228 Clarence King. 



King's earliest scientific achievement on the Survey was the 

 discovery, during the study of the gold mines of the Mariposa 

 estate in 1863, of fossils in the highly metamorphosed slates of 

 the gold belt of California, a discovery that solved the problem 

 of their age which had long puzzled western geologists. 



In the autumn of 1866, after his return to the east, he 

 judged that political conditions were then most favorable for 

 the realization of a plan that had gradually been shaping itself 

 in his mind ever since he first crossed the continent, viz : that 

 of connecting the geology of the east with that of the west by 

 making, under government auspices, a survey across the whole 

 Cordilleran system at its widest point. 



There had been considerable apprehension during the dark 

 days of the Civil War lest California, physically isolated as she 

 was at that time, should separate from the other states and set 

 up an independent government. The subsidizing of the Trans- 

 continental railroads was the first step towards overcoming 

 this isolation and binding her more closely to the East. In 

 King's judgment a second, hardly less important one, would be 

 the development of the mineral resources of the country thus 

 to be opened up ; and this could best be accomplished by making 

 a thorough geological survey of that region. 



During the winter of 1866-7, which he spent at Washington, 

 he was so successful in impressing this view upon Congress, 

 that not only was a generous appropriation voted for the geo- 

 logical exploration planned, but King himself was placed in 

 absolute charge of it, subject only to the administrative control 

 of General A. A. Humphreys, Chief of Engineers. 



In these days, when the West is covered by a network of 

 railways, it is difficult to conceive the obstacles that had to be 

 encountered at that time in carrying out so ambitious and. as 

 some then thought, so chimerical a plan as that which King 

 had conceived. Of the Transcontinental roads, but a few 

 miles at either end had yet been constructed. The territories 

 of Utah and Nevada were represented on most maps of the 

 day as one broad desert, and it was doubted whether sufficient 

 water and grass could be found there to support a camping 

 party. Everything had to be specially created for the purpose, 

 and, after the party had reached California over the Panama 

 route, it took three months to prepare the necessary camp out- 

 fit and to carry them to their field of work. Even after this 

 work was well under way there were times when it seemed 

 that obstacles ahead were almost too great to be overcome, but 

 King's energy and resourcefulness were equal to every emer- 

 gency, and he soon succeeded in inspiring all of the members 

 of his party with such confidence in his leadership and in 

 imparting to them such measure of his own enthusiasm that 

 they never faltered in their devotion to the work, even though 



