INTRODUCTION

The papers here given to the public consist, first, of "A Journal of Geological Observations along the routes traveled by the Expedition between Indianola, on the Gulf of Mexico, and the Valley of the Mimbres, New Mexico," in 1855 and '56; secondly, "A General Geological Report" thereon; and, thirdly, an Appendix embodying a detailed report on the Geology of Grayson County. They are from the hitherto unpublished manuscripts of Prof. George G. Shumard, who was Assistant State Geologist at that time to Prof. B. F. Shumard, the Chief of the Geological Survey which had been authorized and ordered by the State, but which was never completed in consequence of the breaking out of the war between the States.

These papers were probably intended as notes, or rather as the basis for more careful and elaborate official reports to the Chief Executive of the State, and the Legislature. Although they cover comparatively a very small portion of our Imperial State, they contain a great deal of scientific and what may be called "field note" information of the highest practical importance, not only to Western Texas, the Prairies and the Great Plains, to which they chiefly refer, but also to the entire State. No friend of Texas can read these some-what crude but sensible documents without experiencing a feeling of deep regret that they were not officially printed and published to the world when first prepared, for it is apparent that the facts and information, scientific and practical, that they so clearly bring to view, would have been of inestimable service to a generation then in its prime, but now passing away; the knowledge contained in them would have then led to a development of both the mineral and agricultural wealth of the State, which has been retarded for years. For example, on the second page of the accompanying "General Geological Report" on Western Texas, the reader encounters the following brief but expressive paragraph:

"Many of the soils encountered upon the Plains are found to possess