PREFACE. 
XI 
fourths of our sister states have now in progress, or have finished like 
examinations of their territories. And in every instance, it is believed 
that they have not only added to the treasures of science, but have been 
attended with important and useful discoveries. Many valuable minerals 
are already known to exist in various sections of the state ; and a further 
exploration cannot fail to bring to light other resources, and greatly favor 
the pursuits of Mining and Manufacturing; while a minute examination 
of our soils by persons uniting science and practical skill in agriculture, 
will be productive of improvement in thac useful branch of industry.” 
The importance of such a survey had been previously often urged by 
the leading minds of the state; notably, by Judge Murphy, Gov. Dud- 
ley and Gov. Morehead, the latter declaring his conviction that “ The 
same amount of money could not be so usefully applied in any other way 
as in procuring these surveys.” Similar views held by the statesmen of 
the previous generation had led to the former Survey, already described, 
which has given North Carolina the enviable position of the pio- 
neer in a work which is now urged forward among all the enlightened 
nations of the world, as the highest and most immediate and indispen- 
sible means of industrial progress, and has become an index and measure 
of civilization. And it is worth a digression to note here, that however 
backward our state may be in some things, there have always been among 
us at least a few sagacious statesmen and patriots that kept in the very 
van of the world’s progress, and pointed the way even to the leadership 
of that progress on our continent ; but they lacked support, — they were 
ahead of their time. Witness, besides the first establishment of a geologi- 
cal survey, the erection at Chapel Hill of the first Astronomical Obser- 
vatory iu America, the foundations of which still remain, and the intel- 
ligent and urgent advocacy by Dr. Caldwell (see “ Carlton Letters ”), 
and the energetic attempt by Judge Murphy and others towards the exe- 
cution, of schemes of internal improvement which w'ere equal in concep- 
tion and superior in practicability, to that of Clinton, which has given to 
New York the commercial and financial leadership of the continent, or 
that of Washington (the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal), which would have 
transferred that leadership to the mouth of the James — , schemes which, 
had they been carried out, would at least have made North Carolina the 
“ Empire State” of the South. 
The objects of the Survey are expressed with some particularity in the 
authorizing act of 1872. It is as follows : 
1. The Governor shall appoint a suitable person to conduct under the 
supervision of himself and the Literary Board, a Geological, Mineral- 
ogical, Botanical and Agricultural Survey of the State. 
