NATION AL ACADEMY BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS VOL. VIII 



West which are not mining lands into several classes, and ad- 

 vised that these lands should be controlled by special laws. 



The suggestions which Powell made regarding the economic 

 problems here treated have been in large measure incorporated 

 into statutes. The effort for reform was complicated by con- 

 flicting interests, and at times it was a disheartening struggle ; 

 but it is a pleasure to record that during the Major's last sick- 

 ness he was able to know of the passage of the Reclamation 

 Act, the most important triumph of the arid-lands agitation. 



THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



In no case was Powell's capacity to turn the course of events 

 more strikingly shown than in the organization of our present 

 national Geological Survey. Through the '70*5 the existence 

 of several official yet independent surveys of the Western 

 country under different departments of the Government re- 

 sulted in scandalous rivalries and animosities. Powell, at the 

 head of one of these organizations, strove to reach* an adjust- 

 ment by mutual consent; failing in this, he boldly advocate! 

 complete reorganization. He had advised the consolidation 

 of the several rival surveys in 1874, and it appears to have 

 been at his suggestion that Congress, in June, 1878, called 

 upon the National Academy of Sciences, of which he was then 

 not a member, for advice. A committee of the Academy re- 

 ported in November a plan which had been, in its main feat- 

 ures, formulated and advocated by Powell, involving the abo- 

 lition of the rival surveys and the creation of two separate 

 bureaus one, an enlargement of the Coast Survey under the 

 title of Coast and Interior Survey, for geodetic and topo- 

 graphic mensuration ; the other, a Geological Survey for 

 studies of structure and resources, not of the United States, 

 but of the "public domain ;" all matters concerning the dispo- 

 sition and sale of public lands being left to the General Land 

 OfficeMyThe present generation should be reminded that, dur- 

 ing the discussion of the recommended organization, strong 

 pressure was brought to bear upon Congress in favor of plac- 

 ing all topographic surveys in charge of the Engineer Corps 

 of the Army, and European precedents for this plan were 



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