556 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PHILADELPHIA MEETING 



During the summer months of 1879 we had charge of a survey of the 

 Warrior river for the Engineer Office of the War Department, under 

 Major Damrell, the object of which survey was primarily to ascertain 

 the nature and extent of the obstructions to navigation and to obtain 

 estimates of the cost of removing or overcoming the same, and, secondly, 

 to collect statistics of the natural resources of the country lying adjacent 

 to the river. 



The levelings and soundings along the river were made under the di- 

 rection of Mr McCalley, while the geological data were collected by Mr 

 Joseph Squire and myself. Our joint report was published in a Report of 

 Progress for 1879-1880. Later in the year Mr McCalley spent some time 

 in the Tennessee valley, and the results of his labors were given in the 

 same report of progress. 



In 1883 the legislature made an appropriation for the Geological Survey 

 which made it possible to employ salaried assistants, and Mr McCalley 

 then received the appointment as assistant state geologist, which position 

 he held until his death, a period of 21 years. 



His first work in this capacity was in the Warrior basin, on which his 

 first report was published in 1886. This was the first comprehensive 

 statement of the characters and succession of the coal seams of this great 

 field and it gave great help to those who were engaged in the development 

 of the state. Next he took up the study of the plateau portion of the 

 Warrior field, in northeastern Alabama, and his report on the coal meas- 

 ures of this section was published in 1881. 



His next work was in the Paleozoic formations of the Tennessee, Coosa, 

 and other great valleys in which occur the limestones, iron ores, and 

 bauxites of the state, and the results of several years work in this section 

 were published in 1896 and 1897 under the title " The Valley Regions of 

 Alabama," part I being devoted to the valley of the Tennessee and part II 

 to the Coosa and other anticlinal valleys, Cahaba, Wills, Jones, and 

 Blount Springs valleys. 



The great activity in coal mining during the 10 years following the 

 publication of the report of 1886 on the Warrior basin rendered neces- 

 sary a reexamination and more thorough study of the field, and Mr Mc- 

 Calley spent much time in going again over the ground with Mr George 

 N. Brewer as an assistant, and in 1890 appeared his report on the War- 

 rior basin, with a large map. 



Since 1900 his work has been in the region of the igneous and meta- 

 morphic rocks, upon which he was engaged at the time of his death. 

 Unfortunately his notes on this region were not written up, though quite 

 full and comprehensive. This will make it impossible to get the full 

 benefit of his work. 





