252 The American Geologist. ^i^"'' ^^°^- 
very hard, and sometimes alkaline. This result was widely 
published. Iron or stone or earthern ])iping was substituted at 
once for pine planking-, and the sickness and alarm rapidly 
subsided. This is one of the most important and immediate 
of the beneficial results of the survey. 
(2.) Of the economic resources whose development can be 
traced to the initial research of the survey only two will here 
be mentioned. 
(a) The excellent qualities of the Hinckley (Kettle River) 
sandstone were discovered by the testing of the building stones 
of the state by the geological survey. At that time there was 
not a quarry operative in the state on that stone. It was im- 
mediately introduced into the markets of St. Paul and Min- 
neapolis, and is now recognized as an excellent building stone, 
and is largely employed throughout the state, (b) The exist- 
ence and position of the Mesabi iron range were pointed out 
by the geological survey, as distinct from the Vermilion range, 
in 1884. Explorations which followed this publication were 
successful in the discovery of the first important deposit on 
that range. Since then the Mesabi range has developed into 
the greatest iron-producing district in the world. Throughout 
its early development the geological survey was in constant 
contact with the workings of the various explorers, and 
watched the progress of geological as well as economic evolu- 
tion. 
(c) But, notwithstanding the scientific discoveries of the 
INIinnesota Survey, and over and aliove all its aid rendered to 
economic interests, it is probable that the most valuable ser- 
vice it has rendered to geology consists in this : — the illustra- 
tion it has given of the establishment of a state geological sur- 
vey by a state legislature and the entrusting of the same to the 
state's university. It is not an uncommon thing now, but when 
the Minnesota Survey was submitted to the Board of Regents 
of the State University, it was a novel and unheard of proceed- 
ing, and its progress was scrutinized closely by the authorities 
of other states. The original law was carried out \vithout a 
single change. The plan of progress and of the report, which 
was adopted the first year of the survey, was faithfully carried 
out to completion and without a single interruption, lasting a 
period of twenty-eight years, i.e. from 1872 to 1900. 
