University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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advance in values can be realized only in the vicinity ol dense population and large commercial interests. With the sum reali7.cd the present magnificent farm ol two hundred and fitty-tour acres has been ])in-chased, farm house and b:irn erected, equipment and every facility for lesearch work provided, and all without the appropriation of a single dollar by the state. The Geological and Natural History Survey. An important adjunct of the scientific work of the Universit.v is the Geological and Natural History Survey of the State. This was organized in 1S72 and placed under the direction of the Board of Regents. It still continues — a t|uarter of a century of scientific research conducted by a state upon its own domain. The original cost of this work was $1,000 per year; thiswas soon increased to $2,000, and in 1875, and subsequently, a ([uantity of Salt Spring lands, 38,64-3 acres, was turned over to the Regents to be disbursed in accordance with the law ordering the survey. This land at the minimum price of $5.00 per acre, for which it could be sold, will eventually enable the Regents to realize over $200,000. The amount already sold h a s brought over $75,000. The cash appropria- tions which the state has at various times voted for the mainte- nance of this work amount at date to $50,000, notincluding cost of printing. The survey is com- prehensive in its scope. The fields of investiga- tion named in the original act are geol- ogy, botany, zoology and meteorology. Two maps, a geologic and topographic, were also provided for; the latter, on approval, to become the official map of the state. A museum was also contemplated, which should exhibit to the people of the commonwealth in an orderly and scientific way its natural resources as discovered Ijy the survey. The geological exploration of the state was first prosecuted. Botany, zool- ogy, meteorology and topography are to follow, in order, unless economy and efficiency can be secured by joint operations. The results of these investigations thus far available, are to be found in a series of annual reports covering almost a c|uarter of a century- of geologic work; three volumes of the final report on the geology of the state; two brief reports of the State Zoologist, accompanied by a study of the birds of .Minnesota by Dr. P. L. Hatch, and a synopsis of the Entomos- traca of Minnesota by C. L Herrick and C. H. Turner; one report of the State Botanist, containing an exhaustive review of the MetasperniEe of the Minnesota river valle3 ' ; a series of bulletins, containing geological, botanical and zoological papers, besides many scientific papers from less comprehensive fields of study. m ' The Gei era! Museum — A Zoological Alcove. The University of Minnesota — 19-

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The University of Minnesota Recop iizing the unfavorable coiirlitions as to soil and drainage, he early advised removal to a more favorable locality. Such removal was not eftected in his day. When his successor, Professor Edward D. Porter, came, in 1881 and had devoted a year to investigation, he rcc- oninicndcd that the farm be sold and a new one with good soil be purchased; that the Campus be utilized as an illustrative Arboretum and horticultural grounds; that tanners ' lectiu ' e courses be pushed to every commu- nity in the state and other important lines of work be organized and operated. While Professor Porter ' s tireless energy was felt in every line of work within the College, his special ambi- tion was to organize and develop a First Class Ex- periment Station. And of such, indeed, he succeeded in laying the foundations. Upon this foundation one of the best and most successful experimental fanus and experimental stations in the country has been btiilt up. The Regents olitaiiied authority from the legislatiu ' e, in 1881. and sold the A Farmhouse. The General Museum — Geolagy and Mineralogy. farm by ])latting it into two hundred and eighty-one lots as the Regents ' Addition to Minneapolis, and auctioning the same at public sale. About $150,000 was thus realized from an original investment of $8,000 and some lots are still on hand. The sale of the Minnetonka fruit farm authorized by the legislature of 1S89, has made possible still other advances. Such helps secured through the

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The. University of Minnesota Tlie stcarHiiessofptirposcwliich from the first has been a marked feature of the Kovenimeiit of the I ' niversity.has held the Geological and Natural HistorySurvey to its work. After twenty-five years of uninterrupted research, a still longer period of useful investigation lies before the several departments of the University charged with the prosecution of this work thus far so successfully carried on. Grants, Appropriations and Gifts. The first condition of success in the development of any institution is the financial one. It is well at this point to note with what resources the University has been endowed. They have Ijeen derived fi-om three sources. Fn-st, Congressional ai)propriations; Second, Legislative appropriations; Third, Individual gifts and endowments. Congressional Appropria tions. The Congres.s, in February, 1851. one day after the ap]5roval by Gov- ernor Ramsey of the legislative act creating the Uni- versity of the Ter- ritory of Minne- sota authorized the Secretary of the Interior to set apart two town- ships . 46,080 acres, for the use and sup- port of the Univer- sit3 ' ot the Territory of Minnesota. In 1857 therewas ap- propriated an ad- ditional two town- ships consisting of a like amount. In 1862 the historic Morrill bill made a grant to the State of Minnesota of 120,000 acres. In 1887, $15,000 annually was appropriated for the establishment and maintenance of an .Agricultural Experiment Station. In IS ' JO, $15,000 annually was approjjriatcd, also for agi-icullure, with an additional $1 ,000 each year until the total should reaci ' $25,000, at which figure the appropriation shall stand until otherwise ordered by Congress. Of the above, much of the earlier grants was swept away in the financial dis- asters preceding and attending the civil war. The few hundred acres saved from these and the lands accruing under the Morrill bill have substantially all been sold and the sum invested in interest-bearing securities. This interest, with the $36,000 a year under the apiiropriation acts of 18S7 and 1889, represents the income ft ' om government grants and appropriations. — 20 — TIic i.enernl Xluseiim — Tlic hlcrbariuw.