10 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 
Department, and in the interest of the national defense. It was 
built on the design of the model machine which, on May 6, 1896, 
first demonstrated to the world that an aeroplane heavier than air 
could be propelled through the air by its own power. The large 
machine was completed in 1903, but its actual flight was at that time 
hindered by injuries sustained through defects in the launching 
apparatus. 
The numerous and comprehensive aerotechnical investigations 
planned for the Langley laboratory can be successfully carried out 
only when increased funds are available. Properly equipped and 
endowed, the laboratory would serve as a national aeronautical in- 
stitute suitable for conducting the aerotechnical investigations and 
tests required by the Government and the aeronautical industries of 
this country. 
GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. 
In continuation of my previous geological researches in the Cana- 
dian Rockies, I revisited during the field season of 1913 the Robson 
Peak district, in British Columbia and Alberta, and the region about 
Field, British Columbia. At the latter place I met the members of 
the International Geological Congress. 
On this trip Robson Peak was approached from the west side in 
order to study the local geological section, one of the finest in the 
world. From the west foot of Robson Peak, Whitehorn Peak rises 
on the north to a height of 7,850 feet above Lake Kinney, and on the 
east the cliffs of Robson rise tier above tier from the surface of the 
lake to the summit of the peak, a vertical distance of 9,800 feet. 
From beneath the base of the mountain at Lake Kinney the strata 
curve gently outward, so that upwards of 4,000 feet in thickness of 
beds that are beneath Robson Peak are exposed in their extension to 
the west and south. 
Owing to exceptionally good climatic conditions the season of 1913 
proved unusually favorable for studying Robson Peak. Frequently 
in the early morning the details of the snow slopes and bedded rocks 
on the summit of the peak were beautifully outlined, but toward 
evening the mists, driven in from the warm currents of the Pacific, 
300 miles away, shrouded the mountain from view. 
From the west slopes of Titkana Peak, east of the great Hunga 
Glacier, a wonderful view is obtained of the snow fields and falling 
glaciers east and north of Robson Peak. The glacial streams come 
tumbling down the slopes and often disappear beneath the glacier to 
reappear at its foot with the volume of a river. 
At Field, British Columbia, work was continued at the great 
middle Cambrian fossil quarry, where a large collection of specimens 
