ADDRESS. To the President of the University: I have the honor to offer the accompanying report on the progress of the Geological and Natural History Survey of the State, for the year 1873. The last Legislature increased the means provided for the prosecution of the survey, by doubling the cash appropriation, making it two thousand dollars annually, and transferred to the Board of Regents the State lands known as "Salt Spring Lands," the proceeds of which they are required to expend exclusively in the prosecution of this work. At the same time the Board of Regents of the University were required to direct the immediate survey of the peat deposits of the State, and to cause an investigation and report on the Salt Springs. While these special investigations have been carried on as far and as thoroughly as possible, the progress of the general survey has also been pushed as far as the means and time would permit. In general, the field of observations has been, during the season of 1873, in the southwestern part of the State. The valley of the Minnesota, and those of some of its tributaries, have been subjected to a reconnoissance which has served to answer many questions that were important to answer before entering on the detailed county work, and in that manner has also served to prolong, though not yet to complete, the preliminary survey that occupied the short season of 1872. The results of this reconnoissance, both scientific and economical, will be found stated in the proper places in the accompanying report. The counties of Cottonwood, Jackson and Nobles have been subjected to thorough inspection for peat. Incidental examinations have also been made on peat deposits in the counties of Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Le Sueur, Nicollet, Faribault and Stearns. Prof. S. F. Peckham, the chemist of the survey, has made the analysis of thirteen specimens. Before his appointment six specimens were also submitted to Dr. P. B. Rose, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, for analysis. The reports of these gentlemen will also be found in the accompanying report, supplemented by remarks on the methods of working peat, and its value as a fuel for general use, and by sundry practical conclusions on the peats of Minnesota. The question of the existence of Carboniferous coal in Minnesota, has also occupied considerable time during the .past season. The frequent statements, positively put forth in the public prints, of the finding of considerable quantities of good coal in the southern and southwestern part of the state, together with the published opinion of Mr. H. H. Eames, reporting to the legislature in 1866, to the effect that the Carboniferous rocks of the State of Iowa are prolonged northward into Minnesota, and there furnish the "coal" of the Cottonwood and Redwood valleys, induced the attempt to determine, as far as possible, the source of the float coal found, and the real age of the rocks explored for coal in that portion of the State. This question was believed to be paramount to all others bearing on the fuel supply, and although its solution is not entirely accomplished, yet enough has been ascertained to warrant certain practical and important conclusions. The facts on which these conclusions are based, will be found stated in different parts of the following report, and need not be repeated here. 1st. The rocks that have been explored for coal, on the Cottonwood and Redwood rivers, belong to the Cretaceous system, and do not promise to be productive of coal in valuable quantities. 2d. The coal there taken out is of an inferior grade, though varying from cannel coal to charcoal. 3d. As the rocks of the Cretaceous period are believed to have existed throughout the most of the State, the only probable exception being in the southeastern portion, including half a dozen counties, such coal is likely to occur at a great many places. 4th. The "float" coal which has so often attracted the attention of the people, is derived, so far as yet known, from the disruption of the Cretaceous rocks by the glaciers of the ice period. It is scattered through the drift, and is met with in wells and other excavations, and may be often picked up along the beds of streams. 5th. The only part of the state where good coal-bearing strata of the Carboniferous age may occur, comprises the counties of Mower, Freeborn and Faribault. As these counties are heavily covered with drift, the question can be settled definitely only by drilling or shafting to the rock. Should Carboniferous rocks be met in Faribault county, there would also be some reason for exploring for the same in the southeastern portion of Blue Earth county. In regard to the investigation of the salt springs, nothing further has been done than to ascertain their history, and the present condition of the United States land grant. It has been found that the original grant covered 46,080 acres. Of this the State was unable to avail itself of 11,520 acres, that amount being situated outside of the area surveyed by the U. S. Government. The springs, however, lying outside of the surveyed portions of the State, were carefully located by metes and bounds, and at the order of Governor Sibley the request was entered at the Land Department at Washington that the lands appertaining to each spring so located, also those lying within the surveyed portions, claimed by the State under the act of Congress admitting the State into the Union, be withheld from sale and occupancy. They have not been so withheld, and those lands have not been certified to the State. This fact reduced the original available grant to 34,560 acres. It has been further reduced by the occupancy by settlers, 6,752 acres. About 1,600 acres were also previously covered by the terms of the act granting swamp lands to the State. The remainder, 26,435 acres, have been certified to the State. The Belle Plaine Salt Company were granted 7,643 acres of the certified Salt Spring Lands, on complying with the acts of the Legislature. The rest of the certified lands, amounting to 18,771 acres, are now available for the prosecution of the survey. The uncertified portion of the original grant, aggregating 19,872 acres, inasmuch as the whole was properly selected and located within the terms of the Enabling Act, should be the subject of a memorial to Congress, as suggested by Auditor McIlrath, in his report for 1871. It is believed that the U. S. Government would gladly make up, by an additional grant, the deficiency that has resulted in great loss to the State, through the neglect or inadvertence of its own officers. The traveling expenses have been materially reduced during the past season by the courtesy of the officers of the following railroads, who have granted me continuous passes over their roads, viz. the St. Paul and Sioux City, and Sioux City and St. Paul; the Southern Minnesota; the Northern Pacific, and the St. Paul and Pacific. : Dr. I. A. Lapham, Director of the Geological Survey of Wisconsin, has furnished a catalogue of the plants of Minnesota, made up from various sources, including his own observations, and known to be growing in the state at the date of 1865. The reputation of Dr. Lapham for scientific accuracy, not only increases the value of this gift, but makes it highly desirable that its publication be not delayed. Although not strictly of a geological character, yet it comes within the scope of the survey and is herewith presented. A great many individuals have aided in the prosecution of the survey during the past season. Of these, I can name Prof. Ira Moore, of St. Cloud, who has also donated to the University Museum a number of interesting fossils and minerals from various localities; W. Z. Haight, of Delevan, who has taken great interest in the peat investigations, and has furnished much information on the manufacture of peat in Faribault county; Gov. Stephen Miller, of Windom; I. J. Rochussen, of St. Paul; Park Worden, of Minnesota Falls; Henry Hill and A. J. Luce, of Granite Falls, and Capt. H. H. Herrick, of DeGraff, D. C. I am also under many obligations to the citizens of Cottonwood, Nobles and Jackson counties, for assistance in making the peat survey of those counties. In the examination of the Minnesota Valley I was accompanied as far as to Mankato, and thence up the Blue Earth to Wells, by Mr. P. P. Furber, a student in the University. From Mankato to the head of Big Stone Lake, Mr. C. E. Chatfield, also a student in the University, was my only companion. The assistance of these young men contributed greatly to the thoroughness and success of the exploration of that valley. We depended on the scattered inhabitants for sustenance, and traveled with a single horse and light, covered wagon. At night we usually slept in our tent, camping near some farmer of whom we obtained meals. Very respectfully, THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, ELL. |