Ellis Island. 20 continued Our 2021 visit to Lady Liberty was, unknowingly, my first venture inside a famous triangulation station. Of course, just like Mount Rushmore, the unsuspecting public has no idea they are there to visit a surveying icon. Foolishly, they assume she’s simply a beacon of freedom! In addition to a traditional mark on the southerly side of the island, the bottom of Lady Liberty‘s torch was established and first observed as a triangulation station (PID# KV4410) in 1887 and remains in good condition today. This trip included a visit to the Ellis Island Museum, where we learned that if it weren’t for a surveyor’s promotion, the Carolinas might not exist as we know them. Ellis Island is truly a surveying mecca in New York. It‘s home to three triangulation station features (PID #KV4300, KV4307, AND KV4310) as well as a standard disc at the water’s edge. In addition to the surveying marks on the island we found the museum to be a fascinating history of immigration in the U.S. The “Journeys: The Peopling of America 1550–1890” exhibit on the ground floor included highlighting a 1709 account by John Lawson and his travels through the Carolinas. His upbeat description strove to encourage settlement of the area by Europeans. John Lawson’s book promoted the beauty of the Carolinas and he founded two settlements in North Carolina: Bath and New Bern. After his initial exploration of the area, which covered almost 600 miles, he settled near the Pamlico River and began earning a living as a private land surveyor. By 1705 he had ascended to the position of Deputy Surveyor for the Lords Proprietor of Carolina. By the time of publication in 1709, he held the position of Surveyor General of North Carolina. The local inhabitants did not find his writings nearly as compelling as the Europeans who welcomed his book with rave reviews. The Tuscarora people captured him in 1711, and tortured and killed him. Lawson’s death led to the Tuscarora War and ultimately the defeat of the native people in 1715. Our New York adventure ended with a visit to the Empire State Building, another surveying icon with a fascinating history and once the claim of the tallest triangulation station in the world! Maybe it was the tallest building in the world, but we’ll stick with the surveying focus of this article. The history of this station and the construction of the building is amazing and honestly, in my humble opinion, shows how far we have slipped in our abilities to get things done in a timely manner. In 1929, the Chrysler Building (PID# KU3994), the first tallest triangulation station in the world, claimed the title of world’s tallest building. Plans for construction of the Empire State Building were announced August 29, 1929, and only 200 days later construction began. The framing of the 100-story building took a mere 23 weeks and the finish workers behind them completed the rest in about eight months. One year and 45 days (410 days total) after construction began, the building opened and the newest tallest triangulation station in the world was opened for business. In today’s world it takes more than 410 days just to get the permits! Although very little surveying information is available on the internet, on our way to the observation platform elevators we encountered a small exhibit about surveyors in the construction of the building. Levels around the room show The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 47, No. 4 The Lost Surveyor
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