the Survey was called upon to give expert advice to other branches of the government as to the fuels and structural materials used by them; and the preparation of specifications and the testing of fuels and materials came to be a standing feature of the Survey's work. The emphasis which had thus tended, in this field of the Survey's work, toward the technologic rather than the geologic aspect of the mineral industries was strengthened by an appropriation made in 1908 (act of May 22, 1908) "for the protection of lives of miners in the territories and in the districts of Alaska, and for conducting investigations as to the causes of mine explosions with a view to increasing safety in mining." Under this appropriation the Survey made examinations of explosives used in coal mining in the United States, of the occurrence of explosive gases and inflammable or explosive dust, of safety lamps and mine-rescue apparatus, and of the use of electricity in mines. These investigations, like the forestry surveys, necessitated the addition to the Survey's personnel of an entirely new staff of technical experts— mining technologists. For the fiscal year 1908-09 the appropriations for the three classes of technologic investigations just described-testing of fuels, testing of structural materials, and investigation of mine explosives had reached a total of over $500,000, and though in the next fiscal year the item for testing fuels was reduced from $250,000 to $100,000, it was evident that the investigations of mining accidents would continue to grow in cost and importance. The lack of intimate connection between these investigations and the regular geologic work of the Survey, and the feeling, which, as already seen, had been expressed in Congress more than ten years before, that the mining industries of the country should have definite representation in the government, resulted in a proposal that a Bureau of Mines be created as an independent bureau of the Department of the Interior, and that it take over and develop the work in mining technology begun by the Survey. By act of May 16, 1910, this proposal was enacted into law, and on July 1 the personnel of the Technologic Branch of the Survey was organized as the Bureau of Mines, the chief of that branch becoming the first director of the new bureau. By the same act, the investigation of structural materials. was transferred to the Bureau of Standards. Land Classification Work. The three important phases of the Survey's work just traced-in forestry, reclamation, and mining technology-had all been undertaken in pursuance of special statutory authority. About 1905, however, an activity of prime importance was begun without any change in the law. The very first clause in the definition of functions in the act of 1879 creating the Survey had provided that the Survey should have charge of "the classification of the public lands." This phrase, however, was from the first interpreted by the Survey, and inferentially also by Congress, as calling for a mere geologic and mineralogic examination of the public lands without reference to the public land laws. For over twenty years this interpretation governed, but then the General Land Office and the Secretary of the Interior began to call more frequently upon the Survey for its opinion, based on information either already gathered by it or obtained by special investigation, as to the applicability of particular provisions of the land laws to specific tracts of public land to which patent was sought by private parties or with respect to which official action was contemplated. In 1906 the Survey undertook, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, a systematic valuation of the public lands that were believed to contain coal, in order to determine the prices at which such lands should be sold by the government under the coal land law. This work is still in progress and to it has been added the examination and classification of oil, phosphate, potash, and mineral lands, and of lands suitable for water-power sites, as well as enlarged homesteads and stock-raising homesteads. Today the classi fication of the public lands by the Survey constitutes an integral part of their administration. In the last decade the functions of the Survey have not materially changed. Rather there has been a marked development of the existing functions of the Survey in the direction of increasing the popularity and practical value of the results of its work. This tendency is seen particularly in the more popular character of some of the publications, in the more prompt publication of statistics of mineral resources, and in the vigorous prosecution of geologic and mineralogic inquiries having for their purpose the location of deposits of phosphates, nitrates, petroleum, potash, and other minerals for which there is an urgent industrial need. The Survey and the War. Many of the early surveys of the West were largely military. Among their objects was the ascertainment of the most practicable routes of transportation in a country not supplied with railroads, the topography of the country as bearing on the conduct of military operations, and the resources and development of the country with respect to its ability to furnish supplies for troops. As the West developed and as the Geological Survey extended its topographic mapping over larger and larger areas of the country, the need for separate military surveys largely disappeared and the maintenance of a corps of topographical engineers by the Army was discontinued. In 1916 the War Department received an appropriation of $35,000 for the conduct of certain topographical surveys deemed necessary in connection with the development of plans for the national defense. An agreement was entered into between the War Department and the Survey by which the appropriation was expended by the Survey under the direction of the War Department. In the execution of this work the Survey prepared a specimen topographical map similar to that developed by the best European practice in military mapping. In March, 1917, the recognition of the urgent needs of the military service resulted in the plans for the Survey's entire field work in topography being made to conform to a program drawn up by the General Staff of the Army. The map printing plant of the Survey was also made available to the War and Navy Departments for which it has printed a great number of charts and maps. In addition to these military topographic surveys, the Survey made special examinations of underground waters and soil drainage in a number of localities that were under consideration by the War Department for military encampments. Of no less importance for the prosecution of the war are the special investigations which have been made by the Survey with a view to locating new deposits of minerals, both metals and non-metals, required in the manufacture of munitions. Among these minerals are manganese, pyrite, platinum, chromite, tungsten, antimony, potash, quicksilver, and nitrate. Perhaps the most striking contribution made by the Survey to the military service has been the group of specially trained engineers in its personnel who have been commissioned in the Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps. At the end of the fiscal year 1917, this group included one geologist, seven hydrographic engineers, and sixty-one topographic engineers. CHAPTER II ACTIVITIES In the preceding chapter the development of the activities of the Survey has been briefly outlined. In the present chapter each of these activities will be treated in turn and the attempt will be made to trace in some detail its origin and development, its present purpose, the method of its performance and the progress made to date in accomplishing the program proposed. It may be said that all the activities of the Survey have, broadly speaking, two purposes-that of making public information regarding the topography and resources of the country, and that of obtaining information necessary for the proper administration of the laws governing the disposition of the public lands. As indicated in the preceding chapter, though the general character of the Survey's activities is determined by the permanent provisions of laws establishing and governing the Survey, which provide that the Director of the Survey shall have charge of "the geological survey and the classification of the public lands and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources and products of the national domain, . shall continue the preparation of a geologic map of the United States," yet the extent and the specific nature of the work may be determined by the annual appropriations made for the Survey's work. The appropriation acts for the year ending June 30, 1918, specifically authorize expenditures for the following activities: 1. Topographic surveys in various portions of the United States. |