The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-06-15
MAPS OF MILITARY VALUE.
AGSIGuLTURAL SOIL SURVEYS
IMPORTANT FOR THE ARMY.

Louge. among others, having more thar
once pointed to this as one Of the grave
mistakes in the conduct Of the Fed
eral Administration.
A striking instance Of this lack Of
cooperation which has just come tC
light IS the failure Of the War Depart
ment and the General STAFF to avail
themselves of the maps Invaluable
from a military standpoint. which are
annually being produced under the di.
rection Of Professor Milton Whitney,
of the Bureau of Soils So far as ear
be ascertained, the General Stan has
never even learned that the Bureau Of
Soils is conducting q soil survey of the
entire country and preparing maps
which contain most of the important
features usually shown on military
maps prepared as the result Of recon-
noissances.
For the last five years the Bureau
of Soils has maintained approximately
twenty parties of geologlsts and soil
experts in the field, and the results
of their observations have been en-
bodied in maps which now represent al
most 6O,000 square miles of the United
States The value of this work to the
agricultural interests of the country
has led Congress to appropriate CON
stantly increasing amounts for the car
| rying on of the work, and, as the maps
are furnished TO all foreign agricultural
institutions. it is probable that Euro
peap military authorities have better
knowledge to-day of the topography
and soil conditions of the United States
than have American military officers.
Certain general officers of the army
have long urged that military maps of
all parts of the country, and especially
of those parts adjacent to the seaboard;
be prepared by the engineer corps, hut
little or no work in that line has been
accomplished by the army, and the
valuable data compiled by the Bureau
of Soils have been perslstently ignored.
The soil maps give not only the general
topography Of the country, using the
base maps of the Geological Survey
for that purpose, but in addition thereto
the nature of the soil for a depth of not
less than three feet, thus indicating the
character of the roads to be met with,
the probable effect which heavy rains
would have on them, etc. Taken in
connection with the maps Of the Geo
logical Survey, they furnish practically
all the information necessary from a
military standpoint, with the advan-
tage over reconnaissance maps, on
which the military commander usually
is compelled to depend, that they AZ Z
prepared by experts who have ample
time to devote to their surveys and OBJ
servations and every facility for com
mitting the facts to paper.
With such maps, the feasibility of
erecting earthworks, intrenchments,
etc, can be determined at a glance.
Moreover, the military quartelmaster,
who must make careful calculations as
to the availability of the local roads to
sustain the necessarily heavy traffic en-
tailed by the transportation Of the sup
plies for great army, can easily per-
feet his plans when, with the aid of a |
soil map, he can learn whether the |
roads over which his heavy wagons |
must travel are of earth, clay or stone,
on what sort of base they are con-
structed, the liability to flooding during
heavy rains, etc.
Some military experts who have re-
Gently examined these maps point to
the fact that had the information they /
present been available at the beginning
of the Spanish-American War the War
would have been saved
from the error of selecting the site
chosen at Chickamauga for a great
camp, because, from the soil
maps, it would have learned that the
soil was only few feet deep and I'M
derlaid with stratum Of rock which
would inevitably force the drainage
and seepage back to the surface. The
error of placing the Chickamauga camp
IN that site has cost the Government
n pensions to those whose health suf-
tered and to the families Of those who
lied from typhoid fever probably more
han the entire cost Of the soil survey
If the United States TO date.
The same proposition is doubtless
rue of Camp Alger. A more thorough
of the topography and
Irainage features of that site would
doubtless have led to the selection of
location more favorable to the health
# the troops quartered there In this
connection it is noteworthy that the I
ost Of the soil maps to the Govern !
nent does not exceed an average of /
2.87 a square mile. while their value (
0 agriculture is regarded by those in
position to know as ample to warrant
he expense on that ground alone.
In most countries military maps not
Tidely dissimilar from the maps Of the
'ureau Of Soils are being prepared un- t
er the supervision of the military au- l
horities, and as far back as the early S
eventies it was urged by members Of
he engineer corps of the United States I
.rmy that military survey, 10 be fol- S
,wed by the preparation Of military c
laps, be made in all parts Of the
'nited States, particularly those por-
ons adjacent to the seaboard. Thus
L.