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| Notes: Large format paperback. ISBN 9798986099507. 455 pages. Published by Explorditions, 2022. In As New condition. From a review by a Rick Handler: "In The Surveyor and the Silversmith: Land Speculation on the Frontier of Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh author C. Prentiss Orr takes readers on an amazing historical journey. The story follows two Colonial American figures, David Leet (the surveyor) and Thomas Shields (the silversmith), as well as their descendants through some of the most interesting periods in our early history. The journey for both men begins in Philadelphia in the mid 1700s. Leet’s family would move to the wilds of Virginia where, at a young age, he learned the skills of the surveying profession. With vast and unchartered land to be settled (despite common knowledge that these lands for centuries were protected by and for Native Americans), Leet explored hundreds of thousands of square miles few white men had ever seen.... By following Leet and Shields and their descendants through the 1700 and 1800s, The Surveyor and the Silversmith tells us much about life in the early years of our burgeoning nation. But Orr takes us on several historical side trips that not only provide important context, they are just plain fascinating. We learn about Leet’s early explorations with George Washington, his experiences building out Valley Forge, the missionary Moravians, the industrious Harmonists, early steamboats, Pittsburgh’s first railroad, and the ever-charming Civil War hero General Alexander Hays. Of course, the early days of Sewickley, Edgeworth, Washington and Beaver are just as fascinating, too." | |||||||||||||