McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1915-04-09
SURVEY TO MAKE COUNTY
MAPS
Department VIII Begin With Nc
Marry County

pursuing It's work, has met with no
greater difficulty than the want Of
good maps in .aany parts OF the state.
1t is necessary for the geologists in
the field, in mapping in the different
rock formations or different kinds of
soil to have a map which can be used
as base upon which which these Can be
represented.
The maps by the United States geo.
logical survey answer the purpose of
geological base maps admirably. but
most of the work done by that bureau
was done in the eastern part of the
state. The area of these maps con-
stitutes what Is called quadrangle.
The usual size of quadrangle is a
half degree on a side. In this lati-
tude quadrangle is something like
twenty eight miles wide and thirty
four miles long, and contains some
thing less than 1000 square miles.
AS the quadrangles are laid off ac-
cording to parallels and meridians, it
never happens that quadrangle will
coincide with county. Usually it
will cover a part of several counties,
but no one completely.
1t frequently becomes desirable for
a state geological survey to do a part
Of its work by counties instead of by
quadrangles, especially in those areas
where quadrangle maps are not made
This is true with the Tennessee geo.
logical survey at the present time,
and makes necessary the construction
of county maps in some areas where
it is desired to do work. There is an
other reason for the making of relia-
BILE county maps in that many Of the
counties Of the state have no good
maps. In fact, there are only a few
Of the counties of which good. relia-
BILE, detailed maps have been made.
One of the counties which it be-
comes necessity to have mapped is
McNairy. This is for the reason that
in McNairy county there is exposed
at the surface a larger number of
geological formations than in any
other county of West Tennessee. The
formations of West Tennessee have
not been mapped, except in a most
general and unsatisfactory way. 1t
is the plan Of the state geological
survey to map this area as fast as the
part of the appropriation that can be
set aside for that work will permit.
Because there are a larger number
Of formations outcropping in McNairy
county than in any other county in
West Tennessee, that is the place to
begin careful work in order to more
easily unravel the, geology Of the
counties to the north and west. In
other words, the clue to the complete
understanding of the geology of West
Tennessee is in McNairy county.
For the purpose Of making a relia-
Bile base map upon which the differ
ent formations, and different types Of
soil may be placed, Mr.. F. W. Farms
worth and Mr.. R. G. Atkins have been
employed. The map which these men
are instructed to make will be on the
scale of one mile to the inch, and will
show all the main public highways,
the by-roads, the towns, the country
residences, the schoolhouses, the
churches, the railroads and the
streams. In short, it will be as ex-
act and complete map as can be
made with reasonable expenditure
Of money, and it is believed will be
Eagerly sought by residents of the
county and by others wanting infor-
nation concerning the county's re-
sources.
Mr.. Farnsworth, whose home is al
Dayton, Tenn. is member of the
United States geological survey, en-.
gagged in making maps of this kind
and has been borrowed for short
time BY the Tennessee geological sur
vey. Mr.. Watkins is a civil engineer
being a graduate of the Virginia To-
dustrial Institute, and recently EN-.
ployed in railroad work in Tennessee
They began the work on the first Of
the month.
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