Geological survey

“ In the United States the earth beneath the surface is investigated by geological surveys, state and federal; the surface is surveyed chiefly by the Geological Survey and Land Office of the Interior Department, the Soil Bureau of the Agricultural Department and the Coast and Geodetic Survey of the Department of Commerce and Labor, with corresponding instrumentalities in some states ”

“ But science does not stand still. The most perfect geological map that can be made to-day will be capable of improvement thirty or forty years hence. The maps of the Geological Survey are no exception to this rule. ”

“ Moreover, under the present plan of effective cooperation of several of the State surveys with the United States Geological Survey, it is often difficult to differentiate between the two in either personnel or results, for it even happens that the publishing organization may not have been the major contributor. The full record of American geology, past and present, can not be set forth in terms of Federal auspices alone. ”

“ As a conchologist he was held in high esteem, but while he recognized the similarity of fossil mollusca to living forms, he regarded them as inorganic imitations produced in the rocks. In 1683 he communicated to the Royal Society (Phil. Trans., 1684) , An ingenious proposal for a new sort of maps of countries; together with tables of sands and clays, such as are chiefly found in the north parts of England. In this essay he suggested the preparation of a soil or mineral map of the country, and thereby is justly credited with being the first to realize the importance of a geological survey. ”

“ If the location of mineral beds has anything to do with the order of formations, which no intelligent person questions, and if the study of fossils is a help in the study of the order of formations, which all geologists know to be true, then the Government is justified in ordering a complete survey of the fossils of the State, and the publication of their forms for the instruction of the people. ”

“ The consolidation of the various geological and geographical surveys and exploring enterprises, each of which has heretofore operated upon an independent plan, without concert, can not fail to be of great benefit to all those industries of the country which depend upon the development of our mineral resources. The labors of the scientific men, of recognized merit, who compose the corps of the Geological Survey, during the first season of their field operations and inquiries, appear to have been very comprehensive, and will soon be communicated to Congress in a number of volumes. ”

“ A geological survey of its territory is one of the first cares of an enlightened government, and [pg 18] a geologist is the one scientific official the leading States of the Union agree in maintaining. The science has moved forward steadily from its original office of studying buried deposits and classifying extinct organisms, until the hard and fast line between fossil and recent has disappeared, the continuous action of ordinary causes in past and present been established, and an unbroken domain assigned to the laws of the visible creation. ”

“ U. S. Geological Survey. Annual Reports. Complete set to 1904 of 54 royal 8vo vols., in uniform orig. cloth, as issued. In fine condition. Vol. 1 of this set is very rarely seen. The aggregate price of these, demanded by the U. S. Government, is nearly double my charge. The remaining 4 vols. can be secured from Washington. Wash., 1880 to 1904.$45.00
601. U. S. Geological Survey. First Annual Report, by Clarence King. Royal 8vo, large folded map, fine copy. This is the first vol. of the large series, afterwards conducted by Powell and Wolcott. It is extremely rare, many sets lacking it only. ”

“ The Geological Survey is being prosecuted as well as could be expected with the limited means at the hands of the searchers in the bowels of the earth. They have already found, I am informed, that the earth on which we live, and move, and have a being, is composed largely of dirt. ”

“ If a new map is to be compiled an accurate projection should first be constructed, and no plotting should be done on it until the projection has been checked and found to be correct. A projection should be checked or proved by some one other than the person who prepared it. Next the drainage and the water areas should be outlined; then the cultural features should be added; and finally the relief, whether expressed by contour lines, hachures, or shading. ”

“ The gentlemen of the corps have responded with such cheerfulness and enthusiasm that I am able to promise between the close of field work this autumn and the opening of next spring's campaign the completion of twelve volumes of practical and general geology and palaeontology.”
The range of the investigations carried on by the geological survey is indicated by the subjects treated in the volumes promised. They are the following: “Geology and mining industry of Leadville, Col.,” by S. F. Emmons. “Geology of The Eureka mining district in Nevada,” by Arnold Hague, geologist in charge. ”

“ The scientific contributions to the Transactions are noteworthy. With an area for the scope of the naturalist as extensive as our own, the range of research and exploration in the Dominion affords splendid opportunities to her men of science. In developing knowledge concerning the vast territory of Canada, the Geological Survey has done noble work. ”

“ It is well known, that this correspondence is recognised in the general facies of the flora and fauna, dependent on generic correspondences, specific representations, and, in some cases, specific identities. But when announcing and illustrating the law that climatal zones of animal and vegetable life are mutually repeated or represented by elevation and latitude, naturalists have not hitherto sufficiently (if at all) distinguished between the evidence of that law, as exhibited by representative species and by identical. ”

“ Explorations.—In the month of May the Board of Managers decided to send a party to the vicinity of Mt. St. Elias, Alaska, for the purpose of making geographic and geologic exploration and survey. Funds for the purpose were obtained in part from the treasury of the Society, in part from private subscription and in part from the coöperation of the U. S. Geological Survey. Mr. I. C. Russell, Geologist of the U. S. Geological Survey, was placed in charge of the party and of geologic work, and Mr. ”

“ A rational idea of the general geological structure, and the relations of the geological formations of the State, had been acquired by the intelligent population, through the annual reports of the survey, which presented the results of each season's work in the field.
During these years the New York geologists had accumulated a vast amount of material and of facts regarding the geological formations within the State, proving conclusively that they could not be parallelized with any of the described and well-determined formations of Europe. ”

“ Article 11 Those required to conduct geological site investigations and geological safety assessments under paragraph 1 of Article 8 shall include the survey and assessment findings in any documents and figures required to be submitted for review under applicable laws and regulations. Reviewing agencies shall invite geologists, or practicing professional engineers as specified in paragraph 1 of the preceding Article, to participate in reviews, or entrust professional bodies to perform the reviews. ”

“ In these volumes he gave more positive expression to the view which had been for some time assuming shape with geologists, and the acceptance of which had been made imperative by the results of geological surveys in America, that, while the great time divisions of geology may be of almost universal application, the smaller breaks in continuity, which are of frequent occurrence in all areas, are subject to constant differences of extent and value. ”

“ Heartily do I acknowledge that much has been done in the way of measurement and experiment for the purpose of providing a foundation for estimates and deductions. But infinitely more remains to be accomplished. The field of [Pg 224] investigation is almost boundless, for there is hardly a department of geological dynamics over which it does not extend. The range of experimental geology must be widely enlarged, until every process susceptible of illustration or measurement by artificial means has been investigated. ”

“ An incalculable benefit has accrued to geological science from the accurate and detailed surveys, which have now been executed by skilled geologists employed by the Governments of all parts of the civilised world. In geology, the study of large maps is as important as it is said to be in politics ”

“ But while thus culling freely from the dominions of other sciences, geology claims as its peculiar territory the rocky framework of the globe. In the materials composing that framework, their composition and arrangement, the processes of their formation, the changes which they have undergone, and the terrestrial revolutions to which they bear witness, lie the main data of geological history. It is the task of the geologist to group these elements in such a way that they may be made to yield up their evidence as to the march of events in the evolution of the planet. ”

“ The outlines of American geology appear to be particularly grand, simple, and instructive; and a knowledge of the important facts, and general principles of this science, is of vast practical use, as regards the interests of agriculture, and the research for useful minerals. Geological and mineralogical descriptions, and maps of particular states and districts, are very much needed in the United States; and to excite a spirit to furnish them will form one leading object of this Journal. ”

“ Any investigation which deals with the changes that have taken place in the outward aspect of a country since man first set foot upon its surface, and with the sources of information regarding them, must obviously appeal strongly to the lover of science, inasmuch as it brings before him the evidence for various kinds of geological process, the actual operation and rate of progress of which he may thereby be enabled to watch and determine. It may thus be made to throw light upon one of the vexed problems of science—the value of time in geological inquiry. ”

“ This being admitted, I shall now proceed to show that Physical Geography, although, like Political Geography, it is a separate and distinct subject, yet, just as the study of the latter involves some knowledge of History, so the prosecution of Physical Geography compels us to make a certain acquaintance with Geology. We cannot, in fact, learn much about the atmosphere, about rain and rivers, glaciers and icebergs, earthquakes and volcanoes, and the causes of climate, without at the same time becoming more or less familiar with the groundwork on which geological investigations are based. ”

“ The geologist, in his attempts to collate the Divine with the geologic record, has, I repeat, only three of the six periods of creation to account for,—the period of plants, the period of great sea monsters and creeping things, and the period of cattle and beasts of the earth. He is called on to question his systems and formations regarding the remains of these three great periods, and of these only. And the question once fairly stated, what, I ask, is the reply? All geologists agree in holding that the vast geological scale naturally divides into three great parts. ”

“ But as the attention of different Members of the Society has been long occupied in the investigation of several of the particular objects which claim the notice of the Geologist, it was reasonable to hope, that their combined exertions would be productive of more immediate and important additions to the general stock of geological knowledge, than could probably be derived from the unassisted labours of any one observer, whatever might be his zeal or opportunities. ”

“ The observations of naturalists upon living species may, in the course of future centuries, accumulate positive data, from which an insight into the laws which govern this part of our terrestrial system may be derived; but, in the present deficiency of historical records, we have traced up the subject to that point where geological monuments alone are capable of leading us on to the discovery of ulterior truths. To these, therefore, we must appeal, carefully examining the strata of recent formation wherein the remains of living species, both animal and vegetable, are known to occur. ”

“ No country contains, within an equal space, a greater variety of mineral substances; while our long and broken line of coast, and our numerous mines, furnish the most ample opportunities of making geological observations.
In the present imperfect state of this science, it cannot be supposed that the Society should attempt to decide upon the merits of the different theories of the earth that have been proposed. ”

“ Thus in the closest connection, geologically speaking, are we presented with the most striking examples of other great principles developed by geological research, viz., the extinction of old and the introduction of new species.—In consequence of the system of observation and close investigation now established, geology lost its highly speculative character, and rapid progress continued to be made in acquiring correct information of the arrangement of the strata of different countries. ”

“ If the geological formation of a district be but known in its essential features, a geologist is often able to predict the finding of coal-beds, ore-deposits, etc., basing his prognostication on the occurrence of certain fossils, the order in which the strata are placed, analogous formations in other districts, and so on. ”

“ Meanwhile, as all hypothesis and theory must starve without facts to feed on, it behoves us as working geologists to do our best to add to the supply. The success with which other problems have been attacked by geologists forbids us to doubt that ere long we shall have done much to dispel some of the mystery which still envelopes the question of geological climates. ”