14 



very suggestive fact that up to 1836, a little over fifty years 

 ago, nothing was known of the geology of this State. In 

 the excitement of that speculative era, some one proposed 

 that Professor H. D. Rogers should be employed to make 

 a survey of the State, and find out what kind of an inher- 

 itance had come down to them from their fathers, and it 

 is a curious commentary that Professor Rogers made what 

 is a very remarkable survey, and his compensation for the 

 report which gave us the first knowledge of the geology 

 of this State was the modest sum of one thousand dollars. 

 It was probably the best investment that ever was made 

 by the people of New Jersey. 



It insured the development of the mineral resources, 

 particularly in the northern part of the State, upon a 

 larger scale than had ever been possible before, but the 

 State contented itself with this knowledge until about 

 1856, when Doctor Kitchell revived the public interest in 

 the geological structure of the State and the mineral 

 resources which it might contain. With considerable 

 effort, in which some of the older gentlemen whom I see 

 here present must have participated, the Legislature were 

 induced to organize a survey, of which Doctor Kitchell 

 was the head. He chose for his first assistant a young 

 man little known to the people of this State, and whom, 

 up to that time, I had never had the pleasure of seeing. 



When Doctor Kitchell died, after having made three 

 annual reports, one of which related to the marls and 

 green sands of New Jersey, the survey fell into, I was 

 going to say, "innocuous desuetude." At any rate, it was 

 abandoned. But the young man who had acted as the 

 first assistant never lost sight of the importance of contin- 

 uing and completing the survey. He came to me and 

 asked whether some way could not be made to revive the 

 interest in the matter, and I was satisfied, after talking 

 with him, that there was only one possible chance of 



