ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1873. 7 



is to have the use of the apparatus belonging to the Institution with- 

 out additional expense. 



These gentlemen had, by previous study and training, qualified 

 themselves for the special work required. Their elaborate reports 

 herewith submitted will show that they have faithfully, efficiently, 

 and satisfactorily performed the several duties assigned them ; though 

 the time between the close of the field operations and the day on 

 which their reports must be submitted to the Governor is not suffi- 

 cient to enable them to do that full justice to their work that could 

 be desired. 



The assistants were each directed to organize a party adequate to 

 the special work required; to supply themselves with the necessary 

 instruments and outfit; to give their attention to all facts throwing 

 light upon any of the special matters required to be considered by the 

 law authorizing the survey; and, as it is obviously impossible, as well 

 as unnecessary to visit every square mile in the country they were 

 directed to so plan their routes as to be able to examine the localities 

 of greatest importance to the material interests of the state; and at 

 the close of the fieldwork, to prepare, as soon as possible, a detailed 

 report of the results of their work with the necessary maps, profiles 

 and drawings. Each party was supplied with skeleton maps, traced 

 from the township plats of the government land surveys, upon which 

 was laid down, from time to time, such additional information as 

 could be obtained. These plats, it is well known represent " town- 

 chips " six miles square, divided into thirty-six " sections " of one mile 

 square, upon a scale of two inches to one mile, which is sufficiently 

 large to represent all but the minutest details of the geological sur- 

 vey. Among the instruments brought into requisition by the sever- 

 al parties w r ere the aneroid barometer, miners' compass, odometer, 

 clinometer, pocket level, tape lines, etc. 



PROF. IRVMG'S PARTY. It was deemed advisable to assign to 

 Prof. Irving of the State University, Madison, the duty of beginning 

 the survey, by an examination of the Iron and Copper Ranges of 

 Ashland and Douglas counties ; and efforts were made to have the 

 work begun as soon after the first day of June as possible. His party, 

 consisting of Prof. R. D. Irving, Mr. Frank B. Jenney, Mr. Edmund 

 T. Sweet, and Mr. James Munro, with a guide and a cook, though 

 much delayed by ice in Lake Superior, were able to reach .Ashland, 

 and to commence the field-work of the "Wisconsin Geological Survey 

 on Monday the second day of June, A. D. 1873. 



In addition to the general instructions detailed above, Prof. Irving 



