[Contents.]
[Index.]: [A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [K], [L], [M], [N], [O], [P], [Q], [R], [S], [T], [U], [V], [W], [Y]. [List of Illustrations]
In some instances, the captions have been reunited with the images, making the references to the "opposite" or "following/facing page" irrelevant. (In certain versions of this etext [in certain browsers] clicking on the image will bring up a larger version.) (etext transcriber's note)

THE EARTH SEEN
FROM THE AIR

Fig. 1—The National Capitol, Washington, D. C. A view obliquely downward from a position over the National Botanical Garden, showing the western front of the Capitol at the approach to it from Pennsylvania Avenue. In the background, at the right, can be seen a part of the Library of Congress and, at the left, a part of the Senate Office Building. The radiating avenues of approach are of interest as well as the character of the district surrounding the Capitol, as indicated by the apartment houses and tree-lined streets.

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 4
W. L. G. Joerg, Editor

THE FACE OF THE EARTH
AS SEEN FROM THE AIR

A Study in the Application of Airplane
Photography to Geography
BY
WILLIS T. LEE
U. S. Geological Survey

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
BROADWAY AT 156TH STREET
NEW YORK
1922

COPYRIGHT, 1922
BY
THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
OF NEW YORK
CONDÉ NAST PRESS GREENWICH, CONN.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
[Introduction][ix]
[I][The Viewpoint][1]
[II][Familiar Scenes From a New Angle][7]
[III][Architecture, Landscape Gardening, and Engineering][11]
[IV][The Mosaic][20]
[V][General Aspects of the Surface As Seen From the Air][22]
[VI][Marshes and Marsh Drainage][27]
[VII][Coastal Mud Flats][41]
[VIII][Submerged Land Forms][45]
[IX][The Plain From the Air][50]
[X][Mountain Features][57]
[XI][Air Craft in the Study of Rocks and Ores][69]
[XII][Mapping and Charting From the Air][72]
[Index]: [A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [K], [L], [M], [N], [O], [P], [Q], [R], [S], [T], [U], [V], [W], [Y].[105]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

(o) indicates an oblique, (v) a vertical airplane photograph

FIG. PAGE
The Viewpoint, and Familiar Scenes From a New Angle
[1][The National Capitol, Washington, D. C. (o)][Frontispiece]
[2][Symbols of automatic register in the Eastman mapping camera (v)][3]
[3][The United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y. (o)][8]
[4][The United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. (o)][9]
Architecture, Landscape Gardening, and Engineering
[5][Monument Avenue, Richmond, Va. (o)][12]
[6][The United States Naval Observatory, Washington, D. C. (o).][13]
[7][Shipyards at Newport News, Va. (o)][14]
[8][The New York Connecting Railroad Bridge (o)][15]
[9][A part of Washington, D. C. (o)][16]
[10][Part of Rockaway Beach, Long Island, N. Y. (v)][17]
[11][Part of Long Branch, N. J. (v)][18]
[12][Benning, D. C., and the Anacostia River (v)][22]
[13][The land along the Anacostia River on the eastern edge of Washington, D. C. (v)][facing 22]
[14][Map of the same area as in Fig. 13][facing 22]
General Aspects of the Surface
[15][Southeastern part of Mulberry Island on the lower James River, Maryland (v)][24]
[16][Map of the same area as in Fig. 15][25]
[17][Columbus, Ga. (v)][facing 26]
[18][Map of the same area as in Fig. 17][facing 26]
Marshes and Coastal Mud Flats
[19][Tidal marsh and ocean beach at Corsons Inlet, New Jersey (v)][28]
[20][Details of marshland, Lee Marsh, lower Pamunkey River, Virginia(v)][30]
[21][Details of marshland, Cousaic Marsh, lower Pamunkey River, Virginia (v)][31]
[22][Barrier beach from Corsons Inlet to Atlantic City, N. J. (v)][32]
[23][A river system in miniature near Hampton, Virginia (v)][33]
[24][Sweet Hall Marsh on the lower Pamunkey River, Virginia (v)][34]
[25][Map of the same area as in Fig. 24, with cross section][35]
[26][Eltham Marsh on the lower Pamunkey River, Virginia (v)][36]
[27][Map of the same area as in Fig. 26, with cross section][37]
[28][A stream system of the mud-flat area off the Eastern Shore of Virginia (v)][42]
[29][Mud-flat streams (v)][43]
Submerged Land Forms
[30][Stove Point Neck at the mouth of the Piankatank River, Virginia (v)][46]
[31][Gwynn Island at the mouth of the Piankatank River, Virginia (v)][46]
[32][Map showing the location of Figs. 31 and 32, with cross section][47]
[33][A drowned valley: Lambs Creek, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia (v)][48]
The Plain From the Air
[34][The Chattahoochee River south of Columbus, Ga. (v)][facing 50]
[35][Map of the same area as in Fig. 34][facing 50]
[36][A river channel in the Great Plains: The Red River northeast of Wichita Falls, Tex. (v)][51]
[37][A glacial drift plain in southwestern Michigan (v)][52]
[38][Map of the same area as in Fig. 37][53]
[39][Schoolcraft, Mich. (v)][54]
[40][Map of the same area as in Fig. 39][55]
[41][Kettleholes in glacial till southwest of Schoolcraft, Mich. (v)][56]
Mountain Features
[42][Mt. Shasta, California (o)][58]
[43][A glacial gorge on the northeastern face of Mt. Shasta (o)][59]
[44][Yosemite Valley, California (o)][60]
[45][Map showing the angle of vision of Fig. 44][61]
[46][Cinder Cone on the eastern edge of the northern Sierra Nevada, California (o)][62]
[47][Map showing the angle of vision of Fig. 46][63]
[48][The top of Cinder Cone (o)][64]
[49][Simi Hills northwest of Santa Monica, Cal. (v)][65]
[50][Part of Santa Monica Mountains north of Santa Monica, Cal. (v)][66]
[51][Map of the region between the center of Los Angeles and Santa Monica, Cal., showing the location of Fig. 50][67]
[52][A young mountain gorge in the San Joaquin Hills, a coastal range in Southern California (v)][68]
[53][Canyon in sedimentary rocks near the mouth of the Pecos River, Texas (v)][70]
Mapping and Charting From the Air
[54][View across the western end of Lake Erie (o)][73]
[55][Map showing the angle of vision of Fig. 54][73]
[56][Rochester, N. Y. (v)][facing 74]
[57][Map of the same area as in Fig. 56][facing 74]
[58][Index map showing the location of the airplane photographs in this book taken on the Atlantic seaboard of the northeastern United States][75]
[59][Marshlands on Chesapeake Bay south of the mouth of the York River, Virginia (v)][76]
[60][Left shore of the York River northwest of Gloucester Point, Va. (v)][77]
[61][The northwestern tip of Sandy Hook, New Jersey (v)][78]
[62][Beach cusps under water near Beach Haven, N. J. (v)][80]
[63][First stage in the formation of an inlet through a barrier beach: near Beach Haven, N. J. (v)][81]
[64][A tidal delta in Shark River Inlet, Belmar, N. J. (v)][82]
[65][A tidal delta, Popes Creek on the lower Potomac River, Virginia (o)][83]
[66][A double tidal delta at Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey (v)][84]
[67][A tidal inlet through the barrier beach south of Beach Haven, N. J. (v)][85]
[68][Beach between Brigantine and Little Egg Inlets, New Jersey (v)][86]
[69][A simple spit: Lower Cedar Point, Maryland, on the lower PotomacRiver (o)][87]
[70][A recurved spit south of Brigantine Inlet, New Jersey (v)][88]
[71][A recurved spit showing interference with natural growth: The northern end of Ocean City, N. J. (v)][89]
[72][New Point Comfort at the tip of the York-Rappahannock peninsula, Virginia (v)][90]
[73][Spit at Tucker Beach, New Jersey (v)][91]
[74][A land-tied island: Napatree Point, near Watch Hill, R. I. (v)][92]
[75][Powells Creek, Virginia, on the lower Potomac River (o)][93]
[76][Roberts Creek, a drowned river valley southeast of Yorktown, Va. (v)][94]
[77][The underwater channel in Quantico Bay on the lower Potomac River, Virginia (v)][95]
[78][Natural channels and shoals near Miami. Fla. (o)][96]
[79][A dredged channel at Miami, Fla. (o)][97]
[80][A shoal in Hereford Inlet north of Wildwood, N. J. (v)][98]
[81][Sand bars at Cape Charles, Va. (v)][99]
[82][Bars, channels, beaches, and marsh near Far Rockaway, Long Island, N. Y. (v)][100]

All of the airplane photographs in this book, both oblique and vertical, were taken by the United States Army Air Service, except Figs. 78 and 79, which were taken by the United States Navy Air Service, and Figs. 10, 65, 69, 75, 77, and 82, which were taken by the author. To these two services the author is indebted for the permission to reproduce their photographs, and this acknowledgment is made with the same force as if made individually under each illustration.

As a guide to the evaluation of the scale of the vertical photographs, which is expressed under each photograph in the form of the natural scale, or representative fraction, the following approximate equivalents may be borne in mind:

1:10,000 = 800+ feet to the inch
1:16,000 = ¼ mile to the inch
1:21,000 = ⅓ mile to the inch

INTRODUCTION

Scarcely a generation has passed during the evolution of the airplane from a ridiculous dream to a practical factor in the work of the world. Men who once read with derision, or only passive interest at best, of the experiments of Langley, Chanute, and the Wrights have seen the airplane developed suddenly into an indispensable instrument of war and an agency of demonstrated value and of such diversity of application that its future is hard to estimate.

The navigation of the air has accomplished much in many fields. Not only does it offer a new means of efficiency in military reconnaissance, rapid delivery of mail, fire patrol of forests, and the constantly increasing number of commercial and scientific pursuits to which it is being adapted; but it has also opened a new world to the geographer, the physiographer, and the geologist.