268 WORK OF THE COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 



dured all the vicissitudes of Arctic work. After having assisted 

 in the final preparations and seen each thread upon which their 

 lives may depend, they embarked as though the goal were plainly 

 in sight. 



The past winter was to be spent in such rude huts of snow and 

 walrus skin as they could erect. When the weather permitted 

 they would train the dogs and practise on their skis, so that when 

 the final start was made no time would be lost in breaking-in 

 their forces. It was the intention to start from this winter camp 

 as soon as the twilight was bright enough for them to see, and 

 move northward to the Pole, returning in season to reach Franz 

 Josef Land hy the time the relief ship arrived there. They have 

 sufficient supplies for another winter, and in case there should 

 be failure this year in any part of the scheme they will remain 

 until next summer. Every one is asking, " Will they succeed ? '' 

 They will if they reached a high latitude last fall; if sickness 

 did not weaken their forces during the long winter night; if the 

 unprepared-for was not met. But each if must be written large. 



J. Howard Gore. 



THE COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY: ITS PRESENT 



WORK 



The wide scope embraced in the operations of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey demands correspondingly wide limits in the 

 character of the work and in the geographical distribution of its 

 activity. Parties are now engaged on the Atlantic, Pacific, and 

 Alaskan coasts, and in Puerto Rico. The coming season will 

 witness great additions to our very incomplete knowledge of the 

 mouth of the Yukon and of its approaches. The southern shore 

 of Puerto Rico, contrary to the general belief, contains one or 

 more good harbors, and the hydrography necessary to develop 

 their commercial capabilities is now being rapidly executed. 

 The great arc measurement on the 98th meridian is being pushed 

 vigorously. This work is the worthy counterpart of the trans- 

 continental arc on the 39th parallel, and will eventually become 

 the backbone of the Mississippi Valley triangulation. The 

 present year marks a notable era in Coast and Geodetic Survey 

 work bearing on the figure of the earth, inasmuch as it will wit- 

 ness the publication of the definitive results of one of these arcs 

 and the comprehensive prosecution of work on the other. This 



