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OR and WA HISTORY YOU SHOULD KNOW

latahgps · 2021-09-26T20:30:00Z

John B. Preston Esq., was appointed by President Millard Fillmore as the first Surveyor General of the Oregon Territory. ?ÿAt the time of his appointment, Mr. Preston was the City Surveyor for St Louis.?ÿ One of the first tasks assigned to Mr. Preston??s was to create a system for surveying the land within the New Oregon Territory. ?ÿHe was appointed in December 1850, and lost his position in 1853, he then "drifted into obscurity." ?ÿ?ÿ On June 4, 1851, John B. Preston set a ??Red Cedar Stake? to indicate the starting point of all public land surveys in what was then called the Oregon Territory.?ÿ This is the same boundary that later makes up the states of Oregon and Washington.?ÿ Later, on July 25, 1885, the Red Cedar Post was replaced with a carved stone. Mr. Preston set the point deep in the hills west of Portland, where he believed there would be little chance of the stone being disturbed.?ÿ Another reason Mr. Preston selected this location was so the base line would not cross the Columbia River and the meridian would lie west of Vancouver Lake.?ÿ The stones original location is now indicated by a stainless steel marker in The Willamette Stone State Heritage Site, an Oregon State park approximately four miles west of downtown Portland.?ÿ The Stake and later The Stone established the base point, or the start point for the Willamette meridian.?ÿ From this starting point, using a solar compass, Deputy Surveyors James E. Freeman and William Ives then ran the line south and north from the initial stone.?ÿ The north-south lines, or Principal Meridian, were completed with astronomically procedures using a solar compass. The solar compass, invented by William A. Burt, U.S. Deputy Surveyor of Michigan, soon became the standard compass for use in the U.S. public land surveys.?ÿ It functions astronomically, and except when the sun is not out it does not depend upon the magnetic needle in any way.?ÿ The lines run with it are true courses, and when used by a skilled surveyor, the results can be accurate to within 1 to 2 minutes.?ÿ The solar compass enabled the surveyor to run true lines.?ÿ In general, the meridian lines established the starting point of all additional lines. Starting at the same point as the north-south Principal Meridian the east-west, the Base Line was set.?ÿ This line must be set on a true east-west line.?ÿ As with the Principal Meridian, the Base Line is set using a solar compass.?ÿ While setting the base line the surveyor would set quarter-sections and section corners at intervals of 40 chains (2640 ft.).?ÿ Standard township corners were set at 480 chains (31680 ft. or 6 miles). (1 chain = 66 feet). Using the Principal Meridian as a starting point Standard Parallels, also known as correction lines, were established every 24 miles, north and south of the Base line.?ÿ They were run east and west of the Principal Meridian.?ÿ The Standard Parallels were designed to counteract the error that otherwise would result from the convergence of meridians; and, because the public surveys have to be governed by the true meridian.?ÿ These lines also served to reduce errors arising from inaccuracies in measurements.?ÿ The first Standard Parallel line north of the Base line was labeled ??First Standard Parallel North.? The first Standard Parallel line south of the Base line was labeled ??First Standard Parallel South.? Each standard parallel line is labeled consecutively.?ÿ (IE: Second, Third, Fourth . . . Standard Parallel)

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john-putnam

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Mr. White used to live next door to my cousins when we were kids.?ÿ When I first started out in the profession my old boss would drag me the PLSO chapter meetings.?ÿ Al was there and when he realized who I was let everyone know what a little hellion I was.?ÿ I'm sure he confused me with my cousins since I was such an angle.?ÿ Just ask my mom.

Posted : October 16, 2021 7:12 pm

RADAR

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Posted by: @tim-v-pls

how did they survey out of this?

And you want me to go to Spokane from here? 66 feet at a time? With a solar compass?

In Nebraska, we used the 6th Principal Meridian:

You could practically see the horizon, for 360deg.

?ÿ

Posted : October 17, 2021 9:23 am

RADAR

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@bstrand?ÿ

Preston lost his position in 1853, and "drifted into obscurity...

Posted : October 17, 2021 9:32 am

tim-v-pls

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@john-putnam obtuse, acute, or right angle?

Posted : October 17, 2021 10:26 am

Mark Mayer

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@dougie?ÿ

I had never heard of Preston "losing his position", ie/ being fired, before. I had always assumed that he had just gone back home for personal reasons.?ÿ

Posted : October 17, 2021 12:01 pm

RADAR

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@mark-mayer?ÿ

I read somewhere, once, that he went insane; but I couldn't find it again. I guess that would be a personal reason...

?ÿ

Posted : October 17, 2021 12:51 pm

Howard Surveyor

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If you want to know about the GLO surveyors in Washington & Oregon, their background, contracts, families, and all the other information, you can go to the Olson Engineering, Inc. website, look in the upper right corner on the surveying history tab and get more information than you want to know.?ÿ

Posted : November 16, 2021 8:04 am

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OR and WA HISTORY YOU SHOULD KNOW

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