GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND PROGRESS FOB 1874. 



Salt and gypsum mines, and copper-ores, in 

 l-laros, have alao been found, 

 survey of the Western Territories, by 

 .if tlio \V.u- l).-partmi'iit, under tin- diiv.-- 

 ..f Lieutenant (i. M. \\hei-l.-r, luw for its 

 tlu- mapping )t' the entire Territorial 

 it, When eompleti'd, this survey, with 

 .:ist and Lako Surveys, will embrace the 

 surface of the country. This last year 

 have been nine parties in the field, and 

 labors extended over portions of Utah, 

 ( 'olorado, Mew Mexico, and Arizona. 

 A number of civilians, distinguished for their 

 attainments in physical science, have been at- 

 taehed to these exploring parties. Among 

 were Dr. II. 0. Yarrow, U. S. A., a geolo- 

 gist of note, whose departure in the middle of 

 ason loft Prof. Cope in charge of the 

 geological observations ; Dr. Rothrock, an ex- 

 perienced botanist; Mr. H. 0. Henshaw, who 

 assisted Dr. Yarrow; M. 8. Severance, eth- 

 nologist ; and Dr. Loew, an able analytical 

 chemist. A pass over the main range, inferior 

 only to the Coochetope and Tennessee Passes, 

 was discovered in Colorado by Lieutenant 

 Marshall. The limits of the Block, or San 

 Francisco Forest, were approximately deter- 

 mined. It appears from the survey that this 

 is the largest forest south of the 40th parallel, 

 extending from longitude 107 to 114 west, 

 and varying in width from thirty to one hun- 

 dred miles. 



The detailed portions of the survey were 

 south of the Spanish Peaks, which lie mostly 

 within the boundaries of New Mexico. The 

 operations for 1874 extended over the Arkan- 

 sas, Cimarron, Mora Pecos, the Rio Grande, 

 and San Juan basins, comprising an area of 

 85,000 square miles. The labors of the scien- 

 tists we rewarded with the discovery of large 

 numbers of fossils, many of which were types 

 yet strange to science. In the valley of the 

 Rio Grande, below the Pecoris Mountains, 

 were found the skeletons of mastodons belong- 

 ing to species not occurring in the Eastern 

 States, and the remains of protomorphic camels 

 and horses, and animals of the Equine family, 

 which must have once inhabited this region in 

 droves. A singular variety of deer, which did 

 not shed its horns, was discovered. In the 

 northern part of the Zandia Mountains of New 

 Mexico, Prof. Cope found the fossils of about 

 one hundred vertebrate species, two-thirds of 

 them mammals, and a large proportion new to 

 science ; they represent the oldest mammalian 

 fauna of America. The largest species be- 

 longed to the genus Bathmodon, resembling 

 the elephant in the form of their feet and legs, 

 and the tapir in their heads, which were 

 armed with powerful tusks. In these moun- 

 tains the remains of human habitations were 

 found in rows on the crests of lofty rocky up- 

 heavals, and on all the most inaccessible points 

 of the hills. They were frequently found in 

 ledges but a few feet wide, and looking down 

 on one or both sides into abysses of many hun- 



dred feet, or sometimes perched upon the wall* 

 of canons in positions which wore only ap- 

 proachable by dangerous climbing. Thece 

 dwellings were often remote from water, some- 

 times twenty miles away. 



The chemist of the expedition, Dr. Loew. 

 analyzed the waters of all the thermal and 

 minrral springs which were discovered during 

 the surveys. 



The maps which are being made from the 

 late surveys are on a scale of one-eighth of an 

 inch to a mile. The atlas, when finished, will 

 contain maps of the entire section of the conn- 

 try west of the 100th meridian. The surveys 

 will take several years yet to complete. The 

 whole region is divided into rectangles of about 

 18,000 square miles each ; and each map repre- 

 sents one of these divisions. 



The surveys conducted by Prof. J. W. 

 Powell, under the control of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, were placed by the action of the 

 last Congress under the direction of the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior, and the plan of the sur- 

 vey has been reorganized, so that it and the 

 geological and geographical survey of the Ter- 

 ritories, conducted for the department for some 

 years past by F. V. Hayden, will mutually aid 

 and supplement one another. The latter U 

 called the First Division and the former the 

 Second Division of the United States Geologi- 

 cal and Geographical Survey of the Territories. 

 The two companies have been working this 

 last year in neighboring Territories Mr. Hay- 

 den's in Colorado and Mr. Powell's in Utah. 



The Hayden expedition in 1873 was divided 

 into three sections, to each of which was as- 

 signed a strip of country sixty miles wide, 

 which corresponded to the three sections of 

 the Territory, the Middle Pork, the South Park, 

 and the San Luis Park. The three parties 

 made the secondary survey, while the great 

 primary triangulations from the prominent 

 summits upon which their calculations were 

 based were made independently, under the di- 

 rection of J. T. Gardner. 



The expedition set out from Denver on the 

 15th of July, 1874. It was composed of sixty 

 men, and was divided into eight parties, three 

 of which carried on the secondary surveying 

 and mapping work. During 1874 they have 

 completed the triangulation of Central Colora- 

 do, and have surveyed westward as far as the 

 110th meridian, comprising a tract of about 

 18,000 square miles of the highest land, on the 

 average, in the United States. In the San 

 Juan mining country over fifty mines were lo- 

 cated. Many specimens of ores, fossils, and 

 relics of Indian art, were forwarded to Wash- 

 ington. Among the most interesting discov- 

 eries were the ruins of the towns of an extinct 

 race of Indians, and remarkable fortifications 

 of hewn stone and mortar among the canons. 

 Peculiarly-glazed pottery also was found, indi- 

 cating, together with the stone embankments 

 and dwellings, a much more advanced civiliza- 

 tion than is to be found among the surviving 



