354 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1882. 



the hilly regions. The first sheet has recently been published (1882), 

 comprising the northeastern portion of the State. 



The second State geological survey of Pennsylvania, while making no 

 pretense of publishing a map of the State, has surveyed very considera- 

 ble areas in connection with its study of the mineral deposits, and a large 

 number of maps have been published during the last three or four years 

 upon various scales suited, to the character of the investigation which 

 they are designed to illustrate. 



The State geologist of North Carolina has recently published a map 

 of that State on a scale of 10 miles to an inch, embodying the results 

 of his own labors and those of Professor Guyot. 



The State survey of New York is steadily continuing its triangulation, 

 as evinced by the brief annual reports of the director. 



A great part ofthe region tributary to the lines of the Northern Pa- 

 cific Railway, lying in Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and 

 Dakota Territories, is almost unexplored geographically, and its resour- 

 ces are still less known. To obtain an adequate knowledge of the capa- 

 cities of this extensive country a survey has been organized on behalf 

 of the railroads under the able superintendence of Mr. Eaphael Pum- 

 pelly. The organization is divided as follows: division of mineral 

 resources; division of climate, rivers, and irrigation; division of soil; 

 division of forests; division of economic botany; laboratory; division 

 of topography. 



Topographical work was began in September, 1881, between the Cas- 

 cades and the Columbia Eiver, about 2,500 square miles of country being 

 mapped. During the season just x)assed three topographical parties 

 were emjiloyed, one extending the ma])s of the region just mentioned, 

 one east of the Colville reservation, and one between the Yellowstone 

 and Missouri Rivers, making altogether between 20,000 and 30,000 

 square miles of territory surveyed and plotted. It is proposed to show 

 all the information developed by the survey in a cartographic form, so 

 that all the important physical facts will be shown on the maps. The 

 topograj)hical survey will show the form of the surface by contour lines 

 of 200 feet of vertical distance, and in addition the maps will show the 

 grades of the streams, the extent of the bottom and bench land, and the 

 extent and conformation of the uplands. 



On one set of maps will be shown the minimum volume of water at 

 different seasons in the principal streams and the classified distribution 

 ofthe soils. On another set of maps will be shown the climatic condi- 

 tions, giving the rainfall and temperature by months from the observa- 

 tions of a long series of years. Another set of maps will show the dis- 

 tribution and relative abundance of forage plants, with the climatic 

 facts affecting stock grazing; and still another set will show the min- 

 eral resources. The Avork will be so carried on as to be able to represent 

 on the maps each winter the results of each season's work. A more j 

 valuable work to the prospective immigrant, to say nothing of its im 

 portance to the companies themselves, can hardly be imagined. 



