Minnesota Public Land Surveys A Geographers Perspective

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Minnesota Public Land Surveys A Geographers
Perspective

• Rod Squires, University of Minnesota

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A Striking Example of Geometry Triumphant over
Physical Geography
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For years I have performed a balancing act between

• Detail necessary to describe and explain the
  public land surveys to land surveyors of
  Minnesota
• of limited geographical applicability
• An Inventory of the Public Land Surveys Records
  for Minnesota The Special Instructions
• Generalizations to provide an overview of the
  surveying effort throughout the United States
  1785-1925 to non-surveyors
• take the surveying efforts for granted
• interested only in the outcome of the surveys

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1866

• To connect the various spatial scales that have
  occupied my attention

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The rectangular public land survey net is one of
the most visible yet least understood cultural
landscape feature in the United States
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The Public Land Surveys in a National Setting

• Continuing Relevance of the Points and Lines
• Land Act of February 11, 1805 (2 Stat. 313)
• All the corners marked in the surveys, returned
  by the surveyor-general shall be established as
  the proper corners, of the sections, or
  subdivisions of sections, which they were
  intended to designate .
• The boundary lines, actually run and marked in
  the surveys returned by the surveyor-general
  shall be established as the proper boundary
  lines of the sections, or subdivisions, for which
  they were intended .

Where the surveys spread and where they did not
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Public Land Survey Characteristics

• Turns out that some of them are not as national
  as might at first appear
• The geometric figures that defined the
  boundaries of land parcels mostly ubiquitous
  if not always square
• The principal meridians and baselines mostly
  ubiquitous
• The correction lines, standard parallels, and
  guide meridians not ubiquitous

• What is national of less interest to surveyors
• Purpose providing a "legal description" of the
  land the federal government would privatize
• Mapping township plats containing information
  relevant to prospective landowners
• Operationally carried out by a cadre of deputy
  surveyors under contract with a Surveyor General
  and financed by Congressional appropriations

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Land System
Legal System

• The Land Ordinance, 1785
• Lands north and west of the River Ohio ceded by
  Native Americans would be subdivided in an
  orderly manner
• The United States would convey title to these
  lands to individuals a section in each township
  would be reserved

• The Northwest Ordinance, 1787
• Original government and political evolution
  jurisdiction over land and individuals vested in
  a national government to be subsequently shared
  with a state government on an equal footing
• Individuals acquiring title guaranteed their
  rights

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Land System Legal
System
Federal Statutes

• Native American Land Cessions
• Public Land Surveys
• Public Land Conveyances

• Territory
• County

Landowners in Minnesota Territory
County
Landowners in Minnesota
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Two characteristics allowed the surveys to be
carried in widely separated localities

• 1. A technical element that was independent of
  the other details of the rectangular net
  established when necessary provided basic
  surveying control and locational control

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Two characteristics allowed the surveys to be
carried in widely separated localities

• 2. An administrative system comprising
  statutorily defined surveying districts and
  Presidentially appointed surveyors general
  established when necessary
• Considerable independence from each other how
  much?
• Appropriations from Congress annual and
  deficiency
• Funds apportioned by the Commissioner of the
  General Land Office to each surveyor general,
  along with annual instructions

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Paper Trail
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Administration of the Public Land Surveys

• May 18, 1796 (1 Stat. 464-469)
• Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
  Representatives of the United States of America,
  in Congress assembled,
• That a Surveyor General shall be appointed, with
  the authority
• to engage a sufficient number of skilful
  surveyors, as his deputies,
• he shall have authority to frame regulations
  and instructions for the government of his
  deputies
• to survey and mark the unascertained outlines
  of the lands lying northwest of the river Ohio,
  and above the mouth of the river Kentucky
• in which the titles of the Indian tribes have
  been extinguished

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Atlantic Surveys 1785 - 1851
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Atlantic Surveying Districts - surveys completed
by 1851

• Northern
• Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin,
  Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota
• Related administratively through the Surveyor
  General of the Northwest established in 1796
• Southern
• Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida
• Related administratively through the Surveyor
  South of Tennessee established in 1803

• Ohio, Michigan, Indiana 1796 -1857
• Missouri Illinois 1803 -1863
• Arkansas 1832 -1859
• Wisconsin Iowa 1838 -1866
• Minnesota 1857- 1908
• Mississippi 1803- 1849
• Alabama 1817- 1849
• Louisiana 1831- 1909
• Florida 1824 -1908

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Pacific Surveys 1851-1925
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Pacific Surveying Districts

• California 1851-1925
• Oregon 1851-1925
• Washington 1854-1925
• Kansas Nebraska 1854-1925
• New Mexico 1854-1925
• Utah 1855-1925
• Colorado 1861-1925

• Arizona 1863-1925
• Nevada 1861-1925
• Idaho 1866-1925
• Montana 1867-1925
• South Dakota 1861-1925
• Wyoming 1890-1925
• North Dakota 1890-1925

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Standardized Instructions

• In 1851 the Oregon Manual of Surveying
  Instructions was issued
• Initially controlled the surveys carried out in
  the newly established Pacific surveying districts
  of Oregon Territory and California
• Subsequently made applicable to the existing
  Atlantic surveying districts of Wisconsin and
  Iowa including Minnesota Territory and perhaps
  Louisiana and Arkansas
• Subsequently made applicable to the new Pacific
  surveying districts of Kansas and Nebraska, New
  Mexico, and Washington
• 1855 republication made applicable to all
  existing and all subsequent surveying districts
  made part of every surveying contract in 1862

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Minnesota shows characteristics of both Atlantic
and Pacific surveys
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Instructions for Minnesota Territory

• Before 1852
  After 1852
• Commissioner of the General Land Office
• Instructions Instructions General
• Surveyor General
• General
• Special Special
• Deputy Surveyor

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Evidence for the Public Land Surveys
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Still a Lot to be Learned about Notebooks
Legend of map published with annual report of
surveyor general
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Descriptive Lists
Township Plats drawn at a scale of two inches
per mile
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Township Exterior Diagrams
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Independent Meridian
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1847
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1852
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1856 William Burt
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Townships bordering the St. Croix
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C. Albert Whites Contributions
History of the Rectangular Survey System  
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Minnesota Historical Society
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Conclusions

• I could not have described the historical
  geography of the public land surveys without
  understanding the details of the surveying
  process particularly how the surveys were
  administered

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Conclusions

• I am not sure modern land surveyors can entirely
  understand the details of the public land survey
  lines they retrace and the points they remonument
  without a broad geographical and historical
  perspective