Great Surveys of the American West (Volume 38) (American Exploration and Travel Series)

About this book

After the Civil War four geological and geographical surveys later called the Great Surveys Undertook the massive task of finding out what lay west of the hundredth meridian in the vast American wilderness. Parties led by Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden medical doctor turned geologist Clarence King aristocrat and intellectual John Wesley Powell conqueror of the Colorado River and Lieutenant George M. Wheeler determined military man and scientist roamed over the wild country during the years 1867-79 observing analyzing mapping and at the end of each season returning to Washington to publish their results. For the first time in book form Richard A. Bartlett has recreated for the reader the hardships both physical and financial the discoveries and the high adventures of the bold headstrong and often brilliant men of the Great Surveys as they climbed the Rockies explored the Yellowstone or battled the Colorado.