

 iS 



MTS. MADISON AND WASHINGTON FROM SHELBURNE. 



CHAPTER I. 



HISTORY OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



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I HE first public notice of the importance of examining the mineral 

 resources of New Hampshire which I can find is contained in a 

 message of His Excellency Levi Woodbury, governor, to the legislature, 

 in June, 1823. He recommended the institution of an agricultural sur 

 vey, with a view to the chemical analysis of the various kinds of soils. 

 In support of this proposal he quoted the following passage from the 

 constitution of the state: &quot;It shall be the duty of legislators and magis 

 trates, at all future periods of this government, to cherish the interests of 

 literature and the sciences.&quot; It also inculcates &quot;the promotion of agri 

 culture, the arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and the natu 

 ral history of the country.&quot; Had this recommendation been adopted, 

 New Hampshire would have been the first of the United States to inau 

 gurate a scientific survey of its mineral resources. 



