FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT. 
15 
shall be deposited with each of the State colleges. The publica¬ 
tion of annual reports is provided for as a means of disseminating 
the information obtained in the progress of the Survey. The 
Survey is thus intended to serve on the one hand an economic, 
and on the other an educational purpose. In its economic rela¬ 
tions a State Survey touches on very varied interests of the State's 
development. In its results it may be expected to contribute to 
an intelligent development of the State’s natural resources. Its 
educational’ value is of no less immediate concern to the State, 
both to the citizens within the State and to prospective citizens 
without. 
A knowledge of the soil and of the available water supply is 
very necessary to successful agriculture, and the Survey’s in¬ 
vestigations along these lines are of value to all land owners. A 
knowledge of the mineral deposits which may lie beneath the 
surface, is likewise necessary to a correct valuation of land. 
relation of the state survey to the OWNERSHIP of MINERAL 
LANDS. 
The relation of the State Geological Survey to the ownership 
of mineral lands is specifically defined. The Survey law provides 
that it shall be the duty of the State Geologist and his assistants, 
when they discover any mineral deposits or substances of value, 
to notify the owners of the land upon which such deposits occur 
before disclosing their location to any other person or persons. 
Failure to do so is punishable by fine and imprisonment. It is 
not intended by the law, however, that the State Geologist’s time 
shall be devoted to examinations and reports upon the value of 
private mineral lands. Reports of this character are properly the 
province of commercial geologists, who may be employed by the 
owners of land for that purpose. To accomplish the best results, 
the work of the Survey must be in accordance with definite plans 
by which the State’s resources are investigated in an orderly 
manner. Only such examinations of private lands can be made as 
are incidental to the regularly planned investigations of the 
Survey. 
