106 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Present survey, 1873-82. 



HISTORY OF THE PRESENT SURVEY. 



The law under which this survey has been carried on was drafted by 

 president W. W. Folwell, and was introduced in the legislature by senator J. 

 S. Pillsbury, then a regent of the University. It passed both houses, and was 

 approved by governor Horace Austin, March 1, 1872. It reads as follows; 



Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mmiesota: 



SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the board of regents of the University of Minnesota to 

 cause to be begun as soon as may be practicable, and to carry on a thorough geological and 

 natural history survey of the state. 



SEC. 2. The geological survey shall be carried on with a view to a complete account of the 

 mineral kingdom, as represented in the state, including the number, order, dip, and magnitude of 

 the several geological strata, their richness in ores, coals, clays, peats, salines, and mineral waters, 

 marls, cements, building stones and other useful materials, the value of said substances for eco- 

 nomical purposes, and their accessibility; also an accurate chemical analysis of the various rocks, 

 soils, ores, clays, peats, marls and other mineral substances ; of which complete and exact record 

 shall be made. 



SEC. 3. The natural history survey shall include, first, an examination of the vegetable 

 productions of the state, embracing all trees, shrubs, herbs, and grasses, native or naturalized in 

 the state ; second, a complete and scientific account of the animal kingdom, as properly repre- 

 sented in the state, including all mammalia, fishes, reptiles, birds and insects. 



SEC. 4. The said surveys and examinations shall be made in the manner and order follow- 

 ing : First, the geological survey proper together with the necessary and implied mineralogical 

 investigations ; all of which shall be undertaken as soon as may be practicable, and be carried for- 

 ward with such expedition as may be consistent with economy and thoroughness ; second, the 

 botanical examinations ; third, the zoological investigations. Provided, however, that whenever 

 the said board of regents may find it most economical to prosecute different portions of the surveys 

 in conjunction, or that the public interest demands it, they may, in their discretion, depart from 

 the above prescribed order. And in the employment of assistants in the said surveys, the board 

 of regents shall at all times give the preference to the students and graduates of the University of 

 Minnesota, provided the same be well qualified for the duties. 



SEC. 5. The said board of regents shall also cause to be collected and tabulated such meteo- 

 rological statistics as may be needed to account for the varieties of climate in the various parts 

 of the state ; also to cause to be ascertained [by] barometrical observations or other appropriate 

 means, the relative elevations and depressions of the different parts of the state ; and also, on or 

 before the completion of the said surveys, to cause to be compiled from such actual surveys and 

 measurements as may be necessary, an accurate map of the state ; which map, when approved by 

 the governor, shall be the official map of the state. 



SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of said board of regents to cause proper specimens, skillfully 

 prepared, secured and labeled, of all rocks, soils, ores, coals, fossils, cements, building stones, 

 plants, woods, skins and skeletons of animals, birds, insects and fishes, and other mineral, vege- 

 table and animal substances and organisms discovered or examined in the course of said surveys, 

 to be preserved for public inspection free of cost, in the University of Minnesota, in rooms conve- 

 nient of access and properly warmed, lighted, ventilated and furnished, and in charge of a proper 

 scientific curator ; and they shall also, whenever the same may be practicable, cause duplicates in 

 reasonable numbers and quantities of the above named specimens, to be collected and preserved 

 for the purpose of exchanges with other state universities and scientific institutions, of which 

 latter the Smithsonian Institution at Washington shall have the preference. 



SEC. 7. The said board of regents shall cause a geological map of the state to be made as 

 soon as may be practicable, upon which, by colors and other appropriate means and devices, the 

 various geological formations shall be represented. 



