332 
The district of this year’s operations may be specified 
as the eastern half of mountainous Colorado, includes 
about 32,000 square miles, and is bounded east by long. 
104° 30’, north by lat. 40° 25’, west by long. 107°, and 
south by the southern boundary of Co'orado, lat. 37°. It 
is divided for the purposes of the survey into three parts 
by latitude lines 38° 30’ and 39° 30’; the northermost 
being called the “ Middle Park Division,” the middle one 
the “ South Park Division,” and the southern one the 
“San Luis Division.” The examinatios of the gold and 
silver mines of the region, and the measurement of its 
mountains, are among the more important duties of the 
survey. Unusual prominence is given to procuring pic- 
tures by photographs and otherwise. 
The camp was organised at Denver College in May ; 
the expedition started thence July 1, numbering 41 men. 
The season has been unusually favourable, the streams 
being low and but little snow or rain falling. The loca- 
tion of the camp at the latest advices was on the eastern 
slope of the Rocky Mountains, at the head-waters of the 
Platte, Arkansas, and Blue Rivers. Accurate measure- 
ments of some of the more prominent peaks, among 
which are Pike’s, Long’s, Evan’s, Gray’s, Lincoln’s, and 
the Holy Cross, have been obtained. The views from 
these summits where the snow melting on one side flows 
to the Atlantic, and on the other to the Pacific, are of 
vast scope and magnificence. There were in sight from 
one point by actual count, 150 peaks of not less than 
13,000 ft., and at least 50 of 14,000 ft. in height. By the 
middle of July 150 stereoscopic views, and 50 11 X 14 in. 
negatives of this scenery had been secured. The moun- 
tains have, very generally, at a depth of 50 to 200 ft. from 
their surface, a limestone stratum 30 to $0 ft. thick, con- 
taining silver and lead, yielding on the average in the 
best mines 250 to 300 ounces of the former metal, to the 
ton of ore. ‘he carboniferous and silurian rocks identi- 
fied are said to contain rare fossils, The entomologists 
of the expedition have classified no less than 227 different 
kinds of grasshoppers. The direction of march projected 
at last accounts was to be toward the valley of the Upper 
Arkansas River and the unexplored region beyond. 
There are more than 20 scientists taking actual part 
in the expedition : among them may be mentioned Dr. 
F. V. Hayden, geologist-in-chief; Mr. J. T. Gardner, 
chief geographer, who has attained great reputation in 
his connection with previous geodetic surveys in Colorado 
and on the Pacific coast; Mr. Marvine, geologist of the 
Middle Park Division; Mr. Henry Gannett, meteorolo- 
gist and astronomer, and topographer, in charge of the 
South Park Division; Mr, W. H. Jackson, in charge of 
the photographic party ; Dr. Endlich, geologist ; Lieut. 
W. L. Carpenter, naturalist; Mr. Seward Cole, ornitho- 
logist ; Mr. J. M. Coulter, botanist; Dr. A. C. Peale, 
geologist ; Prof. W. D. Whitney, of Yale College, who is 
writing a series of interesting letters concerning the work, 
to the New York Tribune. 
On some accounts the expedition of Prof. O. C. Marsh, 
sometimes known as the Yale College Expedition, because 
the fossils collected are sent to that institution, ranks 
next in importance. This is purely a private under- 
taking, at the expense of the persons composing the 
expeaition. The United States Government furnishes a 
small but sufficient mlitary escort. The reports are 
published under Government auspices. This is the fifth 
of aseries of expeditions similarly undertaken by Prof. 
Marsh, has no reference to surveying or topography, and 
is devoted exclusively to research for the remains of 
extinct vertebrates in the tertiary and cretaceous forma- 
tions. The districts explored hitherto with such remark- 
able success will probably supply the fields of the present 
undertaking. The directions previously taken were as 
follows :— 
First expedition, in 1868, to Lake Como, Wyoming 
Territory. Second, in June, 1870, to the Loup Fork 
NATURE 
[ Aug. 21, 1873, 
River, in Nebraska ; the Bad Lands east of the Black 
Hills and between the North and South Forks of the 
Platte, in Wyoming and Colorado ; and the Great Basin 
of the Green River, southward from Fort Bridger, bor- 
dering Utah. There were also minor trips during this — 
expedition to Green River, im Wyoming, and to the 
Smoky River, in Kansas, which were productive of valu- 
able results. The third expedition started in the summer 
of 1871, and again explored the Smoky River region. in © 
Kansas, the Green River Basin, above mentioned, and in- 
vestigated two basins, likewise of the Tertiary age, one in 
Idaho and the other in Oregon. The fourth was a trip 
with a comparatively small party in the autumn of 1872. 
It concentrated at St. Louis, went to Fort Wallace by way 
of Kansas City, and, receiving escort, proceeded to 
Smoky Hill Fork. On this expedition some explorations 
were made near Cheyenne, and several days were spent in 
researches, with varying’ success, at Crow’s Creek, Colo- 
rado, " 
At the most recent dates the present expedition, leav- 
ing North Platte Station on the Union Pacific Railroad, 
had made a nine days’ march through a desert country, 
undergoing great hardships ; had reached the Niobrara 
River, made investigations on both its banks for more 
than 100 miles below the mouth of Rapid River, and 
had returned, laden with fossils, to Cheyenne, expecting 
to make the next start from Fort Bridge in Wyoming 
Territory. This expedition may extend its researches, as 
Professor Marsh informed the writer, to the Pacific 
Coast, and is not expected to return till late in the 
autumn, 
The expedition known as the Wheeler Exploration 
Party is under the management of the U.S. War Depart- 
ment, Bureau of Engineering. Its chiet is Lieut. G. M, 
Wheeler, of the U.S. Engineers. The operations of the 
present season will consist of exploration and survey west 
of the 1ooth meridian and south of 40°, principally in 
New Mexico and Arizona, down to the borders of Mexico. 
The following are named amongst the scientific force :— 
Messrs. Henry Leubbers, G. Thompson, J. J. Young, and 
E. Somer, topographers ; G, R. Gilbert, E, E. Howell, J. 
J. Stevenson, and Oscar Loew, geologists ; H. W. Hen- 
shaw and John Wolfe, naturalists ; B. Gilpin, meteorolo- 
gist ; J. H. Clarke, Dr. F. Kampf, W. W. Marryatt, and 
Prof. H. B. Herr, astronomical observers. The establish- 
ment of an astronomical observatory, substantially built 
of brick, having three observing-rooms, at Ogden, Utah, 
will form part of the labours of this expedition, which 
concentrated its forces to start from Denver in June 
last. 
There is an expedition under command of Capt. W. A. 
Jones, of the U.S. Engineers, which started from Omaha 
on the 2nd of June. Its objects are mainly topographical, 
having direct reference to the Yellowstone National Park; 
but it may be extended to the Big Horn country, a wild 
region imperfectly known, and suid to be fabulously rich 
in minerals, situated south of 44°,and between meridians 
106 and 108. Among the scientific men attached to this 
party are Lieut. S. E. Blunt, astronomer ; P, Le Hardy, 
topographer ; Dr. C. C. Parry, botanist and mineralogist ; 
and Mr. T. B. Comstock, of New York, geologist. 
Whether there is a surveying party under Mr. Clarence 
King, geologist, stiil in the Wasatch Mountains, at work 
on the line of the 4oth parallel; whether that of Major 
J. W. Powell has returned from its investigations having 
principal reference to the canfons of Colorado; and 
whether a party that went from Philadelphia—consisting 
principally of Prof. Joseph Leidy, paleontologist, Dr. 
Henry Chapman, zoologist, Mr. Joseph Willcox, mine- 
ralogist, all of that city, and Prof. Porter, of Easton, 
Pennsylvania, botanist—is still in the wilds of Wyoming 
and Colorado, the writer is unable, at the present date, 
to determine. 
New York, Aug. 8 
