202 A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 



marks, in the history of national geological work, a turn- 

 ing point, when the science ceased to be dragged in the 

 dust of rapid exploration and took a commanding posi- 

 tion in the professional work of the country. ' ' Together 

 these four expeditions covered half a million square 

 miles, or more than a third of the area of the United 

 States west of the one-hundredth meridian, and the cost 

 of all this work was approximately two million dollars, 

 which was a small fraction of its value to the nation 

 counting only the impetus given to settlement and utili- 

 zation. 



As viewed from a distance of nearly half a century, 

 these four surveys differed much in plan of organization, 

 scope of purpose, and success of execution, so that com- 

 parison would have little value except as possibly bear- 

 ing upon the work of the larger organization which 

 followed them and became the heir not only to much that 

 had been attained by these pioneer surveys but also to 

 the great task uncompleted by them. So, if in the 

 earliest days of the present United States Geological 

 Survey there may have been a certain partisanship in 

 tracing derived characters in the new organization, it is 

 even now worth while to recognize the real origin of 

 much that is credited to present-day development. 



Dr. F. V. Hayden was the first of these Survey leaders 

 to engage in geological exploration. He visited the Bad- 

 lands as early as 1853, and his connection with subse- 

 quent expeditions was interrupted only by his service as 

 a surgeon in the Federal Army during the war. In 1867, 

 however, Hayden resumed his geologic work as United 

 States Geologist in Nebraska, operating under direction 

 of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. In the 

 following eleven years the activities of the Hayden Sur- 

 vey the " Geological and Geographical Survey of the 

 Territories" extended into Wyoming, Colorado, New 

 Mexico, Montana, and Idaho, covering with areal sur- 

 veys 107,000 square miles. This Survey, as might be 

 expected from the long experience of its leader, made 

 large contributions to stratigraphy, which involved 

 notable paleontologic work by Cope, Meek, and Les- 

 quereux. Next in importance was the structural work of 

 A. C. Peale, W. H. Holmes, Capt. C. E. Button, and Dr. 



