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GOV ERNM-ENT SURVYS,
                        FRox INSTRnvTIONS By J. A. WILLIASON, COMMISSIONER.
                           HSTORICAL.
   THE rectangular system of surveying Government lands, termed the
 Land System of the United States, was adopted by an act of Congress
 passed May 20, 1785. The ordinance provided for townships six miles
 siuare, containing thirty-six sections of one mile square. The region
 embraced by the surveys under tIis law forms a part of the present
 Stata of Ohio, and is usually styled "Old Seven Ranges." The town-
 ships, six miles square, were lai I out in ranges, extending northward
 from the Ohio River, the townships being numbered from south to
 north, and the ranges from east to west. In these initial surveys only
 the xterior linets of the townships were surveyed and mile corners were
 established on the township lines, but the plats were marked by subdi-
 visions into sections of one mile square. The sections were numbered
 fromn one to thirty-six, commencing with nunber one In the southeast
 corner of the township, and running from south to north in each tier to
 number thirty-six in the eorthwest corner of the township. These first
 public surveys were made under the direction of the Geographer of the
 United states.
   The act of Congress approved May 18,1796, provided for the appoint-
 ment of a surveyor-general, and directed the survey of the lands north-
 west of the Ohio River and above the mouth of the Kentucky River,
 "in which the titles of the Indian tribes have been extinguished."
 Under this law one-half of the townships surveyed were subdivided into
 sections "by running through the same, each way, parallel lines at
the
 end of every two miles, and by making a corner on each of said lines at
 the end of every mile," and it further provided that "the sections
shall
 be numbered, respectively, beginning with the number one in the
 northeast section, and proceeding west and east alternately, through
 the township, with progressive numbers till the thirty-sixth be com-
 pleted." This method of numbering the sections is still in use.
   The act of Congress, approved February 11, 1805, directs the subdi-
 vision of the public lands into quarter sections, and provides that all
 the corners marked in the public surveys shall be established as the pro-
 per corners of sections or subdivisions of sections which they were in-
 tended to designate, and that corners of half and quarter sections not
 marked shall be placed as nearly as possible "equidistant from those
 two corners which stand on the same line."
   The act of Congress, approved April 25, 1812, provided "That there
 shall be established in the Department of the Treasury an offliee to be
 denominated the General Land Office, the chief officer of which shall
 be called the Commissioner of the General Land Office, whose duty it
 shall be, under the direction of the head of the department, to superin-
 tend, execute, and perform all such acts and things touching or respect-
 ing the public lands of the United States and other lands patented or
 granted by the United States, as have heretofore been directedby law to
 be done or perf'ormed in the office of the Secretary of State, of the See-
 retary and Register of the Treasury, and of the Secretary of War, or
 which shall hereafter by law be assigned to the said office."
   The act of Congress approved July 4, 1830, provided for the reorgani-
 zation of the General Land Office, and that the executive duties of said
 office "shall be subject to the supervision and control of the commis-
 sioner of the General Land Office under the direction of the President
 of the United States."  The repealing clause is, "That such provi-
 sions of the act of the twenty-fifth of April, in the year one thousand
 eight hundred and twelve, entitled ' An act for the establishment of a
 General Land Office in the Department of the Treasury,' and of all
 aBts amendatory thereof as are inconsistent with the provisions of this
 act, be, and the same are hereby, repealed."
   From the wording of this act, it would appear that the control of the
 General Laud Office was removed from the Treasury Department, and
 that the Commissioner reported directly to the President, but as a mat-
 ter of fact, the Secretary of the Treasury still had supervisory control,
 for the act of Congress, approved March 3, 1V49, by which the Depart-
 ment of the Interior was established, provided "That the Secretary
of
 tile Interior shall perfohrm all the duties in relation to the General Land
 Office, of supervision and appeal, now discharged by the Secretary of
 tIe Treasury."  By this act the General Land Office was transferred
to
 the Department of the Interior, where it still remains.
                     RECTANGULAR SYSTEMS.
  The public lands of the United States are ordinarily surveyed into
rectangular tracts bounded by lines conforming to the cardinal points.
The principal lines are designated as meridian, base, township, range,
and section lines, and the bodies of land thus formed are known as
townships, sections, and lots. The first recorded use of the terums
"township" and "section," as applied to the public lands
of the
United States, is in an ordinance reported to Congress April 26, 1785.
                           SURVEYING.
  Initial points from which the lines of the public surveys are to be
extended mnst be established whenever necessary under such special
intirructtons as inay be prescribed in each case by the Commissioner of
the General Land Office. The locus of such initial points must be se-
lected with great care and due consideration for their prominence and
easy identification, and must be established astronomically. The ini-
tial point having been established, the lines of the public survey are to
be extended therefrom as follows:-
              PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN AND BASE LINES
are extended north and south and east and west from the initial point
by the us+' o sd.ar instruments or transits, as may be direcid by the
burveyor Gienral. In order to check errors in measurement, two sets
of chainmen, operating independently of each other, must be employed,
and the proper comers established. Principal meridians are designated
by number or name, as the Fourth and Fifth principal meridians in
Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and eastern Dakota,
or the "Black Hills" meridian in western Dakota, and the Salt Lake
meridian in Utah.
                   STANDARDS AND AUXILIARIES.
   Standard parallels, which are also called correction lines, and aux-
 iliary or guide meridians, are run from time to time, and are designated
 by number, and as north, south, east, or west, as the case may be, from
 their respective base lines and principal meridians; parallels and aux-
 iliaries are now run at intervals of twenty-four miles, dividing the
 country into tracts of twenty-foutr miles square, or sixteen townships.
                      TOWNSHIPS AND RANGES.
   Township lines are run east and west parallel with and six miles
 from the base line and from each other, and the spaces between these
 lines are known as townships north or south, and designated by num-
 bers according to their numerical distance from the base line. Range
 lines are run north and south on a true meridian, six miles from and
 parallel, as near as may be, with the principal meridian, and the spaces
 between them are known as ranges, and are described as east or west
 of the principal meridian, and consecutively numbered from that line.
 The bodies of land six miles square, formed by the intersection of the
 township and range lines, are called
                    CONGRESSIONAL TOWNSHIPS,
 and contain, as near as may be, 23,040 acres. Congressional town-
 ships are described and located as being north or south of the base line
 and east or west of the Principal Meridian from which that particu-
 lar survey is made. Thus township one north, range three west of
 the Fifth principal meridian, would be the first township north of the
 base line and in the third range west from the principal meridian. The
 law requires that the lines of the public surveys shall be governed by
 the true meridian, and that the townships shall be six miles Nuare,
 two things involving, in connection, a mathematical impossibility, for,
 strictly to conform to the meridian, necessarily throws the township
 out of square, by reason of the convergency of the meridians, and hence,
 by adhering to the true meridian, results the necessity of departing from
 the strict requirements of law, as respects the precise area of townships
 and the subdivisional parts thereof, the townships assuming something
 of a trapezoidal form, which inequality develops itself more and more
 as such, the higher the latitude of the surveys.
   Congressional townships are subdivided into thirty-six tracts, called
                             SECTIONS,
each containing as rear as may be 640 acres. The thirty-six sections
into which a township is subdivided are numbered, commencing with
number one at the northeast angle of the township, and proceeding
west to number six, and thence proceeding east to number twelve, and
so on, alternately, until they number thirty-six in the southeast angle.
In all cases of surveys of fractional townships, the sections should bear
the same number as they would if the township was full. In all cases
where the exterior lines of the townships, thus subdivided into sec-
tions or half sections, shall exceed, or shall not extend six miles, the
excess or deficiency shall be specially noted, and added to or deducted
from the western or northern ranges of sections or half sections in such
township, according as the error may be in running the lines from east
to west, or from south to north ; the sections and half sections bounded
on the northern and western lines of such townships shall be sold as
containing only the quantity expressed in the returns and plats respec-
tively, and all others as containing the complete legal quantity.
  Sections are divided into quarters by straight lines run from the es-
tablished quarter section corners-United States surveys-to the oppo-
site corresponding corners, and the point of intersection of the lines so
run will be the corner common to the several quarter sections, or, in
other words, the legal centre of the section ; these quarter sections are
designated as northeast quarter, northwest, southwest, or southeast,
according to their location wit.i regard to their common corner.
  In the subdivision of quarter sections, the quarter quarter corners are
to be placed at points equidistant between the section and quarter sec-
tion corners and between the quarter corners and the common centre
of the section, exree on the last half mile of the lines closing on the
north or west boundaries of a township, where they should be placed
at twenty chains, proportionate measurement, to the north or west of
the quarter section corner.
   Fractional sections and those containing meandered rivers and lakes
 are also divided into 40 acre lots, as near as may be, these fractional
 lots are numbered from one upwards in each section. By an examina-
 tion of the accompanying diagram and of the maps on other pages of
 this work, the careful student will be enabled to describe or locate any
 piece of land. Numbers 1, 2-6 are the numbers of the meandered lots.
 A is the north sixty acres of the north half of the northwest quarter;
 B, south twenty acres north half northwest quarter; C, northwest
 quarter of the southeast of the northwest quarter; D, east one-half
 southeast northwest; e is the section corner,.f north quarter corner,
 g west quarter corner, h quarter quarter corner.
   Proceeding down stream, the bank on the left hand is termed the
 "left bank" and that on the right hand the "right bank."
   These
 terms are to be universally used to distinguish the two banks of a river
 or stream.
                          MARKING LINES.
   All lines on which are to be established the legal corner boundaries
 are to be marked after this method, viz: Those trees which may in-
 tercept your line must have two chops or notches cut on each side of
 them without any other marks whatever. These are called "sight trees"
 or "line trees." A sufficient number of other trees standing within
fifty
 links of the line, on either side of it, are to be blazed on two sides diag-
 onally, or quartering towards the line, in order to render the line con-
 spicuous and readily to be traced, the blazes to be opposite each other,
 coinciding in direction with the line where the trees stand very near it
 and to approach nearer each other the farther the line passes from the
 blazed trees. Due care must ever be taken to have the lines so well
 marked as to be readily followed, and to cut the blazes deep enough to
 have recognizable scars as long as the tree shall stand. Where trees
 two inches or more in diameter are found, the required blazes must not
 be omitted. Bushes on or near the line should be bent at right angles
 therewith, and receive a blow of the axe at about the usual height of
 blazes from the ground sufficient to leave them in a bent position, but
 not to prevent their growth.
                             CORNERS.
   The following are the different points for perpetuating corners, viz:
For township boundaries, at intervals of every six miles. For section
boundaries, at intervals of every mile, or eighty chains. For quarter
section boundaries, at intervals of every half mile, or forty chains; ex-
ceptions, however, occur, as has already been explained. Meander cor-
ners are established at all those points where the lines of the public
surveys intersect the banks of such rivers, bayous, lakes, or islands as
are by law directe& to be meandered. Corners may be marked by a
cross (x) marked at exact corner point on a rock in place, or by marks
on a tree growing at the corner. Corners are also marked by stones,
posts, burnt stakes, charcoal, mounds of stone and earth, and pits.
Witness corners or bearing trees are also established to assist in identi-
fying the true corner. Township corners common to four townships,
and section corners common to four sections, are to be set diagonally in
the earth, with angles in the direction of the lines. All other corners
are to be set square, with sides facing the direction of the lines. Stones
and posts at township corners are marked with six notches on the edges,
stones and posts at section corners are marked on the south and east
edges with as many notches as the corner is distant in miles from the
south and east township lines.
               RE-ESTABLISIIMENT OF LOST CORNERS.
  The original corners, where they can be found, must stand as the
true corners they were intended to represent, even though not exactly
where strict professional care might have placed them in the first in-
stance.
  Missing corners should be re-established in the identical localities
they originally occupied. When the point cannot be determined by
the existing landmarks in the field, resort must be had to the field notes
of the original survey. The law provides that the lengths of the lines,
as stated in the field notes shall be considered as the true lengths thereof,
and the distances between corners set down in the field notes constitute
proper data from which to determine the true locality of a missing cor-
ner ; hence the rule that all such should be restored at distances pro-
portionate to the original measurements between existing original cor-
ners. That is, if the measurement between two existing corners dif-
fers from that stated in the field notes, the excess or deficiency should
be distributed proportionately among the intervening section lines be-
tween the said existing corners standing in their original places. Miss-
ing corners on standard township and range lines should be restored
by proportionate measurement between the nearest existing original
torners on those lines. Missing section corners in the interior of town-
ships should be re-established at proportionate distances between the
nearest existing original corners north and south of the missing corners.
  As has been olberved, no existing original corner can be disturbed,
and it will be plaia that any excess or deficiency in measurements be-
tween existing col ners cannot in any degree affect the distances beyond
said existing corn rs. but must be added or subtracted proportionately
tV or from the int,.rvals embraced between the corners which are still
s~anding.