INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1876. cv 



GEOGRAPHY. 



By LlETJTENANT-COMMANDEK F. M. GREEN, U. S. N. 



Although the progress of geographical knowledge during the 

 year 1876 has not been marked by any very striking discovery, a 

 large number of valuable details have been accumulated in compar- 

 atively unknown localities. As maps become more complete and 

 communication with distant countries is improved, the necessity for 

 exact information becomes more and more urgent. The result is to 

 give to geographical investigations a more exact and scientific meth- 

 od. This tendency is very evident in the expeditions of various 

 nations recently fitted out. 



THE UNITED STATES. 



As in former years, the results of the government exploring and 

 surveying expeditions in United States territory are eminently inter- 

 esting and satisfactory. 



The work of the English and American Commission for marking 

 the boundary-line along the 49th parallel of latitude from the Lake 

 of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains, generally known as the 

 Northern Boundary Commission, has been brought to a close, and 

 the reports to the respective governments, with majDS of the country 

 adjacent to the boundary on both sides, will be very shortly pub- 

 lished. 



The astronomers and topographers attached to the U. S. Commis- 

 sion were officers of the U. S. Engineer corps, and their labors have 

 greatly added to our knowledge of the barren and dreary country 

 through which the boundary passes. Between the Lake of the 

 Woods and the Rocky Mountains forty-one astronomical stations 

 were established, and the boundary was marked by permanent mon- 

 uments. 



Reconnaissances were made north and south of the line, so as to 

 thoroughly explore the country, to a distance of twenty miles to the 

 northward and one hundred miles to the southward of the bound- 

 ary. All trails which were passed over outside of the belt of accu- 

 rate survey were approximately surveyed. 



The longitude of Pembina, on the Red River of the North, was de- 

 termined by the telegraphic method of exchanges with Chicago, and 

 a meridian line was traced with great care from a point on the line 

 six hundred and sixty miles west of Pembina to the vicinity of Fort 

 Shaw, where it was intended to observe the longitude by telegrai^hic 



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