A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



" To ih: solid ground 

 Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aj'e." — WoRDSWORTH 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1875 



. AMERICAN GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS* 



THE volumes which record the progress of the United 

 States Geological Survey of the Territories since its 

 commencement in 1S67 contain much information of great 

 value to geologists, as well as to those who watch with 

 intelligent interest the advance of the wave of human 

 civilisation into the far West. Each of them is full of 

 fresh illustrations of the principles of geology, such as the 

 dependence of scenery upon rocky structure, the order of 

 succession of formations, the plication of mountain- 

 chains, the phenomena of volcanic action, the functions 

 of livers and glaciers as geological agents — illustrations 

 which have already to some extent found their way into 

 general text-books and are no doubt destined ere long to 

 be made in that way familiar even to tyros in the science 

 all over the world. In each of them too we have such 

 information as could be gathered as to the agricultural 

 value of the countries, the practicable routes for roads 

 and railways, the mineral resources to be looked for, the 

 faciUties for general commerce — information which will 

 probably ser\e as the basis for the future development of 

 the regions into settled States, 



During the years 1871 and 1872 Dr. Hayden's parties 

 were at work about the sources of the Missouri and Yel- 

 lowstone Rivers. They had gradually pushed on into 

 that wild region, stimulated by the variety and interest 

 of its scenery and geology, but they had got far from 

 any civilised base-line, including railroads and other con- 

 veniences of transport and subsistence. Beyond them 

 lay the lands of the Indians, who manifested no disposi- 

 tion to treat the peaceful work of the Survey in another 

 light than as some insidious part of the designs of the 

 grasping central power at Washington, It seemed desir- 

 able therefore in the meantime to discontinue the further 

 prosecution of the Survey in the north-west until by the 

 establishment of railroad communication it could be 

 resumed with much less }abour and cost. This delay, 

 however, will probably not be of long continuance, when 



* See vol. xii. p. 267. 



Vol XIII.— No. 314 , 



we consider with what marvellous rapidity the tide of 

 ; American energy is travelling to s'ards the Pacific. 

 I The region recommended by Dr. Hayden and approved 

 I of by the Government as the scene to which the operations 

 of the Survey should be transferred was that portion of 

 the Rocky Mountain range which runs through Colorado 

 and New Mexico — a region as yet unsurveyed and likely 

 in a few years to be rapidly developed by some of the 

 most important railroads of the West. The survey of the 

 fortieth parallel by ^Ir. Clarence King, to which allusion 

 has been already made, and of which some account will 

 be given in a subsequent paper, had done good service in 

 making known the physical features and geology of a 

 belt of country stretching across the northern limits of 

 the tract which Dr. Hayden now proposed to examine. 

 That survey would form the starting-point of the new 

 explorations which it was arranged should sweep west- 

 ward across the watershed of the continent to the left 

 bank of the Green and Colorado Rivers, eastward across 

 the sources and higher course of the Platte, Arkansas, 

 and other tributaries of the Mississippi, and southwards 

 to the boundary -line between the United States and 

 Mexico. 



The first instalment of results from this transference of 

 area has appeared in the Annual Report of the Geolo- 

 gical Survey of the Territories for 1873 — a thick volume 

 of 718 pages, with numerous and excellent sections, 

 maps, and views. This Report is diWded into four parts, 

 devoted respectively to— I. Geology, Mineralogy, and 

 Mining Industry'; 1 1. Pala^ontologfy ; III. Zoology ; IV. 

 Geography and Topography. An appendix contains 

 papers on some mineral faelds, whUe detailed descrip- 

 tions of a large number of new species of fossil plants 

 and animals are given in Part II. Taking the general 

 supervision of the whole operations of the Survey, Dr. 

 Hayden furnishes some chapters in reference to the 

 geological features of part of the eastern slope of the 

 Rocky Mountains, and introductorj' to those of the 

 officers placed by him in charge of the three subdi- 

 visions into which, as already remarked, the work of the 

 year was arranged. It appears that the first division, 

 under the charge of Mr. A. R. Marvine, surveyed, topo- 



