CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 /, /o ?f 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 LIEUT. GEO. M. g^HEELER, 
 
 U. S. CORPS OF ENGINEERS, 
 DEGEMBER 23, 1874, 
 
 BRKOKB THK 
 
 AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY; 
 
 G. n'-i 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028910269 
 
ABDRESS 
 
 OP 
 
 LIEUT. GEO. M, WHEELER, 
 
 IT. S. Corps of Engineers, 
 DECEMBER 23, J874, 
 
 BZFOBE THE 
 
 AMERICAN GEOGEAPHIOAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Me. Pbesident, Fellows of the Geogbaphical Society, Ladies 
 AND Gentlemen : 
 
 It aftords me great pleasure to appear before you, in response 
 to a call from your Committee, for the purpose of narrating fea- 
 tures Connected with the expedition that has been entrusted to 
 my charge, during the few past years, and I hope to be able to 
 speak succinctly of a few of the great number of important 
 questions entering into the subject of geographical inquiry, now 
 being carried on in the immense territory of the United States 
 west of the Mississippi River. 
 
 I have no need to tell a critical assemblage like this that for the 
 first time I am placed upon the stage to attempt to instructively 
 entertain an appreciative audience. I cannot expect, and 
 hope that you do not, that I shall meet the requirements ot 
 the trained and eloquent speaker ; but if you will bear patiently 
 with me, I shall attempt to portray, in addition to some scenes 
 and incidents, and professional results of one of our field seasons, 
 a brief resume of what has been done in this comprehensive field 
 heretofore, and in addition thereto, treat of a few of the promi- 
 nent and pertinent points of the relations that interior surveys 
 bear towards the Government. 
 
 CONDENSED HISTORICAL KESTIMB OF EARLY EXPLOEATION. 
 
 As is well known by most of those present, shortly after the 
 commencement of the present century, and but a little subsequent 
 to the establishment of our independence, the United States! haV-- 
 ing acquired what was known as the "Louisiana purchase," 
 President Jefferson, then Chief Magistrate, was the first to con- 
 ceive of. the necessity of sending to this portion of the continent, 
 organized parties to examine into the purchase, and to find out 
 
3 A 
 
 what the Government had secured. At this time the expedition 
 headed by Lewis and Clarke was organized,:, the former a nephew 
 of, and military Secretary to, the President; the latter, an officer 
 in the army. The inception of this work has not merely signahzed 
 the wonderful intuitive power that has been accredited to Jeffer- 
 son, biit shows at this early day the value attached to systematic 
 Governmental support. 
 
 With all the facilities at this time available, this, one of the 
 most prominent expeditions of the first quarter of the 19th cen- 
 tury, started out to pierce the northwestern interior. This was the 
 first well authenticated and well equipped expedition that had 
 for its mission an inquiry into the extent and resources, then 
 comparatively unknown, of this great and almost continental area. 
 It is true that at an earlier period, in our southwestern territory, 
 the trips of the early Jesuit missionaries following the expedition 
 for the conquest under Cortes, and later parties, sent out under 
 the sanction of the government of New Spain, both inland and 
 coast-wise, had their origin and results much in advance of the 
 historical epochs of the colonial, state and territorial indepen- 
 dencies of the government of the United States. But their 
 results were comparatively of little avail in bringing to light 
 facts and deductions susceptible of being di"awn from these great 
 areas. 
 
 Dwelling with so much significance upon this individual effort 
 in the threading of interior spaces has not been done with a view 
 to pass encomium upon one more than any other expedition, upon 
 <)ne more than any other individual, but to draw your attention 
 to an epoch in history which it has been my pleasure to see so 
 distinctively noted within the last few years. Later, Lieut. Pike, 
 afterward General Pike, killed in the war of 1812-14, headed an 
 expedition extending over a period of three years, first in and 
 about the head waters of the Mississippi, and afterward to our 
 south-western boundary, then limited by the Arkansas, and, 
 from a misapprehension of geographical boundaries, having passed 
 beyond the limit of what was then the possessions of this country, 
 found himself and party upon the western borders of the Rio 
 Grande. Stockading himself against the Indians, he found but 
 too soon that another people were more his enemies, and here he 
 wals taken prisoner by the Mexican authorities in 1807. 
 
 It has been our good fortune during the past season to ascertain 
 the fact, that at the junction of the San Antonio and Conejos 
 creeks in the southwestern part of Colorado, remains tberemnants 
 iof| a /Btpqki]ide, marking the spot where this occurred. Other 
 evidence was accumulated, showing that his parties crossed the 
 Sangre de Cristo Pass. AH the results of that important expe- 
 dition never reached the archives of the Government, and to-day 
 
they lie in the recoTds of old Mexico, or with the priests of the 
 inland Territory. 
 
 After the war of 1812-'14, the country having reached a stage 
 of comparative quiet, explorations a^ain resumed a magnitude 
 not known before. In the years 18li9-'20, after the organization 
 of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, whose labors in this 
 field are well known, Major Long started in 1819 from the AUe- 
 ghanies. The results of this expedition, in view of the improved 
 instruments and methods, and the facilities that could be placed 
 at his command, were much in advance of what Iiad been ac- 
 complished before, and the maps of routes then made were of 
 great importance to the Government and frequently consulted. 
 
 But little was done afier this expedition until the time of 
 Bonneville in 1832-'3-'4 '5 and '6, who, following out the endeavor 
 to explore lines leading into the then inaccessible portions of the 
 interior, was absent so long from his command as to be dropped 
 from the rolls of the army. However, his journal, notes, plats,, 
 &c., when received and compiled, added largely to the stock of 
 geographical knowledge relating to this portion of the public 
 domain. 
 
 Again an interval, and we find in 1842 that the then Lieut. 
 Fremont of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, having been 
 assigned by President Tyler to command one of the most im- 
 portant expeditions into the interior of the country west of the 
 Missouri River, started from St. Louis, another instance where 
 a President of the United States was impressed with the grave 
 importance of a correct knowledge of our immense western pos- 
 sessions, that embrace some of the most important areas of 
 drainage in the world. The parties of this expedition were en- 
 gaged in field and office operations until the close of the season of 
 1845. 
 
 The importance attached to the results obtained and their effect 
 when utilized, upon the line of march of emigration toward the 
 west has become a matter of history more fixed in the minds of 
 those, who have traversed the regions beyond the AUeghanies. 
 
 In speaking of the West it is well to draw attention to the fact 
 that the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers marked the geographical 
 limit of the Great West at this period, a line of easy transit, 
 strangely enough, acting as a barrier to civilization, still beyond it 
 little authentic -^as known. How well has been proven since that 
 time that one of the powers that rule the world (hard money) has 
 attracted multitudes to the shores and slopes of the Pacific. After 
 the discovery of gold in California there was established a steam- 
 ship line between New York and San Francisco ; subsequently 
 a telegraph line, and later still the Pacific Railroad became an 
 acknowledged fact — each forced to completion from the necessi- 
 ties of the Government and the demands of inter-commerce. 
 
However since the early days of Exploration and Surt^ej*- tk 
 boundaries of our western domain have passed through successive 
 
 changes. u ^ 
 
 For a correct understanding of these changes I would refer 
 you to one of the maps of the Statistical Atlas of the United States,, 
 recently compiled under the direction of Prof F. A. Walker, of 
 the Census Bureau, that relates to the acquisition of territory in 
 the United States, and its subsequent distribution into Political 
 Divisions. 
 
 This expedition (Fremont's) was followed by others aU of more 
 or less importance, and especially so since by them was proven 
 the necessity for the organization of parties to obtain information 
 for the Government in this vast inland interior. To carry out 
 such a policy, from the year l846-'7 until 1852, expeditions tor 
 the Pacific Railroad surveys, and others, were sent out mostly 
 under the auspices of the War Department. Many of the names 
 of the heads of these expeditions are familiar to you all. 
 
 The former were sent out at the instance of the Secretary of 
 War, to investigate routes of travel to the Pacific, a subject ex- 
 citing public attention at that time. With matured plans, methods 
 of observation and investigation, with a personnel selected by 
 the Departments and Bureaus, several well organized expeditions 
 took the field, and every one knows moi-e or less of the results of 
 the Pacific R. R. surveys. Stores of useful knowledge accumu- 
 late so rapidly in this country, and still there remains so much 
 to be learned, that it almost seems amiss to ask one to look back- 
 ward; indeed, it may appear that I of all others, now directing a 
 work that has its future nearly all before it, can hardly be 
 pardoned for asking a few moments of retrospection. Perhaps it 
 may be unfortunate that we should stop for a moment to look 
 backward, but in the operations of Geographical inquiry and 
 endeavor, like all others, we should look upon both sides of the 
 question, and one of the lessons that may be drawn is that it 
 has been principally " measures and not men" that have o-overned 
 the intervals during which expeditions have been dispatched into 
 the unsettled and inaccessible portions of the far west. It seems 
 proper to add, that the results of the Pacific R. R. surveys led to 
 the construction and compilation of what were then the most 
 accurate maps. Warren's Memoir, which forms a part of the P 
 R. E. reports, fully sets forth an historical resume of this matter 
 and has been frequently consulted, and is the authority up to the 
 spring of 1857. Although the topographical material had not 
 been gathered for the precise purpose of making maps, yet I know 
 that every one present will admit its pertinence when I say that the 
 Government and the public may well feel thankful to the wisdom 
 of the minds that conceived the propriety of placing all this mate- 
 rial in the form of a map whose uses have since entered into the 
 
education of the country. Subsequent to the close of the Pacific 
 R. R. surveys and the resulting maps and reports thereon, ofiicers 
 of the theu Corps of Topographical Engineers prosecuted further 
 surveys in_ this rpgion, called for by the necessities for informa- 
 tion experienced by the War Department bearing upon communi- 
 cation and supply between interior remote points; theii 
 number was comparatively few, owing to the commencement oi 
 what has since grown into a system of river and harbor improve- 
 ments whereon officers of this corps were preferably placed. 
 While many important expeditions were in progress, boundary 
 surveys between th3 United States and Great Britain on the one 
 side and Mexico on the other, were carried on. The names of 
 Graham, Emory, and Parke are familiar in this connection. 
 
 Notable among the later expeditions are the expedition of 
 Warren to the Black Hills in the Northwest in 1855, '6-'7 ; Macomb 
 in 1859, outward from Santa Fe to the junction of the Grand 
 and Green Rivers, and return ; Simpson, with the army under 
 Johnson, in Utah, to the eastern base of the Sierras, at Carson 
 City, thereby shortening the principal wagon route to the Pacific, 
 and perhaps others which in the hasty mention may have escaped 
 attention. Their names and facts have been placed upon the 
 record, and have already passed into history. 
 
 I may be excusedfor calling attention to a portion of the I'resi- 
 dent's message sent forward to Congress during the past session 
 relative to surveys, wherein the Chief of Engineers states in re- 
 ferring to the resumption of labors upon interior topographical 
 surveys by Maj. Long, the following appears : " And succeeding 
 him, these were continued by officers of the Army whose names 
 would furnish a long list of men distinguished in their profession." 
 I recollect most vividly a statement made not long since by a 
 prominent Senator from the West, while speaking of no less 
 a personage than the late Senator Pessenden from Maine, that 
 this distinguished statesman, although conversant with legisla- 
 tion in its broadest sense, thoroughly informed as to govern- 
 mental necessities, well versed in the manners, customs and 
 wants of the people, still never seemed to comprehend that the 
 United States had expanded beyond the Alleghanies, while at 
 and beyond the extremities of arteries leading to the heart of 
 this portion of the continent more than elsewhere the Govern- 
 ment should extend its powerful protection. 
 
 Subsequent to the war there have, also, been organized and 
 carried out under the Engineer .Department of the army, the 
 Geological Survey of the 40th Parallel, in charge of Clarence 
 King, from the Department of the Interior, the United States 
 Geological Survey of the Territories under Prof. Hayden ; the 
 survey of the Valley of the Colorado under the Smithsonian In- 
 stitution, in charge of Mr, Powell, — the latter was transferred at 
 
the past session of Congress to the Interior Department — also the 
 expedition for the demarkation of the northern boundary under the 
 State Department, with Archibald Campbell as Commissioner 
 and Maj. Twining, Corps of Engineers, as chief astronomer; and at 
 the headquarters of the several Geographical military divisions 
 and departments oflScers of the Coqis of Engineers have been en- 
 gaged in reconnaissances and surveys of various kinds, but of 
 their several characters and objects, I feel that it is not my mis- 
 sion to speak. Their works are passing into history, and your 
 distinguished President, Chief-Justice Daly, in his annual address, 
 chronicles their current operations. 
 
 DESCEIPTION OF EXPEDITION OF 18Y4. 
 
 The system of opening a means of communication between 
 points widely separated in the interior had become well advanced 
 at the beginning of the rebellion, and it was found both judicious 
 and economical to make expenditures of the public money for in- 
 terior surveys, and certain improvements and constructions grow- 
 ing out of the same for the uses of the War Department, and 
 in furtherance of industrial interests. And as has before been 
 stated, officers of the corps of Topographical Engineers were 
 called upon to take a prominent part in this task. This corps 
 during the interval of the war were merged with the corps of Engi- 
 neers proper, and their duties assimilated thereunto. What might 
 have grown from this want on the part of the Government had 
 not the war of the rebellion been prosecuted, let none of us 
 imagine. Inasmuch as it has been a part of my task to look a lit- 
 tle into :ffhat has been done as well as to project current and 
 future operations, I may be pardoned for thinking to maintain 
 that what has been partially begun, and in a small degree 
 carried out by myself and others of late years, might easily have 
 become a thing of the past, but for the intervention of the war. 
 
 However, finding myself in the year 1869 a member of the staff 
 of Brevet Major General E. O. C. Ord, then commandintr the 
 Department of California, and under his direction being sent to 
 investigate certain pralctical subjects relating to interior commu- 
 nication, for the first time in my experience as a public officer it 
 became my duty as it was my pleasure to examine topographi- 
 cally portions of the areas shown upon the progress map thrown 
 upon the screen. After returning from that trip, which was car- 
 ried on at a small expense, and which attained nothing beyond 
 the dignity of a reconnaissance, there grew into tangible form 
 evidence favorable to a continuance of Explorations and Surveys 
 which it was then deemed proper to lay before the War Depart 
 ment. The trip of that year had its close, and its results were 
 immediately made available, but it was not until the sprino- of 
 
1871 that the War Department, by authority of appropriations 
 made at that session of Congress, saw fit to send out in force an 
 expedition complete enough to take cognizance of the binding to- 
 gether, as it were, of the old routes of survey and compacting 
 them into a whole, giving an order and form based upon the phy- 
 sical details of areas as contradistinguished to lines that singu- 
 larly enough had never been attempted before. 
 
 Returning from the field at the close of the expedition of 1871, 
 the project of interior survey that I have hastily brought to your 
 notice while explaining the " Progress Chart," was laid before 
 General Humphreys, Chief of Engineers, and General Belknap, 
 Secretary of War, and approved by both. Their hearty support 
 has been since maintained, for a lack of which and the intelli- 
 gent aid of a few far-seeing fi-iends in Congress the expedition 
 of 1874 would not have been sent out for the further prosecution 
 of these labors. The expeditions of 1871, as well as those of 
 1872-'3, took the field and returned, harmonizing their field and 
 office results as far as could be, so that the mass of useful infor- 
 mation might become immediately available to the War De- 
 partment, thence to the other departments of the Government, 
 and indirectly to the public. And it is with no little pride that 
 I quote the following paragraph from the annual report of the 
 Chief of Engineers, submitted to the Secretary of War, and for- 
 warded to Congress at its present session : 
 
 " By experience and improvements in methods and instruments, 
 the value of the results is annually enhanced and the cost of the 
 work amply repaid." 
 
 But these matters interest but very few of you, and there- 
 fore I shall at once come to a description of our trip during 
 the past season, which has been directed to portions of the poli- 
 tical divisions of Utah, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, and 
 Arizona. The number of parties in the field have been 9, the 
 number of officers and assistants 86, fewer than the usual number 
 since our routes lay in regions not infested by hostile Indians, 
 and hence no escorts were required. These have been distribu- 
 ted into the several geographical fields of inquiry, including the 
 cognate branches of scientific research, geology, paleontology, 
 mineralogy, natural history, &c. The force consisted of officers 
 of the different arms of the service, aided too by professional 
 gentlemen drawn from civil life, since this, like all classes of 
 interior works carried on by the War Department, have been 
 partly military, partly civil, working always in harmony, as it 
 has not been deemed essential to confine labors in so compre- 
 hensive a field to one class of persons. 
 
 The point of departure was Pueblo, Colorado, at the end of 
 the little narrow gauge railroad that follows the eastern base of 
 the Rocky Mountains, south frpn; Denver, and to which point 
 
persons, animals and supplies could be easily forwaided Ihe 
 detailed operations of the Survey, however, were to be to the 
 southward of the Spanish Peaks, marked pomts noted by all early 
 explorers, travellers and settlers throughout the region and lying 
 for the greater part in New Mexico, while the basms of dr^nage 
 entered and occupied, were the Arkansas, Cimarron, Mora, Pecos, 
 Rio Grande (its eastern, upper and western branches ) and the 
 San Juan Rivers, all possessing a topographical grandeur each 
 its own, yet each different in its local physical peculiarities, each 
 as large as one of our minimum States, with all due respect to 
 Rhode Island and Delaware ; the entire area being fully d5,0U0 
 square miles, so large that we might almost (to speak ligura- 
 tively) pick up the whole- State of New York, drop it into the 
 same, with a prospect of total immersion. The points of prime 
 Geographical necessity were those from which a series of base 
 lines were measured from points, astronomically determined with 
 the utmost accuracy, and located in vicinity of Hughes, Colorado 
 Springs, Labran and Trinidad, Colorado ; Cimarron, Fort Union, 
 Las Vegas, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, at which points bases 
 measured and developed to check the main triangulatioii extend- 
 ing throughout the mountain ranges were laid out. Three par- 
 ties were engaged in the establishment of interior astronomical 
 points and the prosecution of the main triangulation, and others 
 in filling in from main topographical stations by other trigonomet- 
 rical means and collecting the topographical details necessary for 
 the obtainance of all the horizontal and vertical lines requisite for 
 the map. It may be well here to explain that in this survey for 
 mapping considerations alone, the engineer is compelled to apply 
 three of the most prominent of the scientific branches in order to 
 obtain satisfactory results ; i.e.. Astronomy, Geodesy and Topo- 
 graphy, which go hand in hand, immediately allied with the hyp- 
 sometrical determination of altitudes. This has been done with 
 a degree of success not marked in the earlier stages of the work, 
 but most gratifying to all who maintain an interest in it. Per- 
 sons specially skilled in the forms of the present and extinct 
 ■fauna and flora of this region have been afforded facilities to prose- 
 cute their studies in connection with the movement of the field 
 parties with marked success. As, however, this work, founded 
 upon the necessities of a Department of the Government alone, 
 can entertain but one standard, practically that of paying its way 
 as it goes, the latter may not have been brought to so full a stand- 
 ard of excellence, as in parties which the Government has at times 
 sent out to prosecute especially this class of examinations, yet in 
 the humble way in which these matters have been brought to 
 fruitful results it is believed that for the limited time and means 
 much has been added to the store of knowledge in these impor- 
 tant branches of science, and to the individuals who have been 
 
responsible for, and who have accomplished this work, most of 
 the thanks are due. 
 
 I will ask you to follow me while I describe rapidly the march 
 of that part of one of the nine parties conducted by myself out 
 from Pueblo to Pagosa Springs, in the valley of San Juan, and 
 thence returning to the valley of the Arkansas. As no statement of 
 mine will accommodate your minds to the peculiar atmosphere and 
 structure of mountain and other forms that meet the traveller 
 in these regions, I will confine myself to the simple line upon the 
 map and ask you to trace with me the locus and windings of 
 this route. 
 
 The road from Pueblo to Fort Garland, on the eastern side of 
 the Greenhorn Range, that faces outward toward the Arkansas 
 valley, skirts the foot-hills of this magnificent series of ridges, that 
 has lately attained a more practical grandeur on account of im- 
 portant mining interests that are being developed, notably in 
 the Rosita silver district. New discoveries are also being made, 
 and when one can look at a mountain range and imagine that 
 silver may come from that enormous structure, silver already 
 found, or silver yet to be found, there grows an idea of enchant- 
 ment that makes the traveller, the practical man or the mining 
 operator stoop with awe upon beholding so colossal a treasure 
 house in which is seen the basis of future economic wealth now 
 lying hidden, and awaiting only the call of energetic labor to 
 withdraw it for the* uses of mankind. We started from Pueblo 
 and traversed the base of this range during the month of August 
 in the most delightful part of the season, and crossed the Sapgre 
 de Cristo Pass, (a fearful name, but the pass fully justifies it), 
 until we entered the valley of the Rio Grande and the fainous 
 San Luis Park, so caUed, an immense detiital plain simply, park, 
 it is not, valley it might be called from its physical shape. 
 
 Reaching the little post of Fort Garland lying upon a strip of 
 land between Sangre de Oristd and Ute creeks, we came to the 
 border line, of Government civilization at least, for here we find 
 the same located in a few adobe houses in which government 
 property is stored half in corral and half in dingy flat top huts, 
 with apertures resembling loop-holes, although fashioned by 
 nature. Here were stationed a fraction of the army so well 
 sustained upon our frontier for the protection of civilization ad- 
 vancing in face of many obstacles. 
 
 Here we rested for a few days in camp on a little island 
 beautifully ensconsed among the trees. An island because it was 
 like an oasis, situated on a dusty plateau surrounded by a little 
 stream of about two feet of water all from the Ute creek, or 
 what is left of that stream after emerging from the foot hills. 
 From this point directly across the wide valley of the Rio Grande 
 we reached a number of Mexican settlements on the western side 
 
10 
 
 of the most southerly county of Colorado ; thence farther west- 
 ward to the little settlement of Conejos. Without guides and 
 without escorts, we passed from this point up the stream of the 
 same name, changing soon our route to the northward and 
 climbing a noticeable peak that from the valley below stood out 
 boldly in the horizon, the view from which can only be compared 
 to that of entering a paradise. 
 
 One of the earUest points visited by us was named Pros- 
 pect Peak, from which, looking eastward and north, is seen the 
 great San Luis plain, and to the west the little valleys of the 
 Conejos and its minor tributaries clothed with grass, presenting 
 most beautiful oscillations of color to the eye, while farther in the 
 horizon lay long mesa lines heavily clothed with pines and decidu- 
 ous foliage, all lending a calm repose to the landscape seldom 
 witnessed. 
 
 Within these tributaries we spent a portion of the season ; 
 finally, after threading in and out, reach the sources of the eastern 
 streams, and one stands upon the backbone of the continent, at 
 a mountain summit rising majestically from the half plateau, half 
 mesa forms, standing a proud and conspicuous monument, (dupli- 
 cated nowhere, so far as I know), marking the powerful line 
 of serrated ridges, which from the 49th to the 32d parallel divide 
 the waters of the Pacific from those of the Atlantic. '. 
 
 Here we encountered storms, with thupder and lightning, 
 which after their exhibition of temper left a clear and°radiant 
 sky, lighting with magnificence the well developed flora of this 
 region. Continuing westward, we followed with considerable 
 difiiculty a stream, which afterwards proved to be what will be 
 named the eastern branch of the San Juan, to its junction with 
 the main or upper fork, thence to the famous hot sprino-s at 
 Pagosa. These were examined by parties under Col. Macomb 
 in 1858, who visited them while exploring for a wagon road' 
 and have been described by Professor Newberry, geolocrist to 
 that expedition, in a report that it is believed has neve'r been 
 published. This was a point for rest and rendezvous, and the 
 most westerly reached bv myself. In a trip to Sierra Amarilla 
 in the valley of the Chama, the backbone of the country was 
 again crossed, but, how different the grandeur of this latter 
 crossing. Here the erosion of the horizontal strata leaves a 
 poorly marked line from which waters flow oither to the Atlantic 
 or Pacific. Indeed, it is most difficult to determine the precise 
 points of this line from which precipitated moisture would flow to 
 the hither or yon side. 
 
 Returning from Pagosa, with a specially organized partv 
 the main head of the San Juan was reached, thence throu/h 
 flood, mud, snow and forest we reached the westerly arm ot 
 the Rio Grande, which nestles its perennial head within the 
 
11 
 
 southern line of the Uiicoinpaghre Mountains, grazing most 
 marvellously the heads of the San Juan, about which occur a 
 series of complicated folds for a distance of 80 miles. Thence 
 flowing to the south, it comes to an area covered with quaternary- 
 deposits in this portion of the Rio Grande basin. One little 
 experience gathered while making this trip, although not 
 altogether agreeable, may perhaps amuse if not interest you all: 
 While camping near the summit of one of the many ridges skirt- 
 ing the tributaries of the upper San Juan, at an altitude of 10,250 
 feet, a heavy rain began just at dusk, and minus an epicurean's 
 supper, with a wet bef), without forage for the mules, with numb 
 fingers and dread of the night we were made the recipients 
 suddenly of a succession of grand physical phenomena, which 
 it has not been my fortune to witness belbre. Just at the small 
 hours of the morning, while looking up through the mantling 
 cover of fir and aspen, could be seen glimpses of Wavy clouds 
 and the moon clearly shining, while the peculiar shuddering 
 effect that comes from cold water drpping down one's back 
 was experienced by your observer, although carefully ensconced 
 in his blankets, and while simultaneously in another quadrant 
 of the heavens a snow storm of considerable vigor was actively 
 going on. 
 
 Indeed we had snow about four inches deep, or rather in the 
 morning we had this. During this interval the grumbling fol- 
 lowed by vivid and clear flashes of lightning afforded yet another 
 species of pyrotechnics on the part of the heavens, all creating 
 an awe of the power of nature more impressive than all powers of 
 description. One by one was heard the crack of trees, broken 
 and demolished by the violence of the wind, driven at a fearful 
 rate. You can well imagine how much this was enjoyed, how 
 much we all slept ; but, fortunately for the alacrity which we 
 desired in our homeward march, we found ourselves early on the 
 road next morning. It is a matter woithy of scientific note, 
 this peculiar relation between clouds, moonshine, clear sky and 
 thunder, hail, snow, etc., which I believe has hardly ever been 
 observed before. Marching steadily on in this poi-tion of our sea- 
 son's trip, we reach a point near the south fork of the Rio 
 Grande, thence to its junction with the main stream, and to the 
 little mining town of Del Norte, on the western side again of 
 this great San Luis valley. Here another division of one of the 
 small fractional part of the expedition took place— a portion with- 
 drawing by stage communication leading to the Arkansas Valley. 
 In the latter direction your observer travelled hence to Pueblo. 
 The season's trip was short, but one full of varied incidents and 
 of extended observation in the mountain portion of one out of 
 the twelve extended trips taken by myself in the mountains 
 of the west since the summer of 1868. While a fragment 
 
12 
 
 of the main party -were returning under my direction, the 
 remainder, under Lieut. Whipple of the Army, prosecuted their 
 inquiries westward toward the mouth of the San Juan, another, 
 under Lieut. Marshall, were in the upper and northerly parts ot 
 the San Juan basin, a,mong the mines lately discovered there, and 
 succeeded in completing the triangulation begun in 1873, stretch- 
 ing well-conditioned belts of triangles southward, thus connect- 
 ing with the series established in New Mexico in 1873. This 
 party have accomplished their season's work as have also the 
 others, and returned to the office in Washington for the elabora- 
 tion of results. 
 
 Lieut. Birnie directed a party immediately south of the main 
 division, debouching from the mountains eastward at Cimarron, 
 New Mexico, at the close of the season, having reached the 
 western boundary of New Mexico, covering the area south to 
 Abiqui in the valley of the Chama, and westward to include the 
 main southern tributaries of the San Juan. 
 
 Lieut. Price, with a special triangulation party, to which were 
 added a mineralogist and collector, occupied portions still farther 
 to the south, their southward latitudinal line being that through 
 Las Vegas, New Mexico, and their eastern limit the ridge of the 
 main range bordering upon the plains and dividing the valley 
 of the Pecos from the Rio Grande. 
 
 Lieut. Blunt and party were assigned to a portion east of the 
 main ridge, and bounded, latitudinally, north and south, by Las 
 Vegas and Trinidad, Col, east by 104° 7' 30" of longitude. 
 
 A special party for making collections in Natural History and 
 certain hypsometrical determinations, followed aline leading from 
 Santa Fe, via Fort Wingate, Camp Apache, New Camp Grant, 
 Fort Bowie in Arizona, and returned via the same post except 
 Wingate, and including Forts Tulerosa and Craig, to Santa Fk 
 Their labors were crowned with most gratifying results at a 
 minimum expense, and fill in gaps in the Natural History areas, 
 left vacant in other years, extending observations upon geogra- 
 phical distribution, with new forms. 
 
 Yet another party for special Natural History and Paleontolo- 
 gical study, under Dr. Yarrow for the early part, and Prof E. 
 D. Cope for the latter part of the season, pursued their investi- 
 gations in the valley of the Rio Grande, north of Santa Fe and in 
 portions of the southern San Juan basins, with most gratifying re- 
 sults. Prof Cope has already submitted descriptions 'of new 
 vertebrate forms that have been published. 
 
 A substantial stone and brick observatory was established at 
 Ogdenin 18Y3 and was occupied as a connecting station; to it 
 were sent signals from the main stations occupied by another 
 party in New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska. In this connec- 
 tion I beg leave to state that the Western Union and Atlantic and 
 
1^ 
 
 Pacific I'eiegrapii Companies have as usual extended most literal 
 aid to the longitudinal campaigns, without which efficient assis- 
 tance the same degree of success could not have been obtained. 
 It may not be amiss to note that in addition to the collection of 
 topographical data, knowledge regarding the resources of the 
 areas traversed and surveyed is one of the objects of investiga- 
 tion. As another and higher branch of the work, may be men- 
 tioned the establishment astronomically of geographical points 
 at selected positions within the entire area, west of the 100th 
 meridian. Many of these have been made available to the wants 
 of the Survey in carrying out its mapping objects. At others 
 conspicuous and solid monuments of stone, with the meridian line 
 passing through them, have been erected, establishing a line- ac- 
 curately marked available for the uses of Governmental, corpo- 
 rate and private surveys, of practical advantage for all time to 
 come, and the "better understood the more known. Indeed I 
 have been informed, by the Surveyor Generals of Nevada 
 and of Wyoming Territories, that they had been made use of 
 in the determination of the annual change in variation of the 
 magnetic needle, a matter ot great importance in fixing the loca- 
 tion of the property of all settlers, thus acting as a safeguard 
 against questions that may be raised in thei future, as to the 
 boundaries ot landed properties, (or in the newer portions of 
 the great west, unlike New England, therp are few artificial 
 boundaries marking the extent of estates agricultural or mineral, 
 and the variation of the needle entering as an element into all 
 land titles is subject to an unknown annual fluctuation. While 
 to-day in portions of our western interior land may not be worth 
 the government minimum price, it . may in the future be worth 
 maximum sums. It is well then that these mei-idian lines are 
 established at this early day, and future generations will be thank- 
 ful for what has already been done were the good work to be at 
 once suspended. 
 
 While I can add but little of interest gathered by myself and 
 individual members of the parties throughout the season, I will 
 tell you that with but one casualty to be noticed, all have termi- 
 nated their duties and reached the point of disbanding at Pueblo, 
 and are now on their way, or have reached the office of the survey 
 at Washington. To attempt at this time to lay before you any 
 detailed features of the several branches of the work, as to their 
 scientific or other values, would be exceedingly premature ; I will 
 leave that for another time. I hope that you will only expect of 
 me statements made in the most general teims, for I have not 
 deemed it advisable to come before you on this occasion with a 
 finished scientific paper, nor with the dry material such as often 
 forms a part of many of the messages and documents to Con- 
 gress, but hope-that 1 will have proven to you that we are add-- 
 
a 
 
 ing oUr iiiite in tlie line of geographical inquiry, and I beg to 
 state that the time I can take from my strictly professional duties 
 is extremely small. The region of country entered by the parties 
 this year, presents physical peculiarities of marked characteristics; 
 consisting of massive mountain forms, plateaux and rivers, and 
 althQBgh it cannot be said of a large portion of the area, that the 
 agriculturist has great attractions extended to him, yet with 
 the advancement of legitimate mining enterprises, there will grow 
 up a demand for farming products, that will not be dependent 
 on cheap transportation, and will enrich not as do the prairies, 
 where sometimes corn has to be burned in the field, but with pro- 
 ceeds from a ready and elastic market for all the productions of 
 the soil. There are vast fields suitable for grazing purposes ready 
 with their perennial and perpetual supply of nutritive grasses 
 sufficient for numerous herds of cattle and sheep lying ready to 
 provide beef for the nation. Beef for the nation when the U. S. 
 numbers her one hundred millions, as well as we have to-day beef 
 for the nation with its forty millions. 
 
 This great supply, the capacity of which has been largely called 
 into question during the past few years, attracts a growing atten- 
 tion, and to the question where is to come beef for the millions 
 of Americans yet unborn, I would answer, after a personal obser- 
 vation of portions of 250,000 square miles of the western interior, 
 " Go west" to the , inland valleys, detrital plains and extensive 
 plateaux, and there you will find provided through the handi- 
 work of Nature material for the preparation of beef for these 
 future millions, inexhaustible for several generations at least 
 
 I wish to call your attention to the condition of some of 
 the prospectors, in S. W. Colorado, as noticed during the 
 past season. In the different trips in the western mountain region 
 especially east of the Sierras, from Nevada to Arizona that 
 have been conducted by our parties we have met a large' num- 
 ber of these hardypioneers hunting for " gold and silver " Those 
 who have wended their way into the remote sections of Colorado 
 unlike most of the prospectors, however, of the Nevada and' 
 Arizona regions, who disdain to labor except when they are out 
 of grub, and then are able to replenish the necessities of 
 stomach and pocket in some flourishing mining district we found 
 many departing from the San Juan mining" country' who hnd 
 been flash in the early part of the chase, but now instead of one 
 man to four donkeys (a magnificent outfit), four or five men wpvp 
 often seen behind one donkey, the latter carrvinc all the worldlv 
 goods that these men possessed. Cases weVe presented where 
 charity had occupation, and it was with extreme pleasure thnt 
 on one we divided four-fifths of what little food we had amon "a 
 party of men, in order that they might no lono-er go huno-rv 
 \.t 18 to be remarked, however, that the total four-fifths of ''our 
 
15 
 
 store was not enough for one meal; still we thought to have 
 added to our record, in the cause of suffering humanity. 
 
 I would like to call the attention of the Society to the distribut 
 tion of forest areas as discovered and entered by parties of the 
 survey. It will be recollected that iipon the maps made at the 
 close of the Ives' expedition of 1857-8 there was placed the name 
 of Black or San Francisco forest. Its extent in either direction 
 was not laid down. However, our surveys go to show that this 
 great forest is probably the largest south of the 40th parallel. It 
 «xtends from about the 107th to the 114th meridian west from 
 Greenwich, of irregular width, varying from 30 to, say, 100 miles. 
 It is a noble patch of forest, broken only here and there by 
 localities which well might be called parks, not for the reason that 
 the parks in Colorado are so named, but because their variations in 
 landscape, have a semblance of cultivation. It is unlike the forests 
 of Northern California, Oregon and Washington Territories^ 
 where red-wood of dense growth predominates, in being inter- 
 spersed with little valleys, glades and mountain nooks. There are 
 also areas bordering on the San Juan, and in parts of the territory 
 of Colorado yet remaining as possessions of the Government so far 
 scarcely touched, and it is to be hoped they may forever remain 
 untouched by the advance of settlement. And here I would 
 remark that it would be well to institute investigations, looking 
 to ascertaining what influence these areas of forest have upon the 
 local amounts of precipitation within their immediate areas. 
 
 It is stated in the Report of Humphreys and Abbott upon the 
 Hydraulics of the Mississippi, that " The removal of forests on 
 mountains will tend to increase the amount of ^ain by creating 
 heated upward currents," thus leading to more frequent and 
 violent floods and freshets in the basin of that river. Observa- 
 tions have been made upon phenomena that bear upon this 
 question, and the matured results will appear in the final reports. 
 
 It has been frequently noted, that in the latter parts of each 
 sunny day, from 3 to 6 in the afternoon, a collection of at first 
 fleecy arid then cumulus and afterward nimbus clouds concenr 
 trating toward mountain peaks occurs, and a precipitation at 
 the crpsts is noticeable while at lower levels, say if the moun- 
 tains are 10,000 to 12,000 feet above the sea, at altitudes between 
 6,00t) and 7,000 feet there is usually no rainfall at all. Theconnec- 
 tion between the intensity and direction of the electrical currents 
 of the earth's crust, and the hygrometric relations of the atmos- 
 phere in such instances is unquestionably intimate although at 
 present not fully explained. The facts gathered in relation to 
 water supply above and below the surface are many and afford 
 satisfactory evidence regarding points at which artesian wells 
 may be successfully sunk, and localities where by directing the 
 totnl aqueous precipitation in proper channels of irrigation arid 
 
16: 
 
 ^elds may be made arable. The data gathered in relation thereto 
 will be augmented from year to year by more extended examina- 
 tions. 
 
 NATIONAL ADVANTAGES OF THE SURVEY. ,• 
 
 I would endeavor to impress upon your minds the importance 
 of these surveys in regard to their uses to the Government. In 
 so doing I may have undertaken too much, since I am but an 
 humble worker in a small fraction of this great field, yet if one 
 sets forth the plan, wherefrom has grown to the War Depart- 
 ment the economy promised in the early stages of this work, 
 one might well be pardoned for venturing upon the yet untrod- 
 den fields from which other portions of the Government might 
 gathi-r fruit. 
 
 To say that the maps of the interior of this country are fraught 
 with numerous errors, is to tell you nothing new. To tell you 
 how these errors may be overcome and rectified were indeed a 
 noble task, but he who accomplishes a remedy while! remaining 
 true to the economical interests of the Government, deserves and 
 will receive credit at the hands of all. In the great'domain at 
 the west, in advance of settlement and of the acres thrown open 
 to occupation by advancing civilization, the Government stiU 
 possesses lands of which little is known, large parts of which 
 no one representing the Government, except now and then a 
 desultory scout, has ever traversed. Into these regions War 
 Department explorations have been sent ; their practical value 
 at the moment may not meet the wants of the settler or the 
 operator, but it is necessary to the Government that the place, 
 size and natural and other resources of these tracts should be fully 
 understood, because of present and prospective operations 
 through them, and because of their subsequent entry and sale 
 to parties desiring to avail themselves of the homestead right, &c. 
 
 Into these remote, inaccessible and often dangerous regions, 
 parties of the survey under my charge have entered, seeking to 
 evolve practical results from the problems entrusted to them. 
 And what are some of these practical problems ? it well may be 
 asked. That from a purely governmental necessity these refer 
 to a delineation of the surface and a description of the resources 
 of the area surveyed, can be easily understood, while from a broad 
 national standard grows the desirability of investigating further 
 into scientific questions, solely, bearing upon the distribution of 
 forms in Natural History and in a discussion of the structure of 
 the earth's crust, from stratigraphical and other known rela- 
 tions, and, perhaps, a practical application of the information 
 gathered to the wants- of man. 
 
 The great secret of solidity for a work of this nature must 
 grow however from the fact that the useful information gained, 
 
17 
 
 repays its cost, granting which, npon this as a foundation may 
 from time to lime cluster the labors of the scientist engaged 
 in advancing inquiries in special fields beyond the present domain 
 of knowledge, wresting from nature hidden truths, to formulate 
 them into a "law," nevertheless the mission of the Engineer 
 remains the same, and in its simple way should apply all that is 
 great and all that is small of formulated science to the practical 
 objects had in view. 
 
 Making maps of the interior, scientifically accurate throughout 
 all their parts has not as an original proposition been attempted 
 until late years. Our admirable organizations, the U. S. Coast 
 Survey, U. S. Lake Survey, and River and Harbor Surveys, an- 
 swering special purposes, and the expeditions for exploration and 
 survey, and more lately the Land Suiveys have been the principal 
 sources from whence have grown the authentic maps of the 
 country, and little question has ever been raised as to the expend- 
 itures made for carrying on these great works, but the utility of 
 furtheiing extensive schemes of survey founded upon a broader 
 policy, of the great interior, west of the Mississippi, has re- 
 peatedly received an apathetic hearing at the hands of Congress. 
 The only method of securing a permanent position for a survey or- 
 ganization, it seems to me, is to place it as a subject to the needs of 
 a department of the Goveinment fulfilling which it will reach 
 phases of economy to interior sectional interests and with it will 
 grow a policy co-equal with the wants of the Government, so set- 
 tled and lasting as to bring to the support of enterprises under 
 it in course of time many of the best educated minds of the coun- 
 try, whether military or civil. "While writing my last annual re- 
 port some of the uses and needs of these explorations and surveys 
 to the War Department came into my mind and were recorded 
 
 as follows : n, 3 -i j j- * 
 
 1st The published maps, profiles, and compiled distances over 
 present and future routes of communication and supply that look 
 to a saving in cost of transportation of all materials and muni- 
 tions of war and other supplies forwarded through the Quarter- 
 master's Department of the Army. As a correct understanding 
 of the topographical features of a country is necessary to all mil- 
 itarv operations, either in times of war or peace, the necessity for 
 the acUsition of this information in a systematic form at the 
 War Department, and its dissemination through the different 
 branches of the military service, becomes apparent. 
 
 2d The establishment of routes of communication necessary 
 for the supply of interior posts. For an understanding of the 
 
 b ve the inter-lying country requires thorough examination. 
 * o J 'critical routes to be followed in the interchange of troops 
 between distant stations when demanded. 
 
18 
 
 4tli. N"ew and shorter routes for forwarding recruits to their 
 companies and stations. 
 
 5th. Routes for scouts pursuing hostile or unfriendly Indians. 
 
 6th. The selections of sites for new military posts established 
 in advance of, or as safeguards to, civilization. 
 
 7th. Routes for troops when called out for the protection of 
 miners or settlers. 
 
 8th. A knowledge of the resources of the country surround- 
 ing the military establishments, and its capacity for furnishing 
 supplies. 
 
 9tli. Routes of transit when troops are ordered to remote 
 points in aid of the civil law. 
 
 loth. A knowledge of the character and habits of the several 
 Indian tribes, and their disposition toward each other and toward 
 settlers. 
 
 The above are a few of the classes of examinations necessary 
 and valuable to the several Bureaus of the War Department and 
 to the commanders of troops in their pioneering into the un- 
 occupied and comparatively inaccessible portions of the western 
 interior. 
 
 To obtain such information that should be at all times imme- 
 diately available for the uses of the War Departm'int, such ob- 
 servations as are necessary for an accurate delineation, and, de- 
 scription of the surface and resources of the area surveyed mnst be 
 made. This calls for geographical surveys in their highest and 
 broadest sense. 
 
 Tne advantages to industrial interests growing from the ex- 
 aminations made by a body of skilled men, mobile enough to be 
 dispatched with little warning to any region west of the 100th 
 m.eridian, no matter how remote, and sufficiently stable to suc- 
 cessfully accomplish required objects, is not likely to be overesti- 
 mated. That the Dspartment, supervising their duties, requires 
 immediate results is a guarantee to an activity that is advanced 
 by a species of discipline, without which certain if not all fea- 
 tures of an expedition might fail. The necessities of the army 
 as protectors of and as a nucleus to advancing population in the 
 west has so deeply rooted itself in the popular mind of those 
 sections as to render it unnecessary to dwell upon the benefits 
 coming from the continuous exploration which forms no little 
 part of its duty. It is believed that the standard of geographical 
 work established in the past few years will, if energetically con- 
 tinued, add an increasing amount of enthusiasm to emigration 
 and to the legitimate establishment of the great industries, from 
 the systematic information rapidly acquired and made as speedily 
 as possible accessible to the public. When we may reach a policy 
 that surrounds with an entity of relations, the standard accepted 
 for the work, then the economic problems of the routes traversed 
 
19 
 
 and the areas occupied may one by one be anticipated and prac- 
 tical results evolved. Until finally from the appheation of the 
 highest principles of Geodesy to the gathering of the simplest 
 detailed facts, the surveys, of our interior will be constantly ad- 
 vanced until there shall be reared to Geography a proud monu- 
 ment at whose base shall lie the mighty domain that is our in- 
 heritance as a Government, the States and Territories of the 
 TJnited States of America. 
 
I» 
 
 GAVLAMOUNT® 
 PAMPHLET BINDER 
 ^ZZ, Svracuse, N.Y. 
 = Stockton, Colif. 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 F 594 W55 
 
 Address of Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler ... 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 028 910 269