Clarence King — Geologist 



successful in impressing this view 

 upon Congress, that not only was 

 an ample provision made for the 

 geological exploration planned, but 

 King himself was placed in abso- 

 lute charge of it, subject only to 

 the administrative control of Gen- 

 eral A. A. Humphreys, Chief of En- 

 gineers. 



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 chi- 

 merical a plan as that which King 

 had conceived. Of the transconti- 

 nental 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 sup- 

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