Field notes : October 15-November 3, 1879

In 1879, geological assistant Charles D. Walcott became the 20th employee of the newly formed U.S. Geological Survey. Less than a year after Congress formed the USGS, Walcott was part of an expedition into Kanab Canyon en route to the Colorado River. Help us transcribe his personal observations of the geological formations, fossils and plants he found, his expectations of the research that would result, as well as the challenges and joys of traveling along the trail. While with the USGS, Walcott focused his efforts on biostratigraphy dating sedimentary rock bands by studying the fossils found in them. Specializing in invertebrate paleobiology, Walcott's work went on to transform our understanding of North American biology during the Cambrian era. Walcott served as both scientist and administrator later in his career, first as director of the USGS and later as the fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.