3 messages------------------------------------------------Johnnie
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>Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 20:49:19 -0500 (CDT)
>From: [log in to unmask] (Dennis McClendon)
>Subject: Re: Jefferson Grid and Maps of Settlements across the U.S.
>Can any of you help us to locate information about the [Jefferson] grid.
The rectangular survey system, or U.S. Public Land Survey, is not a great
mystery. The basics are covered in many elementary works on mapping and
surveying, including my particular favorite:
--Greenhood, David. Mapping. Univ of Chicago Press, 1964.
My understanding of the history is that the basics of the system were
outlined in the Northwest Ordinance of 1785 and used for the Northwest
Territory. The system was extended to other U.S. territories as they were
settled, with some notable exceptions in Texas, California, and other
places that already had public land survey systems.
Because the surveying process was essential for homesteading, I believe the
surveyors would have worked each territory after the Indians and soldiers,
but before the permanent settlers.
A more official history is found in
--White, C. Albert. A History of the Rectangular Survey System. Bureau of
Land Management, 1983.
A book that sounds similar to the student's intended research (Minnesota
and northern Iowa) is
--Johnson, Hildegard Binder. Order Upon the Land: the U.S. Rectangular
Land Survey and the Upper Mississippi Country. New York: 1976.
For studies similar to what the student is planning, see the bibliography
for Chapter Four in --Buisseret, David, ed. From Sea Charts to Satellite
Images: Interpreting North American History through Maps. Univ of Chicago
Press, 1990.
--Jackson, W.T. Wagon Roads West: A Study of Federal Road Surveys and
Construction in the Trans-Mississippi West, 1846-49. Univ of Calif Press,
1952.
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Dennis McClendon, Chicago CartoGraphics [log in to unmask]
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>Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 23:01:53 -0400 (EDT)
>From: [log in to unmask] (Tom Hanley)
>Subject: Re: Jefferson Grid and Maps of Settlements across the U.S.
Serendipity strikes.
The Jefferson professor of History at the Univ. of VA mentioned the land
survey system as being Jefferson's brainchild when he and another Jefferson
professor appeared on C-Span this morning discussing newspaper articles
from a Jeffersonian perspective. His take was it was Jefferson's way of
laying out and therefore being able to control the westward expansion.
The system is described in any Intro Geology (and probably any Intro
Geography) lab manual - but you know that already.
as I understand it, the system applied to all states but the original 13,
but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Mexican accessions (is that the
right word or attitude? I am not an historian) had another land ownership
system.
One of the things I enjoy is the way the ownership system was affected by
trading parcels so that ownership could be concentrated near rail lines and
leaving the government in control of large tracts in the mountain ranges
that eventually became the National Forests. The other neat thing is the
Ralston-Purina corporate logo that owes its origin to the checkerboard
pattern set up by the section, Township and Range set up.
'Bye.
Tom
Tom Hanley, Professor of Geology
Department of Chemistry and Geology
Columbus State University
4225 University Avenue
Columbus, GA 31907-5645
FAX 706-569-3133
Office Phones -
direct: 706-568-2074
Secretary and answering machine: 706-568-2075
Email address: [log in to unmask]
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From: John Sutherland <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Jefferson Grid
Jefferson in 1784 was head of a Congress committee that proposed an
ordinance for selling the land in the old Northwest Territory. The first
draft was probably done by Jefferson and called for a rectangular survey
system and the selling of the land in township blocks. The Land Ordinance
of 1785 was based on Jefferson's proposed ordinance and rectangular grid
system but with many changes. Jefferson also proposed that the Northwest
Territory be divided into states of a certain size, but this was not passed.
This was part of a political debate on how the western territorities should
be sold (the Confederation Congress needed money) and settled (small farmers
- Jefferson - VS large grants to companies). The Land Ordinance of 1785 and
the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set the basic pattern of settlement for all
new western lands added later. The rectangular survey system and the land
sales system seen in most of the U.S. can be seen as a Jeffersonian grid.
The grid Jefferson proposed was one of hundreds (a ten mile square) and of
lots (1 mile square).
The bureaucratic history of the U.S. Land Survey is:
White, C. Albert "A History of the Rectangular Survey System" Washington,
DC: Bureau of Land Management, 1982.
This book should be available in most academic libraries as it is a
government document: I53.2:Su7/2
There is considerable literature in historical geography on the survey,
the effects on settlement, and using the original plats in research.
John Sutherland
University of Georgia
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