Land surveying is the cornerstone of Anderson Survey Company, Inc.'s practice.  Often misunderstood, the act of surveying may appear simple, but the actual task is infinitely more complex.  The early days of transits, rods and chains gave way to total stations, GPS equipment, AutoCAD, robots and drones.  Today's surveyor must be familiar with technical procedures, as well as the legal aspects of real property boundaries.

In the early 1800's the state of Missouri was invaded by a hardy, tough group of men.  They were government surveyors assigned the staggering task of dividing the State of Missouri into six mile square townships, and those townships into one mile square sections.  

Carrying stakes, tapes and compasses while riding horses, mules and wagons they came into the hamlets and hills of south Missouri, the rolling flat lands of the north and through streams and rivers.  Their measuring and compass readings began to form a  checkerboard pattern that stretched the length and width of the entire state.  

This is the initial point, originally set by government surveyors in 1815 and now commemorated with this stone, which represents the point of beginning for which all surveys in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota are based.