PLSO The Oregon Surveyor July/August 2021

26 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 44, No. 4 Surveyors News Surveyors in the News By Pat Gaylord, PLS The Sunday Oregonian June 9, 1907 In 1907, cars were very much in the news and the traditional survey methods were too slow to meet the demand for maps. Whenever that happens, other solutions will be found with or without us. Sound similar to GIS, drones, and other waves of technology through time? Enjoy your next summer road trip brought to you by the Auto-Meter... or maybe your fa- vorite navigation app. As an additional piece of trivia, Rand Mc- Nally began publishing road maps and atlases in about 1904. They contributed greatly to our current highway number- ing system through their cartography and map-making efforts. Used For Making Road Maps Auto Meter Proves Great Success in Tracing Highways in East Just as the highways of the “iron horse” are mapped for the guidance of rail- road travellers, so the kinks and curves of country roads are being measured and mapped for the benefit of motorists. Unlike the slow-moving surveyor with his cumbersome equipment, the maker of road maps speeds merrily along in a big automobile and all he needs to tell him his speed and the distance traveled is to glance at the indicator of a won- derfully accurate instrument known as the autometer, fitted to the dashboard of his car. It goes without saying that a road map must be accurate or it is utterly worth- less. That is why the auto-meter is almost always used for this work. The auto-meter is to the map maker what the compass is to the mariner. It is actuated by the same mysterious force as the compass-magnetism. Nei- ther jolt nor jar can affect its accuracy in the slightest degree. No matter how rapidly the road map maker reels off the miles the auto-meter not only tells him exactly “how fast” but “how far.” If he gets arrested for exceeding the speed limit, it’s his own fault, for he always knows how fast he is going. Distances for the road map from New York to Ormond Beach to guide motor- ists on their way to the Ormond meet of the Florida East Coast Automobile Asso- ciations, January 22–27, were measured by the auto-meter on the Oldsmobile “Pathfinder.” The best routes for auto travel between all the important cities of this country are now indicated on ac- tual road maps. x Surveyors were much in the news during the development of Oregon. Through the archives of the University of Oregon Library, this column revisits and celebrates some of those stories of our profession. in the It is (the auto-meter) actuated by the same mysterious force as the compass- magnetism. Neither jolt nor jar can affect its accuracy in the slightest degree.