INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



to learn that the chemical work could all be done in your laboratory at 

 New Harmony, and would be pleased to learn what annual expense this 

 state will incur under such an arrangement, and for all instruments which 

 I presume you have and can use in the prosecution of the work, including 

 office-rent and fuel, whilst doing the office-work at New Harmony. 



As you know best the kind of wagons and camp equipage you will 

 require to suit you, I presume it would be better for you to procure and 

 ship them to Jacksonport, Arkansas, than to obtain them in this state. 

 The horses and mules which you would require, could, perhaps, be 

 obtained in Arkansas, as well as common laborers. 



We shall have to be confined to the amount of appropriation by the 

 law, and that is so small for such an important work, we will have to use 

 economy to accomplish much good, and I shall depend greatly on your 

 experience and good management in the whole matter. 



When you qualify before an officer of this state, you will have to take 

 and subscribe and have authenticated and filed with the governor of 

 Arkansas, a duplicate of the official oath which will be indorsed on your 



commission. 



Most respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

 (Signed) ELIAS N. CONWAY. 



In conformity with the above appointment and instructions, I com- 

 menced on the 1st October, 1857, making preparations for carrying out 

 the provisions of said act, by procuring the necessary instruments, outfit, 

 wagons, and means of transportation, for executing the field-work with 

 as much dispatch as possible. 



By organising two corps for field-duty, and continuing the work as late 

 in the season as the weather permitted, I have, with the limited appropria- 

 tion at my command, been enabled to accomplish nearly as much as I 

 could have clone with a single corps, during the summer and autumn 

 months; taking into consideration that the means at my disposal would 

 only have kept a single corps in the field during six or seven months in 



the year. 



On account of the low stage of the Ohio river in October, 1857, the 

 Mississippi and Ohio packets, plying along the coast of Arkansas, were 

 not running; I therefore found it would be more expeditious to proceed 

 by land to Arkansas, especially as by the most direct route, I would reach 

 the north-eastern confines of that state, which your instructions designated 

 as the portion of the state where I should commence the geological 

 survey, so that, as soon as I reached the borders of Arkansas, the work 

 could be immediately commenced. 



