264 pp. With 11 lithographed plates of fossil shells, etc., each with leaf of descriptive text; hand-colored folding lithographed map. (8vo) 22.5x14 cm (9x5½"), modern blue cloth, paper spine label.
Important report with a landmark map, "Map of Nebraska and Dakota and Portions of the States and Territories Bordering Thereon, Compiled By Bvt. Maj. Gen. G. K. Warren, Maj. Engineers March, 1867. Geology by F.V. Hayden, M.D. Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in the University of Pennsylvania..." This significant map, stretching from the Kansas River in the south to the Assiniboine River in the north, measures 109.5x79.5 cm. The coloring is coded to geological formations. Old ownership inscription "B. P. Mann 19 March 1873, Sent on request by the Secretary of the Interior" on front flyleaf.
In 1867 Hayden was tasked by the Commissioner of the General Land Office to survey the geological and mineralogical resources of the entire State of Nebraska and adjacent territories, then an enormous region comprising large portions of Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. The results of this work were published in two annual reports submitted to the GLO in 1867 and 1868 followed by a final report ready for publication in 1869, but not published until 1872 (this report). After the initial couple of years with the GLO, Hayden's survey was transferred under the authority of the Secretary of the Interior where it quickly evolved into the now famous and more extensive US Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories lasting from 1869 to 1878 and resulting in the publication of 10 additional annual reports plus numerous maps, monographs, and other reports dating into the early 1880's.
The numbering of Hayden's early annual reports is confusing insomuch that two second annual reports (1868 and 1870, also called the fourth annual report) were published, the difference evidently explained by the 1868 issue being the second annual report under the GLO and the 1870 issue being the second annual report under the Secretary of the Interior, or fourth annual report overall. Although the first and second annual reports plus final Nebraska report technically constitute a separate survey (as also indicated by the title), the work is so interconnected with Hayden's later surveys and reports that it essentially forms a continuum and should be treated as one large body of work. The final Nebraska report contains material and a geological map not found in the annual reports and omits "Several chapters which have appeared in other publications..." thus making it an integral part of the set.
Hayden's geological map of Nebraska and Dakota extends from the Canadian border south to Pueblo, Colorado, and from the Colorado Front Range east to Leavenworth, Kansas. It is his one of his earliest and most distinctive large geological maps with the Black Hills shown as a brightly colorful "bull's eye", surrounded by pastel shaded Tertiary formations. The map is seldom found with the book.