
Surveying reflected in Postal Stamps
| A 3-cent stamp issued in 1954 depicting Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Sacagawea landing on a Missouri River bank. These surveyors and explorers were instrumental in opening up the western lands of the United States with their journey of exploration and mapping from 1804 to 1806. | |
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A 15-cent stamp issued in 1980 to honor and commemorate the life of Benjamin Banneker. Said to be the "first black man of science", his many duties included assisting Andrew Ellicott in surveying the "new" federal city of Washington, D. C. in the early 1790's. |
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| A 3-cent stamp issued in 1952 showing the George Washington Bridge and an 1850's covered bridge to honor the 100th anniversary of the American Society of Engineers, many of whose members were surveyors. | |
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A 3-cent stamp issued in 1957 showing the flag of the Coast & Geodetic Survey and ships at sea. This stamp honors the 150th anniversary of this group whose surveying efforts were instrumental in the development of this country. |
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| A series of 25-cent stamps issued in 1988 to commemorate these explorers and mappers: Nathaniel Palmer, Lt. Charles Wilkes, Richard E. Byrd and Lincoln Ellsworth. Their efforts gave us a better understanding of the world. | |
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A 5-cent stamp issued in 1969 to honor John Wesley Powell whose efforts at surveying and mapping helped the United States to understand what our western lands consisted of. |
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| A 4-cent stamp issued in 1962 on the 100th anniversary of the Homestead Act. Homesteading in the western United States could not have succeeded without the efforts of surveyors who laid out the land into sections prior to the arrival of settlers. | |
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A 3-cent stamp issued in 1952 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Captured in the memorial are the images of Presidents Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln all performed surveying during their lives. Roosevelt was not a surveyor but was at one point in his life an explorer. |
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| A 6-cent stamp issued in 1968 to commemorate the lifelong efforts of Walt Disney. One of Mr. Disney's first jobs was that of a draftsman for Major Thomas Cox, Jr., and J. R. Reagan in Asheville, North Carolina. While employed by these men, he prepared several subdivision plats that can be found in the county records. | |
| A 3-cent stamp issued in 1937 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Through this measure Ohio became the experimental site of the new public land surveying and sale system. A number of different surveying systems were employed. The mistakes that were made and the lessons learned culminated in the Land Ordinance of 1796, which laid out the surveying and numbering scheme used for all remaining public lands. | |
| A 3-cent stamp issued in 1934 to commemorate Mother's Day. It is an adaptation of James McNeill Whistler's portrait of his mother, entitled "Arrangement in Gray and Black." Known for his wit and eccentricity, Whistler was one of the most influential painters and etchers in the 19th century art world. Ironically, he learned the art of etching while working for the cartographic section of an organization with little use for artistic license: the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. | |
| A 5-cent stamp, one of a set of nine issued in 1898 to mark the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, held that year in Omaha, Nebraska. Features a scene of John Charles Fremont on the Rocky Mountains. John Charles was commissioned 2nd lieutenant in the U. S. topographical engineers in 1838, while engaged in exploring the country between the Missouri and the northern frontier, and in 1842, having suggested a geographical survey of all the territories of the United States, he was sent at the head of a party of 28 men to explore the Rocky mountain region. In accomplishing this he ascended the highest peak of the Wind River mountains, which was afterwards known as Fremont's peak. | |
| A 29-cent stamp, one of a set of 20 different subjects on the 1994 "Legends of the West" sheet of stamps. "The Pathfinder", John Charles Fremont was one of California's first senators, the first presidential candidate of the Republican Party (he lost to James Buchanan in 1856), an officer in the Union Army during the Civil War and Governor of the Arizona Territory. Early in his career, Fremont surveyed the Carolina Mountains as an officer in the Army Topographical Corps but he is best remembered for the expeditions he led during the 1840s and early 1850s to explore, survey, and map parts of the Western United States. | |
| A 2-cent stamp issued in 1929 to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of George Rogers Clark's victory over the British at Fort Sackville (now Vincennes), Indiana. George Rogers Clark was born near Monticello, Virginia in 1752. He was apprenticed as a surveyor and by the age of 22 was surveying land and farming along the Ohio River in the Kentucky country, then part of Virginia. At the outset of the American Revolution, he was commander of the Kentucky Militia. He took the offensive with a small force and conducted an epic campaign, which involved incredible overland marches and the capture of several British outposts, climaxing in the "Night of the Long Knives" at Fort Sackville on February 25, 1779. This victory effectively secured the Old Northwest Territory for the United States. Later, Clark supervised land allotments in the new territory. | |
| A 10-cent postal card issued in 1979 to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of George Rogers Clark's victory over the British at Fort Sackville. Despite the British rules and laws against settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains, many young men in Virginia were crossing over to Kentucky in quest of land and adventure. In 1772, just turning 20 years of age, Clark left on a surveying trip to the West. During the next four years, he located land for himself, his family and other friends in Virginia and acted as a guide for settlers. |
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