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[SESSION 1875-76,
BULLETIN
OF THE	'•
American Geographical Society.
A REPORT TO THE SOCIETY
ON THE
STATE OF NEW YORK.
BY
J A MES T. GARDNER.
NEW YORK:
PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY.
1876.USES OF A TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY
TO THE
STATE OF NEW YORK.
A REPORT TO THE
AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY,
BY
JAMES T. GARDNER.
New York, January 26, 1876.
Western Topographical Surveys by the General Government
have lately excited much attention from the value of geological
results attained with their aid. The topography of Colorado Ter-
ritory is to-day better mapped than that of the State of New York.
Eastern geologists, feeling that scientific and economic treasures
equally important lay beneath the surface of our Atlantic States,
have been first to make known the need of more accurate maps
with which to undertake both study and d evelopment. Although
they have succeeded in inaugurating surveys in many States—for
Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
Ohio and New Hampshire are all carrying on such work—still
the character of the topographical results obtained by them
shows that the permanent wants of a majority of the people are
not met. Doubtless tax-payers reach indirectly an equivalent
for the small amount of money expended; but the princi$t%
direct benefits that ought to come from topographical surveys to
every property-holder in the State, have not been received in this
country; while in Europe surveys have been managed primarily
in the interest of real estate owners.
Prof. J. D. Whitney, of Harvard University, calls attention
to this matter in the North American Review, for October, 1875 ;
urging that the survey about being inaugurated in Massachusetts
be so planned and executed as to serve the two principle purposes
for which England and other civilized States of Europe use
accurate maps: “first, to furnish the government with the
necessary data for fairly and accurately determining and
apportioning taxation: and, second, to make it possible for
transfers of real estate to be made with ease and precision.”
In considering reasons for a topographical survey of the State
of New York, one of primary and pressing importance stands
before all others.2
Taxation.
TAXATION.
It is a necessary basis for equalizing taxation. - Without an
accurate map of all real estate it is impossible for assessors to
properly apportion taxes among counties, towns, and individuals;
because the assessed valuation of a body of land should depend
first, upon its area, and second, upon the price per acre or foot
of that class of property. It is to be remembered that the
aggregate amount of the tax is fixed ; so that if any counties,
towns, or individuals pay less than their share, the remaining ones
must be over taxed. The people of this State will therefore be
startled to learn that most recent evidence renders it not improba-
ble that nine-tenths of our landed estate is paying the whole tax.
If this prove true the real estate now assessed in the State of New
York is paying from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 annually more
than it should. Nor is their any way of preventing it until our
assessors are furnished with such accurate maps that they can
determine exactly the number and general character of the asses-
sible acres of each county, town, and proprietor. It is compar-
atively easy to estimate the value per acre of building, meadow,
pasture, and woodlands in different districts, because constant
sales are taking place which furnish necessary data; but there is
no way in which an assessor can ascertain the amount of prop-
erty except by actual surveys. Heretofore the assessment rolls
bare been made up almost entirely by guessing ; the number pf
acres or size of lot put opposite the names of different parties
being the result of their own estimate of the area of their land,
modified sometimes by the opinions of neighbors or that of offi-
cials. Since one man’s guess is as good as another’s, the assessor
does not often feel willing to risk his personal popularity, and
perhaps his position, by increasing the amount of property
above an owners estimate.; as without official maps to appeal
#to for evidence he is utterly unable to prove his opinion, and
is open to the charge of oppressive taxation of some, and favorit-
ism toward others.
So gross is the injustice of this method to the majority of the
people, and to the officials, that some towns in the State have
completed maps for assessment purposes. Though the cheap
plan on which these have been made renders them necessarily
inaccurate in many points, yet they show at once what the sav-
ing to the mass of our tax-payers would be if we had an indis-
putable map of the real property of the State of New York.
In the town of Flushing, where a tax map is in progress, the
officials estimate that only nine-tenths of the farm land and
nineteen-twentieths of the village property were assessed. In
other words the land taxed in Flushing was paying about $7,000
per annum more than it should.
The city of Yonkers has just completed a map for the purpose
of assessment of taxes, and the following table, kindly furnishedTaxation.
S
by one of the Assessors and the City Surveyor, shows the changes
effected by the map, used for the first time in 1875.
Position. Outside of old village limits.	Number of A in 1873 & 1874.	cres Assessed in 1875.	Increase in 1875.
First Ward		288.8	315.7	26.9
Second Ward.			2574.2	2728.9	154.7
Third Ward.		1188.8	1206.5	17.7
Fourth Ward		5330.0	5656.0	326.0
	9381.8	9907.1	525.3
Per Cent, of
Increase.
9 J Per Cfc.
6 “
The value of these 525 acres, brought under taxation by the
map, is estimated at about $260,000. The assessment upon it is
about $4,000. Therefore the land assessed in 1873 paid $4,000
more than it should have done.
This loss was most unequally distributed. It will be evident
from the table that the third ward must have been bearing much
more than its proportion of the tax. Many cases were found where
individuals were paying assessments on ten, twenty, thirty, and
even forty acres more or less than they really owned. Some were
escaping taxation altogether, and of course their neighbors were
the sufferers. In the twenty-third and twenty-fourth wards of New
York City, a worse state of things existed, and the assessor esti-
mates that nine-tenths of the property was bearing the whole tax.
The city of Newport, R. I. has recently made a survey and
map, simply for purposes of assessment; and the result is that
only four men in the toion were found to be properly taxed on
their real estate. The following figures, kindly furnished by Col.
Geo. E. Waring, show the character of the changes from the old
to the new assessment roll, due solely to the survey:
Valuation before Map,
$36,000.........
28,000.........
40,100.........
23.500	........
334,100.........
5,200.........
14.500	.......
3,500.........
22,000.........
72,000.........
Valuation by use of Map.
............$33,500
.............21,100
.............12,300
.............10,700
.............85,300
..............3,000
..............5,300
..............1,900
.............13,500
.............63,600
2,000
8,000
30.000
1.500
500
3.500
23.000
68.000
274,000
40,000
...3,000
..11,400
..56,400
...3,200
...1,200
...9,700
..70,000
102,000
356,000
. 88,600
Here were ten men.paying assessments on $579,000, who ought4
Taxation.
only to have been taxed on only $250,000; and ten taxed on
$450,000, whose property was really worth $700,000. They are
not exceptional cases, hut are part of a list of fifty such, selected
by the authorities and sent as illustrating the value that a map
was to them in equalizing taxes. The average change in these
cases was about fifty per cent. ! One man, whose property was
formerly assessed on $334,100, is reduced to $85,300. He was
paying four times his true tax. Another was assessed on $274,000,
when the true amount was $356,400. What more is required to
show that equalization of taxation without maps is a farce?
Were further statistics necessary, doubtless the State and local
assessors can furnish unlimited proof of the need of an abso-
lutely accurate inventory of all lands and improvements in the
State. If the condition of things is as I have described imme-
diately in and around Hew York, what must it be through those
regions less surveyed? The full .official valuation of the real es-
tate of Hew York State is $4,168,330,757; that of the portion
of the city of Yonkers included in the table is about $5,000,000,
or about of that of the whole State. A survey of Yonkers
decreased the tax upon assessed, property $4,000. If a general
survey should benefit the State in the same proportion, it would
decrease the tax upon property now assessed three million, two
hundred thousand dollars ($3,200,000) annually. There can,
therefore, be no doubt that in this one respect of equalizing tax-
ation, a survey of the State would pay for itself as fast as it could
be carried forward. Reports of assessors from towns recently
mapped, show conclusively that the majority of tax payers are
losing by the present arrangement and a few gaining. A survey
would therefore have the effect of lessening the aggregate assess-
ment upon most individuals in the State, as well as upon each
acre of land.
Ho man knows to-day whether he is gaining or losing by the
guessing method of assessment; for though he may be escaping
taxation on part of his land, yet if enough others are^doing the
same in a larger proportion, he is really paying not only his own
full share, but some of that of his fellows, who have managed to
conceal still more. The State is thus offering a premium on
property hiding; for there can be no doubt that those citizens or
towns, which now give an accurate account of the amount of
their assessable land,'will have to bear more than a proper pro-
portion of the total State tax, as we have seen was the case with
the third ward in Yonkers, which has been mapped for several
years. This ward bore annually, as a penalty for being mapped,
not only its own true share of the total tax upon the city, but
also about one-eighth, or $500, of the assessment that should
have been borne by the first, second, and fourth wards.
. There can, therefore, never be anything approximating to a
true equalization of the State tax upon real estate, until the wholeLand Boundaries.
5
State is mapped with equal accuracy. This can only be accom-
plished as a State work upon one plan and under one superinten-
dence. That a survey to be accurate over so large an area must
be made by the trigonometric method, is evident to all competent
engineers. When this is done, and each property, town, and
eounty is mapped on a perfectly accurate method by disinterested
State officers, whose high scientific position, attainments and ex-
perience entitle their results to absolute confidence, then, and
then only, can each know whether they are paying their proper
proportion of the taxes.
The uselessness of the present maps for this purpose is well
illustrated by the State Comptroller in 1864, when he reports
that the maps give 253,000 acres in Queens County, while the
^assessor’s books show only 182,000.
In 1864 the State Comptroller reports 27,693,721 acres assessed;
in 1874, 27,928,259 acres ; an increase of nearly one per cent, in
the amount of assessed land in this* State. If this property
was of average value, the assessment upon it would be about
#100,000 annually. Not an inconsiderable part of what a survey
would cost. The following table' selected from the State census
reports for 1855 and 1865, gives a fair idea of their value upon
questions of area:
Name of County.	Total number of Acres by Census.		Difference.
Albany, .... Alleghany, . . . Chautauqua,. . . Dutchess, . . . Westchester, . . .	of 1855. 313,512 635,132 654,255 464,463 291,094	f Of 1865. 331,219 573,277 597,356 461,453 260,480	17,707 Acres. 61,855 “ 56.899 “ 3,011 “ 30,614 “
Total for State,	26,758.182	25,239,300	1,518,882 Acres.
Here is a difference between two census reports of nearly six
per cent, in the total number of acres in the State. It is earn-
estly to be hoped that we shall not go on shrinking at the rate
shown by these figures.
The above facts indicate the uncertainty of our present
sources of information, though they give no idea of the absolute
errors; which will be found so gross when the final survey of the
State is made that we will look back with mortification at the
-condition of our method of taxation, demoralizing as it is both
to officials and private citizens.
BOUNDARIES OF ESTATES.
The value of a detailed survey of the State of New York
for the purpose of equalizing taxation is not more important
than for its second great use.
It will establish imperishably every property boundary in6
Land Boundaries.
the State ; and furnish for each owner an absolutely accurate
map of his land.
As a trigonometric survey progresses monuments are set
upon the surface; and the knowledge of their exact position
secured for all tifne by burying deep beneath the ground some
imperishable mark, like an earthen pot of charcoal or copper
bolt in solid rock. Should the surface stone decay or be re-
moved, the subteranean mark of its former place can be found
by measurements from remaining monuments or other surface
objects represented upon the maps. Thus there are secured a set
of truly indestructable reference monuments, or points of de-
parture for all surveys. The exact distance and direction to
each private property corner is determined, so that these if
lost, may be restored at any time for centuries to come.
In this way alone has it been found possible to define and
secure to owners the boundaries of their valuable land, and set
at rest constantly recuring* disputes concerning ‘the position of
dividing lines.
How uncertain is the tenure by which most of our lands are
held, only lawyers and surveyors know. The deeds, which
purport to describe what we own, refer to surveys made from
points that have already perished* by measurements and direc-
tions that were grossly erroneous, and convey areas that differ
ten and even twenty per cent, from those existing upon the
ground. Even our State boundaries both on the Connecticut
and New Jersey sides are so doubtful that over three hundred
people do not know in what State they live. Being recently
called upon to examine the boundaries of a valuable estate of
120 acres, within two miles of a large city, I found them ren-
dered uncertain by three different causes. The deeds of this
land and that adjoining on the east had different points of
departure from which certain courses and distances were to be
run. When these were laid out upon the ground the two prop-
erties overlapped, and one party had to lose $10,000. The
owner of the estate under examination, who had not resided
upon it for ten years, was dead* and his heirs wished to define
their rights. • On the southern side clear evidence was found
that the fence had been moved; but, as the neighboring land had
changed hands several times, the act could not be proved upou
anyone, nor was it longer possible to show exactly where the
fence stood. On the northern boundary a marked stone had
been placed in the ground, but a careful examination proved
that the whole hillside, being moistened by springs, had slid from
its original position, so that the monument though still existing,
was not in place, and the old fence had evidently been taken
down and rebuilt.
This case is not an exception, but fairly represents the uncer-
tainties which now attend the holding of real estate, and showsDeeds.
7
if any proof is needed, how unreliable are trees, stones, and
fences as permanent bonndary marks. The cities have used
stones set a few feet in the soil to define millions fof dollars
worth of property; monuments which, if they escape the
destroying hands of contractors and builders, or pressure of
earth banks raised near them, are sure to be moved by frost, and
creep slowly to the southward from greater freezing of ground
on the north side. The positions in which these stones were
originally set are the legal street corners. Already they have
become uncertain in our older cities by amounts varying from
two to six inches, and this when property may be worth
thousands of dollars a front foot. Annoying and costly litiga-
tion is the natural result, though most cases are settled before
actually coming to trial. In one New York city case now
pending, where three inches of land are in dispute, five surveyors
are employed, and eminent counsel on both sides. *
Examining the records of a piece of Brooklyn property
recently I found four descriptions: one in the deed; one in
the tax map ; one an “ opening map,” made by the city to assess
damages for opening a new street; and one the map of a recent
accurate survey of this special piece of property, which was
covered by a building. The actual measurement of the front
was 39 ft. 4J inches; the deed gave 38 ft. 2f inches; the tax
map gave 37 ft. 6 inches; and the opening map was still differ-
ent, but the figures were not noted. The next plot south, was
in similar condition, while that on the north was accurately de-
scribed. When it is remembered that street improvement and
sewerage assessments are distributed among tire owners of a
block in exact proportion to their supposed frontage, and that
these have in certain cases amounted to forty dollars per front
foot, such inaccuracies became serious. The whole block was
about 335 ft. long, and was divided among three owners. Two
of these were meeting so much less than their share of the
assessments that the third owner was paying six-tenths of one
per cent, of the total tax on the block more' than his just pro-
portion. Any year he might bear from ten to thirty dollars of
his neighbor’s tax as a penalty for the accurate survey of his lot.
DEEDS.
It is not too much to say that hardly in one case in a thous-
and do the deeds in the State of New York describe correctly the
area of real estate conveyed.
A few years since, in what is now the 23d Ward of New York,
a gentleman agreed to sell what he had always known as his 70
acre lot, at $400 per acre. An attorney who understood the
doubtful nature of our deeds, with great difficulty persuaded him
to have a survey made. The result was that the lot was found
to contain 87 acres. An acquaintance of mine purchased a tract
on Staten Island, supposing it to contain, as the former surveyPublic Works.
i
showed, 130 acres. Afterward, a new survey being made to sub-
divide the property, it was found to contain 120 acres. Another
acquaintance purchased what his deed described as 50 acres,
“more or less,” within twelve miles of New York. When
recently surveyed for sub-division 40 acres only were found.
The surveyors now engaged on the tax map of Flushing re-
port, that though the farms there hardly average 70 acres, yet
most of them differ 4 and 5, and many of them 10 acres from the
amount in the deeds. One case where the deed called for 50
acres the man really owned 69 acres. Land there averages about
$300 per acre. Near New York is a railroad 30 miles long. It
is found that the deeds of the land on which it is built describe
areas where total length is 33 miles.
These few facts give but a faint idea of the state of our public
and private land boundaries. The monuments by which they
were originally known are fast disappearing with the “ oldest
inhabitant,” whose memory has been the only reliance of the
surveyor in too many cases ; and deeds and maps describe lines
or areas which have no existence upon the ground. We are
buying and selling, with solemn form of figures, acres that were
never owned, and defining them, by objects that perished with
our ancestors. We neither know accurately how much we buy
nor where it is. If people were particular, to transfer title with
any safety would require the assistance of several lawyers and a
corps of surveyors. This cannot go on much longer without
confusion that will seriously injure the State’s prosperity.
Therefore, as the only method of truthfully defining and des-
cribing our property boundaries, a trigonometric survey commends
itself here as it has done in Europe. The time when great natural
advantages will alone make a successful country is passing. In
coming days of dense populations that gifted State will be most
prosperous where property is most secure and taxation just.
New York can have neither condition till she has a scientific sys-
tem of imperishable land marks, and maps that truly represent
her surface. This has been the experience of civilized Europe
and to it we must surely come.
PUBLIC WORKS.
Among the secondary economic uses of topographical maps
none are more prominent than the facilities they afford for proper
planning of systems of suburban drainage and water supply,
and extensions of milage streets and country roads.
At present where a town requires water supply for manu-
facturing and domestic purposes, an expensive preliminary sur-
vey is often required to determine which of the various sources is
the best. This would no longer be necessary had the engineer a
detailed topographical map upon which to base his general
calculations ; and thousands of dollars would be saved in a better
choice of water supplies, such as cannot now be made for wantPublic Works.
9
of proper maps showing the relative advantages of all different
basins within reach. The same may be said of the conception
and laying out of the best plans for systems of drains and sewers.
Really proper maps to plan such works upon, are too expen-
sive to be made lor this special purpose; and the result is
that our engineers have to do little surveying and much guessing
to get the data for their preliminary plans and estimates. The
works adopted on insufficient information often answer their
purpose for a while, but as the country develops their weakness
is sure to be seriously felt. Our life insurance companies, health
boards, and all other students of sanitary laws, know that within
the next twenty years thousands of square miles of the central
portion of this State must be artificially drained on a compre-
hensive system to free them from the scourge of malaria, and
render fruitful waste miles of marshes.
Those who have followed the reports of the New York Board
of Health know the inestimable value of a good sanitary survey
of the State as pointing out local causes of disease and methods
of prevention. I am informed by Dr. Elisha Hams that such a
survey of England resulted in showing that the introduction of
certain extensive drainage improvements had reduced fifty per
cent, the ratio of deaths from consumption to those from other
diseases; and the weight of evidence both here and in Europe
indicates that local topography has far more to do with develop-
ment of consumption than has any transmitted taint. The same
is true of diptheria. The physicians of our cities and towns,
especially those about the marshes of central New York, and the
land owners, whose property would be doubled in value were
residence upon it healthful, know well that without a previous
topographical survey, neither the best plans nor proper estimates
can be made for these great sanitary and agricultural works of
the future.
For laying out towns and suburbs maps are also essential.
The village of Flushing lately expended $4,800 for maps on
which to lay out a new system of streets to meet the coming
growth. They were not, however, topographical, and streets
were necessarily planned without reference to surface inequalities.
The result will be an excessive expense in grading and draining,
many times exceeding that of a topographical survey.
This whole system of making successive special surveys and
maps for every new need, is one of the most wasteful points in
our present practice; nor can it be otherwise until the State
make one survey that answers all important public purposes.
The history of Flushing furnishes an excellent illustration of what
is going on over the whole State. In the past seven and % half
years this village, covering 2,000 acres, has expended $11,000 for
surveys and maps that would have been unnecessary, had one
exact topographical survey been made in the beginning at a cost10
f The State's Resources.
of perhaps $8,000$ and to-day it has no survey or map upon
which a sewer system could be planned or constructed. The
town will spend not less than $15,000 on special surveys, and
then have no accurate general map after all, for each survey is
independent of its predecessor, and the results cannot be co-ordi-
nated. The surveys were as follows:
1st A grade survey of opened streets, . ..	.	. costing	$500.00
2d. Map for laying out town (but without property lines,
and with no survey to set permanent benches
from which to construct sewers), .	.	.	“	4,800.00
3d. A set of Maps, showing hardly more than the areas of the natural
water sheds, estimated to have cost	.	.	.	3,100.00
4th. Two assessment Maps, .	...	.	.	2,600.00
Total $11,000.00
Sewer Map and benches will cost about .	.	.	4,000.00
$15,000.00
The amount paid for each survey was so much below careful
engineer’s estimates of what the work ought to cost, that the
results are barely good enough for the special temporary purposes
to be answered. They are of different qualities, but none ap-
proach that final accuracy which* alone can make a map of per-
manent use. $15,000 at least will be paid out for surveys before
the sewers can be planned ; and yet they have no immovable
monuments from which to run property boundaries, and no final
official survey of these lines that shall render them permanent,
and prevent constant quarrels and costly litigation; and their
tax maps must be full of errors, because largely compiled from
private sources.
If done as part of a State topographical survey, properly con-
ducted, Flushing might have had, for $10,000, at most, maps
that would have answered for planning every public improvement;
for exact equalization of taxes; for fixing imperishably every
property boundary in the town; and giving to each proprietor
an unimpeachable plat of his land and improvements.
Such is the extravagance of our present system, that doubt-
less enough has been wasted by surveying and resurveying for
each special purpose during the past twenty years to have paid
for a final map of the State; and yet to-day our State Assessors
have no means of determining its assessable area within ten per
cent., although we have 15,000,000 of improved acres; and the
development of great public works, town extensions, roads, rail-
roads, acqueducts, drains and reservoirs is hindered for want of
maps for preliminary plans and estimates.
THE STATE’S EESOFKCES.
Closely following the value of a topographical survey as
stimulating and improving the character of our public works,
comes its importance as a basis for a scientific survey of theThe State's Resources.
11
State’s resources. These are its climate, water power, woods,
surface soils, clays, rooks, and minerals. The distribution of
these can be neither carefully studied nor represented till there
is a map showing every important feature of the surface.
The value of a stream for economic purposes depends princi-
pally on quality of water, the form and size of the area drained, the
amount of rain-fall upon it, the rate of evaporation, and the power
of the surface and underlying strata to retain moisture. Relative
qualities of different drainage basins can therefore only be prop-
erly determined when we know their topography, geology,
climate, woods, and chemistry of waters. Without knowledge of
these the engineer chooses more or less blindly in deciding to
use one stream rather than another, when supplying towns and
factories with that which is either the source of life or cause of
death to thousands. That many of our present works had to be
planned without sufficient preliminary knowledge, all engineers
know. How serious the resulting errors are, few would be will-
ing to testify. In parts of the State of New York, that are
not mountainous, rainfall differs 20 and 40 per cent, on points
only a few miles apart. One case is thoroughly established by a
long series of carefully checked observations, where the differ-
ence in rainfall is 40 per cent, on points eight miles distant; and
places separated by only 60 miles are known to differ 20 per
cent, in amount of evaporation. To the farmer and manufac-
turer these facts are of vital importance. Where does most
water fall, and where can it be best stored, are now constantly
recuring questions which cannot be answered without a survey.
We need detailed maps showing the relative distribution of rain
and evaporation over the whole State. The effect of such
knowledge in facilitating the most economic disposition of
various kinds of agriculture and horticulture is too evident to
need illustration. Certainly, if other things are equal, the crops
requiring most moisture should be cultivated where most rain
falls and exaporation is least. A careful study of the climate of
this State in its relation to agriculture will open a new era of
prosperity, giving as it would in connection with an exact map
of the distribution of soils and vegetation, the means of deter-
mining where each crop would grow to greatest advantage.
Whenever New York determines to have a detailed economic
geological survey made the first want will be that of an exact
topographical map. To proceed without will be impossible.
The soils, clays and rocks that contain her wealth lie in beds
more or less inclined. The geologist must note the exact posi-
tion where each appears on the surface, for by this means alone
can he calculate the earth’s hidden structure, and intelligently
direct the miner and quarymen where to search for valuable
deposits.
I leave to the geologists the task of showing what would be12
Recapitulation.
the value to New York of an exact1 survey of her surface soils,
clay beds, and rocks; and only wish to call attention to the fact
that no such work can be undertaken until a topographical
survey has furnished the necessary maps.
RECAPITULATION.
The foregoing statement of facts seems sufficient to show:
First. That there can be no proper valuation of real estate,
hence no equalization of taxation, till the State is provided with
correct maps of its entire public and private property.
This is proven.by the experience of Flushing, Yonkers, and
Newport.
Second. That owing to the perishableness of old land-marks,
and gross inaccuracies in out-lines and areas described by deeds,
the boundaries of a large amount of property are so uncertain
as to cause serious troubles, which will become more difficult of
settlement with increasing values and density of population.
To remedy this is required a survey, that by means of a system
of imperishable monuments and accurate measurements, shall
establish permanently the present lines between adjoining owners
and States; so that each may know exactly what, and how much
he has, and be furnished with official maps.
Third. To prevent the waste now in progress by successions
of special surveys to meet each new need, it is desirable that the
State make one general survey, of such accuracy that the maps
may be used by engineers for planning and estimating the cost
of public works; such as the laying out of towns, villages, roads,
railroads, drainage systems for improving the health of our great
marshy districts, and increasing the value of agricultural lands;
water supplies for towns and factories; and nameless minor
wants of a developed civilization.
Fourth. A detailed topographical survey is the necessary
preliminary basis for a scientific examination of the State’s natnral
resources. Without it we cannot know nor represent the distri-
bution of rain fall, evaporation, water power, woods and plants,
soils, clays, coal, irons, gypsum, &c.
With an exact knowledge of climate and surface conditions
of the State, it would be possible to predict the regions where
each different crop would flourish best. So the geologist, having
determined the position of each underlying stratum in its relation
to the surface, could tell when and at what depths to search for
many valuable deposits.
These are the principal uses of a survey to the State. It remains
only to consider what must be the character of a work whose
results are to answer such important purposes, and what will be
its probable cost.Character of Survey.
13
CHARACTER OF THE SURVEY.
What are known in this country as the XL S. Coast Survey
trigonometric methods, have now reached the final accuracy of
measurement. By these it is possible to do work that probably
can never be better done. These methods alone will satisfy the
requirements, when boundaries of all our estates are to depend
permanently on the precision of the work. That which is perfect,
alone endures. The errors of anything less accurate are soon
discovered where land is valuable and population dense, and
confidence is destroyed in the whole fabric of that which should
be the basis of security in our property.
It cannot be too strongly emphasized that if this survey is
to define and render permanent our land and State boundaries :
and become the basis of future taxation and assessments/ and
the final official authority in all questions of area and position
of real estate, public confidence must be ensured as perfect as in
a Court of Appeals. Confidence must be inspired and remain
unimpaired through the long years of its labors. Such trust can
be secured only by placing in charge of the work one whose
long experience in precise geodetic and topographical sur-
veys has given an established reputation among mathemati-
cians. Scientific attainments of a high order, and that maturity
of experience which alone prevents mistakes are the essential
requisites in the superintendence; while each assistant must be
so selected, trained, and checked that uniform accuracy shall be
maintained*
In general it can be said that the determination of all positions
must be done with the exactness of the best Coast Survey work;
and the horizontal contours, or line of equal elevation by which
surface form is shown, must never in the improved parts of the
State be over twenty feet apart vertically, and sometimes ten, or
the maps will be useless to practical engineers and geologists.
But to describe the survey in detail would be useless; as its
character will depend entirely upon that of the Superintendent in
charge.
If he be a man who can comprehend all the varied purposes
for which the results will in future be used ; and is practically
familiar with all the delicate means by which science has reached
such results; then he can plan and execute a work that shall
answer all coming requirements. Should he be less than this,
failure is sure to follow; even with the best legislation.
COST OF THE SURVEY.
This cannot be exactly estimated until a reconnoisance has
been made and the ability of the Superintendent tested. The
cost may be lessened twenty per cent, by his superior skill and
energy.
There are about 15,000,000 improved acres in the State, of
which the survey must be prepared to furnish plats on a scale ofu
Cost of Survey.
3-5iQ-p- or about one inch to 200 feet. Our towns that now have
tax maps, use this scale for the farm lands, and 50 or 100 feet to
the inch for village and city lots.
Prof. Benj. Pierce, the former Superintendent of the U. S.
Coast Survey, states to the legislature of Massachusetts, (House
Doc. No. 40, 1875) that the most expensive Coast Survey work
costs $150 per square mile or about 23£ cents per acre. Since
the State of New York has 47,000 square miles, it would not
therefore be safe to estimate the total cost of a survey at less
than $6,000,000; and the time necessary for completion at less
than fifteen years. It will certainly take three years to organize
and train the corps of surveyors sufficiently to expand the work
to its proper scale. An expenditure of $20,000 the first year,
$50,000 the second, and $100,000 the third, would be about the
rate at which money would be required.
Though the work will be equally accurate over the whole State,
it will necessarily be far more detailed, and consequently most
costly, in thickly settled regions, where also accruing benefits
will be greatest. In general the cost will be proportional to the
value of land; so that taxes for maintaining the work will fall
heaviest where most work is done, and most benefit given.
The gross amount of money may seem large; but when it is
remembered that we have just sunk $6,000,000 in building base*
ment stories for the State Capitol; that $2,000,000 of taxes are
probably annually falling upon the wrong people ; that thousands
are wasted in costly disputes over questions of boundaries; and
deeds do not describe within ten per cent, the areas of land
actually conveyed; surely $6,000,000 is not too much to spend in
fifteen years to render tenure secure and taxation just upon real
estate worth four thousand millions of dollars ($4,000,000,000).
JAS* T. GARDNER*THE OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY.
The objects of the Society are to encourage geographical exploration
and discovery ; to investigate and disseminate new •geographical information
by discussion, lectures and publications ; to establish in the chief maritime
city of the country for the benefit of commerce, navigation and the great
industrial and material interests of the United States a place where the means
will be afforded of obtaining accurate information for public use, of every part
of the habitable globe. 'I he Society has been in existence for twenty years.
It has fourteen hundred Fellows, a geographical library of ten thousand vol-
umes and a large and very valuable collection of Maps, Charts, and Atlases
relating to every part of the world. It publishes a Bulletin, an annual
Journal, and co-operates and interchanges information with thirty-three foreign
Geographical Societies. The initiation fee and annual dues of a Fellow for
the first year are $10 ; and the dues $10 yearly thereafter.
pFFICERS and pOUNCIL, 187 6.
President,
Charles P. I)aly,
Vice-Presidents,
Frederick A. Conkling,
Francis A. Stout,
George W. Cullum,
Foreign Corresponding Secretary, '
E. R, Straznicky.
Domestic Corresponding Secretary, ;
James Muhlenberg Bailey.
Recording Secretary,
Elial F. Hall.
Treasurer,
George Cabot Ward.
Council,
William Remsen,
Theodore W. Dwight,
T. Bailey Myers,
W. II. H. Moore.
William E. Curtis,
Walton W. Evans,
Isaac Bernheimer,
H. Manigault Morris.
Charles a. Joy.
Harlow M. Hoyt,
Roswe ll D. Hitchcoc k,
Samuel L. M. Barlow,
Isaac I. Hayes,
Paul B. Du Chaillu,
Clarence King.
f*