Jud,
I am sure we will not agree with the concept, but I can tell you that the field procedures that I used and I am assuming that the same procedures were used before me with the GLO guys, bent the random instrument straight lines so that the lats and deps came out on a curve.
Whether you want to believe it or not, that procedure made curved lines and if in fact the solar transit was used, it automatically created the curved lines.
I was there.
Keith
Jud, did you really ask for the curve information on my discussion of curved lines?
Maybe my "bent the random instrument straight line" is confusing to some.
Simply, the random instrument straight line was determined by direct solar
observations and then at every half mile, the bearing was changed by the
appropriate amount for the latitude that the line was run in.
If I remember right, it was nine tenths of a minute in Montana for every mile.
This should be easily understood by surveyors.
Keith
If anybody is still interested, see figure 18 on page 54 of the '73 Manual.
And of course the field procedures are the same for all east-west lines, since we live on a globe.;-)
Keith
