from the March-April, 1848 issue of DeBOW'S REVIEW out of New Orleans:
"We regret we have not space to bring to the notice of our readers all that has been accomplished in the eighteen States, we shall therefore be obliged to close this article by stating what has been done during the past year in the Mississippi sound. In this section a base line has been measured on Dauphin Island; the primary triangulation has been continued by filling up at stations not already occupied; the secondary triangulation has  been carried westward to Cat Island and the subjacent shores. The topography of the entrance to Mobile bay, and part of the Island chain from Mobile bay to Lake Borgne, has been executed; the hydrography of the entrance to Mob1e bay is being nearly completed, and that of Mississippi sound north of the base is in progress. A survey of Cat island harbor for the accommodation of shipping and the British mail line of steamers in connexion with the Mexican Gulf railway has been completed, operations too have recently commenced in Galveston bay and harbor. These taken together with the new channel round Dauphin island the still more important discovery of a deeper channel into Mobile bay, the establishment of a harbor at Cat island, are but the beginnings of more brilliant prospects for the local and general commerce in the Gulf.
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