212 A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 



mining districts by his associates, "based upon facts 

 accurately determined in the light of modern geology." 



Geological surveys have been prosecuted in Alaska 

 since 1895, and in the last few years the annual appro- 

 priation for the work has been the same as that made for 

 the expenses of the whole Survey in the first year of its 

 history. The Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources is in 

 fact a geological survey in itself, except that it shares in 

 the administrative machinery of the larger organization 

 and has the advantage of the cooperation of the scientific 

 specialists of the Survey as they may be needed to sup- 

 plement its own force. All the investigations in this dis- 

 tant part of the country represent the Geological Survey 

 at its best, for here the organization's long experience in 

 the Western States can be applied to most effective and 

 helpful work on the frontier, where the geologist and 

 topographer in their exploration do not always follow 

 the prospector but often precede him. Undoubtedly no 

 greater factor has contributed to the development of 

 Alaskan resources than this pioneer work of the Federal 

 Survey, yet the work has also contributed notable addi- 

 tions to the sciences of geology and geography. 



The first duty laid upon the Director of the Geological 

 Survey in the law of 1879 was "the classification of the 

 public lands, " and this phrase undoubtedly expressed the 

 idea of the committee of the National Academy. The 

 same legislation, however, contained provision for the 

 further consideration by a commission of the classifica- 

 tion and valuation of the public lands, as also recom- 

 mended by the National Academy. Thus the decision of 

 Director King that the classification intended by Con- 

 gress was scientific and was intended for general informa- 

 tion and not to aid the Land Office in the disposition of 

 land by sale or otherwise was really based upon the 

 deliberate opinion of the Public Lands Commission, of 

 which he was a member, that classification would seri- 

 ously impede rapid settlement of the unoccupied lands. 

 Nearly forty years later those who are intrusted with the 

 land-classification work of the Geological Survey recog- 

 nize this familiar argument, which undoubtedly had much 

 more force in that earlier stage of the utilization of the 



