GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS OF OHIO. $0? 



tinuance of the geological survey at the close of 1838. The 

 demand for economy in the State administration was urgent, and 

 the expenditure in scientific work, small though it was, was natu- 

 rally the first to be cut off. 



Probably there was some reaction from the extravagant 

 claims that had been made as to the immediate practical results 

 of the survey, and there was also a measure of criticism directed 

 against certain members of the corps. These facts may have 

 had some influence upon the action of the Legislature. 



Up to the close of 1838 there had been expended $16,000 in 

 field work, and eleven counties had been reported upon. The 

 State had also made a small outlay in the publication of the 

 reports. Professor Mather's estimate of the amount required to 

 complete the survey was, at this time, $50,000. 



As to the valuable results of this work there can be no ques- 

 tion. The State never received larger returns from any other 

 equal expenditure than from the $16,000 used in the first geo- 

 logical survey. The increase of wealth in a single county, 

 through the development of mining industries, largely based on 

 the work of the survey, was asserted to be many times more 

 than the entire expenditure which the State had made in its 

 support. 



The most important points established in its brief duration 

 were the following, viz. : 



1. The oldest rocks of the State are the so-called blue lime- 

 stone formation of southwestern Ohio. 



2. The newest bedded rocks of our column are the Coal 

 Measures of southeastern Ohio. 



3. A very gentle southeasterly or southerly dip prevails 

 throughout Ohio, a proper understanding of which renders all its 

 stratigraphy intelligible. 



4. Some interesting notes on Pleistocene and Paleozoic 

 paleontology were introduced into the several reports. Colonel 

 Foster, for example, gives the original description in his report 

 of 1837 °f Castoroides oliioensis (2d Rept., p. 30). Professor 

 Briggs furnishes interesting data as to the Mastodon remains 



