Surveyors Historical Society Rendezvous 2012

Rendezvous 2012 is rapidly approaching but there’s still time to sign up. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to collect some continuing education credit and have fun doing it.

Surveyors Historical Society Rendezvous 2012 is being held September 13th – 15th at the Holiday Inn and Suites in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (Also read below about a presentation for early birds on Tuesday evening, September 11th.)

Rendezvous participants will have an opportunity to ride on a replica of Lewis and Clark’s keel boat. They will hear presentations by George Drouillard, Lewis and Clark’s hunter, interpreter and sign talker, Daniel Freeman, America’s first homesteader, and Captain Andrew Talcott, who will give an account of his journey to, design of and surveys at Fort Atkinson. There will be presentations by Don Erickson of the Corps of Topographical Engineers and David Haward Bain, author of Empire Express, on the surveying, politics and personalities central to the building of the Pacific Railroad.

Milton Denny will present a history of the General Land Office and talk about the "collision zone" between the 5th and 6th Principal Meridians along the Missouri River. Milton also plans to bring his chain making equipment so Rendezvous participants can try their hand at making a Gunter chain. I will give a presentation on the daily trials and tribulations of the GLO surveyor based on actual letters from deputy surveyors to the Surveyor General in Dubuque and another on the REAL first Transcontinental Railroad. There will be a swap meet/flea market and visits to the home of General Grenville Dodge (surveyor for the Union Pacific Railroad) and to the Union Pacific Railroad Museum.

For early birds, Lewis and Clark Ambassador Lorna Hainesworth will provide an animated PowerPoint presentation that will enlighten everyone on the life of Andrew Ellicott. During his lifetime, Andrew Ellicott was the premier surveyor in the United States. He was called upon to perform many significant surveys such as the completion of the Mason/Dixon Line, the original survey of Washington D. C. and the survey of the line between the United States and Spanish America. He mentored Meriwether Lewis and was a professor of mathematics at West Point.

This event will be held on Tuesday evening, September 11th, 2012 at Uncle Buck's Restaurant in the Bass Pro Shop at 2901 Bass Pro Drive in Council Bluffs, IA 51501, 712-325-5300. Everyone is invited to attend. There is no charge for the meeting. Each person will be ordering from the restaurant menu and paying his or her own ticket. The restaurant will add tax and gratuity to each individual’s ticket. Dinner at the restaurant will begin around 6:00 PM and the program will begin after that. Make plans now to attend. You’ll enjoy the food, the fellowship and the feature. Make your reservation for the September 11th event by emailing

mouthoftheplatte@cox.net

Full Rendezvous details, including registration form and schedule, can be found at:

http://www.surveyorshistoricalsociety.com/

Don’t wait. Register today!