1865 TO 1878 387 
Museum as it grew under Baird’s influence became the 
richest then existing in such American material. Major 
J. W. Powell in his western explorations of the Colorado 
region became deeply interested in the subject and one 
series of his reports consisted in contributions to North 
American Ethnology. 
For a number of years previous to 1879 there were 
four rival organizations doing exploratory and geological 
work in the less known portions of the West. Their 
rivalry led to some duplication of work, and rose to a 
point where Congress took cognizance of it. Disapproval 
reached a height which threatened total discontinuance 
of the Surveys. In 1879 the matter came to a crisis. 
Largely through the intervention of Baird, as a mediator 
between the hostile factions, with the advice of a com- 
mittee of the National Academy of Sciences, a compromise 
was reached and on March 3rd, 1879, a reorganizing act 
was passed creating the United States Geological Survey, 
and the rival parties united to procure the appointment 
of Clarence King as first Director of the new bureau. 
Provision was made at the same time, through the influ- 
ence of Baird and Powell, for the continuation of the 
ethnological work under the direction of the Smith- 
sonian Institution.’ Under these conditions the Bureau 
of North American Ethnology was organized and Major 
J. W. Powell was appointed by Professor Baird to 
direct it. 
Thus, while not the originator of either bureau in a 
strict sense, their creation was largely influenced by his 
counsel; and, in the case of the latter organization, to 
his ability to convince Congress of its importance to 
5 See “The Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1896, by George Brown 
Goode, Washington, 1897,” p. 369. 
