Distance Measurement On The Frontier

[Larry Koschkee]

By land or water, early history of the Nothwest frontier has numerous references of specific mileage between points. How did the people on the frontier measure distance in miles?

I began thinking about this when I first read about Major Stephen Long's Expedition overland from Chicago to Prairie du Chien in 1823. His daily journal entries recorded the miles traveled each day. It was clear that the expedition navigated with a sextant but how did they calculate mileage?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Larry Koschkee

[mpcavanaugh]

Good question Larry. I know on the Lewis and Clark Expedition they had a device (its name escapes me at the moment) that hung off from the keel boat and then later the canoe's that measured distance. Perhaps something similar could be attached to a wagon or cart? Something along the lines of the little wheel that Dept. of Public Work crew's use when conducting a survey?

Speaking of surveying, this would be measuring on a fairly small scale but perhaps Major Long had with him a Gunter's Chain, offset staff etc?

Distance could be figured out via a sextant by taking the raw numbers calculating them and then comparing day 1's numbers to day 2 and then distance could be decifered. However that would be a huge amount of number crunching to be done and certainly something that would not be done in the field every day. Again to go back to Lewis and Clark they simply took raw numbers in the field, it would be a post expedition job to calculate them into useable information.

Mike

[mpcavanaugh]

A viameter is attached to a wheel and acts like an odomoter.

Mike

[Larry Koschkee]

Mike, can you provide any additional information on that there 'do-thingy" called viameter? I checked the dictionary and did a "Google" search.. no luck.

I am familiar with a "variometer" that is an aeronautical instrument for indicating the rate of climb.

A message board member e-mailed an account of some "pilgrims" marked a wagon wheel, measured the circumference and had an individual sit in the wagon with some twine and tied a knot in it for every 100th wheel revolution. Tallied the number of knots and divided the number by 16.5 feet (rod).

Larry

[mpcavanaugh]

This is from the website where I found that info.....
www.edgate.com/lewisandclark/cartography.html

Distance was determined by a variety of methods. These included devices that measured the speed of travel:
In rivers or streams they used log-lines or counted paddle-strokes.
On land they counted their steps (pacing), and later, used viameters (odometers) attached to a wheel.
For more accurate measurements, some explorers also carried a one-hundred link chain called a Gunter's chain. This chain measured precisely 66 feet in length.
The height of the mountains and hills along the route were often measured as well, using an instrument called a barometer.

That is all that I know on this however I am willing to speculate a bit on what I said a modern survey crew might use. It is a small bicycle sized tire that has a handle that goes up to about mid chest. It has an odometer on it that clicks off distance. Perhaps some early precurser could have been attached to a wagon or cart? I'll see if I can dig up some more info.

Mike

[mpcavanaugh]

You know the more I think about it the more I think I'm wrong w/ that whole "side wheel" idea. It seems to modern, more likely either the "tie a knot ever X number of wheel revolutions" method or a variant on the waterborn method. I have an explanation from a book I own...
"Navigators used a device called a log to measure distance traveled on water. A log consisted of a line, a reel, and a log chip. The line was tied w/ knots at measured intervals & wrapped around the reel, at its end was the log chip, a triangular, weighted piece of wood. To measure a boats speed the navigator threw the log chip into the water and let the line run out for 30 sec., measured by an sandglass.....the number of knots was counted thus speed was known." (Mike talking: I guess that's why the speed is in knots???) - "Lewis and Clark: Across The Divide" Gilman, Carolyn and James P. Ronda page 150-151

Could some sort of varient been used? Perhaps a shorter rope so anybody behind that horse/wagon wouldn't get caught in it? The search continues.....

Mike

[Larry Koschkee]

Some excellent posting here Mike, thanks for the support in pondering this subject.

Regarding knots and water travel, would it not be essential to factor in water current if the vessel was traveling faster or slower than the current?

Larry

[mpcavanaugh]

Thanks for the kind words Larry, you have stumbled onto something I'm finding most interesting as well. You are 100% correct about having to factor in the water speed. The quote from the book I used before goes on to say "......on a river it was needed to subtract the speed of the water...." it however does not say how one did that. I cannot at the moment seem to find any reference as to how to determine the speed of water, if the vessel was not moving the reel line could be used, however that is not very practical. Again I'll see what I can find.

Mike

[mpcavanaugh]

Larry,

What I have been able to find is fairly slim, saying that people would just simply guess the distance covered in a given day or count footsteps etc. Nothing too technical about it. I was thinking though on Major Long's expedition how close was the numbers he said to being correct? That might give some insight into the method he used?

Mike

[Larry Koschkee]

Further research on this thread subject has given me increased respect for the ability of people to "cruise" through the North American wilderness with respectable accuracy. I would submit the observation that in general, an average person on the frontier was in synch or more in rythym with the natural surroundings than us "pilgrims" of present day. There was a heightened awareness of weather systems, lunar or celestial bodies and could navigate without sophisicated instruments.

In the last few days I have interviewed a couple of individuals employed by professional land survey firms who are educated in the latest land navigation or survey instrumentation and technicques. Also, they had a keen interest in the history of primitive navigation.

They both agreed that when an account is read about distance by horseback or on foot from point A to point B it was a process of what they call in their world... 'dead reckoning." In other words it is an estimate or guess. In addition, these estimates were fairy accurate. How could this be, estimation is not very scientific? If I can not quantify the ability of a human being to be precise in distance measurement, I am at a loss to explain it.

William H. Keating was the journalist on the 1823 Stephen Long expedition and he published the results of that trip in Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, 1824, Philadelphia, Vol. I. In that narrative he had incorporated Long's journal with his observations and that of James E. Colhoun. Last week I purchased the book The Northern Expeditions Of Stephen H. Long, The Journals of 1817 and 1823 and Related Documents Edited by Lucile M. Kane, June D. Holmquist, and Carolyn Gilman, Published by Minnesota Hostorical Society Press, 1978. The appendix of this book provides an "Abstract of Expenditures incurred by the Exploring Expedition commanded b Major S. H. Long in 1823." This list gives us the clues to how the expedition navigated.

Engr. Dept

One Patent Lever Watch
One Surveyors Compass small
One Plotting Instrument [protractor]
One Small Box Sextant
Blank books, Mercury for horizon, Port Folios &c.

Specific individuals were issued the following items:

Thomas Whitney - One Small Surveyor's Compass
John H. Schrader - One Mercurial Case, Box-wood
William Davenport - Pocket Sextant, Protractor, Nautical Almanac
Charles A. Droz - One Patent Leaver Watch
M. Fisher & Son - Thermometers, Lenses, Pocket Compass

The two employees in the present day land surveying firms agreed that Long's expedition would have the capability to navigate with precision on the frontier.

[mpcavanaugh]

Very interesting stuff there. I have to say that this tread has peaked some interest in me and I'm currently working on a log reel and chip (to measuring speed) and a lead line (to measure depth) for my War of 1812 naval persona. I have a few books on surveying but I have yet to really be able to make sense of it all.

Mike