Engineering & Infrastructure
Surveying the Panama Canal, Part 1: Finding a Route Between Two Oceans
How reconnaissance, maps, levels, rivers, and competing canal concepts shaped the choice of a route across Panama.
From the Index
Tag: Route Surveys
Reports, histories, and working notes filed under this subject.
Engineering & Infrastructure
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.
Engineering & Infrastructure
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.
Engineering & Infrastructure
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.