42 brooks: applied geology 



same period increased from 2,000,000 to 7,000,000 tons, and the 

 railway mileage from 2818 to 9021. These industrial advance- 

 ments were accompanied by the rapid settlement of the middle 

 west, by the beginnings of copper mining in Michigan in 1844, and 

 of iron mining in Michigan and Missouri in 1853, and most im- 

 portant of all, the discovery of gold in California in 1848. All 

 this activity gave a new impetus to geologic work, which is re- 

 flected in the revival of interest in state surveys. At this time, 

 too, men began to dream of a trans-continental railway and there- 

 fore the federal government undertook a more systematic explor- 

 ation of the western cordilleran region than had previously been 

 made. The curve of state surveys, as seen in the diagram, con- 

 tinued to rise until the outbreak of the civil war. In this second 

 epoch of geologic work the states of the middle west — then the 

 frontier — led. This was but natural, because history has proved 

 geology always appealed more strongly to the pioneer than to 

 any other class of people. 



It is difficult to measure the accomplishment of this second 

 period of geologic activity under state and federal auspices, owing 

 to its abrupt termination by the civil war, which interrupted many 

 important investigations. One fact stands out clearly: that 

 applied geology was the mainspring of most of the research, and 

 the results indicate that pure science had not been the loser there- 

 by. 



The prosperous time following the civil war in the north and 

 west, with its almost unique industrial advancement, again cen- 

 tered public interest on mineral resources. This caused the 

 federal government to resume explorations in the west, which 

 took the form of areal geologic surveys and in some cases detailed 

 study of mineral deposits. Many states undertook similar work, 

 and the curve of geologic surveys arose until the interruption by 

 the panic of 1873. 



The results thus attained proved a final justification of geology, 

 not only as an intellectual pursuit, but also as a practical- aid to 

 mankind. While the immediate benefits of these investigations 

 were large, they were not so important as the institution of geolo- 

 gic mapping, based on accurate mensuration. Crude as those 



