The a wonderful Gurley Reconnoissance Mining Transit, which features a second vertically mounted scope (Scope #161 in the Gurley Manual's). The instrument comes with a beautifully refinished original tripod. The instrument and tripod together would make for a killer-display. Gurley Reconnoissance Transits are VERY small, with great eye appeal compared to a much larger transit. The second scope adds tons of pop to an otherwise really neat transit.

Gurley Mining Transits are rarely encountered. This is only the second top mounted Gurley Reconnoissance Mining Transit I have come across. I sold one in early 2019. The only other Gurley mining transits I have see are here.

I personally believe that very few top mounted Gurley Mining Transits survived - the top scope mounting is pretty fragile and easily broken. Even a slight fall would kill the top scope mounting system.

I date the transit around 1905. Gurley started offering the aluminum guard for the vertical circle around 1903 or so. And Gurley started putting serial numbers on their instruments in 1907. So this instrument is about 1905 give or take a year or two.

I don't know the history of the transit unfortunately. If you look closely, the top of the case has some residue that shows the name Fitzpatrick. I know there was a J. W. Fitzpatrick who was a U.S. deputy surveyor/mineral surveyor in CA and surrounding states the 1880s thru 1910 or so, but I cannot tie the transit to him. The BLM hasn't published any of the CA mineral surveys, so there is no way to see if Fitzpatrick used a Gurley Recon Mining Transit.

The transit has a very nice patina. Everything seems to work - although the pinion that turns the compass face is pretty tight and could use a cleaning/oiling. The optics works fine, and the cross hairs seem to be present.

The transit is stamped Lallie in several places, and the box lid contains a Lallie tag covering the Gurley tag. I suspect that Lallie purchased this instrument from Gurley, stamped it, and then resold the transit.

Please see my Gurley Instrument Maker Webpage to learn more about the Gurley firm or see the Gurley instrument Manuals I have posted on the website.