Nineteenth Annual Meeting. 57 



I have been unable, up to this time, to secure from our Mexico roads or from 



Nicaragua or Panama any reliable statement as to the comparative elevations of the 



two oceans, but I believe there can be no appreciable difference except it be local 



affected by contour of coast or possibly by winds and ocean streams. See letters 



from the Chief Geographer and Supt. C. <fe G. Survey, below: 



Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey,) 



Washington, April 18, 1885. J 



Mr. H. V. Hinckley, Office Engineer A. T. & S. F. R. R., Topeka, Kansas — Dear Sir : If there is any 

 difference in level between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, it is too small to be indicated by levels of 

 such a character as those run by our inter-oceanic canal expeditions. I have not learned anything 

 concerning this point from the work now progressing upon the Isthmus of Panama. I feel, however, 

 confident that the difference, if any, is very small. Very truly yours, Henry Gannett, 



Chief Geographer U. S. G. S. 

 U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, June 26, 188.5. 



N. V. Hinckley, C. E., Topeka, Kansas — Dear Sir: I have taken great interest in your important 

 letter of the 23d, relating to the difference of level between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. I trust 

 that you will print your study in detail in the Journal of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and 

 I will be very glad to print it likewise in the Coast Survey Keport. The agreement of the several values 

 is certainly unexpectedly close. I nevertheless do not think that the difference of the mean level of 

 the oceans will be found so large by accurate operations. That which you give for San Francisco would, 

 of course, be extremely acceptable. I do not think there can be any such thing as rotational difference 

 of level between the two oceans, but the mean value of what ive are able to observe by ineans of spirit or 

 water levels is the resultant of the constant forces, a7id, tchatever may be the figure of equilibrium, it is just that 

 which the level indicates. When we observe a difference, then, it must be owing to dynamic effects of cur- 

 rents and winds. I have thus found the level of the Gulf of Mexico, in the neighborhood of the Balize, 

 to be about forty (40) inches higher than that of the Atlantic ocean at Sandy Hook. That such an ele- 

 vation must exist is plain enough, from the fact that the water runs from the Gulf of Mexico into the 

 Atlantic ocean ; but how much it is, is a question that must be solved by accurate leveling, and a verifi- 

 cation is still in progress. 



We have not yet extended our line of levels of precision to the Pacific ocean, but will proceed with 

 it in the autumn. I do not know the difference of level between the two oceans at any point. I have 

 always understood that the levels for the Panama Railroad showed that there was no appreciable differ- 

 ence between mean tides. ... I shall be glad to hear from you again on the subject. 



Yours truly, J. E. Hilgard, Supt. U. S. C. & G. S. 



So that for the present I shall contend that my elevations are correct, and that 

 the corrections of Mr. Gannett, iir his 1884 edition of "Dictionary of Elevations,'' 

 upon the A. T. <fe S. F. system, are unmerited, even though his precise information to 

 the contrary warrants, on his part, the corrections he now makes. Therefore the 

 question of sea elevations in Kansas must remain "at sea'' to the extent of from 1 to 

 15 feet, or even more, depending on the locality, until the "levels of precision" shall 

 cross the continent, or perhaps till I may earlier obtain checks enough from Texas 

 and Mexico ports to prove the correctness of my apparently very correct results. 



NATURAL GAS IN EASTERN KANSAS. 



BY ROBERT HAY, U.S.G.S. 



[N. B. — The paper with this title which was read at the Emporia meeting was much longer than 

 the following. The introductory part, relating to the development of natural gas in Pennsylvania and 

 elsewhere, has been almost altogether omitted, the more scientific part remodeled, and some additional 

 facts given which became known only a little while before going to press. The paper as read at Em- 

 poria appears almost in its entirety in the Fifth Biennial Report of the State Board of Agriculture, 

 whose widespread distribution will bring it within the reach of nearly all the citizens of the State.] 



A single company at Pittsburgh, Pa., has a capital of five million dollars invested 

 in procuring and distributing for use the new fuel named usually natural gas. Al- 

 together, the natural gas companies of Pennsylvania employ an aggregate capital 

 of more than twenty millions of dollars. At Wheeling in West Virginia, Findlay in 



