Letter from O.C. Marsh, vice-president and acting president of the National Academy of Sciences, transmitting in obedience to law the report on the scientific surveys of the Territories, made by the National Academy of Sciences.

  • Marsh, Othniel Charles, 1831-1899.
Date:
[1878?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter from O.C. Marsh, vice-president and acting president of the National Academy of Sciences, transmitting in obedience to law the report on the scientific surveys of the Territories, made by the National Academy of Sciences. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    internal improvements; second, of the geogTai)liical and geological sur- veys now in i)rogTess under the Department of the Interior; and, third, of the present land surveys under the Land Office. , The effect of the above changes will be to maintain within the Interior Department three distinct organizations: First, the Coast and Interior Siirvev, whose function will embrace all questions of position and men- suration ; second, the United States Geological Survey, whose function will be the determination of all questions relating to the geological structure and natural resources of the public domain; third, the Land Office, controlling the disposition and sale of the public lands, including all questions of title and record. With this divisiou should be secured a perfect co-ordination and co-operation between the three branches. The Land Office should call upon the Coast and Interior Survey for all surveys and measurements required for the sale and disposition of land. The Land Office should also call upon the United States Geological Sur- vey for all information as to the value and classification of lands. The results of all the mensuration surveys, as soon as completed, should be immediately available for the Land Office and for the Geological Survey and for other branches of the government, as required. The Geological Survey should be authorized to execute local topographical surveys for special purposes, such, for instance, as the subterraneous surveys of mining districts and metallic deposits, &c. Each of the three organizations thus defined should make an annual report of its operations to the Secretary of the Interior. The publica- tions of the Land Office should embrace reports of its business operations relating to the disposition and sale of laud, together with the necessary maps. The publications of the Coast and Interior Survey, besides the annual report of operations, should consist of its geodetic results, geo- graphical, topographical, and cadastral maps, coast charts, and such discussions and treatises connected therewith as the sui^erintendeiit shall deem of value. The publications of the Geological Survey should consist of an annual report of operations, geological and economic maps, illustrating the resources and classification of the land, reports ui)on general and economical geology in all its branches, with the necessarily connected ijaleontology. All collections made by the Coast and Interior and the Geological Surveys, when no longer needed for the investigations in i^rogress, should be transferred to the National Museum. The committee recommends that upon the organization of the United States Coast and Interior Survey and the United States Geological Sur- vey, a commission be formed, to consist of the Commissioner of the Land Office, Suijerintendent of the Coast and Interior Survey, Director of the United States Geological Survey, the Chief of Engineers of the Army, and three other persons to be appointed by the President, who shall take into consideration the codification of the present laws relating to the survey and disposition of the public domain, and who shall report to Congress within one year a standard of classification and valuation of the public land, together with a sj'^stem of land-parceling survey. The necessity of this commission is evident from the fact that by far the larger part of the public domain lies in the region where, from geolog- ical and climatic causes, the lands are for the most part not valuable for field-culture, and where the system of homestead pre-emption and sale in accordance with existing laws is both impracticable and undesirable. In regard to publications of the two sm*veys above defined, the com- mittee recommend that, besides the number of copies of each report which Congress may order for its own distributiou, three thousand