GEOGRAPHIC NOTES 



TOPOGRAPHIC MAPPING 

 THE UNITED STATES. 



OF 



NEARLY 900,000 square miles, or 

 about 30 per cent, of the area of 

 the United States have been mapped by 

 the experts of theU. S. Geological Sur- 

 vey during the past twenty years. New 

 England, the middle Atlantic States, 

 and small sections of Wisconsin, Iowa, 

 Louisiana, and California have been 

 mapped on the scale of one mile to one 

 inch and their elevations and surface 

 relief expressed by contour lines located 

 at intervals of 5 to 20 feet vertically. 

 Maps of large sections of Kansas, Mis- 

 souri, Texas, and Virginia have been 

 made on the scale of two miles to an 

 inch and with contour lines indicating 

 vertical intervals of 20 to 100 feet. 



Mr. H. M. Wilson, of the Geological 

 Survey, contributes to a recent number 

 of The Engineering Neivs an interesting 

 statement of this branch of work of the 

 survey and explains its great practical 

 value. As an example he mentions the 

 case of the city of Waterbury, Conn. , 

 which, after spending $10,000 in fruit- 

 lessly searching for sources of water 

 supply, learned on consulting the Gov- 

 ernment topographic maps of a source 

 of good water previously unsuspected. 

 The survey expends nearly $350,000 

 annually in making these maps. Many 

 States also appropriate large sums to 

 assist the work of the survey in their 

 particular . areas. New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Maine, Alabama, and Maryland 

 annually appropriate $75,000 to hurry 

 the completion of the mapping of their 

 territory. The expense of mapping 

 naturally depends upon the character of 

 the country. The cost of mapping an 

 open country is from five to ten dollars 

 a square mile ; that of mountainous or 

 forest areas about double or triple that 

 amount. 



The results of these surveys are pub- 

 lished on sheets approximately 165/^ by 

 20 inches and represent quadrilaterals 

 of !5' or 30' of latitude and longitude, 

 according as the scale is one or two miles 

 to the inch. 



The atlas sheets can be procured at 

 purely nominal prices on application to 

 the Director of tlie Geological Survev. 



THE GERMAN CENSUS. 



THE figures of the last census of 

 Germany reveal some very sig- 

 nificant facts relative to the great indus- 

 trial and agricultural contest that is now 

 being waged in the Empire. The census 

 was taken on December i, 1900. The 

 growth of the cities, the industrial cen- 

 ters, during the preceding five years has 

 been unprecedented in the history of the 

 Empire. Of the thirty-three cities with 

 a population of over 100,000, every one 

 but Crefeld shows a great increase. 

 Crefeld has decreased by 350, owing 

 probably to the high tariff in the United 

 States on silk goods, which has caused 

 Americans to import only foreign silks 

 of the highest grade. As a result, many 

 hundreds of persons in Crefeld who 

 were formerly employed in the silk fac- 

 tories were thrown out of work. Cre- 

 feld manufacturers have now begun to 

 turn their attention to the making of 

 cotton and woolen goods, and it is hoped 

 that the next census will show an in- 

 crease, not a decrease, in. the population. 

 Among the cities which show the largest 

 increase is Berlin, which has added over 

 207,000, or 12.3 percent, to the num- 

 ber of her inhabitants, making her pres- 

 ent population 1,884,345, not including 

 the suburban cities. Including her sub- 

 urbs, Berlin numbers 2,500,000. 



The city that has increased most rap- 

 idly is Nuremberg, which in five years 



