Title: Wisconsin. Board of Commissioners of Public Lands: Surveyors' Field Notes
Inclusive Dates: 1832-1865

Creator:

• Wisconsin. Board of Commissioners of Public Lands

Call Number: Series 701

Quantity: 65 reels of microfilm (16mm)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Field notes of the original federal township survey of Wisconsin on all township boundaries and interiors; describing terrain, types of soil, forest cover, streams, swamps, mineral deposits, and some existing cultural features. Also included are some rough sketches of particular features.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-ser00701

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Between 1832 and 1865, surveyors of the U.S. General Land Office conducted the first statewide survey of Wisconsin, laying out township boundaries according to the rectangular grid system established by Congress. The field notes of that survey contain records of measurements made in the field, descriptions of pre-survey settlements, Indian trails and other early roads encountered by the surveyors, information on land cover and soils, and a sketch map of each township. Draftsmen at the Surveyor-General's district offices prepared the official survey plat maps from these notes and sketches. (See Series 698, Federal Survey Plat Books, 1834-1858.)

The original copies of these notes are held by the Wisconsin Commissioners of the Public Lands.

The field notes, reflecting the method of surveying, are divided into two subseries: interior and exterior notes. Exterior boundaries of townships were surveyed and laid out first; interior section lines within townships were surveyed and marked later. Separate field notebooks were kept for each survey. Hence, two sets of notes must be consulted for each township.

Each notebook has a separate volume number; they are divided into three numbering sequences. There are 139 notebooks for the interior surveys of townships west of the fourth principal meridian (called “interior west notes”), 221 notebooks for the interior surveys of towns east of the fourth principal meridian (called “interior east notes”), and 311 notebooks for the exterior boundary surveys (called “exterior notes”). Two key maps, one for exterior survey notes and one for interior survey notes, show the volume numbers for the notes for each survey township.

The interior notes for any given township are included in a single volume. The exterior notes for a township may be found in as many as four different volumes, with each border of the township in a separate volume.

Researchers using these records will find it necessary to understand the rectangular survey grid system for subdividing and numbering parcels of land. A copy of the Rockford Map Publishing Company's “Important Facts about Land Surveys” is attached. Note that in Wisconsin, townships are numbered as being north of the base line, the Wisconsin-Illinois border, and east or west of the fourth principal meridian, an imaginery north-south line extending from the Illinois border at the junction of Grant and Lafayette counties north to Lake Superior at the Wisconsin-Michigan border.

Index in Maps reference file.

Administrative details about the conduct of the survey may be found in the annual reports of the Surveyors-General published in the Congressional Serial Set. J. H. Hawes' Manual of the United States Survey (Philadelphia, 1868) describes the procedures for conducting the survey, including preparation of field notes. This book also contains several useful appendicies which describe the various federal grants under which land was sold or given away, including homestead acts, school and swamp lands acts, and military bounty grants. A general history of the survey and an examination of its impact on the geography of Wisconsin are the subjects of Hildegard Binder Johnson's Order Upon the Land: the U. S. Rectangular Land Survey and the Upper Mississippi Country (New York, 1976).

	Interior Lines
	Townships West
Reel   1	v. 1-7
Reel   2	v. 8-13
Reel   3	v. 14-19
Reel   4	v. 20-26
Reel   5	.v. 26-32
Reel   6	v. 32-38
Reel   7	v. 38-45
Reel   8	v. 45-51
Reel   9	v. 51-58
Reel   10	v. 58-65
Reel   11	v. 65-71
Reel   12	v. 72-78
Reel   13	v. 79-85
Reel   14	v. 85-91
Reel   15	v. 91-98
Reel   16	v. 98-103
Reel   17	v. 103-108
Reel   18	v. 109-114
Reel   19	v. 114-121
Reel   20	v. 121-127
Reel   21	v. 128-138
Reel   22	v. 138-139
	Townships East
Reel   23	v. 1-6
Reel   24	v. 7-13
Reel   25	v. 14-18
Reel   26	v. 19-23
Reel   27	v. 24-28
Reel   28	v. 29-34
Reel   29	v. 35-40
Reel   30	v. 41-45
Reel   31	v. 46-51
Reel   32	v. 52-57
Reel   33	v. 58-63
Reel   34	v. 64-68
Reel   35	v. 69-74
Reel   36	v. 75-80
Reel   37	v. 81-86
Reel   38	v. 87-94
Reel   39	v. 95-100
Reel   40	v. 101-107
Reel   41	v. 108-114
Reel   42	v. 115-120
Reel   43	v. 121-127
Reel   44	v. 127-134
Reel   45	v. 135-140
Reel   46	v. 141-147
Reel   47	v. 148-154
Reel   48	v. 154-161
Reel   49	v. 162-167
Reel   50	v. 168-175
Reel   51	v. 175-182
Reel   52	v. 183-190
Reel   53	v. 191-197
Reel   54	v. 197-204
Reel   55	v. 205-213
Reel   56	v. 213-221
	Exterior Lines
Reel   57	v. 1-31
Reel   58	v. 32-69
Reel   59	v. 70-115
Reel   60	v. 116-152
Reel   61	v. 153-181
Reel   62	v. 182-217
Reel   63	v. 218-245
Reel   64	v. 246-277
Reel   65	v. 278-311