27 . , 



and manage these forests properly; and, without its aid, the 

 Purchasing Board would find no small difficulty in transacting 

 the business incidental to buying lands. 



The map now in use answered its purpose very well at the 

 time of its first issue, because at that time there was no map 

 of the entire region except the small pocket editions printed by 

 various persons for the use of tourists. It was made, under 

 great disadvantages, by compiling the maps of the various town- 

 ships which had been made by the old surveyors, some of them 

 by Jessup, Richards, and others, over a hundred years ago. These 

 maps, old or new, were drawn to a different scale for the most 

 part, and had to be reduced to a uniform scale before they could 

 be united in one sheet. The originals were replete with topograph- 

 ical errors, as the surveyors in many instances merely ran out the 

 boundaries of the townships, which are about G 1 /^ miles square,* 

 after which they entered on their map the position of the lakes, 

 streams, and roads as best they could, generally by guesswork 

 or hearsay. In only a few instances are our original township 

 maps correct in their topography. Still we availed ourselves of 

 the information found in the partial and incomplete sheets known 

 as the Butler Map (1879), the Jones Map (1851), Burr's Atlas, a 

 collection of county maps made in 1823, and other similar sources. 

 Utilizing this data a map was constructed which despite its inac- 

 curacies has answered its purpose very well up to the present. 



Since then, however, through the excellent and accurate work 

 done by the United States Geological Survey, we have come into 

 pos'session of a large amount of valuable data relating to the 



* The townships in the Totten & Crossfield Purchase, 50 in number, are 

 mostly 6 by GI^ miles; the townships in the Macomb Tract are somewhat 

 larger; and in the Old Military Tract they are from eight to ten miles 

 square. 



