of the river for such classes of river traffic as should find it convenient to use said channel. The height of the bridge has to be approved by the Secretary of War. All draw or pivot spans have to be operated by steam or other reliable mechanical power, and shall be opened promptly upon such signals as are prescribed by law for the passage of boats through draw or bridge. The piers upon which the bridge is built shall be parallel with the current of the river, and so as to avoid producing cross-currents, or bars dangerous to navigation; and if after construction any piers are found to produce these effects, the nuisance shall be abated or corrected by or at the expense of the corporation owning or operating the bridge, and when advised by the Secretary of War. It is the duty of the municipal corporation authorised to erect a bridge under this Act to maintain at its own expense, from sunset to sunrise of each day throughout the season of navigation, and during heavy fogs, such lights on the bridge as may be required by

the Lighthouse Board for the security of navigation. As is usually enacted, this bridge shall be recognised and known as a post-route, over which the mails, troops, and munitions of war of the United States may be transported at no higher charge than is made for transportation of said mails, troops, and munitions of war over railroads and public highways leading to said bridge; and the United States shall have the right of way for postal telegraph lines and appliances across said bridge. In case of any litigation from any obstruction or alleged obstruction to navigation created by the construction of the bridge, the cause question arising may be heard by the district court of the United States of any state in which any portion of said obstruction or bridge touches. The municipal laws and ordinances of the city of Detroit may be enforced on said bridge; and the care, control, and use of the same shall be governed by ordinances of the city enacted as though said bridge was a public street in said city.

The appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government, for the fiscal year ending 30th June 1887, provide for the continuance of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the following is an extract: " For every expenditure requisite for and incident to the survey of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts of the United States, including the survey of rivers to the head of tide-water or ship navigation; deep-sea soundings, temperature, and current observations along the coasts and throughout the Gulf Stream and Japan Stream flowing off the said coasts; tidal observations; the necessary resurveys; the preparation of the Coast Pilot; a mag

or

netic map of North America; and including compensation, not otherwise appropriated for, of persons employed on the field work, in conformity with the regulations for the government of the Coast and Geodetic Survey adopted by the Secretary of the | Treasury; for special examinations that may be required by the Lighthouse Board or other proper authority; and, including travelling expenses of officers and men of the Navy on duty, for commutation to officers of the field force while on field duty, at a rate to be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury, not exceeding $2.50 per day each; outfit, equipment, and care of vessels

used in the survey, and also the repairs and maintenance of the complement of vessels, to be expended under the following heads: Provided that no advance of money to chiefs of field parties under this appropriation shall be made unless to a commissioned officer or to a civilian officer, who shall give bond in such sum as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct." It is unnecessary to state the several items, which are numerous, and foot up a total well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. "No part of the money herein appropriated for the Coast and Geodetic Survey shall be available for allowance to civilian or other officers for subsistence while on duty in the office at Washington, or to officers of the Navy attached to the survey; nor shall there hereafter be made any allowance for subsistence to officers of the Navy attached to the Coast and Geodetic Survey."

The party expenses include "the survey of the coast of Maine eastward from Machias Bay towards Quoddy Head, examination of reported dangers and changes on the eastern coast, continuing resurvey of Long Island Sound and finishing completing resurvey of Delaware Bay and river, including current observations, continuing examination of changes and resurveys on the sea-coast of New Jersey,

same,

...

continuing the examinations and surveys of estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, and of sounds and tide-water passages in North and South Carolina not heretofore surveyed, . . . continuing the survey of the western coast of Florida from Estero Bay southward and from Saint Joseph's Bay northward, and hydrography of same,

continu

ing the survey of the coast of Louisiana west of the Mississippi delta, and hydrography on the coasts of Louisiana and Texas, to make

off-shore soundings along the Atlantic coast, and current and temperature observations in the Gulf-Stream, physical surveys and examinations of Monomy Shoals, Nantucket Sound,

continuing the researches in physical hydrography relating to harbours and bars, determinations

of geographical positions (longitude party), . . . to continue the primary triangulation from Atlanta toward Mobile, . . continuing an exact line of levels from the Gulf to the transcontinental line of levels between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and for continuing the transcontinental line of levels, to continue tide observations on the Atlantic coast, to continue magnetic observations on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts,

...

to continue gravity experiments at a cost not exceeding $500 per station, except for special investigations and experiments authorised by the superintendent at one or more stations, to continue the completion of the Coast Pilot, and to make special hydrographic examinations for the same, continuing the topographical survey of the coast of Southern California, . . continuing the survey of the coast of Oregon, including off-shore hydrography, and to complete the survey of Columbia river and Willamette river to the head of ship navigation, tinuing the survey of the coast of Washington territory, . . . continuing explorations in the waters of Alaska, and making hydrographic surveys in the same, travelling expenses of officers and men of the Navy on duty, and for any special surveys that may be required by the Lighthouse Board or other proper authority, and contingent expenses incident thereto, continuing

. con

tide observations on the Pacific coast, magnetic observations on the Pacific coast, furnishing points for state surveys, to be applied as far

as possible in states where points have not been furnished. Transcontinental geodetic work-for continuation of geodetic work on transcontinental line between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, continuing resurvey of New York Bay and harbour, including East river to Throg's Neck, . . . continuing physical hydrography of New York Bay and harbour, including East river to Throg's Neck, . . resurvey of San Francisco Bay, and of San Pablo and Tinson Bays and the Strait of Carquinez, and examination of San Francisco Bar and entrance, and the mouths of the Sacramento and San Joacquin rivers."

It is necessary to refer to the atlas in order to comprehend the vast extent of land and water included in these operations, and to remember that the coast-line is not a bee-line. The greatest length of the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, on the parallel of 42°, is 2768 miles, and the greatest width, from Point Isabel, Texas, to the

northern boundary near Pembina, is 1601 miles. The deepest freshwater lake is Crater Lake, in Oregon, which has a maximum depth of 2005 feet.

The annual report of 1886 showed that, during the past year, surveys were carried on within the limits of thirty-one states, three territories, and the District of Columbia; also hydrographic surveys off the coasts of fifteen states and two territories; and also that due attention was paid to resurveys of important harbours and highways. The appendices contain matters of much interest, such as the studies of ice-formation and movement in the Delaware river and bay; the observation of currents in the Gulf - Stream; the near approach of a junction of the transcontinental triangulations, which will form a geodetic connection between the work on the Atlantic and that on the Pacific; the advance towards completion of the resurvey of New York Bay and harbour.

In 1879 the office of the Director of the Geological Survey was established under the Interior Department, he being appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, with a salary of $6000. This officer has the direction of the geological survey, and the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. The director and members of the Geological Survey shall have no personal or private interests in the lands or mineral wealth of the region under survey, and shall execute no surveys or examinations for private parties or corporations. The geological and geo

graphical survey of the territories, and the geographical and geological survey of the Rocky Mountain region under the Department of the Interior, and the geographical surveys west of the 100th meridian, under the War Department, were discontinued, to take effect on the 30th day of June 1879. And all collections of rocks, minerals, soils, fossils, and objects of natural history, archæology, and ethnology made by the Coast and Interior Survey, the Geological Survey, or by any other parties for the Government of the United States, when no longer needed for investigations then in progress, were deposited in the National Museum.

The publications of the Geological

Survey consist of the annual report of operations, geological and economic maps illustrating the resources and classification of the lands, and reports upon general and economic geology and paleontology. The annual report accompanies the annual report of the Secretary of the Interior. All special memoirs and reports of the survey are issued in uniform quarto series, if deemed necessary by the director, but otherwise in ordinary octavo. 3000 copies of each are published for scientific exchanges, and for sale at the price of publication; and all literary and cartographic materials received in exchange are the property of the United States, and form a part of the library of the organisation. The money resulting from the sale of publications is covered into the United States Treasury, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior.

The seventh annual report of the director showed that, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, there were 81,829 square miles in twenty states and territories surveyed by the topographical division, and he estimated that there were 100,000 square miles of coastal lands which, valueless in their then condition, might be reclaimed. But he thought it would be unwise to begin to reclaim these lands until it had been ascertained whether they are rising or sinking; and stated that a general investigation of the changes in progress along the Atlantic coast had been undertaken. The earthquakes at Charleston, North Carolina, and elsewhere during 1886, seem to have left the geological mind in uncertainty.

The appropriations for the year 1886-87 provided for salaries, in all, $35,540; new books and books to complete broken sets, $500; rent, $10,000; for surveying the public

lands, $50,000, at rates not exceeding $9 per linear mile for standard and meander lines, $7 for township, and $5 for section lines; and of the sum appropriated $25,000 or so much thereof as might be necessary might be expended for the examination of surveys in the field to test the accuracy of the work, and to prevent payment for fraudulent and imperfect surveys returned by deputy-surveyors, and inspecting mineral deposits, coalfields, swamp lands, and timber districts, and for making such other surveys or examinations as might be required for identification of lands for purposes of evidence in any suit or proceeding in behalf of the United States; for surveying the public lands in the State of Nevada, $30,000, at the rates already specified, except that the Commissioner of the General Land Office might allow, for the survey of standard and meander lines through lands heavily timbered, mountainous, or covered with dense undergrowth, a sum not exceeding $13 per linear mile for standard lines, $11 for township, and $7 for section lines; for survey of confirmed private land-claims in New Mexico, California, and Louisiana, at rates prescribed by law, respectively, $3000, $2000, and $4000; for the survey of the alleged grant, known as the Hanson grant, in the State of Florida, $400, to be expended under the direction and in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior. It was also provided that in the future the scientific reports known as the monographs and bulletins of the Geological Survey should not be published, and no engraving for the annual reports or for such monographs and bulletins, or of illustrations, sections, and maps, should be done until specific estimates were submitted therefor, and specific appropriations made, based on such estimates.