232 



TITLES 



in measuring angles and distances. To make this more concrete 

 every survey should be tied to a United States Geological Survey 

 or United States Coast and Geodetic Survey bench mark, a 

 General Land Office section corner, or a railroad, stream, or road 

 crossing. Practically speaking these are the only points which 

 are located with sufficient definiteness. As for the measurement 

 of angles the compass is and wiU remain-the most convenient 

 instrument for woods work. It simply needs to be used with 

 a recognition of its limitations. Distances may be measured by 

 tape, stadia, chain or pacing, but they should always be reduced 

 to the horizontal and the method employed stated. The map 

 resulting from such field work should show all the principal 

 streams, lakes, ponds, roads, trails and property lines. Prefer- 

 ably it should also show the topography by contours. It is a 

 great help, for example, to know what the slope is like near an 

 important corner for which one is searching. 



The cost of such mapping varies, naturally, with the methods 

 employed. The following data will be helpful in estimating such 

 costs: 



The office work — drafting and area computation — would not 

 be essentially different for the various methods and ought not to 

 exceed one cent per acre. 



Expressed on an acreage basis the cost of such boundary sur- 

 veys vary from one cent to one dollar per acre. The Federal 

 Forest Service has been making transit and tape surveys of the 

 lands purchased under the provisions of the Weeks Law for 23 

 cents per acre in 1918 including the office work of map prepara- 

 tion, area computation by latitudes and departures, and con- 

 siderable legal investigation necessary to the determination of the 

 location of the tracts to be surveyed. 



