Page:The National geographic magazine, volume 1.djvu/112

 data by which later generations can reproduce the marks placed by the local surveyors who make use of it, should they become obliterated or lost; thereby causing a direct increase in the security of property boundaries, and diminution in litigation that now costs millions of dollars annually. Some of the practical advantages to be derived from such a work, are now being demonstrated in Massachusetts in the "Town boundary Survey," as it is called, in which the corners, or turning points of the boundaries are being determined trigonometrically in a subsidiary work based upon the Geodetic triangulation of the Coast Survey. Each boundary corner in this scheme becomes a fixed point, and the direction and distance of many other corners are at once accurately ascertained in their true relations to it. The town boundaries will in due time be made the bases of referenee for all local surveys and subdivisions of property; so that, eventually, there will be developed a cadastral map of unrivaled excellence, to supplement the Topographical map that has just been completed.

The imperfections of our "land surveys," brilliant as the scheme was conceived to be at the time of its inauguration, demonstrate only too clearly the extravagance of primitive methods in matters intended to be enduring. As time passes and property taken up under the "land survey" becomes more valuable, the difficulty of accurately identifying boundaries becomes more serious, until finally, it is only after long litigation that rights are determined. The inherent defect in the land survey to accomplish the purpose for which it was designed, lies in the fact, that while it parcels out the land, or a section of land, in a given number of lots, it fails to provide the means for identifying the boundaries of the lots at any future time; the marks placed for this purpose become obliterated or perhaps are moved by designing men, until a large area may be involved in great uncertainty. A triangulation covering the same ground and controlled by Geodetic work, determining the true positions of the old marks that may be left, would be the most economical and precise method of relieving these uncertainties and fixing for all time the location and boundaries of the lots originally parcelled out, by observations and marks that cannot be lost or obliterated.

The system of weights and measures in use throughout the country is largely due to the patient labor of the Coast Survey. Required by law to have standards of length, the only bureau in