PLSO The Oregon Surveyor Mar/Apr 2019

23 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org The Lost Surveyor not have been a licensed surveyor his en- gineering background in his upbringing contributed to his knowledge and ability to complete the layout of many miles of railroad and road that supported this rural Oregon community. Likely any surveying background he had was through on the job training, but it was significant enough to get the job done for many years and to be recognized in the symbology on the park sign. Thus concludes the mystery of this Lost Surveyor and through this the folks at the Vernonia Historical Museum have rediscovered some of their town history buried in their archives. The idea for this article was bought to me by Tim Brown, LSIT. Tim grew up in Ver- nonia and had wondered about the park and the symbology on the sign for quite some time. After Tim brought me this sto- ry idea, I began researching the history of Vernonia to get started. It turns out that Ver- nonia was founded by the Van Blaricoms, the Parkers and the McNutt’s among oth- ers. In an account by McNutt in the late 1880’s, found in the 1890 Nehalem Jour- nal, he states that he and Uncle Joe Van Blaricom “…were sunning ourselves on the hill back of my store, I proposed to lay out a few blocks and lot on his land and a part of mine…” He goes on to say that after much debate, Van Blaricom finally con- sented to the plan and they summoned the surveyor, John Campbell. Apparently, upon arrival Campbell quickly perfected a plan and had about 100 lots laid out be- fore they knew it. Campbell signed the plat of Vernonia which surrounds the park in this story on May 26, 1891. In a rather hu- morous twist to this Lost Surveyor story, Tim and I work with John Campbell, PLS!  x Photo 5 Photo 4