 After acquiring a vast quantity of unexplored land in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the government sought to document the mineral resources of the territory.In 1834, Featherstonhaugh, newly appointed as the first US government geologist, was instructed to examine the elevated country between the Missouri and Red rivers and report back to Colonel John James Abert of the Topographical Bureau.With his son George Jr. as his assistant, he set out to explore Arkansas the territory from a base in St. Louis, Missouri.