My Start in Surveying

My Start in Surveying

I started working in the surveying business when I was a teenager, just after I finished grade

eight, I think. Our family was squatting on an abandoned rifle range. The government and

property owners were subdividing the land, as they had decided that it was no longer appropriate

for use as a rifle range. There were probably thirty or more families and single men on the

property; the homes were not always well-built, and no one had title to their lands, obviously.

A surveyor named Boyd Affleck was hired to survey the former rifle range. I had taken to

standing around watching the surveyors at work. The key helper to Mr. Affleck was an old man,

who was called “Chaim.” He approached me one day and asked me if I liked the looks of the

work. I had never worked then, being so young. But, I said, yeah, it looked interesting.

What else could a guy say? Our family had little money, and I certainly had no money of my

own. The old man said to me, “You can have my job.” Those words I'll never forget. Here was a

kid that had never worked and didn't have any proper shoes or anything else. But I went and

asked Mr. Affleck if I could have the job and told him that the other fellow didn't want it.

Mr. Affleck looked me over and appeared to like what he saw. He said, “Well, you'll have to

have a proper pair of boots.” So, I borrowed my dad's boots. We were quite poor at the time. Dad

had kind of a part-time job, but it wasn't very profitable. Mr. Affleck also said, “You'll have to

have your own axe.”

So, I showed up the next day, wearing my dad's boots, which were okay. Dad had an older pair

that he could use, so I got his good boots. I also showed up with a double-bitted axe. It was a

logger's axe, with two blades on the head, used for cutting down big trees on the West Coast. Mr.

Affleck was flabbergasted. Here's a kid hauling around a huge double-bitted axe. I remember

saying to him, “Mr. Affleck, but that's the only axe that we have. I'll have to use it.” I used that

axe for four years. I became very proficient. Not only was it very sharp, but it was very good for

cutting down trees and bushes and everything else.

I started almost immediately, and I proved to have talent for surveying. Mr. Affleck, who was

not fast and easy with praise, even told my mother that I seemed to have an aptitude for

surveying (my mother did not tell me this until after I was married). So, he let me stake out the

properties according to the development plan. He followed along and surveyed them in. That

marked the beginning of my surveying. Of course, it was just for the summer holidays.