G. 0. Smith — Government Geological Surveys. 179 



short careers of most of the State Surveys and with the 

 temporary character of all of the Federal undertakings 

 in geologic investigation, the continuance of the Cana- 

 dian Geological Survey for more than half a century 

 under two directors gave opportunity for continuity of 

 effort in making known to the people of the Dominion its 

 resources and at the same time contributing to the world 

 much pure science. 



Passing with simple mention the two Government expe- 

 ditions into the Black Hills, which afforded opportunity 

 for geologic exploration by N. H. Winchell in 1874 and by 

 Jenney and Newton in 1875, the record of geologic work 

 under Government auspices in the period immediately 

 following the Civil War groups itself around the names 

 of four leaders — Hayden, King, Powell, and Wheeler. 

 The four organizations, distinguished commonly by the 

 names of these four masterful organizers, occupied the 

 Western field more or less continuously from 1867 to 1878, 

 and the sum total of their contributions to geography 

 and geology was large indeed. In the words of Clarence 

 King, 6 "Eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, therefore, 

 marks, in the history of national geological work, a turn- 

 ing point, when the science ceased to be dragged in the 

 dust of rapid exploration and took a commanding posi- 

 tion in the professional work of the country." Together 

 these four expeditions covered half a million square 

 miles, or more than a third of the area of the United 

 States west of the one-hundredth meridian, and the cost 

 of all this work was approximately two million dollars, 

 which was a small fraction of its value to the nation 

 counting only the impetus given to settlement and utili- 

 zation. 



As viewed from a distance of nearly half a century, 

 these four surveys differed much in plan of organization, 

 scope of purpose, and success of execution, so that com- 

 parison would have little value except as possibly bear- 

 ing upon the work of the larger organization which 

 followed^ them and became the heir not only to much that 

 had been attained by these pioneer surveys but also to 

 the great task uncompleted by them. So, if in the 

 earliest days of the present United States Geological 

 Survey there may have been a certain partisanship in 

 tracing derived characters in the new organization, it is 



6 First Annual Eept. U. S. Geol. Survey, p. 4. 



