INTRODUCTION. 
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The citizens of Arkansas, so far as I have had an opportunity of 
ascertaining by intercourse with them, are so well aware of the impor- 
tance and utility of a geological survey of their state, that it is hardly 
necessary for me to enlarge upon the subject. But a few remarks of 
paramount interest suggest themselves. 
It has been justly inferred, from the history of nations, that the people 
who have reached the highest state of civilization and intelligence, and 
who possess the greatest wealth and influence, are those who enjoy the 
most extensive facilities of commercial interchange, who possess within 
themselves the largest means of producing the staple articles of food, and 
who manufacture the substantial fabrics supplying wearing apparel, the 
implements of husbandry, and all kinds of useful machinery. 
To accomplish these vast objects to the greatest advantage, the country 
itself should not only be possessed of those natural resources in soil and 
mineral productions, which supply the raw material for all kind of staples, 
but must be sufficiently populous to supply the labor necessary for carry- 
ing on those manufactures, without too great a drain upon the agricultural 
community. These two classes of society, under a liberal and enlightened 
form of government, become mutually dependent on each other, the 
one producing the necessaries of life, the other fashioning the implements 
which enable the cultivator of the soil to afford his means of subsistence 
at a cheap rate, and supplying, not only to the artizan but to the whole 
community such articles of comfort and convenience as give to life its 
zest, and to our home their charms. 
Hence, to be in the most flourishing condition, a country should not only 
possess, at least, a fair average soil, but those mineral resources which 
