Butler Ives (January 31, 1830, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts – December 1872 near

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California, United States, and the second largest city in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the ci ...

), son of Butler Ives Sr. and Olive Hall Morse Sheffield, was the youngest of ten children and was educated at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan. His greatest work consisted of pioneer engineering, surveying and locating the line of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads between

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and Salt Lake City, working under

Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician from Watervliet, New York. He served as the eighth governor of Calif ...

and Samuel S. Montague, chief engineer. He was contracted to locate and survey the boundary line between the Nevada Territory and the State of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

—running south and southeast from

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. In 1863, Ives worked with J. F. Houghton to survey the California-Nevada border. The survey was never completed, but the partial delineation was known as the Houghton-Ives line. The Ives papers in general, dating back to 1754, together with the old family bible are deposited for safekeeping with the Clarence Burton Historical Society in Detroit, Michigan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ives, Butler 1830 births 1872 deaths American surveyors University of Michigan alumni People from Vallejo, California Burials at Elmwood Cemetery (Detroit)