The thread by Charles Dowdell about an adventure of his in 1976 caused me to pause and think back 40 years as well. Back in those days I wasn't directly involved with surveying but focused on engineering instead. I had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the U.S. around that time. One extended adventure started about November 7, 1976 and ran through November 17. In that stretch of time I met with engineers at Purdue U., then U. of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, then U. of Missouri, then U. of Arkansas, then Kansas State University, then U. of Nebraska-Lincoln, then Iowa State University. Additional stops were at Butler Mfg. in KC, MO, USDA Grain Marketing Research Center in Manhattan, KS, and the world headquarters of Deere & Co. in East Moline, IL.
That last stop was by far the most memorable as I spent some time in the office of the Chairman of the Board of Deere & Co., Bill Hewitt. He married into the business as his wife was a great-great-granddaughter of John Deere and his father-in-law preceded him as Chairman of the Board. During a social function that evening I met his son, Alexander (Sandy), a direct descendant of John Deere. The following day, November 16, 1976, I was present in Grand Detour, IL at the site of the original blacksmith shop where John Deere created the plow that made him famous and began the company that is a world leader today. The following link describes briefly what occurred that day. The Deere Historic Landmark is No. 7 on the list in the link. Any of you with a farm background may enjoy skimming through the other landmarks listed as many list the approximate time various developments took place and where.
https://www.asabe.org/media/127397/asabe_historic_landmark_summary.pdf
