Transits for Life
Advertorial PAID FOR BY Brunton
Riverton, Wyoming
Photography contributed by Brunton
Quick Reference Card Set and TruArc 10 helping map out a hiking route at Green River Lakes, WY
Brunton Celebrates 130 Years as the Gold Standard of Compasses
Since 1894, Brunton has set the gold standard in precision equipment for field-based professionals and outdoor enthusiasts, beginning with the invention of the first pocket transit by DW Brunton, a mining engineer, in Aspen, Colorado. This year marks the company’s 130th anniversary.
Brunton’s long heritage of innovation, reliability, and quality has a rich history, deeply rooted in the Mountain West where the brand continues to thrive to this day. It serves three main markets which align with three main product categories: geology, outdoor recreation, and military. Brunton has had military contracts with the U.S. government since World War II.
Today, they are best known for their pocket transit, a specialized geological compass used widely by geologists and other field professionals to make accurate measurements of planar and linear features in the field.
As a geologist, Lauren Heerschap always dreamt of a pocket transit with simpler, more intuitive, and more visual measurement methods. She and her husband, David, had used compasses and pocket transits for years and were very familiar with the instruments.
Thinking they could improve on the transit, the couple began working in their garage to develop functional prototypes that could measure planes, lines, bearings, and angles each in one simple configuration. David took Lauren’s sketches and turned them into real geological compasses. Known as the Plane Sight Compass, these prototypes were an astounding hit.
As the interest in their invention grew, they soon realized the garage would no longer work for the rapidly growing business. The couple approached Brunton believing it would be better equipped to manufacture and market their geological compass. Involved with the entire process of design, production, and marketing from the beginning, Lauren and David retained the patent of what is now the Brunton Axis Transit.
Their work with the Axis Transit led them to an opportunity to buy Brunton in 2021. With Lauren assuming the role of majority owner, Sales and Marketing Director, and CEO, and David assuming the role of co-owner, Lead Engineer, and COO, Brunton is now a woman-owned and geologist-operated small business for the first time in the brand’s 130-year history. It’s also the oldest existing compass brand in the world, and one of the oldest outdoor brands in Wyoming, having moved to Riverton in 1972.
“We are excited to bring the company back to its roots, both in terms of Wyoming headquarters, Wyoming ownership, and a renewed focus on making the world’s best compasses,” Lauren said.
Brunton is globally recognized in the geology industry as the main field compass brand and starting in 2025, 100% of Brunton compasses will be made in Riverton, Wyoming.
Lauren and David pride themselves on authenticity and spend a lot of time outside with their products in the landscapes and settings that inspired much of the brand in the first place. They also prioritize giving back to their communities through generous donations to geology, outdoor education programs such as scouts, and, beginning next year, to Disabled Veterans of America.
“One of our most important resources are all the people who have worked for Brunton for decades and are still with us,” said Lauren. “We strongly believe there will always be a need for analog maps and compasses as well as the knowledge of how to use them in all of our user group categories – it’s part of our mission to help keep that alive in the world.”
Our ribbon cutting ceremony in Nov. 2022 that celebrated 1 year of our new entity and 50 years of Brunton in Riverton, WY
