Evening star., 1923-10-07
BY GEORGE H. DACY.

= ONE time IL you are out strolling
in the neighborhood Of the Inte-
rior building stop in at the offices
Of the geological survey and ask
about some Of the subject-matter which
Uncle Sam Is using In making the larg-
est and finest typographical map in the
world-a picture history of every
hill. hollow, mountain, streanf and
other landmark in the country, ac-
curately represented on the scale Of
one mile to one inch on q mammoth
piecemeal map which. when COM
pleted and dovetailed together. will
cover more than one acre of floor
space or wall surface.
Cynics may say that the age of
adventure is over in America-that
as we push. the frontier farther and
farther toward the horizon we cor
respondihgly put the finis on the pull
sating periods of our history when
the only dependable assistants of the
pioneer were the firearms by his side.
Notwithstanding, the typographical
engineers who work for Uncle Sam
experience as much peril and excite
ment daily as the most of us are ex-
posed to during our whole lives.
These map makers suffer all the
perils and privations which you read
about in the best Sellers" for they
work under isolated wilderness con-
ditions and circumstances so graph
ically described by novelists.
Right here in the heart of Wash
ington, far removed from the scenes
of vicissitude and danger where the
government specialists garner their
ffrst-hand pictures of our land con-
tour, these Se.fSane adventures
spend the winter months in mixing
in the pencil maps which they made
far afield and in supervising the en-
craving of their curious copy in ever
lasting plates of copper-sempiterna
complishments.
To talk with some OF these modest.
retiring and unassuming engineers
You would never think they had gam
bIed against perilous dangers, and
had won.
T 1TERALLY to know every inch"
of the magnitudinous United
States, to expose every engineering
bSCTet SnTOuIeO IN the ldStneSS OI
her hills and mountains, to reproduce
on paper the land as looks-from
the tallest crag and the lowest val
ley-and to provide a map fac-s simile
of our country's topography-these
are the assignments which the en-
gineers of the geological survey are
covering.
No, the new world is not the
Christopher Columbus of this efficient
system of transferring our geograph-
ical bumps and dents to paper. Our
foreign cousins-Switzerland, France,
Germany, England, Scotland Wales
and Belgium-are many laps ahead
of us in map making. They have all
mapped their respective lands. Uncle
Sam has been tardy In following suit,
but when he finishes his tremendous
job the product will eclipse any of
those previously assembled.
The steppes and unexplored In
teriors Of Alaska are being trekked.
Twenty experts in mapping, with
a half-hundred assistants, helpers,
cooks and, supernumeraries, are ex-
pIor.ng Alaska's Typographical Sc
crets. They blaze trails and penetrate
unknown country from one coast OF
the great insular possession to an
other. Often they camp 800 to 400
miles from the nearest village. store,
house or white mans habitation.
Under the refinements of civlliza-
tion. amidst the luxurles and COM
forts which abound In the nations
Capital, these. professional adven-
turers may look as ordinary and
commonplace as. the average Amer
lean citizen. Shift the scene to the
vast plains or forests of Alaska,
where herds of reindeer and caribou
simulate the beef and dairy animals
of the mainland. where every danger
known to an unsettled country con-
stantly assails them-our modest
Washington scientists are .metamor-
phosed into explorative 'daredevils''
who will take every chance and risk any
hazard in order to collect the scien-
tIf1c data for their maps.
In the "land of the midnight SUM-
the experts with their surveying
tools and mapping tables not only
have to guard against depredatIons
by animals and hostile natives, but
they also have to combat Jack Frost
at his worst. Even when we friends
of these national engineers back In
Washington are sweltering despite
our light. tropical garb, the explor-
ers. bundled in woolens and furs, may
be forcing their way through OBJ
structing fields OF snow and ice. TIE
coast lands of Alaska may be warm
and adapted for the production of
most OF the crops and vegetables
except corn-which grow in the
United States, but the remote and in
land regions may at the same time
be experiencing a miniature blizzard
II you think 1t Is an easy matter
to operate surveying tools when the
thermometer registers anywhere
from ten to fifty degrees below zero
just go out and try 1t. When the
commission is further complicated, in
asmuch as the shlvering scientist
must reduce to paper all the topo-
graphical peculiarities and data that
he collects. you can pretty well ap-
preciate that only the most hardy,
vigorous and robust experts-r1en
who are thrilled with the anticipa-
ton of conquest and conflict and who
rejoice when it arrives--can stand
the grief of the geological and geo.
graphical field work.
X "
MOT all Of the map-making activi-
IN ties are carried on afoot. Lat
terly Nairship service has been har-
messed to aid in the big campaign to
map Uncle Sans expansive counte-
nance. Flying at attitudes OF abou,