Congress creates the office of Special Agent in the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study general forest conditions in the United States, and Dr. Hough is hired as the first federal forestry expert.  Hough produced a series of comprehensive reports on forestry in the United States that, according to the Forest History Society, laid the foundation for conversations on forestry through the Industrial Revolution.  In 1881, the Office of the Special Agent expanded into the Division of Forestry.