Survey Work Dangerous

[Z15]

Found this in some old papers dated late 1934. Lookout Point is GT1815

 

Edited December 14, 2003 by elcamino

[+patw]

Very poignant account, Mike! I am in total awe of the integrity of the early PLO surveyors and am being sucked into a black hole of reading of the initial surveys, particularly of the NW Territories with Hutchins, Putman, Mansfield, etc. Terrific stuff and enough to distract us from our previous geocaching excursions.

 

Thanks for sharing this account!

[CallawayMT]

patw,

 

It sounds like you need to pick up a copy of the "Intial Points of the Rectangular Survey System" by C. Albert White.

 

He is a retired BLM surveyor from Oregon. This is an excellent book on the history of all or most of the Initial Points in the U.S. He personally visited the points and includes photos, history and original notes for the corners.

 

Regards

 

You used to be able to buy a copy through the Oregon BLM website.

[+patw]

Thanks for the lead. Sounds like exactly what I've been looking for. A google search turned up a source for the book:

 

Initial Points Phone: (303)428-9529

c/o The Publishing House Fax: (303)430-1676

P.O. Box 215

Westminster, CO 80030

 

At $89.00 plus $7.00 for shipping, it ain't for any mere daliance but it should be the mainspring inspiration for many a sojourn. I hope to start with the Seven Ranges comes spring and will seek out more recent IP's in the central area while I'm there.

 

I also tried to order his History of the Rectangular Survey System. It is out of print but I left a provisional order for a used copy at Amazon.

 

Thanks!

[square nail]

I contacted the BLM office in Oregon as CallawayMT suggested and found that I could order the book from them for $54.00. So I did. Here is their phone # 503 808 6001

[+Touchstone]

Very interesting/sad article. I'm familiar with the area but not sure where "Lookout Station" is. I'm presuming that "Leevening" should be Lee Vining, which is about 100 miles North of Independence.

 

Sawmill Canyon is certainly one of the more arduous hikes on the East side of the Sierra. I've never done it, but have looked at the contours on the map and thought, "Whoa!".

 

Having done a fair amount of climbing in the Sierra and found BM on the summits of many peaks, I can well imagine the hazards of the work a surveyor does. I tried to do a search for the accident in the American Alpine Clubs erstwhile publication, Accidents in North American Mountaineering, but I'm not sure they go back that far. I'll keep looking to see if they give an analysis of the accident