Ma2)S produced by private Enterprise. Ill 



Most of the railroads of the country have prepared maps of 

 their lines showing at least the alignment of the road and in 

 many cases the adjacent topography. They have prepared also 

 profiles of their lines, and as this is an imjjortant element from 

 the railroad point of view, much more attention has heen given 

 to this than to alignment. 



There is one railroad company which has done more than 

 this. The Northern Pacific railroad organized in 1882, and sup- 

 ported for three years, a survey of the country adjacent to its 

 line. During these three years an area of 43,000 square miles 

 was mapped in Montana and Washington. The methods used 

 were similar to those of the Hayden survey, and the maps were 

 designed for publication on a scale of 4 miles to an inch, in 200- 

 foot contours. A part of this area has been published by the 

 United States Geological survey. 



Large areas of the eastern. and most densely settled portion of 

 the country are dependent entirely for their maps upon these 

 road diagrams of counties and upon railroad maps and profiles. 

 Such is the condition of all in which no public land surveys 

 have been carried on, excepting the areas surveyed by the organ- 

 izations above described. Thus, New York has no other maps 

 besides these road diagrams, excepting some 2,000 square miles 

 mapped by the United States Geological survey and some trifling 

 additions by the United States Coast and Geodetic survey, while 

 Pennsylvania is almost as poor in information regarding its 

 topography. 



The foregoing is a summary of the principal sources of geo- 

 graphic information concerning this country. It comprises prac- 

 tically all the material which is available for the compilation of 

 a map of the United States. Of course, it is understood that in 

 numerous cases the same area has been mapped by two or more 

 organizations, thus affording opportunity for selection between 

 them. In such cases, generally speaking, the later survey is the 

 better, but in certain cases one piece of work is better for one 

 purpose, and another for another purpose ; one for one class of 

 features, another for another class. 



Relative Values of the Maps. 



I propose to classify the body of diversified material in accord- 

 ance with my estimate of its map value as expressed by the scale 



