* LETTER OF STATE TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEER. 



I • « • > 



Topographical Depavtment of the State Survey, 



May Ist, 1856, 

 Dr. Wm. Kitchell, 



Supt. of N. J. State Geol. Survey. 



Dear Sir : 



I transmit herewith, for the purpose of the geological in- 

 vestigations, the Topographical Map of the County of Cape May, 

 constructed upon a scale of tsl-o-^, or about two inches to the mile, 

 which is the scale upon which the field-work is executed. The 

 engraved Map will be drawn upon a scale of g^^uu, or about one 

 inch to the mile. The principles upon which the survey is con- 

 ducted, and the details of the field-work, are fully set forth in the 

 last annual report of progress. It is proper, however, to state,, with 

 reference to this Map, that while endeavoring to keep pace with 

 the geological investigations, I have failed to complete the triangu- 

 lation of the southern portion of the State, for the reason that the 

 face of the country is so remarkably uniform, that it would have 

 exhausted the greater portion of the funds at my disposal to erect 

 the necessary stations for taking observations. The alternative 

 therefore presented itself of relying upon such assistance as could 

 be derived from the secondary triangulation and plain-table work 

 of the Coast Survey, or of deferring for the present the topography 

 of that section of the State. The former course has been adopted 

 for the obvious reason that, without the topography, the geology 

 could not be satisfactorily described. Moreover, the peculiar shape 



