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Such carelessness was fairly normal for the time: the surveyors were often under pressure to complete quickly, even in the worst territory, with poor equipment
by m0nty 10y ago
Such carelessness was fairly normal for the time: the surveyors were often under pressure to complete quickly, even in the worst territory, with poor equipment and little actual training. On top of that, they were often bribed to move boundaries one way or the other, or interested themselves in engaging in land speculation, so were less than honest in their surveys.
Anyone interested in this fascinating history should read Andro Linklater's Measuring America.
- macintux 10y agoAtlasObscura has another piece on early American surveying: http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ohio-public-land-survey http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ohio-public-land-survey PDF linked from that seems interesting if a bit dry: https://www.blm.gov/cadastral/Manual/pdffiles/histrect.pdf https://www.blm.gov/cadastral/Manual/pdffiles/histrect.pdf