6 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



which were distributed to the different military posts of the West. 

 These orders were indorsed by General Meigs and General Eaton at 

 Washington, by General Sheridan at Chicago, and by General George D. 

 Buggies, in the absence of General Augur, at Omaha. 



My outfit was obtained of Colonel C. A. Eeynolds, depot quartermas- 

 ter, stationed at Fort Russell, and most cordially do I thank him for the 

 friendly interest he took in our welfare. The outfit we obtained here 

 could not have been purchased in the country, however large our appro- 

 priation ; and besides the great saving to the appropriation, the real 

 interest that both he and his subordinates manifested in providing 

 everything for our comfort and success, called forth the gratitude of 

 the whole party. At every military post we visited we were received 

 with great attention, and the numerous favors, so indispensable in 

 the performance of our duties, were granted us everywhere. In this 

 connection, in addition to those already referred to, I may more especially 

 mention Colonel Chambers, in command of Fort Fetterman, and Lieu- 

 tenant O'Brien, quartermaster, Captain Gordon and Lieutenant Gregg, 

 of Camp Stambaugh, Lieutenant Shepard, of Fort Bridger, Colonel 

 Bradley, of Fort Steele, and Lieutenant Bubb, of Fort Sanders. 



Although the appropriation for the exploration of the year 1870 was 

 very liberal compared with those of former years, I did not feel war- 

 ranted in employing a topographer, and therefore was able to contribute 

 little of importance toward the improvement of our maps. The maps 

 already constructed by the Engineer Bureau of the Army are undoubt- 

 edly the best of any published in America, but in attempting to express 

 the geology of the mountain districts of the West upon them, they are 

 found to be quite inadequate. It has already been shown by the ablest 

 geographers in the Old World, that any topographical map that is not 

 constructed in accordance with well-established laws of geological struc- 

 ture, must be of approximate value only. It is proposed to prepare a 

 map of the districts explored, on a scale of two miles to the inch, not 

 only to express the details of the geology with suitable colors, but also 

 to show, for the benefit of our legislators, the amount of land that can 

 be redeemed by irrigation, timber land, bottom land, &c. Such a map 

 would be of great importance in determining the value of land grants 

 to railroads and other corporations, and would save to our Government 

 many times the cost of the entire survey. 



My explorations of the country west of the Mississippi began in the 

 spring of 1853, prior to the organization of Kansas and Nebraska as 

 Territories, and I have watched the growth of this portion of the West 

 year by year, from the first rude cabin of the squatter to the beautiful 

 villages and cities which we now see scattered so thickly over that 

 country. We have beheld, within the past fifteen years, a rapidity of 

 growth and development in the Northwest which is without a parallel in 

 the history of the globe. Never has my faith in the grand future that 

 .awaits the entire West been so strong as it is at the present time, and 



