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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 945 



THE TRANSCONTINENTAL EXCUESION OF 

 THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL 

 SOCIETY 

 On the evening of August 21 there was 

 gathered at dinner at the Harvard University 

 Club in New York City a somewhat unusual 

 company. Of those present forty-three were 

 European geographers, representing fourteen 

 different countries. There were also present 

 about a dozen Americans, and all together 

 were making the beginnings of acquaintance 

 and friendship which in many cases will be 

 lifelong. The occasion of the excursion was 

 the completion on upper Broadway of the 

 American Geographical Society's splendid new 

 building. Though unannounced, it is well 

 understood that the two months of journeying 

 which followed was made possible through the 

 munificence of the president of the society. 

 The party had been oi-ganized, and the excur- 

 sion was directed by Professor W. M. Davis, 

 of Harvard University. The start was made 

 from the Grand Central Station at 8:30 on 

 the following morning. The special train was 

 made up of two Pullman cars, two Pullman 

 observation cars, a diner and a baggage car. 

 There was also usually attached to the train 

 a private car accompanied by some official 

 of the several railways along which the route 

 was taken. These officials were usually in 

 charge of the land holdings and of the indus- 

 trial operations which are now so largely pro- 

 moted by our great railway systems in the 

 west and the south. They are accomplished 

 men and gave to the party many valuable lec- 

 tures and conversations throwing light upon 

 the development of their respective regions. 

 A very complete outfit of maps had been pro- 

 vided, and the map expert of the society hung 

 in the observation cars large and small scale 

 maps appropriate to the regions through 

 which we were passing daily. There were 

 also considerable libraries, made up of the 

 books and papers of the American members 

 of the party and of the reports of the Geolog- 

 ical and Geographical Surveys of the United 

 States, and of the various commonwealths. 



It would not be easy to define in a single 

 sentence the object and work of the excursion. 



The main aim, of course, was for every man 

 to get as much first-hand knowledge about the 

 United States as possible. This was attained 

 in many ways. There were considerable ob- 

 servations from the car windows so long as 

 daylight prevailed, and there were many stops, 

 sometimes two or three in a day, for special 

 features of the physical geography. Thus, in 

 Fishkill, a little more than an hour out of 

 New York, the party alighted from the train 

 and ascended by the cable car to the summit 

 of the highlands, where one of the American 

 members interpreted the topography of the 

 mountains, and the industrial and commercial 

 interests of the Hudson River lowlands as they 

 spread out northward towards Albany. At 

 Little Falls a brief stop was made. The Dolge- 

 ville railway was ascended to the top of the 

 cliffs and the topography and history of the 

 Mohawk Valley were briefly described, and a 

 representative of the state engineer's office 

 added an account of the Barge Canal. At 

 Syracuse the party was taken by automobiles 

 southward from the city to see on the hills the 

 abandoned river channels and fossil Niagaras 

 of the closing stages of the glacial time. On 

 the banks of the Mississippi River in the early 

 morning the train stopped for an hour while 

 the party scrambled to the top of the bluffs 

 to look out over the delta of the Chippewa, 

 and the ponded waters of Lake Pepin. The 

 topography around San Francisco was seen 

 by a long walk through the rift valley, marked 

 by the earthquake movements of 1906, and 

 also by the railway ascent to the summit of 

 Mount Tamalpais, whose magnificent pano- 

 rama includes the city, the Golden Gate, San 

 Francisco Bay and broad stretches of the 

 Valley of California. At Loch Ivanhoe, in 

 Colorado, the train stopped at the western 

 entrance of the tunnel, and the party walked 

 over the Hagerman Pass of the Continental 

 Divide, rejoining the train at the other end 

 of the tunnel. At Asheville, one of the local 

 summits of the Appalachians was reached by 

 automobile and here lunch was taken looking 

 out upon the wilderness of peaks and endless 

 forests that characterize the mountains of 

 North Carolina. 



