Archives West Finding Aid

Howard Brady Carpenter was born July 24, 1848 in Little Rock, Illinois to David Luther and Harriet (Brady) Carpenter. David and Harriet had three sons of whom Howard was the oldest. Howard's mother died in 1853; his father later remarried and they had four children. The Carpenters were of Quaker ancestry and they worked in the lumber and agricultural industries.

Studious from a young age, Howard received the nickname "the deacon" from younger siblings. Educated in the public schools, as an undergraduate student he attended a seminary in Prophetstown, Illinois where he had a teacher named Sidney Averill. Howard taught school at Quaker Street, New York for two years before learning his life's trade of land surveying through his older cousin—a civil engineer.

He worked on railroad projects in the Catskills Mountains and Pomeroy, Ohio, and later became chief engineer of a projected railroad running from Chicago to Illinois valley. In 1874 he started as chief engineer in San Francisco on water supply constructions, laying out roads, cable car lines, and ferry landings. For a short period of time he also worked in the Colorado and Wyoming mining industry as an engineer.

In 1900-1907 he turned his interests towards government surveying and subdividing of public lands as Deputy U.S. Surveyor. One of his first government projects subdivided the Shoshone Wind River reservation in Wyoming. During this time he also worked on the state boundary line between Colorado and New Mexico.

The U.S. government survey marked out several state boundaries in mountainous areas that previously had been run imperfectly or needed correction. One such project was the 500-600 miles of Bitterroot Range separating Montana and Idaho—extending from Canada to Yellowstone National Park.

Under the direction of the United States General Land Office, Carpenter surveyed the watershed divide at the crest of the Bitterroot Mountains between the Montana-Idaho State border. Charting a route from north to south, Carpenter marked and noted each mile of the survey in remote and rugged wilderness. His survey notes provide details about the area's landscape, geology and vegetation. Carpenter's survey determined that the original boundary line set by the U.S. Congress (the crest of the continental divide) extended 3 miles further south than its previous determination. In addition to this correction, Carpenter surveyed the Idaho-Montana-Wyoming corner in 1907. The entire project spanned four summers from June 6, 1904 to September 13, 1905.

Depending on terrain and weather, Carpenter and his crew of 21 men completed 1.5 miles to 2 miles per day, working seven days a week. His crew and pack train of 44 horses blazed the trees along the survey line and built markers of brass caps on iron pipes or raised mounds of rock approximately every quarter mile.

In the spring of 1908 Carpenter retired to his fruit ranch in Meridian, Idaho. For 10 years he was an active citizen of Meridian as bank director of First National Bank, irrigation ditch official, board member of the Methodist church, school board member and founder of Meridian's Building and Loan Association. He died of typhoid fever in 1969 at the age of 69.