Captain George Montague Wheeler (born Grafton, Massachusetts, October 9, 1842) was a pioneering explorer and cartographer, leader of the Wheeler Survey, one of the major surveys of the western United States in the late nineteenth century. The Wheeler Survey was a survey of a portion of the United States lying west of the 100th meridian. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar He graduated from West Point in 1866, ranked sixth in his class, and he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the US Army Corps of Engineers. "USMA" redirects here For other uses see USMA (disambiguation The United States Military Academy (also known as USMA, The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. The United States Army Corps of Engineers ( USACE) is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 34600 Civilian and 650 Military personnel His first exploration was in 1869, when Wheeler was 27 years old, and on the staff of the Commanding General of the Department of California of the US Army. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities.

In 1872, the US Congress 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. The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses This plan necessitated what became known as the Wheeler Survey, lasting until 1879, when the survey, along with the King and Powell Surveys, were terminated and their work was reorganized as the United States Geological Survey. The Wheeler Survey was a survey of a portion of the United States lying west of the 100th meridian. Clarence King ( January 6, 1842 &ndash December 24, 1901) was an American geologist and Mountaineer. John Wesley Powell ( March 24, 1834 - September 23, 1902) was a U The United States Geological Survey ( USGS) is a scientific agency of the United States government.

George Wheeler retired from the Army in 1888 and died in 1909.

Wheeler Peak in Nevada (part of the Great Basin National Park), Wheeler Peak in New Mexico (the state high point), and the scenic Wheeler Geologic Area in southern Colorado are named for George Wheeler. Wheeler Peak is the second highest peak in the US state of Nevada, and the highest entirely within the state Great Basin National Park is a United States National Park established in 1986 located in east-central Nevada near its border with Utah. Wheeler Peak is the highest peak in the US state of New Mexico, with an elevation of. The Wheeler Geologic Area is a highly eroded outcropping of layers of volcanic ash located in the La Garita Mountains of Mineral County, in southern Colorado The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America.

References

• University of Nevada, Reno Library: Special Collections description
• USGS history circular

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