“Conglomerate Bluffs on the Grand River, Middle Park, Colorado Territory,” Thomas Wood Elliott, 1869
The first formal geological expedition directly funded by the Department of the Interior took place in 1869. Led by United States Geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden, expedition members started out in Cheyenne, WY, traveled south along the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains to Santa Fe, NM, and returned north via Fort Garland, CO. The Hayden expeditions combined the work of botanists, biologists, and mineralogists with that of photographers and artists. The Hayden Survey's art is often known by the work of Thomas Moran and William Henry Jackson, but other artists were there, making beautiful sketches of the landscapes and unique geology encountered during the Survey. This sketch, from artist Henry Wood Elliott, captures both the geology and the expedition.
Our office holds sketches, diaries, and field notes from a number of the expeditions of the Hayden Survey in the southwest through New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, and the mountains of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming.
Sketch entitled “Conglomerate Bluffs on the Grand River, Middle Park, Colorado Territory,” Thomas Wood Elliott, 1869. National Archives Identifier: 354521243.
View and download this sketch by Henry Wood Elliott in the National Archives Catalog. This sketch is one example of the many records held at the National Archives at Denver. You can explore more of our holdings through the National Archives Catalog or by visiting the National Archives at Denver in person. This record is located within Record Group 57: Records of the U.S. Geological Survey, Series: Sketches and Notebooks of the Hayden Surveys, 1869–1878. Many of the records in this collection have yet to be digitized.