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A PuystoGraPHic Survey oF AN AREA Near TrErre Hautes, 
INDIANA. 
By Cuas. R. Dryer and MELVIN K. DAVIs. 
The Survey.—iIn the summer of 1909 the senior author of this paper, 
in despair of living long enough to receive any help from the U. S. Geo- 
logical Survey or from the State of Indiana, resolved to try what might 
be done by his own students toward a serviceable topographic survey of 
the area around Terre Haute. Four young men and two young women 
were ambitious enough to undertake the work. For a base map the atlas 
of Vigo county was used and found to be very poor, in fact a disgrace to 
the surveyor, the draughtsman, the printer and the whole community con- 
cerned. We simply made the best of it. The profiles of three railroad lines 
traversing the region were obtained, and other base lines and points were 
determined with a surveyor’s level. Most of the topographic work was 
done with the hand level and staff. It was found possible to require that 
no discrepancy between different lines of levels should exceed one foot. 
Highways and divides were followed and section and other cross-country 
lines were run wherever necessary. About two days a week for six weeks 
were spent in the field, and the result was found to be worth while. While 
surveying was being done the location of particular features was noted 
in order that no time would be lost when their special study should come. 
The map drawn by the junior author of this paper from the data thus se- 
cured has proved adequate for the purpose in view. 
General Description.—The area surveyed is immediately west of Terre 
Haute and comprises about 25 square miles in Sugar Creek township, 
Vigo county, Indiana. It is bounded on the east by the Wabash river 
and includes a portion of its flood plain. West of the Wabash bluffs, here 
eighty to one hundred feet high, the area consists of an originally smooth 
upland of glacial drift 540 to 560 feet above sea level, which has been sub- 
maturely dissected by the branches of Sugar creek. The remnants of the 
original surface have been reduced to the scrap-tin outline characteristic 
of the leaves of the pin oak. The larger valleys are flat bottomed and 
contain alluvial filling to a depth of 40 or more feet. The drilling of a 
well at Vandalia mine No. 81, section 24, showed the deposit to be 40 feet 
