History of U.S.G.S Established on March 3, 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill appropriating money for “sundry civil expenses.”

Sundry civil expenses? The sundry civil expenses included a brief section in the bill establishing a new agency called USGS It was charged with several responsibilities. 1. the classification of the public lands -[Note: this started with the Land Ordinance survey of 1785..] 2. examination of geological structures, 3. mineral resources and, 4. products of the national domain. such as agriculture, industry, etc.

Early USGS Earliest geological surveys were made in support of agriculture which was the basic occupation in the US in the early 1800’s In 1879 the federal government still held title to more than; 1.2 billion acres of land, nearly all of it west of the Mississippi river, of which only 200 million had been surveyed.

USGS--The First 25 Years During the Survey's first 25 years, the United States had become an urban industrial world power. The population had increased from 48.9 million in 1879 to 81.8 million in 1904. ….other changes?

1920’s-The Post War Era Nearly 60 percent of the country was still totally unmapped, and much that had been mapped was in need of resurvey. A plan was proposed to completely map the entire U.S. by 1932/ …this did not happen

POST WORLD WAR II Half the nation was unmapped Geologic Maps - less than 10% of the country was mapped Early 1960’s - appropriations increased significantly

The Plan Standard 7.5- and 15-minute quadrangle maps The National Mapping Division Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)

Some USGS Products Topographic Maps Digital Raster Graphic - DRG Digital Orthophotograph - DOQ