Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-03-15
WHERE WE ARE.
The Latitude and Longitude Of Bur-
lington Determined by U. " M.
Students

II may he Of interest to Burlingtonia
to know just how far north of the equa-
tor We are and Just how far west of the
observatory at Greenwich, England, from
which lougitudes are measured. The po-
sition of burlington has commonly be n
given as a degrees, y minutes and 50 Soc
onds north latitude and 70 degrees IL nm
utes west longitude but no point has had
its position accurately determined until
last June. when the engineering depart
ment of the University determined the
position of the highest point of the Uni
vcrsitY of Vermont property. This point
is four hundred and twcnty-four feet
north of the city's high service standpipc.
a cut-stonc monument has been set there
five feet deep and will preserve the point
permanently. The point would serve for
astronomical observations; to locate Bur-
lngton accurately upon maps of the State;
and from II the position of any other
point in the city could be obtained.
The method of determining the Curling
ton station depended on there being other
stations which were visible from the Bur-
lington station and whose latitude and
longitude were known. Then by observing
the absolute direction of the Burlington
station from the others and considering
the earth in its true size and shape.
the position of the Burlington station
might he computed The United States
Coast and Geodetc Survey have points
or SllllOuS lbfbltu upOu lIlt ANOSt VI M.
Mansfield and on Bgelow Mountain
across the lake. These two would have
been sufficient FOR locating station at
Darlington. if The line between them had
not happened to pass directly through the
city. This made it necessary to locate II
point ON Philo Mountain in the town of
Charlotte. and tren from Philo and either
OF the United States stations, Burlington
could be obtained.
The instrument used for this work was
a theodolite and the signals were in some
eases sunlight reflected by photographs.
ana in other cases tall poles eighteen feet
high carrying drums, ten feet high, at
the top covered with white cloth. The
signal pole used on the Burlington station
is stIll standing. The observation had to
be taken in the morning or late afternoon
and required a particularly clear state of
the at atmosphere Several trips were made
to each station.
: 'fhC succeeding computations consisted
in hndng the distance and direction of
the burlington from Mansfield and BigC-
low, ana then, its latitude and longitude.
They arc:-
A degrees, 2Sm--l9 los north latitude
rs degrees. 1lm-52lis west longitude
The computations were carried 10 the
! thOusandths OF second. but the results
can he considered accurate only to the
second decimal place The results have
been sent to the Coast and Geodotic Sur
Ney N Washington and have been verified
They were entered in the register Of tho
Survey under the designation, "Univer-
Sity."
It will be s0cn that We are somewhat
loss than half way from the equator to
tho north pole, In fact, the 45th parallel
passes about 36ia miles north of the Bur-
liuGton station. In longitude we arc
situated as to use the 18th meridian time.
and therefore our clocks are five hours
behind the clocks of Greenwich