14 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 105. 



In 1859 Capt. J. H. Simpson, of the 

 Topographical Engineers, was commis- 

 sioned by Gen. Albert Sydney Johnson, 

 then stationed at Camp Floyd, Utah, to 

 explore a new wagon road from Salt Lake 

 Valley to the base of the Sierra Nevada, 

 near Carson, and also eastward as far as 

 Port Bridger, in Wyoming. Henry Engel- 

 mann, of St. Louis, was appointed geologist 

 of this expedition. 



He showed unusual industry in collecting 

 fossils and minerals, but his observations 

 are those of a mineralogist rather than those 

 of a stratigraphic geologist. From the de- 

 termination of his fossils by Meek, it ap- 

 pears that he obtained Devonian forms in 

 central Nevada, and lower Carboniferous 

 in the Oquirrli Mountains of Utah, near 

 Camp Floyd, thus determining lower hori- 

 zons than had hitherto been known to exist 

 west of the Missouri River. 



Fossil-bearing Jurassic limestones were 

 observed on the La Bonte Creek, near Fort 

 Laramie, and on the western slope of the 

 Wasatch, and a collection of fresh water 

 fossils was made at the locality on Bear 

 river, which for so many years puzzled 

 paleontologists and geologists. 



The probable Cretaceous age of the coal 

 beds of the Weber Valley, and the San-Pete 

 fields to the south was determined. He 

 notes the widespread occurrence of erup- 

 tive rocks, especially through Nevada, but 

 his lithological determinations, such for 

 instance as that of phonolite, have to be ac- 

 cepted with some reservation, though they 

 show more careful and intelligent study of 

 their mineralogical composition than have 

 been given by earlier geologists. 



As bis report was not published until 

 1875 (16 years after the observations wei-e 

 made), the facts determined were not avail- 

 able for the guidance of later explorers in 

 in that region. 



1853-6. The geology of the Great Plains 

 is inseparably connected with the names of 



Meek and Hayden. They were first sent to 

 the Bad Lands of Missouri by Prof. James 

 Hall, in 1853. Hayden spent the summers 

 of the two following years traveling with 

 parties of the American Fur Trading Com- 

 pany, thus exploring geologically the Mis- 

 souri Basin. He wrote a brief sketch on 

 the geology of this region for Lieutenant 

 Warren's ' Report on Explorations in the 

 Dacota Country.' In this he mentions the 

 Tertiary basin of White River, in which 

 the great discoveries of vertebrate remains 

 were then being made, the Bad Lands of 

 the Judith River, and the great lignite 

 basin extending from the mouth of the 

 Cannon Ball River to that of the Muscle- 

 shell River. 



1857. In 1857 he accompanied Lieuten- 

 ant Warren to the Black Hills of Dakota, 

 and submitted a report in November, 1858. 

 (Reprinted in 1875, in Lieutenant Warren's 

 ' Preliminary report on explorations in Ne- 

 braska and Dakota.') In this he gives a 

 complete column of geological formations, as 

 known in Kansas and Nebraska Territories, 

 from the Potsdam upwards. The Potsdam 

 had been detected by lower Silurian forms 

 in the Black Hills. This and the discovery 

 of the marine Jura, well represented by 

 fossil forms, with fresh water beds just 

 above them, which he was doubtful whether 

 to place with the Jura or Cretaceous, and 

 the discovery of vertebrates near the mouth 

 of Judith River, which Dr. Leidy thought 

 might be Wealden, constitute the important 

 discoveries outlined in this report. The 

 assumed existence of Devonian beds is evi- 

 dently based on a mere conjecture which 

 has not been substantiated. 



1858. The summer of 1858 was spent by 

 Meek and Hayden in making collections of 

 fossils in Kansas Territory, and in 1859-60 

 Dr. Hayden served as geologist to the expe- 

 dition of Captain W. F. Raynolds to the 

 headwaters of the Missouri and Yellow- 

 stone Rivers. His geological work was in- 



