PLSO Oregon Surveyor Vol. 40 No. 6

The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 40, No. 6 14 Surveying History T continued and a cook. Most surveyors were young, physically able men who labored, traveled, ate and camped together for weeks on end. Their equipment, loaded in wagons or carried on horseback, included blankets, tents, survey chains, monuments (today known as stakes), a transit (similar to a telescope) and a tripod, six-shooters, rifles and ammunition, a chronometer for accu- rate time, if lines of longitude were needed (a north-south state line, for example), and a compass. Enough surveyors died at the hands of Indians during the build- ing of the Transcontinental Railroad that survey parties were advised to wait for military escorts. Native tribes viewed these European “measurers” as a primary cause for the land disap- pearing out from under them. Buck’s Last Line As for the surveyors, the “Indian menace” was a genuine threat. Cheyennes, Arapahos, Sioux, Pawnees and Kickapoos roamed the region over hunting grounds that whites were determined to grab and develop. One renowned case in 19th-century Nebraska history became known as the “Nelson Buck Massacre,” an inci- dent in which a surveyor and his party disappeared in July 1869 and were never seen alive again. After Nebraska Territory entered statehood in 1867, Buck wait- ed two years for the federal government to award the Illinois surveyor the contract. His job was to survey Red Willow and other Southwestern counties in Nebraska Territory in order to confirm the Kansas-Nebraska boundaries. While out scouting, crew members spotted a band of Indians, killing three in what appeared to be an unwarranted attack. One of the crew was also killed. An Indian escaped, reporting the murders to his tribe, which set a chain of retaliatory events in motion. Over the next few days, the Indian band pursued what remained of the survey crew, taking their horses, their rations and de- stroying two wagons, as well as killing five white men. Buck’s remains were later identified by his saddle and revolver—his name was inscribed on the weapon. Though historians say Buck and his crew made errors in judg- ment, including underestimating dangers from Indian attacks, the tragedy continues to be commemorated in Nebraska’s sur- veying history. “Theirs was a hard life with a tragic ending,” the plaque reads today, set alongside Nebraska Highway 89 near Marion, with- in a mile of the massacre site, by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Resilient and Tough Daily conditions in the field were fraught with hardship. Fresh water was almost always in short supply. The grub was “poor and without variety,” according to journal accounts, unless the men could hunt for meat after a day’s work. Ira Cook, a deputy surveyor in Iowa from 1849 to 1853, de- scribed his resting place after a long day, when the surveyors were too worn out to construct shelter: “My own bed was at the foot of an oak tree, using the root for a pillow…I thought it rather tough, but I soon got used to that sort of thing.” Early Nebraska surveyor Harley Nettleson stated, at times, the men worked all day without food. Surveying in the wilds in 1883, he reported that several of the men were sick from drinking alkali water. He added, “…sometimes [we] had nothing to eat until evening. Food consisted of beans, rice, salt pork or bacon, biscuits, and coffee.” Along with laboring six to seven days a week and walking up to 20 miles a day, surveyors dealt with not only Indian attacks but also wild animals, venomous snakes and serious accidents, though each hazard was understood as a normal part of the job. Land surveyor Rollin C. Curd, now in his 90s and living in Nebraska, wrote A History of the Boundaries of Nebraska and Indian Surveyor Stories , in which he describes the type of men who joined a 19th-century survey party in western Nebraska: One was an attorney who came west to “make a fortune” and study law privately, but had joined the crew for the adventure; another had been a schoolteacher. One was just out of college and deemed a tenderfoot. A particularly nervous crew mem- ber quit after 30 days, saying he was concerned his scalp would end up dangling on the end of an Indian belt. Nebraska’s first state surveyor, Robert Harvey, recalled an in- cident when the men feared for their lives. In August 1872, the crew was surveying township lines in Custer County, near the South Loup River. They had seen signs of Indians and had se- lected a marshy camp they could defend, reasoning that the natives couldn’t surround them or cross the marsh. “While the cook was getting dinner, I looked across the valley to the west and saw a head pop up…then another and another, until several Indians on ponies appeared on the ridge,” Harvey remembered. “…They had seen us…[a] force of five men were set to digging rifle pits around the wagon…. The men with the spades were throwing up earth and going into the ground like badgers….” One of the surveyors took off, much to Harvey’s disappointment, as even the loss of one man could prove disastrous. Harvey found him in the river, changing clothes. “If there’s to be any killing around here,” the surveyor explained, “I don’t want to be found dead in old ragged overalls….” As the survey crew prepared to fire on the intruders, Harvey called “Halt!” The believed hostiles were actually Indian soldiers, part of the cavalry camped a mile or two down the river. They had mistaken the survey crew for elk. The Tradition Continues Contemporary surveyors maintain an appreciation for their predecessors. To raise awareness of the contributions survey- ors made to the West, Montana surveyor Kurt Luebke helped recreate an authentic survey campsite, using 19th-century ar- tifacts, in Bannack State Park. “We believe surveyors were instrumental in leading the way for U.S. history,” he explains. “They helped provide an organized and civilized settlement as each new frontier opened, while the mapping of rivers, trails, waterholes, forts and settlements allowed people to travel as safely and efficiently as possible.” Arizona surveyor Rick Bunger collects statewide survey histories, conducts interviews with old-timers and plans on writing a book about the contributions surveyors have made to Arizona history.