Show governmental SURVEY SALT LAKE CITY UTAH august 12 EDITOR THE MINING REVIEW DEAR SIR the last issue of your paper contains a report of the proceedings of the fourth session of the international mining congress held last month at boise idaho and in it is found the statement that a mr true introduced a resolution urging govern mental survey of all lands holeve however r mountainous ta fa i that is a worthy subject for public discussion and one which is of interest particularly to utah when complete the data at hand will permit lines for railroads wagon roads flumes blumes and ditches to be thought of and the construction of the same to be quite accurately determined as regards feasibility and expense A first choice of several routes may be selected without a waste of time and money thrown away upon preliminary surveys which now too often count for nothing in reading your report the idea suggests itself that advantage should be taken of data at hand and which can be very readily secured and to continually add to the same from the operated railroads could be obtained the elevation of points in quite all the counties and a stone monument could be placed by each court house upon which its elevation could be engraved assisted by the several county surveyors by their teachers each high school graduating class can yearly run lines from these monuments to determine the altitude of nearby mountain peaks and passes the courses of streams could be traced and platted and their vollme of flowing water noted this work will give to the students some practical problems to solve in addition to the stereotyped examples to be found in their text books governmental surveys have little to do with our streams except where the same in tersest or follow a a section linet line and little is generally known about local geography e ex capt the area of and the end and side lines of the state its counties and farm boundaries of equal importance is the altitude of even each quarter section of land mountain as well as valley that such inform information a alon is pos dixs hessed by engineers is good so far as it goes but the people should also have the same that they may vote and act intelligently upon n the questions which are now looming up on the horizon of the future this can best be accomplished complis hed bed by interesting the oncoming youth each years work could be compiled and published and it would ably supplement the geological and other reports the state will soon be called upon to annually issue bissu e in response to a clamorous demand from the people |