The Southern herald., 1885-07-18


tAe4 NE AtAAA AltA
aa. Jun Gs.-Ths ccning.
Hask af go Gsalogiaal Survey.
AS a narpea ozl iT Major Pouel,
AsTs reeivei - approval
9stsFy lamar. The aork of The
man-maters. while serving lhs many
.54lanl ends, STATE and municipal, Of
ihs mosi exset geographical surveys up-
en large scale, IS, 90 far - the Govsn-
meal Is concerned, merely designed tO|
aF ihe necessary foundation for the
studies Of the sayAnis Of he institution.
Ihs early functions Of Ehe Geological
Survey. and Of The organisations which
3 alev years ago were merged into il, we're
limited % the survey and study Of the
public domain-about one-ffih Of the
ara 81 the Union-already covered by
the surveyors and geoiogisis, SOC, 600 lie
west ol he one hundredth meridian.
This region hes proved a rare school Of
science. ths physical conditions having
been sneh Is to preserve unchanged the
earliest rock forms, so that the history
81 tie globe FAR back toward genesis may
Be read from The mountain sides as from
an open book. When the study was be-
gun there was nothing in geological liter
atuss 70 show that similarly favorable
regions existed elsewhere, and il was for
time believed that our plateau districts
were in many respects unique. tits
nov known, however, that portions Of
Abyssinia, Of Northern Spain, a China,
ana Of the Great Sahara present like
conditions, both as TO the formations and
their state Of preservation.
The picture in outline of the young
continent in quarsernary time, Just be-
fore the advent Of human life, into which
IS one Of series, these scientific men
are now painting the details, has but few
familiar features. The great mountain
systems we're already uplifted, and were
vastly more rugged and higher than now.
The southern sea, now the Gulf of Mex
ico, had possession Of an immense strip
Of the lower country, and Of the great
valley and the Atlantic coast. The Pa
cife slope was region Of steep glaciers.
The Great Basin was an inland ocean, Oh
rather, two great inland seas we're found
within It, Of one Of which the Great
Salt Lake Is petty remnant. This re.
gion and that to south, now so sterile
and dry, was then one Of great humidity
and whore not covered with water, wal
very fertile.. An ice sheet extended ovel
the northern portion Of the eastern ant
middle country, covering the great lake.
and the bordering regions to the south
for hundreds Of miles. Continually
moving southwark, this sheet deposited
its eargOes Of detritus century after cen
tuly, forming the subsoils of what ar,
now lhe Eastern, Middle, and North
western States; and heaped up termi
nal moraine, still distinctly traceable a
. range Of hills through New Jersey
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, an,
thence northwestward along the presen
line Of the Missouri through Dakota an,
up into the British possessions. Grea
tongues Of ice shot off from this shee
far to the southwark, while an islam
region, comprising much Of the presen
State Of Wisconsin, remained bare
There we're, in fact, two Create periods
with an intervening season longer tina
the time which has elapsed since the dii
appearance of the last sheet, and durin
the interval forests of large conifers GOV
cred the face Of the earth. Long Island
which was created by glacial deposits
marks the southeastern limit Of th
sheet.
The climatic conditions Of the countr
south 81 the great ice belt we're muc
the same as At present, and the fora va
similar, though coniferous growths wei
proportionately much more abundan
Through the forests along the borders
the ice sheet roamed strange animal
among which we're the huge, hairy an
more than elephantine mammoth; IL
horse, smaller animal than bis relati,
Of to-day, having well forward hoof
but still bearing in rudimentary for
one or two Of the toes Of his primev
ancestors; the great buffalo, two or thr
simes larger than his descendant of
day; the pig more nearly resemble
the peocary Of South America than q
familiar hog Of our own country, a
other creatures curiously related to I
modern camel and rhinoceros. TIL
came man, but his early footprints q
Too fen and indistinct to reveal within