C L A R E N C E KING'S F O R T I E T H PARALLEL S U R V E Y BY RICHARD A. BARTLETT*
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N T H E years 1867 through 1879 four geographical and geological surveys of the American W e s t were conducted under the auspices of various branches of the United States Government. Commonly known as the Great Surveys, they are best known individually by the names of their leaders—the Hayden, King, Powell, and Wheeler surveys. 1 The first, and apparently least known of these surveys, was the King Survey, officially known as the United States Geological Survey of the Fortieth Parallel. Its leader was the sauve and cosmopolitan Clarence King, close friend of Henry Adams; a man whom, it may be recalled, Adams had considered an outstanding success in 1871, but a failure in 1893.2 Whatever the extent of his later failure, there can be no doubt that King's United States Geological Survey of the Fortieth Parallel was a really great achievement. This project originated with King, was led by him for twelve years, and was brought to a successful completion through his efforts. In any history of American civilization, this survey deserves more comment than a casual sentence in the text or a footnote at the bottom of the page. King's Fortieth Parallel Survey materially improved the reputation of American science abroad, and set an example of accuracy and scholarship at home at a time when such an example was sorely needed. That such a survey should have taken place in an otherwise corrupt and barren era in our national life (1867-79) *Dr. Bartlett has done considerable work on the Great Surveys of the American West. He is presently a Florida State University resident professor at Tyndall Air Force Base, Panama City, Florida. 1 For the complete list of publications of these surveys, see Laurence Frederick Schmeckebier, Catalogue and Index of the Publications of the Hayden. King, Powell, and Wheeler Surveys (Washington, 1904). 2 Henry Adams, 7Vie Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography (Boston, 1918), 346.
