7<S THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. [bull.227. 
The organization consisted of a chief engineer, under whom two 
supervising engineers had general direction of the projects under- 
taken, one on the Pacific slope, and the other in the country east 
thereof. Six divisions, each presided over by an engineer, were 
organized and named the divisions of Colorado, Montana, California, 
Nevada, New Mexico, and Idaho. The field work consisted of recon- 
naissance or preliminary examinations by the division chief, who, 
when he found a group of irrigable lands so situated that they might 
possibly be irrigated from an available water supply, organized a 
party which at once proceeded to make the necessary surveys to deter- 
mine the relation between the two. If the results indicated the project 
as possibly feasible, more detailed surveys were made to ascertain the 
grade and mileage of canal, or, if a reservoir, its possible capacity 
and the practicability of closing it with a dam. These surveys were 
necessarily conducted in cooperation with the hydrographic investiga- 
tions, hydrographers being assigned to the measurement of the stream 
discharges in the areas under consideration. 
On the close of the work some of the division chiefs were detained 
temporarily in the Washington office pending the preparation of a 
final report, and the results were published in the Thirteenth Annual 
Report of the Survey, in the form of textual matter giving estimates 
of the possible cost of construction of various kinds, and maps showing 
the details of the projects. 
The publication and diffusion of the information relating to streams 
of the West brought to public attention the necessity for such work 
and for obtaining more detailed facts concerning the water resources 
of all parts of the country. As a result, the following clause providing 
for stream measurements was inserted in a bill which was passed by 
Congress on August 18, 1894: 
For gaging the streams and determining the water supply of the United States, 
including the investigation of underground currents and artesian wells in the arid 
and ^cmiarid sections, twelve thousand five hundred dollars. 
This was the first definite legislative recognition of the stream - 
measurement work of the hydrographic branch, and it placed the 
branch upon a stable basis from which it has risen to its present 
important position. Since that time Congress has appropriated annu- 
ally sums ranging from $12,500 in 1895 to $200,000 in 1903. 
During this period, aside from these regular appropriations, $20,000 
was appropriated for making special investigations on Gila River and 
Queen Creek in Arizona, and about $5,000 to meet deficiencies and 
for other purposes. 
On June IT, 1902, the President signed the national reclamation act, 
which led to separation of the stream-measurement work and the irri- 
gation work of the hydrographic branch and the establishment of the 
reclamation service. The general administration of both divisions is 
the same, and much of the work is carried on in cooperation. 
