THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



233 



HON. JOHN HYDE, 

 Of Nebraska, Expert Special Agent, Agricultural Division, 1890 Census. 



Statistical Society of London, the American Statis- 

 tical Association, and other literary and scientific 

 societies at home and abroad. The editor of THE 

 IRRIGATION AGE was among those who predicted 

 for him a brilliant success in the office he has just 

 vacated, and it is accordingly with more than ordin- 

 ary satisfaction that he now offers his congratulations. 

 Mr. Hyde In THE AGE for February we referred 

 a T*afned f to the neec * f trained men in the service 

 Men. of the various States and the larger irri- 

 gation enterprises. The retirement of Mr. Hyde 

 from the census department reminds us again of the 

 subject, for this gentleman is an admirable type of 

 the kind of men referred to. He is a man of the 



broadest intelligence, skilled in 

 practical economics, well-seasoned 

 in the public service, and yet in 

 the youthful prime of life. Apply 

 a man of these equipments to the 

 irrigation and colonization prob- 

 lems of any of our western States, 

 from Nebraska to California, or to 

 similar departments in any import- 

 ant private enterprise, and results 

 must be obtained with mathe- 

 matical certainty. We do not know 

 what plans Mr. Hyde is making for 

 the future, but we should rejoice 

 to see his great energy, trained 

 abilities and exceptionally valuable 

 experience utilized by some of our 

 States, or at least by some of our 

 extensive irrigation enterprises. 



Director The new Director of 

 Walcott. the Geological Sur- 

 vey, Prof. Charles D. Walcott, is a 

 man in the prime of life, thor- 

 oughly trained in scientific work, 

 possessed of good executive ability 

 arid enjoying the confidence and 

 respect of the staff of brilliant 

 young men by whom he is sur- 

 rounded. He was born forty-four 

 (44) years ago at Utica, New York. 

 In person he is six feet tall, slen- 

 der, agile in movements, and de- 

 cided in manner, while his blue 

 eyes and sandy hair and beard 

 reveal the influence of his Scotch- 

 Irish ancestors. When only thir- 

 teen years old he became inter- 

 ested in geology, picking up chance 

 specimens and making a little col- 

 lection of his own. He shortly be- 

 came acquainted with an old ex- 

 plorer of the country who sold 

 specimens at Trenton Falls, and after this he 

 pursued his diversion more systematically. The 

 following winter he was thrown into association with 

 Col. E. Jewett, a well known geologist and concholo- 

 gist, who loaned him books and somewhat directed 

 his tendencies. Leaving the public academy after a 

 short course he was a clerk in a hardware store for 

 two years, then becoming a dairy farmer, which voca- 

 tion left him many hours every day for study and 

 geological investigation, the region furnishing a great 

 variety of geological phenomena. The first paper 

 published by Mr. Walcott was Upon the relation of 

 geology to agriculture, read before the Farmers' Club 

 of Oneida county, in 1873. Shortly afterward he was 



