The
'Getting There' Collection
contains over 300 images depicting the methods and problems of "getting
there". The "there" refers to the workplace of the geodetic surveyors.
"There" were the mountaintops, the swamps, the deserts, the forests,
the tundra, the plains ... wherever their work took them to observe
angles and azimuths, measure distances, and determine elevations.
"Getting There" could involve walking and climbing mountains with
staggering loads of surveying equipment; riding on wagons, ox-carts,
or dogsleds; pumping hand-cars over tens of miles of railroad; motoring
across America in primitive trucks before most roads were paved, or
in many cases where there were no roads; getting stuck in snow, mud,
sand, or dust; riding boats and rafts in wild rivers or through uncharted
seas; or flying early float-planes and helicopters with the attendant
danger of flying in rugged, mountainous areas.
