Report of the State Geologist. 219 



The result of this work was laid down upon a Post-route map 

 of the State of New York, and it has served as a guide in our 

 later map coloring. 



About this time I was also able to secure some information 

 regarding the limits of certain formations in Otsego, Chenango 

 and Cortland counties through the agency of the young men col- 

 lecting fossils for the Palaeontology of New York. The information 

 obtained from these different sources has since been incorporated 

 with other knowledge and combined in a single map. 



In preparing my report at the close of 1882 the Secretary of the 

 Board of Regents suggested that I prepare and communicate with 

 my Annual Report a geological map of the State as the most satis- 

 factory contribution which I could make. An outline map of the 

 State of New York was then prepared and colored to represent 

 the geology of the State. The report being ordered printed, the 

 State Printer made arrangements with Messrs. Bien & Co. to fur- 

 nish a proper base map in two large sheets for laying down the 

 geological coloring. When the first sheet of the map was received 

 it was found that the representation of the water-courses was so 

 imperfect and incomplete and the localities of towns and villages 

 so few that it would be impossible to represent the geological 

 outcrops upon such a map with any degree of accuracy. This sheet 

 was returned with corrections marked and directions to have 

 the drainage more accurately and completely represented, and the 

 names of towns or villages inserted in their proper places. The 

 corrected sheet was not returned, and the second sheet was only 

 sent to Albany in the autumn of 1884 In the meantime the 

 Report had been printed without the map ; the regulations 

 governing the contract with the State Printer requiring the docu- 

 ments to be delivered at the office of the Secretary of State within 

 a specified limit of time. These facts were communicated in my 

 Report of 1884, and are here transcribed to show the conditions 

 then existing. 



Early in the spring of 1881 I began negotiations with Major J. 

 W. Powell, Director of the U. S. Geological Survey, with a view 

 to obtaining assistance in collecting and combining the informa- 

 tion we possessed regarding the geology of New York, and of 

 representing the same upon a proper map by the usual method 

 of colors. By direction of Major Powell, Mr. W. J. McGee^ the 



