Known Oregon History - U.S. Deputy Surveyor Rumsey

360 Degree Spinner View

SOLD

This is a wonderful Young & Sons Solar Compass with a known history.

I uncovered the history of this solar compass by looking thru General Land Office survey field notes. After much looking, I found that U.S. Deputy Surveyor James L. Rumsey used this Young & Sons Solar Compass #5416 in many Oregon surveys in 1882 and 1883. Most of the Field Notes submitted by USDS Rumsey reflecting Y&S #5416 can be accessed below. The Plat Maps derived from these field notes can be viewed here.

There is one other thing that is really cool about this solar compass. Take a look at the hour arc in the pic below. It's always 11 o'clock somewhere. I suspect the engraver was nipping at the bottle a bit while engraving this solar compass. The far end of the degrees (50 degrees) also looks to be a re-stamp. I gather Young & Sons didn't really have a separate Quality Control Department.

Rumsey bought #5416 as a new instrument in 1882. Rumsey submitted this solar compass to the Surveyor General of Oregon for testing on June 13, 1882, with the Surveyor General saying that the instrument was "just from the factory and entirely new…." Rumsey thereafter first surveyed with #5416 in July 1882..

Here is Rumsey's bio: Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1851, the son of a farmer, Rumsey. graduated from the University of Michigan in 1876 in civil engineering. He was in Oregon as a chainman for Henry Perkins in 1877-79 for three Contracts between Malheur Lake and Christmas Valley. Rumsey would later claim in his University Annual that he was a USDS on this work, and he could have been the compassman since there was an extra chainman.

Rumsey was the Superintendent for construction of a RR in Oregon from 1878-82. He received three Contracts on his own for 26 townships from 1882-1883, all in Eastern Oregon. The first Contract was for four townships just Southeast of Government Camp and five townships just inside the North line of the Warm Springs Reservation. The next one had eleven townships at Warner Lakes, North of Hart Mountain. The last Contract was for six townships South of Wagontire. He used a consistent three of four man crew each year. A BLM surveyor noted that Rumsey surveyed the exteriors, but may have neglected some of the the interiors.

Rumsey was single in 1880 in Portland, and a widower in 1900, when he was back living with his aged parents in Grand Rapids. Rumsey spent the rest of his career as a civil engineer in Grand Rapids, Michigan until he died there in 1933. Rumsey and his siblings donated land for a park in Grand Rapids, then named Rumsey Park before a name change to Clemente Park 50 years later.

(The above is taken from a fantastic resource for old GLO surveys in Oregon and Washington - Olson Engineering)
When the prior owner acquired #5416, the instrument was located in the Grand Rapids area of Michigan. Thus, it appears that Rumsey used #5416 for 2 years of surveying in Oregon during 1882 and 1883, and then moved to an area where he no longer engaged in work requiring a solar compass. I even recall seeing Rumsey listed as a notary in a census (probably the 1900 census). This explains why #5416 looks so lightly used.

You will see that the #5416 box lid still has the original Young & Sons label. That suggests that #5416 was never in the shops for repairs, again suggesting that the instrument was not heavily used after the surveys in Oregon ended in 1883.

The instrument is actually in need of a repair, however. The instrument evidently tipped over at some point, as one of the sight vanes is bent (with some evidence of an attempt to bend it back). The bend is not easy to see in the pics that are attached. In most of the pics below, I placed a small wedge (a folded piece of tape) under the sight vane so that the vane would appear straight. In one pic I put the vane in without the small wedge. Below are two pics with the wedge in (left pic) and the wedge out (right pic) - the bent sight vane is left hand side of #5416:

You can pull up many of Rumsey's Field Notes from his Oregon surveys here:

Volume 276

Volume 277

Volume 299

If you want to search township by township - click here and you can access a list of townships surveyed by Rumsey. You can then search the surveys in each township by Clicking Here.

For Screenshots of some of the Field Notes (click on the small pics):

One of the areas Rumsey surveyed, the Clear Lake area (T4S, R9E), is pretty special. Take a look at the Plat Map. And take a look at the You Tube Video Showing Clear Lake. Surveying in heavily wooded areas like this could not be easy. And it's obvious why Rumsey didn't not spend the money for the optional telescope Young & Sons offered for #5416.

The prior owner of Young & Sons #5416 acquired the instrument for $9800 on eBay in March 2003. I even posted the auction results on my website back then - 2003 Sale of Y&S #5416. I actually remember the auction - the listing for #5416 was one of the worst listings for a valuable instrument my dad and I had ever seen. I still have my dad's old emails - he contacted the seller and tried to find out more information about the instrument, and it was like pulling teeth. He only learned the barest of info - made by Y&S, #5416, no tripod or tripod mount. That's it. And you can see from the eBay listing that the seller was around the Grand Rapids area - near where Rumsey lived out his life. I will provide the name of the 2003 eBay seller to the buyer of #5416 if the buyer is interested in digging into more of the history of #5416.

I think Y&S #5416 is a wonderful instrument - with a known and documented history and the neat engraving error on the hour arc. This instrument would make for a really nice display. Please contact me with any questions you have.