This Day in the History of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The General Assembly authorized the "Board of Agriculture of North Carolina to employ some person of competent skill and science to commence and carry on a geological survey of the various regions of this State." The survey, started by Denison Olmsted and completed by Elisha Mitchell--both of whom were professors at the University--was the first publicly funded geological survey of a state. The survey map is held by the North Carolina State Archives (Call Number: MC.188.1824o).