REPORT OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST. XXlii 



have no definite detailed account, except in the Central Kegion, and in 

 the later ones little attention was given to the subject. The State and 

 its problems were too great to be compressed into the small amount of 

 work which could be done under the appropriations. 



All other work has been on detached areas, and for most part the 

 results are summed up in short magazine articles.* Later, good work 

 has been done by Mr. R T. Hill, who has done much to give us a clear 

 understanding of the Cretaceous, but even this is still very incomplete, 

 and we may well say that the principal facts of our geologic history as 

 a whole are even to-day unknown, except in so far as the work of the 

 present survey has brought them to light. 



PLAN OF OPERATIONS. 



The plan adopted consists in giving the geologist in charge of the 

 field party a definite line of work under general instructions, leaving 

 the greater part of the details to be determined by himself, he being 

 directly responsible to the State Geologist for the results. This works 

 most admirably in practice, for while it furnishes the results as desired 

 and planned for by the State Geologist, it allows the individuality of 

 each geologist to be clearly seen through his report. Many of the 

 minor details were settled by conference during the visits of the State 

 Geologist to the different camps. 



The present condition of the field parties, the amount of work they 

 have accomplished, and the spirit in which it has been done, is proof of 

 the satisfactoriness of the arrangements. 



A knowledge of the general geology being a prime necessity in the 

 carrying out of the objects of the Survey, the work of the present year 

 was distributed in such a manner that while each field party had some 

 distinct economic feature as a basis for the season's work, its relations 

 and position were such as to necessitate a study of the details of the 

 formation in which it occurred. 



Mr. Penrose, in his report on the iron ores of Eastern Texas, 

 necessarily gives the general geology of the Tertiary and later form- 

 ations in which they occur, in order to show the manner of their 

 deposition, their origin, character, and their relations to each other and 

 to the formations containing them. The next older formation, the 



*A detailed account of all work done previous to the organization of the present sur- 

 vey will be found in Bulletin No. 45 of the United States Geological Survey. " Present Con- 

 dition of Knowledge of the Geology of Texas." R. T. Hill, 



