A very nice Gurley Mining Transit transit with a 3.5 inch needle. Purchased from the family of a surveyor who surveyed dams built in the Southwest. A very nice instrument.

The transit is a Gurley Reconnoisance transit , and has two connectors on top for the second vertically mounted scope (Scope #161 in the Gurley 1895 Manual).

Gurley Mining Transit are rarely encountered. When they are offered for sale, they often come with a mount for a solar device or a side mounted second scope. I sold one with a solar device for $5100 in 1999. The only other Gurley mining transits I have see are here. This is the only COMPLETE top mounted Gurley Reconnoisance and Mining Transit I have found with a vertical scope.

Here is the reason why I suspect very few vertically mounted Gurley Mining Transits survived - the top scope mounting is easily broken. When I acquired this instrument, both of the mounting pillars were separated from the top scope. I very carefully reattached them. But I can see how fragile the original design was, so that any accidental impact involving the instrument would like dislodge the top scope.

This instrument had an accidental impact at some point. If you look at the pics, you will see a bent thumbscrew that secures the bottom scope from pivoting vertically. The thumbscrew still functions, fortunately. I don't know if the thumbscrew can be straightened without breaking it - I will leave that for the next owner.

This is a very nice but not perfect instrument. The instruments comes with its original tripod, which is missing one of its screws as shown in the pics below. The tripod is still usable, however, for display purposes. All the knobs turn on the transit and the level vials have liquid. The optics are a bit cloudy, but the crosshairs are present. I added a couple of vids showing the turning knobs: Vid 1 Vid 2

The transit has a very nice patina. Please examine the pictures carefully and ask questions. I can also take more pictures if necessary.