Ohio History Journal

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STORY OF THE FIRST GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

STORY OF THE FIRST GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

OF OHIO

1835 - 1842.

BY PAUL WAKELEE STODDARD*

 

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

The purpose of this paper is conceived to be the

story of the First Geological Survey of Ohio, not the

findings of the Survey, or the discoveries made. It

deals with the rise and fall of popular sentiment, and

the corresponding reaction in legislative halls. More-

over, this is legislative history--not social; for the lat-

ter, although far more valuable, is subtle and elusive.

It is difficult to obtain and still more difficult to render

accurate.  So the essay is confined to the recital of

actual events in chronological order, with occasional

excursions into the personnel of, the public comment

upon, and the results obtained from the Survey.

A bibliographical note is appended.

 

STORY OF THE FIRST GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

OF OHIO

"Before closing this communication," wrote the Gov-

ernor of Ohio, Robert Lucas, in his annual message to

the State Legislature, on December 8, 1835,1 round-

ing out one of those mouth-filling paragraphs so com-

mon in the American "Age of Oratory," "I am im-

* B. A., Yale University, 1924. Graduate School, Yale University, De-

cember 15, 1927.

1 Ohio, House Journal, 1835-36, 20.

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