The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-03-31
MAP-MAKING HARD WORK
Years of Patient Labor Are Some
times Given to One photographic
Product.
From the New York sun.

: 'N'A 'AiV ANNN 1 VI N sun
Few people have any idea of the |
immense labor expended upon the pro-
duction of the best maps. Professor
wagner, who occupies the chair of geo.
graphy at the University of Gottingen,
Germany, was talking about L the 9TH
er day. This famous geogra pher had
Just completed the latest revision Cf
MS Atlas of School Geography.
Il revise the Atlas about every two
/ years. said the professor. 1T requires
| several months of my time; and in
/ addition to this | have to be on the
! lookout every day for news Of fresh
] discoveries, corrections of errors that
have crept into the maps, new political
boundaries, new temperature obscrva-
tlon5 in the Amazon basin, fo- in
/ stance, where few meteorological rec.
ords have been kept, which may affect
! the position of the isothermal lines on
my maps, and a great variety of other
! information which necessitatas many
chances on my map plates of mere or
less importance. 1 have to keep on
file all the maps from explorers which
are published by the geographical So
, cieties Of all lands. 1t is from these
maps that most of our information
ton of errors is derived. Then there
are tho map sheets of detailed topo-
graphic survey, issued by the govern
ments of nearly all civilized lands.
They now number thousands and they
must be in the libraries Of all first
class map publishing houses which
aspire to keep their maps fully abreast
| of geographic progress.
There is also great deal of author
itative literature giving many geo.
graphical facts, such as the distrihu-
! ton of agricultural products in a cCun-
try, which may be clearly indicated on
the maps we make. All this inforra-
tion has to be classified and pigeon
| holed ready for use when the time
comes for the next map revision.
MANY persons might think that the
most barren and scantily peOpled parts
| Of the world would not often require
| correction on the maps; but this is not
so. In the Arctic regions, for instance,
within a short time Peary visits an un-
! known part of the northeast coast of
! Greenland and finds a channel leading
far west and separating the mainland
as far as is determined from the islands
further north: Nansen discovers new
facts about the depth of the Arctic
| Ocean. the movements of Arctic cur
rents, mean temperatures, etc, and
pushes his work within 25O miles of the
North Pole; then Jackson appears with
az entirely new map of Franz Josef
Land which completely changes our
ideas of the geography Of that region;
i and TyTrell traVerseS d part of North
America west of Hudson Bay never
before visited ana finds new facts for
the maps and other Canadian cXplpr-
ers trace to Hudson's Bay the rivers
that drain the country to the south Of
that inland sea. Every year on an
average about 200 hitherto unknown
reefs and rocks and other dangers to
navigation are discovered and must lie
noted on manY maps.
1T is the business of the geugrapher
To take all this immense volume of new
information and use il with critical
care. He can tell within narrow limits
what degree of credence is to be given
to the work of each explorer and he re-
jects great deal of information which
does not appear to him to be based
upun sufficiently careful or competent
! research
one Of the handsomest CdrtOgraphic
works of recent years is the atlas Of
:
hans Of Gotha, Germany. has recently
completed after about three years Of
assiduous labor. He neglected no source
of valuable information in carrying out
this undertaking, and the sixty map
pages give the results of the latest and
best geographical. researches among
Germany's colonies all over the world.
As is the habit Ot the best German
mapmakers, he gives the sources of all
the information he has placed on his
maps.
To prepare his map of the little Mar
shall Island prOtectOrate, for instance,
he used SeVenty-siN different maps, in
cluding official charts, like the admir-
atty surveys and the map material
prepared by the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions of
Boston, Has any American mapmaker
yet published a map of Wake Island,
one of our new acquisitions in the Pac-
itic? Probably not. But our mapmak-
ers may take it now from Langhans.
who gives a very clear idea of the three
specks Of land forming the Wake
group, over which the American flag
will hcnceforth float.
He consulted 100 route surveys and
other maps of the semi-arid possess
sions of the Germans in southwest
Africa to make his eight-page map of
that region; and every wagon road
we'll, bit OF grazing area, mining pros
pect and hamlet in the whole district
is shown with fine effect. His delinea-
tiOn of the Cameroons is based upon lG5
surveys of original map material, of
Togo upon sixty-four maps, of Ger
manys possessions in New Guineas
upon 1S6 maps; and in the preparation
of his map sheets of German East
Africa, The largest of all German col
onial possessions he made use of 375
maps Many Of these maps We're de-
voted solely TO some especial feature,
one map, for instance, giving topo-
graphic aspects, another caravan
routes, another the names of tribes
and their distribution: and all these
maps were the work OF men from vari-
Gus nations who have taken part i'm the
study o' East Africa. LanGhans took
from each map what he needed and