AMERICAN GEOLOGY SURVEY UNDER KING. 607 



F. B. Meek, Hayden's collaborator, was born of Irish parentage in 

 the city of Madison, Indiana, in 1817, and during- 1848-49 served 

 as assistant to I). D. Owen on the surveys of Iowa, Wisconsin, and 

 Minnesota. Afterwards (from 1852-1858) he was assist- 

 sketch of Meek. ant to James Hall at Albany, New York, and for a 

 portion of the time connected with the geological sur- 

 vey of Missouri with Prof. G. C. Swallow. As noted elsewhere, he 

 became early associated with Hayden, and, though refusing to become 

 officially connected with the survey, was tacitly associated with him 

 until the time of his death. Indeed, all the invertebrate fossils col- 

 lected by Hayden in his western explorations were studied and the 

 results prepared for publication by Meek, although appearing mainly 

 under the joint name of Meek and Hayden. 



On leaving Albany in 1858 Meek came to Washington, where he 

 resided during the remainder of his life, having a room in the Smith- 

 sonian building. He was moderately tall and rather slender in build, 

 with a dignified bearing, though quite diffident. During the latter 

 part of his life he was also deaf, which caused him to avoid social 

 gatherings almost altogether. He was never a man of robust health; 

 indeed, during a large part of his life he was more or less an invalid. 

 Genial, sincere, pure-minded, and honorable, such are the adjectives 

 applied to him by his biographer. With the exception of James Hall, 

 he is perhaps tin 1 most widely known of American paleontologists. 

 Indeed, had Meek possessed the tremendous physique of Hall or the 

 nervous energy of Hayden, he might have stood alone head and 

 shoulders above most, if not all, his contemporaries. As it was, he 

 did his best work only in the service of, or in collaboration with 

 others, never as an organizer or leader. It is true that in his first 

 expedition (under the patronage of Hall) to the Bad Lands he out- 

 ranked Hayden, and that in numerous instances his work was of a 

 higher order. Yet his mildness of character and lack of disposition 

 to assert himself, until perhaps too late, caused him to almost invaria- 

 bly occupy a second place in any organization with which he was 

 connected. 



THE FORTIETH PARALLEL SURVEY UNDER CLARENCE KING. 



In 1867 there was established by Congressional action, and almost 

 wholly through the personal efforts of Clarence King, what has 

 since been known as the Geological Survey of the Fortieth Parallel. 

 „ , This, though subject to the administrative control of 



King's Survey of the tt 1 



Fortieth Parallel, Gen. A. A. Humphrev of U. S. Engineers, was under 



1867-1877. . . 



the immediate direction of King, to whom must be 

 given almost the entire credit of its inception and successful execution. 

 The immediate excuse for the survey was the desirability of ascer- 

 taining the character of the mineral resources of the country to be 



