The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-04-30
THE Nj NIT OR :.
THE MAPPING OF NEW sERsrY


sistants have finished the Typographical sur
vey ON which they have been engaged since
1877, New Jersey will he more accurately
and beautifully mapped than any other
State in the Union. The great sheets
which the State Geologist is now sending
out at the rate of three or four every year
present the results of survey far more
thorough and systematic than ANYTHING
of the kind ever before undertaken in the
United States; while the maps themselves,
as drawn by MI Vermeule and his staff,
and Autographed by Bien, mark the high
est point Of excellence yet reached by
American photographers.
The survey is now so near completion
that we may speak of it in its general as
poets. or the seventeen sheets which are
included in the scheme, ten have already
been engraved, on a scale of one inch to
the mile of the remaining seven sections.
two have been wholly surveyed, and four
in part The work will be finished year
after next when the several sheets, bound
together in IN atlas, will constitute map
of New Jersey which will be unequaled N
respect to fulness and eXacuess OF topo-
graphical detail, and fidelity to the natural
contours of the surface Few Of our read
crs in New Jersey, perhaps. are aware Of
the Importance OF this survey 1t is the
first time that State has undertaken to
eiclineatc its territory i'll a manner suited
to the needs of our present civilization.
Massachusetts provided for similar sur
vcy in 1884. seven years after Prof. Cook
had begun work in New Jersey. Noothcr
State, we believe, has yet followed tie eX-
ample.
How well the work has been done may
be Judged by any citizen OF New Jersey
who takes the trouble to compare the map
with the actual topography of the neigh
borhood with which he is most familiar.
He will find every village or city street
correctly laid down, every insignificant
water course traced accurately. He may
drive for miles along the country roads
and not discover a bend or elbow which
has not its corresponding kinN on the map.
The carefully drawn contour lines show
infinitely every change Of elevation down
to variations of ten feet in the more
level regions, and twenty feet in the billy
parts. Figures give the exact height
every spot above the sea The practical
value of all this is obvious. The map sup
plies the information which is indIspensi-
Bile to the settlement Of questions of drain
age, water supply, road and railroad CON
struction, and the determination Of build
ing sites. It will be equally satisfactory
and useful to the General in command of
extensive military opcrations-if New Jer-
sey is ever 50 unfortunate rs To become the
seat Of war-and 10 the bicyelist off for a
twenty miles spin.
As Assistant State Geologist under tie
late DR.. kitehell from iS34 to 1864, and as
State Geologist from the latter date down
to the present time. Prof. Cook has laborcd
for thirty-fiye years i'll the exploration of
New Jerseys natural resources. In this
respect the State owes more TO him than 20
any other man. The mass Of scientific
data collected. arranged, and published
under his supervision is credtable to the
Commonwealth and monument to his
saf-sacrificing zeal. Not the least notable
feature of his work is the fact that it has
been prosecuted with the aid of very mod
crate annua! apPropriations.-A J. SIM.