It would be difficult. USGS Topographic Engineer Claude Birdseye faced enormous challenges to run an unbroken traverse and level line for 251 miles through the Marble and Grand Canyons. His expedition team included able boatmen, a geologist, hydrologist, second topographer, rodman and cook; ten men in all. Four 18-1/2’ by 4-1/2’ wooden boats “decked fore and aft and fitted with water-tight hatches and airtight compartments” conveyed the party and instruments consisting of “specially-constructed plane-table and telescopic alidades, a custom fourteen-foot long, folding stadia rod (which could be read from 2800 feet away, allowing for long shots through the canyons),” and “three additional alidades of varying styles (sight, Bumstead, and Gale), extra stadia rods, an aneroid barometer, tripod[s], four Brunton compasses, levels, tapes, field glasses, and field books.”