G. 0. Smith — Government Geological Surveys. 1S1 



train with his friend James T. Gardner. His plan to 

 make a geological cross section of the Cordilleras, with a 

 study of the resources along the route of the Pacific rail- 

 roads, won the support of Congress, and the "Geological 

 Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel" was authorized in 

 1867, with Clarence King as geologist in charge, under 

 the Chief of Engineers of the Army. Field work was 

 begun in the summer of that year, and it is interesting to 

 note that Mr. King and his small force of geological 

 assistants — the two Hagues and S. F. Emmons — began 

 at the western end, of this cross section, and in this 

 and subsequent years extended the survey from the east 

 front of the Sierra Nevada to Cheyenne, covering a belt 

 of territory about 100 miles in width. This comprehen- 

 sive plan was carried out in the field operations, and the 

 scientific and economic results were systematically 

 worked up in the reports, which appeared in 1870-80. 

 The only departure from this plan was a study of the 

 volcanic mountains Shasta, Eainier, and Hood, in 1870, 

 occasioned by an unexpected and unsolicited appropria- 

 tion for field work, and that summer's work resulted in 

 the discovery of active glaciers, the first known within 

 the United States. 



The Fortieth Parallel Survey is to be credited with 

 contributions to the knowledge of the stratigraphy of the 

 West, the region traversed being remarkably representa- 

 tive of the stratigraphic column, to which was added the 

 paleontologic work of Marsh, Meek, Hall, and Whitfield, 

 while the attempt was made to interpret the sedimentary 

 record in terms of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Tertiary 

 geography. King's plan of survey included large use of 

 topographic mapping with astronomic base and triangu- 

 lation control and contours based upon barometric eleva- 

 tions. The results were pronounced by an unfriendly 

 critic 7 as "very valuable, especially from a geological 

 point of view," but unfortunate in being the forerunner 

 of work in which Government geologists "have presumed 

 to arrogate'the control of the fundamental operations of 

 a topographic survey." To the King Survey must be 

 credited the introduction of systematic contour mapping 

 and the use of contour maps for purposes of geology. 

 In two other respects the King Survey contributed 

 largely to future Government work: microscopical 



7 Wheeler, Report 3d Internat'l Geog. Cong., p. 492, 1885. 



