Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1899-01-06
OUR LONG COASTLINE
Second In Length 0aly to That OF
the British Empire.
ON the Dominions Of Uncle sam, Also,
the sun Never Sets-Itecent
Acquisitions Extend
the Line

Next to the British empire the United
| States has the longest coast line OF
any nation in the world. With the
Few possessions of Puerto Rico and
the Philippines the coast OF the United
states will be at least $1,000 miles long.
! and, with Cuba, which must have i;S
coast line taken in charge by the coast
survey Of this country, there VIII DC
rcarly 10000 miles Of coast TO bc cared
for. The coast line of II United
States. without Alaska, amounts To
nearly 6.COO miles, divided as follows:
Two thousand, three hundred and for
u-nine miles on the Atlantic const.
1856 miles ON the Gulf of MrNico aud
nearly a.OOO miles on the Pacifi" coast.
.ilaskn. because OF its numerous iuicu-
,ati0ns and islands-those .Aicuii..:
islands which stretch westward until
they meet the possessions of the Great
White CIar'-has an enormous coast
.irc, mounting up to at least 5000
rifles.
To compute the coast line of the Phil
i,:rincS is at present impossible. Spain
has no photographic Office and nc
cast survey in working order. Ever
he number of islands in the Philip.
Inc groups are unknown. Spain has
r.vcr taken the trouble to count them.
photography and coast survey i an
ct I"irHcc Of which the Latins are
r,arahi".
,',"t the least of the burdens i'm
r"erd upon tn" United States by the ac.
i..~''iom OF ness territory is the sur.
'Eg uf its shores. Although lrr,;
T., !>uG, the work of SURVEYING" IT,.
c"&s; nf tn" United States rrop"r has
-,'"r been completed. in the nature
C 'hinrs it never can hr, for there ar
'"~rliHTS like the Nantucket shoals an
ihr .hnalS which lie between Monomo,
".iu' and Martha's Vineyard whicl
must H. surveyed every once in "a few
ir.:", owing to the shifting sands
" oh compose them.
when the coast survey of the United
S;a - Was started il was proposed to
She army do the shore work and
Ih' raNy the hydrography. II WAS not
long before the shore work passed into
tho hands Of civilians, bat the navy has
=" :ar kept tho hydrography. though il
la worked under n sort Of hybrid sys-
ten, the part OF the navy doing the
photography being loaned to the treas
ury department.. An officer OF the
navy is detailed as photographic i'm
sT,cior, and Us such has an Office in the
office of the superintendent of the
survey. who is n civilian official
Of the treasury department. The ships
and launches with which the hydro
graphic work is done are owned by the
treasury Department., but the officers
and men whu man them are in the en-
I.lCy Of the navy department. II is n
which works better than one
expect. and so far the charts of
the cOnst survey take rank with the
best In the world. In fact, there is
only one kind of charts that can com
with them and that is the char,
Of tEr British admiralty. For nc.
ruraCy. the charts of the cOnSt survey
cahu"t b. cNcyl!cd, and The British
photographic Office depends BOW en-.
tiT"ly upon the n survcy charts for
the autobiography Of the hmCricnu
coast. Yet il j. only e few years ago
that the British Ldmira!iy charts were
taken for the basis nf our work in the
Gulf OF Mexico. I'll" Russian charts.
which formed the basis for our survey
the Ala Fkan coast. MCr" imperfect,
ana il will hU year f"for" tn" survey
OF that coas' i CON gi"tcd.
In the meantime there is the const
of Iurrio Rico Ia hU taken are of. and
also the coasts of Cuba and the Phil
ippircs. The charts which are now de
rcnlrd on for Cuba are incomplete and
unsatisfactory. England aud the
Sraics have done much work
shat coast. in H." way of surveying
IN" principal hUrhoI>. but in many
case. the old and faulty Spanish chnri~
are depended ON To make n complete
survey of H." Philippine Archipelago
Is .tn enormous task. which will re-
IuirC years aud the expenditure of u
lot Of money. A. Ill" coasts Of the
United States are all looked after by
the c"Hst survey. go The surveys Of the
coasts Of foreign countries ar" taken
care Of by the photographic Office az
the navy. This - u purely naval In.
rCau and the ships employed in iuHkinp
surveys outside az the country are all
regularly commissioned mCn.of-wnr.
~ n matter Of fact, all the slIirs OF III"
coast survey are regularly commits
stoned Ivy the ravy, although the navy
does not own them. and rs the ma
tiOnal ensign. instead or The rcv"uu"
Aug, which is flown by other sliIs Of
tn" treasury department, when not ~
the naval s"rvicr tns they have been in
this war; or when they are on dmiy,or
the thr'c.milc limit.
Naval experts say that n nation
should have u navy in proportion To
its cnasi line. " This proposition is
correct the United states Should have
II navy only u liitlc less strong thar
that OF Great Britain. Great Britain.
Frarcc and f;aly have nnyics some.
"vlini In proportion To their coast lines,
while Russia. Germany and Austria
lin,c navj"s larger than their const
lines call for y. :. Press.
'Hl,tRN. . r.