Origins and early years of the U.S. Geological Survey

Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey was established on March 3, 1879, in the closing hours of the final session of the 45 th Congress. The bill appropriating the money for sundry civil expenses of the Government during fiscal year 1880 was signed by President Rutherford B. Hayes. Included in the bill was the provision for a new agency under the Department of the Interior; it was charged with responsibility for “classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain.”