Before the widespread use of steel rods and concrete monuments, boundary corners in public land surveys were marked by physical earthworks. The moundsman followed the compassman and chainmen to construct these permanent reference marks. They dug specific trenches or pits and piled the soil into a mound around a wooden post or stone, ensuring the corner would remain visible on the prairie.
Heard on the job
We found the original stone, but the pits the moundsman dug have completely washed out over the years.
Insider tip
Finding the faint depressions left by a moundsman's pits is often the only way to prove the original location of a rotting wooden post.