Twenty- SECOND Annual Meeting. 



performance of this duty, nor is any penalty attached for a non-compliance with the 

 law. The law is therefore inoperative in most cases. There are on an average but 

 fifteen to twenty county surveyors in the State each year that pay any attention to 

 the matter. A record of such observations as have been made has been kept at the 

 University for the last ten years. During this time fifty-seven of the one hundred 

 and six counties of the State have made reports, some of these reporting every year, 

 though the majority have reported in but one or two years out of the ten. The sur- 

 veyors of Ness, Hodgeman, Edwards, Stafford, Rooks, Osborne, Russell, Ellsworth, 

 Clay, Saline, Greenwood, Leavenworth and Miami counties are credited with the 

 largest number of observations. 



Some of the reports bear evidence on their face as to the poor quality of the 

 observations. In a few cases a surveyor has reported over one and a half degrees 

 difference between the quarterly observations of the same year. The same county 

 has furnished observations in succeeding years that differ by a degree and a half, 

 the latest observation being the larger. The apparent discrepancies can be accounted 

 for in several ways: the surveyor may be the wrong man for the place, or he may 

 be inexperienced; the reports may be made up through guess-work without any 

 observations on a carefuUy-laid-out meridian; observations may be taken at different 

 points in the county, and may be affected by local attraction; one surveyor may 

 use a different instrument from the one used by his predecessor. It is a difficult 

 matter then to take these reports, to compare them, to give more weight to some 

 than to others, to reject some as unworthy of confidence, and to deduce an estimate 

 of the rate of change and to construct an isogenic chart for the State. But I have 

 attempted to do this, hoping that in the future a larger number of yearly reports 

 may reach the University, and so forming a better basis for comparison. 



The declination of the needle ranges from about 8°30^ in the southeast corner of 

 the State to 12°30^ in the northwest corner. The isogonic lines in general trend a 

 little to the west of south. The 9°30^ line runs through the northwest corner of 

 Brown county, the western part of Jackson and the center of Shawnee counties; then 

 bending eastward crosses the western parts of Franklin and Anderson counties; then 

 returns to its westward trend, crossing Woodson county at the southeast corner, Wil- 

 son county through its center, and Chautauqua county through its eastern part. The 

 10° line approximately cuts the following points, viz., Belleville, Concordia, Clay 

 Center, Fort Riley, Council Grove, the west line of Lyon county, a point half-way 

 between Eureka and El Dorado, and leaves the State with the Arkansas river. The 

 11° line cuts Mankato, Osborne, the west line of Russell and Barton counties, Larned, 

 and crosses the Arkansas river a few miles east of Dodge City. The 12° line cuts the 

 northwest corner of Norton county, the southeast corner of Decatur county, the east 

 line of Thomas county, the center of Gove county, the northwest corner of Lane 

 county, and passes near Scott City, Lakin, and Ulysses. The intermediate lines are 

 approximately parallel to the lines described, except those lying between the 10° and 

 11° lines. Around Ellsworth there is a closed line of 10°, forming an elliptical fig- 

 ure with its longest axis in a direction 4.5° east of north, and which covers nearly all 

 of Ellsworth county. Around this figure are closed lines of 10°30^ 10°4.5, and per- 

 haps of 11°30^. If we were to follow the Kansas and Smoky Hill rivers across the 

 State, we would find the declination about as follows, viz.: Lawrence, 9°.5'; Topeka, 

 9°20''; Manhattan, 9°55^ Junction City, 10°10^; Abilene, 10°20^; Salina, 11°30^; then 

 decreasing to 10° at Ellsworth; then increasing again to 10°50' at Russell; Hays City, 

 11°20^; Wakeeney, 11°40^; Gove, 12°; Wallace, 12°25^ 



The rate of change as nearly as I can estimate it is about three minutes each year, 

 the East declination decreasing. At Phillipsburgh. from 1865 to 1882, the total 

 change was 5V, or 3^ per year. At Seneca the total change from 1855 to 1880 has 



