9,0 in I! A I. Mir in a AN 



of brush and forest fires wlierever and whenever con- 

 ditions became favorable. In reality every year 

 chronicles its ruthless devastation of our forest re- 

 sources, virgin and second-growth, and there is not 

 the least indication that the State is effectively meet- 

 ing this major problem in conservation. 



MINES AND QUARRIES 



]\retalliferous rocks are found chiefly in the Upper 

 Peninsula, where the covering of glacial drift is 

 much shallower than south of the Straits. Yet the 

 southern peninsula has made its contribution of coal, 

 which is wanting in the northern peninsula, of 

 gypsum, of limestone, and, of chief importance, salt. 

 Both sections are well supplied with gravel for road 

 material, clay suitable for brick and^ in the southern 

 peninsula, for the manufacture of pottery, and with 

 building stone, glacial bowlders and quarry material, 

 although their distribution is not uniform and equal. 



Michigan had no sooner embarked on statehood 

 than it created the State Geological Survey and 

 placed it in charge of Douglass Houghton, a physi- 

 cian and man of scientific attainments of Detroit. 

 This first geological survey of Michigan compre- 

 hended four departments of work in the fields of 

 zoology, botany, geology and topography. The in- 

 vestigations were continued through four seasons 

 (1838-1841), and then the field work was discon- 

 tinued through lack of funds consequent on the finan- 

 cial depression of that time. Houghton then con- 



