GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN FLORIDA 
PREVIOUS TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE 
PRESENT GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
The record of the geological investigations in Florida 
as contained in the literature, is briefly summarized in the 
following pages. It has been found impossible to mention 
all of the important papers, and only those which are 
especially necessary to an understanding of the course of 
development of the geological researches in this State are 
included. In the bibliography at the end of the chapter 
will be listed all the titles that have been found relating 
to the geology of Florida. This summary is given in the 
beginning of the State Survey’s work in order to take 
stock, as it were, of the results already arrived at in this 
field. The numbers given in parenthesis in the text refer 
to the bibliography. 
A number of references to Florida Geology occur in 
publications issued previous to the acquisition of the ter¬ 
ritory of Florida by the United States in 1821. M. Cates- 
by as early as 1771, wrote on the natural history of Caro¬ 
lina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (24), and in 1791, 
William Bartram published the first edition of his travels 
through North and South Carolina, Georgia and east and 
west Florida (15). Bartram’s account is of interest as 
being one of the early publications based upon direct 
observations. William McClure’s memoir, “Observation 
on the Geology of the United States,” includes mention 
of Florida along with the other coastal plains States. 
The first edition of this work appeared in 1809 in the 
Transaction of the American Philosophical Society (141). 
A second edition revised and enlarged was published in 
book form in 1817, and in the “Transactions” for 1818. 
The science of Geology at this early date was very imper¬ 
fectly developed as may be inferred from the fact that 
McClure accepts the Wernerian classification. Florida 
was believed to belong entirely to the formation known 
