and
Simmons told Lincoln what Calhoun had said. It was a surprise to
Lincoln. Calhoun was a "Jackson man;" he was for Clay. What did he
know about surveying, and why should a Democratic official offer him
a position of any kind? He immediately went to Springfield, and had
a talk with Calhoun. He would not accept the appointment, he said,
unless he had the assurance that it involved no political obligation,
and that he might continue to express his political opinions as
freely and frequently as he chose. This assurance was given. The
only difficulty then in the way was the fact that he knew absolutely
nothing of surveying. But Calhoun, of course, understood this, and
agreed that he should have time to learn.

With the promptness of action with which he always undertook anything
he had to do, he procured Flint and Gibson's treatise on surveying,
and sought Mentor Graham for help. At a sacrifice of some time, the
schoolmaster aided him to a partial mastery of the intricate subject.
Lincoln worked literally day and night, sitting up night after night
until the crowing of the cock warned him of the approaching dawn.
So hard did he study that his friends were greatly concerned at his
haggard face. But in six weeks he had mastered all the books
within reach relating to the subject--a task which, under ordinary
circumstances, would hardly have been achieved in as many months.
Reporting to Calhoun for duty (greatly to the amazement of that
gentleman), he was at once assigned to the territory in the northwest
part of the county, and the first work he did of which there is any
authentic record was in January, 1834. In that month he surveyed a
piece of land for Russell Godby, dating the certificate January 14,
1834, and signing it "J. Calhoun, S.S.C., by A. Lincoln."

Lincoln was frequently employed in laying out public roads, being
selected for that purpose by the County Commissioners' Court. So
far as can be learned from the official records, the first road he
surveyed was "from Musick's Ferry on Salt Creek, via New Salem, to the
county line in the direction of Jacksonville." For this he was allowed
fifteen dollars for five days' service, and two dollars and fifty
cents for a plat of the new road. The next road he surveyed, according
to the records, was that leading from Athens to Sangamon town. This
was reported to the County Commissioners' Court November 4, 1834.
But road surveying was only a small portion of his work. He was