The National Cooperative Soil Survey of the United States
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The National Cooperative Soil Survey of the United States David Rice Gardner United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Resource Economics and Social Science Division Soil Survey Division Historical Notes Number 7 Issued October 1998 Cover—Soil Surveyor Wallace Roberts of the Tennessee Experiment Station uses an Abney level to determine slope for the soil survey of Knox County. December 19, 1941. Photograph by Forsyth. December 19, 1941. Negative N-2666. Record Group 16, Records of the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture. National Archives, College Park, Maryland. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, reli- gion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or familial status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) 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The National Cooperative Soil Survey of the United States A thesis presented by David Rice Gardner to the Graduate School of Public Administration in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Public Administration, May 1957 Harvard University Contents Foreward ........................................................................................................... ii Chapter 1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 Origins of the Soil Survey ................................................................ 5 2.1 Scientific Origins of the Soil Survey ............................................................................. 5 2.11 Geological Surveys ............................................................................................. 7 2.12 Soil Analysis ...................................................................................................... 20 2.2 Administrative Origins of the Soil Survey .................................................................. 29 Chapter 3 History of the Soil Survey .............................................................. 36 3.1 1899-1912 ........................................................................................................................ 38 3.11 1899-1912, Soil Classification......................................................................... 40 3.111 Soil Type ............................................................................................................ 41 3.112 Soil Series .......................................................................................................... 43 3.113 Soil Province ..................................................................................................... 46 3.12 1899-1912, Soil Mapping .................................................................................. 51 3.121 Soil Slope ........................................................................................................... 56 3.122 Soil Erosion ....................................................................................................... 57 3.13 1899-1912, Soil Survey Interpretation ............................................................ 59 3.131 General Soil Management ............................................................................... 63 3.132 Soil Erosion Control ........................................................................................ 69 3.133 Local Reaction to Soil Surveys ....................................................................... 72 3.2 1912-1920 ........................................................................................................................ 78 3.21 1912-1920, Soil Classification .......................................................................... 80 3.22 1912-1920, Soil Mapping .................................................................................. 85 3.23 1912-1920, Soil Survey Interpretation ............................................................ 87 3.3 1920-1933 ........................................................................................................................ 92 3.31 1920-1933, Soil Classification .......................................................................... 95 3. 32 1920-1933, Soil Mapping ................................................................................ 104 3.321 Airphoto Base Maps ....................................................................................... 108 3.33 1920-1933 Soil Survey Interpretation ........................................................... 111 3.4 1933 - 1952 .................................................................................................................... 118 3.41 1933-1952, Soil Classification ........................................................................ 126 3.42 1933-1952, Soil Mapping ................................................................................ 135 3.43 1933-1952, Soil Survey Interpretation .......................................................... 143 3.44 Physical Surveys of the Soil Conservation Service .................................... 160 3.441 Field Mapping ................................................................................................. 162 3.442 Land Use Capability Classification .............................................................. 182 Chapter 4 Coordination of the National Cooperative Soil Survey............. 192 4.1 Soil Survey Coordination and the United States Congress: ................................... 194 Authorizing Legislation 4.2 Soil Survey Coordination and the United States Congress: Appropriations ....... 200 4.3 Soil Survey Coordination and the Land Grant Colleges ......................................... 207 4.4 Soil Survey Coordination and the Department of Agriculture .............................. 215 Chapter 5 The National Cooperative Soil Survey Since 1952 .................... 246 Chapter 6 Conclusions ................................................................................... 252 Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 259 i Foreword David Rice Gardner submitted this thesis, “The National Cooperative Soil Survey of the United States,” to the Graduate School in Public Administration of Harvard University as a requirement for his doctoral degree in 1957. As a soil scientist in the Soil Conservation Service, David Gardner had seen the soil survey from the inside while working in scientific and technical positions as well as in administrative ones. Dr. Gardner brought these skills to his historical research and writing on the soil survey program. David Gardner’s doctoral thesis has not been generally available to soil scientists. A few soil scientists in the Service read one of the photographic copies purchased from Harvard University by the Soil Survey Division, but soil scientists in field offices had little access to these scant copies. The purpose of this reprint edition is to make the study available to several audiences. Soil scientists in the Natural Resources Conservation Service will have a better understanding of their heritage through reading it. Since knowl- edge of historical developments can benefit practitioners in their jobs, this edition will be provided to soil scientists in the agency, to cooperators in the soil survey program, and to government depository libraries. The author and Harvard University have permitted the Natural Resources Conserva- tion Service to reprint the volume and to distribute it. This version is not a photographic copy of the original. It has been retyped, and the format and pagination have been altered to create a more compact volume. In a few cases capitalization and punctuation have been standardized. Otherwise, the volume remains unchanged from the version presented to Harvard University. Rebekah Davis, historian in the Resources Economics and Social Sciences Division, prepared this version with proofreading and editorial assistance from Faye Griffin and Klaus Flach. Douglas Helms Horace Smith Senior Historian Director Resource Economics and Soil Survey Division Social Sciences Division ii Chapter 1 Introduction From unpretentious beginnings of the last century or so, and earlier, the natural sciences have developed at an exponential rate. During recent decades this development has been particularly accelerated. Whether or not the impact of science is considered in terms of the popular contemporary symbolic form of the mushroom cloud, the progress of modern science is an awesome thing. Very few Americans have ever seen a mushroom cloud, or wish to. The lives of every- one, however (with the possible exception of certain American Indians of the Southwest who may, indeed, be quite familiar with mushroom clouds), have been profoundly affected by scientific progress. This has come about primarily through the technological application of the principles of fundamental science to the solution of the practical problems of essen- tial human activities. Among