THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: 



ITS HISTORY, ACTIVITIES AND 



ORGANIZATION 



CHAPTER I 



HISTORY 



The United States Geological Survey, a bureau of the 

 Department of the Interior, is engaged chiefly in surveying the 

 geology, topography, and related features of the United States 

 and in publishing the results of its surveys and investigations. 



Early Explorations and Surveys of the Public Domain: 

 1804-1865. Previous to the establishment of the Geological 

 Survey, the surveys conducted by the national government 

 were chiefly exploratory in character, and were, therefore, con- 

 fined almost wholly to the western country. Numerous sur- 

 veys were made at an early date, most of them by the Army, 

 partly for military use and partly to extend geographical 

 knowledge. The most important was the Lewis and Clark 

 Expedition of 1804-1806, which ascended the Missouri to its 

 sources and then descended the Columbia to the Pacific. The 

 expeditions of Pike in 1805 and 1807 to the sources of the 

 Mississippi and the Arkansas were also of prime importance. 

 In 1820 an important expedition in Upper Michigan, Wis- 

 consin and Minnesota was conducted by General Cass, then 

 Superintendent of Indian Affairs; and in 1832 an expedition 

 to one of the sources of the Mississippi was made by School- 

 craft, the famous student of Indian life, while traveling in 

 behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 



