately connected with the botany of the Pacific Coast; 

 "treading reverently in the steps of Chamisso, Douglas, Nuttall, 

 and others of less note," who, at such accessible points as San Diego, 

 Santa Barbara, Monterey, and the mouth of the Columbia, had, at 

 an early day, preceded him, he greatly extended their labors. 



"None of the early investigators," says a writer in the Century 



