Survey Pack Train on the Yellowstone River

Credit: Library of Congress, The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920

The Library of Congress identifies this photograph as a "U.S. Geological Survey pack train along the Yellowstone River in Montana" in 1871.  However, the U.S. Geological Survey was not established until 1879.

The Library of Congress description identifies William Henry Jackson as the photographer and goes on to say "William Henry Jackson's work as official photographer for Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden's U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories between 1870 and 1878 established his reputation as one of the most significant interpreters of the American landscape and the natural wonders of the West."

The names and dates indicate that this photograph was taken on the Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories led by Ferdinand V. Hayden, M.D. and one of the many government surveys that spanned the time between Lewis and Clark and the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey.

… In 1870, Hayden presented to Congress a plan for the geological and geographical exploration of the Territories of the United States that looked forward to the gradual preparation of a series of geographical and geological maps of each of the territories on a uniform scale.  With Congressional blessing the Hayden survey then became the Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories under the Department of the Interior. (Rabbitt, 1989).

During Hayden's survey, other government surveys were being carried out by John Wesley Powell (Geological and Geographical Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region) and Lieutenant George Wheeler (Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian).  Conflicts of interest and economic pressure led Congress to ask the National Academy of Sciences to recommend a plan for surveying and mapping the United States that would result in the best possible outcome at the least possible cost.  Part of the National Academy of Sciences recommendation was to create an independent organization within the Department of Interior called the U.S. Geological Survey (Rabbit, 1979, and Rabbitt, 1989).

The amendment that established the U.S. Geological Survey charged it with "the classification of the public lands and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain" and named it the Geological Survey (Rabbitt, 1989).  The name of the organization was officially changed to the United States Geological Survey on May 18, 1992 (Pub. L. 102-285, Sec. 10(a), May 18, 1992, 106 Stat. 171).

The same legislation that created the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879 provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30, 1879 (Rabbitt, 1989).