ICE/CSCE/ASCE - surveying the United States – Canada international boundary

This is the latest in the series of “The New Transatlantic Cable” tripartite civil engineering webinars, which look at projects carried out jointly by Canadian, American and British engineer. In this webinar, Dr Michael Bartlett will examine surveying the United States/Canada International Boundary.

Nine treaties defined, and field surveys between 1794 and 1925 located and marked, the boundary which is the longest in the world at 5525 miles (8890 km).

Logistical challenges included operating in the remote and rugged terrain of the Maine/New Brunswick forest and the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, as well as the perpetual snow and ice of the Alaska Panhandle. On the prairies, surveyors slept under canvas in temperatures colder than 40 below zero.

British, American, and Canadian surveyors displayed remarkable cooperation to overcome these challenges and to achieve an extremely accurate survey, particularly given the limitations of the available technology.