Mapping the Four Corners

Narrating the Hayden Survey of 1875

Nonfiction, History, Americas, Native American, United States, 19th Century
Cover of the book Mapping the Four Corners by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel, University of Oklahoma Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel ISBN: 9780806156798
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press Publication: August 4, 2016
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press Language: English
Author: Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
ISBN: 9780806156798
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Publication: August 4, 2016
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press
Language: English

In 1875, a team of cartographers, geologists, and scientists under the direction of Ferdinand V. Hayden entered the Four Corners area for what they thought would be a calm summer’s work completing a previous survey. Their accomplishments would go down in history as one of the great American surveying expeditions of the nineteenth century. By skillfully weaving the surveyors’ diary entries, field notes, and correspondence with newspaper accounts, historians Robert S. McPherson and Susan Rhoades Neel bring the Hayden Survey to life. Mapping the Four Corners provides an entertaining, engaging narrative of the team’s experiences, contextualized with a thoughtful introduction and conclusion.

Accompanied by the great photographer William Henry Jackson, Hayden’s team quickly found their trip to be more challenging than expected. The travelers describe wrangling half-wild pack mules, trying to sleep in rain-soaked blankets, and making tea from muddy, alkaline water. Along the way, they encountered diverse peoples, evidence of prehistoric civilizations, and spectacular scenery—Hispanic villages in Colorado and New Mexico; Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, and other Anasazi sites; and the Hopi mesas. Not everyone they met was glad to see them: in southeastern Utah surveyors fought and escaped a band of Utes and Paiutes who recognized that the survey meant dispossession from their homeland.

Hayden saw his expedition as a scientific endeavor focused on geology, geographic description, cartographic accuracy, and even ethnography, but the search for economic potential was a significant underlying motive. As this book shows, these pragmatic scientists were on the lookout for gold beneath every rock, grazing lands in every valley, and economic opportunity around each bend in the trail. The Hayden Survey ultimately shaped the American imagination in contradictory ways, solidifying the idea of “progress”—and government funding of its pursuit—while also revealing, via Jackson’s photographs, a landscape with a beauty hitherto unknown and unimagined.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In 1875, a team of cartographers, geologists, and scientists under the direction of Ferdinand V. Hayden entered the Four Corners area for what they thought would be a calm summer’s work completing a previous survey. Their accomplishments would go down in history as one of the great American surveying expeditions of the nineteenth century. By skillfully weaving the surveyors’ diary entries, field notes, and correspondence with newspaper accounts, historians Robert S. McPherson and Susan Rhoades Neel bring the Hayden Survey to life. Mapping the Four Corners provides an entertaining, engaging narrative of the team’s experiences, contextualized with a thoughtful introduction and conclusion.

Accompanied by the great photographer William Henry Jackson, Hayden’s team quickly found their trip to be more challenging than expected. The travelers describe wrangling half-wild pack mules, trying to sleep in rain-soaked blankets, and making tea from muddy, alkaline water. Along the way, they encountered diverse peoples, evidence of prehistoric civilizations, and spectacular scenery—Hispanic villages in Colorado and New Mexico; Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, and other Anasazi sites; and the Hopi mesas. Not everyone they met was glad to see them: in southeastern Utah surveyors fought and escaped a band of Utes and Paiutes who recognized that the survey meant dispossession from their homeland.

Hayden saw his expedition as a scientific endeavor focused on geology, geographic description, cartographic accuracy, and even ethnography, but the search for economic potential was a significant underlying motive. As this book shows, these pragmatic scientists were on the lookout for gold beneath every rock, grazing lands in every valley, and economic opportunity around each bend in the trail. The Hayden Survey ultimately shaped the American imagination in contradictory ways, solidifying the idea of “progress”—and government funding of its pursuit—while also revealing, via Jackson’s photographs, a landscape with a beauty hitherto unknown and unimagined.

More books from University of Oklahoma Press

Cover of the book Windfall by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Old Three Toes and Other Tales of Survival and Extinction by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Communication, Love, and Death in Homer and Virgil by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Race and the University by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Torn by War by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Mestizos Come Home! by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book The Man Who Captured Washington by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Fort Worth by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Napoleon in Italy by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book The Sioux by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Dragoons in Apacheland by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Archaeology, History, and Custer's Last Battle by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Calamity Jane by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Phil Sheridan and His Army by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
Cover of the book Serving the Nation by Robert S. McPherson, Susan Rhoades Neel
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy