The Surveyor
February 6, 2017
I trust everyone had a wonderful weekend and is raring to go! Friday evening my daughter and I went to the library. I don’t know about you all, but after looking at a computer screen everyday reading is not something that I do a lot of. I wanted to encourage her so we went, so being the title nerd that I am naturally I started looking for books on abstracting. I don’t know if this is the same at your local library, but apparently there is not a large demand for books covering this subject, as in there were none . I did however manage to locate a book on surveying.…in the juvenile non-fiction section….hmmmm. So I checked out the book, and I have to say it was wonderful and because it was written for kids it had lots of pictures. Lol
The book is called Colonial People, The Surveyor by Christine Petersen it’s 48 pages long, so not a long read but very interesting never the less. Distribution of land depended on a surveyor and as a result he became one of the most influential men in colonial society. His profession required skill in math and science, writing and art. The surveyor also needed to be a hardy outdoorsman who could stand the most difficult conditions. He spent weeks or months away from home, traveling through our unexplored country to discover which lands would be suitable for settlement. The surveyors job was not only to explore the land, he was also expected to describe and map it in great detail. Surveying involved measurement at many scales-from the border of entire colonies to the tiny farms. They walked up the hills to determine elevation and braved the rivers to find their depth. Governments also relied on the surveyor to designs colonial towns, cities and systems of roads.
Over the next day or two we will talk more about this interesting subject, but if you are near your local library check the book out and read it for yourself, I think you will enjoy it too. Happy hunting everyone.