Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-28

to the boarding house. hotel or tent
that happens to be their temporary
home. After supper the engineers
in charge still have enough details to
look after, such as checking up the
data just collected, planning for the
morrow and filling out official reports.
to keep them occupied for several
more hours.
MOT infrequently, too, the days of
the surveyor are enlivened by eX.
citing encounters with rattlesnakes,
"copperheads," or other poisonous
snakes that make the men act quick
Iy, and often result in rods being used
for purposes other than measure
ments. Even near settled regions
bears, deer and other wild things are
met Unexpectedly and afford the sur
veyors a little amusement.
Years ago, when game was sighted,
work frequently stopped while one or
more Of the members of the party dis
carded their instruments for their
rifles and an effort was made to re.
penish the food supplies. Now the
animals are never "shot at" with any.
thing more harmful than a pocket
camera.
Few sections of the country remain
so primitive that survey parties have
to cut loose from civilization and "go
it alone" for whole season, as was
the general thing a few decades ago.
? In those days parties were wholly self
supporting, cooks, transfers and
guides accompanying them. and de-
tachment of soldiers also often went
along to protect the men from hostile
Indians.
Members of those early organiza-
tions met with whole book full Of adj
ventures during the four or rve
months they We're in the field. and
many thrilling incidents of their lives
found their way into print, but latter
ly there seems to have grown up ira
dition in the Survey that adventures
are to be taken as part OF the days
work. Last year an Alaskan party
started at one ocean and came out at
the other, went through all sorts Of
hardships, met with innumerable dan
gers and finished crossing the country
just in time to catch the last boat be-
| fore Winter set in, yet those in charge
covered their adventures in less
| than four lines Of their report, which
| is the official diary of the trip.
Even the individual members Of re-
! turning parties were found to be reti-
| cent, lest they make themselves
! heroes. They evidently regarded their
! exciting episodes as negligible, and
| realized that the typographical maps
which they made We're of greater i'm
| portance than the yarns which they
! could spin.
The maps which they make are in.
! cOrporated in a master map Of the
| United States that was begun 4S years
ago and is now 43 per cent complete.
| The scale used in most Instances is
l inch to mile, so that the completed
| map, If laid out fiat, would cover more
! than an acre. About 3,400 maps, each
| approximately Is by 20 inches, have
! been published by the Typographical
section of the Survey. but some of
these. made nearly half a century ago,
! are not considered adequate for pres.
J ent day uses. They were made by
! methods now regarded as crude and
on a very small scale Il inch to nearly
miles,. so that the areas covered by
them will have to be resurveyed.
| At the present rate OF progress
almost 100 years win b required
TO complete the work Of mapping the
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