NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Indians, which proved a by no means useless though sometimes 

 troublesome adjunct. 



In the following May the party proceeded to California by 

 way of the Isthmus of Panama, but it was near the end of July 

 before all the necessary preparations had been made and they 

 took up their march from Sacramento across the Sierra Nevada 

 to their field of work. 



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

 ways, it is difficult to conceive of the obstacles that had to be 

 overcome in carrying out so ambitious a work as that which King 

 had planned. Of the transcontinental railroads 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 considered doubtful whether sufficient 

 water and grass could be found there to support a camping party. 



Through such a country it was designed to carry, not a simple 

 meander survey along a previously chosen route, as had hitherto 

 'been the custom in military explorations, but tbe detailed map- 

 ping, both topographical and geological, of an area about 100 

 miles in width, which finally extended nearly 1,000 miles in 

 length. 



As far as was possible to human foresight, King had provided 

 means to overcome the difficulties liable to be encountered. 

 Guided by his previous experience in such work, he had person- 

 ally supervised tbe preparation of every article of the party's 

 equipment, from the scientific instruments, many of which were 

 specially constructed for the purpose on his own special designs, 

 down to the minor details of construction of wagons and pack 

 saddles. Nevertheless there were many times, especially in the 

 first two seasons' campaigning in the deserts of Nevada, when, 

 through weakness resulting from malarial fever contracted in 

 the Sacramento Valley bottoms, the impossibility of obtaining 

 potable water, a shortness of food supplies, or delays from 

 storms or other causes, discouragement took possession of differ- 

 ent members of the party. But King's abundant courage and 

 energy never failed and his fertility in expedients was equal to 

 every emergency: so that he gradually impressed upon every 

 member of his corps such confidence in his ability as a leader 



3S 



