Solar Compass

Solar Compass

Surveying Equipment in Canada during Dominion times

A solar compass created approximatey 1860. Initially owned by Russell, this passed through surveyors working in the West, with such names as Rainboth, JJ McArthur, and Ogilve. Through Ogilve the compass ended up in Ottawa, his last major survey. It is made of brass, with several intricate parts and comes in a wooden box sheltered with level.

W & L.E. Gurley from Troy, New York.

Science and Technology Museum

Important dates include its creation in c. 1860, its use by Russell in the late 1870s, and the passage to Ottawa in the 1940s.

Emilija Pruden

<a href="https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1988JRASC..82..288K&amp;db_key=AST&amp;page_ind=1&amp;data_type=GIF&amp;type=SCREEN_VIEW&amp;classic=YES%20" target="_blank">Donated to the Museum by a Ms. Mary Grey; a search finds that a Mrs. Mary Grey from Ottawa was the past counsil president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, and seems a likely candidate for the person who acquired this object.</a><br /><br /><br /><br />

<a href="https://www.fairfieldauction.com/highlights/6sept/261.jpg" target="_blank">An entirely set up solar compass would look like this<br /><br /><br /></a>

<a href="https://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/habshaer/ny/ny0600/ny0678/photos/122577pr.jpg" target="_blank">The Gurley Building looks like this<br /><br /><br /></a>

<a href="https://api.ning.com/files/-19L0k9n6wdKsecWkGiaqrAzlmjn0wMtPTiRGgXDsr1xJt6BDSYOdA1IvOBBQlSU/surveyinginstruments1891.jpg?width=385&amp;height=600" target="_blank">This matches the image on other manuals created by Gurley<br /><br /><br /></a>

<a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=_a43AAAAMAAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;source=gbs_ge_summary_r&amp;cad=0#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" target="_blank">A manual can be found in open source google books, providing how much the item would have cost, as well as instructions for its use<br /><br /><br /></a>

<a href="https://clss.nrcan.gc.ca/plan-eng.php?id=FB24043A+CLSR+CA" target="_blank">Lindsay Russell mentions the Solar Compass's use; although the compass looks like it would be used for initial surveys, Russell's guidelines show that they were actually used for the subdivision of townships through the meridian. Russell would have used the compass between 1877-1882, as that is when he did the majority of his surveying work.<br /><br /><br /></a>

<a href="https://clss.nrcan.gc.ca/planresult-resultatsplan-eng.php?pkw=&amp;plannum=&amp;altnum=&amp;altnumid=&amp;pn=&amp;cl=&amp;clid=&amp;svy=CARSON%2C+P.A.&amp;svyid=9DF5216B-86AB-49D6-9F99-91D5728D5425&amp;dtsvfr=&amp;dtsvto=&amp;dtrfr=&amp;dtrto=&amp;submit=Search&amp;n=plan&amp;act=r&amp;pg=1" target="_blank">Another name displayed on the compass is that of P.A. Carson, whose shown to have worked in the West as well, circa 1907-1909.<br /><br /><br /></a>

<a href="https://clss.nrcan.gc.ca/plan-eng.php?id=T1495+CLSR+QC" target="_blank">G. C. Rainboth is another name found written on the box, carved into the leather on the back. Though he is known for working with land divisions in the Praries, he also did work in Quebec and Ottawa, seen where Ottawa is written on the box.</a> <br /><br />Through looking at the dates of his field books, one can see that he worked in the Quebec Gatineau area in 1888. He did work with boundary lines and New Brunswick, however analyzing the dates we see that this was done in 1908, whereas Carson took over the Compass in 1907.<br /><br /><br />

<a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/earth-sciences-museum/resources/mining-canada/three-men-who-unlocked-west" target="_blank">A link to a write up on the importance of the men who unlocked the West. Without instruments such as the Solar Compass, we would not have gotten as far as we did, so quickly.<br /><br /><br /></a>

<a href="https://clss.nrcan.gc.ca/plan-eng.php?id=FB9849+CLSR+BC" target="_blank">Another journal by Carson, astronomical information on the final page.</a>

33 by 23 by 33

English labeling

Brass Instrument

<a href="https://clss.nrcan.gc.ca/plan-eng.php?id=FB11522+CLSR+SK" target="_blank">Carson's journal from 1910; the astronomical section of his field diary displays its use, as a solar compass must have been used to measure the time of star transit, as seen on the bottom of page 7, page 11 on the sidebar of the DJVU viewer.</a>