United States Coast Survey

“ To prove the paths by which vessels can best traverse the ocean, to test the best methods by which $2,000,000,000 of values shall be carried from the West to the East, from the East across the Atlantic, or from the shores of China and Japan to the Pacific coast, and thence across the country, was the business of the Coast Survey. All the United States is deeply interested in every part of this subject. Every ship that is lost by imperfectly-surveyed harbors is a loss to the whole country. ”

“ The average decline in overall amphibian populations is 3.79 percent per year, though the decline rate is more severe in some regions of the U.S., such as the West Coast and the Rocky Mountains. If this rate remains unchanged, some species will disappear from half of the habitats they occupy in about 20 years. ”

“ Human influence from the Mississippi River east, including the metropolitan areas of the Northeast and the agricultural-dominated landscapes of the Midwest Disease, particularly a chytrid fungus in the Upper Midwest and New England Pesticide applications east of the Colorado River Climate changes across the Southern U.S. and the West Coast Amphibian declines are a global phenomenon that has continued unabated in the United States since at least the 1960's. Declines are occurring even in protected national parks and refuges. ”

“ At the West, although the vast numbers do not collect that congregate in the Chesapeake Bay and Currituck Inlet, there is an independence in the mode of pursuit that has a peculiar charm; and from the facilities afforded by the nature of the ground, the excellent cover furnished by the high reeds, and the immense number of single shots, the average{330} success is as great as in the more open waters of the Southern coast. ”

“ Congressional regulations, as embodied in the enrolment act and other acts of Congress, apply to all public navigable waters of the United States; but every navigator employed in the coasting trade knows that there are many small creeks, channels, and indentations along our Atlantic coast, especially in the marshes, which are never classed in the category of public navigable waters, though they are capable of being navigated by small vessels when the tide is full. ”

“ On the Atlantic coast are cities and states, which, in commerce, in capital, and in all the productions of wealth and skill, are not far, if at all, behind those of Europe. Advancing through New York and Pennsylvania, a traveller enters the new states beyond the Alleghanies, and although Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville, and Nashville are inferior to but few cities on the sea-coast, still the population is not so dense, and the country shows fewer signs of cultivation. ”

“ Many, even, of the pilots of our Southern fleets are men who have been employed upon this work, and owe their knowledge of the coast to their former occupation. It is a singular fact, that at this very time, when the whole country feels its obligation to the men who have devoted so many years of their lives to these investigations, a proposition should have been brought forward in Congress for the suspension of the Coast-Survey on economical grounds. ”

“ The Survey of the Coast has excited the admiration of the whole civilized world for its thoroughness and accuracy, and has not been excelled by the most advanced nations. It has justly been claimed to be a scientific work, as well as a practical one, for science has guided those who have conducted it and led them through the fields of their labors on the only sure basis to produce knowledge. ”

“ The great preponderance in numbers and value of pleasure-vessels in the United States, and in the number of clubs and club-members, is due not only to our large population and long coast-line, but to the great extent of inland waters furnished by our rivers and interior lakes, and to the prevalence of bays or protected lagoons, such as Narragansett Bay, the Great South Bay of Long Island, New York harbor, Delaware and Chesapeake bays, and the long series of “sounds” that border the southern Atlantic coast from Barnegat to Biscayne. ”

“ The Gulf Coast is a national treasure. Its natural resources are an important economic engine for the entire United States; its waters sustain a diverse and vibrant ecosystem; and the Gulf's culture, natural beauty, and historic significance are unique. Each year, millions of tourists visit the Gulf to vacation, swim, boat, fish, hunt, and bird-watch ”

“ And thus it will ever be; and future generations endeavoring to meet the demands of commerce for increased facilities, will have still greater cause for thankfulness, that the wise men who inaugurated the work of the Coast Survey, determined that it should be executed with every improvement that science could devise ”

“ Even if we were free to adopt varying definitions of inland waters for different portions of the United States coast, we are not convinced that the policy in favor of a certain and stable coastline, strong as it is, would necessarily outweigh countervailing policy considerations under the Submerged Lands Act. We recognized in California the desirability of 'a single coastline for both the administration of the Submerged Lands Act and the conduct of our future international relations.' 381 U.S., at 165, 85 S.Ct., at 1415. ”

“ Of all places on the eastern shore of Florida, the Indian and Banana Rivers are the most delightful and interesting. Here, when you are once inside the bar, which, as I have said, is a little perilous, there is room and occupation for a winter. The salt water fishing is mainly near the inlet, but in the tributary streams is an unlimited supply of the fresh water varieties. The sailing is splendid, and the climate, except for its warmth, delicious. ”

“ In looking to the interests which the United States have on the Pacific Ocean and on the western coast of this continent, the propriety of establishing a military post at the mouth of the Columbia River, or at some other point in that quarter within our acknowledged limits, is submitted to the consideration of Congress. Our commerce and fisheries on that sea and along the coast have much increased and are increasing. ”

“ Upper California is bounded on the north by our Oregon possessions, and if held by the United States would soon be settled by a hardy, enterprising, and intelligent portion of our population. The Bay of San Francisco and other harbors along the Californian coast would afford shelter for our Navy, for our numerous whale ships, and other merchant vessels employed in the Pacific Ocean, and would in a short period become the marts of an extensive and profitable commerce with China and other countries of the East. ”

“ It is true such developments were to be expected in making a precise survey of the comparatively uncharted coast; but they, nevertheless, clearly point to the necessity of the work. We may also assume that the men who were controlling the destinies of the republic, realized that a knowledge of the coast was essential if they would succeed in building up a commerce, without which it was believed the prosperity of the people could not be assured. ”

“ It is a work that may take a century. It is the hope of Prof. Pierce that this survey will not only be the best in the world, but that its details will be such that before long there will be no necessity for railroad surveys—the facts will be spread everywhere. As to the higher operations of the Coast Survey, their ultimate expression will be an accurate determination of the figure of the earth. ”

“ The great mineral wealth of California and the advantages which its ports and harbors and those of Oregon afford to commerce, especially with the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans and the populous regions of eastern Asia, make it certain that there will arise in a few years large and prosperous communities on our western coast. ”

“ A very large proportion of our shores, however, are subject to such radical changes from natural causes, that the survey of the coast can never be brought to final completion. Examinations and re-surveys are as essential as was the original work, if the material already acquired is to be maintained in the full measure of its usefulness, and commerce is to continue to reap the legitimate benefit of the expenditures already incurred. ”

“ There are no large islands off these coasts, Long Island (q. v.) being the most considerable. Next in importance come the islands off Maine and Massachusetts and the Santa Barbara group off California. Alaska has many large islands. Cuba is but 90 miles south of Florida, and southeast of Florida lie the nearby Bahamas. Prominent projections on the Atlantic coast are Capes Cod and Hatteras and the peninsula of Florida; in the Gulf the Mississippi delta and Cape San Blas; and on the Pacific Cape Mendocino. ”

“ A large commerce is conducted on seas other than the ocean and the English seas, and it is equally necessary to distinguish between their open waters, and their ports and havens, and to provide for offenses on vessels navigating those waters, and for collisions between them. The term 'high seas' does not, in either case, indicate any separate and distinct body of water, but only the open waters of the sea or ocean, as distinguished from ports and havens and waters within narrow headlands on the coast. ”

“ A glance at a map of North America must impress one with the belief that the Pacific coast with its great extent of harbourless water-front is far less favourable to the growth or ideas, institutions, and industries than the deeply indented Atlantic shore-line. From the Isthmus of Panama to the State of Washington there is, as we have seen, but one harbour of the first class, the estuary of the Sacramento, and one of the second or third class, the estuary of the Columbia. From Puget Sound northward harbours are numberless. ”

“ In extended yachting trips there is often trouble in getting fresh water, a difficulty which is increased at the South, where the land is low, and there are none of what at the North would be called springs ”

“ It properly belongs to the states by their inherent sovereignty, and the United States has wisely abstained from extending, if it could extend, its survey and grants beyond the limits of high water.' The legislation of congress for the survey of the public lands recognizes the general rule as to the public interest in waters of navigable streams without reference to the existence or absence of the tide in them. ”

“ A definite Federal program relating to our waterways was proposed when the last Congress authorized a comprehensive survey of all the important streams of the country in order to provide for their improvement, including flood control, navigation, power, and irrigation. Other legislation should wait pending a report on this survey. The recognized needs of the Mississippi should not be made a vehicle for carrying other projects. All proposals for development should stand on their own merits. ”