The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-03
GEOLOGIST COLLETTS REPORT.
The Needs of the Department-The States
ReSOurces-ImpOrtance of Drainage.


The third annual report of the State Geologist,
now in the hands of the State printer, will soon
be out of press Although the third regular an
nual report, it is the fourteenth volume in the
the series that has been published since the geo
logical department was established. The work
during the last year has been greatly embarrassed
by the failure of the General Assembly, in 1885,
to make the usual special appropriation of S., 600
for the expenses of the department. DR.. Collect,
the chief of the department, by assuming extra
labor himself, working from ten to fourteen
hours day, reduced the expenses to much be-
low the worth of the work, and in the absence
of an appropriation paid the expenses out of his
own private funds. However, he will present a
full account with vouchers, to the General
Assembly and it is expected that he will be re-
imbursed for his publics spirited generosity.
Under Dr. Collects direction detail surveys
have been made during the year of Fayette and
Union counties by Dr. Moses N. Elrod of
Huntsville, and of Hamilton and Madison coun-
ties, by DR.. R. T. Brown, of this city Besides
attending to all the duties of the Office, without
an assistant, the State Geologist, during the
year, answered nearly three thou
sand letters of inquiry, giving ad--
vice on many branches of economic
science, sometimes involving the investment of
large sums of money. By hard work and close
economy, DIR. Coett reduced the cost of his re-
port last year, one of the most valuable geologi-
cal works ever published, to less than 81 per
volume while in other States, similar reports
have cost from 81 to $15, averaging Sax
per volume. ut is to be hoped that
the coming Legislature the Geologist
10 Nrri ion
to conduct the department on a basis more
commensurate with its great utility and
benefits to the people. This appropriation
should not be less than $4,000 annually, to be
used as follows: Salary of the State geologist,
81, 500; secretary and expert curator of the mu
scum, $500; increase of museum, $oO0:.feld work.
1000; chemical and archaeological work, 49,
OOO; stationery, postage, etc, $500" The usual
appropriation heretofore in Indiana has been
50, 0OO. The total expenses during the last year
amounted to So 294 rs, of which DIR. Colett re-
lies upon the Justice of the Legislature to REIN
burse him for 81, 494 76.
In speaking in his reports of the physical de-
fects of the agricultural lands in Indiana, the
State Geologst calls especial attention to the
Importance of tile underdranS. The farmers
have become fully aroused on the subject, land
innumerable unproductive fields have been I'M
derdrained, and the good effects resulting from
it have been so apparent that manufactures of
drain tile have been established in almost every
county. Abundant clays suitable for making
these tile ran be had in all parts of the State,
and the industry has become one of great mag
nitude, and gives employment to large number
of men and boys. The Improvement thus
wrought to agriculture is not alone productive
of large moneyed gains to the farmer, but the
thorough draining of the land has removed the
cause of malarlal diseases; the 'ague belt of the
Wabash has been almost obliterated, and bill
lous fever, once so common in all parts of the
State, is now seldom known within its borders.
The productive coal lands of Indiana, the re-
port says, embrace about $50 600 acres. Before
the inauguration of the geological survey this
coal scarcely found market except for smith
ing purposes, and the lands were worth only
from 81 to $40 per acre. They now sell readily
at from $50 to 5000 per acre, while Indiana coal
is used to large extent by railroads, manu-
featuring establishments and for household
purposes The value of this previously unpro-
ductlve land is estimated at more than $50. 000,
600 and adding the benefits derived from the
setting up of FORCES, furnaces, factories and
mills, and the building of railways it is proba-
bly, within the mark to state that the aggregate
increase in values resulting from the development
of the coal fields has reached 800, 000 000 There
are 206 mines in nineteen counties of the State,
employing g. 403 men, producing 2. 800 900 tons of
COAL requiring capital of $1,000, 600 for the
present year
The report also states that Indiana has more
than two hundred square miles of the best
building stone to be found in the Western
country, if rot in the world. This stone has
oeeh iouhu III Sredt variety OF color ana grace,
and the tests applied have shown it to be ofsuch
enduring strength as to create large demand.
In this way another channel has been opened for
the investment of large sums of money by
Eastern capitalists, and many quarries are now
being operated by skilled workmen, with the aid
of the most approved machinery and tools The
product of these quarries, which few years ago
did not exceed $50, 600 per annum, will, during
the present year, amount to very large sum.
Ifproper methods were adopted, nearly as
good returns might be made from the sale of
almost unknown. The fine porcelain clay of
Lawrence county which was supposed at first
to be confined to an of about forty acres of
profitable beds, is found to extend over sew
eral hundred acres and opens up field for the
introduction Of the most extensive porcelain
manufactures in the United States, since no
where else is clay found of such pure white
color and freedom from oxide of iron.