GEOGRAPHY AND FORESTRY. 
73 
own examinations of reserves, but in by far the larger part through 
the personal work of Mr. A. J. Johnson, who devoted two years to 
traveling about the State and inspecting its forests. 
Out of the examination of forest reserves has grown the prepara- 
tion of economic or land-classification sheets, showing — on the regular 
atlas sheets of the Survey as a base — not only the forests, with burnt and 
cut lands, but the irrigable and pasture lands. Of these sheets 35 
have been published, some as illustrations in reports on forest reserves 
and others independently. 
The preparation of such land-classification maps and reports did not 
originate with this Survey. Three of the old surveys of the West, 
popularly known as the Hay den, Powell, and Wheeler surveys, gave 
attention to this subject and embodied the results in reports. In the 
Hayden Atlas of Colorado, published in 1876, there is a land-classifica- 
tion map of the entire State, and a bulletin of that survey was devoted 
to this subject. 
The Powell survey published a land-classification map of Utah, and 
a volume entitled " Lands of the Arid Regions. 11 This book is a classic 
on the subject, and formed the basis upon which the entire system, 
not only of land classification, but of irrigation, is founded. The 
Wheeler survey also published an edition of its atlas sheets colored 
to represent forests, grazing lands, and desert lands. The plan adopted 
by the Geological Survey in its land-classification sheets is much more 
elaborate than these, but in general principles conforms to them. 
Another result of these examinations is the collection of land-classi- 
fication data by the topographers in the course of their topographic 
work. Mainly from this source information of this character, covering 
several hundred thousand square miles in various parts of the country, 
has been assembled. This information is of different degrees of accu- 
rac}' and fullness for different areas, but altogether it forms a very 
valuable contribution to our knowledge of the forests of the United 
States. Its possession has enabled this office to guide the Department 
in extending and modifying the boundaries of reserves. 
There is still another b}^-product of the examination of forest 
reserves. In certain cases no topographic maps existed, and in order 
to represent geographically the data collected it became necessary to 
prepare maps. This has been done in the cases of the Olympic and 
Mount Rainier reserves in Washington and most of the Cascade 
Range Reserve in Oregon. These maps, having been published on a 
scale of 4 miles to the inch, can rank only as reconnaissance maps, but 
they will serve a useful purpose until better ones can be prepared. 
The office force of the division has always been small, comprising 
usualty two or three clerks and a chief draftsman, under whose direction 
complete small-scale maps of 11 States and Territories have been 
compiled. 
