Daniel Boone, Surveyor - and a bunch of other stuff, too.

Most people know of Daniel Boone as a frontiersman, trapper, pioneer and legislator. Few know that he was an also an influential surveyor!

Commemorating Boone’s work as a surveyor.

Clark County, Kentucky.

Daniel Boone earned substantial income as a deputy county surveyor (1783-1797), a dangerous job in frontier Kentucky. He made legal surveys in six Kentucky counties, including Clark. Boone's first eleven surveys were for William Bush and became the basis for the Bush Settlement. The first was made January 7, 1783.

One of the little-known facts about the expansion of settlers into the interior territories of the United States was the essential role that surveying played in establishing settlements.

As tracts of land were allotted to settlers, these tracts had to be measured, marked and recorded. This effort called for enterprising people who were educated, resourceful, and tough enough to live off the land.

When Boone was living in Fort Boonesborough, Kentucky, (which he founded in about 1775), when he first learned about land surveying. Because he had explored much of the surrounding land, he became an indispensable assistant to surveyors working in the territory.

Surveying as livelihood

By 1783, when he was nearly 50 years old, he became a commissioned land surveyor in Fayette County. He was also serving as sheriff of Fayette County and the lieutenant of its militia. At that time, surveying was very dangerous business, not only because of the rugged land, but also because the indigenous population was vigorously defending the land from being surveyed and taken by settlers.

Boone managed to avoid these hazards and ultimately executed 150 surveys for settlers. The surveys that pioneers such as Daniel Boone created can still be found in local archives and remain the basis for determining property boundaries today. The essential work of surveying remains the cornerstone of local, national and international boundaries and undergirds legal agreements all over the world.

For nearly one-half century, surveyors have been relying on Berntsen International to provide the highest quality, most durable markers to surveyors - markers that will remain as a testament to their precise and demanding work.

Talk about “making your mark” in the world!

Image courtesy of Andrew Patrick, Kentucky Historical Society © 2019 Kentucky Historical Society.