Skip to main content

Surveying

The little-appreciated U.S. public-land survey not only opened up our frontier but made possible our freedoms

The old frontier began to die as the “medicine line” of the 49th Parallel was drawn

The Forty-ninth Parallel ran directly through my childhood, dividing me in two. In winter, in the town on the Whitemud, Saskatchewan, we were almost totally Canadian.

We hope you enjoy our work.

Please support this magazine of trusted historical writing, now in its 75th year, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate