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OCR for page 47
THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 47
PRESENT MAIN LINES OF WORK
The main work being done is along the lines already outlined, and
the preparation of the annual report for 1932 which will include pri-
marily a bibliography of Maine geology and other short subjects in
geology.
PREVIOUS SURVEY ORGANIZATIONS
A thorough and concise statement of the history of the Survey of
Elaine will be found in Meisel's Bibliography of Maine Natural History,
on pages 600 to 606 inclusive.
MARYLAND *
The Maryland Geological Survey was organized in 1896 with offices
at Johns Hopkins University.
SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES
The scope of the Survey, as originally defined, included the examina-
tion of geological formations, soils, and physical features of the State;
the preparation of special reports, with necessary illustrations and maps;
and the consideration of such. other scientific and economic questions as
seem to be of value to the people of the State. Under this broad organiza-
tion the Survey has inaugurated or administered the State highway work,
now in the hands of the State Roads Commission; and the State forestry
work, now in the hands of the State Department of Forestry; it has
also organized exhibitions representing the State's resources, and other
similar projects.
ORGANIZATION
Since the reorganization of the State in 1920, the Survey has been
nominally under the Regents of the University of Maryland, with an
Advisory Council consisting of the President of the University of
Maryland, the President of the Johns Hopkins University, and two other
members appointed by the Governor. Because of the Survey's long
existence and its independent operation it still deals directly in admin-
istrative arid financial matters with the appropriate State officers arid
not through the Board of Regents.
*Information furnished by E. B. Mathews, State Geologist, September, 1930.
OCR for page 48
48 THE STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS AND
The executive officer, defined in the original bill as Superintendent, is
known generally as State Geologist. The present incumbent is Edward
Bennett Mathews. The appointment was originally made by the Com-
mission, first as Assistant State Geologist in 1898, and as State Geolo-
gist in 1917 without specific term of office. The present Assistant State
Geologist is Edward W. Berry, appointed in 1917 and now under the
~ . .. ~ . . ..
clvll Service regulations of the State, subject to dismissal only after in-
vestigation of charges by the State Employment Commissioner. The
State Geologist must be a man of recognized scientific standing as evi-
denced by membership in one or snore of the professional societies. Com-
pensation is on the per diem basis, fixed by the State Employment Com-
mission on recommendation of the Advisory Council.
The clerical staff includes a secretary-stenographer, a senior clerk, and
a librarian. There is no permanent technical staff. All are employed on
a per diem basis, or selected for particular work. The Survey is allowed
to employ without appointment on an expenditure of less than $600 per
annum, and by appointment for larger amounts. The number on the pay
roll rotaries from time to time according to the discretion of the executive,
but the monthly pay roll usually carries about eight to ten names. The
per diem rates range from $4 upward, $9 or $10 a day being the usual
amount for independent investigators. Almost all of the employees are
college professors or advanced college students. The topographic work
of the State has been completed. Engineering hydrographic work is
usually done for specific projects on cooperative contracts.
The Survey is officially associated with the University of Maryland,
but its offices and employees are associated with the Johns lIopkins Uni-
versity. The State Geologist is ex officio Director of the State Weather
Service, and a member of the Advisory Board of the State Department
of Forestry, as well as a member of the Development Bureau, and of the
\Vater Resource Commission.
APPROPRIATIONS
The appropriation of the Geological Survey comes by biennial ap-
propriation of the Legislature as a part of the budget prepared by the
Governor. In addition, the Johns Hopkins University supplies office
and laboratory rooms, light, heat, etc. Besides the specific amounts ap-
propriated by the Legislature, it has been customary to credit to the
account of the Survey the monthly receipts for maps and publications
remitted to the State Treasurer.
All balances in the annual appropriation revert to the State at the
end of the fiscal year unless already under contract. The appropriations
OCR for page 49
THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
49
for the past four years, and for the current biennium ending September
30, 1933, are as follows:
928
929 .......
1930
lD31
1932
1933
The genera.! ratio of the distribution
follows:
$18,875
18,875
1 g?O0O
19,000
24,100
24,150
of expenditures is about as
Administrative 38 per cent.
Topographic None, as the state has for many years been completely covered
with topographic sheets on the scale of 1: 62,500.
Geologic and geographic, 25 per cent.
Other items, 6 per cent.
Printing, 31 per cent.
PUBLICATIONS
The reports of the Survey are in the following series: General reports,
12; special reports, 15; systematic reports, 10; county reports, 14. The
general reports constitute a numbered series containing papers on a wide
variety of subjects in geography, geology, road work, magnetic surveys,
etc.
We are not appreciably hampered by lack of funds as the State has
usually granted whatever has been asked.
PRINCIPAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS SINCE 1911
The work since 1911 has been a continuation of the work previously
undertaken, since we have had little occasion to change our program
from that originally adopted in 1896. This program involves a series
of studies on the various subjects dealing with the physical features of
the State, of interest to the people. These included originally: discussion
of the physiography, geology, mineral resources, soils, magnetic declina-
tion, hydrography, and forestry of the entire State. With. the expansion
of the work since 1911, the Survey has not carried on work in forestry;
and since the completion of the topographic maps for all the twenty-
three counties, little has been done in topographic or magnetic surveying
beyond keeping the accumulated data. up to date and issuing reprised
editions of the county maps.
OCR for page 50
50 THE STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS AND
PRESENT MAIN LINES OF WORK
The Maryland Survey is now engaged in revising and issuing new
editions of topographic maps of the counties as editions become ex-
hausted, and in continuing the detailed geological mapping of the
counties of the State, chiefly in the crystalline rocks of central Maryland.
The Surrey hats now, in published or manuscript form, geological maps
on the scale of 1: 62,500 for fifteen.of the twenty-three counties, and
work is well advanced in most of the remaining eight counties. Work is
also being done on the revision of soil maps in cooperation with the
United States Bureau. of Soils and. the State Experiment. Station, the
entire State having been mapped and sheets issued for all the counties.
The Survey has also undertaken the task of revising and refining the
stratigraphy of the Coastal Plain formations, and of completing the
monographs on the remaining geologic systems represented in the State.
These include the Crystallines, the Carboniferous, and the Triassic.
Time is also being devoted to eomplet.ing and publishing reports on the
physical features of the counties, including five on the eastern shore,
four in the central part of the State, one in southern, and two in western
Maryland. The Survey cooperates with the Bureau of Mines in the eol-
leetion of mineral statistics, and with the United States Geological
Survey in geological and hydrographie work.
PERVIOUS SURVEY ORGANIZATIONS
The first Geological Survey of Maryland, the third in America, was
inaugurated in March, 1833, under the direction of J. H. Alexander,
Engineer, and J. T. Dueatel, Geologist. That Survey, before its abolish-
ment in 1842, issued nine small reports comprising about 600 pages; 18
maps, including maps of ten counties on the scale of 1: 211,200 with
4-foot contours, and contoured maps with areal geology probably the
first instance in America. A manuscript snap of the entire State on the
scale of 1: 200,000 was also prepared but never published.
From 1848 to 1856 James Higgins, as State Agrieultura.l Chemist,
prepared and published five reports which eonta.ined a. meager amount
of geological information. He was succeeded by Philip T. Tyson who
issued reports in 1860 and 1862 which treat quite fully of the geology
and industrial resources of Maryland, and include the first colored geo-
logieal map of the State, prepared in 1859. From the end of that Survey
in 1862, until the organization of the present Survey, most of the geo-
logieal work done in Maryland was through the a.etivity of the faculty
and students of the Johns Hopkins University with occasional studies
by members of the United States Geological Survey.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
state geologist
