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Clock and Compass: How John Byron Plato Gave Farmers a Real Address

Clock and Compass: How John Byron Plato Gave Farmers a Real Address

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Clock and Compass: How John Byron Plato Gave Farmers a Real Address

by Mark Monmonier

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  • Paperback
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New
ISBN 10
1609388216
ISBN 13
9781609388218
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About This Item

Paperback / softback. New. A city guy who aspired to be a farmer, John Byron Plato took a three-month winter course in agriculture at Cornell before starting high school, which he left a year before graduation to fight in the Spanish-American War. He worked as a draftsman, ran a veneers business, patented and manufactured a parking brake for horse-drawn delivery wagons, taught school, and ran a lumber yard. In his early thirties he bought some farmland north of Denver, Colorado, and began raising Guernsey cattle, which he advertised for sale in the local paper. When an interested buyer eager to see his calves couldn't find his farm, Plato realized that an RFD postal address was only good for delivering mail. Plato's solution was a map-and-directory combo that used direction and distance from a local business center to give farmers a real address, just like city dwellers. He patented his invention called the "Clock System" and tried to sell it to the Post Office Department. What follows is a tale of persistence and failure as rural farming declined and technology and capitalism overtook John Byron Plato's chances at geographic immortality.

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Details

Bookseller
The Saint Bookstore GB (GB)
Bookseller's Inventory #
A9781609388218
Title
Clock and Compass: How John Byron Plato Gave Farmers a Real Address
Author
Mark Monmonier
Format/Binding
Paperback / softback
Book Condition
New
Quantity Available
5
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10
1609388216
ISBN 13
9781609388218

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About the Seller

The Saint Bookstore

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2018
Southport, Merseyside

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A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
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