Fig. 15 (on page 24)—Mosaic of the southeastern part of Mulberry Island, on the left bank of the James River about 11 miles northwest of Newport News. Va., showing an area portrayed by many photographs matched together. Slight differences in shade indicate the junction of the separate prints. The higher land, about 10 feet above sea level as determined by surveys on the ground, is shown at the right by roads and cultivated fields. It is to be noted that roads outline the dividing line between the high ground and the marsh. At the left are lower areas of wooded or brushy swampland and of grassy marsh. They contain a number of abandoned channels: some completely silted up, others containing small thoroughfares, and still others drained by meandering streams which seem to have developed after the channels were definitely abandoned by the streams which originally occupied them.
The streams which drain the marshes have many characteristics of streams which drain higher lands. They have dendritic patterns, so called from resemblance to the forking branches of a tree; channels which widen downstream; and winding or meandering courses. The island terminates in a long spit composed of silt and fine sand. The banks to the left on James River are low and marshy: those to the right on Warwick Creek, except for one small marsh, form low bluffs.
In order that the mosaic may be compared with the map, Fig. 16, it has been placed with the northerly part at the top of the page, with the result that, until the page is reversed, the trees in the swampland appear like hollows in the earth. Scale, 1:14,000.
especially conspicuous. Streams appear as smooth, winding ribbons—glistening if the sunlight reflected from them enters the eye, dark if the bright rays are reflected away from the eye. Railroads can easily be traced and towns recognized by their form. Concrete roads and others of light-colored material are plainly visible. Those built of dark-colored material appear less prominently. Something even of the character of the forests can be ascertained—whether evenly timbered or partly of primary and partly of secondary growth; whether intact or partly burned over; whether consisting chiefly of one species of trees or of many. The cultivated fields and their relations to roads, streams, and forests are conspicuous. Towns and cities are spread out like panoramic views in which are strikingly visible the residence and manufacturing centers, the layout of streets, the systems of parks, the position of suburbs, and the relation of these to routes of transportation and travel—roads, railroads, and waterways. These and many other features of the landscape—swamps, marshes, buildings, trees, orchards, and many lesser details—are recognizable and are all recorded on the
Fig. 16—The same area as shown in Fig. 15 reduced from a section of a map on the scale of 1:10,000 by the Corps of Engineers, U.S.A. The photographs shown in Fig. 15 were used for mapping certain small features on this map, such as small streams. Scale, 1:14,000.