The Best Job In The World or Adventures of a USGS Hydrographer In

Northern New Mexico

by

Arthur Scott

   Just imagine being in the high mountains of northern New Mexico on a sunny, crisp fall day wading a small rooky stream about 20-feet wide and a bit over a foot deep and surrounded with cottonwoods and pine forest.. The creek is loaded with trout that dart at the revolving meter you are using to measure stream velocity. There is  only the sound of the creek and the forest  and the clicking of the meter signal in your headset. The closest habitations are at least ten mile away over a dirt road and I am on a closed private game preserve straddling the New Mexico-Colorado border. Your closest supervisor is sixty miles away and the only communication would be to leave a note in the hotel where you are spending the night. The glory of all this is that you are actually getting paid for all of this. Just like a kid playing in the stream and getting paid for it. This was a large part of my life for several years during the fifties and sixties minus the two years plus I served in the US Army..

    A bit of background is in order to explain why the federal government was willing to pay me for having so much fun. As one example, the state of New Mexico is