Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-07-31
DETAILS IN BIG MAPS
GREAT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MAX
ING OF EARTH CHARTS


within Twenty Years the Science os MAJ
mA'ing HaA Taken Great Strides, So That
Nov Only Very Small Portion of tn.
Earth Cannot BE Shown.
GOOD maps are almost necessity of On,
uaiiy nves. There are few interests or en-
terprses among civilized peoples which do
uo' quire maps as part Of their work
ing equipment. Within the past On rears
enormous masses Of new geographic infor.
nation has been collected, and il Ia inta,-
esting to observe the effect of these f,esh
accurnulations upon the maps.
Ii we know little about a reoion IL !.
easy 20 make map OF the ARA ON n verv
small scale. As our knowiedr ne rrovx mans
must be made on larger scales In or;i., =,
present the information clearly. OF late
year. more facts have been learned concern
ing africa than any other part OF the world
twenty years ago IL was useless 20 make
maps OF most parts Of Africa ON n sc.la
iarpr than 900 $3.50 miles to the
men; now we have a map Of that continent
on scale OF 100000 Isl SO miles 10 the
inch, and De Lannoy de Bissy, the author
OF that great work, is Of the opinion that In
ave Years more cartographers will not be
able TO do justice 70 our knowledge of Az
r1ca on q scale smaller than 10 miles to the
inch Considerable parts of inner Africa
are now mapped on a scale Of from to ls
miles to the inch.
TIE cartographers' art has made such
prog ress within the past 30 years TINT
those who have any idea how much info,.
motto may now wildly be set forth ON n
mar are not content to see il show a conn
Try merely as a piece of land limited by
political boundaries-they expect to see
che topographic and cultural features &C
curately expressed, and the fact that the
best maps nowadays are made to convex n
larger and more varied amount OF infor1na-
lion than formerly has also had the effect
Oh charging the scale Of mapmakinc. We
nov have maps on a scale Of | .2OO, 600 "a. Is
miles to the inch) Of nearly the whole of
Europe, large regions of North America
and parts OF Africa and India More than
two-thirds OF the coast lines of continents
ano important islands have been mapped
on large scale, and parts of South Amer
lea, Australia and a large portion of Asia
have been mapped on scales varying from
to 10 miles to the inch.
One OF the best maps of the United
states for general use is German product
and Is on the scale of 1:3, 700 coo (5S.3S
miles to the inch). The growth of this
country has given so much information for
photographic use that good map on this
scale is badly crowded with detail The
best general aliases show southern and
central Europe on scale of not less than
l.5O,OO tI.s9 miles to the inch). and even
when finely eng aved these maps are very
much crowded, particularly in regions like
- =
the Alps, where detail il infinitely shown
According to the English geogrnpher. J.
q. Bartholomew. about half of the land
50 face of the globe has already been sur
veJed fully or so far that we have an ap-
proximately accurate knowledge of its to-
biography, while only abOut one-ciChth of
ths land may still be described as .nex-
plored The Beene geographical congress
81 ggested that oil the civilized nations
should unite in the production of map Of
The world on scale of about 10 miles to the
inch, and Mr.. Connect, the geoSrnpher OF
our geological survey, says that in the
present condition OF Topographic surveys in
TIL country. 10 would be possible to de-
lineate on this scale 9. SOC, 600 square miles.
or sc per cent of the area OF the COUNTRY.
excepting Alaska =
IL Will surprise many people to know
lat q considerable part of the remaining
per cent Of our area which cannot be
shown, even on this modest scale, lies along
our Atlantic coast and includes northern
Maine, the Adirondack plateau tn New
York and southern Florida The remainder
o. the country of which so little Is vet
known that we have not detail sufficient
To fill such a map embraces the Cascade
aud Coast ranges Of Oregon and Wishing
too, the western regions Of North and
eouth Dakota, west Texas and southeast
Eew Mexico --- az
The most detailed surveys that have vet
teen carried out in this country are those
Of the coast and geodetic survey. They
were commenced in 1882 and now include
the whole coast line of the Atlantic and Pa
,ific oceans and the gulf of Mexico, except
ing that Of Alaska. From this survey maps
II o zone within five miles Of the coast have
been constructed on a scale of one ten
thousandth, or about six inches to the mile
The maps and charts based upon this sur
vey are of the highest order of excellence
md are greatly admired by foreign geog-
raphers.
Our geological survey has only completed
. little over $50, 600 square miles of its de-
allied topographic survey as yet, and a
very large part of this work has been car
west and south where population is still
scanty. The reason for first making the
detailed topographic survey of those re-
gions is that before they can be studied
closely in their geological aspects their
topography must be infinitely mapped SO
that the geological data subsequently Oh
tanned may accurately be placed on the
map, and a. the geological survey is of the
highest importance to the intelligent and
economical development Of our mineral re-
sources tho topographic survey is being
carried out in our mineral regions in sd-
vance of detailed surveys in the older and
more populous parts of the country. The
states Of New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode
Island and Massachusetts,, however, with
the assistance of the national surveys, have
completed their detailed topographic sur
veys and have issued fine maps on large
scales that compare favorably with those
of any part of Europe. Other state surveys