The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-30
STUDENTS SURVEY ADDS TO
 GEOGRAPHICAL WISDOM

l ries of triangles from which the exact dis
 tance between any of the points deter
 mined may be arithmatically computed. In
 it's system of base line measurement-the establishment of the exact length of the
 first or base, line from which all the
 other points are subsequently, determined
 the United States Coast and Geodetic Sur
 vey has indeed practically adopted one of the details first used in the institute stu dent surveys. So far as any country has been mapped out with final accuracy, l therefore, one may imagine its surface | covered with a network of these imagin- ary triangles. and the student work at
 East Machias is so done that it fits imme diately into the system of triangles al- ready in existence.
 l In it's daily operations the school con i sisted of several squads of student survey , ors, each squad being under the imme- ' date charge of a regular instructor. Meet ing at o'clock each morning, the parties
 separated and spread themselves over the small hills, along the seashore and beside
 the little East Maehas river, covering all told an area of from sixteen to twenty square miles. No one in connection with
 the work had any previous familiarity with the topography of the region, and the days instruction was therefore as much problem to the instructors themselves as it would be to any other expert assuming charge of a similar survey. either for the national government or in the interest of
 commercial company seeking to exploit
 local resources. The only difference lay
 in the fact that the groups of surveyors were constantly changing, so that while each piece of work was constantly in
 charge of the same instructor. each stu dent, as fast as he had mastered the use of the instruments belonging to one divis- l
 other group and began familiarizing him
 self with another set of instruments. The
 men did not camp together, but lived in different places in the town, reporting for duty at eight in the morning and leaving off at six in the evening. Part of the work included the study of meteorological con- dtlons and the preparation of such re- ports as would be a daily occurrence if East Machias were ever made a station of the weather bureau; and a study of the stars were also necessary to fix the true north and south line, for which future local surveyors will be grateful to the band of students. who, to tell the truth, were something of a revelation to many of the townspeople.
 East Machias is a seaport town of about 16O0 inhabitants with small river. con-
 siderable variety in it's immediate topog
 raphy and good working climate-con- ditions. taken altogether, that make it especially practicable for what is really an outdoor laboratory for future survey
 ors, meteorologists and geologists. Under the usual plan Tor conducting summer l schools for surveying or other branches l of modern engineering. It would make an excellent permanent station. The h. stitute of Technology. however considers 1 each place that it selects for it's summer
 work as an individual problem, to be i solved with no other data than the points | already established by the men of the l United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. l The data gathered by the summer school 1 is intended to be as final as any profess
 sional work would be and is presented to
 the township in which it has been con-
 ducted and the government with whose
 own work it is so closely connected. Some | times, indeed the work of these student 1 surveys becomes the basis of later com i mercial exploitation. as occurred some
 years ago in the case of the excellent
 water power which the institute students
 proved to exist at Ellsworth. Maine; but l in all such cases the institute reserves its
 maps, plans and reports. and does not per
 init the results obtained during the stu
 dent surveys to be used commercially and l in competition with professional surveyors 1 The necessity of such distinction is an l interesting proof of the thoroughness of l the work accomplished by typical modern
 students in what many persons would con- 1 slider more or less of holiday outing In l fact. the surprise of many persons who
 see these surveys for the first time is like l that of the townsman who told the young
 man who preceded last summers party
 that he could put the instruments in the
 woodshed." little realizing, as he discov- l cred aIterward, that the instruments in l question consisted of nearly a railroad | freight car load.