Geography of the Land. 41 
the nation, the knowledge had been gained that was essential to 
advance and develop the great interests affected. The improve- 
ments required, however, could only be secured through active 
exertion, the actual work of man; but so pressing has been the 
want and so persistent has been the labor, that should we chart 
the results it would be a surprise to those who believe the “local 
geography ” has not been changed. 
The demands upon the older communities arising from the 
increase in commercial and industrial enterprise, have caused 
them too, to feel the want of more detailed information of their 
surroundings, and they have, in consequence, undertaken more 
precise surveys of their territories, generally availing themselves 
of the assistance offered by the general government. This work 
will doubtless extend in time to all the States, and be followed, 
when its value has been made manifest, by the detailed surveys of 
precision that have been found necessary as economic measures 
in the civilized States of the old world. 
It is rarely we can foresee the full results of great national 
enterprises ; the special object that calls forth the exertion may 
be readily comprehended, but the new conditions evolved from 
success, and sometimes from only the partial accomplishment of 
the original design, may be factors in governing the future be- 
yond our power to surmise. 
The work of improving the navigation of the Mississippi 
River, is an instance of this character so marked, and apparently 
destined to extend its influence through so many generations, 
that a brief record of the change it has effected in geographic 
environment will not be without interest, and, perchance, not 
without value. ; 
The area drained by the Mississippi river and tributaries, is 
forty-one per cent. of the area of the United States, exclusive of 
Alaska ; and by the census of 1880 the population of this great 
district was forty-three per cent. of the whole Union. It seems 
probable that a large proportion of this population is directly in- 
terested in the river system, and if we add to it the number of those 
who are indirectly benefited, we should doubtless find a majority 
of our people more or less dependent upon its maintenance. It is 
only to the alluvial valley, however, the great strip from Cairo to 
the Gulf, that I wish particularly to call your attention this even- 
ing. This is really the great highway for traffic ; the cause of the 
great work that has been prosecuted ; and the scene of the geo- 
