MTS. MADISON AND WASHINGTON FROM SHELBURNE. 



CHAPTER I. 



HISTORY OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



iHE 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: "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." It also inculcates "the promotion of agri- 

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

 ral history of the country." 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. 



