168 GEOGRAPHIC MISCELLANEA 



Rksclts of the surveys of Gila River, Arizona, have been published as Wider 

 Supply and Irrigation L'aper, No. 33, of the Unite<l States Geological Survey. 

 The bulletin gives a description of southern Arizona, with views illustrating 

 the character of the country, and maps and diagrams showing the location of 

 the sources of water supply and the possil^ilities of storing water for the de. 

 velopment of agriculture. It is shown that the construction of storage works 

 on Gila River at a cost of about one million dollars would many times compen- 

 sate for the outlay, through the sale of jniblic lands and the increase of taxable 

 property. 



The second school of forestry to be founded iii the United States will soon 

 be estaVjlished at Yale University, Mr and Mrs James W. Pinchot, of New 

 York, and their sons, Giflford and Amos K. E., having generously endowed 

 that institution with $IoO,000 for the purpose. Mr Gifford Pinchot is the for- 

 ester of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and his services to this cause are 

 well known to the public. In addition to the gift of the large sum named, use 

 is given to the University for a term of years of a large tract of forest land in 

 Pike county. Pa., where the practical workings of economic forestry may he 

 demonstrated — as well as the use of buildings in this locality serve as a local head- 

 quarters for the school. Mr Henry S. Graves will be the director of the school. 



Unuek the law no one can do any dredging on the water front of Cape Nome 

 within a three-mile limit without the authority of the War Department. That 

 authority has now been granted in several instances because it was shown that 

 the proposed dredging of sand would not interfere with navigation or the rights 

 of owners of adjacent territory. The particular character of the sand to be 

 dredged did not enter into the consideration of the case. The Secretary of War 

 states that any one is privileged to dig for gold in the open sea, and the only 

 question considered by tiie War Department is whether such operations con- 

 ducted within tlie three-mile limit are an interference with navigation or an in- 

 fringement on the rights of others. When these conditions are complied with 

 the Department is prepared to grant permission to any one to dig in the beach 

 at Cape Nome or at any point lying within three miles of low-water mark. 



The bubonic plague has increa.sed in severity and extent during the past 

 month. A dispatch from Cape Town to tlie London Timex announced the dis- 

 covery of a case in that port early in March. The infected vessel was an army 

 transport from Kosario, Argentine, where the epidemic had prevailed for sev- 

 eral months and where the quarantine had only recently been raised. In San 

 Francisco several cases, sup po.sed to be genuine, were discovered in Chinatown, 

 but energetic measures have prevented contagion. Advices have also been re- 

 ceived by the Surgeon-General of the Marine Hospital Service of the presence of 

 the plague in the Island of Cozumel, off the east coast of Yucatan, Mexico. It 

 had probably been brouglit here directly from Brazil. In Honolulu its severity 

 seems to have passetl, though a large numl>er of sporadic cases are still arising. 

 From Manila the disease has spread to Iloilo and also to Hilo. It has, how- 

 ever, Vjeen considerably retarded in its occupation of the Philippines. In 

 India tlie frightful ravages have continued on the increa.se, with no prospect 

 of immediate abatement. A recent telegram from Calcutta states that 4,725 

 deaths occurred in that city and in Bengal in a single week. 



