204: A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 



volcanic mountains Shasta, Rainier, and Hood, in 1870, 

 occasioned by an unexpected and unsolicited appropria- 

 tion for field work, and that summer's work resulted in 

 the discovery of active glaciers, the first known within 

 the United States. 



The Fortieth Parallel Survey is to be credited with 

 contributions to the knowledge of the stratigraphy of the 

 West, the region traversed being remarkably representa- 

 tive of the stratigraphic column, to which was added the 

 paleontologic work of Marsh, Meek, Hall, and Whitfield, 

 while the attempt was made to interpret the sedimentary 

 record in terms of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Tertiary 

 geography. King's plan of survey included large use of 

 topographic mapping with astronomic base and triangu- 

 lation control and contours based upon barometric eleva- 

 tions. The results were pronounced by an unfriendly 

 critic 7 as "very valuable, especially from a geological 

 point of view," but unfortunate in being the forerunner 

 of work in which Government geologists "have presumed 

 to arrogate the control of the fundamental operations of 

 a topographic survey." To the King Survey must be 

 credited the introduction of systematic contour mapping 

 and the use of contour maps for purposes of geology. 

 In two other respects the King Survey contributed 

 largely to future Government work: microscopical 

 petrography in the United States may be said to have 

 begun with the visit of Professor Zirkel to this country as 

 a member of this Survey in 1875, and the report of J. D. 

 Hague on "Mining Industry" was the fitting expression 

 of the emphasis then put on the study of the mineral 

 resources of this newly opened territory, a subject of 

 investigation that was in large part the true basis of 

 King's project rather than simply "the immediate 

 excuse for the Survey." An earlier influence in the sci- 

 entific study of ore deposits had come from Von Richt- 

 hofen's investigation of the Comstock Lode in 1865 and 

 his subsequent work with Whitney in California. The 

 incident of King's relation to the diamond fraud in Ari- 

 zona in 1872 furnished a precedent for public servants of 

 a later day ; he investigated the reported find from scien- 

 tific interest but exposed it with all the zeal of a publicist 

 and truth lover. In a word, the Fortieth Parallel Sur- 



