10 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 



Department, and in the interest of the national defense. It was 

 built on the design of the model machine which, on May 6, 1896, 

 first demonstrated to the world that an aeroplane heavier than air 

 could be propelled through the air by its own power. The large 

 machine was completed in 1903, but its actual flight was at that time 

 hindered by injuries sustained through defects in the launching 

 apparatus. 



The numerous and comprehensive aerotechnical investigations 

 planned for the Langley laboratory can be successfully carried out 

 only when increased funds are available. Properly equipped and 

 endowed, the laboratory would serve as a national aeronautical in- 

 stitute suitable for conducting the aerotechnical investigations and 

 tests required by the Government and the aeronautical industries of 

 this country. 



GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. 



In continuation of my previous geological researches in the Cana- 

 dian Rockies, I revisited during the field season of 1913 the Robson 

 Peak district, in British Columbia and Alberta, and the region about 

 Field, British Columbia. At the latter place I met the members of 

 the International Geological Congress. 



On this trip Robson Peak was approached from the west side in 

 order to study the local geological section, one of the finest in the 

 world. From the west foot of Robson Peak, Whitehorn Peak rises 

 on the north to a height of 7,850 feet above Lake Kinney, and on the 

 east the cliffs of Robson rise tier above tier from the surface of the 

 lake to the summit of the peak, a vertical distance of 9,800 feet. 



From beneath the base of the mountain at Lake Kinney the strata 

 curve gently outward, so that upwards of 4,000 feet in thickness of 

 beds that are beneath Robson Peak are exposed in their extension to 

 the west and south. 



Owing to exceptionally good climatic conditions the season of 1913 

 l)roved unusually favorable for studying Robson Peak. Frequently 

 in the early morning the details of the snow slopes and bedded rocks 

 on the summit of the peak were beautifully outlined, but toward 

 evening the mists, driven in from the warm currents of the Pacific, 

 300 miles away, shrouded the mountain from view. 



From the west slopes of Titkana Peak, east of the great Hunga 

 Glacier, a wonderful view is obtained of the snow fields and falling 

 glaciers east and north of Robson Peak. The glacial streams come 

 tumbling down the slopes and often disappear beneath the glacier to 

 reappear at its foot with the volume of a river. 



At Field, British Columbia, work was continued at the great 

 middle Cambrian fossil quarry, where a large collection of specimens 



