6o NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



may be desirous of obtaining his permission to enjoy the advan- 

 tages of a site unsurpassed, in my opinion, in the world, among 

 those equally accessible. There is the greatest abundance of stone 

 on the peak, but construction will be slow, owing to the difficulty 

 of labor at that altitude, and the difficulty of supplies until the 

 mule trail is completed. 



" With the contemplated trail, mules could go in one day from 

 the projected railroad in Owen's River Valley to the very summit 

 of what is believed to be the highest mountain in the United 

 States. Though the mere fact that it is probably the highest point, 

 may attach one kind of interest to this site, it is not merely on that 

 account that I have already spoken so strongly in its favor. The 

 dryness of the air, the altogether exceptional purity of the sky, 

 the altitude, the remarkable differences of level of adjacent points 

 (Mt. Whitney is ii,ooo feet above a station in sight, and but 15 

 miles away) together with its accessibility, make this in my 

 opinion a site especially deserving of occupation." 



The matter was laid before the Academy in April, 1882, when 

 the following resolution was adopted: 



" Resolved, That the Academj' suggest to the Honorable the Secretary of the 

 Interior that a reservation be set apart for scientific purposes in the Sierra Nevada, 

 California, of not less than ten miles square, and to include the summit called, 

 by the State Geological Survey, Mount Whitney, and another peak lying south- 

 ward, which has sometimes been confounded with Mount Whitney, and which 

 is locally known as " Sheep Mountain." ** 



The President of the Academy appointed S. P. Langley, W. H. 

 Brewer and J. W. Powell as a committee to have charge of the 

 matter. 



As the reservation was to be a military one, a letter was ad- 

 dressed to the Secretary of the Interior, on July 28, 1883, by 

 Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln, in which he remarked : " I 

 beg that you will please advise this Department whether there 

 exists any objection to the setting apart for military purposes of 

 the land in question, and that if no objection thereto exists the 

 land be temporarily withheld from sale or entry until the orders 

 of the President declaring and setting it apart as a military reser- 



** Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. i, p. 207. 



