6 Geological Surveys [204 



ern country had been inaugurated in which geology consti- 

 tuted a part of the prospective plans. Among the more pro- 

 ductive of such investigations were those made by David Dale 

 Owen under the United States Land Office and Treasury 

 Department in the upper Mississippi valley region in Iowa, 

 Illinois,, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska in various years 

 from 1839 to 1851 and by the distinguished geologists and 

 paleontologists Newberry, Marcou, Blake, Conrad, Hall, and 

 others in connection with the Pacific Eailroad Surveys from 

 1853-55 under the War Department. 



Only a single foreign government had inaugurated official 

 geological work during the early portion of this period. The 

 Ordinance Survey of Great Britain in 1830 made a small 

 grant to H. F. De la Beche for the survey of southwest Eng- 

 land, but it was not until later that he was definitely appointed 

 to make a Geological Survey. Spain and Austria established 

 Geological Surveys in 1847 and 1849, respectively, but it was 

 not until the next decade that similar organizations were suc- 

 cessively established in Bavaria, Portugal, the Netherlands, 

 Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. Some years passed before 

 the other foreign governments followed suit. 



Following our Civil War the American Government, recog- 

 nizing the necessity of acquiring information regarding our 

 great western country, established four exploratory geological 

 organizations, two under the auspices of the War Department, 

 the U. S. Geological Exploration of the 40th Parallel under 

 Clarence King, and the U. S. Surveys west of the 100th 

 Meridian under G. M. Wheeler, and two under the auspices of 

 the Interior Department, the U. S. Geological Survey of the 

 Territories under H. V. Hayden and the U. S. Geographical 

 and Geological Survey of the Eocky Mountain Region under 

 J. W. Powell. They were finally combined in 1879 with the 

 title of U. S. Geological Survey, under Clarence King as first 

 Director, and this organization with appropriations exceeding 

 $1,000,000 annually is now conducting work in every section 

 of the country although devoting its chief energies to the 

 West. 



