Thomas Greenough Compass - Circa 1760 - Bud Uzes Collection

America offered a vast amount of unclaimed land when settlers first started coming to America. Surveys typically preceded grants of title, so surveying was an early necessity for colonial and early Americans.

In England, where much of the land was settled and largely flat, surveying was largely done with plane tables and theodolites. Roads were often measured by measuring wheels. The Magnetic Compass was not a widely used instrument in England, as surveyors had other instruments that were better suited to England's topography.

The English instruments were largely unsuited, however, to America's different topography, with included vast amount of heavily forested and uncultivated lands. The only English instrument that really resonated in America - the Magnetic Compass.

Showing the ingenuity and industriousness that would later define our great country, the early colonist made tools fit for the job (mostly magnetic compass) out of what was readily available (mostly wood early on). As explained in more detail below, the colonists and early American's constantly evolved the magnetic compass to make it more accurate and dependable. Many instrument makers also used the compass as a way to express their artistic ability and establish a recognizable brand in the marketplace.

Colonial and Early American Compasses are highly artistic and very rare. Compasses played a critical role in the development of our country, many of the surviving compasses qualify as works of early american art. Not many colonial and early American compasses survived, however, and museums hold many of the compasses that did survive. So these compass don't come cheaply.

This is really neat stuff - information showing how accurately makers could divide a brass needle ring, plus other contemporary data points that give you a feel for how accurate, or inaccurate, early surveys were.

There are two other books you should have on your bookshelf if you collect Colonial and Early American Compasses - you can find one or both at Amazon (they are out of print however):

1. The Colonial Surveyor in Pennsylvania, by Barry Love. This was a PHD dissertation that was later turned into a book. While the book doesn't focus on instrument makers, the book does contain a wealth of information about how early surveyors were conducted.

2. The Clock and Watch Makers American Advertiser, by J Carter Harris. Really neat book that shows many of the newspaper ads placed by American Clockmakers thru 1800. These clockmakers made many of the surveying instruments, especially those made out of brass, in America prior to 1800.

Finally, here are three Magazine Articles that I found interesting:

1. Surveyors' Equipment and the Western Frontier, by William Guthman (1970). Guthman was one of the very first BIG collectors of surveying instruments, and he assembled quite a collection. A fun read with some nice pics of early compasses - 17MB PDF..

2. The Art of Colonial Surveying Instruments, by Jeff Lock. Very nice article, published in The American Surveyor Magazine in 2007. Some wonderful color pictures. A Must Read!

3. Dividing the Needle Ring of a Colonial Compass, by Jeff Lock. Another nice, but fairly granular article, about how colonials likely divided needle rings. Published in The American Surveyor Magazine in 2004. Keep this article in mind when looking at my Colonial Compass - Accuracy Webpage.

I also want to acknowledge the very significant amount of help and content that Paul Temple and Robert Miller have given me. As physicist they bring unique insights to our hobby, and their willingness to share those insights is very special and much appreciated.