CHARLES D. WALCOTT AND THE UNITED STATES 

 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



BY GEORGE OTIS SMITH 



In 1879 Charles D. Walcott and the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey began their service to the nation together. Young Walcott had 

 already been an assistant to James Hall, the State Geologist of New 

 York. Even before that he had been an enthusiastic student and 

 successful collector, so that he brought to the position of assistant 

 geologist maturity of mind and seriousness of purpose. Unlike most 

 of his associates in the new Survey he had not been connected with 

 any one of the four pioneer organizations that for 10 years or more 

 .had so vigorously competed in the field of Western geologic explora- 

 tion. He was therefore relatively immune to the keen and at times 

 bitter feelings of rivalry and partisanship that persisted even after 

 the four illustrious leaders, Wheeler, Hayden, King, and Powell, 

 had passed from the stage. 



During 28 years of active connection with the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey Doctor Walcott demonstrated his exceptional capacity 

 for the dual duties of research and administration. The earlier years 

 were crowded with field excursions and laboratory study — researches 

 alike extensive and intensive. He was not only the specialist among 

 specialists, concerned, for instance, with the concealed appendages of 

 the earliest crustaceans, but also the broad-minded geologist whose 

 vision comprehended the most ancient seas, teeming with primitive 

 forms of life, and the beginnings of continents being prepared for 

 the advent of man. It is the linking of the name of Walcott with 

 Cambrian stratigraphy and paleontology that gave him international 

 fame as a contributor to geologic and biologic science. Even after 

 administrative responsibilities demanded more and more of his time 

 the eagle-eyed collector and painstaking student continued his pro- 

 ductive investigations on a scale unrivaled by most other workers far 

 less burdened with conflicting duties. In those days the Director of 

 the Geological Survey might commonly be found closeted with his 

 beloved trilobites in the back room, though always ready to turn aside 

 from these messengers from the dim past and equally interested to 

 discuss and decide questions relating to present procedure for the 

 Survey or to the future coal supply for the nation. This devotion to 

 research while under stress of administrative duties was a source of 



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