Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-23
SURVEY ROUNDS
ANOTHER CYCLE
VALUABLE MAPS AND FACTS
ARE COMPILED
AID PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENTS
AND OPERATIONS
Director Recommends Establishment
of Bureau of Mining Technology
to Cooperate with Geologic
cal Survey

The twe8&y-ninth annual report OF the
director of the United States geoIosl CdI
survey now in press, summarizes tue
various activities of the survey duIInS
the fiscal year ended June 81 l9Uo.
While the preparation OF geolosIc map
and the investigation Of the mlneral
resources and production of the country
are commonly known to be part OF the
SURVEYS work, it is not generally recog-
nized that the preparation OF base maps
and the study of surface and unaer-
ground waters have also formed an I'M
portant part of the survey operations
for nearly a quarter of century III
recent years congress has also intrusteu
TO the survey certain Investigations IN
mining technology. such as those relat-
ing to the utilization of fuels and the
causes of mine accidents. The heid OF
mining technology, embracing as II does
the methods and cost of mining ana
Ynetallurgy. the utilization of mineral
products. the investigation of mine ac-
cidents. etc, is a large one, and the
survey has not entered it except as spe-
officially authorized by congress.
Mining Geology
The director calls special attention to
the development of mining geology or
the application of the science of geol-
ogy to mining operations. The recog-
milton of the fact that the cooperation
of the mining geologist is necessary to
the best development of practical MN
ing operations the director states, is
due largely to the work or the united
States geological survey, and the prac-
tical value of the surveys contrtbu-
lions to mining geology has won for 1t
worldwide recognition Geology has
now come to be considered the hand
maid of mining, and the actual results
of the surveys work have demonstrated
to the mining industry its dependence
on geologic Investigations.
The surveys for the classification or
the coal lands in the west have Incl
dentally increased greatly the knowl-
edge of the occurrence and distribution
OF that most valuable mineral coal.
Similar systematic Investigations of the
oil fields of the country, the director
urges, would yield results hardly less
valuable. The goal to be sought in
mining geology is the extension Of sys-
tematic field surveys of all mineral
deposits, so that geologic exploration
may keep in advance of economic de-
velopment The prosecution of detailed
areal mapping in all regions where
active development of mineral deposits
is in progress would result in making
prospecting less expensive and more
effective. and also in winning a much
larger proportion of the ore deposits.
Work in Mining Technology
The directors report sets forth a mat
ter of some interest in connection with
the proposal to establish new mining
bureau. Last January. at the sugges-
ton of the senate committee on mines
and mining, the director Of the survey
submitted, through the secretary of the
Interior a statement relative to the
need of further recognition of the min
ing industry by the government The
part played by the survey in the de-
velopment of that industry in the last
thirty years was reviewed and legisla-
ton was suggested with a view to pro-
viding for an increase in the mining
work of the federal government with
out duplicating work already author
lied The opinion was expressed that
the only true line of cleavage for sep
arating the Investigations concerned
with the mining industry lies between
the pure technology of the industry, in
GLIDING. on the one hand, studies relat-
ing to the exploitation and utilization
of mineral products, and on the other
hand, those studies which relate to the
distribution of mineral deposits-in 9TH
err words. the geology of the industry.
Such geologic studies have formed an
increasingly important part of the
geological surveys work since its or
ganization. so that the whole question
resolves itself into the matter of maxi
ing adequate provision for the other
Investigations now being conducted by
the technologic branch of the survey.
Value of Investigation
The value of these Investigations has
been proved, and their scope may well
be expanded in the fields already en-
tered as well as along other technologic
lines without duplicating or overlap
ping the work of other branches of the
survey.
The directors recommendation, which
is based on the historical development
and present status of federal work in
aid of the mining industry of the
United States, was that the function of
any new organization Independent Of
the survey should be limited to strictly
technologic work in order to avoid
duplication and rivalry. To that end
II is important that the name of such
an organization should Indicate it's par
ticular function and nothing more. In
asmuch as geologic studies form the
foundation of the mining industry the
word mining" by itself, is inappro-
pirate for a bureau that would con-
duct only part of the Investigations
that relate to mines and mining and
recommendation was therefore made
that legislation establishing a new bu-
reau should provide not for a bureau
ing technology" Such a bureau would
supplement, along purely technologic
lines, the geologic work of the survey,
and the two bureaus could cooperate
in Investigations carried on in behalf
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