CHAPTER IX. 
A SYNOPSIS OF THE HISTOUY OF THE PROGRESS AND DISCOVERIES 
OF GEOLOGY IN NORTH AMERICA. 
All books of voyages and travels in North America, as well as more historical works, con- 
tain indications and notions concerning the mineral wealth of this continent, even as far back as 
the History of the World, by Sir Walter Raleigh, published in London, in folio, 1614: Vhistoire ve- 
ritable et naturelle des moeurs et productions du pays de la Nouvelle France , vulgairement dite le Canada , by 
Pierre Boucher; Paris, 1640: Les voyages du Baron de la Hontan dans TAmerique Septentrionale , Paris, 
1688: L'histoire de la Nouvelle France, by P. F. Xavier de Charlevoix : The History of New Hampshire , by 
Jeremy Belknap; Philadelphia, 1784: etc., etc. 
The geological observers, however, did not make their appearance till the 19'“' century. The 
first pioneers were : Dr. Adam Seyhert, a pupil of Werner; Godon, a French geologist; Colonel 
Gibbs, a pupil of the French mining school at Paris; Dr. A. Bruce; Prof. P. Cleaveland; Benj. Sil- 
liman; and above all William Maclure. 
American geology may be said to have commenced with the publication of the Geological Map 
of the United States, in 1809, hy William Maclure, who has been justly called the « William Smith# 
of America , and the Father of American Geology. 
Maclure'), a pupil of Werner began in 1806 a regular survey of the United States, and unit- 
ing to his own observations those of his contemporaries before mentioned , he published in January 
1809, at Philadelphia, the first attempt at a Geological Map of the United States. 
') William Maclure, born at Ayr in Scotland, in the year 1763, emigrated to New York at the age 
of nineteen, and became a merchant. After having been very' successful in his commercial enterprises, 
and having acquired a large fortune, he returned to Europe, where he devoted his time and fortune to 
studying, travelling, and collecting objects of natural history. Geology especially occupied his attention, 
and after having visited two thirds of Europe, he resolved to undertake a geological survey of the United 
States. Having returned to America in 1806, «ho commenced his herculean task. He went forth with 
«his hammer in his hand and his wallet on his shoulder, pursuing his researches in every direction, 
« often amid pathless tracts and dreary solitudes, until he had crossed and recrossed the Alleghany moun- 
«tains no less than fifty times. He encountered all the privations of hunger, thirst, fatigue and exposure, 
« month after month, and year after year, until his indomitable spirit had conquered every difficulty, 
« and crowned his enterprise with success. Mr. Maclure ’s observations were made in almost every State 
«and Territory in the Union, from the river S' Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico; and the Memoir, which 
