250 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



on the divide between the Snake and the Missouri rivers. 

 The distance from Corinne to Fort Ellis is 403 miles. The 

 proposed road leaves the Union Pacific Railroad at Point of 

 Rocks, Wyoming, and runs about north into the Wind River 

 Valley, thence up that valley to its head, and through Tog- 

 v\ r otee Pass northerly to Yellowstone Lake, and through the 

 Yellowstone National Park to Fort Ellis. This route passes 

 all the principal curiosities of the National Park except the 

 geysers, which can easily be reached by a short side road. 

 By it the distance from Point of Rocks to Yellowstone Lake 

 is 289 miles, and to Fort Ellis 437 miles. 



The proposed route saves 250 miles of distance by railroad, 

 482 miles in reaching Yellowstone Lake, and 216 in reaching 

 the principal cities in Montana. Besides this, it runs directly 

 through the Yellowstone National Park, which at present is 

 very inaccessible, and it will eventually be the shortest rail- 

 road line to Montana. It opens up a very large tract of low- 

 lying timber land (about two millions of acres), and will pre- 

 pare the way for the settlement of the Wind River Valley, 

 the Teton Basin, and the valley of the Upper Yellowstone, 

 and will finally throw open the Yellowstone National Park 

 to the wonder-seekers of the world. 



ON THE PROPER ARRANGEMENT OF GEODETIC TRIANGULA- 



TIONS. 



In a recent Appendix to the Report of the Coast Survey, 

 Mr. Schott says that whatever may be the design of any 

 geodetic operation, it must be based upon a triangulation ; 

 and the greater or less complexity of the net-work of trian- 

 gles will depend chiefly on the hypsometric features of the 

 country. The adaptation of the triangulation to these vari- 

 ous conditions, paying proper attention to accuracy, economy, 

 and rapidity, requires especial consideration in each case. 

 If the question is how to arrange the net-work of triangles 

 in the most effective manner, we shall, in general, have to 

 decide between one of four arrangements. A series may be 

 formed of a single string or triangles, a double string or 

 lozenges, a triple string or hexagons, and a quadruple string 

 or quadrilaterals; or it may be composed of a more compli- 

 cated combination. The single string is to be adopted when 

 economy and rapidity are the first requisites; the hexagonal 



