3 messages------------------------------------------------Johnnie -------------------------------------------------- >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. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Dennis McClendon, Chicago CartoGraphics [log in to unmask] ----------------------------------------------------------------- >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] ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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