Accompanying this report you will receive a map of the state made by your direction for general reference. Upon the same sheet, projections of all the levels which have been made across the state, are constructed. A slight inspection will show at once the vertical relation of almost every important point throughout the territory included in the survey. The surface of Lakes Huron and Michigan is made the plane of reference; these are 578 feet above tide water. By a reference to the heights, it appears that there is a swell of land, which may be called the true water shed, running from Point aux Barques south forty-five degrees west, and passing out of the state into the northeast corner of Indiana, about equi-distant from Lakes Erie and Michigan. It attains its greatest elevation in Hillsdale county, seven miles east from Jonesville, where it is 633 feet above the plane of reference. Its summit on the central railroad at the division line between Jackson and Washtenaw counties, fourteen miles east of Jacksonburgh, is 437 feet. In the village of Pontiac, in Oakland county, on the summit level of the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal, it is 336 feet. It then again rises, and at the head waters of Belle river, in Lapeer county, is 414 feet. From this point it gradually falls off, and with a few rills descending on its north and eastern slope, sinks to the level of the beach of the lake. This swell will present but few elevations above the actual surveyed levels exceeding fifty feet, and these knobs, where present, are located without design, and without uniformity of range. On the line between Oakland and Livingston counties, a branch diverges to the northwest, giving rise to the Red Cedar, Lookingglass and the Maple rivers, on its western declivity, while the Shiawassee rises at the point of divergence, and runs northwardly parallel to its eastern side. The lowest pass across this swell is 95 feet above Lake Huron. Leaving this point and ascending to township 10 north, of range 5 west, its course is changed to the north, and it rises to its greatest elevation at the sources of the Muskego river in Lake Otisco, in town 22 north. From an inspection of the map an apparent design appears to have marked the future communication between Lakes Huron and Michigan, from the broad and deep indentation of Saginaw bay over this narrow and low pass. From the dividing swell, the country lies in one plain on each side, inclining gently and uniformly to the margin of the lakes, with the exception of a slight corresponding elevation on the western side of the state. This may be traced from the great bend of Grand river to where it crosses the Kalamazoo west of that village; thence curving with the shore of the lake, terminates at the South Bend, where it diverts the St. Joseph river through a part of Indiana. Its average height at Grand river is 80 feet, 200 at Kalamazoo, and 75 at south Bend, above the level of the surrounding country. It need not be stated that the interior peninsula lakes partake of the highest elevation, when reference is had to their being situated at the sources of all the rivers, and that the summit in Oakland and Livingston counties abounds with the greatest number. From tables in which I have collated the elevation of places, I have selected a few remote from each other, which may serve to show the uniformity of the surface generally. Conclusions from this table cannot be drawn, however, in detriment to the healthy and rapid, and not unfrequently precipitous flow of all our streams. Outlet of Grass lake, Jackson county, do do Head of Spectacle lake, Calhoun county, Head of Mill creek, St. Clair county, Kalamazoo river at Albion, Kalamazoo county, 377 feet. 362 373 368 351 347 Outlet Gillet's lake, do 354 Kalamazoo river near Augusta,in section 35, town 2 south, range 8 west, Kalamazoo county, Branch St. Joseph, 30 miles south section 35, town 6 south, same range, St. Joseph county, Kalamazoo river, Kalamazoo village, 187 187 154 Thirty miles south southern railroad crossing, St. Shiawassee river at Owasso, Shiawassee county, 138 145 150 Cliff, Robinson's Folly, Island Mackinaw, 128 Ypsilanti, Washtenaw county, 130 Bank of Lake Michigan, New Buffalo, Berrien 100 Huron river at Ypsilanti, Washtenaw county, 100 Paw Paw river, Lafayette village, Van Buren county, Brush creek near Mason, Van Buren county, 106 feet. Stoney creek, crossing northern railroad, Ionia 76 Bank of Galien river, ten miles east New Buffalo, 74 county, 82 56 56 53 54 Mouth Maple river, Ionia county, Bass river, crossing northern railroad, Ottawa county, Crossing southern railroad, four miles west Monroe, 41 A fact may also be inferred from the collated levels, that the average height of the peninsula is 160 feet above the surface of the lakes. Maps, &c. Much of my time has been occupied, as will be observed, in making collections preparatory to the final publication. They are intended to embrace the geclogy as well as the topography and geography of every section of the state. Twenty counties are in a state of great forwardness, five of which may be said to be finished in detail, viz: Wayne, Monroe, Jackson, Eaton, and Ingham. It was thought unimportant to enter into a description of these in this report, as during the next year a large number will be added and a report including the whole will then be made. Drawings will also be given of such remains of ancient works and tumuli as are scattered through St. Joseph, Kalamazoo and some other counties. These are more rare in this, than in some of the states south and west; sufficient evidences remain, however, of a former population remote to the oldest traditions of the inhabitants. The time is not distant when the curious will be gratified with the system they pursued, and the facts it unfolds relative to the uses for which so much labor has been expended by an ancient people, upon the different structures found in the west. Public attention is being directed to their developement, and when the position and dimensions of those that remain shall have been determined, elements for a history will remain, as perfect as may be collected in the absence in part of tradition or written documents. Here let me publicly acknowledge the hospitable intercourse of the citizens of the state, and the polite regards of gentlemen in the different public offices, in affording every facility, and giving access to the records in their charge. S. W. HIGGINS, Topographer of the Geological Survey. Detroit, 2d Feb'y, 1839. (No. 4.) Report of C. C. DOUGLASS, Assistant Geologist. To Douglass Houghton, State Geologist: Sir I have completed the detailed survey of so much of the district which you assigned me, as is embraced in Ingham county, together with a portion of Eaton and Jackson counties. Much time having been occupied in tracing and examining the coal formation, in order to arrive at satisfactory conclusions as to the probable extent of this valuable deposite in the district, it is thought advisable to defer the report of a part of Eaton and the whole of Jackson county, until the work shall have been more nearly completed. The examinations of the coal district resulted in the collection of many important facts, some of which cannot be properly made use of until more extended examinations have been made. But it may be observed, that these have been sufficiently satisfactory to place beyond doubt the existence of this valuable substance in sufficient quantity to be of much prospective value to the state. The maps of the coun'ies under consideration, have been found to be exceedingly incorrect, and in accordance with your instructions, I have been able to accomplish much towards correcting the numerous geographical errors upon the maps, now being constructed. These, according to your instructions, having been transferred to the topographical department, can only be generally noticed in this report. One of the most prominent characters of the county under consideration, when compared with the more southern counties, is, its remarkable uniformity of surface. Although the whole country may be considered as gently undulating, it has no great irregularity of surface, except in those sections traversed by streams, where gorges, frequently of considerable depth, are sometimes found. Occasionally some few isolated hills and ridges are scen, but they, with a few exceptions, are hardly worthy of notice. In township three north, range one east, a series of isolated ridges commences on section thirty-four, and extends in a northeast direction, across sections thirteen, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-six and twenty-seven, having an altitude of from twenty to eighty feet. A second and nearly parallel elevation was noticed, commencing on section three, in the same township, and extending to section thirty-four, in the adjoining town, having an elevation varying from twenty to forty feet. A third commences in the south part of Vevay, and extends in a northwest direction, nearly through the town, varying from ten to eighty feet in height. At the village of Mason, the Sycamore creek passes through a ridge of diluvion composed of stratified coarse sand and pebbles, slightly united by a calcareous and ferruginous cement. About three-fifths of the county of Ingham consists of timbered land, while the remaining two-fifths are oak openings and plains. That portion of Eaton county embraced in this report, consists of timbered lands. Timber. The timber upon the less elevated bottom lands extending along Grand river consists of sycamore, black ash, elm, black walnut, &c. Upon the inclined uplands, connecting the bottom with the table lands, a general mixture of the usual hard wood timber is found. The table lands are mostly timbered with the varieties of oak, beach, maple, lynn, hickory, cherry and whitewood; with sycamore, butternut, black walnut, and elm on the margins of the streams. Ingham county occupies a very central position in the state, and possessing as it does a rich soil, valuable quarries of sandstone and extensive deposites of bituminous coal, it promises to become one of the most important counties in the state. Soil. The prevailing soil of Ingham county and that part of Eaton county lying in township four north, ranges three, four, five and six west, is sandy loam and loamy sand over an extent of more than seven-eighths of the surface. Limited tracts of a stiff loamy clay, with occasional hillocks and ridges of fine yellowish sand, occur, and were observed more especially near the small lakes and streams. Beds of sand and gravel are sometimes seen to alternate with those of loam and marly clay in such a manner that a field of a few acres may exhibit almost every variety of soil, from a fine sand to a stiff marly clay. The art of the farmer may be here put in requisition to modify the natural texture of the different soils and fit them to receive nutritive and stimulant manures with the greatest advantage. The stiff heavy clays may be dressed with sand and the light soil with loam or clay, (marly where it can be obtained,) with a view to transform the whole into a loam of such a texture as to make a pulverulent soil, and yet leave it sufficiently argillaceous to retain a desirable quantity of water. Yard manure, composts mixed with lime, ashes, and muck of the marshes and swamps,if thrown into heaps with quick lime and allowed to undergo a more |