210 JOHN YR STEAVAIN SOM 
he had done much more than most of those within reach, so that 
his assistance was sought eagerly by Professor Newberry on the 
Ohio survey. He began the investigation of the Silurians and 
Devonian, which covered most of his district; but some of the 
higher deposits were reached and he was compelled, under 
instructions from the director of the survey, to pass beyond the 
limits of his district and take up discussion of problems which 
others thought were peculiarly their own. In all respects he 
was the strong man of the corps. Painstaking and exact in 
observation; scrupulous in statement; cautious in speculation, 
he was called upon many times to render decisions in localities 
respecting which the reports were in conflict. When Dr. New- 
berry resigned after the publication of Volume III, Professor 
Orton was placed in charge. The work was ina peculiar con- 
dition. At the beginning of the survey the aids were mostly 
young men with little field experience, this of necessity, as 
trained geologists could not be obtained. Some of the work 
done by those observers was very defective, as the writer, one of 
the inexperienced aids, can testify ; county reports, written inde- 
pendently, were not always accordant; even the general section 
was unsatisfactory, for identifications had been made with hori- 
zons in Pennsylvania beyond an area which had not been studied 
in detail. Prior to Professor Orton’s appointment as director, 
the work along the state line had been completed for the Pennsyl- 
vania survey, and the results did not agree with those presented 
in the Ohio reports. All this can be said without in any wise 
reflecting upon those connected with the Ohio survey at the 
beginning, for every man labored conscientiously to the best of 
his ability, according to the knowledge then available. Their 
work, though erroneous in some of the details, resulted in great 
advantage to the state and in important contributions to 
geology. 
But Professor Orton, in taking up the matter anew, saw that 
these errors, though apparently of slight economic importance, 
might lead eventually to serious results, and he set himself to 
correct them. How difficult the task was few can understand, 
