THE TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEY OF MICHIGAN. 159 



To Students and Teachers : Aside from all direct money returns and 

 money savinj>s which a topogi'aphic map insures, such a map of a state 

 is of incalculable value to its children whether of tender or mature years. 

 The conspicuous advances recently made in the development of physical 

 geography has opened an almost boundless region of fascinating study 

 which brings the student in direct communication with nature. One of 

 the greatest attractions of what has justly been termed the new geog- 

 raphy, is the recognition of the fact that the earth is not a finished work, 

 but the molding and sculpturing, and even the coloring and decoration 

 of its surface are still in progress. One of the great tasks of the geographer 

 is to discover how the many features of the land, such as mountains, val- 

 leys, canyons, fruitful vales and upland pastures, came into existence. 

 The key to the situation was discovered when the "everlasting hills" were 

 found to be transient forms, and terra prma never at rest. The upheaval 

 of land above the sea and its sculpturing into diverse forms with mar- 

 velously intricate details, was begun in the remote past, is still in prog- 

 ress and, so far as can be judged, Avill continue into the distant future. 

 To understand what changes the earth's surface has undergone, and 

 predict although ,Avith reserve, what mutations are to follow, the geog- 

 rapher studies the changes now in progress and from them seeks to dis- 

 cover wide-reaching laws. 



Those who question nature and listen for her answers, go forth into 

 the fields, follow the streams, traverse the pathless forest or stand alone 

 on the silent and awe-inspiring mountains. To view natural processes 

 at work in shaping and re-shaping the earth's surface is one of the 

 greatest charms of such excursions. Travelers who have wandered farther 

 in this quest than those who sought the Holy Grail, have returned to the 

 vale in which they passed their youthful days, only to find that much for 

 which they looked could there have been seen while they were yet young, 

 had they been taught to see, or rather to observe. The sculpturing of 

 the most magnificent mountain, is reproduced in minature in many a hill ; 

 the essential features of the most profound canyon have their counter- 

 part in the trench cut by the wayside rill. The tools with Avhich nature 

 works are in each case the same, it is only the size of the blocks that 

 are being sculptured and the rate at which the task is being carried on, 

 that differ. For these and kindred reasons it may be shown that the 

 study of geography should begin at home. 



To understand the work of even a moderate sized river, however, and 

 to learn how, in one part of its course, erosion and canyon cutting are in 

 progress, and how debris is being taken into suspension, and carried to 

 where it can be spread out in flood plains, alluvial cones, deltas, etc., 

 making new and richer lands, can not be fully shown and quantitative 

 measures made, rate of degradation or upbuilding, etc., ascertained, with- 

 out the aid of accurate maps. But few people can retain in mind the re- 

 lations of the various details to be observed in the relief of even a square 

 mile of a moderately rough portion of the earth's surface. The task of 

 visualizing or of picturing before the mind's eye the relief and interrela- 

 tions of the surface features of a county or a state, surpasses the ability 

 of even the best trained geographer, without the aid of maps which re- 

 produce these features in miniature. The aim of these truisms is simply 

 to shoAv that a map, and especially a contour topographic map. drawn 

 accurately with reference to both horizontal and vertical distances, is the 



