I love digging into the history of an instrument - who owned it and where was the instrument used to survey. Shortly after restarting The Compleat Surveyor in late 2018, I decided to build a database reflecting the known histories of the instruments I came across. With great help from a long-time collector (see the Acknowledgment below), my database hobby turned into a near full-time obsession, and helped me pass time during the pandemic.

Starting in 1880, surveyors were required to identify their surveying instruments when they surveyed for the General Land Office, and many times the surveyors listed the serial number of their instruments. Almost all of the public land states (except for California and a few others) have scanned the field notes for public land and mining surveys and posted the field notes on the internet. I invested countless hours looking thru all of these field notes from 1880 to about 1915, and recorded every instance when a surveyor identified an instrument by serial number.

I also made several trips to Washington DC, where I reviewed all of Silvio Bedini's personal files and some of the instrument related files maintained by the old General Land Office. When the GLO stopped using surveyors as contractors and started hiring surveyors as employees in 1908 or so, the GLO had to start buying a lot of surveying instruments. I came across invoices and other detailed info relating to many of the early purchases of equipment made by the GLO.

Finally, I found a good amount of sales information relating to sales of Berger and Heller & Brightly instruments on my dad's old hard drive.

With my database I've uncovered the history of a fair number of instruments that I ended up selling on my website. I get a real kick out of figuring out the owner of an instrument and then researching the owner on the internet, oftentimes in newspaper articles. I also believe that an instrument with a known history is somewhat more valuable than an instrument without a history.

I suspect many instrument collectors would enjoy discovering the history of the instruments they currently own, so I'll share my database with interested collectors. Here's what I can do:

1. My database is built around instruments with serial numbers, so I can only help if your instrument has a serial number. (Gurley did not start putting serial numbers on instruments until 1908, which is really a bummer.). My database also doesn't contain instruments with CA history because the BLM in CA hasn't scanned and posted the field notes yet.

2. Below I identify the serial numbers of instruments BY MAKER reflected in my database. My database is about 98% accurate. I looked thru a tremendous amount of material as quickly as I could, and typing mistakes happened. If a serial number is listed, I almost certainly have some info regarding the instruments. If a serial number is NOT listed, it is very unlikely that I have info.

3. IF YOU OWN an instrument with a serial number that matches what I have below, send me an email containing the serial and a pic of the instrument. I will send you what I have regarding the instrument.

4. If YOU OWN a rare instrument, like a solar compass or early solar transit, with a serial number that is NOT reflected below, please let me know and I will check to see if I have anything. I also hope to dig into the California field notes over the next couple of years, so my database will be expanding as well.


BTW…The circa 1854 Burt & Bailey solar compass (with a later Gurley telescope) pictured above was used by Dizzy Jones, who surveyed Yosemite in 1904 or so, and then surveyed the Hetch Hetchy water system that San Francisco relies on for water.