CHAPTER I. 



ORGANIZATION OP THE SURVET, AND PLAN OP OPERATIONS. 



On the receipt of my commission, dated March 9th, 1859, 

 designating me to take the charge of the work provided for 

 by the "Act to. Finish the Geological Survey of the State," 

 approved February 15, 1859, I met you, by request, for the 

 purpose of consultation upon a plan of operations adapted to 

 the circumstances then existing. Besides the act just referred 

 to, a joint resolution had been previously passed, making an 

 appropriation for the " publication of Dr. Houghton's Notes." 

 An examination of such sources of information as were acces- 

 *ible, had shown, however, at the time of our interview, that 

 there were no "notes" made by Dr. Houghton or his assistants 

 which had not already been reported from, either by the ob- 

 servers themselves, or in the manner provided for by Dr. 

 Houghton's administrators, except the field notes upon four 

 townships in the Upper Peninsula, which were lost at the time 

 of the melancholy occurrence which terminated the original 

 survey. It resulted, that the only further use which could be 

 made of the "notes" referred to in the resolution, weuld be to 

 work them up into a detailed report upon the geology of the 

 State, as understood twenty years ago, before the geology of 

 New York, Canada, and the Northwest, had contributed such 

 important aids to the proper understanding of the geology of 

 our own State. While such a publication as this would be but 

 a just tribute to the men who had labored and suffered for 

 years in this great work, it was not deemed compatible with 

 the interest of the State, nor conducive to the advancement of 

 science, to prosecute the publication of Dr. Houghton's " notes" 

 in all the details of a final report, and immediately follow it 

 with another report, already provided for, which should com- 



