The Oregon Surveyor July/August 2018

18 Vol. 41, No. 4 The Oregon Surveyor | Answer The Lost Surveyor On a recent impromptu trip to Crescent City, California to get fish and chips for dinner, this Lost Surveyor and his ad- venturesome co-pilot went in search of a “Lost Surveyor” of Coos County. Simon Bolivar Cathcart, son of William Cathcart and Margaret Simmon, arrived in Oregon via the Oregon Trail in 1853 at age 11. He later became a member of the Oregon Volunteer Cavalry, serving about one year from the time of his enlistment until the formal end of the Civil War in 1866. After the war he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Veterans. Sometime between 1869 and 1871, Cathcart moved to Coos County and eventually settled in Marshfield, Ore- gon which is now known as Coos Bay. In addition to operating a 160 acre farm he studied geometry, trigonometry and surveying in his free time. He must have been very dedicated to his studies be- cause by 1873 he was appointed a U.S. Deputy Mineral Surveyor and surveyed mining claims in Coos and Curry coun- ties. He held this position for six years. In 1874, he was elected Coos County Sur- veyor, a post which he held for 26 years. At the time of his death in 1932 he was one of the oldest residents of Marshfield. Before revealing the answer to the orig- inal question, research on this issues lost surveyor revealed he once made the news in Coos County due to a freak chick- en egg incident while making breakfast. The story begins, “County Surveyor S.B. Cathcart’s hens have been playing some queer pranks of late.” Apparently one of those hens laid an especially large egg that was quite a curiosity. Upon breaking open the egg to fry it up for breakfast he discovered that in the center of the yolk was another perfect egg that while smaller in size was nearly the size of an ordinary hen egg. The story does not reveal what was inside that second egg, however, it surmises that due to its unusually heavy state it may have contained yet another freak egg. Apparently, Mr. Cathcart ate only the contents of the first egg, but said it tasted “better than any fried egg he had ever enjoyed.” Simon Bolivar Cathcart was named for Simon Bolivar of South America, a po- litical and military leader who liberated several South American countries from Spanish rule. Cathcart’s namesake is a national icon in much of modern South America and is widely considered one of the great heroes of the independence movements in the early 19th century. In about 1900, our Coos County Surveyor named “Mount Bolivar”, the highest peak in Coos County, after his namesake. In September of 1984, the Venezuelan gov- ernment gave a plaque as a gift to Oregon offering their appreciation of the naming of this peak. The plaque at the summit reads “The United States was the first to teach us the path to independence – Simon Bolivar, Jamaica 1815.” This Lost Surveyor was unable to make the trek to the highest peak in Coos Coun- ty on my quick trip for dinner. If you plan to visit the peak you should anticipate a full day adventure to reach this remote location and to make the trek to the top of the peak. Although I could not visit the