University of the State of New York 



New York State Museum 



Frederick J. H. Merrill Director 

 Bulletin 56 

 GEOLOGY 5 



DESCRIPTION OF THE 



STATE GEOLOGIC MAP OF 1901 



PREFACES 



The purpose of this bulletin is to give a certain amount of 

 information which could not be expressed on the geologic map 

 of 1901, namely the detailed credit for the material used in 

 its compilation. 



With this it has seemed worth while to give some items of 

 general information about the history of geologic work in New 

 York. The matter relating to the early Natural History Sur- 

 vey is in part based on an article by the late Dr James Hall 

 in a publication entitled Public Service in the State of Neiv York, 

 which has been copiously quoted because of its convenient form, 

 though the facts given are on record elsewhere. 



In compiling a second edition of the geologic map of the 

 State of New York, on the scale of 5 miles to the inch, the 

 writer has found the task exceedingly complex. While the 

 geology of New York has been carefully studied by many com- 

 petent observers the lack of accurate maps has rendered much 

 of the field work unavailable for graphic reproduction because 

 many accurate observations could not be located. It also ap- 

 pears that in the earlier work the geologists have not understood 

 the most practical methods of locating their observations, the 

 practice seemingly having been to locate outcrops with refer- 

 ence to drainage rather than with reference to roads. 



