Infrastructure & Engineering
Surveying the Iron Road, Part 3: Curves, Grades, Tunnels, and Rights-of-Way
A field guide to the railroad geometry and records that surveyors created—and still recover—along historic corridors.
From the Index
Author: Joseph Beckman
Reports, histories, and working notes filed under this subject.
Infrastructure & Engineering
Surveying the Iron Road, Part 2: The Transcontinental Railroad and the Geography of a Nation
The surveys, competing routes, mountain passes, land grants, and field crews behind the first transcontinental railroad.
Infrastructure & Engineering
Surveying the Iron Road, Part 1: How Early American Railroads Found a Line
How reconnaissance, profiles, curves, grades, and maps turned proposed railroads into buildable routes.
Ancient Surveying
Boundaries in the Bible: Landmarks, Measuring Lines, and the Language of Inheritance
The Bible is not a surveying manual, but its laws, narratives, and prophetic images preserve a world in which moving a stone could threaten a family’s future and…
Maps & Plats
The Beauty of Maps, Land Surveying and the Art of Cartography
Maps have long been a symbol of human curiosity, exploration, and understanding of the world around us. From the earliest depictions of our surroundings etched into stone or…