756 



CONSERVATION 



order to furnish a basis for a requisite 

 thorough knowledge of topography. 



The Geological Survey is construct- 

 ing a complete topographical map of 

 the United States, in sheets of about 

 250 square miles, one of which is 

 issuing every third day. Nearly 2,000 

 of these sheets have already been 

 engraved, and already more than one- 

 third of the United States has been 

 covered. This will be as complete a 

 map as any in the world. It is the aim 

 to do this work so thoroughly that one 

 may be able to trace the course of 

 every stream, and locate every mountain 

 and hill, with accurate knowledge of 

 steepness and altitudes with reference 

 to making it equally valuable to the 

 engineers of irrigation or drainage sys- 

 tems or railroad extension, as well as to 

 help the farmer who may wish to drain 

 a swamp. To this sort of information 

 the Geological Survey adds data, not 

 only regarding rocks and soils exposed 

 to the surface, but with remarkable 

 accuracy shows what may be found at 

 hundreds or even thousands of feet in 

 depth. 



The mapping of the catchment basins 

 presents problems which are both topo- 

 graphic and geologic. The determina- 

 tion of the geologic structure of the 

 depth of water horizon and of the depth 

 of flow of each water well are all of 

 great value in outlining artesian areas, 

 whose charts are reduced to folios 

 which include topographic, geologic, 

 and economic data, and are issued by 

 the Geological Survey. 



It must be remembered that before 

 anything definite was done, practically 

 the whole problem had to be stated. An 

 enormous preparatory work of scien- 

 tific investigation must be laid down be- 

 fore the engineering work of construc- 

 tion could be even begun. To be sure, 

 a great deal was already at hand, but in 

 many fields it was pitifully inadequate. 

 One must remember, also, that before 

 Mr. Roosevelt's administrations began, 

 public opinion in the United States as 

 to the Government taking the initative, 

 or assuming the responsibility of a great 

 project like the Reclamation Service or 

 the Forest Service, or the Inland 



Waterways Plan, was in a state of 

 doubt or open hostility. 



And there are still other problems to 

 solve. Experts must be called, each to 

 make his contribution toward the solu- 

 tion of the difficulties offered, from the 

 ^lississippi Delta through to Lake 

 ?\lichigan, and again from the muddy 

 waters back to the very snow-drifts 

 whence flow its primal supplies. There 

 will be chemical problems, physical 

 problems, geological problems, botan- 

 ical problems and engineering problems. 

 There will be projects of swamp and 

 sanitary drainage, the making of reser- 

 voirs for the developing of water power 

 and for impounding potable waters and 

 waters for irrigation and navigation 

 supplies. There will be other works 

 for protecting slopes, river banks, bot- 

 tom lands, valleys, and plains, and for 

 conserving their soils, and many other 

 details and problems and all of them 

 subsidiary to the great geographical con- 

 ception of opening up and artificializing 

 and controlling the entire interior em- 

 pire of the United States and Canada, 

 tributary to the Mississippi and the 

 Great Lakes. The idea of state control, 

 and the realization of the ethical possi- 

 bilities under certain phases of state 

 ownership, have grown more during the 

 Roosevelt administration than in all the 

 rest of the history of the United States 

 put together. 



That Mr. Roosevelt has been able to 

 -iccomplish so much of a definite and 

 concrete nature which was dependent 

 upon the technical surveys and investiga- 

 tions of thousands of scientific experts, 

 and get this vast mass of material to- 

 gether and mapped out and organized 

 and digested and transmuted into its 

 proper engineering channels ; that he 

 i-;as been able practically to educate the 

 Nation on the subject, or put it in the 

 way of being educated ; that he has 

 been able not only to get so many con- 

 crete engineering works accomplished, 

 but that he has been able to inaugurate 

 so much of ethical legislation, and 

 ethical administration, straight away in 

 the line of the enlargement and morali- 

 zation of the sphere of the State and 

 tlie extension of the sovereignty of the 



