Abstract: Tubular length in a borehole is determined by attaching a wire or flat metallic strip to the elevator or traveling block hook of a drilling rig and accurately measuring the travel of the wire by means of a remote precision measuring wheel. The wire is maintained substantially parallel to the tubular string by causing the wire to pass around a pulley near the crown block of the drilling rig. Substantially constant tension is maintained in the wire by means of different embodiments for the invention.The measuring wheel preferably comprises a precision wheel, the circumference of which rolls tangentially to the moving wire. The wheel drives an encoder generating electrical pulses, the count of which is proportional to the travel of the rig elevator or traveling block hook. Means are provided to count pulses only when the motion of the tubular goods are undergoing movement into or, alternatively, out of the borehole.