GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS OF OHIO. 503 



as the facts and conditions of the occurrence of salt water, petro- 

 leum and natural gas in the Muskingum Valley and in southern 

 Ohio, generally. 



The discovery of cannel coal for the first time in the United 

 States was announced in a letter written by Hon. Benjamin Tap- 

 pan, afterwards United States Senator from Ohio, to the Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science (previously Silliman's), published in Vol- 

 ume 18, 1830. The coal was found near Cambridge, Guernsey 

 county, and came from a seam that has been found to be alto- 

 gether worthless, while valuable cannel has since been discovered 

 in many other localities in this State, as well as elsewhere in the 

 country, but the discovery named above awakened great interest 

 at the time. 



The subject of state geological surveys was being considered 

 about this time, and some of the articles already referred to were 

 written in the apparent interest of such a survey of Ohio. 



The first official suggestion of a geological survey of Ohio is 

 to be found in the annual message of Gov. Robert Lucas, 

 to the Legislature of the State, dated December 8, 1835. Hon. 

 A. G. Thurman was private secretary of the Governor, and was 

 credited by those conversant with the facts with the probable 

 authorship of this portion of the message. The Governor's 

 recommendations, which were very earnest and cordial, were 

 referred to a select committee of the State Senate, who subse- 

 quently reported a joint resolution appointing Dr. S. P. Hildreth, 

 John Locke, J. S. Riddell and Mr. I. A. Lapham a committee to 

 report to the next Legislature the best method of obtaining " a 

 complete geological survey of the State" and an estimate of the 

 probable cost of the same. The committee made an elaborate 

 report in due time, and, in accordance with its recommendations, 

 an act was passed by the next Legislature, viz., in March, 1837, 

 providing for "a complete and detailed geological survey of the 

 State," which should also include the chemical analysis of soils, 

 ores, marls, saline and other mineral waters, the construction of 

 a geological map of the State, and the collection of the organic 

 remains of the various formations and the supplying of sets of 



