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Surveyors

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Cameron Corner, Australia

Cameron Corner

The point where New South Wales meets Queensland and South Australia.
Kuna, Idaho

Idaho Initial Point

A volcanic core jutting above the plain between the Snake and Boise Rivers, a marker identifies the reference point for all U.S. Government Surveys in Idaho.
Traverse City, Michigan

Bassett Island

This tiny island bears the name of Civil War veteran, fisherman, and local celebrity Richard Bassett.
Osgood, Indiana

Bilby Tower

The last example of an innovative piece of surveying equipment now stands in its inventor's hometown.
India's Nanda Devi, once thought to be the world's tallest mountain, tops out at 25,643 feet, more than 3,000 feet shorter than Mt. Everest.
exploration

The Long History of the Quest to Find a Peak Taller Than Everest

Ain't no mountain high enough.
Katie Ives October 7, 2021
Yes, it is very tall.
geology

Nepal's Mounting an Expedition to Discover if Everest Has Shrunk

The long history of measuring the world’s highest point.
Jonathan Carey April 9, 2019
victorian

Inside a Victorian Photo Shoot at Stonehenge

Early images of people enjoying and surveying the monument were recently released to the public for the first time.
Cara Giaimo July 9, 2018
An Ordnance Survey worker points his arrow at a revision point, while laughing children look on.
maps

How Arrow-Wielding Men Mapped Britain in the 1940s

Recently unearthed photos show beleaguered surveyors in suits holding pointy wooden markers.
Cara Giaimo March 27, 2018
The stone has been worn down a bit over the years.
Washington, D.C.

District of Columbia Center Point

A little marble compass above George Washington's (empty) tomb in the Capitol marks where D.C.'s four quadrants intersect.
Captain Cook Statue
Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador

Captain James Cook National Historic Site

A statue of the early navigator stands overlooking the land he first surveyed.
The site of the American camp, as a farm in the 19th century.
maps

In 1859, the United States and Britain Almost Went to War Over a Pig

Hundreds of soldiers and sailors faced off over one tiny island in the Pacific Northwest.
Sarah Laskow September 13, 2017
Gali marked settlements with little houses and reefs with dots.
maps

Why Modern Cartographers Are So Impressed With This 16th-Century Map

A mariner's take on a town in "New Spain" was notably accurate for its time.
Sarah Laskow September 11, 2017
The Lincoln Monument in Council Bluffs.
Council Bluffs, Iowa

Lincoln Monument of Council Bluffs

An obelisk commemorating Lincoln's role in connecting the coasts.
Over time, the boundaries agreed to in the 1760s were renegotiated, as shown on this map of the "Southern Indian District of North America," 1775.
maps

Britain's Futile Attempt to Keep American Colonists From Taking Tribal Land

British surveyors and Native American leaders drew a border along the Appalachians. Then the Revolutionary War happened.
Sarah Laskow June 27, 2017
Mason-Dixon survey stone.
Delmar, Maryland

Transpeninsular Midpoint Marker

The stone marker that Mason and Dixon placed at the eastern end of the famous north-south border they surveyed.
The marker sits along Route 1 at a picnic area.
Perry, Maine

The Oldest 45th Parallel Marker in the U.S.

A roadside park in eastern Maine first marked the halfway point between the equator and North Pole with a brass pin in 1896.
With Washington Monument in the background, looking East
Washington, D.C.

Jefferson Pier Marker

A tiny monument to the unsuccessful attempt by Thomas Jefferson to place the prime meridian in Washington.
Marie Byrd Land.
Antarctica

Marie Byrd Land

The largest piece of no man's land left on Earth.