GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEYS. 209 



Livingston counties, and late in the season visited the western part 

 of the State. 



A printed circidar, addressed to the county surveyors of the State 

 and dated September 1, 1850, called upon them for the contribution 

 of topographical facts. Several vahuible responses were received, 

 and others were put in course of preparation by the end of the year. 



One of tlie most important and fruitful determinations made dur- 

 ing the season of 1859 was the identification of the fossiliferous 

 sandstone of Ottawa County with the sandstone of Hillsdale County. 

 This determination was made August 24, and was the occasion of a 

 radical change in the conceptions entertained of this strsitigraphical 

 structure underlying the southern peninsula. It revealed a reap- 

 pearance along the southern border of the Peninsula of strata which 

 on the soutlicast had been seen to dip toward tlie interior and disap- 

 pear. It was tlie first inductive demonstration of that dishlike con- 

 formation which is now so well understood. But the evidence of 

 this, of course, was not yet complete. This identification placed the 

 limestones and gypseous deposits of Kent County in a new light, and 

 changed friudamentally the theoretical position of tlie bi-ine-bearing 

 strata. The first application of these views was made October 29, 

 1859, in an official ccmuiunication addressed by James Scribner, of 

 Grand Ra]Tids, who placed it at tlie disposal of tlie city newspapers. 

 The following are some passages from this comnninication: 



The s:ilt-.'!iifl-s.vpsiini-be:iriiig fornintion seems to be a deposit iiitercalntod 

 between tlie limestone of Onintl Rapids and the Napoleon series of sandstones. 

 Tlie salt springs of Kent county occur at the outcrop of the saliferous rocks. 

 * * * These pass under the city of Grand Rapids, and it is <piite possible 

 they form a continuous deposit, underlyin,;? the central part of the State, and 

 reappearing on the east shore of Saginaw County. * * * The strongest 

 brine would naturally be found at the lowest point of a salt basin, and the 

 weakest near the oiUcn^x Tlie well which you have bored (at Coldbrook, a 

 suburb of Grand Rai)ids on the northeast) is cousetpiently more favorably 

 situated than if farther toward the southwest; and there is a probability of 

 procuring still stronger brine by boring still farther towaid the north or north- 

 east, although, from the dip of the rocks, the salt-bearing deposit would be found 

 more deeply seated at Coldbrook. 



In reference to your cpiestion as to boring deeper in your present well 

 {2.j8 feet deep), I would say, decidedly, no. The geological structure of the 

 region shows that you have gone to the bottom of the salt-bearing rock. The 

 underlying standstone outcrops in the bed of the river Imlf a mile above 

 Grandville; and there is danger that in penetrating this, you Avill strike a 

 vein of fresh water and lose all you have gained, etc. 



Since the failure of the salt enterprise in lSo8-1842, the belief had 

 never been wholly dispelled that somewhere in the rocks of the State 

 valuable supplies of brine were held. There v.-ere many intelligent 

 people who felt thai further experiments ought to be made, though 



