GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAr. HISTORY SURVEYS. 219 



was made to provide that a suitable person should visit the " salt 

 localities" of the State and ''make a special survey thereof," with 

 direct reference to the feasibility of salt boring; also to " collect and 

 arrange suitable specimens of the different strata obtained from 

 salt borings, and the same to arrange in a suitable cabinet in some 

 room of the capitol." No public report exists showing the expendi- 

 ture of this appropriation ; and hence the way in which the proposed 

 work was expected to serve the interests of the State remains obscure. 

 In 1865 Governor Crapo brought the subject of the survey formally 

 before the legislature in his inaugural address. He said: 



A full and complete geological survey of the State has never yet been effected, 

 and when it is remembered that for every dollar heretofore expended in this 

 work we have received hundreds and even thousands in return, I submit to 

 your judgment and discretion the propriety of making .such approi)riations for 

 the speedy prosecution of the work to its final completion as its present condi- 

 tion and the importance of the subject demand. In my opinion the required 

 outlay would be fully justified, even in times like these, in view of the value of 

 information which would thus be acquired. 



Professor Winchell, by invitation of the State Agricultural So- 

 ciety, delivered an address on The Soils and Subsoils of Micliigan 

 in Representatives Hall, January 19, 18G5, in the presence of the 

 legislature. A bill for the completion of the survey was introduced 

 in the house January 23, 18G5, by the committee on geological sur- 

 vey, to whom had been referred that part of the governor's message 

 relating to the subject. Mr. J. Denison Lewis was chairman of the 

 committee and embodied in the report accompanying the bill a 

 communication from Professor AVinchell in response to inquiries from 

 the committee, in which were statements touching the condition of 

 geological work in the State, and the desirability of its completion. 

 This communication was ordered printed in the journal." The bill, 

 nevertheless, did not become a law. 



In the autumn of 1865 Professor Winchell was invited by the citi- 

 zens of the Grand Traverse region to make a special survey and 

 report on the resources of the region. This work was accomplished, 

 and the facts brought to light proved in many respects very extraor- 

 dinary and surprising. It was found that the agricultural capabili- 

 ties of the district in spite of the northern latitude equaled in most 

 respects, and surpassed in others the central portions of Ohio. A 

 study of meteorological records showed that the anomaly was due 

 to an equable state of climate caused by the comparatively constant 

 temperature of Lake Michigan, which had to be crossed by nearly 

 all the cold winds of winter before reaching the State. These dis- 

 closures led to a very rapid development of settlement and improve- 



» House .Tournal, 1865, vol. 1, pp. 248-252. 



