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would act usefully in all suggestions for canals, and also tend to the 

 developeraent of manufacturing enterprise. 



A general plan only can be given, according to which, it would be 

 most eligible to enter upon the geological researches, for the move- 

 ments of those engaged in the survey must be shaped to a conside- 

 rable extent by the geological relations of the several districts of the 

 state as they are brought to light. It is deemed proper that the first 

 seasons be taken up in part in a general exploration of all the prin- 

 cipal regions of the state, and in part in a detailed investigation in a 

 systematic order of each class of formations. In this way a multi- 

 tude of valuable facts easily reached, will be brought to light by the 

 earliest possible day, and the regular execution of the state map will 

 be in progress from the commencement of the survey, and its ulti- 

 mate completion greatly expedited. 



It is proposed to connect with these general examinations, a mass 

 of chemical investigations, intended to be of immediate application 

 in the employment of the materials brought under review ; also, to 

 render annual reports upon such points of the survey as are more 

 pressingly wanted, and which are capable of being completed in a 

 single season, reserving the minute and comprehensive description 

 of the whole geology of the state for a general final report. These 

 annual and specific reports can be accompanied by sections across 

 the strata, the execution of which is compatible with much less time 

 than is essential to the construction of the geological map. In this 

 way much definite knowledge can be disseminated without waiting 

 for the final completion of the enterprise, and the map will be greatly 

 benefited by the investigations auxiliary to these profiles. 



The facts, and general views of the geological structure of the 

 state, brought to light in the reConnoissance, enable one to suggest 

 nearly the directions most proper for the principal sections or pro- 

 files across the formations of the state. 



It is proposed to make one lie between the Potomac somewhere 

 near Alexandria and the Alleghany mountain near Cumberland ; an- 

 other from the Atlantic across the Eastern shore and the Chesapeake 

 bay, at a point between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, to 

 reach to the Ohio river near Fishing creek ; a third to stretch from 

 the Chesapeake bay between the York and James rivers to the Ohio 

 near the mouth of the Little Kanawha; a fourth to commence at the 

 North Carolina line between the Chowan and Roanoke rivers, and 



