George Montague Wheeler (October 9, 1842 – May 3, 1905) was an American pioneering

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an ...

, leader of the

Wheeler Survey The Wheeler Survey, carried out in 1872-1879, was one of the "Four Great Surveys" conducted by the US government after the Civil War primarily to document the geology and natural resources of the American West. Supervised by First Lieutenant (lat ...

, one of the major surveys of the western

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in the late nineteenth century. Wheeler was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, the son of John Wheeler and Miriam P. Daniels. He graduated from

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

in 1866, ranked sixth in his class, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Corps of Engineers. He first served in California from 1866 to 1871. In 1869 General Edward O. C. Ord sent him on a reconnaissance through the eastern Nevada.Guth, 1999 In 1872, the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

authorized an ambitious plan to map the portion of the United States west of the 100th meridian at a scale of 8 miles to the inch. This plan necessitated what became known as the

, lasting until 1879, when the survey, along with the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

and Powell Surveys, were terminated and their work was reorganized as the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

. Wheeler was promoted to captain in 1879. In 1881 he represented the United States at the Third International Geographical Congress and Exhibition in Venice, Italy. He entered semi-retirement in 1883 but continued to write scientific reports until his full retirement from the army in 1888 at the rank of major. He died in New York City in 1905.''Wheeler's Photographic Survey of the American West''. Dover Press, 1983. p. vii0 Wheeler Peak in Nevada (part of the

Great Basin National Park Great Basin National Park is an American national park located in White Pine County in east-central Nevada, near the Utah border, established in 1986. The park is most commonly entered by way of Nevada State Route 488, which is connected to U ...

), Wheeler Peak in New Mexico (the state high point), and the scenic

Wheeler Geologic Area The Wheeler Geologic Area is a highly eroded outcropping of layers of volcanic ash, in the La Garita Mountains of Mineral County, in southern Colorado in the western United States about 10 miles east north-east of Creede. The ash is the res ...

in southern

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

are named for George Wheeler.

Publications

Wheeler Sketch Indicating the Advancement of the Surveys of Public Lands 1879 UTA

Preliminary report concerning explorations and surveys, principally in Nevada and Arizona
(1872)
Address of Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler...before the American Geographical Society
(1874)
Report upon the determination of the astronomical co-ordinates of the primary stations at Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, and Colorado Springs, Colorado Territory
(1874)
Preliminary report upon a reconnaissance through southern and southeastern Nevada, made in 1869
(1875)

Notes

References

External links

A Guide to the Field notebooks of the Wheeler Survey, NC319
Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Reno.

* * Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian Papers. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, George M. 1842 births 1905 deaths American cartographers American explorers United States Geological Survey personnel Explorers of the United States