his newly acquired property himself, he would hire others to explore, 

 survey and map it, to investigate its capabilities for settlement and 

 its resources for sustaining a population, so that he might be able to 

 cut it up and bring it into the market, or otherwise to make it avail 

 able. This is just exactly what we are doing for the State ; we map 

 its surface, examine and describe its natural productions, whether 

 animal, vegetable or mineral, and do, in a large way, as a unit, for 

 the State and all the inhabitants in it, just what each individual would 

 wish to have done, if he had intelligence enough to know what was 

 for his own interest and the means to accomplish it, for his share of 

 the great estate which belongs to the people and is to be made 

 available for their benefit, individually and collectively. 



The object of the Geological Survey being, as has been stated, to 

 furnish an encyclopaedia of the resources of the State, the mode in 

 which this object was to be best accomplished, taking into view on 

 the one hand the needs, and on the other the resources available, 

 gradually shaped itself in the mind of the individual to whom the 

 work was intrusted. 



As thus developed, the survey is divided into three principal de 

 partments, each again with its subordinate divisions. 



The three main divisions are : Geography, Geology, and Natural 

 History. The first includes a topographical survey, the publication 

 of maps, and also an account of the physical geography of the State. 

 The second department includes general geology, economical geol 

 ogy, and palaeontology. The third, botany and zoology. Thus, there 

 are seven subdivisions of our work, each requiring one or more vol 

 umes for its complete illustration. 



I will now proceed to state, as briefly as is consistent with intelli 

 gibility, what has been done under each of these heads, aiming to give 

 some general idea of what we aspire to accomplish, and setting forth 

 what remains to be done as the supplement of what has been done. 

 At the foundation of our work lies the topographical survey, for 

 without a map of the State we should be as much at a loss to de 

 scribe its resources, as a painter would be in working without a can 

 vas on which to embody his conceptions. It is not necessary, and 

 would not be even before the most illiterate audience, to enlarge on 

 the necessity and importance of geographical maps to every country ; 

 as well . might I undertake to demonstrate the desirability of put 

 ting up the frame of a house before putting on the clapboards and 

 shingles. The exact stage of civilization of every country or State 

 can at once, be inferred from the character of its maps. 



