BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
In 1902 a Reclamation Service, entrusted with the planning , constructing and
operating of waterdevelopment projects in 16 western states and territories
(1), was established within the Geological Survey.
In 1907 it became a separate service within the Department of the Interior
and in 1923 it was reorganized as the Bureau of Reclamation
(1) Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma,
Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Texas was added in 1906.
Chief Engineer in Charge of the Service of Reclamation
1902 - 1907 Frederick H. Newell 1862 - 1932
Directors of the Service of Reclamation
1907 - 1914 Frederick H. Newell s.a.
1914 - 1923 Arthur Powel Davis 1861 - 1933
Commissioners of the Bureau of Reclamation
1923 - 1924 David W. Davis 1873 - 1959
1924 - 1936 Elwood Mead 1858 - 1936
1936 - 1943 John C. Page 1887 - 1955
1943 - 1945 Harry W. Bashore
1945 - 1953 Michael W. Straus 1897 - 1970
____________________________________________________________________________
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
The Fish and Wildlife Service was established in 1940 by the merger of the
Bureau of Fisheries and the Bureau of Biological Survey.
The U.S. Commission of Fish & Fisheries was established in 1871 in order to
find solutions to the decline in food fishes and to promote fish culture.
In 1903 it became a bureau within the Department of Commerce and Labor, being
transferred to the Department of Commerce in 1913 and to the Department of
the Interior in 1939.
A Section of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy was established within the
Department of Agriculture in 1885 in order to study the positive effects of
birds in controlling agricultural pests and in order to define the geographi-
cal distribution of animals and plants throughout the country.
Its tasks were later expanded to include the protection of all wildlife. In
the course of the following years it was reorganised/renamed several times (2
finally becoming the Bureau of Biological Survey in 1905.
The bureau was transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1939.
(2) 1886 - 1891 Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy
1891 - 1896 Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy
1896 - 1905 Division of Biological Survey
Commissioners of Fish & Fisheries
1871 - 1887 Spencer Fullerton Baird 1823 - 1887
1887 - 1888 George Brown Goode* 1851 - 1896
1888 - 1895 Marshall McDonald 1835 - 1895
1895 - 1896 Herbert A. Gill*
1896 - 1898 John J. Brice
1898 - 1903 George Meade Bowers 1863 - 1925
Chiefs of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries
1903 - 1913 George Meade Bowers s.a.
1913 - 1922 Hugh M. Smith
1922 - 1933 Herny O'Malley
1933 - 1939 Frank T. Bell
1939 - 1940 Charles Jackson*
Chief of the Office of Economic Ornithology & Mammalogy
1885 - 1886 Clinton Hart Merriam 1855 - 1942
Chief of the Division of Economic Ornithology & Mammalogy
1886 - 1896 Clinton Hart Merriam s.a.
Chief of the Division of Biological Survey
1896 - 1905 Clinton Hart Merriam s.a.
Chiefs of the Bureau of Biological Survey
1905 - 1910 Clinton Hart Merriam s.a.
1910 - 1916 Henry W. Henshaw
1916 - 1927 Edward W. Nelson 1855 - 1934
1927 - 1934 Paul G. Redington
1934 - 1935 Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling 1876 - 1962
1935 - 1940 Ira N. Gabrielson
Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service
1940 - 1946 Ira N. Gabrielson s.a.
____________________________________________________________________________
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
The U.S. Geological Survey - entrusted with such tasks as classifing federal
lands for minerals, energy resources and water power potential and mapping
the country - was established in 1879 when four predecessor survey agencies
were consolidated into one office within the Department of the Interior.
(W = Surveys dependent of the Department of War/Office of the Chief Engineer
until 1879)
Director of the Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian (W)
1872 - 1879 George M. Wheeler
Director of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel (W)
1867 - 1879 Clarence Rivers King 1842 - 1901
Director of the U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the
Rocky Mountain Region
1869 - 1879 John Wesley Powell 1834 - 1902
Director of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the
Territories
1867 - 1879 Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden 1829 - 1887
Directors of the U.S. Geological Survey
1879 - 1881 Clarence Rivers King s.a.
1881 - 1894 John Wesley Powell s.a.
1894 - 1907 Charles Doolittle Walcott 1850 - 1927
1907 - 1930 George Otis Smith
1930 - 1943 Walter Curran Mendenhall
1943 - 1956 William Embry Wrather
____________________________________________________________________________
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
The Department of the Interior's responsabilities in administering national
parks, national monuments and similar sites started in 1872 when Yellowstone
National Park was established. (3)
In 1914 a General Superintendent and Landscape Engineer for the National
Parks - replaced by a General Superintendent of National Parks in 1915 - was
appointed to administer all the national parks which, till then, had been
separately under the direct responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior.
In 1916 - when the system already included 14 national parks and 21 national
monuments - a separate service, the National Park Service was established. (4
In 1933 the service toke over a latge number of national monuments which,
till then had been administered by the department of War, the most important
being those related to the battle of Gettysburg. (5)(3) National Parks included large-scale natural sites with high
aesthetic qualities preserved for public enjoyment, while
National Monuments included sites of historic or scientific
interest.
(4) At the same time the new service incorporated two "reservations"
which till then had remained outside the system :
- Casa Grande Ruin Reservation (established in 1889)
- Hot Spring Reservation (established in 1832)
(5) In this period the service was very briefly renamed Officeof National Parks, Buildings and Reservations
See also : the Civil Conservation CorpsGeneral Superintendent and Landscape Engineer for the National Parks
1914 - 1915 Mark Daniels
General Superintendent of National Parks
1915 - 1916 Robert Marshall
Directors of the National Park Service
1917 - 1929 Stephen Tying Mather 1867 - 1930
1929 - 1933 Horace Marden Albright 1890 - 1987
1933 - 1940 Arno B. Cammerer 1860 - 1940
1940 - 1951 Newton B. Drury 1889 - 1978
The following two lists are included in view of the historical importance
of the sites : the first in view of the park history, the second in view of
U.S. history.
Superintendents of Yellowstone National Park
In 1872 the Yellowstone regio - at that time part of the U.S. territory of
Wyoming - was organized as the world's first national park.
As the civilian superintendents appointed by the Department of the Interior
in the course of the following 16 years were however unable to maintain law
and order, the park was, in 1886, transferred to the Department of War, which
put officers of the U.S. Cavalry in charge of its administration. (6)
In 1916 after the creation of the National Park Service, civilian rule was
restored.
(6) Yosemite National Park in the State of California established
in 1890, was one of the other parks the Department of the
Interior entrusted to the military (1891 - 1914)
Civilian Superintendents
1872 - 1877 Nathaniel Pitt Langford 1832 - 1909
1877 - 1882 Philetus Walter Norris
1882 - 1884 Patrick Henry Conger
1884 - 1885 Robert Emmett Carpenter
1885 - 1886 David Walker Wear
Military Superintendents
1886 - 1889 Moses Harris*
1889 - 1891 Frazier Augustus Boutelle*
1891 - 1897 George Smith Anderson*
1897 Samuel Baldwin Marks Young* 1840 - 1924
1897 - 1899 James Brailsford Erwin*
1899 Wilber Eliott Wilder*
1899 - 1900 Oscar James Brown*
1900 - 1901 George William Goode*
1901 - 1907 John Pitcher *
1907 - 1908 Samuel Baldwin Marks Young (2x)
1908 - 1910 Harry Coupland Benson*
1910 - 1916 Lloyd Milton Brett* 1856 - 1927
Civilian Superintendents
1916 - 1919 Chester Allinson Lindsley*
1919 - 1929 Horace Marden Albright s.a.
1929 Joseph Joffe
1929 - 1936 Roger Wolcott Toll
1936 John W. Emmert*
1936 - 1956 Edmund B. Rogers
Superintendents of Gettysburg
In 1865 a "Soldiers Cemetery" was established by the Commonwealth of Pennsyl-
vania to properly bury the Union soldiers fallen at the battle of Gettysburg.
In 1872 the cemetery was transferred to the Federal government and became the
Gettysburg National Cemetery.
In 1895 the whole area of the battlefield was established as the Gettysburg
National Military Park as a memorial to the armies that fought the battle.
Originally under the Office of the Quartermaster General in the Department
of War, both sites were transferred to the National Park Service in 1933.
Superintendents of the Gettysburg National Cemetery
1865 - 1872 John McAllister
1872 - 1873 Charles Shambaugh
1873 - 1887 Nicholas G. Wilson
1887 - 1891 William D. Holtzworth
1891 - 1914 Calvin Hamilton
1914 - 1915 M. M. Jeffes
1915 - 1919 Austin J. Chapman
1918 - 1933 James W. Bedley
1933 J. F. McCall
1934 - 1942 Clarence L. Nett
1942 - 1944 Carl M. Taute
1944 - 1945 William H. Allison
Commissioners of the Gettysburg National Military Park
1895 - 1922 -William M. Robbins (until 1905)
-Charles A. Richardson (until 1917)
-John P. Nicholson
-Lunsford Lindsay Lomax (from 1905 to 1913) 1835 - 1913
Superintendents of the Gettysburg National Military Park
1922 - 1927 Emmor B. Cope
1927 - 1932 E. E. Davis
1932 - 1933 J. F. Barber
1933 - 1941 James R. McConaghie
1941 - 1958 James Walter Coleman
Back to UNITED STATES HOME
