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

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and

cartographer Cartography (; from , '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 imagined reality) can ...

and the leader of the

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

, one of the major geographical surveys of the western United States in the late 19th century. Wheeler was born in

Hopkinton, Massachusetts Hopkinton is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, west of Boston. The town is best known as the starting point of the Boston Marathon, held annually on Patriots' Day each April, and as the he ...

, the son of John Wheeler and Miriam P. Daniels. He graduated from

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

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

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

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

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

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

. The project lasted until 1879, when the Wheeler,

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

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

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

. 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 Many places are named for George Wheeler, including Wheeler Peak in Nevada (within

Great Basin National Park Great Basin National Park is a national park of the United States 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 c ...

), Wheeler Peak in New Mexico (the state high point), and the scenic Wheeler Geologic Area in southern Colorado.

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 19th-century American explorers United States Geological Survey personnel Explorers of the United States