96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



lature of 1836, which convened soon after his report, passed an internal im- 

 provement bill appropriating nearlj- $16,000,000 for the building of canals, 

 railways and macadam roads. This was to be raised by the sale of State 

 bonds. Work was begun on mam^ of the projects, but the only one completed 

 by the State was the turnpike between New Albany and Paoli. a distance of 

 41 miles. It was macadamized with limestone taken from quarries along its 

 route, and was completed in 1830 at a cost of $12,537 per mile. In November, 

 1839, the Internal Improvement bubble burst; the State was unable to sell 

 more bonds and with certain minor exceptions all public work was suspended. 

 One result of especial geological interest connected with this internal 

 improvement boom, was the publishing in the House Record of 1836 of the 

 first "Table of xVltitudes in Indiana" of which I can find record. It was pre- 

 pared by Howard D. Stansbury and Jesse L. Williams and gave elevations 

 of 208 different points in the State *'^\'ith regard to the plain on which the 

 Capital of the State is built; high water of the Ohio at the head of the Falls; 

 the surface of Lake Erie, and tide water in the Hudson." 



First Geological Survey of Indiana. 



David Dale Owen, son of Robert Owen, the noted philanthropist and 

 reformer who founded the socialistic colony at New Harmony in 1825, was 

 the first, the most learned and the most eminent of Indiana's State Geologists. 

 He was born at New Lanark, Scotland, June 24, 1807, being only 27 days 

 younger than Louis Agassiz the noted Swiss scientist, who also spent most 

 of his years in America. Young Owen was educated at New Lanark and at 

 the celebrated school of Fellenbcrg at Hofwyl, Switzerland, and came to 

 New Harmony, Posey County, Indiana, in 1827. He returned to London 

 in 1831 for two years' additional study in chemistry and geology, then re- 

 turned to this country and was graduated from the Ohio Medical College 

 at Cincinnati in 1836. It is said that he took this course in medicine to in- 

 crease his knowledge of anatomy and physiology as an aid in the study of 

 paleontology. He spent the following summer as an assistant of Dr. Gerard 

 Troost, the State Geologist of Tennessee, and was then appointed by Govern- 

 or Noble as Geologist of the State of Indiana. This appointment was made in 

 accordance with an act entitled "An act to provide for a CJeological Survey 

 of Indiana, Approved February 6, 1837," which read as follows: 



Section 1. — Be it enacted by the General Asticnibly of the State of Indiana, 

 That the Governor be and is hereby authorized and required annually here- 

 after to appoint and commission a person of talents, integrity and suitable 

 scientific acquirements as Geologist for the State of Indiana, who shall re- 

 ceive in consideration of his faithful performance of his duties, an annual 

 salarj' not exceeding $1,500 and necessary expenses not to exceed $250, to 

 be paid as the salaries of other civil officers of the State. 



Sec. 2. — That it shall be the dutj^ of the geologist to be appointed as 

 aforesaid, to make a complete and minute geological survej' of the whole 



