Geology. Volume I. Report of progress and synopsis of the field-work, from 1860 to 1864. [Sacramento]: Published by Authority of the Legislature of California, 1865. 26.3x19.2 cm (quarto), pp. [i-vii] viii [ix] x-xxvii [xxviii] [1] 2-498 [499-500: blank], 9 plates, 81 figures in text, original green pebbled cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold and blind, rear panel stamped in blind, brown coated endpapers. First edition. At head of title: "Geological Survey of California. J. D. Whitney, State Geologist." Printer's imprint on title leaf verso reads: "Caxton Press of Sherman & Co., Philadelphia." Field work of the California Geological Survey commenced in December 1860 under the direction of William H. Brewer, who, for four years, was Whitney's principal assistant and leader of the field parties. The first objective of the survey was the investigation of the geology of the coast ranges from south of Los Angeles to just north of Petaluma. The next area to be surveyed was the mining region of the western slope of the Sierra. In 1863 the survey directed its attention to the High Sierra. In June of that year a two-summer survey of the high country began. During the summer of 1863 the survey made a general exploration of Yosemite Valley and surveyed the Sierra crest at the head of the Tuolumne. During the summer of 1864 the high country at the headwaters of the Kern, the Kings, and the San Joaquin rivers was explored and mapped for the first time. Geology. Volume I contained the first extensive description of the High Sierra to be published. The geological outline, based on the 1863 and 1864 field work, described the Sierra Nevada from the headwaters of the Mokelumne to the country of the Kings-Kern Divide. The study established the definition of the High Sierra as "that portion of this great chain which lies above the metalliferous belt just described, forming the crest of the range, and the water-shed between the streams flowing west to the Pacific Ocean and those which find their way eastward into the Great Basin, or some subordinate one, where they are lost by evaporation." The report was illustrated with woodcuts from sketches, made for the most part by Whitney and survey member Charles F. Hoffmann, and from photographs taken in Yosemite by Carleton E. Watkins. In addition to this volume on geology, the California Geological Survey published Palæontology (1864 and 1869) Botany. Volume I (1876), Ornithology (1870), and Geology. Volume II: The Coast Ranges (1882). These volumes contain numerous citations and descriptions of fossils, plant and bird species occurring throughout the region covered in this bibliography. For a checklist and detailed information of these reports and memoirs, see Anthony W. Vogdes, A Bibliography Relating to the Geology, Palæontology, and Mineral Resources of California. Issued by the California State Mining Bureau (Sacramento: A. J. Johnston, Supt. State Printing, 1896). See Farquhar (1948), title 6. Currey and Kruska 56. Farquhar 6. A fine copy. (#166204).
No statement of printing.