A CENTURY OF GEOLOGY IN INDIANA. 99 



citizens. That object effected, time enough will remain to institute inquiries 

 of a less productive and more abstract character; inquiries which are interest- 

 ing in a scientific rather than a commercial, point of view." 



He then laid down very briefly the Leading Principles of Geology, out- 

 lining the divisions of stratified rocks, but, curiously enough, since the doe- 

 trine of evolution was not then set forth, beginning with the most recent or 

 present alluvium and following backward to what he calls the "Blue Lime- 

 stone (Lower Silurian) formation, instead of commencing witli the lower and 

 tracing forward to the later formations. 



Since these two reports of Owen form the basis for most of the work since 

 done in Indiana Geology, he laying the groundwork for future surveys much 

 more accurately than probably even he suspected, and since they have long 

 been out of print, I propose to give briefly yet somewhat in detail the prin- 

 cipal facts set forth as to the formations which he found and in part named, 

 and the mineral resources v/hich he discovered or made known. 



His first object, as he states, was to gain a correct and connected idea of 

 the geology of the State as a whole. He therefore, in the spring and summer of 

 .1837, ran a line from the mouth of the Wabash to the southeastern limit of 

 the State, "keeping as close to the meanders of the Ohio River as possible, 

 in order to take advantage of the sections exposed on the bluffs along its 

 banks." This line, as he states, showed the following succession of formations 

 in the counties bordering on the Ohio River: 



We first find, he says, the coal formation, consisting of repetitions of beds 

 of sandstone, shale, seams of coal, clays, bands and nodules of iron stone and 

 occasional beds of limestone. This prevails through the counties of Posey, 

 Vanderburgh, Warrick, Spencer and extends to Oil Creek in Perry County. 

 At this point there appears above the drainage of the county a bed of lime- 

 stone. 



"This limestone must be considered as the uppermost member of a new 

 series or group of the stratified rocks. A succession of the various members 

 of this inferior group is to be found prevailing until we reach the extreme 

 western boundary of Ohio. To this group may with propriety be applied the 

 name Subcarbo7uferous, as indicating its position immediately beneath the 

 coal or carboniferous group of Indiana."* 



This was the first use of the term "subcarboniferous" in Indiana Geology, 

 or for that matter, probably in the United States. From the wording we see 

 that Owen included under the name all the sedimentary rocks below the coal 

 measures found in the State. In the 1859 edition he restricted the term sul> 

 carboniferous to that "series of limestones with subordinate fine grained 

 sandstones and shales," J lying between the coal measures and the New Albany 

 black shale, and states "To this calcareous group I have applied the name sub- 

 carboniferous as indicating its position beneath the true coal measures, since 



*1837 edition, p. 15. 

 {Reprint 1859, pp. 12 and 20. 



