UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ject to transfer by the Superintendent of Prisons 

 as now provided by law. (5) An appropriation to 

 repair or rebuild the extension of the domestic 

 building (used as a mess-hall), the engine and 

 boiler house, and the manual-training building of 

 the Elmira Reformatory. (U) An appropriation 

 for a new iron-proof roof on the principal cell 

 building of Ossining prison. (7) The erection of 

 a separate building for the confinement and execu- 

 tion of condemned men. (8) The erection of a 

 central power-house for Ossining prison. (9) A 

 small additional appropriation for rebuilding the 

 prison wall at Ossining with stone. (10) The 

 erection of a new storehouse for Auburn prison. 

 (11) Insert in the law providing for the new Pali- 

 sades Park a provision authorizing the grading 

 and the making of roads and paths of said park 

 with convict labor. In 1895 an act was passed by 

 the Legislature for the purpose of facilitating the 

 identification of criminals, and in 1896 the depart- 

 ment, under the supervision of the State Superin- 

 tendent of Prisons, was organized for the collec- 

 tion of a series of cards for the identification of 

 criminals by the Bertillon system. The office 

 containing these cards is in the Capitol in Albany, 

 and records of more than 35,000 criminals are 

 catalogued. The new State Prison Commission 

 was organized on March 5, 1901, and included 

 Lispenard Stewart as president, State Treasurer 

 John P. Jaeckel as vice-president, and Superin- 

 tendent of Prisons Cornelius V. Collins as com- 

 missioner, with George McLaughlin as secretary. 



Canals. The charge of the canals is under the 

 care of the Superintendent of Public Works. The 

 official opening of the canals was on May 7, 1901, 

 having been postponed from May 4, owing to the 

 heavy rains and damage to structures, and the 

 closing was ordered on midnight of Nov. 30, al- 

 though, as a fact, the severe cold had caused navi- 

 gation to cease somewhat earlier. The annual 

 report of the superintendent showed that the 

 total tonnage for 1900 was 3,345,941 tons, against 

 3,686,051 tons for the previous year. Of the total 

 freight carried, 2,115,151 tons went eastward and 

 1,230,790 tons westward. There were 1,362,550 

 tons of through and 1,983,391 tons of way freight. 

 Of the through freight 857,607 tons went eastward 

 and 504,943 tons westward, and of the way freight 

 1,257,544 tons went eastward and 725,847 tons 

 westward. On March 15, the Governor sent a 

 message to the Legislature that included all the 

 reports on canal improvement, and recommended 

 the continuation of the Seymour or 9-foot plan 

 of deepening the canal, which was begun in 1895, 

 and which required $9,000,000 to improve one- 

 third of the system. The cost estimated was $19,- 

 797,828, and the Governor recommended the bond- 

 ing of the State if the improvement proposition 

 was accepted by the people in November, the bond 

 issue to be redeemed in eight years, which would 

 mean the raising of a little more than a million a 

 year to redeem the bonds and pay interest there- 

 on. The final cost, with interest added, will be 

 more than $20,000,000, it is expected, and may 

 reach $25,000,000. Subsequently, after a confer- 

 ence between the Governor, State Engineer, Super- 

 intendent of Public Works, State Comptroller, and 

 other officials, a bill was introduced into the 

 Legislature, calling for the improvement of canals, 

 making a barge canal for 450-ton barges instead 

 of a 300-ton-barge canal. 



Railroads. This department is cared for by 

 three commissioners, each of whom serves five 

 years, and receives a salary of $8,000. According 

 to their annual report for the year ending June 

 30, 1900, the gross earnings of the steam surface 

 roads were $247,087,779, and of street-railways 



739 



year previous. The report ,,,1,1,. 



attention to the work uml.-r _ m; , 



law. According to it.s provi.M.. ,,.,. ,,f 



building new steam railroads ;it ,, v . r 



or under the grade of highway-, mu -i. l,< ; I.MIIK- 

 by the company. The expense of bin 

 highway crossings at grade or over or urnl< i t!,.- 

 grade of steam railroads must be borne half l>v 

 the municipal corporation and half by the railroad 

 company. The expense of abolishing existing 

 grade crossings must be borne one-half by the 

 railroad company, one-quarter by the State, and 

 one-quarter by the municipal corporation. Since 

 the passage of the law, 48 highway grade cross- 

 ings have been actually abolished, and work at 

 10 others is nearing completion. Plans and speci- 

 fications for doing the work have been approved 

 in 16 cases. In 19 instances nothing has been 

 done toward the abolishment of the crossings. 



Geological Survey. The Board of Regents 

 of the University of New York have, in addition 

 to their charge of educational matters, jurisdic- 

 tion over the geological survey of the State. Ac- 

 cording to a report issued by them, the map of 

 the State, which is under preparation in coopera- 

 tion with the United States Geological Survey, 

 will, when completed, have a north-and-south 

 length of about 23 feet, and an east-and-west 

 width of 25 feet. The scale of this map is one 

 mile to the inch, so that every street in the towns, 

 and outside of them every road and house, every 

 stream and hill, will be shown ; and, with contour 

 lines drawn at 20-foot intervals, it is possible to 

 tell at a glance the height of any hill or other 

 selected spot. Nearly half of the area of the 

 State has been covered. The map is divided by 

 lines of latitude and longitude, 15 minutes apart, 

 into quadrangles. Several of the quadrangles 

 of this map, colored geologically, have been pre- 

 pared under the direction of the State paleontolo- 

 gist; the Amsterdam sheet, parts of sheets com- 

 posing Rockland County, and portions of Albany 

 and Rensselaer Counties, Niagara Falls and vi- 

 cinity, including the city of Buffalo, and others 

 are in preparation, notably those of Olean, Sala- 

 manca, Canandaigua, Naples, Chittenango, and 

 Tully, and the area will be increased as rapidly as 

 practicable for the purpose of publishing geologic 

 maps as accurate in detail as the geographic map 

 that has served as the base for the geologic colora- 

 tion. The enumeration of type specimens in the 

 State Museum in Albany has been completed, 

 showing that' there are now more than 5,000 of 

 these valuable specimens, which is several times 

 greater thaa the number of New York types con- 

 tained in all other museums and collections. A 

 detailed catalogue of these type specimens is in 

 preparation. 



Forestry, Fisheries, and Game. The Forest, 

 Fish, and Game Commission, and the Forestry 

 Preserve Board, as existing at the beginning of 

 the year, were abolished by an act of the Legisla- 

 ture, signed on March 13, and a single-headed 

 commission, known as the Forest, Fish, and Game 

 Commission, was established in its stead. As or- 

 ganized on March 3, the commissioner appointed 

 by the Governor was De Witt C. Middleton, who 

 will serve for a term of four years, and receive a 

 salary of $5,000. The consulting commiss 

 named were Charles H. Babcock. of Rochester, 

 and Timothy L. Woodruff, of Brooklyn, who re- 



