Report of Committee on Natural History Survey. 595 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PROPOSED GEO¬ 
LOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY 
OF WISCONSIN. 
Action of the Academy .—At the annual meeting of the Wis¬ 
consin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters it was unani¬ 
mously voted to recommend strongly to theWisconsin legislature 
the bill reported by the committee of the Academy, to establish 
a geological and natural history survey of the state of Wiscon¬ 
sin. This bill is in no sense a local measure; the objects to be 
accomplished by the survey are the material and educational 
advancement of all parts of the state alike. The Wisconsin 
Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, quartered at the cap- 
itol, is the official society of the state. Its charter specifies as 
one of its objects a “thorough scientific survey of the state. ” It 
is therefore the proper organization to present this subject to 
the state legislature. The bill submitted without doubt will 
receive favorable action if its merits are understood. With 
this end in view the committee was instructed to give an ex¬ 
planation of the purposes of the measure and the results to be 
expected from its adoption. 
Incompleteness of Former Survey .—As shown by the accom¬ 
panying map about one-fourth of the northern part of the state 
was covered only by the most general preliminary work of the 
previous geological survey. Moreover, it is in this part of the 
state, if anywhere, that new mineral resources may be developed. 
The region ought especially to be surveyed in reference to the 
possible occurrence of iron-bearing formations. There are good 
reasons for believing that such formations exist at several local¬ 
ities. During the last survey the northern region was for the 
most part an unbroken forest. Since that time it has been cut 
through by railroads in every direction. From these railroads 
highways radiate. Towns have been built. A survey of the 
