Lecture on geology, delivered before the Legislature of California, at Sacramento, Thursday evening, March 19, 1863. By J. D. Whitney, State Geologist. [Sacramento]: Benj. P. Avery, State Printer, [1863]. 22.3x14 cm, pp. [1-3] 4-17 [18-20: blank], self wrappers, sewn. First edition. Whitney's third address to the legislature on the work and future of the California state geological survey, preceded by his address on Tuesday evening, 12 March 1861 and his lecture delivered Thursday evening, 27 February 1862. An act of the California legislature approved April 21, 1860 established the office of State Geologist, whose duty was "to make an accurate and complete Geological Survey of the State" and, upon completion, to prepare "a full and comprehensive Report ... with proper maps, diagrams, and drawings ..." By section one of the act, J. D. Whitney was appointed State Geologist. In his 1861 address to the legislature, Whitney summarized work performed by other state surveys and set forth the objectives of the California Geological Survey. Appended to the address was the text of "An act to create the office of State Geologist, and define the duties thereof," pages [49]-50. Field work began in December 1860 and was prosecuted vigorously during the next four years, with William H. Brewer in charge of field parties. Thereafter, for lack of appropriations, the work was intermittent until the discontinuance of the survey in 1874. The work of the survey is summarized in Francis P. Farquhar, History of the Sierra Nevada (Berkeley and Los Angeles: Published by University of California Press in collaboration with the Sierra Club, 1965). The best primary source for an account of the field work through 1864 is Up and Down California in 1860-1864: the Journal of William H. Brewer (1930). Information obtained by the survey was organized into a series of reports and maps, many of which were not completed. However, among those completed and published were major contributions to the literature on the Sierra Nevada. See Geology. Volume I ... (1865), The Yosemite Book (1868), and The Yosemite Guide-Book (1869-1874). A fine copy. (#166205).
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