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Mr. D. C. Harrison, between the same meridians, to work southward from this parallel; one party in Nebraska, under the direction of Mr. W. J. Peters, to survey the valley of the Platte river west of the ninety-ninth meridian; one party in Kansas, under the direction of Mr. R. M. Towson, to complete the unsurveyed portion of the state east of the one hundredth meridian; and one party in Oklahoma, under the direction of Mr. H. B. Blair, to survey as much as practicable in the territory lying between the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth parallels of latitude and the ninety-seventh and ninety-eighth meridians.

For the control of these Plains areas it is proposed that one party, under the direction of Mr. G. T. Hawkins, shall engage in running accurate traverse lines, and that Mr. S. S. Gannett shall be detailed to execute the astronomic work needful for locating an initial point of the surveys in North and South Dakota and in Oklahoma.

It is recommended that $30,000 be allotted to this work for expenses in field and office.

Second. Under the direction of Mr. A. H. Thompson it is proposed to place four topographic parties at work in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas west of the ninety-seventh meridian, as follows: Two parties to complete the survey of the Deadwood and Hermosa sheets and such further work north and east of the present surveyed area as it is possible for these parties to complete; one party to commence work near the junction of the North and South Platte rivers in Nebraska, and to continue westward. The work in North and South Dakota and Nebraska, for purposes of organization and supervision, to be attached to the Colorado-Montana section and placed under the immediate charge of Mr. E. M. Douglas. The work in Kansas to be extended westward from the present surveyed area by atlas sheets up the valley of the Arkansas river. This work, for purposes of organization and supervision, to be attached to the Texas section and placed under the immediate charge of Mr. R. U. Goode.

STREAM GAUGING AND SPECIAL MAP WORK.

It is proposed that the stream gauging now being carried on in the states of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas west of

the ninety-seventh meridian be continued, and that special maps be constructed of the more important areas of artesian and underflow waters in the states mentioned; that this work be placed under the immediate supervision of Mr. F. H. Newell, and that there be allotted for it $6,400.

It is recommended that to all of this work there be allotted $30,000 for expenses in field and in office.

PLANS FOR GEOLOGY.

ORGANIZATION.

The appropriation for this work for the fiscal year 1891-'92 was $152,500. The direct appropriation for the fiscal year 1892-'93 is $63,700. These amounts are made up of the following items:

It thus appears that eight salaries aggregating $23,800 per annum are stopped. The extension by joint resolution of the appropriation for 1891-'92 into the fiscal year 1892-'93 had the effect of continuing these salaries for a period of 35 days, during which period they amounted to $2,263-81, which amount. was, in a certain sense, added to the appropriation for 1892-'93. Its addition brings the total amount available for the work of this branch to $65,963-81.

During the first half of July field work was actively prosecuted by ten of the fourteen divisions of the geologic branch, and the expenses usually incident to field work were incurred. On the 14th of July, when an amendment to the sundry civil appropriation bill by the United States Senate indicated the probability of serious reduction, telegraphic orders were issued to field parties to avoid all expense which would not be necessary if field work should soon be stopped. On the 19th day of July, when the Senate amendment was concurred in by the House of Representatives, all field work was stopped by telegraphic order. The amount of money expended in this July field work, and the amount of money necessary to close field work, transport officers from the field, and care for field property, have all to be met from the general fund, $50,000. They amount approximately to $10,000, so that, in addition to the salaries specifically provided for by law, only about $40,000 remain for the conduct of the work of the branch during the remainder of the fiscal year.

The work of the geologic branch includes many separate researches, besides the geologic mapping of a large number of distinct atlas sheets. Each of these units of work, as a rule, includes observations in the field, which are recorded in the form of notes, and the subsequent working up of these notes into reports in the one case and geologic maps in the other. If the reduction of expenditure necessitated by the reduction of appropriation were effected by the immediate discharge of the necessary number of assistants, much of the work already done would have no record save that of unclassified notes, and would be practically unavailable and lost. It is believed, therefore, to be most expedient to retain each geologic assistant long enough to put the material contained in notes into systematic shape so that it can be used. Where the work is areal geology the material can be given final map form. Where it is a research of another nature, two courses are open: (1) to prepare the results for publication, (2) to classify and codify the notes so that their material can be used at a future time. In these ways it is proposed to prepare for publication all atlas sheets on which the field work is complete, and the greater number

of researches of which the field work is nearly or quite complete, and to put into condition for preservation and resumption those researches which are quite incomplete, as well as the unfinished atlas sheet data.

In accordance with this general plan the following allotments are recommended for the work of the several divisions. As the work already executed in each division is essentially continuous with that to be performed, the funds expended previous to this date are not separated in the allotment from the funds to be expended afterward.

very

small sums

It will be observed that in several divisions are assigned to the salaries of the chiefs. In some of these cases the chiefs were officers for whose salaries specific provision was made in the appropriation bill for 1892. Their salaries lapsed on the 4th day of August, and they voluntarily agreed to continue their work without pay. In other cases the chiefs are college officers, giving only part of their time to the Survey, and paid in previous years only for the time actually devoted to Survey work, and these gentlemen likewise continue to give their time and attention to the work during the current fiscal year without remuneration. It is proper in this place to remark that the corps of scientific assistants consists chiefly of students, who labor con amore, devoting their time to research. and looking upon the salaries which they receive merely as means to enable them to carry out the purposes of their lives. Actuated by such motives, they all desire still to pursue the work on which they are engaged, and unless their personal circumstances require that they earn a living in some other way, they continue in the work they have begun despite the withdrawal of financial support. Moreover, several gentlemen who can not afford to work entirely without remuneration, have voluntarily expressed their willingness to have their salaries reduced in order that the work of the Survey may not suffer too greatly from the reduction of its funds.

DIVISION OF GEOLOGIC CORRELATION.

This division was constituted for the preparation of a special series of essays, which series is now nearly complete, but it has

also been made to include, as a matter of administrative convenience, a number of special researches not readily assigned elsewhere. It is recommended that the division continue in charge of Mr. G. K. Gilbert, geologist, at $4,000, and that there remain under his direction Miss A. B. Dawson, clerk, at $1,000, and Mr. W. M. Kirtland, clerk, at $1,000.

It is recommended that there be allotted to Mr. I. C. Russell, for the completion of reports upon field work already performed, the sum of $350.

It is recommended that there be allotted to Prof. W. M. Davis, to be expended in the completion of maps of the Triassic area in Connecticut, and in the preparation of reports upon the investigation of that district, the sum of $800.

Total allotment for the division, $7,150.

ATLANTIC COAST DIVISION.

This division is in charge of Prof. N. S. Shaler, who receives compensation at a per diem rate for the time actually given to the Survey. This year he will continue the supervision of the work without compensation, and the allotment is for the services of his temporary assistants.

It

The division has prosecuted several different researches. is recommended that work be continued only upon the surface geology of New England, and that there be allotted, for the completion in the office of the delineation of the features of surface geology from notes previously taken in the field, and for the preparation of reports thereon, the sum of $1,500.

ARCHEAN DIVISION.

The work of this division is the determination of the structure and distribution of metamorphic and crystalline rocks, and its field is in New England. A number of geologic atlas sheets are complete as to field work, but require office work to put them in final shape for publication; others are incomplete as regards field work, and require a certain amount of office work to put them into shape for permanent record, so that the results of previous labors will not be lost. It is recommended that this division remain in charge of Prof. Pumpelly,