SALT ENTERPRISE IN MICHIGAN. 265 



here was seen a ridge corresponding to the proper place 

 of outcrop of the formation, immediately below the car- 

 boniferous limestone seen at Point au Gres. There had 

 been a strolling explorer in the vicinity in search of lead, 

 copper, coal, and anything else whatever in the minera- 

 logical series, he seemed to have no idea of the orderly 

 arrangement of things, and he had already bored in 

 this ridge. This " Professor " found nothing which seemed 

 to reward his efforts, but I discovered among the debris 

 left by him some small fragments which I at once iden- 

 tified as belonging to the gypseous series. This entirely 

 confirmed the induction already reached. When Mr. C. 

 H. Whittemore, of Tawas, assured me that several fruit- 

 less explorations had been made in the ridge, I assured 

 him, in return, that there was the place for the great 

 gypsum formation of the state. Indications of the out- 

 crop of the formation had already been detected on the 

 east side of Saginaw Bay, near the mouth of Pigeon 

 Eiver. 



Gypsum had been reported many years before in the 

 bed of the lake off Whitestone Point, but the high wind 

 which prevailed when I was there prevented obtaining a 

 view of it. This point is several miles south of the ridge 

 in which I identified the gypsum formation. " Plaster 

 Point," in the same vicinity, which really presents an 

 exposure of the gypseous formation, with most of the 

 gypsum dissolved out, is also some miles from the proper 

 place of outcrop of the formation, at such elevation above 

 the lake as to afford practicable working. 



In November, 1860, a resume" of results of the geolog- 

 ical survey was published in the Detroit Tribune by Henry 

 Barns, who took an active interest in the work. 



